BOMBAY: The national conference on women, religion and family laws denounced the statement made by the Bharati Janata Party Vice President Mrs. Vijaya Raje Scindia, justifying and glorifying the customs of “sati (the Hindu Custom of burning the widow with the dead body of her husband), and demanded that immediate criminal action under the Commission of Sati (prevention) Act 1987, be taken against Mrs. Scindia and all those glorifying and reviving the practice of “sati.”
The conference, comprising women activists from all over the country, passed a resolution to this effect in its concluding session on Monday. The resolution moved by the leader and conveyer of the Dharmandata Virodhi Manch, Neelam Gorhe, added that the glorification of “sati” is an attempt by communal nab groups to make women an instrument of their politics.
Among the resolutions passed were that all women, irrespective of caste, creed and community, be brought under the preview of Sec 125 Crpf which provides maintenance rights.
Another resolution said that the Government’s recommendation for compulsory registration of marriages was vague and required more clarifications on its consequences before it could be passed. A third resolution stressed that the bias existing in all laws making father natural guardian of children must be removed and both parents must be recognized as natural guardians.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 10, 1989
