http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Let-women-MPs-monitor-law-banning-branding-of-females-as-witches-SC/articleshow/5677592.cms
NEW DELHI: Though the fate of women's reservation bill hangs in the balance in Parliament, the Supreme Court has started relying on its positive impact on social problems, especially in the eastern states where women continue to be branded as witches, tortured and sometimes lynched. A PIL by Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra (RLEK) pointed out the sad situation prevailing in the hinterlands of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Orissa, Bihar and Rajasthan where in the last 15 years, more than 2,500 women have been killed after being branded as witches or `dayan' as they were colloquially referred to. RLEK's counsel Meenakshi Arora told a Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices Deepak Verma and T S Thakur that though Jharkhand , Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan had enacted laws to protect women, complaints were seldom taken seriously by the local police rendering the legislative action toothless. The Bench was reluctant to take up the issue. Referring to the highly publicised legislative move to give 33% reservation to women in Lok Sabha and assemblies, the Bench said, "Now, there will be more women MPs and MLAs. They can supervise implementation of laws in these states where the problem exists." Arora persisted with the request that a small push by the Supreme Court through monitoring the implementation could make the plight of the poor women much better. But the Bench remained firm in not entertaining the petition saying, "We already have enough litigation and we do not want to add more to it in the form of monitoring implementation of laws in states." It added, "The problem is there only in a few states. We cannot supervise the implementation of laws in states. The police has to take action as these are enactments and the states should be taking action to implement them in letter and spirit." http://timesofindia .indiatimes. com/india/ Let-women- MPs-monitor- law-banning- branding- of-females- as-witches- SC/articleshow/ 5677592.cms -- Maya S. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB.
