CHENNAI: With lakhs of cases pending in court, law still remains inaccessible to a large part of our society and sometimes even if accessible, there are not enough laws to secure justice to those is distress. Women and children are usually the ones who belong to this category.
To discuss this issue, the judiciary joined hands with experts in various field of social issues at the National Conference on Women and Children in the city on Saturday.
The first session touched upon a subject that is seldom discussed - the necessity for equal protection for a minor offender and for the victim. "When two minors have a love affair, parents might file a case against the boy but is a love affair as grave as a crime? How do we handle such situations?" asked professor Ved Kumari, department of law, Delhi University. She went on to throw light on little known "restorative justice". "We have to build an environment where a child is not just sent to jail for a crime. We have to chalk out a way that will help the criminal to change in themselves. We should ensure that both parties don't feel isolated," she explained.
The conference also had a discussion on the shocking rise of cyber crimes against women and children in the country. Vidya Reddy, founder director of Tulir, an organisation working for child rights, said since children are exposed to so much information on the net at a very early age, they are at a huge risk of getting abused. "Since there is so much material of child peadophilia on the net, people are made to believe it is okay to indulge in it. Every time a pornographic picture is clicked on, a child gets abused," she explained. While applauding that the law for child abuse and cyber crimes is sound in the country, she said it was essential to ensure its proper implementation.
Speaking about how the law treats women with mental health, Dr Lakshmi Vijaykumar, founder of Sneha, suicide helpline, said it was the need of the hour to decriminalise suicide. "No one is going to think about the law and become scared and decide not to commit suicide. In one instance, a girl attempted suicide and survived. But a day later, police came to interrogate her to file a case and that night she hung herself. How is this law helping," she asked. According to her women are more prone to suicidal thought because of the various socio-economic problems they are exposed to.
Dr A Lakshmi Ravikanth from Banyan, working for women with mental issues, asked for more clarity on the legal property rights of those women with mental illness, as they are often exploited. "There should also be kinder laws in custody cases for those suffering form mental illness, same with divorce as well. Mental illness is treatable, so it cannot become a ground for divorce," she said. She also said that the judiciary has become more open to understanding mental illness so as to ensure justice in cases involving those suffering from it.