The Supreme Court’s emphatic and welcome ruling that child pornography is illegal, even if watched in private, even if stored on a mobile or electronic device without being forwarded, is a tough and welcome stand that does away with any ambiguity in the law. In fact, the two-judge bench of justices DY Chandrachud and JB Pardiwala have […]
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
Lt Col Seema Singh and Lt Col Sandhya Yadav tell me how 11 officers fought tirelessly from 2008 to make history for women in the army. Their behind-the-scenes account includes tales of chocolate, congeniality and chai. When 11 women Army officers first filed a petition in the Delhi High Court in December 2008 to challenge
In IndiaSpend, I look at the state of India’s shelter homes for children to discover endemic abuse and, worse, absolute apathy. She has no memory of her early childhood, no recollection of her biological parents and no idea of how or why she got separated from them when she was about three years old. What she
Abuse of Children in India’s Institutions Reveals Nationwide Crisis of Reform Read More »
Muzaffarpur is emblematic of the large-scale systemic abuse of institutionalized children that we choose not to see. One fought with her stepmother and ran away from home. Another was sold into prostitution and rescued in a raid. And a third was brought in by her mother who was too poor to feed her. The girls
Hell house ‘shelter’ horror 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
At the heart of this controversy lies not so much the right of a woman to choose her religion and spouse, but society’s attitude to women. We should be grateful for small mercies. On International Women’s Day, a day when hashtags were declaring ‘Time’s Up’ and ‘My Body is Mine’, our highest court reaffirmed a
The lamentable humiliations of Hadiya Read More »
Why does the five-man bench get to decide which of the three issues in the triple talaq case is more important than the others? When the history of Indian women is written, 2017 will go down as the year when the Plight of the Muslim Woman was uncovered. So grave is this plight that politicians
Why is triple talaq more important than nikaah halala and polygamy? Read More »
On June 24, a software engineer Swathi was attacked by a man with a knife in Chennai. As she lay bleeding, not one commuter came forward to help. Partly it’s a reluctance to get involved in a long-drawn legal process including police questioning and court appearances. Partly it’s a fear that intervention could lead to
No law can bridge the gap of basic decency Read More »
The failure of the Supreme Court to recognise just how damaging criminal defamation is to free speech is only the latest in a series of assaults. The point about free speech that has been reiterated more than once is that it necessarily includes the right to cause offence. The newest controversy to erupt over free
Offended? No matter. Ignore and move on Read More »
The injection of religious symbolism into the idea of India is deliberate, and dangerous. The sons of Bharat Mata have put their love on public display and it is not a pretty sight. At the Patiala House district court, men in black shout Bharat Mata Ki Jai as they assault journalists, students, teachers and even
We have reached a place of ugly, triumphant majoritarianism Read More »
Progressive Muslim women’s organizations look to help women solve problems within the code of Islamic law. Mumbai: The women in the airy, well-lit room could be women anywhere talking of things that women often talk about. An adult son who won’t contribute to the household expenses. A daughter who is finding it difficult to adjust to
A voice for Muslim women Read More »