Shelter home for women sought
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 2003 02:01:52 AM ]
PATNA: Mahila Adhikar Morcha (MAM), an organisation working against atrocities
on women, demanded the state government to establish a shelter home for women
and children and implementation of Convention for Elimination of Discrimination
Against Women (CEDAW).
Talking to mediapersons here on Wednesday, MAM coordinator Dorothy Fernandes
said that there is an urgent need for a shelter home in the state, in which
women and children in distress could be kept.
This will help women, especially young ones, to live in an environment where
they may get a chance to plan an independent life, she added.
She said that although there has been an exponential rise in cases of atrocities
against women, the number of cases registered was still low. Therefore, the
government should set up a women’s cell in every block, so that the victims
feel free to approach the police and lodge a complaint, she maintained.
Expressing concern over the rising cases of sexual harassment of women at
workplace, she demanded immediate implementation of Supreme Court orders in both
government and private undertakings’ offices.
She said that the society’s attitude towards sex workers also needs a change.
“People should understand that they are also human beings and part of the same
society,” she said, adding “the police should also desist from harassing
them during and after raids”. The police officials should understand that the
sex workers are victims of circumstances and not criminals.
Fernandes also requested the government to formulate a rehabilitation programme
for such sex workers who want to leave the flesh trade. The government should
launch some vocational courses for these women so that they are able to lead a
respectable life.
Fernandes further said that the government should treat domestic violence as the
violation of basic human rights, as in the CEDAW, to which India is a signatory.