MADHU Garg, Malti Devi, Seema Rana (state president, general secretary and joint secretary of AIDWA Uttar Pradesh committee) and I visited Varanasi on October 4-5.  After the tremendous agitation launched by the women students against the apathy of the Banaras Hindu University administration towards rampant sexual harassment on the campus and the brutal attack on them by the police on the night of September 23, the university had been abruptly shut.  It re-opened on the 2nd and we went to meet students and faculty members.The UP government and the district administration continue to view an

EXPRESSING strong protest against the attempts made by the administration of the Jawaharlal Nehru University to weaken the GSCASH (committee to look into complaints of sexual harassment), the AIDWA, AIPWA, ANHAD, Guild of Service, JWP and NFIW have written a letter to the vice chancellor of the university, on September 16.The women’s organisations expressed strong concern at the reports which indicate that the university administration is making serious and unjustified attempts to dilute and destroy the autonomy of the Gender Sensitisation Committee against Sexual Harassment (GSCAS

ON May 24, Kerala High Court had declared the marriage of Shafin Jahan and Akhila alias Hadiya as null and void on the petition of the bride’s father. The father claimed that his daughter was forced to convert to Islam and marry a Muslim under the influence of the Islamic State. The petition alleged that the girl would be forcibly sent to Syria in order to work for the extremist Islamic outfit. In response, the Court nullified the marriage and the husband of the girl petitioned the Supreme Court.

WOMEN’S anger erupted on July 31 at the gates of the Supreme Court of India against its recent judgement that would lead to the dilution of Section 498A. Several representatives of women's organisations assembled outside the Supreme Court to protest against the recent order of the Supreme Court on Section 498A and demanded its review. The demonstration was held within just three days of the Supreme Court order. Women's organisations have expressed serious reservations to this order because it is made on the presumption that a large number of cases filed under Section 498A are false.

IT is indeed ironical that just a day after the ILO facilitated a national stakeholders meeting on a proposed National Policy for Domestic Workers for the government of India at New Delhi on July 11, the incidents of violence and repression in Noida happened after the news spread that a domestic worker had been wrongfully confined by her employer in a posh apartment complex.