Politicians must refrain from commenting on women: Bombay High Court

The Bombay high court on Thursday issued notices to the Union ministry of women and child welfare department, law and justice and parliamentary affairs asking it to respond to a public interest litigation seeking direction to the government to frame guidelines so that politicians do not make insulting comments on women.

Though the court said that it would not be in a position to direct the legislature to frame a law or policy on speeches of politicians, it observed that the politicians should themselves refrain from making any derogatory comments on women in their speeches.

The division bench of Justice V.M. Kanade and Justice Swapna Joshi was hearing a PIL filed last year by Dr Poornima Advani seeking direction to the Union government to frame guidelines for ministers, political parties and its members on how to give public speeches so that they do not make offensive comments on women.

Observing that it is a question of political will and self-restraint, and that the political parties should have a consensus on the issue, the court said, “Decorum has to be maintained by everyone and not just politicians when it comes to women.”

The court also said that often politicians make a statement and when the same appears in the media, they either deny it or say they did not mean it or claim that their comment was taken out of context.

The PIL cites one instance wherein Congress leader and former minister Gurudas Kamat, while speaking at a political rally in Rajasthan, had allegedly passed defamatory comments against then Union HRD minister Smriti Irani.

According to the petition, Mr Kamat had made “derogatory, abrasive and misogynist” comments against Ms Irani, her education and character.

Advocate Anubhav Ghosh claimed that such comments are not only derogatory but also discourages women from entering politics.