Bhopal: The state of Madhya Pradesh was on Wednesday slapped with Rs two lakh penalty by the Supreme Court for showing ‘lack of concern for welfare of women’.
The SC had imposed a cost of Rs two lakh each to 12 states and Union Territories, including Madhya Pradesh, for not responding to the letters issued by Union Ministry of Women and Child Development as per the SC order.
Taking a stringent stand on the issue, the SC said, “There is no use in making grand statements and submissions in favour of gender justice while the state governments and UTs do not have even five minutes' time to respond to the Ministry of Women and Child Development for the sake of women.”
The apex court, hearing a case pertaining to pitiable condition encountered by destitute widows across the nation, asked the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development to receive responses from all the states and UTs.
“We are extremely pained to note from a reading of the affidavit and complete lack of a positive response from the State Governments and UTs that there is very little concern, if at all, for the welfare of women of the States/UTs,” observed the apex court.
The top court directed the States/UTs concerned to deposit Rs two lakh each within four weeks and also instructed them to furnish the required information to Union Ministry of Women and Child Development within three weeks.
Besides MP, other states are Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Gujarat, Mizoram, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Arunachal Pradesh, UT (Dadra and Nagar Haveli).
Interestingly, MP government boasts of pro-women policies including Ladli Laxmi Yojana, offering 33% reservation to women in government service and 50% reservation to women in local bodies.
Recently, MP became the first state to propose death sentence for the rapists of girls below 12 years by passing a bill in this regard in the just concluded winter session of state Assembly.
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