SC to hear PILs on rape cases, women safety tomorrow

"We understand the importance of the matter. We will hear it tomorrow," a bench comprising justices K S Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra said.

The petition filed by retired lady IAS officer Promilla Shanker was listed before the bench following yesterday's order of another bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir, which had agreed to give the matter an urgent hearing.

The bench headed by Justice Radhakrishnan decided to hear the matter tomorrow as it had received a report from the apex court registry that an identical matter relating to the safety of women was already pending.

The judges were of the view that they would like to know the details of the other pending matter.

Senior advocate Pramod Swarup and advocate Pareena Swarup said there may be some overlapping issues in the two petitions but the PIL by the former bureaucrat raised other issues including the need for speedy trial for the offences against women.

The apex court will also hear another PIL related to the issue which was filed by an advocate and social activist Omika Dubey in which directions have been sought for appointment of additional judges to adjudicate the matters of crime against women and for providing compulsory compensation to victims of rape.

The PIL filed through advocate Ravi Prakash Gupta also sought an order to restrain print and electronic media from publishing and telecasting obscene pictures of women.