THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Woman legislators from 22 states on Friday passed a resolution calling for a legislation to prevent abuse, misogynistic conduct and bullying on social media against women. The panelists in two sessions -- ‘Women’s rights and legal gaps’ and ‘Under-representation of women in decision-making bodies’ -- on the second day of the National Women Legislators Conference 2022, organised by the Kerala assembly, urged the woman legislators to voice their concerns so that the welfare of the fairer sex is heard.
The conference was organised as part of the Azadi Ka Amrut Mahotsav to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the country’s Independence. CPM leader P K Sreemathi who moderated the session on ‘Women’s rights and legal gaps’ said despite the country having enacted several laws for women, they remain a harried lot. She blamed the government for not supporting women.
Dr Shashi Panja, sonologist-turned-Trinamool Congress legislator and West Bengal minister of women, child development and social justice, asked the stakeholders to plug the legal gaps through public advocacy. “In West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has launched the Bhandar scheme by which income support is being given to women who do not have any sources of income to run their families. It needs a whopping Rs 14,000 crore for a year,” said Dr Shashi Panja.
Kerala High Court Justice Anu Sivaraman said there are lacunae in the existing laws for women. When the state is seeing a large number of dowry harassment cases, she recalled that the dowry prohibition law has been there since 1961 but that has not deterred families from harassing brides of their sons. Hence, legal provisions had to be added later. Sunita Duggal, Lok Sabha member from Sirsa in Haryana, expressed anguish at the low attendance of woman legislators on the second compared to the first day of the event inaugurated by President Ram Nath Kovind.