India Tomorrow

NEW DELHI, MAY 16— The heartrending visuals of a migrant woman pulling a wheeled suitcase with her child sleeping half-hung thereon has caught the attention of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and it has consequently issued a notice to two state governments and a District Magistrate.

The NHRC took suo motu cognizance of media reports about the woman migrant worker pulling a suitcase with her small child sleeping half-hung on it on a highway in Agra. The migrant woman was reportedly walking all the way from somewhere in Punjab to Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh till she caught the attention of the media persons.

“The Commission has observed that it is aware of the unprecedented situation and that the Central and the State governments are working sincerely to address every issue coming up during the lockdown but it is strange that the pain of the child and the family could be seen and felt by many enroute, except the local authorities. Had the local authorities been vigilant, some relief could immediately be provided to the aggrieved family and others facing the similar hardships. The incident amounts to violation of human rights and requires intervention by the NHRC,” the rights body said in a statement on Friday.

It has issued notices to the Chief Secretaries of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh and the District Magistrate of Agra and sought a detailed report within four weeks in the matter including the action taken against the responsible officers/ officials and relief/ assistance provided to the victim families.

“The Commission has further observed that several news reports about miseries of people have come to its notice during the lockdown forcing it to intervene in order to sensitize the Central and the State authorities to deal with the situation with an approach of respect to human rights of the public at large, particularly the vulnerable sections of the society. However, media reports suggest continuing sufferings of the people, particularly the migrant labourers, whose journey long, is not coming to a halt,” said NHRC.

Referring to yet another reported incident of apathy of public authorities and its suo motu cognizance of the matter wherein a female migrant labourer delivered her baby on road and continued her journey within two hours after that on way to Madhya Pradesh from Maharashtra, the Commission observed that “such incidents only indicate towards carelessness and inappropriate approach of the local public authorities who do not bother to come forward to see the reality at the ground.”

Many migrant workers walking towards their distant homes have met fatal accidents since the nationwide lockdown was imposed on March 24.

In the biggest ever accident involving migrant workers since the Coronavirus-driven nationwide lockdown was imposed, at least 24 people were killed and 37 others injured when two trucks collided in the wee hours of Saturday (May 16) in the Auraiya district of Uttar Pradesh.

In the May 8 train accident in Aurangabad of Maharashtra, which was the biggest accident then since the lockdown started, 16 exhausted migrant workers sleeping on a railway track were crushed by a goods train.