RTI activist, Saket Gokhale, on October 28, filed a civil writ petition in Bombay high court asking the court to direct the removal of the chairperson of the National Commission of Women (NCW), Rekha Sharma for invoking the idea of “love jihad”.

Background: In a recent tweet, it was claimed that the NCW chairperson, Rekha Sharma had met the governor of Maharashtra so as to discuss various issues like women safety, rape of women patients in the COVID centres and the rise in the Love Jihad cases. In the plea, prominent RTI activist Saket Gokhale, had stated that by invoking the baseless idea of the Love Jihad, the chairperson of the NCW had interfered with the freedom of interfaith couples to practice their faith freely while marrying each other without the fear of persecution and targeting based on religious grounds.

National Commission for Women: NCW is a statutory body established by GOI in 1992 under the provisions of the National commission of Women Act, 1990. Its aim is to protect the interests and welfare of women in the country against various issues and discrimination. The NCW is composed of a Chairperson and five members nominated by the central government with atleast one member each from among people belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled tribes. It should also have one member secretary. The members should have relevant experiences which would help them in working towards the protection of women’s rights and issues. It has the power of a civil court and can begin inquiry. It is responsible for coordinated action with NHRC, Indian missions abroad and relevant ministries in the realm of women empowerment. In the international sphere, as per Section 10(1)(f) of the National commission of women act, 1990 read with subsection 4 of Section 10 and Section 8 of the Act, the NCW must look into complaints and take suo-moto action on any issue brought before the NRI cells abroad. Jayanti Patnaik was the first chairperson when the commission was constituted on January 31, 1992. An innovative component in the NCW is the Parivarik Mahila Lok Adalat, (PMLA) which has its roots in the traditional Nyaya Panchayats. It was created by NCW for the redressal and speedy disposal of cases.  One of the essential features of PMLA is cordial mutual settlement and flexibility in implementation, aiming to empower women in the justice delivery mechanism.

Activist Saket Gokhale, who has vigorously kept a peeled eye, for a long time on the various cases of violations of laws and infringements of rights described in the plea that the chairperson of the NCW had violated specifically the Articles 14, 21, and 25 of the Indian constitution. He had also stressed that Rekha Sharma had also violated Section 4 3(d) of the National Commission of Women Act, 1990. He also added that posting such statements can never be taken lightly as this indicates the official policy of demonizing the inter-faith marriages, further elaborating that such behavior highlights her inability to act responsibly and fulfill her duties in a secular and non-partisan manner.

What do the provisions say

In the Indian constitution, Article 14 ensures equality before law and prohibition of discrimination on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth. In this case, as per the civil writ, the Chairperson of the NCW had demonstrated discrimination of a state body based on religion. Article 21 ensures the protection of life and liberty and that any person (citizen) cannot be denied any of these two except according to the procedure established by the law. The plea by Gokhale points out the infringement of the right to liberty of inter-faith marriage. Article 25 ensures the freedom of conscience and freedom of profession, practice, and propagation of religion subject to certain restrictions like public order, morality, and health. By invoking the concept of the Love Jihad, the NCW chairperson had violated these freedoms. It must be kept in mind that these are fundamental rights which are justiciable by nature.

Section 4 3(d) of the National Commission of Women Act, 1990 states that any person in the office of the chairperson should be removed if he/she refuses to act as per norms and becomes incapable of acting in the position. In this plea, the incapability of the NCW chairperson to act in a secular and non-partisan way is reflected.