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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | After #MeToo: Legal System Needs Change -Subodh Varma

After #MeToo: Legal System Needs Change -Subodh Varma

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published Published on Oct 17, 2018   modified Modified on Oct 17, 2018
-Newsclick.in

Actions of individual women are a brave step forward, but a larger social movement is needed to bring justice for millions of not so privileged women.

In recent weeks, #MeToo protests have shaken up the media and Bollywood worlds, with one case – MJ Akbar’s – spilling into the political domain since he was an editor earlier but now graces the Modi govt. as a minister. The women who have come forward to name their tormentors are undoubtedly brave and have rendered a public service.

But there is a vast world beyond this where women lead lives of quiet submission to such predatory oppression. This world spans all spheres of life, from homes to educational institutions, to factories and fields, and offices. They are submissive because of deeply entrenched patriarchal ideas and systems from which individual rebellion is virtually impossible. They are dependant, fearsome and alone in their suffering.

It would be deeply unfair and inhuman to demand that they individually step forward in the manner of #MeToo. What is needed is a social response that rises up and protests against such injustice collectively. And, such protest has to have both men and women as partners in it.

One of the focuses of any collective protests has to be the mechanism of redressal that is currently made available through the police and courts. This aspect is not a solution to the whole issue of women’s subjugation, but it certainly helps in the fight for justice. Sexual harassment at the workplace is a specific category within the larger experience of violence by women.

And, it is here – in the way our legal justice system works for complaints of sexual harassment by women – that a fatal weakness exists. The women’s movement in India has repeatedly pointed out this, fought for a better system, but the more things change, the more they remain same. Have a look below.

The Law Against Sexual Harassment

After the Nirbhaya case in 2012, and the massive outrage it sparked, the Justice Verma Commission recommended a slew of changes in relevant laws in 2013. The govt. amplified section 354 (assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty) to include, among others, section 354A which spells out sexual harassment. Cases registered under this section have jumped by 25% between 2014 and 2016 as per NCRB.

Please click here to read more.

Newsclick.in, 16 October, 2018, https://www.newsclick.in/after-metoo-legal-system-needs-change


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