Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The condition of Madhya Pradesh State Commission for Women, State Commission for Minorities and State Commission for Scheduled Tribes have been without heads for three-five years due to the state government apathy. Everyday dozens of applications and petitions arrive at the office of the commissions. The administrative staff compile them and file them. This has been happening for the past three to five years now.
Around 23,000 cases are pending in the State Commission for Women located at Shyamla Hills in the city. The Commission has been non-functional since January 2019 when Lata Wankhede’s tenure as the chairperson expired. During Wankhede’s tenure, 14,000 cases were disposed of.
According to data from the commission, a total 20,806 cases have been registered from January 2019 to March 2023. A total of 2,787 cases have been registered from April 2023 to December 2023. Of these, 317 cases are of domestic abuse, 343 of dowry harassment/dowry murder, 139 of rape/attempted rape, 110 of abduction, 23 of murder, 423 of harassment, 282 of workplace harassment, 18 of cyber crime, 12 of crimes against children, 66 of departmental case and 1,004 other cases.
The Congress, which had come to power in the state in December 2018, did not bother to fill the vacancy caused by Wankhede’s exit for more than a year. After a gap of almost 15 months, the Kamal Nath government on March 16, appointed Shobha Oza as the Commission’s chairperson. Members of the commission were also named. However, before Oza could take charge, the government fell. On March 20, 2020, Nath resigned as the chief minister and a new government, headed by Shivraj Singh Chouhan took over.
The new government cancelled Oza’s appointment on March 26. “We receive the complaints and listen to the problems of complainants if they want to share with us. And then we forward it to the concerned persons. What else can we do,” said secretary to the commission Tripti Tripathi. The conditions of the State Commission for Minorities, State Commission for Scheduled Tribes and State Commission for Backward Classes are the same.
There is no chairperson and members have been appointed in the State Commission for Minorities since 2020. The last chairperson was Niyaz Mohammed. Similarly, there is no chairperson and members have been appointed in the State Commission for Scheduled Tribes for three years.
Gajendra Singh Rajukhedi was appointed as chairperson in the commission in 2019 but it was cancelled later by the BJP government. According to the officials of the commission, a total 852 cases of land disputes, reservation, domestic violence etc. are pending. Ramkrishna Kusmaria was appointed as the chairperson of State Commission for Backward Classes in December last year. The post was vacant since 2018. According to official of the commision, around 12 cases are pending.
