Chennai: The former Chief Justice of Madras and Delhi High Courts, Justice Ajit Prakash Shah is worried that stalking women has become the norm of late on the silver screen.
Delivering the opening remarks during a discussion on a topic “Law, women, media and celluloid”, in a two-day national conference on “Women and Children”, on Sunday, Justice A.P. Shah said “stalking women has become normal in movies and women were also portrayed as ‘item girls’ in the celluloid world.
Initially, they were depicted as ideal human beings who were wedded to socialist ideas with traditional values. However, of late, men were persistently engaged in stalking woman to win over her love in the films. He referred to the Bollywood movie Raanjhanaa, starring Tamil actor Dhanush and Sonam Kapoor, in which Dhanush consistently engaged in stalking Sonam Kapoor to win over her heart. He pointed out several films also ensure that stalking was the new normal. Similarly, movies made with a budget of over '100 crore ensure that an item number is included in it.
Justice A.P. Shah, who was a Chairman of Law Commission of India, said “Cinema has always been a prominent reference point in our culture, more so than any other art form in India. Society influences cinema and in turn, they influence the society. “It is important how we portray women in the films. It is terrible to see heroes stalking women”, he said.
He pointed out that these films have tendencies to influence men unleashing violence against women. He also made note of women being roped in as cheerleaders in IPL matches. Even in serials in television channels, women were portrayed as stereotype women.
He sought the establishment of an independent self-regulatory body to monitor the entertainment channels including print and electronic media.
Former Judge of the Madras HC, Justice K Chandru said the 21st century posed greater challenges to the concept of gender justice and more particularly rights of women. He listed out legal developments in the field of labour laws relating to women in the context of interpretations given by the courts in various verdicts and response of the Parliament.
Delivering the valedictory address, Chief Justice of Madras High court, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said the future generation would face great challenges from technology, which has been growing rapidly. “We have to deal with the technology with care”, he added.
Judges from various High Courts, District courts from various states attended the programme, which was organised jointly by the Madras High Court and Tamil Nadu State Judicial Academy.
