WCD in the US : Deliberations on the Issue of Crime Against Women

The importance and dire need of women safety globally 

In the spate of rising incidents of violence being reported against women, the government is taking making a number of measures to address the issue so as to increase the safety, and security of women. The effort is now increasingly towards holistic intervention with a view to balance both preventive and curative aspects, including a thrust on proper and effective implementation of various laws and provisions available for safety of girls/women .

The recently held 57th Session of the UN Commission on Status of Women in New York from March 4^th-15^th, 2013  served as an important  platform for the world leaders, administrators and experts to deliberate on the issue since elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls was the theme of this year’s discussion. The occasion gave an opportunity to the Indian delegation led by Minister, WCD, Ms Krishna Tirath, who was accompanied by  Ms Rashmi Singh, Executive Director, National Mission for Empowerment of Women, and Joint Secretary ( NMEW), Ms Preeti Madaan to highlight what India has recently done on the issue and also share  the various women empowerment and child development initiatives in India. The deliberations led to an agreed conclusion by the member states during the 2^nd week in which Ms Ratna Prabha, Additional Secretary & MD, NMEW, and Ms Indira Jaising, Additional Solicitor General took part in the negotiation rounds with the member states.

168 countries including more than 70 ministers participated in the plenary meeting. They were also joined by non- governmental organizations, think tanks and other civic society members.

WCD minister Krishna Tirath, delivered country’s statement during the discussion highlighting the measures taken in the spate of the recent incident of  horrific rape, commonly known as the ‘ Nirbhay’ case.She briefed the gathering about the latest laws passed by the government like the Prevention of  Sexual Harassment of Women at workplace, 2013 and protection of children from sexual offences Act 2012. She explained how the two laws, and the amendment in the Criminal Procedure Act  underway will bring more stringent punishments to the perpetrators of violence against women and children. The measures related to development of  protocols for police, medical functionaries, and other service providers to  improve coordination of  response to victims of violence, plan of setting up of  One Stop Crisis Centers for Women in hundred identified critical districts with the aim to provide integrated services required by women subjected to violence  was also shared. Minister, WCD shared the concept of Ahimsa Messengers (peace messengers), Saksham scheme, and the enhanced allocations in the budget 2013-14 for women. 

A number of side events were organized by different NGOs on the occasion too. In some of these, members from the Indian delegation were invited to make presentations on thematic issues connected with the focus area of the CSW. There was consensus of in all the deliberations that there is a need to work towards empowerment of women economically and socially. Woman should be strong enough to question the gender stereotypes, and the relevance of deeply held beliefs and social attitudes towards sexes and sexual identities.

SAVE THE GIRL, SAVE THE WORLD: GIRL CHILD DAY , JAN 2013

Smt. Krishna Tirath, Minister for Women and Child Development and former President Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam awarded children who have won the national slogan writing competition on the National Girl Child Day, held on 24^th January 2013.

Smt. Tirath and the Chief Guest for the function, Dr. Abdul Kalam awarded the winners of the national slogan writing competition. The first prize winners were given prize of Rs. 50,000; the second and third prize winners were given Rs. 35,000 and Rs. 25,000 each. For the Hindi slogans, the first prize was awarded to Kum. K K Chandralekha of Bangalore and second prize went to Master Swapnil Jain from Jabalpur. The third prize of Rs. 25,000 each was given away to Master Praveen Jabar of Chattisgarh and Kum. Saumya Sharma of Jaipur. In the English category Kum. Kanupriya Sharma won the first prize and Kum. Debangee Roy of Kolkata won the second prize. The third prize was shared equally by Master Anmol Rathod of Jammu and Kum. Veerta Singh of Kurukshetra, Haryana. More than 4000 students in the age group of 14-18 participated in the slogan writing competition. This was organized by the National Mission for Empowerment of Women (NMEW), under the Ministry of WCD. 

Best slogan of the year was  Save the Girl, Save the World.

 Speaking at the occasion, the Smt. Krishna Tirath said that while children are the future of the nation, it is a cause of national concern that the child sex ratio has been showing a declining trend. The decline in the affluent sections of the society is worrisome, she pointed out. This trend does not portend a healthy future for the society and the country, she added. Declining child sex ratio and child marriages are not isolated events, the Minister said. They both point to and emerge from the low respect for women in the Indian society. Cultural preference for male child, combined with technological advances which have made availability of cheap ultrasound machines easy to procure have resulted in increasing female foeticide. The Ministers narrated instances from some villages from Rajasthan where the newly born girl children are killed immediately after birth, because of the cultural preference for the male child. She said that the Ministry of WCD is in the process of bringing out a National Plan of Action for abetting the falling child sex ratio through a comprehensive action plan with the support of all concerned Ministries, such as Health, Human Resource Development, Drinking water and Sanitation etc.

 In order to empower women and protect the girl child, the Minister elaborated on the schemes and initiatives taken up by the Ministry of WCD such as SABLA and the ICDS which has resulted in better nutrition and education among the children and young and adolescent women. Smt. Tirath also elaborated on the newly formed Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012 where stringent punishment has been provided for sexual assault on children.

In his key note address at the occasion, Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam said that girl child and women are social assets, and they need to be nurtured and protected for a healthy society. There are many laws in the country for women and children but they are not enough, Dr. Kalam said. They need to be implemented in letter and spirit. He said that reserving 33% of seats in the Parliament will lead to empowering women.

Dr. Kalam further said that a happy home with nurturing parents and guiding teachers shape and mould the future of the child. He said that when the child is empowered by the parents he/she develops into a responsible citizen of the country; and empowering women ensured the harmony within the society. Parents need to inculcate the habit of reading in the children right from a young age, Dr. Kalam stated. He also had the children present at the occasion take a vow that they will plant five trees and nurture them before they turn 17 years of age, pointing to the importance of a clean and green environment.

The Secretary, WCD, Sh. Prem Narain also pointed at the escalation in the drop-out rate of girl child in the country and expressed concern about the declining child sex ratio. He said these have reached a level where the whole country needs to be concerned, as this is a matter of survival of the society. He also mentioned that many girls drop out of school early due to lack of facilities such as drinking water, sanitation and toilets in many schools. Many times the schools are far away from the homes. The Ministry of WCD and HRD have taken a pledge, he said, to provide all schools with toilets in the 12th FYP. He also elaborated on various schemes of the Ministry of WCD which have empowered women and the girl child. He further added amendments are being proposed in the Dowry Act and the Immoral Trafficking Act. 

Courtesy: http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=91812

6 Years after introducing domestic violence laws: How are we faring?

New Delhi, 21 January 2013: Six years since India passed its historic legislation to prevent domestic violence, there is much to celebrate and much to learn. Experts and policymakers came together to discuss the status of the implementation of the Act during the launch of the 6^th report monitoring the Act. ‘Staying Alive: Evaluating Court Orders’ was officially released by the Hon’ble Chief Justice Altamas Kabir.

Supported by UN Women, the Staying Alive report is an independent monitoring of the Act by Lawyers Collective Women’s Rights Initiative between September 2011 and September 2012.

The Report identifies key strengths of the implementation of Act and areas where improvement is needed. The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (PWDVA) 2005 is a progressive, and rights based piece of legislation to prevent and punish incidences of domestic violence.

Greater budget for protection officers

The report was launched by the National Mission for Empowerment of Women (NMEW), the Lawyers Collective Women’s Rights Initiative (LCWRI) and UN Women at the 6th National Conference: “Staying Alive: Implementation of Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005”.

In her inaugural address, Smt. Krishna Tirath, Minister of Women and Child Development announced the decision to allocate an annual budgetary provision of Rs. 100 Crores for the appointment of Protection Officers, working exclusively for the implementation of the law.

In relation to the Delhi gang rape of 16 December 2012 the Hon’ble Chief Justice said that the incident was “a crime, not just against an individual but against women and society in general”.

Findings show that married women are the single largest users

• The Report found that married women continue to be the single largest users of the PWDVA. This is followed by widows, divorced women, daughters and sisters.
• Increasing volume of Orders, also indicate that women are increasingly relying upon the PWDVA for protection.
• In the majority of cases, women are filing cases once they have left the shared household.
• Wider acceptance of the occurrence of domestic violence. The violence is now no longer limited to physical violence but also extends to non-physical and sexual violence.
• Still a lack of understanding of the nature of domestic and family violence. For example, some Courts seemed unable to reconcile, how a daughter who made allegations of sexual abuse against a father, would continue to visit her family home despite the abuse.
• Women who returned to their natal home were less likely to get protection or Residence Orders. This trend was prominent in Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. The justification for not granting a protection order was on the basis that the woman was not under any imminent threat or danger of violence. This approach shows a lack of understanding of the dynamics of domestic violence.
• The Staying Alive Report was critical of the S.R. Batra and Anr. V. Smt. TarunaBatra case. Following this judgement, a woman may be denied or have restricted rights to reside in a shared household if she or her husband or partner, have no right or interest in the property.
• Some of the judicial bias that remain includes disbelieving the women, denial of Orders where the allegations of domestic violence are not considered severe enough, and allegations by Judges alleging that women have misused the law. Recommendations include that the Courts adopt a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to all forms of domestic violence.

How data was collected for  Staying Alive 

Three Supreme Court and thirty four High Court judgments were delivered during this monitoring period.  22,255 Orders were received from 1 April 2011 to 31 December 2011 , out of which 9,526 orders were analyzed for the purpose of this Report. The data was collected from a range of state agencies. As each state implements the PWDVA in their own model, one of the challenges for completing the Report was comparing data and indicators which varied from state to state.

Progress made but improvement necessary

During the conference, many affirmed that despite the progress made, there are a range of areas in which improvements are necessary. Patriarchal beliefs and biases still affect service delivery in the justice system. Other challenges include the employment of under-skilled Protection-Officers.
Many women still remain unaware of the existence of the PWDVA and the services that exist to support women through domestic violence. The Conference identified that all those who suffer from domestic violence should know that it is a crime, and that there is a law to support them. Others criticized the financial commitment to the PWDVA with an insufficient budget proposed  in the draft Twelfth Five Year Plan.

Resources to monitor the Act

Two other publications were also released at the event : ‘Best Practices Manual PWDV Act 2005’, and the ‘ Resource Tool: Monitoring & Evaluation of PWDV Act 2005’ .

“Moving forward, the role of Monitoring and Evaluating of the implementation of the PWDVA 2005 will be taken over by the Ministry of Women and Child Development from Lawyers Collective. The Best Practices Manual & Resource Tool is an important tool to build capacity for anyone who wants to undertake monitoring and evaluation of the Act,” said Ms. Anne Stenhammer, Representative of UN Women’s Office for India, Bhutan, Maldives & Sri Lanka.

The Conference was attended Ms. Indira Jaising Additional Solicitor General and Executive Director, LCWRI, ; Justice (Retd.) Ruma Pal of the Supreme Court of India; the Honourable Chief Justice of India Shri Altamas Kabir; Ms. Ratnaprabha, Addl. Secretary, National Mission for Empowerment of Women (NMEW) and Ms. Rashmi Singh, Executive Director, National Resource Centre for Women, NMEW.

The Staying Alive initiative was funded through the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women.

Courtesy-www.unwomensouthasia.org 

Vatsalya Mela, 2012

Vatsalya mela

Dilli Haat witnessed a special celebration during the Vatsalya Mela week in November 2012. Vatsalya Mela is being organized by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India. The Mela was organized from 14^th to 19^th November at Dilli Haat. The highlight of the Mela was the active participation of Women Panchayats from every nook and corner of the country. Issues of Girl’s Safety, Domestic Violence, Protection of Women, Menstrual Hygiene, Female Feticide, Value of Girl Child and Sanitation were demonstrated through audio- video shows, street plays, game shows, puppetry, discussion, interactive games, etc. 

A daily newsletter was also published my the Ministry on WCD focussing on the important activities during the Mela.