Kendrapara: The National Human rights Commission (NHRC) has directed Chief Secretary to pay Rs 14 lakh to 56 women who had suffered stigma due to cycle pump sterilisation at a camp conducted in Angul December 28, 2014.
Presuming that the state has no objection to paying compensation to the victims as it had failed to respond to the show-cause notice issued by the NHRC, the panel directed the state to pay Rs 25,000 each to the 56 victims.
Later, the Chief Secretary in his reply requested the NHRC to withdraw the direction as the victims did not complain that they suffered complications. However, the NHRC reiterated its stand that compensation must be paid to all the victims, and to submit compliance report of payment.
The NHRC order came after a petition by civil rights lawyer Radhakanta Tripathy. He alleged that doctors used bicycle pumps to inflate the abdomen of the 56 women, while conducting tubectomy at the sterilization camp. This was done due to the absence of proper surgical equipments for inflating the abdomen.
Normally insufflators are used in laparoscopic operations to pump carbon dioxide into the abdomen of women for regulating gas pressure during surgery.
As insufflators were not available bicycle pumps were used as substitute. Rural women are being discriminated against in the sterilization drive, Tripathy said.
In this case the NHRC via proceedings dated 12.03.18 confirmed the show- cause notice and asked the Government of Orissa to pay Rs 25,000 to each of the 56 women who had undergone sterilization in the camp conducted in at Angul on 28.12.14.
In response to the NHRC’s directions, the Commissioner-cum-Secretary to the Government of Orissa informed that none of the women had complained about the sterilisation operation.
As the state government had provided all facilities to the patients and there were no complaints a request was made to the NHRC to reconsider awarding Rs 25,000 as compensation.
The NHRC considered the report and said that the explanation offered by the Commissioner-cum-Secretary was not acceptable. The grounds on which the state has objected to payment of compensation had already been considered by the Commission.
PNN