New Delhi, Dec 3 (IANS) The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has taken suo motu cognisance of a media report stating that four labourers were killed and several others were injured after a three-storey under-construction building collapsed within seconds from “top to bottom” in Nagla Hukum Singh village of Jevar in Uttar Pradesh’s Gautam Buddha Nagar district recently.

The incident took place on November 19, and according to the press report, the structure was being built without permission. One of the 10 labourers working at the site was missing.

Observing that the contents of the news report, if true, “raise serious issues of violation of human rights of the victims”, the apex human rights body has issued notices to the Gautam Buddha Nagar District Magistrate Medha Roopam and the Commissioner of Police, seeking a detailed report within two weeks.

The NHRC said the report must specify the health status of those injured, as well as the compensation, if any, paid by the authorities to the next of kin of the deceased and the labourers who sustained injuries.

According to the media report published on November 20, the building collapsed “from bottom to top within seconds” as the shuttering for the third floor was being removed, trapping multiple labourers under the debris.”

Established under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, the NHRC, an autonomous statutory body, is an embodiment of India’s concern for the promotion and protection of human rights.

Its primary role is to protect and promote human rights, defined as the rights relating to life, liberty, equality, privacy and dignity of individuals guaranteed by the Constitution or embodied in international covenants and enforceable by courts in India.

The apex human rights body has the power to take suo motu (on its own motion) action based on media reports, public knowledge or other sources, without receiving a formal complaint of human rights violations.

–IANS

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