NHRC notice to Karnataka on reports claiming man forced to 'bribe' officials after daughter's death
New Delhi (PTI): The NHRC on Tuesday said it has issued a notice to the Karnataka government and the state's police chief over reports that an old man was allegedly made to give bribe to an ambulance driver, police, crematorium staff and civic officials after the death of his only daughter in Bengaluru.
The National Human Rights Commission, in a statement, has observed that the content of the news report, if true, raise serious issues of violation of human rights.
The NHRC has taken "suo motu cognisance of a media report that while mourning the death of his only daughter, a grieving 64-year-old father was made to pay bribes at every step, including an ambulance driver, police, crematorium staff and civic officials in Bengaluru," the statement read.
According to an October 30 media report, what should have been a solemn farewell, turned into a "nightmare of corruption, bureaucracy and inhumanity", it added.
Therefore, the NHRC has issued notices to the chief secretary and the director general of police of Karnataka, seeking a report in two weeks, the rights panel said.
Reportedly, an IIT-Madras and IIM-Ahmedabad graduate woman working in the city suffered a brain haemorrhage on September 18. When the father called an ambulance after the death of his daughter, the ambulance driver allegedly "apparently over-charged for the services," it said.
When he reported his daughter's death to the police, they not only "displayed a lack of empathy," but gave copies of the FIR and post-mortem report only allegedly after a bribe was paid, the statement said.
According to the media report, the deceased person's family donated the woman's eyes before cremation. Money was again allegedly demanded at the crematorium, which the father paid.
There was also a "considerable delay" in issuing a death certificate from Mahadevapura municipal authorities. Despite intervention by a senior officer, the certificate was issued only after the father allegedly paid a bribe, it said.
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Indigo flights chaos: SCR to run special trains to clear passenger rush
Hyderabad (PTI): The South Central Railway on Saturday announced that it would run four special trains to manage the surge in passengers resulting from the large-scale cancellation of IndiGo flights here.
The move comes as flyers face significant disruption and long queues at the airport due to the cancellation.
A press release from the SCR said it is running the special trains to clear the extra rush of passengers to Chennai, Mumbai and Shalimar (Kolkata) from Hyderabad today.
Meanwhile, as many as 43 outbound Indigo flights were cancelled from here on Saturday, Rajiv Gandhi International Airport sources said.
ALSO READ: IndiGo cancels over 200 flights from Delhi, Mumbai on Saturday
Similarly, 26 incoming flights are also likely to be cancelled during the day, they said.
The flight cancellations drew ire from passengers, who thronged the IndiGo counters at the airport demanding to know the exact situation.
“This is utter nonsense! Digiyatra done, message received that departure has been rescheduled ahead of the scheduled departure and now upon arriving at Hyderabad airport coming to know at the security checkpoint that Indigo flight is cancelled,” Tarun Singha, former Ministry of Defence spokesperson said in a post on X.
“But the thing is if you don’t shout they do nothing. Example at Hyderabad Airport, there was no staff no flight information for an hour. Then a fellow passenger started shouting on mic and an Indigo staff appeared finally,” a netizen said in a post.
On Friday, when IndiGo cancelled over 1,000 flights from across airports, its CEO Pieter Elbers apologised in a video message for the major inconvenience caused to passengers due to the disruptions.
In the one-way video communication, Elbers also said that the airline was expecting fewer than 1,000 flights on Saturday.
