The State Administrative Council (SAC) headed by Governor, Satya Pal Malik accorded sanction to the appointment of Vasundhara Pathak Masoodi as Chairperson of the Jammu & Kashmir State Commission for Protection of Women & Child Rights.
The Commission was headless for almost a year after thecollapse of the PDP-BJP government last year.
After the fall of the state government, head of theCommission for Women, Nayeema Mehjoor had stepped down upholding establishedconvention. Since then the Commission was headless.
In absence of a chairperson, at least 197 cases – 153 inKashmir and 44 in Jammu – are pending for trial in the Women and Child RightsCommission, earlier known as Women’s Commission.
Also, in 2018-19, 132 new cases have been registered by theCommission which are yet to be investigated and examined.
Vasundhara Pathak Masoodi is a practicing lawyer in theSupreme Court of India, High Courts of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Jammu andKashmir and various other Courts/Tribunals.
She is a women and child rights activist, committed to thecause of women and children. She has successfully argued several cases relatingto discrimination against women including the cases of domestic violence.