Showing posts with label Gender. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gender. Show all posts

India's Trans Community Struggles Despite Sec 377 Repeal

India | Gender Rights | Law

Once seen as an outdated relic that criminalised same-sex relations, Section 377 gradually evolved, through judicial interpretation, into a protective tool for those on society's margins, writes Gajanan Khergamker.

In the corridors of justice, the spirit of the law often collides with its literal meaning, particularly when that meaning undergoes profound change. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (Indian Justice Code), which came into force in July 2024, marks a major shift by removing Section 377 from the Indian Penal Code.

DraftCraft International Supports Widow Rights Campaign in India

India | Affirmative Action
In a move braced to initiate widow reforms across India, Media-Legal Thinktank DraftCraft International headed by Solicitor Gajanan Khergamker launched a Ground Zero Project on 'Widow Reforms: Mores And Laws' at Herwad Village in Kolhapur district, Maharashtra starting 1 June 2022. 

The move is an outcome of resolutions passed unanimously by the Herwad Gram Panchayat, headed by Sarpanch Surgonda Patil and Social Reformer Pramod Zinjade’s organisation Mahatma Phule Samaj Seva Mandal (MPSSM) requesting DraftCraft International to intervene and provide media-legal assistance for the issue. 

Power Corrupts On Elephanta Island

India | Environment
It was incredulous yet true! For years on end, Elephanta Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site registering 20 lakh footfalls annually, received power for not more than two and half hours in the night through an MTDC generator; hadn’t a single doctor on the entire island; had no facility for formal education beyond Standard 10th and absolutely no crisis management process in place. And, the island was located barely 10 kms away from India’s financial capital…Mumbai!

Conflict-related Sexual Violence

World | Conflict and Excess
The effects of sexual violence echo across generations, through trauma, stigma, poverty, poor health and unwanted pregnancy. The children whose existence emanates from that violence have been labelled “bad blood” or “children of the enemy”, and alienated from their mother’s social group. Their vulnerability may leave them susceptible to recruitment, radicalization and trafficking. In South Sudan, sexual violence has become so prevalent that members of the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan have described women and girls as “collectively traumatized”.

East Turns Stumbling Block For ‘Un’Civil Society

Indo-China | Diplomacy
“Doing good work does not give Civil Society groups immunity from laws,” said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley while defending the Indian government’s crackdown on foreign-funded NGOs. This, simply put, summed up the mood of the moment: That India, under the present-day Modi government, was no longer going to put up with illegality.

Making Refugee Girls' Education Priority

World | Refugees
Access to education is a fundamental human right. It is essential to the acquisition of knowledge and to “the full development of the human personality”, as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states. More than that, education makes us more resilient and independent individuals. Yet for millions of women and girls among the world’s ever-growing refugee population, education remains an aspiration, not a reality.

The Clitoral Hood

India | FGM
Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) amongst Bohras in India has gained systematic public attention since 2012. The issue first rose to prominence because of two international legal cases on FGM/C against practicing Bohras in Australia and the US. We have since seen the rise of a strong survivor-led movement calling for an end to the practice of Khafd amongst Bohras. This anti-FGM/C movement seeks to end the practice through legal reform in India and by raising community awareness about the impact of the harmful traditional practice.

Law On Rape Of Minors Is Populist, Must Be Inclusive

India | Gender
Of all offences, it’s the crime of rape that fires public sentiment the most, eliciting an outrage that exceeds the seemingly worst felony of all - murder too. It has probably more to do with the offence and associated gory details staying, even being replayed ruthlessly in memory with continual mention and recall that compound its severity. It’s this outrage that offsets any chance of the very objectivity needed to tackle the issue. The Kathua crime followed by the most recent Ordinance on ‘child’ rape, being a case in point.

Slow But Steady Upgrades In Gender Law

India | Gender
The recent rape incidents in Kathua and Unnao in Jammu & Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh respectively, have once again brought the issue of women’s safety in India to the forefront. These incidents garnered global attention, albeit negative, of national and international media with some groups allegedly even donning T-shirts across the world warning women to not visit India. The Kathua rape and murder case, in particular, brought back memories of the Nirbhaya rape case and triggered widespread protests.

Female Genital Mutilation Fact-Sheet

World | Gender
Female genital mutilation (FGM) comprises all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.
The practice is mostly carried out by traditional circumcisers, who often play other central roles in communities, such as attending childbirths. In many settings, health care providers perform FGM due to the erroneous belief that the procedure is safer when medicalized. WHO strongly urges health professionals not to perform such procedures.