The All India Democratic Women’s Association expresses its concern and deep sense of outrage over two incidents reported from Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat. In the first, the District Judge of Gonda has been accused by two women, one a minor, of molestation in his chamber when they were called by him to speak about their having been abducted. It is absolutely horrifying that this could happen and shows that there really is no place that is safe for women. On a day that Justice Verma committee has recommended that no protection should be given to members if the armed forces who are accused of rape, this must be applied to members of the judiciary as well. The Allahabad High Court must order both the removal of the judge and his prosecution.
News has also come from Gujarat of a woman who attempted suicide after the court once again adjourned the hearing of the case against her employer and his friends who are accused of raping her in 2007. Protection of powerful sexual offenders by the police who had refused to register her complaint and now by the procrastination of the judicial system is simply intolerable.
AIDWA reiterates that the demands that speedy justice and for ending all protection to rapists who occupy positions of power and wealth that are being voiced all over the country cannot and should not be ignored.
