The Supreme Court has described the incident with a 20 -year -old B.Ed student of Balasore, Odisha as shameful. This student of Fakir Mohan Autonomas College, Balasore, had complained of sexual harassment against her HOD. The student committed suicide due to no action against the accused HOD by the college administration and she died during treatment in AIIMS Bhubaneswar.
The apex court sought suggestions that what steps can be taken to empower school girls, housewives and girls from rural areas. A bench of Justice Suryakant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi made this comment when the lawyer of the Supreme Court Women Lawyers Association brought the incident to the cognizance of the apex court. The bench said, ‘We are embarrassed and it is unfortunate that these incidents are still happening. This is not a protest case. We need suggestions from the Center and all sides.
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The Supreme Court further said, ‘We need suggestions from all what concrete steps can be taken to empower schoolgirls, housewives, children from rural areas, who are the weakest and innocent. Our instructions should have some effect and clear impression. The back was hearing a petition seeking guidelines to create a safe environment for women, children and transgenders.
Growing crime against women
During the hearing, senior advocate Mahalakshmi Pavani argued that ‘we wait for a disaster to change things’. He told that in this case of Odisha, the woman had called the helpline, but she did not get any help. Letters were sent to the government. The lawyer described the Odisha case as an institutional murder as the system did not take any action on the complaint of the student.
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Pavani also told the court that people have no awareness about laws and available procedures. People are not aware of online Complaint Mechanism. The ASG told the court that the national database of sexual criminals has been created. However, Mahalakshmi Pavani cited the Kolkata Law College rape case, where there were 11 other complaints against the accused. He said that if the database was open to the public and universities, it might not have been kept in college.
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Justice Suryakant said that Nalsa is bringing more schemes to empower women. Pavani told the court that when the oppressed women call the helpline, they are preached to moral policing instead of taking the help of the police … It is an institutional failure. The petition also called for several steps including raising awareness among women and training them about laws and procedures. The petition states that there are only 17563 police stations across the country, but only 3256 special police stations of them. Similarly, there are a total of 7863 railway stations in the country, but only around 800 are equipped with CCTV. Women are particularly insecure in rural areas.
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