The withdrawal under social media pressure of a Tanishq ad that depicts an interfaith marriage tells us that even in modern India some alliances continue to be out-of-bounds. Provisions in a law that enables secular marriage are, ironically, often a tool for harassment. My story with Surbhi Karwa for Article-14. When she was in the […]
Couples who wish to marry under the Special Marriage Act must serve a 30-day notice during which their personal details are on public display. This violates their privacy and leaves many vulnerable to parental and community reprisal. In October last year soon after ‘S’ informed the district magistrate’s office in Lucknow that she wanted to
In defining ‘cruelty’ in divorce cases—wives who don’t wear a mangalsutra or prioritise careers or want to live separately from their in-laws or do not make tea—Indian courts often fall back on stereotypes of the role of wives in marriage. My report with Surbhi Karwa for Article14. Momita was visiting her grandmother at 7 pm
How Indian courts define a married woman’s place Read More »
A two-judge Supreme Court bench orders that women officers in the navy be treated at par with men. Those who’ve suffered gender discrimination should be financially compensated. “The battle for gender equality is about confronting the battles of the mind. History is replete with examples where women have been denied their just entitlements under law
SC’s judgment on women in the navy points to ingrained sexism Read More »
In a landmark judgment, India’s Supreme Court has ruled that women army officers have a right to command posts. Dismissing arguments made by the central government against giving women command appointments in the army on grounds of their ‘physiological limitations’ and domestic responsibilities, the Supreme Court ruled that the exclusion of women is illegal. The
Excluding women from top army jobs is illegal: Supreme Court Read More »
There are many words — cheat, lowlife, scoundrel — that describe men who lie to women and promise them marriage just in order to have sex with them. Rapist is not one of them. My Hindustan Times column: He was a doctor, she was studying pharmacy. They met in 2009 and fell in love, or
One of three Supreme Court judges to pass the path-breaking Vishaka guidelines on workplace sexual harassment, Justice Sujata Manohar spoke to me about India’s MeToo movement and its larger implications. Before the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act of April 2013, there were the Vishaka guidelines passed by the Supreme Court in August 1997.
Justice Sujata Manohar: ‘MeToo is a Protest Movement, Doesn’t Always Lead to Action’ Read More »
Now that we are making our child sexual offences law gender neutral, isn’t it time we started talking about adult male rape survivors? Sohaila Abdulali is telling me about the time many years ago when a man called up a Rape Crisis Centre in the US. He had been raped by a teacher some years
It’s time we recognised that men can get raped too Read More »
In Scroll.in, I argue that the judgment on the just-concluded arguments for and against section 377, the section that criminalises sex ‘against the order of nature’, must go beyond mere decriminalisation. It must ensure freedom, choice and rights for every citizen — more so at a time when the plurality of India is sought to be