By IANS,
New Delhi : The Supreme Court Monday issued notice to West Bengal, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh on the plight of widows leading a miserable life in the holy city of Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh after being abandoned by their kin.
While issuing the notice, the apex court bench of Justice D.K. Jain and Justice Anil R. Dave said the issue of the pitiable condition of widows in Vrindavan was very complex and it could not be solved by the court alone.
The judges noted that there were schemes for the rehabilitation of widows and regretted that their benefits were not reaching them. “It is very unfortunate, we are sorry to say there may be touts working there.”
The court would next hear the matter July 30. It issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government afresh after it failed to respond to an earlier notice.
The apex court May 9 had set up a seven-member committee with a mandate to go into the socio-economic condition of the widows. It was hearing a public interest litigation on their plight.
The court had set up the committee while accepting the suggestions by the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA).
The court directed the committee to find out if the widows had any property belonging to them in the places from they had come from or if there was any property belonging to their late husbands.
The NALSA suggested building temporary shelters to which the seven-member committee may guide the homeless during the process of enumeration.