Panaji, Oct 7 (IANS) Taking suo moto cognizance of a letter written by a law student, the Panaji bench of the Bombay High Court has directed the state government to set up a state Human Rights Commission (SHRC) by the end of 2009.
The division bench’s direction comes several months after the Goa government was unable to come up with a tenable arrangement with the Maharashtra government and the Maharashtra human rights violation cases, to handle rights violation cases in the state.

The bench of Justice S.B. Deshmukh and U.D. Salvi gave the direction Tuesday to set up the commission by Dec 31.

In his letter addressed to the court last year, Charles D’Souza, a law student, had emphasized the need for a SHRC in Goa to look into cases of human rights excesses in the state.

D’Souza had said that those suffering human rights violations in the state have no place to go for justice.

The state government, which was made a respondent in the case, said there were few instances of human rights violation in the state and that crime rate in Goa was also low.

The government also sought time from the court to work out an arrangement with the Maharashtra authorities.

However, with no perceptible development on the assurances given by the state government, D’Souza approached the high court again in September seeking judicial intervention.