Former NCW chairperson, members come down heavily on NCW

A former chairperson and two ex-members of the National Commission for Women (NCW) on Wednesday came down heavily on the women's body for its handling of the Hathras gangrape case, claiming that it is speaking "measured words from the comfort of their official houses".

The open letter by former NCW Chairperson Mohini Giri and former members Padma Seth and Syeda Hameed said the statutory bodies for women -- the NCW and the State Commissions for Women -- are maintaining a "studied silence" on issues related to women.

They said NCW was a force to reckon with in the 1990s and its two-point agenda was to make systemic changes in laws and policies to empower women and to fight tooth and nail wherever women were violated, regardless of which political dispensation ruled the Centre or states. "Its eye was blind to imperatives of power," they said.

"Today what we are seeing is the slow death of Women's Commissions, bodies which were created by hard work of mentors like Pramila Dandavate, Vimla Farooqui, Susheela Gopalan, Geeta Mukherjee, Margaret Alva...Recent role or non-role of NCW and SCW in the heinous Hathras incident proves the point," the letter said.

The letter referred to the response of NCW Chairperson Rekha Sharma on BJP IT Cell Amit Malviya sharing a video of the victim in which she called it "unfortunate and illegal" while the SCW Chairperson described the incident "definitely objectionable".

"While people from political parties and civil society groups went to condole and offer solidarity to the bereaved family, these apex bodies for women with statutory powers spoke measured words from the comfort of their official houses," it said.

The letter also referred to incidents in which NCW took a strong stand, including acting on a complaint filed by BSP chief Mayawati in 1997 June against Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, the then Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, for using abusive language against her.

Singh sent his aide Amar Singh to depose before the Commission and the latter apologised on behalf of the then Chief Minister.

In 1998, the letter said, the NCW took cognizance of an attack on actresses Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das during the shooting of Deepa Mehta's Fire and summoned the attackers.

In 1996 during a function attended by the then Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, it said, the then NCW Chairperson expressed anguish at the interference of the central government and took out her resignation letter to announce that the entire Commission would resign unless it was given its due dignity as a statutory body. The then Minister of State B S Ramoowalia later apologised and assured that the NCW would be given its due dignity as a statutory body.

Another incident cited in the letter was the summoning of the then Prasar Bharati Chairperson following complaints that women newsreaders in Doordarshan were discriminated against on account of their "looks and age".

"Such anecdotes, numerous as they are, exist on record for anyone to examine," the letter added.