NHRC notice to UP govt over death of 19-year-old migrant worker due to hunger

The NHRC has sent a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government over reported death of a 19-year-old migrant worker due to hunger in Saharanpur after he had walked 350 km from Ludhiana on way to his home in the state, officials said on Wednesday. The National Human Rights Commission has described Vipin Kumar's death as a "serious issue of human rights violation".

The NHRC has observed that it is not the first time that it has come across such an incident relating to painful conditions of the migrant laborers, their illness, delivery of babies on roads, and their deaths during their journey back home in the wake of the COVID-19-induced lockdown. The rights panel, in a statement, said it has issued a notice to the chief secretary of Uttar Pradesh after taking suo motu cognizance of a media report that a 19-year-old migrant died in Saharanpur due to hunger after walking six days covering 350 kilometres from Ludhiana.

He was headed for his home in Hardoi in Uttar Pradesh, it said.