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31 Jul 2019
GS Paper 2
Polity & Governance
Without addressing the power-imbalance in society, a just society, particularly for women, cannot be envisaged. Discuss the role of the Indian Judiciary in this regard. (250 words)
Approach
- Describe the power imbalances in society associated with gender.
- Explain Judiciary’s role in reducing the power imbalance.
- Discuss the significance of addressing the power imbalance in society.
Introduction
Indian society today is marked with stark power-imbalances among different sections of the community. There is an urgent need to empower these marginalized or excluded groups.
The idea of empowerment is not limited to political representation. It is a process to create an inclusive society, which could give a life of dignity to achieve the objectives of jsocial, economic and political justice.
Body
Women, particularly face social exclusion in the patriarchal society in all aspects of life. It is not limited to denying positions of power in political institutions, rather has deep rooted existence in social institutions like family and society.
Indian judiciary has played a critical role in upholding the rights of women to ensure social, poltical and economic justice and ending the gender-based discrimination to address the power-imbalance in the society.
Some of the steps taken by the judiciary in this direction are:
- Dealing with social power imbalance: In various judgments, SC has ensured equality of various social rights like-right to worship, the right to choose one’s life partner. It has constantly widend and refined the definitions of “marriage”, “family” and other social institutions to rationalise the power structure.
- For eg- In its Sabarimala judgment, it banned the restriction on women of menstruating age to worship thus, upholding the right to equality and dignity of the women under Article 14 and 15 of the Constitution.
- It held the practice of Triple Talaq unconstitutional, paving the way for equality to be observed in the marriage.
- Dealing with workplace power imbalance: SC commissioned the Vishaka guidelines that defined sexual harassment at workplace and put the onus on the employers to provide a safe working environment for women.
- Dealing with economic power imbalance: It has helped invoke a debate around the equal protection of women’s property rights through the various judgments.
- For eg- in Mary Roy Vs State of Kerala, 1986, SC granted Syrian Christian women the right to seek an equal share in their father's property. The property rights
Conclusion
At several instances, the judiciary has guided the social attitude towards the need for a just and fair society, evening out the power structures. However, judiciary itself suffers from several inherent power imbalances. A lot needs to be done to empower women and other marginalised sections in society. Efforts in this direction cannot be limited to the public institutions but the society itself has to evolve to restructure the power sharing between the various groups.
