Taking justice to women's doorstep in Kerala

Sun, Sep 28 10:29 AM

Kozhikode (Kerala), Sep 28 (IANS)

The Jagrata Samithis (Vigilance Committees) in local administrative bodies is slowly turning into sanctuaries of justice for them. The committees have come up in 832 local administrative bodies out of around 1,200 in the state.

.A committee that is led by the panchayat president has nine members, including women panchayat members, a sub-inspector from the local police station, women social workers, a woman advocate and the doctor from the village health centre.

The State Women's Commission is the apex body which monitors the functioning of the committee. 'The Jagratha Samithis are the eyes and ears of the women's commission. It brings the services of the commission to the grass root level,' says K.B. Madanmohan, the programme associate at KILA (Kerala Institute of Local Administration), which works closely in implementing the scheme in the state.

One of the villages where the scheme was pioneered is Pananchery in Thrissur district, where it was implemented as a pilot project in 2005.

'In the last three years we could settle around 600 cases,' Lissy Chacko, a nun and the woman advocate on the committee, told IANS.

Though the committee entertains all complaints, those connected to crime are referred to the police. 'Police also refer cases to us for settlement,' says Lissy.

When the committee takes up a case it studies the issue in depth. 'We had a complaint from a woman saying her husband has ditched her and is planning to marry another woman. Relatives cited many reasons for their discord. But after three sessions of counselling it became clear that some sexual incompatibility was the real issue,' said Vasu.

The commission is also in the process of installing a software to closely monitor the work of the committees across the state.