If a mere headscarf can disrupt public order, then who is responsible: The student who wears it or the law enforcement agencies responsible for maintaining the peace? A hijab-wearing student walks past a worker painting a wall to conceal a pro-hijab slogan, Hospet, March 16, 2022 (PTI) Two days before the Karnataka high court (HC) delivered its judgment upholding the hijab ban on students, India’s chief justice was in Hyderabad at the ground-breaking ceremony for a new arbitration center. Photographs of the ceremony with Hindu priests conducting rituals are instructive of the pervasive role of religion in our secular life.

The BJP’s return to power in Uttar Pradesh, making Yogi Adityanath the first chief minister in 37 years to return for a second consecutive term despite price rise, unemployment and the farmer agitation is being attributed in significant part to the woman voter. There is no data yet on how women actually voted, but an Axis exit poll suggests that across caste and religion, 48% women vis a vis 44% men voted for the BJP in UP, giving the party a critical eight per cent vote share lead. “A strong narrative of the BJP campaign was women as beneficiaries of…

If the promise to set up committees to look into complaints of sexual harassment in the Malayalam film industry holds true, it will be a historic first that comes nine years after India’s law on workplace sexual harassment was passed in 2013. At a recently concluded workshop, various film bodies in Kerala pledged to set up internal committees (ICs) in film production units and conduct awareness programmes for employees. Under the law, all workplaces must have ICs where women can file complaints of sexual harassment. These committees are empowered to investigate the complaints and recommend punitive action The film industry’s…

A boy is dead apparently because he did not fit social ideas of what is “normal”. His mother is fighting for justice. No parent should have to ever go through this again. The unpalatable truth is that bullying remains the most common form of violence across schools. (airborne) In the note he wrote before he jumped to his death from the balcony of his home in Faridabad on February 25, the 16-year-old wrote: “The school has killed me… especially higher authorities.” Police have arrested the headmistress of DPS, Greater Faridabad. A police complaint lodged by the boy’s mother, a teacher in…

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…