The court was furious with the way sarpanchs and talatis had started issuing certificates and recommending temporary bail and even informing jail that convicts on parole/temporary bail would surrender late.
Coming down heavily on women sarpanchs for abusing power, the high court on Friday said the goal of women’s empowerment would never be met if they continued to allow family members to run the show while they remained mere pawns.
The court was furious with the way sarpanchs and talatis had started issuing certificates and recommending temporary bail and even informing jail that convicts on parole/temporary bail would surrender late.
On Wednesday, the seventh division bench of justices Abhilasha Kumari and AJ Shastri had to ask two women sarpanchs and a talati to apologise in writing for interfering with court proceedings and judicial and jail administration.
While rejecting the bail application of Jitendra Patel and application for regularising late surrender of Babu Vankar, the bench observed, “They are good wives, but bad sarpanchs. Because of such weak women sarpanchs, the reservation policy is being abused either by the husband or other family members. They are nothing more than rubber stamps. However, there are also some good sarpanchs in many parts of the nation who are independently discharging their duty.”
The court expressed shock at the blatant abuse of power by a woman sarpanch of Samli village in the Panchamahals district. She had affixed her sign on a conduct certificate informing jail authorities that a convict on temporary bail had surrendered three days late because of a function in his family.
The court was taken back as she was clueless about its contents in the court. It had been drafted by her husband, who was a member of the panchayat and a former deputy sarpanch. The court had directed the public prosecutor’s office to share these orders with senior officers concerned for follow-up measures.
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