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She shook urban India's conscience, if only for a short while, but Bhanwari Devi's fight for justice was a significant landmark in the fight for women's rights.
She shook urban India’s conscience, if only for a short while, but Bhanwari Devi’s fight for justice was a significant landmark in the fight for women’s rights.
Raped for daring to oppose a child marriage in rural Rajasthan, Bhanwari Devi refused to keep quiet in deference to the prevailing notions of “shame.” Her case made headlines precisely because it brought deeply embedded bias out into the open. A judge who refused to believe that an ‘upper caste’ man would rape a woman from a ‘lower caste’ – showed us that the judiciary was hardly the ‘unbiased observer’ that many believed it to be.
Shamefully, the case is not yet over, showing us how hard the fight is in India, for an ordinary woman – even one whose voice galvanised so many people. Nevertheless, it had an impact on many areas including the landmark Vishakha guidelines that lay down rules for dealing with sexual harassment at work.
Why we find her inspiring:
– Because she refused to accept that as the victim of rape, it was she who had to feel shame and cower
– Because she emboldened other such women to speak up
– Because the work of hundreds of saathins like her has made a dent in child marriage rates in Rajasthan, even if the progress is slow
– Because she has braved tremendous odds including social ostracism and poverty, and yet refuses to forego her principles
More reading:
A mighty heart
Bhanwari Devi and the Vishakha guidelines
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Just because they are married a husband isn’t entitled to be violent to his wife. Just because a man is "in love" with a woman, it doesn't give him a right to be violent.
Trigger Warning: This speaks of graphic details of violence against women and may be triggering for survivors.
Anger is a basic human emotion, just like happiness or being sad. One chooses his/her way of expressing that emotion. It is safe until that action stays within oneself.
What happens when that feeling is forced upon another? The former becomes the perpetrator, and the latter turns out to be the victim.
Rrashima Swaarup Verma's new bestselling book The Royal Scandal is a celebration of the spirit of womanhood set in the 18th Century.
Rrashima Swaarup Verma’s new bestselling book The Royal Scandal is a celebration of the spirit of womanhood.
A true love story. A tale of politics, treachery and war. A piece from India’s rich history. A vivid description of 18th century life in the Deccan. Yes, The Royal Scandal is all that and more. But it is also an aide-mémoire of the tremendous fortitude, the unbeatable spirit that women are, and have always been, capable of.
18th century, Hyderabad, India. A time and place when societal laws and rules came down heavy on the female gender, when zenanas separated and shielded the women from the world outside, when it was understood and accepted that the men in their lives would govern and dictate every big and small decision.
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