 As we all know that constitution since its inception has been evolving itself. And once you have Parvati Menon A, advocate from Kerala High Court, you know that whatever she speaks will be an ounce of knowledge, which everybody will be cherishing. And the manner in which there has been an evolution of women, centric laws in India is a today's topic, what will be delivered upon and discussing it through Parvati Menon. And we have done a lot of sessions with her and all the sessions needless to say are doing extremely well. And we are indebted that she accepted Dalind right over to you ma'am. Thank you sir. Thanks a lot for that good introduction, very motivating introduction. And as much as the topic is concerned, the topic relates to the women's centric laws basically as a result of the constitutional evolution. So anything as we know that we, the whole of this country is indebted to the constitution, we are bound by the constitution. And it's something called a constitutional culture that has to be imbibed or that has to be developed in this country as a whole. Not alone by the legal fraternity, but as much as by the entire country as a whole. Now that be so, if that be so, what I intend to flag upon is how the constitution has been right from its inception, the important provisions which have been already there in the constitution, which are women centric, which are for the benefit of the women, which we start with under Article 15 plus three of the Indian constitution, which reads that, as we all know, Article 15 clearly states that no Indian citizen can be, they cannot be separated or rather there is no point in any kind of discrimination that can be showed against people on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. In spite of such a provision under Article 15, we have a specific clause under Article 15, clause three, which reads that any laws that have been made for the benefit of women and children cannot be considered to be ultra-virus of the constitution. So the beneficial legislations which have been made, any statutes, any law that has been made or formulated exclusively for the benefit of women and children have been considered to be virus, it has been considered to be very much constitutional and that's how the constitution at the outset itself protects the women centric laws and women and children of this country. Then comes Article 39 of the constitution, Article 39 of the constitution which ensures the benefit of under the directive principles of the state policy, which clearly states that it ensures and directs the state to apply policies which focus on men and women equally. That is Article 39 B goes to a very focused provision which reads regarding equal pay for equal work. So right from the inception, there is no point in saying that the constitution or this country was completely patriarchal to a state where people when nobody was concerned about women or children. It's not like that. Right from the inception, the constitution makers were very much farsighted. They sought to it that women and children were protected as per the main provisions of the constitution. All the same, in spite of highlighting these provisions, something which I would like to bring to your notice is unless and until society feels because the difficulty is not just in the lack of having statutes or lack of having legislations. The difficulty is basically what we understand as a part of this fraternity. We understand is generally the attitude of the people, of the society. See unless and until the society needs a change, there is no point in bringing about as much as laws as possible because, for example, I'll give you, we have had the Dowry Prohibition Act as early as 1961. We have had the Child Marriage Restraint Act as early as 1929. But don't you think we still have child marriages conducted in some parts of the country? We still have the dowry system that is prevalent in the society. So unless and until you and I need the feel in the change, that a change has to be brought in the society, unless and until that happens, there is no point in bringing as much laws as possible. So it's not a case where we do not have necessary laws. It's a case where how we use the laws because as the Dowry Prohibition Act is concerned, let me tell you, it's very, very rarely that we people invoke the provisions of the Dowry Prohibition Act and make complaints before the authorities. Dowry Prohibition Officers are sitting idle because nobody goes to them, nobody complains to them. Child marriage officers are also sitting idle because nobody complains to them. But off late, at least in our state in Kerala, people have started reacting and responding. And so, of course, generally, unless and until the society feels the necessity for this change, we will not be able to make use of the laws that have been enacted by the legislature for our benefit. So Article 39 is there, 39C and 39D specifically states that we should focus on laws that should be centric for both, I mean, that should be beneficial for both men and women. 39B clearly focuses on equal pay for equal work for both men and women. Then Article 42 of the Constitution, a task, a duty on the state to make provisions for securing just and humane conditions of work and the necessary relief. So we have a lot of, we have labor laws as well, which protect the rights of women, rights of feeding women. The women are not allowed to work at night at odd hours in mines. At the same time, maternity benefits are given to them, maternity leave is granted to them. They are given facility for breastfeeding. So considering the biological difference in men and women, it's not a case of difference in gender and sex. Please do not, as much as we speak about gender sensitivity, we should also realize that the biological sexual difference should be considered with some kind of parity and respecting that we should be able to make laws. For example, what we actually need is uniformity in our rights and not uniformity in our law. That is, I'll come to that before, after Article 42, another important provision in the Constitution is Article 51 plus A, C. Article 51 plus A plus C, which is one of the fundamental duties which provides, which clearly states that the state has that duty to see to it that denounce practices which are derogatory to the dignity of women. So the dignity of women has been upheld by incorporating the fundamental duty under Article 51 plus A plus C. Then of course, we have the constitutional rights or for that matter, any kind of violation of legal rights, a person can approach the court of law irrespective of whether they are men or women. So that way, after giving you an introduction as much as to how the Constitution has been protective enough in order to bring about women-centric provisions in it, let's see how it has developed over the years. We know how the women-centric concept has developed over the years because right from the beginning, if you think of it as I earlier told you, we had a child marriage restraint act as 1929. It was a sociological reform which was sought to be brought about because everything is entangled with what is happening in the society. We had polygamy, we had scant respect for women. It was more or less the women-centric laws and its evolution was more or less on a rollercoaster graph because there are times when women have been given their due respect which has changed and then there were times of dips when women were not given importance at all then again the social reformers thought that the most important thing we had the abolition of sati, we had the abolition of child marriages, we had remarriages of widows allowed so it was again a rollercoaster and then again we had a dip. Ultimately people again started violation of women's body, violation of women's independence in her economic life, in her physical autonomy, in her economic autonomy, in her habitual behavior pattern, everything was being interfered. So again at every other point of time the legislatures has been sensitive enough to feel the pulse of the society and to create laws in such a manner, to create laws in such a manner that they are useful for women but again the difficulty was women were unable to make use of these laws, they were unable to approach the courts of law, they were unable to stand up for themselves at least to talk to their own kith and kin and say that I'm suffering from this, why because the societal structure was in such a manner that women were expected to be submissive, more submissive she was she was considered to be more divine and more beneficial to the family so that that concept itself made her not use the laws that had been enacted in her favor. So let's see 1937 we have had an act which says right of Hindu women to property act in the year 1937 but that act had was was exclusively only for the purpose like only when that a Hindu widow would have right to the property that has been left by her husband in her husband's family whatever right she gets like but that again was a very limited right, she had the right to life estate, she had the right to maintenance but she did not have she had the right to seek for partition only to the extent of getting that property exclusively for her for the sake of life estate, life estate meaning that she can stay in that house till she dies and secondly for her maintenance she did not have absolute right over the property so whatever right did she got as a result of the 1937 act did not say that she had got absolute right over the property. At the same time in 1939 we had the Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act also in 1939 that is something which is very much alien to the to the Muslim community in the sense even now I think it's only very recently after Kula has been recognized as a proper extra judicial form of divorce by the courts of law that Muslim women have come forward to take a step or rather to take the initiative to dissolve the marriages otherwise among the Muslim community nobody no no women came forward in spite of having to the extra judicial forms of divorce and also a statute for that matter as early as 1939 which read grounds like grounds like cruelty abandonment like if you have been completely left in lurch by deserted by your husband for more than two years all these grounds were available in Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act 1939 still there were nobody who used to take up that issue or rather approach the courts of law no Muslim women dared to approach the courts of law by invoking by invoking the provisions under the Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act 1939 so 37 the Hindu women had the right I had a legislature legislation to their credit or rather to their benefit 1939 the Muslim women had Christian women also had also also had different rights but not equal to that of men when it came to succession the Indian succession act also had to undergo a lot of amendments to bring it to parity so that the men and women had the same equal rights or rather the sons and daughters had equal rights for their father's property now what has happened is in 1956 the Hindu code came into being 1956 the Hindu code came into being in which the Hindu succession act came into force by the time when the Hindu succession act came into force we had section 14 of the Hindu succession act which clearly stated that whatever right the woman gets all all in the self-required property or being the ancestral property whatever right she got would become absolute right so it's only after section 14 was inserted under the Hindu succession act in 1956 that Hindu women got absolute right over the property and correspondingly of course she had section 15 and section 17 under the Hindu succession act in section 15 which read when a Hindu female how how the interstate succession would go when a Hindu female died a Hindu female dies interstate without writing a will that how the property would go to her son's daughters and husband and subsequently to the heirs of her husband or after that if no heirs of her husband to her mother and father then to a heirs of her father then to a heirs of her mother but section 17 was different section 17 was specifically stated Hindu succession act section 17 specifically stated how the property would devolve interstate when a woman who follows Alia Santana law or Madhu Makathayam law dies so the difference in Madhu Makathayam law is Madhu Makathayam law is like it is matriacal it's matrilineal whereas otherwise it's generally considered to be petrilineal so the concept of Mithakshala Dayabhaga schools of law everything was codified under the Hindu succession act when it came in 1956 and as a result of it women got absolute rights in the property under section 14 her rights on death whatever proper whatever how her property would go if she dies interstate was decided as per section 15 and section 17 one other important thing is under section 8 when a male dies the women were given maximum importance and they were put as class 1 heirs under section 8 of the Hindu succession act when a Hindu male dies his property when a Hindu male dies interstate of course his property would fall on his wife his wife means like his widow his mother his son his daughter wife widow of a previously son widow of a previously son son that is it depends on like who are who are there but the class 1 has included maximum women and yet again this is something which I'm which our state the state of Kerala has done in 2016 there has been a major amendment under section 8 which states that if a mother has received the property of her deceased son as a class 1 heir under section 8 of the Hindu succession act and then subsequently the mother dies interstate that property would revert back to the son's widow and children that again is a women beneficial enactment otherwise just imagine once the mother-in-law dies the daughter-in-law is again constrained to have perhaps if unless and until there is an understanding among the family it's all possibility that she will have to have a legal battle with the mother-in-law's remaining legal heirs that must be the deceased husband's brothers sisters or whoever it is so in order to avoid further litigations and further legal battles or else or else to bring about equities in the family perhaps that is one reason it's a 2016 amendment which has been brought about in Kerala of course it is a challenge before the honorable high court but no decision has come to force and no decision has come so far and there is no stay also in the matter so that enactment says once a mother dies interstate that is if she has written a will it's different if she has sold that part of the property during her lifetime it is different otherwise that property will revert back to the son's widow and children so and section 30 again section 30 very very important section 30 clearly states that irrespective of sex like we eat a man or we eat a woman a person can write a will be quitting his property to any person to his liking need not be he's not he's not answerable to anyone he can very well be with his desire it is his wish that he can be with the property so a woman once she gets absolute right over the property she has every right to be with her property that comes to hindu laws so the still laws are concerned of course there has been disparity in her husband's property when a male dies the widow gets one third right and the rest of the property that this two third is being divided among the children and it is different if the man dies without children the widow gets half and the rest of half goes to her goes to his family his siblings or his legal house in kerala again as you all know in mediroy case mediroy's case it's a very important decision it's a very very far in decision with far reaching consequences in 1986 we had mediroy who fought her way through up to the supreme court and sought to it that all women were given equal rights to daughters were given equal rights like sons in the father's property so these are all evolutions like it's whenever a constitution whenever a legislature or a statute or a law is challenged before the courts of law and and when the courts of law realize that there are loopholes or that there are so many gaps which even even if they term themselves as women-centric there are so many gaps which will not help them get the actual benefit which are expected for women they step in and see to it that such gaps are filled and maximum benefit is given to women so then comes when we have a major leap we have of course the dowry prohibition act came into being in 1961 but it is very sad to say since even since 1961 it's not a case where that we do not have a given take of dowry there have been suggestions for major amendments in between of course there has been amendments in that statute also but nothing clicked well one reason being the attitude of the society because of course initially it was to be like when a girl gets married see why well if that is where I have to stress on something called gender sensitization because everybody tries to synergize sex and gender sex is different gender is different now when it comes to sex sex is something which is it's a biological term which is attributed at the time of birth the number of chromosomes and other biological scientifically you are you are either a man or a woman or if by any by any reasons you have the chromosome differences across if for any biological reason you can be a trans person also now when it comes to gender gender is something which you would prefer to identify yourself in the society you all know the famous 2014 Nalsa case so it's like tomorrow at an adolescent age or at an age when your hormonal changes take place you realize that there are more of male hormones in you a woman realizes that there are more of male hormones in them or when a male realizes that there are more of female hormones in them it is how they identify themselves or prefer to identify themselves with the society that is how you attribute the gender respected whatever being respected so we you know it's it's as a result of respecting that that we find there are major changes that have been brought about in the Bharati and Nyaya Samhita which is going to come into being in the in July 2024 of course in the criminal the CRPC is also being amended so they have added and it's proudly I can say Kerala is the first state to bring about a transgender policy as early as 2015 we have had it's a policy it's not a statute as such but we have had a transgender policy as early as 2015 and of course we all know we have the transgender act protection of rights of the transgender act also of 2019 also but still we have initiated the the move actually we have pioneered the move so what I was trying to tell you is as much as there are needs in the society that the the state has to bring about laws or the state has to feel the necessity whatever what whatever what is the societal needs right now and that is how they have to bring about amendments or if need be they have to introduce new new laws also yet another important statute that I may bring to your notice is the act of the year 2005 we have the domestic violence act and it's protection of women from the domestic from domestic violence of the year 2005 we have this act now this act has brought about a lot of change from the societal perspective sociological perspective the reason being basically everybody tends to think that a domestic violence is related to something between man and woman need not be so the domestic violence act does not say whenever a woman is subjected to domestic violence in a shared household so that can be from her parents can be from her in-laws so so that is how it can be from like two partners and something which though the living relationships have not been raised to a status of marriage still this is one way of the law accepting or rather recognizing living relationships so that a partner or a woman does not get abused or exploited by the partner because all that you have to prove is that you have been sharing a household with their partner and the partner has been abusing you economically physically emotionally and mentally and then you can approach the court of law and get protection orders residence orders and such orders which will protect you economically physically emotionally and mentally so the domestic violence act has taken a major leap again the importance of it at the cost of reputation I may tell you it does not specify that it has anything to do with simply a man-woman-married relationship it can be a shared household but again that that's again the domestic violence act as per the act you have to initiate the proceedings before the magistrates court but there are so many decisions which state that in case if the domestic violence if the provisions of the domestic violence act have to be invoked you can also oppose the family court because there's a recent decision by the Kerala High Court which says you can even initiate domestic violence proceedings before the family court of course that is being considered by the Supreme Court now whether that decision is correct because the domestic violence act section 12 specifically states that such such complaints under the DV Act have to be there you have to approach the magistrates court for it if that be so when a decision came that akin to akin to it in case of if it's between the husband and wife the the the the provisions of the DV Act can be initiated or the proceedings can be initiated before the family court as well so that I understand that matter is being considered before the Supreme Court so that is the DV Act took a major leap for protection of women from domestic violence but one major difficulty in that enactment that is also being brought brought to the notice of the Kerala High Court we have recently filed a repetition bringing that aspect to the notice of the Honorable Court that if you have noticed the DV Act does not have any provision for compliance or for execution of the orders all that it says under section 31 is in case of violation of a protection order you can prosecute the person who violates it but other than that there is no provision how to execute an order execute a DV order or to make sure that the order is compliant now what has happened is there are cases you must be knowing as practicing lawyers you must be knowing there are lots and lots of cases where women get good orders or rather very protective orders from the courts of law but they are not able to get it executed or complied with by the police the police is absolutely inactive when it comes to execution of domestic violence orders what they say is like they give it the least priority they give it the least importance in spite of court orders they tend to ignore it one reason being that act is silent about it so that is one lacuna or one gap that we have brought it to the notice of the Honorable Kerala High Court Honorable High Court has been receptive to it of course we know that it's a central enactment so we have implanted the union of India as well into the repetition that matters being considered because this is a major difficulty when it comes to DV domestic violence cases then of course as we all know one important legislation is the FOXO Act protection of children from sexual offenses act this act again as you know that we have had a major turmoil in the country a major mishap that took place in the country in 2012 when a girl was gang raped in Delhi at night of course not late night but still at night inside the city of of a capital in a moving vehicle so that of course that brought about a lot of changes what has happened brought about a lot of changes to the Indian penal code as well major changes were brought about the definitions of rape were changed to an extent where previous sexual assault and how how people should be punished those people who are who have committed that particular act of inserting gruesome things to the private parts of the body of the of the women so the the concept of rape has been or rather the definition of rape has been widened so much that it has been that includes almost any kind of sexual violation as far as women are concerned of course that is in order to respect women in total that such enactments on 2013 amendments have been brought which a few of them I can bring to your notice is we have inserted 326a and 326b in the Indian penal code which relates that is whoever causes permanent or partial damage or deformity to or burns or disfigures or disables any part or parts of the body of a person or causes grievance hurt by throwing acid on or by administering acid to that person or by using any other means with the intention of causing or with the knowledge that he is likely to cause such injury or hurt shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than 10 years but which may extend to imprisonment for life and with the fine so asset attacks have been taken have been taken into consideration and it has been given prime importance as a grave offense itself by inserting 326a and 326b then as I told you the definition of rape under 375, 376, 376a and 376b have been enlarged or rather widened to include it both whoever penetrates his penis to any extent into the vagina mouth uretera or anise of a woman or makes her do so with him or any other person or inserts to any extent any object or part of the body not being the penis into the vagina the uretera or anise of women or makes her to do so with him or any other person or manipulates any part of the body of a woman or so as to cause penetration into the vagina, urethra anus or any part of the body of such a woman or makes her do so with him or any other person or applies his mob to the vagina anus urethra of a woman or makes her do so with him or any other person. So almost all any kind of violation of a woman's body has been brought brought into the brought within the definition of 375 and 376. Of course, even to an extent where sexual intercourse take place between a man and woman with consent also has been given different outlook to an extent where it has been divided as whether if the consent whether the consent has been given under threat or coercion or under a promise to marry. See like there are so many because basically women I have been treated as vulnerable though I do not agree to it personally otherwise we know that women are being treated vulnerable but actually are being treated as a vulnerable group and so it has these laws have come into being that if woman can be tricked into sexual intercourse or rather violation of her own body with against her will and pleasure giving her a false promise that she would be married so she would the man would get married to her. So here again there has been a differentiation there has been a differentiation that has been brought about in the Kerala high school that is false promise to marry and promise to marry. See there's something called like somebody who really who really wants to get married to ex a man who really wants to get married married to ex and then they have consensual sexual interrelationship and then at some point of time the man is not in a position to marry ex for some reason. For example like they fall apart or they have very different big difference of being between themselves or the families are not in some for some reason why for some genuine reason that the man is unable to marry ex or he has taken ill he has under he has got he has undergone some serious injury or he has been subjected to some serious injury or some serious ailment and he actually not that he has entered into sexual relationship with her with an intention not to get married that is different from a false promise or fake promise to marry. For example a person has a sexual relationship with a woman fully knowing well that he will not get married to her so these are all things that have to be pleaded and proved before the court of law. It's not very easy but then of course a person's conduct before and after the offense can be very well adjudged by saying like which which can which you can which you can I mean which by which you can come to a conclusion whether the man there was actual intent to get married intention to get married or whether whether it was a fake promise to marry so these are all different facets of the concept of rape that has been developed by the state statutes and legislature and of course the courts of law so the term consent itself has been given a violent scope it's again a constitutional evolution for example recently we all know the poxso act the 2012 poxso act protection of children from sexual offenses act it says any child below the age of 18 even if there is consent you it becomes an offense but the period between 16 and 18 have now been sought to be treated as different there is there is a human cry or there is a jurisprudence that is attempted to be developed in order to bring about slight differences because poxso act or poxso law is very stringent and as we all know that it's non-reporting also is very very strictly dealt with it's it it invites penal action also it's a very important thing that even slightest knowledge that something like that has happened to a child has to be reported to the authorities so what has happened is the age between 16 and 18 it is it is rather termed as romeo juliet law as you all know i think again the honorable supreme court has sought the opinion of the central government as to whether any changes have to be brought about in poxso act as far as the age between 16 and 18 is to be considered because apparently the children fall into relationship and it's an age of very very i mean that adolescent age is very inquisitive so they all fall into a lot of issues where the young men the young boys and the young girls are all trapped or rather they fall into they all come under the ambit of the poxso act and their their life is lost for good so in order to avoid that the the supreme court is attempting to get information or rather feedbacks from the central government apparently the law commission has not advised so because it will have a lot of conflict with the child marriage restraints act and also the the age limit that has been fixed for valid marriages by different personal laws so all this can create a lot of human cry but still so so perhaps that is one reason why the law commission has not given a green flag towards this romeo juliet concept but of course the central government has we have not come across any central government opinion on it as such the honorable supreme court has sought for feedbacks from them or rather their opinions on it so so the evolution that is that is what i was trying to focus is whenever we have an act or an enactment meet beneficial for the women as well as the children there are a lot of interventions by the courts by which the law gets widened and becomes law of the land under article 141 of the institution so so that's how it has been and then of course we have certain important yet another important law that may be brought to your notice is it's the posh act this protection of women from sexual offenses sexual harassment in workplace because as we all know we have had vishaka guidelines as early as 1997 because it's a very important area again because a woman gets sexually because for that matter not not alone a woman any person who has to be productive in their workplace you have to have the right ambience to work so that's something which is common for any man or woman because a woman is concerned her body her violation of her privacy violation of her body is very very important so sexual harassment can create a lot of it's not just a physical impact that a woman gets as a result of it it's more it's more of a emotional impact that a woman has when it comes to a physical harassment sexual harassment because as we all know there are so many instances or so many areas where women would not have come forward with complaints right on time immediately after any kind of harassment that they have faced they would not have come forward with any kind of complaint and the last state that there are cases where the police as well as authorities ask the women why why didn't why have you come so late what made you come here so late it's like more or less like an afterthought they are blamed like as though you have come here with an afterthought like you know you want to take vengeance on someone or you are using this as a tool against someone but it's not just like that there might be people who misuse the law I'm not saying they don't but mostly what happens is when it comes to women um when there is a key when there is a sexual assault the women always tend to go on a sense of denial because it has an emotional impact so what the women generally prefer to believe is that okay now this has not happened to me now it takes time for them to to accept the fact this is something that violation of their privacy is something which has happened to them and more painfully if that has happened from people whom they are very close to or rather emotionally very attached to and then they realize that person has betrayed their trust and violated them that is something which will which they will have to um it it gives them a sense of it minimizes their work it affects their self-worth so that is one reason why people why women take time to come out of it and or rather that is the time when they need a lot of emotional support after any emotional support just not from the family and kith and kin if need be even from professionals it's only after that most of them will be able to come out and make their complaints before the authority is concerned now here you see that vishakar guidelines a woman who suffered this trauma she she carried through her she carried herself through till the supreme court got the highest court of law of this country to pass guidelines and consider that to be law till 2013 when a statute actually came into being that's after perhaps after 16 years after the supreme court passed the judgment so that law that the the the the fight which she has put up is something which is which is it's amazing and awesome and it has been like in fact the women of this country are actually indebted to her for such a uh the exercise which she has done now the vishakar guidelines came uh the supreme court enacted the vishakar guidelines as early as 1997 of course we had we were constrained to follow those guidelines as the as law but then 2013 we have this protection of women sexual harassment protection of women from the sexual harassment workplace where an internal internal committee it's called the internal complaints committee but it has been again amended and it's now termed as internal committee has to be mandatorily constituted in workplaces be it public or private where there are 10 or more employees one important aspect is the term used in the enactment except for the term agreed woman except for the term agreed woman and the title which says sexual harassment against women the rest most of it carries it's a gender neutral term which says 10 or more persons are employed it's very important because of late we realize whenever a query goes to places where the they have they have a uh uh internal they have an internal committee in in their uh in their offices the the first thing that they reply is we don't have more than 10 women in our place to work who's bothered about whether they have 10 women or more it's 10 persons 10 persons or more it's mandatory that you have you have an internal complaints committee internal committee 10 persons or less you have the local committee local committee which is headed by the district collector of course then it's notified and then you have the constitution of the committee as under the posh act also now the internal committee under section four of the posh act uh local committee under section six of the posh act it the constitution is in such a manner that it is headed by a woman and more than half of its members are women the reason be essentially the women show more of tendencies I mean more they are more comfortable speaking out or talking to women to other women in general rather than to men um but um one important reason I think it's yesterday there has been a decision that has been passed uh if I remember right it's by the Kerala High Court again which says it says that unless and until a proper conference where justice Basant Banaji of the Kerala High Court which says that the the the constitution of the internal committee has to be proper and it has to follow the principle of natural justice so the there are the the act clearly states that are receiving a complaint what to do the rules clearly state and the the the complaint can be preferred either by the aggrieved woman herself or through any of her Kittor kin or any third person you can make them give her in writing it has to be given within three months from the date of occurrence and further given another three months it will be condoned for another three months because for some reason the woman is not in a position to give but the it has to be given in writing the complaint has to be given in writing and if she is not in a position to give in writing because as I told you earlier the women once they undergo a severe sexual assaults they it takes a while for them to come out of their shock and then do the needful or rather approach the courts of law to set litigation the um uh law in motion so they normally get the help of emotional help or support from other organizations like there can be NGOs there can be victim rights centers they can be places who help them so and of course the victim liaison officers are also expected to help them uh under the police force so whenever they go to the police or rather once they reach the police of course they are they are expected to be taken over by the victim liaison officers which mostly I don't think it takes place as such but they're expected to do that then of course there's a lot of NGOs of course in Kerala under the Kerala state legal services authority we have the victim rights center that has been functioning for more than 20 half years and in our model I understand the Bihar and Punjab and Haryana course are also legal service authorities are also attempting to start the victim rights center in which it is it is basically for the benefit of women children and trans women uh and the victim as far as the guidelines of victim rights center under the Kelsa Kerala state legal service authority is concerned it's a victim of circumstances victim under circumstances it was a it's a brainchild it's a project which has been taken over by the Kelsa and it's a brainchild of Honorable Justice Mohammed Moustak who was then the chairman of Kerala state high court legal services committee of course his lordship is now the chairman of Kelsa as well so that's how we function so we actually when a woman approaches us we have a 24 into 7 phone number when a woman approaches us with some kind of issue we have NGOs who also functioning along with us in addition to the pro bono women lawyers who function and the women and the NGOs immediately we get the we they extend their help of their psychologists counselors and social workers who attend on this victim and once the victim is brought to a state or rather she becomes emotionally stable we help them if it's a case of where where we should approach the internal committee we help them approach the internal committee or the local committee or help them to approach the police and large an FIR and of course we stand by them throughout at stages of bail we intervene in bail applications we stand along with the prosecution see to it the bail applications in in in cases of deserving cases we stand by the victim throughout of course in all cases of course at times when we feel the there are there are cases which are fake cases or which are made up cases we advise the victim and see to it that she took it comes out of that kind of an attitude because we have been successful enough even for that because we realize there are so many cases where some cases not so many some cases where victims have been forced to give false cases and there has been an instance recently when a case was brought before the honorable high court and where epoxy matter where the daughter complained against the father and at some point of time she gave a statement to the police saying that I was faking and that the police was also confused and when the father approached the honorable high court for bail the court was also slightly confused because this girl keeps changing speaking I mean like she is giving different versions and therefore and therefore we were constrained and therefore what happened was excuse me and we will have to unmute yourself I'm sorry I'm sorry about it sorry about it so what I was saying was like when such a confusion that arose the court was also finding it difficult as to how this was happening and so what the court did was the court asked one of the victim rights center members the members of the victim rights center to intervene and speak to this girl to find out like why she has said so or meet the victim in person so we call the victim we call the victim and her mother also her father was had applied for a bail and he was remanded also and the whole family the mother's family the mother's brothers and the girl everyone came to us and we had a psychologist also along with us the victim rights center of course it's an in-house arrangement and the help of the psychologist we had a one-to-one talk exclusive to talk with the daughter who was the complaint and de facto complainant and after about one hour she just broke down and she said it's just because I was having a relationship with the third person it was on social media I met somebody on the social media and I was having a relationship with my with my with that boy and I had made a few attempts to elope with him as well so that was the reason my father was dead against that so my father was perhaps he was not allowing me to use the phone also so at that point of time I was constrained to make this false complaint against my father so such things also happen not intentional misuse of course but such things also happen and so that was the time when we reported before the court also we got this girl counseled well now she's doing very well in her studies so these are all areas where we can intervene also so all this are all all these are all a paraphernalia of the system which can help because ultimately everything the law as I told you earlier itself the law has is interconnected with the societal acts a lot of societal aspects and sociological concepts so considering all this we have as I told you the the posh act the internal complaints company local complaints committee and it's mandatory that the internal committees are formed in all places of employment where 10 or more employees are there which is headed by a woman and more than half of its members should be women then of course we have the health rights of women we have the the mtp act the medical termination of pregnancy act and how the different changes that have been brought about these are all and again courts interventions as you know the important decision by honorable this is naga that man this is himakoli recently with honorable supreme court also so considering the the the benefit of women and considering the health condition of women considering the overall benefit the courts also step in and make necessary laws in such a manner that the women centric laws are beneficial or rather it comes to the aid of women in general these are basically we are the we are I think we have almost covered the basic loss of course there are so many areas if you ask us there are so many areas which are beneficial for women and children as such there are so many areas where laws have intervened for the benefit of women and children but then these are the major laws which have come to the aid of women in this country because yeah I think we are through so ma'am what is your ultimately finally how do you conclude that what is the journey if we have to complete it in two minutes okay so shall I come to the conclusion part of it yeah so I conclude I conclude this class the basic thing which I would like to place before all of you is it is not a lack of the number of laws for the benefit of women and children in this country that have created issues for them it is basically the attitude of the society as I told you earlier itself unless and until we make use of the laws by responding and reacting to situations we are in a position again one of the important aspect which I may bring to your notices the legal services authorities act the legal services authorities act section 12c specifically states irrespective of the income of women they are an answer irrespective of the income for women of course children do not have income irrespective of that the women and children are entitled to free legal aid so tomorrow even the richest woman in this country comes to a legal services authorities they are they are entitled to legal the free legal aid in this country so that means the access to justice is not being denied to women and children on any ground if that be so it is we should not misuse it as well all the same we should be able to use it in the most dignified manner to see to it that the law is set in motion and the laws are coming to force in full fledged as I told told you earlier there are so many laws that are prevalent in the country but that is because for example the dowry prohibition act I'm talking to you from our state's perspective about the span of last three years we have had back to back cases where two three girls have two of them were murdered one was one committed suicide two two committed suicide two were murdered also so in this span and that was the time when the the our state itself you know like created a lot of human crime in the country in the in the state it a lot of public uproar was also there in the state and this resulted in bringing up the they started looking back into this dowry prohibition act and say to it that and booked the person and the accused and the dowry prohibition act as well so unless and until this act these enactments or the statutes are brought or are made use of there is no point saying that we do not have lost we do have lost but please see to it that maximum use is made of these laws by creating legal awareness among women and children make them aware and also guide them to use it in the best way possible and not misuse it also because there are cases where under section 498A again we know there was an important case by the honorable supreme court where 498A cases there was a suggestion by the honorable supreme court that we should have a board to filter and decide whether the 498A cases have to be taken forward at all because random people are being made parties into the litigation the sisters who have got married and who are living elsewhere are also made parties by the women the sisters in law they're also made parties to the litigation the mother the aged mother parents are made parties to litigation just because they have differences of opinion with their husbands but in that case in such cases the women's commissions in different states also got themselves implanted and said not now let women be given the prime importance right now so that's how like we have to respond and react to whatever societal changes take place and then make maximum benefit maximum use of the laws beneficial laws in the favor of women and children but never misuse them also thank you thank you ma'am and I believe that with the legal aid services coming into being and people like you and the NGOs they will play a pivotal role and people will be sensitized and there will be more empowerment thank you everyone stay safe thank you