Click here to join Express Pune WhatsApp channel and get a curated list of our stories
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Nationalist Congress Party (SP) leader Rohit Pawar said Saturday that bodies like the women’s commission and the commission for the protection of child rights should be headed by non-political people, such as former bureaucrats or judges, to avoid political bias in their functioning.
Speaking at a press conference in Pune, Pawar said, “While appointing women’s commission chief, ex-police officers, judges, or ex-women officers, whether from the Maharashtra cadre or a Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) officer, after checking their background that they do not have connections with any political parties (should be appointed). Only if such a person is appointed can women get justice.”
Maharashtra State Commission for Women head Rupali Chakankar has been under attack by the Opposition over the suicide of Vaishnavi Hagawane, the daughter-in-law of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Rajendra Hagawane, allegedly due to dowry harassment by her in-laws. The Opposition parties took strong objection to Chakankar, an NCP leader, describing them as “chiller” (loose change) when speaking to reporters, in response to their criticism.
Congress leader Sangeeta Tiwari claimed that the elder daughter-in-law of the Hangwane family filed a complaint regarding similar harassment in November last year. However, instead of directing the police to file a formal report, Chakankar allegedly instructed them to resolve the matter without taking further action.
Pawar added, “In the recent past, in the last 10 years, if we see, the chairperson and post holders, being from a political party, feel that the women’s commission is an extended body of their party. If they run it as a department of their party, this is not acceptable. Therefore, we will raise the issue that, instead of appointing such individuals, their past credentials should be thoroughly studied. A set of rules needs to be created, and people who fit into those rules should be appointed to the women’s commission. If political people are appointed, politics will inevitably occur. Instead, let there be no politics.”
