Separate courts should be set up for women: Krishna Tirath

Seeking to take the gender equality battle forward, a union minister today demanded separate courts for women to get them timely justice, wondering at the same time on absence of any female judge in the apex court.

"There is not a single female judge in the Supreme Court. Why don't we raise it...then how the women will get justice... there should be a separate court for women so that they get justice in time," Krishna Tirath, Union minister for women and child development, said while addressing a convention organised by the AICC legal and human rights department here.

The minister also stressed on the need for gender sensitisation programmes in each police stations, saying there is a need to sensitise the police regarding women issues. 

Making a strong pitch for creating public awareness regarding the women issues, the minister said the investigations into the Priyadarshini Mattoo case and Ruchika case owes a lot to the alertness of the society.

Tirath also said the Self Help Group (SHGs) of women and Anganvadi workers can be made Ahimsa (non-violence) messengers to create awareness against gender violence. She said this has been done in Rajasthan and there is a need to create such Ahimsa Messengers in every nook and corner of the country.