NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION, INDIA v. Maternity Entitlements under National Food Security Act, 2013- Maternity entitlements under National Food Security Act must be provided to all pregnant and lactating women without any conditionality. B. Illustrative Cases in the year 2019-20 1. Alleged starvation death of a labour, namely Shri Baidyanath Das, at Dhanbad, Jharkhand, as he was not provided with the Ration Card under the Public Distribution System. (Case No. 1356/34/4/2017) 2. i. The complainant Shri Onkar Vishwakarma, a Human Rights activist, alleged starvation death of a labour, namely Shri Baidyanath Das, at Dhanbad, Jharkhand, as he was not provided with the Ration Card under the Public Distribution System and there was no food in his house. ii. The Commission while considering the report from the the State authorities, pursuant to the Commission’s directions, observed that the victim died on 21.10.2017 whereas the Ration Card of the deceased’s wife was made available on 25.10.2017 i.e. after the death of the victim while earlier the victim’s family was using the Ration Card of the victim’s elder brother and they were receiving Ration for their survival but after the death of victim’s brother, the said Ration was stopped and the family of 7 members were left helpless. The victim’s son applied 6 months ago for a new Ration Card but the same could not be made available to them. Thereafter, the family again applied online on 22.09.2017 to get a ration card and also submitted a written application on 18.10.2017 but the authorities did not pay heed. The victim was suffering from fever for the past 1 month and he was deprived of the ration/food provided by the Government and also no proper pre-medical care was available to the victim. The report could not mention any specific disease of the victim due to which he died otherwise. iii. Therefore, the Commission vide its proceedings dated 09.03.2020 asked the Chief Secretary, Government of Jharkhand, Ranchi to make payment of Rs. 1,00,000/- (Rupees One Lakh Only) as monetary compensation to the next-of-kin of the deceased for the violation of their Human Rights due to negligence on part of public servants. The compliance report along with the proof of payment is awaited. Six children of Tadi Sahi village under Chandanpur Police Station area, District Puri fell ill at the Anganwadi Centre after taking stale sprouted green gram given to them as supplementary nutrition food. (Case No. 192/18/12/2014) i. In the instant case, the complainant Sudhanshu Kumar Nanda had alleged that six children of Tadi Sahi village under Chandanpur Police Station area District Puri fell ill at the Anganwadi Centre after taking stale sprouted green gram given to them as supplementary nutrition food. The complainant had given a request for punitive action against the erring ANNUAL REPORT 2019-20 111