HC asks NHRC to deal with harassment of homeless drug addicts

The Delhi High Court today asked the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to deal with the issue of alleged harassment and police brutality towards homeless drug addicts in the national capital.
A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Pradeep Nandrajog said the NHRC was the apt forum to deal with the issue and said the scope of the PIL, which was filed seeking shelters for homeless, cannot be widened in this manner.
The court's decision came after an NGO Shahri Adhikar Manch Begharon Ke Liye submitted before the bench that the police, instead of taking the homeless drug addicts to de-addiction centres, had beaten them brutally.

It said the issue of victims' compensation will also be heard and decided by the NHRC and listed the matter for further hearing on September 3.
The court also asked police to apprise it about the services available for de-addiction of homeless drug people and their follow-up treatment.
The court was hearing a case it took up on its own after media reports highlighted the absence of enough and proper night shelters for the homeless in the city.
On March 26, the court had observed that the status of night shelters in the national capital is "thoroughly unsatisfactory".
The court had called for the DUSIB CEO to assist it after it was told that homeless persons in the shelters get only 15 square feet of space to sleep, which was similar to the dimensions of a railway berth.