Make women aware of legal rights: Judge

DHARWAD: Creating legal awareness among women goes a long way in empowering them, said principal district and sessions judge M Ramesh Rao.
Inaugurating a function to mark International Women's Day, organized by various government and non-government agencies at Alur Bhavan here on Sunday, he said successive governments had enacted several laws to protect women from harassment and suppression, and the need of the hour is to make women know about their rights and legal remedies.He called upon people to prevent atrocities against them.
BS Sangati, District Legal Services Authority member, expressed concern over the rising number of cases of harassment for dowry. He pointed out that as many as 31,000 cases had been filed in court. He said the Legal Services Authority has been holding several educational programmes to empower women legally.
Deputy director of the women and child welfare% department PY Shekhappanavar, advocate Prafulla Nayak, PG Bhat, president %of the Dharwad Bar Association VD Kamareddy and judge MS Hegde, among others, were present.