The Ahmedabad High Court on August 11 came down heavily on the state government for failing to comply with its earlier orders and prevent elected representatives from issuing a certificate to convicts. The court has now warned the state to act or face harsh consequences.
The seventh division bench of justice Abhilasha Kumari and justice AJ Shastri, while rejecting four temporary bail applications of convicts in a recent common order observed, "The government authority do not appear to be alive to the alarming situation of elected representatives issuing a certificate to convicts and suggesting the court to grant them temporary bail. It is not just interference in the independent judicial functioning but also transgressing the sphere of their statutory duties. The motive of women empowerment at the local level is defeated with males still dominating the functioning of the Gram Panchayat, where women are elected as sarpanch."
The court was hearing four bail applications, in which the applications were attached to the certificate issued by the Gram Panchayat sarpanch or deputy sarpanch. In all cases, the names of women sarpanch were found to be rubber-stamped. None of them had any idea about certificates being issued on their signatures. In one such case, the husband had forged his wife's signature, the court noted in its order.
Citing such glaring examples, the court observed that, "It is high time for the government to take a deeper look at the aspect and initiate appropriate measures to ensure that women representatives elected at the village level are not exploited by their husband or male relatives. They should be able to function independently and efficiently. Train them for their duties under the Panchayat act, constitutional and legal mandate, otherwise their value will be merely limited to a rubber stamp and the dream enshrined in amendment 73 of the constitution to empower women will never be a reality."
'Woman sarpanch powers misused'
The high court was shocked to know that a woman sarpanch's husband had not only forged her signature but had also issued a certificate to a convict without her knowledge. The bench noted, "The husabnd of Ramsa Group Gram Panchayat's head has forged her signature and issued a certificate stating that a convict family was in financial crisis and he should be granted temporary bail." The court concluded that the powers of the sarpanch are been misused.
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