By Matters India Reporter
Mumbai, Nov 18, 2019: An Indian jurist has urged Catholic priests and nuns who practice as lawyers to work for the rights of girl children and women.
“You must understand the plight of women in this country. Deterrent law alone cannot check crime against women. Education and conscientization can bring change. Every girl child should be educated of her rights,” Ferdino Rebello, former Judge of the Bombay High Court, told a gathering of the National Lawyers Forum of Catholic clergy and nun.
Justice Rebello spoke on “Role of Religious and Priests in legal ministry in today’s context.”
Women have the right to carry on any profession; no one can deprive them of their livelihood, said Rebello, former member of the Legislative Assembly of Goa, Daman and Diu.
When dance bars were banned in Maharashtra in August 2005, Justice Rebello’s bench struck down the ban, a decision upheld by the Supreme Court of India in 2013.
The National Lawyers Forum of nuns and priests held its annual meeting at St. Pius Campus, Mumbai. The November 15-17 conference had its theme “Pursuit of Justice – Our Prophetic Response.”
Among others who addressed the three-day gathering included Jesuit social activist Father Cedric Prakash and Flavia Agnes, a human rights activist in Mumbai.
The convention was a time to think together to uphold human rights and to bring justice to the needy, said Sister Jessy Kurian, a Supreme Court lawyer based in New Delhi.