NHRC Special Rapporteur reviews Human Rights situation in J&K, calls for stronger outreach to vulnerable communities

• Shomita Biswas urges departments and police to improve grievance redressal and reach rural and marginalised groups

SRINAGAR: National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Special Rapporteur Shomita Biswas today chaired a high-level review meeting at the Civil Secretariat in Srinagar to assess the overall human rights situation in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and review the implementation of welfare safeguards, particularly those relating to the Social Welfare, Health and Prisons Departments.

The meeting was attended by senior administrative and police officers, including the IGP, Personnel (Headquarters); Secretary, Social Welfare Department; Mission Director, Mission Poshan; Mission Director, Mission Vatsalya and Mission Shakti; DIG, CID; Superintendent of Police, Central Jail, Srinagar; Head of the Department of Psychiatry, GMC Srinagar; and other senior officials.

The departments made detailed presentations on institutional mechanisms, legal protections and targeted welfare initiatives aimed at safeguarding citizens’ rights, with particular attention to underprivileged and vulnerable sections of society.

Mission Director, Mission Poshan, Sajad Hussain Ganai, briefed the meeting on measures to protect children’s rights across the Union Territory. He outlined initiatives under the Poshan framework to improve children’s health, immunisation and nutritional coverage. He also presented details of the systematic disbursement of academic scholarships intended to support students from socio-economically marginalised backgrounds.

Mission Director for Mission Vatsalya and Mission Shakti, Rubina Kousar, gave an overview of regulatory mechanisms and support services for destitute, abandoned and distressed women across Jammu and Kashmir. She also highlighted statutory frameworks operating under the juvenile justice system and institutional measures to ensure comprehensive child protection and prevent atrocities against minors and women.

Presenting the law-enforcement perspective, IGP, Personnel (Headquarters), Uttam Chand, reviewed the maintenance of human rights standards in prison facilities and safeguards for undertrial and convicted prisoners. He shared data on legal interventions and described operational measures taken by law-enforcement agencies to uphold the constitutional and human rights of vulnerable groups and ensure prompt action on reported atrocities.

Addressing healthcare services, Prof. (Dr.) Arshad Hussain, Head of the Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (IMHANS), GMC Srinagar, outlined the mental-health infrastructure across the Union Territory, current service patterns, localised gaps in delivery and structural expansions under way. He also highlighted the potential for significant progress in the region’s mental-health sector once several major development projects currently in progress are completed.

Following the departmental presentations, Biswas expressed satisfaction with the structural safeguards, welfare programmes and coordinated enforcement measures being implemented by the respective departments.

She urged the departments and police officers to take a more proactive approach to reaching rural and marginalised communities. She also advised the line departments to regularly improve their grievance-redressal mechanisms so that public concerns—particularly those raised by vulnerable groups—are handled professionally, smoothly and promptly.