President Murmu, V P Radhakrishnan and PM Modi read the Preamble during Constitution Day celebrations at Samvidhan Sadan Wednesday
NEW DELHi: President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday said women representation in judiciary, legislature and executive continues to be low despite Parliament amending the Constitution to enact Women’s Reservation Act in 2023 to reserve one-third of seats for women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies.”Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam is a historic step towards empowering women and a homage to all women who took part in the Constituent Assembly to frame the Constitution. But we continue to lag in giving women adequate representation in judiciary, legislature and executive,” Murmu said at the Constitution Day celebrations organised by Supreme Court, which has only one woman among 33 judges.Speaking in the presence of CJI Surya Kant and law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, the President said taking steps to give adequate representation to women in all three wings of governance will require a change of mindset. It was SCBA president Vikas Singh who mentioned extremely low representation of women in judiciary – 13% in HCs and 35% in trial courts.She said annual commemoration of the Constitution’s adoption on Nov 26, 1949, is often marked by speeches made by dignitaries. “Have we ever looked back and assessed in the last 75 years how much we have progressed in achieving the constitutional goals of justice, equality, liberty and fraternity for every citizen? If not, can we do it in the next 24 years when we will be celebrating the centenary of the adoption of the Constitution? That is the question, not only for the judiciary, legislature or executive, but for everyone. “Addressing another Constitution Day event in Central Hall of old Parliament building or Samvidhan Sadan, Murmu described the Constitution as the bedrock of “our national pride and national identity”, and as a guiding text for taking India forward with a “nationalist mindset by abandoning the colonial mindset”.In front of an audience that included Vice-President C P Radhakrishnan, PM Narendra Modi, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, opposition leaders of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, respectively, and members of both Houses of Parliament, Murmu cited implementation of legislations related to the criminal justice system as an example of the effort to shun the colonial mindset. Murmu also said that by repealing the provisions of Article 370, an obstacle that had been hindering the country’s inclusive political integration was removed.At the function in SC, Murmu praised CJI’s renewed focus on mediation and termed it a big step to reduce litigation. CJI Kant said when it comes to justice delivery system, there is still a disquieting gap between constitutional vision and the experience of many, especially the marginalised section of population for whom the access to justice remains elusive because of exorbitant cost of litigation, language of courts, distance and delay. Promising to improve the justice delivery system on all these fronts, the CJI said, “The time is also ripe for us to reinforce predictability in our judicial approach.”
