Tamil Nadu has become the first state in India to officially ban the harassment of LGBTQI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex) people by the police. Harassment by the police, which is routine especially for transgender people, is now a punishable offence. “We have been fighting for so many years to get our rights,” said transgender rights activist Grace Banu who welcomed the move. “There are many cases every day of physical, mental, verbal and sexual violence against trans people from which we have no protection. This will at least provide some measure of protection.” Despite guarantees of equality…

If you want to save Muslim women, then educate them. It really is that simple. Instead, school administrations, headed by politicians, deny girls education because of a piece of cloth on their heads Burqa-clad female Muslim students arrive to attend a class at ATNC College, Shivamogga, February. 17, 2022 (PTI) After her husband’s death, my maternal aunt wore white for the rest of her life. I was appalled by her decision, but it was her choice and that was the end of the matter.

What began as a local issue with six high school girls in Udupi insisting on wearing a head scarf over their uniforms to class has now escalated into a full-blown national row that has landed in the Supreme Court. On Friday, the apex court refused to hear petitions against an interim Karnataka high court order which states that no religious garments will be allowed in classes until it reaches a final verdict. “Don’t spread these things to a larger level,” Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana said. “You [should] also think whether this is proper to bring such things to a national…

Another government-run institute in Karnataka has barred the entry of women students who wear head scarves and hijab. Ramakrishna GJ, the principal of the junior college at Kundapur, Udupi district, shut the gates on the girls as he told them they would have to comply with the uniform rules set by the government. The students counter that there is no rule against wearing hijab and they must be allowed to attend classes as their exams are only two months away. In BJP-ruled Karnataka, this is the second such confrontation after ongoing protests at the pre-university girls college at Udupi where six students…

This tribalist culture is reflected in ways in which the mob metes out what it sees as justice. It has the sanction of the crowd, whether it’s dealing with a pickpocket, suspected ‘beef eaters’ or ‘honor’ killings Rule of law, says psychologist Rajat Mitra, remains an alien concept over seven decades after we adopted our Constitution. Sometimes this lack of faith spills over to those sworn to uphold the law (Getty Images/iStockphoto) When it first pops up on my Twitter timeline, my instinct is to switch it off. But it won’t go away, this grotesque video of a woman, begging…

The death of one of India’s most accomplished dancers resulted in a rash of largely laudatory obituaries. Less vocal and visible was a thread that alleged that he was a sexual predator who abused the famous guru-shishya tradition to prey on young female students. On Twitter and Instagram, a woman kathak dancer posted a thread condemning the dance fraternity for not calling out the maestro. In graphic detail she elaborated on specific instances of sexual abuse by him told to her by young women. As other voices of dancers and even a volunteer at the cultural non-profit, SPIC-MACAY joined in,…

While we’ve been chipping away at the traditional silence around menstruation, its progression to menopause is still deemed too awful to talk about A recent survey in the United Kingdom (UK) finds that one in 10 women has quit a job due to menopausal symptoms. The Indian Menopause Society estimates that 150 million women in India live with it, symptoms of which could include hot flushes and night sweats (Getty Images/iStockphoto) It’s yet to stream into India, but Good Luck to You, Leo Grande is already top on my must-watch list. A 60-something-year-old played by 63-year-old Emma Thompson looking for…

Six students have continued to be marked absent since December 31 after being denied entry into their classrooms at the Government Women’s pre-university college in Udupi, Karnataka for their insistence on wearing a hijab. College principal Rudra Gowda has said the students can wear hijab on the college premises but not inside classrooms. The rule is being followed to ensure uniformity in the classroom, he said. What the girls want “We are not allowed to go inside the classroom,” said Aliya Assadi, one of the six students. “One day, we had gone inside the classroom, but the teacher’s response was, ‘If you don’t go…

G Gopakumar’s acquittal of Franco Mulakkal, a bishop of the Jalandhar diocese, is the latest in misogynist rape judgments and tells you why sexual assault survivors remain reluctant to speak up. In two words: Rape trials The acquittal of Tarun Tejpal in May 2021 falls into this pattern and is rife with graphic details about the survivor’s past sexual history, despite the law stating that it has no bearing on a rape trial. Like the Mulakkal judgment and like so many other rape judgments, it transgresses into the personal to become in a very real sense another violation of the…

The online ‘auction’ of Muslim women exists in an ecosystem of hate. But the sexualized attack on Muslim women is not new. Over the past year, there have been at least three “auctions” — May 2020, Eid in July, and November on Clubhouse It reflects the divisiveness sown by media that makes free use of labels like “jihadi” and “anti-national” and, where hours after the arrest of an 18-year-old woman accused, anchors spin tear-jerker backgrounds of how she’s an orphan as if that justifies criminal behavior. (HT Photo) Four early arrests, three in Mumbai, smell like the beginning of justice…

Vanitha, one of Kerala’s most popular women’s magazines published by the Malayala Manorama group, chose for its January cover a smiling portrait of Malayalam actor Dileep, along with his wife and two daughters. The picture-perfect image caused a furore. Actor Swara Bhaskar tweeted, “shame on you” and film critic Anna Vetticad responded, “sick”. Dileep is under trial for his role and involvement in a 2017 sexual assault case involving a woman actor. Just days before the magazine cover, the woman had written to Kerala chief minister Pinayari Vijayan asking for justice. The back story On February 17, 2017, the woman…

A new variant of Covid in full throttle has tempered the hope that traditionally comes with a new year. It’s also a grim reminder of just how hard it is to dislodge that other ‘p’ word, patriarchy. What are the trends that will define India’s gender agenda in 2022? This edition of Mind the Gap takes a look. Women, work and the pandemic With a new variant of Covid-19, economic disruptions and partial lockdowns will continue to disproportionately impact women’s workforce participation. By November 2021, women’s workforce participation was still down by 11%, compared to 1% for men, says economist…