Govts not committed to women's rights, safety

Hyderabad : The debate on insecurity of women � Abhadra Bharatam � conducted by The Hans India and HMTV on the occasion of International Women's Day on Friday received an overwhelming response from women organisations that raised several issues including denial of constitutional rights to women and discrimination against Dalit and tribal communities in dealing with the cases of atrocities on women. Social activist Devi said that the government was not sincere in implementing the existing laws for the protection of women. Strict laws had been enforced, though, to stop child marriages. She questioned why similar stringent laws were not being enacted to punish accused in child abuse and minor rape cases. Million March organiser Tejaswini said the social media networks were playing an important role in strengthening the fight against Nirbhaya's rape case in New Delhi. She appealed to girls to utiliseA the social media to unite all women folk and fight against harassment. Girls should also learn techniques of how to protect themselves from attacks. Lawyer Jyothi Kiran said she had made several recommendations to the Verma Commission, but many of them were not included in the Act. Though the Constitution provided all rights to women and equality before law, gender discrimination was still on the increase in the society, she regretted. Samatha Society leader Prashanthi stressed the need to provide more powers to women up to village level so that they would get their due share and develop socially, economically and politically. Dalit Sri Shakthi President G Jhansi said it was unfortunate that atrocities and rapes on dalits and tribals were not being due importance in the media and also by the government. Thousands of cases had been pending before the courts and police stations, but no action was being taken to hasten their hearing, she added. Expressing concern over increasing inequality in the society, Nalsar University Professor M Sridhar observed insecurity that gripped the fair sex would remain so as long as the issues of equalities remained unaddressed. The system had still been permitting the criminals to go scot-free and it was a deplorable aspect of the present society and a major source of insecurity for women. The judiciary was yet to go a long way in tackling such issues, he added.