TN assembley passes Bill against Eve-teasing

Replying to the discussion on the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Eve-teasing Bill, Law Minister Aladi Aruna said it was introduced after carefully analysing the situation in view of the tragic death of Sarika Shah, of Ethiraj College for Women in Chennai, after an eve-teasing incident. Her death had shocked people and it was the duty of the Government to protect the modesty of women, besides giving them due respect and honour.

Though there were various Acts to prohibit crime against women, they had not given the desirous results. After the ordinance against eve-teasing was promulgated on July 30, 1998, only 217 complaints of eve-teasing were reported against 2,142 complaints registered before that date.

Rejecting someOpposition parties’ suggestion to refer the Bill to the Assembly Select Committee for a detailed discussion, as the legislation could be misused against male students, the Minister said any law could be misused.

To a question raised by some members, on punishing those women who teased men, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi intervened to state that the present Bill was being introduced to protect women. “If necessary, we will come out with a legislation to protect men, too,” he added. Aladi Aruna quipped,“So far we have not received any complaint regarding Adam-teasing. If several complaints are received, we could then think of introducing legislation to prohibit Adam-teasing”.

The House witnessed some lively exchanges when R Tamaraikani (AIADMK) said that one of the reasons for the increase in the incidents of eve-teasing was that some women today had lost their basic qualities of “fear and shyness”. Some women had even spoiled culture by wearing “salwar-kameez, midi and frock”, instead of “sari orhalf-sari”. The Government should advise women to follow local culture. Though he was not against the Bill, there was apprehension that it could be misused against men. The legislation would go against the safety of men, he added.

Kanchana Kamalanathan (DMK) objected to Tamaraikani’s remarks and said his speech amounted to affecting the self-respect of women. It was the prerogative of women to decide on the type of their dress. There were men who indulge in eve-teasing, even if women wear traditional dress.

G Nizamudeen (INL) asked the Government to reduce the punishment —- one year RI and fine upto Rs 10,000 —- as it was too severe and could affect the future of students.

C Gnanasekaran (TMC) suggested increasing the RI to three years, and those convicted twice under the Act could be detained under the Goondas Act.

Meanwhile, a Madras High Court advocate today filed a Public Interest Litigation seeking a directive to the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the State Censor Boardto censor Tamil film songs and scenes justifying eve-teasing.

The advocate, Sirajudeen, in his petition, contended that Tamil film songs and scenes justifying eve-teasing had increased manifold recently, creating an impression in adolescent minds that eve-teasing was part of daily life and instigating males to commit violence against women.

The advocate cited songs and scenes from popular Tamil films, to drive home his contention, that they justified and even celebrated eve-teasing.

Pointing out that the film world had recently been granted the status of an industry by the Union Government, he said it, like any other industry, had a moral and legal obligation to society.