SC to hear PIL today

New Delhi: The Supreme will hear on Monday a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking the issuance of pan-India safety guidelines, reforms, and measures for the protection of women.

As per the causelist published on the website of the apex court, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and N.K. Singh will resume hearing the PIL on Monday.

On December 16, 2024, the Justice Surya Kant-led bench agreed to examine the plea and sought the response of the Union government in the matter.

"We will have to examine where we are lacking to achieve the goal of punitive and penal law. There is not something wrong with the quantity of punishment, but something else," the apex court had remarked.

Senior advocate Mahalakshmi Pavani, appearing for the Supreme Court Women Lawyers Association, said that the Parliament has enacted stringent laws but due to "unwillingness, corruption, and laxity in the police and administrative stakeholders", the timely and effective implementation of these laws doesn't take place and hence, there is no fear among the criminals.

The PIL urged the apex court to take judicial notice and frame strict guidelines with a sharper focus on its time-bound implementation to prevent incidents of sexual violence against women.

Further, it beseeched the court to invoke the doctrine of ‘parens patriae’ to safeguard the fundamental rights of women, children, and the third gender in the country, including their right to safety, a secure workplace, adequate sanitation, personal dignity, bodily integrity, and a safe environment.