Ideal society lets girls walk streets any point in time: High Court

Kochi: The Kerala High Court observed on Thursday that an ideal society would be a space where women and girls could walk on streets at any point in time, Live Law reports.

The court was disposing of the petitions challenging the Higher Education Department’s order that prohibited female students of Kozhikode Medical College hostels from leaving their hostel premises after 9:30 pm.

Justice Devan Ramachandran said that even though parents’ concerns cannot be ignored, it is also necessary that children should grow up out of the cloak of patriarchy.

The court said that children have the right to experience life in all its vicissitudes and manifestations. They should not be locked up or secluded, even on the ground, offering them protection. But it is the duty of society to offer them the same.

The court said, “…concerns of protection and requirements of security would certainly have to be given the primacy that it requires, however, without boxing in our girls, and making them feel that they require a man to protect them,” Live Law quoted.

However, the court considered the suggestions submitted by Senior Government Pleader TB Hood. The pleader had suggested that if a student requires to leave the hostel after the said time, they could do so by obtaining permission from the hostel warden or faculty in charge. The court underscored that such a request from a student must not be rejected if the same is valid, and it directed the Government to modify its order.

With great wisdom, the court noted that the petitioners, students of Government Medical College Kozhikode, are part of the new generation, and they would never tolerate patriarchy imposed on them.