Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body - Report No 316, June 1999

Case No 1854 (India) - Complaint date: 02-OCT-95 - Closed

Effect given to the recommendations of the Committee and the Governing Body

1. 63. During its last examination of this case in November 1998 the Committee requested the Government to keep it informed of the outcome of the criminal proceedings under way against Messrs. Shravan Giri and Tapan Kumar Chaki who confessed to the murder of Ms. Ahilya Devi and the developments regarding the arrest of Messrs. Kumar Mandal, Narsingh Singh, Bhrigu Nath Gupta and Ratan Ghosh who had been implicated in the murder (see 311th Report, paras. 52-53).
2. 64. In a communication dated 22 February 1999 the Government states that the provincial Government of Bihar, being the appropriate government in this case, has informed it that charge sheets have been submitted against the accused: (i) Shravan Giri and Tapan Kumar Manjhi on 8.1.96; (ii) Dinesh Mandal on 8.4.96; (iii) Munna Punjabi on 25.8.96; (iv) Bhrigunath Gupta and Ratan Ghosh on 14.2.97; (v) Narsing Singh: Supplementary charge sheet on 17.4.98; and cognizance taken on 8.8.98. The Government contends that it is thus clear that the law is taking its course in this criminal case. The Government of Bihar is being requested to make available the latest developments in the case for its onward transmission to the ILO.
3. 65. The Committee recalls that this case concerns the murder of Mrs. Ahilya Devi, a trade unionist who was allegedly organizing rural workers in the State of Bihar on 23 August 1995, and that the Government had indicated that on the basis of the investigation Ms. Devi was murdered on account of her activities related to smuggling which had led to antagonism with other persons also involved in smuggling. The Committee once again asks the Government to supply copies in an ILO working language of the judgement to be handed down in relation to this murder that occurred in 1995 at an early date.