Complaints before the Commission 16.9 From its inception up to 31 March 2000, the Commission has ordered compensation in 598 cases. The total amount of compensation that has been ordered is Rs. 7,67,83,634/-. The Commission urges the States to respond promptly and also ensure strict adherence to the different guidelines issued by the Commission from time to time, which will help the Commission to dispose of cases more promptly. INVESTIGATION OF CASES ' 16.10 The Investigation Division was directed to look into 1,747 cases by the Commission during the period 1999-2000. Of these cases, 1,586 cases were related to collection of facts and monitoring. Field investigadons were conducted in 161 cases. 16.11 On the basis ofthe reports givenby the Investigadon Division, criminal prosecudon had been launched against 55 officials, both police and civilian, and departmental acdon against 70" police officials. Based on the reports of the Investigadon Division, the Commission has awarded monetary compensation in 14 cases, where compensadoi^' amounts have ranged between Rs. 10,000/- and Rs. 10 lakhs. ILLUSTRATIVE CASES An illustrative list of cases decided or considered during the course of the year, indicative of the range of complaints addressed by the Commission, is given below. Under the category of police brutality, a representative sample of cases relating to custodial deaths, torture and fake encounters are summarised. These are followed by cases of police harassment resulting from illegal detendon, false implicadon etc. The other m^or secdons include human rights violadons in jail custody; negligence by public authorides; violations of rights of women and children, Dalits, minorides, disabled etc.; human rights violations by the security forces and other important cases. Police Brutality (A) CUSTODIAL DEATHS Custodial death of Hamid in Raisen district, Madhya Pradesh (Case No. 1460/95-96/NHRC) The Commission took suo motu cognizance of a report which appeared in the newspaper NayiDuniya, Bhopal, on 15 June 1995, regarding the custodial death of one Hamid, son of Hafizulla. The news item said that the father of Hamid alleged that his son was picked up by the police from his home for questioning in a theft case reported by his employer, though in fact he ^vas not present at the place on the date of the alleged theft. He was beaten mercilessly and released on 13 June 1995, and again arrested on 14 June 1995, 91