Supreme Court Women Lawyers Association moves Supreme Court to bar ML Sharma, AP Singh in Supreme Court premises

The outrage against the two Delhi lawyers, ML Sharma and AP Singh, seems to be snowballing. After the online petition campaign which garnered unprecedented attention, the Supreme Court Women Lawyers Association (Petitioner) has now filed a petition in the Supreme Court praying for barring Sharma and Singh from entering the Supreme Court premises..In its petition, the Petitioner has contended violation of fundamental rights of women lawyers of the Supreme Court to work with dignity and without any gender bias – facets of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution. The Petitioner’s submissions have its genesis in the statements made by Sharma and Singh about women..As per the petition,.“The present Petition is necessitated due to the ignominy and the direct attack on the dignity of women, especially women lawyers practicing in the Supreme Court of India who have suffered due to the statements made and publicized by two male lawyers, and specially the Respondent No. 1, who regularly practice in the Supreme Court of India. The comments made in the Documentary, “India’s Daughter” presented by BBC are inhumane, scandalous, unjustifiable, biased, outrageous, ill-minded and are a direct affront to and in violation of the dignity of women, especially the women practicing in the Supreme court of India. These comments have caused a sense of insecurity, indignation and fear amongst the female lawyers practicing in the Supreme Court of India.”.The petition further states that,.“If one refers to the derogatory and insulting words used by Mr. Sharma in his statements to the international news agency it is clear that according to him women should not be allowed to go out after the time specified by him, they should have no choice of choosing persons with whom they want to spend time, they should not be allowed to be friends with men, they should not be allowed live their life as per their wish, i.e., women of our country shall be restrained from even thinking of the word independent and individuality. The statements coming from the practicing lawyer of the highest Court of Country aired by international news channel has maligned reputation of not only women in our Country but has brought disrepute to the nation.”.Singh had also made similar statements to TV Channels. He is shown as saying,.“if my daughter or sister engaged in pre-marital activities and disgraced herself and allowed herself to lose face and character by doing such things, I would most certainly take this sort of sister or daughter to my farmhouse, and in front of my entire family, I would put petrol on her and set her alight.”.The Petitioner has contended that the remarks by Sharma and Singh create “an atmosphere of terror among the female lawyers of the Supreme Court as there is always an apprehension of misbehaviour when persons of such mentality roams among them in the premises of the Supreme Court.”.Contending that the “Constitution of India guarantees right to gender equality to every women of the country under Article 14 and right to live and right to dignity under Article 21 and casts duty upon the courts of the country to take necessary steps to protect them and ensure safety of woman at every cost”, the Petitioner has, inter alia, sought the following:.appropriate order restricting the entry of Respondent No. 1 and 2 into the premises of the Supreme Court of India;direction to the Gender Sensitisation and Sexual Harassment Committee to take action against Singh and Sharma and to sensitize them towards the dignity and rights of women under Regulation 7(2) of the Gender Sensitization and Sexual Harassment of Women at the Supreme Court of India (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Regulations, 2013;direction to both of them to issue public apology and retracting their statements;.When Bar & Bench spoke to Sharma and Singh, both of them said that they were not aware about the petition and hence, will not comment on it.