NWC is tarnishing state's image: State women panel

Kalpetta: The Modi regime is misusing the National Women’s Commission for tarnishing the image of the state by intervening in issues that have already been addressed, according to the State Women’s Commission.

It has been reported that the national women’s panel has registered a case on the plight of unwed mothers of Thirunelli panchayat in Wayanad district and that it would be visiting the district soon.  SWC chairperson K.C. Rosakkutti told DC that such moves were  politically motivated. “The NWC has been sidelining the state panel and also politicising its activities,” she added.

“The problems faced by unwed tribal mothers in Thirunelli have already been addressed by successive state governments and various projects are already on,” she said and added  that there were many instances of the NWC members visiting  such places without informing the state body.  “I  learnt about the Wayanad visit of NWC member Rekha Sharma just before the  Parliament election, when I was addressing a workshop organized by the NWC in  Delhi. I had  raised the issue  in an open forum  headed by NWC chairperson Najma Heptullah,”  she noted. In the Jisha murder case also, the panel did the same thing.  They visited the spot escorted by some BJP-VHP leaders without our knowledge. Even while registering the statement of witnesses, we were kept away. “They want to produce  some political results by misusing such tools of democracy,”  she added.

“In fact,  they want to tarnish the image of the state which is far ahead of many north Indian states in women’s rights,”  she noted.

It may be recalled that the issue of unwed mothers in Wayanad has been in the limelight for the last many decades.