Judicial personalities cannot sit in ivory towers, they need to be sensitive to cases of atrocities against women and spread awareness on preventive steps to be taken to curb them, opined Andhra Pradesh High Court Krishna Portfolio Judge N.V. Ramana.
At a day-long conference organised by Confederation of Indian Industry in association with A.P. Judicial Academy on ‘Violence against women – Issues and Challenges’ here on Friday, he said that solution to this social malaise was not in making laws or trying cases, but making every citizen in the society more sensitive to women’s rights. “Women should be seen as equals and when they were rubbing shoulders with men in every walk of life, they need better security,” he opined.
Dwelling on the reasons for delay or injustice to women either rape or cases of other atrocities, Justice Ramana said that in most of the cases there was no conviction as the witnesses or victims turned hostile or the accused took advantage in the loopholes in evidence. The session began with CII Andhra Pradesh Chairperson Suchitra Ella.
Ms. Suchitra explained about Indian Women Network launched three days ago, which would help working women, final-year undergraduate students and PGs to come together and interact for creating a better working environment. The CII Vijayawada Chairman B.S. Koteswara Rao welcomed the gathering.
Statistics
Giving statistics of atrocities against women cases pending in the High Court, the Judge said that there were 10,534 cases including Rape, outraging modesty, eve teasing etc. Krishna district tops in Andhra Pradesh with largest number – 1611 - of atrocities against cases followed by Ranga Reddy 808, Hyderabad 803 and 772 in Srikakulam.
The Judge told the meeting that in this meeting after the Justice Varma Committee recommendations are out, people needed to express their views from all angles so that resolutions could be sent to the Union Government before it finalises the amendments. The Judiciary had asked for setting up of more fast-track courts, appointment of additional public prosecutors so that pending cases could be disposed early. “Currently we are taking only three months to dispose of a case once its trial begins,” Justice Ramana pointed out.
Avanigedda SDPO Police Officer K. Chamundeswari said majority of the cases were that of jilted lovers in the teenage mainly due to infatuation. Going to police station was still a taboo in rural areas, which had to change by instilling confidence among people from school level.
