Did Ministry forget to give women's panel more teeth?

The flare in sexual crimes and the accompanying outrage has not been able to make the authorities dust off the recommendations made by the state womenrsquos commission in 2006 for giving more muscle to the law that deals with such crimes So obscured have they become that the statersquos women and child development minister is apparently not familiar with them For some six years now the recommendations conceived when Sanjeevani Kutty was the member secretary of the state womenrsquos commission are resting in government cabinets while the amendments proposed to the Maharashtra State Commission for Women Act 1993 lie dormant In her correspondence with the secretary of the women and child development department Vandana Krishna Kutty stated that the state womenrsquos commission ldquohas been given powers of civil court But in practice these powers are not enough there is a need to amend the said actrdquou00a0 In the same letter dated September 25 2006 a copy of which MiD DAY has Kutty further stated that in order to study the provisions of the act minutely and suggest necessary changes and rules a retired principal secretary from the law and judiciary department P Umarji had been appointed by the commission Umarji after studying the act and discussing it with the commission proposed extra provisions in sections 10 and 16 of the act Kutty presently the additional secretary of the Union Public service Commission requested that the law and judiciary department put these recommendations before the legislature after obtaining the cabinetrsquos goahead On October 3 2006 Kutty even sent Krishna a reminder saying the then minister for women and child development had given directions to highlight in the act the independent status of the womenrsquos commission After the ministryrsquos nod the draft bill was to be put up before the legislature But thatrsquos as far as things got to When contacted Varsha Gaikwad state minister for women and child development said ldquoI am not aware of the details I will have to check with the office Our priority is to appoint the chairman for the womenrsquos commission incidentally a post that has been lying vacant for the past four years We will look into the proposed amendments in the actrdquo Kiran Moghe state president of the All India Democratic Womenrsquos Association said ldquoForget about the amendment being made into an act the state government is not even interested in giving teeth to the state womenrsquos commission which has been headless for years For close to two decades we have been shouting at the top of our voice but no one can hear us The existing law is not adequate and the criminal justice system is biased against womenrdquo Attempts to contact Kutty and Krishna were unsuccessfulu00a0 Recommendations suggested gtgt The act may be called the Maharashtra State Commission for Women Amendment Act 2006 gtgt In section 10 of the Maharashtra State Commission for Women Act 1993 any proceedings before the commission shall be deemed to be judicial proceedings and the commission shall be deemed to be a court gtgt In section 16 A the commission may receive money from any organisation or person by way of donation contribution gtgt In section 16 B no court shall grant any injunction restraining any proceedings being or about to be taken under the provisions of this act