Gender and Sexuality

MP: Beautiful woman ‘distracts, rape may follow’ says Cong MLA, outrage follows

Intemperate and insensitive remarks by Congress MLA Phool Singh Baraiya on women, rape and women from Dalit and Adivasi communities have left the Congress shame-faced on the eve of LoP Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the state

One woman against a thousand superstitions, Birubala Rabha’s battle against the superstition of ‘Witch-Hunting’

Though this pioneering feminist activist breathed her last on May 13, 2024, her work with the Thakurvilla Mahila Samiti and Missiom Birubala has been recognized internationally and May 13 has been declared Anti-Superstition Day in Assam

Rape is aggression, domination, consent must be instant specific, not dictated by morality tests: Bombay High Court

In a landmark judgement delivered on May 6, Maksud Gaffur Sheikh v. State of Maharashtra, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay HC reaffirmed the legal sanctity of continuing and specific consent and rejected character assassination of survivors/victims in rape trials

Nainital on communal edge after 75-year-old Muslim man booked for alleged rape of minor girl

Communal tensions flare in Haldwani, Nainital after a 75-year-old Muslim man is booked for alleged rape of a minor, a BJP leader and right-wings’ ultimatum targeting Muslim-run businesses sparks communal tensions in the state, leading to attacks on shops, staff, and a mosque, while police inaction persists despite video evidence, and no FIR is filed against the perpetrators of the violence and assault

Beed to Delhi: Lawyer beaten in Maharashtra, judge threatened in Delhi—what the path for justice means for women practioners in today’s India

From a brutal assault in rural Maharashtra to death threats in a Delhi courtroom, the message is chillingly clear: women who uphold the law are not safe

Extremists assaulted Muslim woman; hijab stripped of in broad daylight in Bengaluru and Muzaffarnagar

Two shocking incidents of moral policing and harassment involving members of the Muslim community emerged this week. In Muzaffarnagar, a Muslim woman was assaulted and forcibly stripped of her hijab, while in Bengaluru, a young woman was harassed for being in an interfaith relationship with a Hindu man. Both incidents, captured on video, highlight a disturbing rise in intolerance and moral policing, particularly targeting interfaith relationships

When Courts Fail Survivors: How patriarchy shapes justice in sexual offence against women cases

The Supreme Court critiques multiple High Court judgments for perpetuating misogynistic notions and trivialising sexual violence and child trafficking through legally flawed and insensitive reasoning

Women in remote villages mobilise to check fast spread of alcoholism

Due to a combination of factors, there has been...

Surviving Communal Wrath: Women who have defied the silence, demanded accountability from the state

On Women’s Day 2025, March 8, we honour the survivors who became warriors - documenting atrocities, challenging power, and demanding justice in the face of unspeakable brutalities

IMSD condemns the assassination of the world’s first openly gay Imam

“No God, gods, goddesses, prophets or saints may be invoked to justify the killing and/or terrorising of fellow human beings”.

When marriage is tyranny: Justice Shakdher’s judgment reads down the marital rape exception as a constitutional imperative

In contrast to the verdict delivered by Justice Hari Shankar, his brother judge hearing the matter, Justice Shakhder’s judgement in the May 2022 case hearing the constitutional challenge to the exception to marital rape provision under Section 375, strikes it down as anti-constitutional. The matter will now go before the Supreme Court where the constitutional challenge lies pending for two years

Trending

Related VIDEOS

ALL STORIES

ALL STORIES

Synthetic Content, Three-Hour Compliance and the Risk of Over-Removal: Analysing the IT rules amendments

While the government introduces safeguards against deep fakes and non-consensual imagery, the amendments also shorten response timelines and expand administrative takedown authority, prompting questions about due process and free expression

Turning the Constitution into Action: CJP’s year against a rising tide of hate

CJP turned constitutional ideals into action—defending dignity, curbing organised hate, and pressing for institutional neutrality

Supreme Court asked to intervene as petitions flag “normalisation of hate” in Assam CM’s public speeches

CPIM, Annie Raja, former civil servants and clerics seek FIRs, an independent SIT and binding guidelines on speech by constitutional functionaries, alleging sustained communal targeting and abuse of executive authority

Healthcare in Karnataka: Is a Health Bill the Need of the Hour?

The Karnataka Janaarogya Chaluvali (Karnataka People’s Health Movement/Struggle) has written a strong critique of the draft Karnataka Right to Health and Emergency Medical Services Bill 2025, questioning its rationale and orientation; the critique points how this draft has been mostly borrowed from the Rajasthan Right to Health Act (2022). Besides, says KJC, while some activists in Karnataka have been clamoring for a replication of the Rajasthan Right to Health Act, this demand has been made without investing too much thought into whether this is what Karnataka requires

Suo moto cognisance of repeated hate speech by CM Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma must: Assam’s public intellectuals to Gauhati HC

Close to a dozen public intellectuals including Hiren Gohain, Harekrishna Deka, former DGP, Assam and author, Dr. Indrani Dutta, former Director, Omiyo Kumar Das Institute of Social Change and Development, among so many others, have in a letter petition to CJ, Gauhati High Court, Justice Vijay Bishnoi drawn attention of the Court to series of inciteful statements by Himanta Biswa Sarma, Chief Minister and urged suo moto cognisance

Assam’s Electoral Rolls in Crisis: CJP flags structural manipulation in Summary Revision

CJP-led memorandum to the Election Commission documents forged objections, misuse of Form 7, and violations of statutory safeguards meant to protect the right to vote

Campuses in Revolt: How the UGC Equity Stay and Criminalised Dissent Have Ignited Student Protests Across India

From Allahabad University to JNU, BHU and Delhi University, students are pushing back against the silencing of caste critique and the suspension of long-awaited equity safeguards