National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has directed Jharkhand Govt to pay Rs 1 lakh compensation to Baidyanath Ravidas’s kin who died of starvation as the family could not get subsidised food due to lack of ration card in Jharkhand’s Dhanbad on 23rd October 2017.
The NHRC received the complaint of Baidyanath Ravidas’s death from Onkar Vishwakarma. The complaint was filed on the basis of a fact-finding report by Jharkhand based lawyers Shadab Ansari and Mumtaz Ansari.
Here is a document issued by the NHRC that mentions the details of the case. The NHRC document mentions that the state govt needs to provide Rs 1 lakh compensation to Baidyanath Ravidas.
NHRC document urging Jharkhand govt to provide compensation to Ravidas’s kin:
Baidyanath Ravidas, a resident of Bhalgarha Niche Bagan under Jharia police station, did not get to eat even a single plate of meal for seven days before he died of starvation.
The district administration claimed that Ravidas suffered from asthma and died due to his ailment. Ravidas was bedridden for over a week and starvation aggravated his condition, eventually causing death.
The family did not have a ration card for the past four years and failed to get one despite several attempts.
Ravidas’s wife Parvati worked as domestic help and he worked as a rickshaw puller for a living, they were not listed in the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category. For this reason, the family did not get subsidised ration under the government’s welfare schemes.
Parvati said about four years ago they were listed as BPL family in a card that was issued in the name of Jago Ravidas, the elder brother of the deceased. However, they were delisted since Jago’s death. Attempts to get a ration card later failed, Parvati mentions
