Mumbai: A saying goes in the corridors of Mantralaya that the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. The same happened with the much-discussed reports submitted by a committee led by retired high court justice Chandrashekhar Dharmadhikari on protecting women and children against sexual assaults.
The committee had submitted as many as five reports recommending various measures that included a grievance redressal cell in all the schools across the state. It has also recommended similar committees in all the colleges and industrial establishments.
Besides issuing orders for setting up the committees, the state home department led by the then-home minister RR Patil took periodic reviews of its implementation. Even the Bombay High Court in 2014 observed that the state government must ensure that the recommendations were implemented in letter and spirit. The state advocate general was summoned by the HC bench headed by Justice Abhay Oka.
The Dharmadhikari committee comprising as many as 19 members included the chairman of the state women commission, four women legislators, secretaries of the home, law and judiciary, information technology department, special IG state police, representatives of the NGOs and social activists working for the cause of women and children.
The committee had recommended measures to deal with the cases of sexual abuse by the police and amendments to the existing laws. According to a senior retired officer who closely monitored the working of the committee, the periodic review by the state government would certainly have ensured a check on the educational institutions and the state police.
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Not just the schools and colleges even the state women and child development department and the state transport department were also asked to take measures to prevent instances of sexual abuse against women.
