The Bombay High Court went on to note the “shocking reality that a small boat is being plied by the girl students themselves. (File) Taking suo motu cognisance of a news report about the “adventurous journey” of girls from a village in the state’s Satara district who have no choice but to row a boat across the Koyna dam every day to reach their school, the Bombay High Court asked the Maharashtra government to take all measures possible to assist them.
A division bench of Justices Prasanna B Varale and Anil Kilor initiated the suo motu PIL and said it came across a report on a digital news portal “which reflects the adventurous journey of children in general and girl child in particular in a village namely, Khirvandi” in Javali taluka of the district.
The news report referred to the girls’ daily routine as part of which they have to undertake a journey by boat to reach school. The high court went on to note the “shocking reality that a small boat is being plied by the girl students themselves. This particular village comes under a protected area. The girl students are supposed to take up the journey in a boat to cross from one end of Koyna Dam to the other end firstly and thereafter, from the other end, a nearly 4 km journey through dense forest. This area is inhabited by wild animals including bears, tigers etc.”
The report claimed that though certain schools in Maharashtra were closed due to the pandemic, the students of Khirvandi village attend school by undertaking the said “daily routine.”
The bench observed, “We are short of words to express the suffering and plight of students… on one hand (there’s) the adversities being faced by the girl children, and on the other hand, there is courage, will and strong determination of these students to pursue academic career.”
“We can further state that the laudable object of the motto ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’, can be achieved only by providing a safe passage and a friendly atmosphere and environment for the girl children by the State. Needless to state that the State Government can take all measures to provide necessary assistance to the children,” it added.
The bench said “the courage and will” of the girls “reminded it of the Marathi poem Savitrichya Leki (daughters of Savitribai Phule).
The court further directed its registry to place the matter for further orders before the appropriate bench.
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