She was just 14, and as she waited at home on Monday for her parents to return, two boys broke in. They tried to rape her, and she fought back. Fed up, the two boys, both under 18, poured kerosene all over her, set her on fire, and left her house. Neighbours rushed to the fields where her parents were working. When they got home, their child was still alive. They...
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Judge calls 24x7 women’s help panel, told all officers on vacation by Utkarsh Anand
Constituted under a special Act and with public money to provide round-the-clock support to women in crisis, all Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) officials were “on vacation” on the New Year weekend, a city court judge found recently. Hearing a case of molestation on Saturday, Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) at Karkardooma court Gurdeep Singh made the phone call to the DCW helpline, only to be told, “Sorry sir, no one...
More »Women’s groups urge Moily to amend sexual violence laws by Aarti Dhar
Women’s groups, organisations and individuals have appealed to Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily to amend the laws on sexual violence at the earliest, arguing that there is an urgent need for strict and exemplary action against any state functionaries who conspire to deny justice to victims of sexual violence. The organisations and individuals, coming under the banner of ANHAD, called for a time-bound national discussion on ways to democratically advance...
More »Dalit girl’s gangrape has hung for 11 yrs on an MLA’s note by Parimal Dabhi, Hitarth Pandya
She was a minor; her alleged assaulter a man with clout. The police initially turned her away; while a decade later, her case is still on in courts. And while Ruchika Girhotra’s tragic story may have got the nation’s and government’s ear, no one remembers the then 13-year-old Dalit girl who was allegedly gangraped on the night of the Dhuleti festival, a day after Holi, in a Vadodara village by...
More »Where child labour, migration are a way of life by Meena Menon
In Amravati villages, dropout is pronounced; alcohol is another problem The wooden door of Surekha Rathod’s house is held together by small strips of coloured ribbons. This is no decoration. Some days ago, Surekha’s drunken father, who was locked out, tried to break in with an axe and sliced off the door. “I had a narrow escape, even though I was inside the house,” says her mother, Sunanda. “My husband...
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