The Supreme Court on Wednesday fined eight state governments for “not bothering” about destitute women and widows, PTI reported. The states have not heeded the Centre’s advice to set up an expert committee to deal with the matter, the court observed.
“If they are not bothered about women of their own state, then what should we do?” the bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta said. “There are issues raised about gender justice, but they are not bothered. They do not want to do anything.”
Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka and Odisha were fined Rs 50,000 each, while Maharashtra, West Bengal, Punjab, Uttarakhand were fined Rs 25,000 each.
During the hearing, the court also told the Centre to consider merging its many schemes for destitute women and widows into one. “Instead of having so many schemes, why don’t you have one proper and first class scheme,” the bench asked Additional Solicitor General ANS Nadkarni, who was representing the ministry. “Why are there so many schemes?”
The court’s observations came on a 2007 petition highlighting the condition of widows in welfare homes in Uttar Pradesh’s Vrindavan. The petition referred to several reports saying the homes lacked acceptable sanitation, drinking water and power facilities.
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