‘Women largest minority’: SC seeks govt's reply on 33% quota

SC SAID PROMISE OF EQUALITY IN THE PREAMBLE MUST TRANSLATE INTO REAL REPRESENTATION.

- Utkarsh Anand

The Supreme Court on Monday stressed that women constitute the “largest minority” in India and that political equality for them is a constitutional pledge, as it sought the Centre's response on a public interest plea pressing for the immediate implementation of the women’s reservation law to reserve a third of the seats in Lok Sabha and state assemblies.

A bench of justices BV Nagarathna and R Mahadevan, while hearing the plea, remarked that the promise of equality in the Preamble must translate into real representation.

“The Preamble says political and social equality. Who is the largest minority in this country? It is the woman... almost 48 %. This is about the political equality of women,” Justice Nagarathna observed during the hearing.