Handle harassment cases carefully: MSWC to police

PUNE: President of the Maharashtra State Women’s Commission (MSWC), Nirmala Samant-Prabhavalkar recently criticised the police for not handling properly harassment cases coming under section 498 of the IPC.
Samant-Prabhavalkar was in Pune to attend a workshop jointly organised by the MSWC and Action For Agricultural Renewal in Maharashtra (AFARM) to train members of the Women’s Vigilance Committee (WVC).
The MSWC president categorically warned the police that the such sections should be enforced only in extreme circumstances.
Section 498 of the Indian Penal Code deals with the husband and relatives of a woman subjecting her to cruelty.
Speaking to TNN, Samant-Prabhavalkar said, “Section 498 (A) is a cognisable and non-bailable offence and ultimately closes the door to any possible negotiation between an aggrieved wife and her in-laws.�
Incidentally, for all the talk on harassment, the MSWC does not have any rehabilitation scheme for women harassed and abandoned by their husbands.