Molestation: Minister wants fast track justice

Renuka Chowdhury prescribes fast track justice to deal with the rising instances of the menace across India, reports Chetan Chauhan.

Updated on: Jan 16, 2008, 03:38:38 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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Fast track justice for molestation victims is what Women and Child Development Minister Renuka Chowdhury has prescribed to deal with the rising instances of the menace across India.

After a meeting with the legal experts and WCD officials, Chowdhury said, the states would be asked to dispose off cases of molestation in two hearings. “It is totally unfair for the victim to bear the harassment of going to courts so many times. Quick disposal will help victims in registering cases against repeated offenders,” she told reporters.

According to home ministry data, on an average molestation cases take about two years for disposal. And, the reason is excess burden on trial courts in the country.

Chowdhury said fast track courts for molestation cases would be the first step to deal with poor enforcement of molestation laws. “If you look at the conviction rate in molestation cases, you would understand why we need acceleration of trial in molestation cases,” she said.

The meeting was held in the backdrop of a New Year eve molestation case in Mumbai. Chowdhury expressed her dismay at pathetic enforcement of molestation laws and the hesitation by the police to register cases. “When women go to the police station to report a molestation case, the cops refuse to register the case and ask them to go home. This helps the accused and batters confidence of the victim,” she said.

“We are looking at the possibility of recommending changes in molestation laws. But, that would be done after nation wide consultations,” she said. Chowdhury also expressed her anger at poor implementation of Dowry Prohibition Act resulting in a rise in dowry cases and poor conviction rate. “The law is being reviewed,” she said.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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