Ambika Soni said that several agencies, including the National Commission of Women (NCW), have confirmed the charges of police atrocities against women, adding that one report couldn’t negate all the charges.
With the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) ruling out rapes in Uttar Pradesh’s Bhatta Parsaul during the recent farmers’ agitation, union information and broadcasting minister, Ambika Soni on Thursday questioned the accuracy of the human rights body’s findings.
While speaking to reporters in New Delhi, Soni said that several agencies, including the National Commission of Women (NCW), have confirmed the charges of police atrocities against women, adding that one report couldn’t negate all the charges.
“I have just heard that, because the National Commission of Women went and they talked to people, more than that many other agencies have gone and confirmed that women were treated in a way that we are all against. So, let us see. All these things are coming, counter views and views, reports. Let me see from where these reports have come,” Soni said.
“I don’t want to comment on who had gone there from NHRC, whom did they talk to and how much time they spent there. I believe that they must have done their best. But in such matters many a times people hesitate in answering questions thinking who is asking the question. It depends on how much faith the person instills in the victim to get answers.
When women form NCW had gone, it is much easier for women to confess to another woman. Let us see. One report cannot negate the facts,” she added.
The 800-page NHRC report states that it found no evidence regarding claims of police sexually assaulting women in Bhatta Parsaul, contrary to allegations made by congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi.
After his visit to Bhatta-Parsaul, Gandhi had alleged that women had been raped and that there is a pile of ashes 70 feet high in the villages, which have become the hotbed of the farmers’ protests.
Four persons, including two policemen, were killed in the clashes and firing in Bhatta-Parsaul on May 7.
The farmers have been agitating since January for higher compensation for lands acquired by the state government.
Their demand is that only half their lands should be acquired, while the rest should be handed back to the farmers after development.
They also want 25 per cent reservation for farmers in all schemes of Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway.
The farmers have also been demanding that the authorities should give 120 square metre plots to landless farmers and a compensation of Rs.5,00,000 for each acre of acquired land.
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