NHRC notice to civic officer in UP for 'beating' employee

The NHRC has issued a show cause notice to a former municipal commissioner of Meerut for allegedly beating a city corporation employee, who had refused to do some of his personal menial chores, three years ago.
The commission also directed the chief secretary of Uttar Pradesh to take appropriate action against the officer, whom it "found guilty of negligence and misconduct as a public servant in the matter".
In the notice, the NHRC has asked, "why an appropriate departmental action should not be recommended to be initiated against him (municipal commissioner) for beating a corporation employee on his refusal to do some of his personal menial chores on May 26, 2014".

They have been given six weeks to respond, the Commission said.
Earlier, in response to the notices of the Commission, the SSP, Meerut had "denied the allegations as false and misleading," the NHRC said in a statement.
"However, the Commission through its own inquiry team found that the casual worker was beaten up and abused and that there was a deliberate attempt to cover up the incident by the municipal authorities.
"The pictures of the victim in the news paper clipping showed the injuries. The inquiry team reported that police did not take any action in the matter as there was no complaint lodged by the victim or anyone else in the matter," it said.

The Commission took cognisance of the incident on the basis of a complaint dated May 27, 2014, lodged by an NGO.