Women Related

As per India legal news reports, the women army officers have won the legal spat with the government of India. The government of India has assured the apex court that it will consider granting permanent commission (PC) to women army officers, in legal and educational departments. However, the women officers seeking PC, from other branches of army, such as combat and infantry, will have to wait.

Education is every citizen’s legal right. In India, a majority of girls are not given education by their families. In South India, this problem is particularly high in the state of Karnataka. To solve this, the Government of India will launch the Saakshar Bharat scheme in Karnataka to curb female illiteracy.  To start with, this scheme will cover Karnataka’s 17 districts, that have low female literacy rates.

The consumerist culture has become a cancerous growth in Kerala’s once-golden culture. In nearly every home, there is purposeful, ostentatious display of consumerism, paving the way for an unhappy, highly criminalized society with increasing levels of sexual harassment and violence against women.

India legal news reports indicate that incidents of violence against women are increasing in India. The latest statistics reveal that every third minute a case of violence against women is reported in India. Nearly 50 cases of dowry related violence are registered. To save family honor and reputation, many cases of sexual harassment and violence against women are not reported.

Domestic violence is a serious issue faced by several Indian women. Indian women are known to tolerate it in silence because they want to protect family honor and endure it for the sake of their children. However, Indian law recognizes cruelty as a major ground for divorce.

The Malaysian government upheld the legal right of women to be treated equal to men in their spheres of work by appointing two women judges. Suraya Ramli, who is 31 years old, was designated as a Sharia judge in Putrajaya. Rafidah Abdul Razak, 39 years old, was appointed as Sharia judge in Kuala Lumpur. The appointments were cleared by the Prime Minister, Najib Razak. In Malaysia, Islamic courts run parallel with the civil courts. Under Malaysia’s judicial system, the Shariah courts address issues pertaining to the family and morality while criminal and civil cases are handled by the secular courts.

On 15th July 2010, the Vatican (the central governing body of the Catholic Church, recognized by international law) stated that the ordination of woman catholic priests is a crime, against faith. It also issued a statement saying that henceforth, the incidents of attempted ordination will be addressed by Vatican’s disciplinary body, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Further, the new rules proposed by the Vatican has brought the attempt of ordination of women on par with pedophilia though women priests believe this puts their legal rights in jeopardy. The Vatican has made it clear that participants of such an offence will be subjected to automatic excommunication (exclusion from sacraments of church).

The status of Indian women has undergone considerable change. Though Indian women are far more independent and aware of their legal rights, such as right to work, equal treatment, property and maintenance, a majority of women remain unaware of these rights. There are other factors that affect their quality of life such as age of marriage, extent of literacy, role in the family and so on. In many families, women do not have a voice in anything while in several families; the women may have a dominating role. The result is that the empowerment of women in India is highly unbalanced and with huge gaps. Those who are economically independent and literate live the kind of life that other women tend to envy about. This disparity is also a cause for worry because balanced development is not taking place.

The existing Indian law pertaining to rape offences is inadequate and ineffective. In a case where a Catholic nun was raped during the anti-Christian riots in Orissa, the High Court granted bail to the accused. The single judge bench comprising Justice C. R. Das said that it was evident that the accused led the violent mob in the aftermath of Hindu leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati’s murder. However, it was stated there was no clear evidence that he had committed rape.

As per the Constitution of India, every citizen has the right to education and procreation, though not necessarily both at one go. In an interesting twist of events, almost like something out of a film, on July 13, 2010, the Delhi High Court ruled that a pregnant woman student cannot be barred from taking examinations in any semester, due to attendance shortage. The court directed the Delhi University and Bar Council of India, to relax the strict attendance rules, for students who are unable to attend classes, due to pregnancy.