Women’s rights groups and activists on Thursday strongly condemned the remarks of Delhi High Court’s judge Pratiba M. Singh, who a day ago had said that Indian women were “blessed” because scriptures like Manusmriti give a “very respectable position” to them.
The judge was speaking at an event organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s (FICCI) WISE Council (Women in Science and Entrepreneurship) on the topic — ‘Facing the unseen barriers: Addressing challenges faced by Women in Science, Technology, Entrepreneurship and Mathematics (STEM)’.
At the event, Justice Singh said there is immense opportunity in the area of innovation for women but they need systems that are friendly and flexible enough for them to use their educational qualifications to contribute more to the field and the GDP.
During the address, Justice Singh, citing examples of Indian scriptures, said: “In fact, the Asian countries do much better in respecting women, in households and in general. That’s because of the cultural and religious background that we have. The women and equally men play a very important role in our lives to be where we are and to achieve what we want." She went on to say that even the Manusmriti says that prayers are useless unless women are respected and honoured.
These remarks drew a sharp reaction from women's rights groups and activists, with the National Federation of Indian Women issuing a statement through its general secretary Annie Raja, placing on record its “strong disagreement” with the position taken by Justice Singh.
Ms. Raja said, “Justice Singh as a way forward for women prescribed the upholding of Manusmriti, a document that is built upon the foundation of hierarchy. Her reading of the Manusmriti wilfully chooses to ignore the institutionalised prescriptions of the absolute discipling and punishing of women bodies and ideas. This is in addition to the despicable ascriptive norms of caste that is encoded in the said text.”
‘Woefully ignorant’
Her statement added, “Justice Singh seems woefully ignorant of the pathetic condition of women at large, particularly of women from historically marginalised communities, not just in the Indian subcontinent but across the globe.”
Activist Kavita Krishnan, who is also associated with the All India Progressive Women’s Association, quoted certain parts of the Manusmriti and said, “What the Manusmriti calls ‘reverance’ or ‘worship’ of women is actually control of women — all to maintain caste apartheid... For a judge to call all this ‘respect’ is worse than absurd.”
