Recently, an advertisement in Hindustan Times, dated 3rd August triggered my curiosity. It was a Delhi government Advertisement about ‘Mahila Panchayat – Legal Aid at Community Level’. Mahila Panchayats? Did such a Panchayat exist? I knew not.
My curiosity then drove me to search more about Mahila Panchayats.
On some research, I found that Mahila Panchayat was basically started by ActionIndia, an NGO spearheaded by social activist Nafisa Ali. This all-women Panchayats consisted of two paralegals trained by Action India and the rest were volunteers from the community. These have been formed with the twin aim of spreading legal awareness and empowering women.
After its initial success, the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) in September 2000 recognized Mahila Panchayat as a critically important aspect of its Make Delhi Safe For Women campaign.
The members of these Panchayats are trained in legal issues, given exposure about the existing legal positions regarding property, maintenance, marriage, custody, domestic violence, alcoholism etc. Further training is also given in spheres of counseling, FIR writing and proceedings for legal recourse. In short, these Panchayats empower women to tackle local legal disputes at their own level. They have helped women to bond in times of distress and to fight back as now, they are legally wise. It also saves time, money and energy since little disputes need not be dragged to the courts.
Presently, 39 Mahila Panchayats are functioning all over Delhi.
Thus, I feel it’s a wonderful program in helping women by making them aware of their legal rights. However, at the same time it renders them powerless as their decisions are not legally binding. These Panchayats in no way replace the normal judicial proceedings. They only act as cost-effective intermediaries. In addition, women in rural India are still dominated by their husbands. Therefore, there is a fair chance that their decisions may be manipulated for petty gains. Speculations apart, a scheme can only work if it is constantly monitored and its success evaluated.
