Our nation is committed to strengthening democracy at the grassroots level and empowering women, if one believes what the Constitution, the laws and our political leaders have to say. But the proof of the pudding is in its eating, and if one were to go by the observations of the Supreme Court in a case from Chhattisgarh, then the pattern of the treatment of elected representatives who happened to be women leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
In a strongly-worded judgment taking to task the authorities for removing a woman sarpanch on “flimsy pretext” and “false and untenable grounds” and reinstating her to her position, the court said: “It deeply concerns us that there is a pattern of similar cases where administrative authorities and village panchayat members collude to exact vendetta against female sarpanchs.” The court recalled an earlier order where it had observed that “cases involving female sarpanchs often reveal a pervasive pattern of unfair treatment across various levels of administrative functioning.”
If the apex court were to identify a pattern, then it must be only the tip of the proverbial iceberg and a cause for worry as it would be prohibitively expensive in terms of money, time and perseverance for a woman sarpanch to knock on the doors of the highest court of the land. It may be noticed that the court was mindful of this fact and ordered the state government to pay the sarpanch Rs 1 lakh as compensation.
In a rebuke of the administrative authorities including the revenue divisional officer who ordered her removal, in the choicest words, the court noticed that they, “with their colonial mindset”, have regrettably failed yet again to recognise the fundamental distinction between an “elected public representative” and a “selected public servant”. The court also put on record its disapproval of the elected representatives being treated as subordinate to bureaucrats.
But the judiciary can do only so much to uphold the constitutional provisions and democratic principles and it is up to the executive branch of the state to introspect on how much it has walked the talk.
