PANAJI
A law to end customs and practices discriminatory to widows in Goa will be brought in the next (monsoon) session of the Goa Legislative Assembly, Women and Child Minister Vishwajit Rane said.
Rane said, he will hold consultations with Opposition Leader Yuri Alemao, other interested members to draft a proper legislation to do away with this humiliating practice of ostracisation of widows.
Alemao had moved a private member resolution seeking the same to which Rane said it will not be effective and assured that a well thought out law will serve the purpose.
Rane assured that such a law will be brought in the next session and urged Alemao to withdraw the resolution, a request which the latter obliged and accordingly withdrew it.
Earlier, moving the resolution, Alemao said, certain customs prevalent in Goa undermined the dignity of widows and needed to be done away with. He also congratulated several panchayats which had already passed resolutions to eliminate such practices.
Several other MLAs, cutting across party lines supported the resolution and the stated objectives in it.
St Andre MLA, Viresh Borkar said the government should come up with a legal mechanism by which widows are assured their right, which is guaranteed by the Uniform Civil Code, to property of their deceased husband.
Several other MLAs, including Chandrakant Shetye, Venzy Viegas, Altone D’Costa and two women members -- Delilah Lobo and Deviya Rane -- also expressed strong sentiments against the discrimination of widows manifested in practices such as forcing them to dress in a certain way or discard their ‘mangalsutra’ and also being forced to shun jewelry on the death of their husbands.
