Onlykashmir.in News Desk
National Human Rights Commission Special Rapporteur Shomita Biswas on Tuesday chaired a high-level meeting at the Civil Secretariat in Srinagar to review the human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir and to assess the welfare measures undertaken by the Social Welfare, Health and Prisons Departments.
The meeting brought together senior officers from the civil administration, police and the medical fraternity. IGP Personnel (Headquarters) Uttam Chand, the Secretary Social Welfare, Mission Poshan Director Sajad Hussain Ganai, and Mission Vatsalya and Shakti Director Rubina Kousar took part. The DIG CID, the Superintendent of Central Jail Srinagar and the Head of the Department of Psychiatry at GMC Srinagar, Prof. Dr Arshad Hussain, were also present, along with other senior officers.
Detailed presentations were made on a wide range of subjects that bear directly on the lives of vulnerable citizens. These included child rights, nutrition, immunisation, educational scholarships, the protection of women, the juvenile justice system, and the constitutional and human rights of prisoners. Taken together, the briefings covered the stages of a person’s life, from early childhood nutrition and health to the treatment of those in custody.
Dr Arshad Hussain used the occasion to highlight mental healthcare facilities across the Union Territory. He spoke about the existing gaps in services and outlined the development projects currently under way to strengthen them. Mental health has emerged as a growing public concern in the region, and the presentation placed the subject within the wider human rights review rather than treating it as a purely clinical matter.
Shomita Biswas expressed satisfaction over the measures taken by the departments concerned. She nevertheless urged officials and police authorities to strengthen outreach to rural and marginalised communities, whose members often face the greatest difficulty in reaching institutions and in making their problems heard. She stressed the need to make grievance redressal mechanisms more effective, so that complaints, particularly those from vulnerable sections, are handled professionally and promptly.
Reviews of this kind allow the Commission to take stock of how rights guaranteed on paper are translated into services on the ground. The agenda of the meeting, which linked social welfare, public health and the prison system, reflected an understanding that human rights depend on the combined performance of several departments rather than on any one of them. Welfare schemes reach their intended beneficiaries only when officials are accessible, and prisoners’ rights are protected only when the system that holds them is open to scrutiny.
The emphasis on outreach and speedy redressal sends a clear signal to departments and police units across Jammu and Kashmir. Officers are expected to go to the people, especially in remote areas, and to treat every grievance, however small, as a matter requiring a timely and respectful response.
