New Delhi, May 4
President Pranab Mukherjee today called for resetting the nation’s “moral compass” for effectively dealing with crimes against women and children which have witnessed a spurt in recent months.

“The recent incidents of brutal assault and child rape in Delhi have shaken our society’s collective conscience. They highlight the urgency with which we need to introspect at the erosion of values and our repeated failure to ensure safety and security of our women and children,” the President noted while delivering the inaugural address at a National Seminar on Welfare of Lawyers organized by the Bar Council of Delhi.

“The legal fraternity, especially women lawyers, must be in the vanguard of enabling our nation reset its moral compass,” he told the seminar attended by Law Minister Ashwani Kumar, Supreme Court Judge P Sathasivam, Delhi High Court Chief Justice D Murugesan, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and others.

Pointing out that right from the freedom struggle, which was mostly led by lawyers like Mahatma Gandhi and Jawahar Lal Nehru, till date the legal fraternity had played a major role in ensuring basic rights and furthering the cause of democracy, he said he had no hesitation in stating that the Indian legal system as a whole had lived up to the faith and confidence of the people.

“The Bar as well as the Bench deserves unequivocal recognition for this stellar achievement,” he said.

Acknowledging that women lawyers could play an important leadership role in ensuring the safety and security of women, he said at the same it was absolutely essential to give them an appropriate and conducive environment in the first instance.

“I gather that a group of lady lawyers in the Supreme Court have moved a petition to seek the enforcement of the court’s own verdict in the Vishakha case on providing a more congenial workplace environment within the courts for lady lawyers. I am sure the Supreme Court will give expeditious attention to the matter,” he said.

Justice Sathasivam lamented the fact that the percentage of women lawyers continued to be negligible. “A few are enrolled and fewer are practicing,” he said and asked the Bar Council to help them strike a balance between their family lives and legal practice.

Ashwani Kumar said his ministry would consider the demands of lawyers sympathetically and suggested an increase in stamp duty for certain categories in order to provide a social security cover to them.