Eve teasing must stop as it concerns women's dignity: HC

, Dec 11: Incidents of eve teasing should be dealt with strictly as the issue involves women's dignity, the

has observed. The comments came from a bench headed by Justices V M Kanade and P D Kode while hearing a suo motu PIL.

On September 17, the same bench had while confirming death sentence on two persons for raping and killing a BPO employee in Pune, had recommended to the Chief Justice framing of norms for safety of women, particularly those who work in the night shifts. On November 8, Chief Justice Mohit Shah converted the request of the judges for framing norms for women's safety into a PIL and assigned the matter for hearing to the same bench.

When the matter came up for hearing before the judges on Monday, they said that women's security has become an issue of concern in the society. "These days, there have been instances when people are assaulted and murdered just because they have protected or rescued women. Hence, the issue needs to be tackled," observed Justice Kanade. The judges were referring to the murder of 19-year-old Santosh Vicchivora in suburban Dombivali, who was allegedly stabbed to death by hooligans after he protested against the latter for misbehaving with his female friend.

Also last week, an assistant sub-inspector in Amritsar was shot dead by a political activist and his friends after the former tried to protect his daughter from being harassed by them. The two incidents had sent shock waves across the country.

On Monday, a journalist of a reputed English channel was beaten up by three men when he tried to stop them from molesting a teenaged girl in Jalandhar, also in Punjab.

The Bombay High Court has made a significant observation on eve-teasing by highlighting the 'women's dignity' factor. Will the administration act?

PTI