SC RULING ON ARRESTS OF WOMEN OPPOSED

August 3, 2004 - (Times of India) Human rights activists and city-based social organisations have come out strongly against a December 2003 supreme court (SC) ruling on procedures for arresting women.

The court set aside a Bombay high court ruling, which said that a woman constable must be present during a woman's arrest and that no woman may be arrested between sunset and sunrise.

"The new judgement will help the police and the government inflict atrocities against women, especially those from the lower strata of society," advocate Aseem Sarode told a seminar here on Friday.

Leena Mehendale, former joint secretary of the national women's commission, argued that even though the SC had relaxed the earlier rule, inspectors-general of prisons could enforce the presence of a woman constable while ar-resting women. Mehendale, however, seconded the need for ensuring that no woman suspect is taken into custody after dark.
She called for a strong campaign against the arrest of girls forced into flesh trade. "We have often seen in TV re-ports that it is the girls who are bundled off in police vehicles to women's homes, as if they are the criminals. This is a greater crime than a constable arresting a woman suspect."

Advocate Ujjwala Pawar called for the need for special lock-ups for women, while assistant police inspector Sushma Chavan said the SC ruling will only facilitate the timely arrest of women criminals, in situations where women con-stables cannot reach in time.

Noted activist Pushpa Bhave seconded the notion that women, especially from the lower strata, will get a worse treatment from the police after the apex court ruling. The activists drafted a letter of protest to the SC chief justice demanding the presence of women constables while arresting women, a halt to arrests of women after dark, separate lock-ups for women, medical check-up on arrest to be followed by further check-ups every 48 hours and stringent punishment for sexual assault in custody.

Tejashree Sevekari, who runs a voluntary agency for commercial sex workers, and advocate Vijay Hiremath also spoke on the occasion.

From: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/800602.cms