Mobile-for-girls remarks: UP women’s panel chief says considering show-cause notice to member

UP State Women’s Commission chairperson Vimla Batham on Friday said she is contemplating to give a show-cause notice to a panel member, who had suggested that girls should be kept off mobile phones by families who don't want them "running away" with boys.

"Girls should not be given mobile phones and if given, families should keep tabs on them. Girls talk with boys over the phone and later run away with them," commission member Meena Kumari had told reporters in Aligarh on Thursday when asked about the rise in crime against women.

"The statement was unfortunate and should not have been issued. I had asked her to apologise for it and she tendered an apology for it before the media on Thursday,” Vimla Batham told PTI over the phone.

Batham said Meena Kumari said her statement "was not intentional and was in the context of the cases which had come before her and were linked to mobile phones".

The commission chairperson said she is contemplating giving a show-cause notice to the member to ensure that such things are not repeated in future.

Batham said in the present times, mobile phones have become a necessity as even classes are being held online.

"It was wrong to say such things," Batham added.

Apart from asking people not to give mobile phones to their daughters, Meena Kumar had asked mothers to keep tabs on them.

She had said such incidents occur due to their "negligence".