Jamshedpur, Aug. 30: Sheela Devi, a resident of Kadma, who was refused a share of the property by her in-laws following her husband's death two years ago, finally got justice. The Jharkhand State Commission for Women (JSWC) on Wednesday instructed her brother in-laws to share with her a portion of the profit they make from the family-owned medicine shop.
The commission, which held an open court to dispose of cases pertaining to domestic violence, property disputes and adoption legalities, heard 32 cases on Wednesday and resolved 8, including Sheela's. On Thursday, it is likely to take up another 40.
The court also heard the case of Juhi Perween, a mother of three and a victim of domestic violence, who was evicted from her house about a month ago. But it could not be resolved because her husband was not present. JSWC officials said they will ask police to bring her husband to the commission's office in Ranchi on a given date.
The court, held at the circuit house in Jamshedpur, was presided by chairperson Kalyani Sharan. Other members of the panel included Renu Devi, Poonam Prakash, Sharmila Soren, Aarti Rana and under secretary Chandrashekhar Jha. The last time the commission organised such an open court was in East Singhbhum district in 2014.
Sharan said JSWC will also organise open courts in neighbouring districts of Seraikela-Kharswan and West Singhbhum in September.
"We want to dispose of the cases as early as possible. The maximum number of cases that came up for hearing on Wednesday were either related to domestic violence or property dispute. We also have a team that is taking care of the paper work because in some cases the parties ought to give us an undertaking. There are some cases of domestic violence where we have to seek help from the district police," Sharan added.
She said JSWC also plans to organise awareness sessions at the panchayat level to make rural women aware about their rights. "There are many schemes for women, but in the villages they hardly know about them. There are also plans to conduct awareness programmes for women Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) members.
"There are many women mukhiyas, gram pradhans and even ward members. Although they won in elections, they failed to disseminate information about employment, skill and health programmes among women. If PRI members are not aware of government welfare schemes for women, how do we expect information to trickle down to the downtrodden. We have to educate women PRI members in every block of every district," Sharan added.
