The members of the Women Lawyers’ Association (WLA), led by their president D Prasanna, staged a demonstration before family courts on Saturday to protest against their functioning on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. They barged into the family courts and gheraoed the judges, who returned to their chambers after adjourning all the cases listed for Saturday to some other dates.
Prasanna said the women lawyers are also human beings, requiring rest on holidays. They have families and are to look after their children and husband. “We are handling matrimonial cases of other litigants and solve their problems. But we ourselves have to face similar problems, as our husbands are unhappy with our attending courts on holidays,’’ said a woman advocate who did not want to be named.
The Holiday Family Courts concept was introduced by former Chief Justice MY Eqbal, in 2010 to enable estranged husbands - mostly working class and businessmen - attend the family courts on holidays. This would pave the way for speedy disposal of cases, which was the bigger motive behind the introduction of holiday courts. But that should not happen at the cost of the liberty of the women advocates, rued Prasanna.
Set up more courts: At present, there are four family courts, including that of the Principal Judge. In these modern days, the number of matrimonial cases are manifold. To bridge the gap, establish additional family courts, Prasanna says.
Prasanna also deplored the attitude of the police in not executing the warrants issued by the family courts against the erring husbands. “The police do not show any respect to family courts and their orders,” she added.