The unfinished agenda for the Parliament on matters affecting everyday lives of citizens of this country is increasing by the day. If Lok Sabha which end prematurely (e.g. 11th of 1996 and 12th of 1998) did not get time to discuss matters of concern, even those which had their full life neither gave adequate time nor did justice to these matters. While it is nobody’s case that no legislations are being passed at all, it is a reality that backlog is piling up and the delay is unbearable.Harassed citizens often reach the Supreme Court seeking redress under the existing laws. They do so in a few cases, unaware of the gaps and insufficiencies in the present laws. This is what the SC did in the Visakha Vs. State of Rajasthan Case on a matter of Sexual Harassment at Workplace in 1998. The SC gave guidelines to deal with complaints of sexual harassment. Clearly, the guidelines were to help until a suitable legislation is made by the Parliament. The National Commission for Women after wide consultation had submitted a draft bill on sexual harassment at workplace. Sadly, till today the legislature have not found time to enact a law relating to sexual harassment. New legislation is required to govern matters on compulsory registration of marriages. Women belonging to all communities would benefit from any such proposed law. Laws are required to ensure the rights of domestic workers, workers in the unorganised sector, migrant workers, home nurses, a significant proportion of whom are women. Comprehensive legislation on eve-teasing is required. The provisions in the IPC are inadequate to deal with the growing menace of eve-teasing. Without adequate legal safeguards women are made into scapegoats leading to acid attacks and suicides.Recasting of clauses under a few sections (IPC Section 294 and 509) maynot be adequate. Eve-teasing cannot be trivialised. Of the 41 Acts which are either women-specific or women-related, the NCW, since its inception has reviewed 32 Acts and the review of 9 others are on-going. The recommendations were /are being sent periodically after each Act is reviewed.Several amendments to the Criminal Procedure Codes, Prevention of Sati, offences relating to dowry, cruelty to women such as being ‘‘thrown out’’ of marital homes are awaiting speedy attention. Progressive judgments such as the recent one from the SC is not heard everyday, nor can they be. Conjoint reading of the Rent Control Legislation and Personal laws (in this case the HAMA 1956), reference to English Court decisions and statements of law made by several Lords of the British Upper House were used by the Supreme Court to.‘‘do complete justice by exercising our jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution.’’ When the SC steps in pro-actively, it can lead to genuine concern about the terrain they are stepping into. However, just terrain-consciousness does not help the citizen. Parliament must legislate, if only to clear up the backlog.The existing provisions of Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act -1956 are very limiting. It is common knowledge that immoral trafficking does not end only in brothels. Even there the women are punished, and the customers are not. Cross-border trafficking, its cause/effect relationship on drought-prone districts of several states are all recorded in a comprehensive report compiled by the NHRC. National and multinational level action is needed. Excellent roads, controversial dams, railways are laid by innumerable migrant workers. The workmen and women who build these are totally neglected by law. Several crucial amendments to the Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979 are urgently to be implemented. They relate to wage rates, conditions of employments etc. Several amendments to Sections 5, 7, 10 and 15 of the Equal Remuneration Act 1976 have also been recommended.Several deserted women, married to NRIs or foreign nationals have reached a dead-end in their search for justice. Their husbands are divorced, but they are not! In many cases, executing Indian Court Orders becomes a problem because the men are abroad. Due to jurisdictional limitation and in the absence of reciprocity, women with favourable court orders do not know where to go. Conservative estimate has it, that nearly 13-15,000 women in the Punjab alone are caught up in litigations on NRI husbands. This problem persists in several other parts of the country too. It may be necessary for us to enter into bilateral agreements with countries, which have large numbers of NRIs. If the SC referring to CEDAW could provide guidelines on sexual harassment, it could not in the case of serving summons abroad in civil matters (marital disputes), as the Hague Conventions are not ratified as yet by India.The writer is member, National Commission for Women
