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Rift in Kerala panel over no-third-child proposal
Cracks have appeared in the State-appointed Commission on Rights and Welfare of Women and Children which has proposed, as part of measures for sustainable population regulation, a Kerala Women’s Code Bill 2011 with provisions to penalise parents who beget more than two children even as protests from religious and rights outfits against the proposals intensified.
Captain Serena Nawas, a woman member of the 12-member commission, wrote to its chairman Justice (retired) VR Krishna Iyer asking for deletion of the controversial portions of the draft Bill. She also wanted him to write a letter to the Government on this and to issue a statement to declare withdrawal of the controversial portions.
Justice Iyer rejected the request saying he would not permit any dilution of the provisions proposed in the report which he had submitted to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy last week. “Let anybody come forward with objections. Nobody can scare my committee,” he told mediapersons in Kochi.
The chapter on the draft Women’s Code Bill in the report had proposed - apart from penalising parents with more than two kids - that assistance should be given only to two children of a family. Various Christian and Muslim outfits and women’s organisations, including those of major political parties, had come out with strong protests against the proposals.
Capt Serena Nawas said the report submitted to the Government had not represented the unanimous suggestions of the panel. In no sitting, all the members had taken part, she revealed. The members had put forward their proposals in writing and such a report could have been avoided if a full-quorum sitting had been held before preparing the final report, she said.
Stating that strict measures were needed to implement an effective population control policy, the report had said that any attempt to discourage family planning measures should be seen as an offence. Parents begetting more than two children should be punished with a Rs 10,000 fine or three months’ simple imprisonment, the draft Bill proposed.
“A mother of four children, I cannot agree with these proposals,” Capt Serena said in Kozhikode. “There were several members who were not in agreement with these proposals but they did not get an opportunity to try to avoid this situation,” she said.
In obvious reference to Justice Iyer, Serena, who had retired as Captain from the Army in 2008, said, “A report cannot be prepared by a committee as per the preferences of a single member. It should consider the interests of the entire society. Not many have opposed the objections aired to the draft so far,” she pointed out.
Captain Serena Nawas, a woman member of the 12-member commission, wrote to its chairman Justice (retired) VR Krishna Iyer asking for deletion of the controversial portions of the draft Bill. She also wanted him to write a letter to the Government on this and to issue a statement to declare withdrawal of the controversial portions.
Justice Iyer rejected the request saying he would not permit any dilution of the provisions proposed in the report which he had submitted to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy last week. “Let anybody come forward with objections. Nobody can scare my committee,” he told mediapersons in Kochi.
The chapter on the draft Women’s Code Bill in the report had proposed - apart from penalising parents with more than two kids - that assistance should be given only to two children of a family. Various Christian and Muslim outfits and women’s organisations, including those of major political parties, had come out with strong protests against the proposals.
Capt Serena Nawas said the report submitted to the Government had not represented the unanimous suggestions of the panel. In no sitting, all the members had taken part, she revealed. The members had put forward their proposals in writing and such a report could have been avoided if a full-quorum sitting had been held before preparing the final report, she said.
Stating that strict measures were needed to implement an effective population control policy, the report had said that any attempt to discourage family planning measures should be seen as an offence. Parents begetting more than two children should be punished with a Rs 10,000 fine or three months’ simple imprisonment, the draft Bill proposed.
“A mother of four children, I cannot agree with these proposals,” Capt Serena said in Kozhikode. “There were several members who were not in agreement with these proposals but they did not get an opportunity to try to avoid this situation,” she said.
In obvious reference to Justice Iyer, Serena, who had retired as Captain from the Army in 2008, said, “A report cannot be prepared by a committee as per the preferences of a single member. It should consider the interests of the entire society. Not many have opposed the objections aired to the draft so far,” she pointed out.
