Jaipur: A viral letter of a Rajasthan tahsildar appealing to people to get their sisters voluntarily renounce their rights and entitlements on parental agriculture land has drawn sharp criticism. Women rights groups are outraged by this letter and demanded an immediate suspension of the official terming it openly prejudicial attitude towards women, by an authority on land and revenue matters. In the meantime, the Tahsildar has been suspended.
The letter is sort of a press note issued by Dilip Singh Prajapati, tahsildar at Deegod block of Kota district, on August 21 with a title ‘Make this Rakshabandhan memorable, get sisters to surrender their rights voluntarily’.
The press note says that it is a well-known practice for generations that sisters and daughters do not take their right from the (agriculture) land, movable and immovable property in their natal homes, but careless account holders/farmers do not make this transfer happen on time.
The note also says that land is acquired in many welfare schemes of the welfare state, in which case compensation cheques are issued in the name of the sister and daughters of the landholder, which creates the circumstances to be 'SINFUL'. In many cases, sisters do not give the compensation amount to their brothers which creates animosity in their relationship and many a time, they die without talking to each other for the rest of their lives.
The tahsildar gives an open call to make this 'Rakshabandhan a memorable one by making sisters voluntarily renounce their rights and entitlements'.
The women rights organizations have strongly criticized the note and send a memorandum to CM Ashok Gehlot, it says that we are outraged that the Tehsildar has issued a completely illegal, anti-women press note that brazenly violates article 14 of the Indian Constitution. The letter advocates denial of equal rights to daughters and sons and Tehsildar has also committed contempt of court of the judgement which was passed by the Supreme Court on 11th August 2020, where the SC makes it clear that “The daughters cannot be deprived of their right of equality conferred upon them by Section 6”.
In the meantime, Chairman of the Revenue Board of Rajasthan, Rajeshwar Singh has sought a detailed report from the district collector of Kota and after examining the report the tahsildar was suspended. He said, issuing this kind of note is "unconstitutional".
