NHRC notice to Maha govt over deaths in tribal boardings

The National Human Rights Commission has served a notice to the Maharashtra government over the alleged death of more than 500 female boarders of state government-run tribal residential schools over the past decade.

The Commission has flayed the state government for having not responded to its earlier notices on the issue. The previous notice was issued on October 10, 2015, followed by a reminder on November 26.

"A probe has revealed that the authorities keep menstruation records of the girls and conduct urine tests on them to rule out pregnancy, whenever the girls miss their periods or come back from the vacations.

"The probe report has questioned the rationale behind this unethical practice which is being done on minor girls without consent of their parents," the Commission said in a statement.

Considering the seriousness of the matter, the Commission has issued a notice to the Maharashtra Chief Secretary calling for a detailed report in the matter within six weeks.

The statement mentions that there are nearly 1,100 state-run and aided tribal residential schools in Maharashtra which cater to about 1.6 lakh female and 2.3 lakh male students.

"Over, 1,500 students including 700 girls have reportedly lost their lives in these schools in the past 15 years. The sexual abuse is also suspected to be a reason behind these deaths," it said.