While hearing a case, the Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider a plea seeking directions for framing pan-India guidelines aimed at providing a safe environment for women, children and transgender people in society . A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan issued a notice to various ministries of the Center and its departments and posted the matter for further hearing in January.

During the hearing of the case, senior advocate Mahalakshmi Pawani, appearing for the petitioner from the Supreme Court Women Lawyers’ Association, said several incidents of sexual abuse against women take place in small cities, which go unreported and swept under the rug.

“After the incident at RG Kar Medical College Hospital in Kolkata, in which a junior doctor was raped and murdered, around 95 incidents of sexual violence took place but were not brought to light,” said Pavani, adding that, as in Scandinavian countries, offenders should be punished. chemical castration.

The court said it would not accept many of the prayers mentioned in the petition as they are “barbaric” and “harsh”, but some issues are very innovative and need to be looked into.

Justice Surya Kant said that the issue of maintaining appropriate behavior in public transport is one of the issues that need to be considered and awareness needs to be created on how one should behave in public transport. buses, metros and trains.

The do’s and don’ts of public service vehicles must be made public, he said. “The issue of appropriate social behavior in public transport should not only be taught but should be implemented strictly as inappropriate incidents have also been reported by airlines,” the bench said.

Pavani pointed out that Monday is the anniversary of the horrific Nirbhaya case of 2012, where a 23-year-old physiotherapy intern was gang-raped and assaulted on a bus.

The victim subsequently died. She added that although guidelines have been issued in many cases and there are strict laws and penalties, are they implemented?

The bench said it needed to be seen “where we are lacking in the implementation of punitive and penal laws”. He ordered that a notice be issued to relevant ministries and their institutions through the Attorney General’s Office.

“We appreciate that you are seeking relief for ordinary women, who face difficulties in everyday life,” Justice Surya Kant said.

(With inputs from PTI)