A range of cases involving women’s rights are pending with the Supreme Court, from entry of women into the Sabarimala temple to adultery. In the upcoming Monsoon session of Parliament, bills like the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, the Transgender Persons( Protection of Rights) Bill are yet to be discussed.

Do all of this point to a watershed moment for women’s rights in India?

While legislation and rule of law start the process, it takes an inordinate amount of time to trickle down and create real social change in the existing system, according to Senior Advocate Karuna Nundy.

The country’s courts are a good starting point, though, says Senior Advocate Indira Jaising, adding that the apex court is handling these cases with the seriousness they deserve. And while most decisions on women’s empowerment decisions currently lie with an overwhelmingly male majority panel, Jaising insists a 50:50 gender ratio is a prerequisite to bringing about fair change.

Watch the full conversation with senior advocates Karuna Nundy and Indira Jaising and vice president of All India Democratic Women’s Association Sudha Sundararaman.

List of women’s rights-related cases pending in court:

Sabarimala Temple Case
Petition challenging Devaswom board banning entry of women
Women of age group 10-50 years currently banned entry
Case before Supreme Court
Female Genital Mutilation
Court hearing a plea by an advocate seeking ban on female genital mutilation
Centre seeks to ban FGM
Centre opposed to any practice that violates integrity of women’s body
Dawoodi Bohra community arguing that FGM is part of Islam
Case before Supreme Court
Marital Rape
Court hearing pleas seeking to make marital rape an offence
Case before Delhi High Court
Adultery
Court hearing home ministry’s plea to preserve the validity of Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code
Upcoming bills in Monsoon Session 2018:

The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016
Objective: Prohibits discrimination against a transgender person in areas such as education, employment, and healthcare
Status: Introduced in Lok Sabha, referred to Standing Committee

The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016
Objective: Regulation of surrogacy. Prohibits commercial surrogacy, but allows altruistic surrogacy involving no monetary compensation to the surrogate mother other than the medical expenses and insurance coverage
Status: Introduced in Lok Sabha, referred to Standing Committee

The Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2018
Objective: To curb the menace of trafficking as well as ensuring timely action including prosecution of the culprits
Status: This bill has to be introduced, considered and passed by the Lok Sabha.

The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017
Objective: Bill makes all declaration of talaq, including in written or electronic form, to be void and illegal.
Status: Bill passed by Lok Sabha, pending in Rajya Sabha

List compiled from PTI and Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha websites.

Boomberg

An eight-month-old pregnant woman took a noble decision of donating her husband’s organs after he was declared brain dead by the doctors here.

Sharath Babu (30) a resident of Yalahanka had sustained severe head injury after his bike collided with a car near BSF camp near Yelahanka on Ballary Road on Wednesday, October 31. Though he was rushed to the hospital immediately, he failed to respond to the given treatment post which the doctors declared him brain dead on Sunday, November 4.

After doctors declared Sharath Babu as brain dead, his wife Chandana, though suffering the pain of losing her husband thought of the greater good and in a noble act decided to donate her husband’s eyes, kidneys and heart. Sharath’s mortal remains were handed over to his bereaving family after the organs were harvested from him.

PTS

India recently launched a sex offender registry to deter sex offenders from perpetrating crimes against women and children by indicating that the government is keeping track of them. The personal details of 440,000 sex offenders who have been convicted for various crimes like “eve-teasing”, child sexual abuse, rape and gang rape will be registered in this database and accessible to law enforcement.

Protesters gather at a candlelight vigil in New Delhi.

The creation of the registry is hailed by many as a welcome move in India, where violence against women and girls is pandemic. Recently, the Thomson Reuters Survey stated that India is the most dangerous country in the world with regards to sexual violence. From the start of this year, there has been a series of gang rapes of little girls ranging from babies to teenagers in all parts of the country – North, South, West, NorthEast and Central India

Neighbouring country Pakistan does not have a sex offender registry but is equally bad when it comes to violence against women and sex offences. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), in Pakistan an incident of rape occurs every two hours and 70 percent of women and girls experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime by their intimate partners and 93 percent women experience some form of sexual violence in public places in their lifetime.

Measures to prevent sex offenses are needed in both countries and each country can learn from each other’s successful prevention programs. However, only workable solutions should be replicated, and a sex offender registry is not one.

Sex offender registries exist in many countries including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Israel and the Republic of Ireland. Sexual violence is a problem in each of those countries, too, but studies have shown that sex offender registries have little or no effect on crime prevention or recidivism. Furthermore, evidence from these countries suggests that sex offender registries have failed to reduce sex crimes and have made rehabilitation of offenders difficult. In fact, registries might work for other forms of crime but not for the sexually deviant.

Further, we think making the details public, which is how it works in the United States and is what some people in India want, is dangerous as it would further increase the risk for women and girls rather than protect them. Though the government has assured that the registry would have multiple layers of security, there are doubts that the names and identities of the victims would be revealed. The Indian authorities are planning to link the details of the perpetrators to the Aadhar database which has biometric information of the person. Reports have indicated that the Aadhar database is itself not secure and for as little as $8 one can access personal information of people.

Moreover, Googling and knowing that a sex offender lives next door does not ensure that you can google your way to safety since safety from sex offences entail more than sex offender registration laws and a registry. Research shows that most sex offenders are relatives or people known to their victims but systems that put in place sex offender registry assume that sex offenders are strangers.

Many sex offenders are not even reported – particularly in South Asia due to the cultural stigma, faulty police procedures and lengthy court cases – and they aren’t included on any registration/notification system.

Instead of implementing a sex offender registry and seeing that as a solution, more efforts should focus on addressing the underlying issues, like patriarchy and improving the effectiveness of the justice system. Specifically, we recommend the governments of India and Pakistan concentrate on the following measures:

Sex education in school curriculum to educate people about sex offences and teach them ways to have responsible, healthy and consensual relationships.
Advocacy efforts to break down social taboos around this topic and make it easier to discuss and have a dialogue in the family and community about sex offences.
Allocation of public resources toward the rehabilitation of sex offenders with a high risk of repeating their crimes. Research suggests that psychological treatment and cognitive behavioural treatment can reduce recidivism amongst sex offenders.
Including women in all policy formulation, including the passage of any relevant laws. They are the stakeholders most at risk of sexual violence and they are in a better position to provide guidelines for policies aiming to stop sex offences.
Training police officers to be sensitive to the needs of victim and knowledgeable about the relevant laws so they can be a resource to individuals who want to report crimes. For example, Sweden has a high reporting of sexual violence because the creation of a strong eco-system, a feminist mindset and sensitive police have made it easier to break the silence.
Ensuring quick and swift punishment for convicted sex offenses. Long court cases in the face of lingering social stigma puts many victims off reporting sex offences. Policy makers must take a hands-on approach to swiftly dispense justice in sex offences.

IPS

India is the world’s most dangerous country for women due to the high risk of sexual violence and being forced into slave labour, according to a poll of global experts.

Afghanistan and Syria ranked second and third in a Thomson Reuters Foundation survey of 548 experts on women’s issues, followed by Somalia and Saudi Arabia.

The only western nation in the top 10 was the US, which ranked joint third when respondents were asked where women were most at risk of sexual violence, harassment and being coerced into sex.

The poll was a repeat of a survey in 2011, in which experts saw Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pakistan, India and Somalia as the most dangerous countries for women.

Experts said India moving to the top position showed not enough was being done to tackle the danger women faced, more than five years after the rape and murder of a student on a Delhi bus made violence against women a national priority.

“India has shown utter disregard and disrespect for women … rape, marital rapes, sexual assault and harassment, female infanticide has gone unabated,” said Manjunath Gangadhara, an official at the Karnataka state government.

“The (world’s) fastest growing economy and leader in space and technology is shamed for violence committed against women.”

Government data shows reported cases of crimes against women in India rose by 83% between 2007 and 2016, when there were four cases of rape reported every hour.

‘It’s everywhere – in factories, in the bedroom’: fighting India’s gender violence – podcast
The survey asked respondents which five of the 193 UN member states they thought were most dangerous for women and which country was worst in terms of healthcare, economic resources, cultural or traditional practices, sexual violence and harassment, non-sexual violence and human trafficking.

Respondents also ranked India the most dangerous country for women in terms of human trafficking, including sex and domestic slavery, and for customary practices such as forced marriage, stoning and female infanticide.

India’s ministry of women and child development declined to comment.

Afghanistan fared worst in four of the seven questions, with concerns over healthcare and conflict-related violence.

The country’s public health minister, Ferozuddin Feroz, said the deteriorating security situation was making life difficult for women, with large parts of the country still in Taliban control after nearly 17 years of war.

“Nowadays, suicide bombings and armed conflict are the third [highest] cause of deaths and disability in Afghanistan,” he said.

“Instead of focusing on maternal health, on nutritional status, we spend it on trauma.”

The seven-year war drove Syria into third place in the survey, amid concerns over access to healthcare and both sexual and non-sexual violence.

“There are so many dangers for girls and women,” said Maria Al Abdeh, executive director of Women Now For Development, which supports women’s centres in Syria.

“There is sexual violence by government forces. Domestic violence and child marriage are increasing and more women are dying in childbirth. The tragedy is nowhere near an end.”

Somalia, where more than two decades of war has fuelled a culture of violence and weakened institutions meant to uphold the law, was again named as one of the five most dangerous countries for women.

Saudi Arabia ranked fifth, with analysts saying there had been some progress. But the recent arrests of female activists ahead of the lifting of the driving ban on women showed more needed to be done.

“One of the worst laws that prevent women from having equal opportunities is guardianship – because every woman is subjected to a male guardian. She cannot get a passport, cannot travel, sometimes she cannot work,” said Ahlam Akram, founder of British Arabs Supporting Universal Women’s Rights.

“We need to completely obliterate this system. I think change is coming, but it takes time.”

Experts said the surprise addition of the US in the top 10 came down to the #MeToo and Time’s Up campaigns against sexual harassment.

“People want to think income means you’re protected from misogyny, and sadly that’s not the case,” said Cindy Southworth, of the Washington-based National Network to End Domestic Violence.

Others in the top 10 were Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Yemen and Nigeria.

India, Libya and Myanmar were considered the world’s most dangerous nations for women, who were exploited by human traffickers in a global crime worth an estimated $150bn (£114bn) a year.

“In many countries the simple fact of being female creates a heightened risk of becoming a victim of slavery,” said Nick Grono, chief executive of the Freedom Fund.

Respondents included aid professionals, academics, healthcare staff, non-government organisations, policy-makers and social commentators.

This article originally appeared on the Thomson Reuters Foundation site.

India has asked the Security Council to impose sanctions against terrorists involved in sexual violence in armed conflicts after Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had reported a huge increase in such brutalities.

“Sexual violence, abductions and human trafficking continue to be used as weapons of war in armed conflict by non-state actors and terrorist organisations,” Paulomi Tripathi, First Secretary in the Indian Mission told the Council on Thursday.

“The Sanctions Committees of the Security Council need to address the issue of proactively listing terrorist individuals and entities involved in sexual and gender-based violence in armed conflicts,” she said while participating in a debate on Women, Peace and Security.

“International cooperation for prosecution of criminals engaged in trans-boundary crimes are important to bring justice to the victims majority of whom are women and girls,” she added.

Earlier, Guterres told the Council: “The UN documented more than 800 cases of conflict-related sexual violence in 2017 – a 56 per cent increase since 2016.”

“Conflict continues to have a devastating effect on women and girls,” he added.

Various UN reports have chronicled the systematic rape, kidnapping and enslavement of of thousands women and girls by terrorist organisations like the Daesh or Islamic state in Syria, Boko Haram in Nigeria and Lord’s Resistance Army in several countries in the eastern side of Africa.

While several Security Council committees have imposed sanctions on terrorists and terror groups, none have so far meted out sanctions specifically for crimes against women and girls.

Tripathi also spoke of the general toll that instability caused by terrorism and criminal networks impose on women.

“Rapidly expanding trans-boundary criminal networks finance terror, arms supply, recruit and train of foreign fighters and destabilise whole regions which disproportionately affect women,” she said.

“Large scale movements of refugees emanating from armed conflicts increase the vulnerability of women to discrimination and exploitation.”

IANS

Kerala-based 4Tunes Factory has been given a special recogntion award by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) for enabling women and girls to develop skills.

Chandra Vadhana, the CEO of the company, received the “Empretec Women in Business: Special Recognition Social Award” on Thursday in Geneva at the World Investment Forum.

The award was presented by Alok Kumar, the founder of SRK Consulting Group.

According to UNCTAD, the award judges said 4Tunes Factory “worked toward activating and enabling women and girls by developing their skills”.

It said the Empretec awards are given to women-owned businesses that have benefited from the business from UNCTAD’s Empretec entrepreneurship programme.

It seeks to develop entrepreneurship and micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs) with the aim of promoting sustainable development and inclusive growth.

The 4Tunes Factory, which is based in Kakkanad, near Ernakulam, says it designs and implements “innovative concepts in the areas of human talent maximisation involving technological solutions”.

IANS

After accusing Alok Nath of sexual harassment, TV writer Vinta Nanda filed a police complaint against the actor on Wednesday. While Vinta Nanda said that the process of lodging the complaint was smooth, however, the Mumbai court objected to Alok Nath’s absence from the court and asked his lawyers to ensure that he is present in the next hearing as he is the main person.

In the wake of the Me Too movement, TV writer-producer Vinta Nanda had accused Alok Nath of rape and sexual harassment about 19 years ago. Ever since Nanda accused Alok Nath, a lot of actresses have come out in the open and accused Alok Nath of sexual harassment. In one of the latest developments, on Wednesday, Vinta Nanda made an official police complaint against Alok Nath in Mumbai. After filing the complaint, Vinta Nanda said that the police complaint has been accepted by the police and thanked the officials for their help.

While Vinta Nanda admitted that it wasn’t easy to recount the whole event which took place in the 90s, however, Nanda is happy that the entire process went smoothly. However, as reported by media, a Mumbai court didn’t pass an interim order and allowed writer-producer, who accused actor Alok Nath of rape and violence, to use social media to comment on the ordeal and the allegations against the actor.

Few days back, Alok Nath had filed a Rs. 1 defamation case against writer-producer Vinta Nanda. Earlier, while talking to a news channel, Alok Nath’s lawyer, Ashok Saraogi dismissed all the charges leveled against his client and said that Alok Nath will speak at an appropriate time. But on Wednesday, while hearing Alok Nath’s defamation suit, the court questioned Alok Nath’s lawyers for Nath’s absence. While the court asked Alok Nath’s lawyers to make necessary amendments in the suit, owing to technical errors in it, the court dismissed his lawyer’s plea to exempt Alok Nath to be present in the court. “Alok Nath’s lawyer asked for the actor’s exemption to be present in the court, to which the defence objected stating that he is the main person and needs to be present. The court also objected to his absence and asked him to be present in the next hearing, which is slated to be held on October 25,” as quoted by media.

In retrospect, Vinta Nanda had recounted her account of rape on Facebook detailing the years of isolation, trauma and depression that she endured. today as we speak, Vinta Nanda stands fearless as she had said, “I am fearless today because I have spoken what I had to and I’ve let it out.”

Vinta Nanda was the writer and producer of Tv serial Tara, in which Alok Nath played a lead role.

This International Girl Child Day, let us look at how a simple step can make a big difference in empowering girls to achieve their dreams.

“I advised my sister not to leave school because I’ve already made that mistake,” says Ruby with her head bowed and her steady yet moist eyes fixed on the floor. The 20-year-old from a slum in Agra dropped out of school in the third grade as there were no toilets.

Like other children, she was forced to defecate behind the school building in the open or she had to walk back home just to use the toilet. Most girls didn’t feel safe defecating in the open area due to the fear of being watched. They preferred to walk back to their respective houses, about a kilometre away, to use the toilets and return to school. But the walk was risky, due to violent incidences on the lonely streets.

Ruby’s younger sister, 15-year-old Nisha, an ambitious girl who aspires to be a doctor, also had a similar experience but luckily not for too long.

As per statistics released by the Ministry of Human Resource Department in 2016, the number of dropouts amongst girls in upper-primary and secondary classes increased by almost 70 per cent as compared to the dropouts in primary classes. Even the enrollment of girls to every hundred boys decreased from 95 to 85 from upper primary to higher secondary classes.

A World Bank report published in July 2018 said that the lack of educational opportunities and barriers in completing 12 years of schooling for girls is costing countries anywhere between $15 trillion and $30 trillion dollars. It also pointed out that nine in ten girls complete their primary education, but only three in four complete their lower secondary education across the world.

According to the study, the first among six primary reasons for this is that “schools are not equipped with necessary infrastructure” for girls to continue their education. If they have to continue in schools equipped with good resources, the cost is well beyond their means.

Nisha’s and Ruby’s struggle and fears were real and it is still a reality for thousands of girls between ages 10 to 17, living in poor and vulnerable conditions. Yet, Nisha’s story illustrates the fact that change is possible.

Four years ago, in 2013, World Vision India, through the “Support My School” campaign, built separate toilets for girls and boys in Nisha’s school.

“Now I don’t need to go home during school hours. Earlier, I missed school regularly due to lack of a toilet in the premises. I used to score less and felt extremely bad,” she says.

It was during those initial years until 2013 that Nisha used to repeatedly miss school due to lack of a sanitation facility. But Ruby’s words of wisdom and the relentless support of her father, a traditional shoemaker, and mother, a homemaker, inspired the younger daughter of the family to not to give up on school.

“We used to get scared about Nisha coming home alone repeatedly, especially because there are several drunken men in this area. But now that the problem is solved, we are at peace,” says 40-year-old Pushpa, Nisha’s mother.

Nisha now has the means to achieve her dreams. A classroom where she can be educated and develop her knowledge and skills in a safe and hygienic environment. She has her space to participate and engage in co-curricular activities and friends with whom she can learn, share and grow. And she has all of this because of one small change — an accessible toilet in her school.

“Since the installation of toilets, girls have outnumbered boys present in some of our classrooms,” says Rakhi, a teacher from the school.

Like Nisha, several other girl students have been restored their right to education — a right that was taken away due to lack of child-friendly spaces for girls.

“The stability in the attendance of girls, that wasn’t present earlier, is now visible,” says Snehalatha, Nisha’s class teacher. “Before the toilets were built, nearly 40 per cent of female students dropped out of school. Now there are hardly any dropouts,” she adds.

The World Bank reports highlights that “globally, women with secondary education earn twice as much as those with only primary education”.

To build a skilled workforce of girls, it is important that we help them complete secondary education — and a toilet in school is all we need to make the much-needed difference.

IANS

Kriti Bharti has been fighting for years against child marriages despite facing death and rape threats.

Her struggle for survival began even before she was born. Her own family members wanted to kill her in her mother’s womb after her father abandoned them. Rajasthan-based Kriti Bharti had been fighting ever since — which eventually led her to battle for those who are are let down by their families and forced to get married as children.

Born prematurely at seven months, she first fought for her own survival; then she fought her family which considered her to be a curse. And now she has been fighting for years against child marriages despite facing death and rape threats.

While Kriti’s mother decided to have her as it was too risky to go for an abortion, her personal struggles were not over as she was constantly tormented by her relatives. Owing to some medical complications, she got stuck in the womb, due to which she had serious head wounds.

“This was my first struggle — to survive in this world. Born against the will of my relatives, I had to face torture and taunts in my childhood. When my mother went out to work, I was ill-treated and mentally tortured by my relatives who said I had bad blood,” Kriti told IANS.

“Some relatives went to the extent of changing their paths to avoid seeing my face (thinking she brought ill-luck),” she recounted sadly.

While such experiences scarred her psyche, it was her mother Indu and grandparents, Nemichand and Krishna Mahnot, who supported her, becoming pillars of strength.

But the social torture crossed all limits when one of her relatives gave her slow poison when she was just 10 years old. Even as she survived, the poison paralysed her body, save her head and a hand.

“I could not sit, walk, stand or even change sides while sleeping. About 90 per cent of my body became insensitive. Despite being taken to several hospitals, nothing worked,” she said.

During this traumatic time, her mother took her to Reiki teacher Brahmanand Saraswati’s ashram in Bhilwara where several Reiki (a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing) sessions led to some improvement.

For the second time in her life, she had to again learn to walk. At 11, she was able to crawl like a toddler. Then she learnt how to sit and walk with some support. At the age of about 12, she could again stand on her own feet and started walking.

But traumatised by her childhood memories, Kriti was disenchanted from the world, gave up everything and changed her last name to Bharti, becoming the “daughter of Bharat (India)”. She learnt the Reiki art of healing while also learning Yoga practices.

After being counseled by her mother and her teacher Brahmanand Saraswati, she resumed her education and appeared for open board exams after a gap of four years and skipping six standards.

“With regular 15 to 16 hours study, I cleared my class X exams, followed by class XII and then did my graduation, post graduation and doctorate in psychology from Jai Narayan Vyas University in Jodhpur.”

After her doctorate, she set out on her mission to work for the welfare of stigmatised children and women and now has a dream to make Rajasthan child marriage-free.

After freeing many girl children from child marriages, she has become the guardian and mother of such “balika vadhus” (child brides).

In 2012, she started Saarthi trust in Jodhpur and is now a rehabilitation psychologist and managing trustee of the organisation.

“With a firm pledge to eradicate child marriages in the country, I prevented dozens of child marriages. But such marriages continued and innocent children were forced to follow traditions, thus wasting their lives,” she said.

Faced with the challenge of finding a solution, Kriti turned her attention to a legal remedy and discussed the situation with legal experts and came up with the idea of annulment of such illegal child marriages.

“Annulment of child marriage means the marriage which took place years ago is made legally null and void. After annulment, the boys and girls who tied the knot of child marriage years ago are freed from this bond,” she explained.

A victim of child marriage, Laxmi Sargara, came to Kriti seeking help and her marriage was successfully annulled — a first in the country, setting a precedent for future cases. This also brought national and international fame to Kriti and her organisation.

Not only did she find a place in several record books for the first annulment of a child marriage in the country, her campaign also found a place in the syllabus of class XI and XII of Central Board of Secondary Education.

Once infamous for the highest number of child marriages in the country, Kriti’s campaign is slowly bringing about a change in Rajasthan, especially Jodhpur, which tops the list in the country for the most number of child marriage annulments.

Kriti’s efforts have helped annul 36 child marriages so far, which took place years ago. She has also created a record of preventing thousands of child marriages, finding a place in record books like Limca Book of Records and World Records India, and Unique Book of World Records.

In 2016, her name was once again registered in World Record India, India Book of Records and Unique World Records for nullifying three child marriages in three days.

Besides working for annulment of child marriages, she also works for rehabilitation of child labourers, victims of child trafficking and child abuse. She also works for the rehabilitation of women. Till now she has rehabilitated more than 6,000 children and more than 5,500 women.

“I face many brutal attacks and threats but I continue working for the protection of girls. Being a woman, I received rape threats several times, but I stood firm,” she said.

At the international level, Pixel Project ranked her seventh in the list of role models, and her organisation Saarthi was ranked 10th in the global list.

With grit and determination, she continues to pursue her life’s goals.

IANS