'Stringent laws soon to check abuse of women'

The union minister also termed female foeticide as a big challenge before the nation.

A bill to check sexual harassment of women is on the anvil, Union Minister for Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhury said on Friday.

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"The enactment of a stringent law in this regard is the need of the hour and a bill in this regard is likely to be passed in next session of Parliament," she told reporters after addressing a Mahila Shakti Samaroh at the home turf of Deputy Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal at Lehra.

Chowdhury regretted that the bill providing 33 percent reservation for women in Parliament and state assemblies was still pending due to lack of consensus among opposition parties over it.

She outrightly rejected the proposal on quota for women in jobs and said multinationals are already giving priority to recruitment of the fair sex.

The union minister termed female foeticide as a big challenge before the nation and accused Punjab of being its biggest perpetrator.

She said her main emphasis was on enactment of common International Laws to check the menace of NRi grooms duping local girls and to expedite extradition proceedings to bring to the book such swindlers.