A whopping 5,000+ cases are currently piled up at the Maharashtra State Women Commission. Most of these cases are of sexual harassment at workplace and domestic violence, which are considered as serious offences.
Over a third of them have been awaiting a hearing for the last two years. This indicates how efficient the panel is when it comes to disposing of the cases. A lack of vigour, red-tapism and a casual approach towards poor women has made the panel redundant, said observers.
Majority of the cases have been lodged by women who don't have access to or can't afford legal remedies. "Such women approach the commission, hoping for quick justice. The panel's functioning, however, is worse than courts. This devastates victims of domestic violence and sexual harassment, and defies the very purpose of existence of such bodies," admitted a panel member.
Besides, the commission operates from Mumbai. Naturally, women living in other parts of Maharashtra can't easily approach the body, unless they have a strong support system or willpower. And the office is open only on working days, that too for a limited number of hours. It doesn't have a call centre either, despite the fact that chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had boasted about the right to service.
"Women commissions are full of political appointees. Half of their energy goes into political activities. This is a major hurdle in functioning of these bodies," said an official of the Women and Child Development Department.
Expressing shock over such a large number of pending cases at the commission, Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam said, "It is shameful that the panel has miserably failed to give justice to distressed women. If there is any deficiency in the body, members must approach the government to address it immediately."
He, however, rejected the argument of the panel members being political appointees. "Even the CM is a political appointee. If someone wishes to serve the public, nothing can stop him or her from doing so."
Meanwhile, panel chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar said, "I took over in February. We have been working on pending cases since then. Action is needed in nearly 1,500 cases and we are taking up the serious ones on a priority basis." She also said that a call centre was on the anvil. "At present, our budget is just Rs75 lakh. We have requested the Women and Child Development Department to allocate at least Rs10 crore. This would help us to set-up a call centre."
She added that she has taken the initiative to hold hearings in Nagpur, Aurangabad and Kolhapur, and to reach out to women in interior parts of the state.
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