Caste shadow over women’s panel

‘‘It’s an open secret that Brahmins like Ashok Pandey and Alpana Bajpai (the Commission’s new, and first, law officer) are getting preference over other members,’’ said Geeta Singh, one of the members.

Singh alleged that for the last few months only Pandey has been allowed to tour the districts. ‘‘I went to Meerut during ‘Operation Majnu’ recently and filed a detailed report, but my tour was declared illegal. However, Pandey’s tours are always approved. Isn’t this Brahminism?’’ she said.

Besides the chairperson, Ranjana Bajpai, the Commission comprises six members — Shaheen Fatima, Mala Dwivedi, Zarina Usmani, Geeta Singh, Ashok Pandey and Vidhyvati Rajbhar — who are assigned four or five districts each. The members, appointed by the State Government, are required to visit these districts on fact-finding missions.

Requesting anonymity, two other members said, ‘‘It’s humiliating when people ask us to visit their districts, or inquire about their cases, because we cannot commit anything. But Pandey is sent on tours thrice, sometimes even four times a month. Besides, we can’t understand why Alpana Bajpai conducts hearings despite being a non-member.’’

Chairperson Ranjana Bajpai was accused of favouritism and casteism a few months ago when she reportedly started favouring Deepa Bhatt, a non-member who was associated with Shakti Vahini, a team, several Commission members alleged, she chose to keep track of the cases. Members said Bhatt soon started attending to the cases, a responsibility restricted only to members.

Bajpai, however, rubbished all allegations of casteism and called it internal politicking. She countered that the members are barely bothered about the Commission’s role and were interested only in personal tours to the districts.

When contacted, Alpana Bajpai, too denied the charges. ‘‘They should be asking the chairperson about anything, whether written or oral. I have been appointed as the law officer since I am a legal expert and a registered lawyer. I am not a part of the politics,’’ she said, blaming infighting and politics between the members instead.