Women need justice, not just sympathy, says National Commission for Women member Archana Majumdar

The National Commission for Women (NCW) has taken proactive steps to tackle the growing backlog of over 40,000 pending gender-based complaints by initiating ‘Jan Sunwais’ (Public Hearings) across the country. These hearings involve commission members visiting districts with high numbers of reported cases, ensuring that women in these areas have direct access to justice.

“Our main focus is on delivering justice to women facing domestic violence, rape, sexual harassment, trafficking and cybercrimes among other forms of crimes. Women need justice, not just sympathy,” emphasises Archana Majumdar, member of NCW, held “Jan Sunwai” sessions at Guntur and Tirupati with the support of the State Mahila Commission staff, local police, legal aid representatives and welfare department staff. She also visited medical and maternity hospitals and interacted with victims of commercial sex exploitation.

“There is an alarming rise in the number of teenage pregnancy cases. In some areas like Mysore, it is as high as 30%. In West Bengal too, it is very high,” she said, adding that child marriages are yet another area of serious concern. “We are advocating for inclusion of syllabus-based education in Classes 5 to 10 about the importance of the legal marriage age, risks of early pregnancy and women’s rights,” she said. “Campaigns alone are not enough. Awareness must be built into the school system,” she reiterated.

She said Andhra Pradesh has high volume of cases. “In Guntur alone, there were around 60-65 cases that were scheduled to be heard, besides around 15 walk-in complaints,” she informed, adding “This indicates how much help women are seeking here.”

She said the Commission is leveraging technology not only to provide accessibility to women across the country to these district-wise outreach programmes (Jan Sunwais), but also to create awareness among the wide network of ASHA workers and women self-help groups.

Internal Complaint Cells

Speaking about the importance of establishing Internal Complaint Cells (ICC) by institutions and companies, as they provide a confidential and safe platform for individuals to report harassment, discrimination or any form of misconduct and that they are particularly essential in preventing sexual harassment, bullying or abuse of power, Ms. Majumdar said it was unfortunate to see some of the well-established big organisations devoid of this significant facility.

Online safety and digital literacy

Ms. Majumdar said the Commission regularly receives complaints of cybercrimes involving women duped with fake identities on social media platforms. “Women are tricked into relationships or marriages by imposters posing as doctors, engineers, or affluent individuals and they are left in psychological and financial distress.”

She also draws attention to the frequent violation of maternity rights of woking women where women are often terminated illegally once they announce their pregnancy or apply for leave. “We take up 3-4 such cases daily and intervene directly with the employers, explaining to them the laws. Most cases are resolved in favour of the complainant,” she says.

The Commission has proposed several legal reforms for women’s empowerment and protection. They have been sent to the Law Ministry and are its consideration. “Our Chairperson Vijaya Kishore Rahatkar is also exploring Artificial Intelligence (AI) integration, both for capacity-building and for understanding how AI can be utilised to usher in a positive change in women’s lives,” she said.