Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana on September 26 called for 50 percent reservation for women in the judiciary, the second time this month that the country’s top judge has pushed for greater participation of women in the judicial system.
The demand for reservation should be led by women, as the 50 percent quota was their "right", the CJI said. "We need 50 percent reservation for women in the judiciary... It is an issue of thousands of years of oppression," NDTV quoted him as saying.
He also called for similar affirmative action in law colleges of the country.
Only "15 percent" of the country's 1.7 million advocates were women and only two percent of the elected representatives in state bar councils are women, he said at a felicitation ceremony organised by women advocates of the Supreme Court for him and the nine newly appointed judges
In the subordinate judiciary, less than 30 percent of the judges were women, he said. Only 11.5 percent of the high court judges were women. In the Supreme Court, of the 33 judges, only four were women, the CJI said.
Also read: Time has come for appointment of woman as Chief Justice of India: SC
"I want that women with anger must shout and demand 50 percent reservation. It is an issue arising out of years of suppression. It is a matter of right, not of charity," Live Law quoted him as saying.
"Women of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but your chains,” said the CJI, rewording German philosopher Karl Marx’s famous words.
Extended greetings on Daughter’s Day, the Chief Justice of India also said he was "forcing the executive" to correct some of the infrastructure amenities to address the challenges faced by women advocates.
"There is a lack of women toilets because of which even lady officers suffer," he said.
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