HC allows lecture on lifestyle of would-be parents

The Calcutta High Court today allowed holding of a lecture on lifestyle would-be parents should adopt, dismissing a plea for a stay on it by the West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights.
A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice Nishita Mhatre and Justice T Chakraborti allowed the lecture to be held, while noting that there would not be any physical examination or treatment of couples.
It also directed the organisers 'Arogya Bharati' to videograph the two-day event, which is scheduled to be held from tomorrow at 'Ekal Bhavan' in south Kolkata, and produce a report before the court.

Moving the PIL, the petitioner's counsel claimed that the organisers were proposing to prescribe ways and means to give birth to babies with qualities as desired by parents.
WBCPCR counsel Joydeep Kar submitted that what they (organisers) are doing is neither prescribed by law nor under any medical act.
He also claimed that the entry card for the programme talks of reorientation of lifestyle.

Opposing the prayer for a stay on the programme, the organisers' counsel Phiroze Edulji submitted that the PIL was based on a news report and leaflets.
He denied the claims in the news report about what would happen during the two-day event and said that the organisers did not distribute any leaflet.

Edulji submitted that there would not be any kind of treatment of expecting mothers or anyone else and said that the lecture would be delivered by an ayurvedic doctor.
He submitted that the lecture would be about precautions to be taken during pregnancy and the traditional ways of life in India.