(Video) Rajya Sabha TV (RSTV) The Big Picture: Women in Judiciary

Topic: Women in Judiciary

Guest:

Meenakshi Lekhi, (Senior Advocate, Supreme Court)
Rekha Aggarwal, (Advocate, Supreme Court)
Kapil Sankhla, (Advocate, Supreme Court)

Topic Description:

Stressing the need for greater gender sensitisation among members of the judiciary, Attorney General K K Venugopal said on Wednesday that “improving the representation of women in the judiciary could… go a long way towards a more balanced and empathetic approach in cases involving sexual violence”. Venugopal was replying to a plea questioning the bail conditions imposed by the Madhya Pradesh (MP) High Court wherein an accused was asked to get a Rakhi tied by the victim as a condition for enlargement on bail. The petition filed by nine women lawyers led by Supreme Court advocate Aparna Bhat had cited orders from other High Courts to highlight the non-empathetic approach of judges while dealing with cases of sexual violence. Venugopal, in his written submissions, said judges need to be trained to place themselves in the shoes of the victim of sexual violence while passing orders. They need to assess the crime as if it had been committed on a member of their own family. He pointed to the dearth of compulsory courses in gender sensitisation in law schools.