The Bombay High Court has taken a significant step by appointing a committee comprising Principal District Judges and female representatives from district bar associations to address the infrastructure challenges faced by female lawyers, litigants, and staff in Maharashtra’s courts.
This decision came in response to a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by the Jan Adalat Centre for Paralegal Services and Legal Aid Society, which shed light on the neglect experienced by women in court complexes.
The PIL highlighted the lack of separate bar rooms for women in court complexes across the state, despite there being approximately 40,000 women lawyers out of a total of 160,000 lawyers in Maharashtra as of January 2019.
The plea also emphasized the absence of specific rules mandating the minimum number of women lawyers required for the provision of a separate bar room. Additionally, the petition drew attention to the lack of canteen facilities, changing rooms, clean washrooms, and necessary amenities such as a creche and feeding rooms for women lawyers who are mothers.
The plea specifically highlighted the situation in the Pune District Court, where the limited number of bar rooms (only two) leads to disputes and discomfort during the summer due to tin sheds.
The plea further requested separate parking spaces, lockers, drinking water facilities, and the installation of CCTV cameras in court complexes. The committee appointed by the Bombay High Court aims to address these infrastructural issues and improve the working conditions for female legal professionals in the state.
