'The assault on Dalit gender equality activist Bindu Ammini, by a fervent Ayyappa devotee, reveals the fragility of the Hindu nationalist male ego and a deals a chink to the Hindutva armour... Like other nativist and anti-pluralist projects, Hindutva is premised upon the restoration of a primeval order that involves the dominance of man over woman, father over son, savarna over avarna, avarna over Dalit, fair skin over dark, state over subjects, religion over law, priest over devotee, teacher over student.
'Last year, when the Supreme Court ruled that women of menstrual age could enter the Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala despite a proscription against this, the Kerala government led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) decided to prove its social crusader credentials by backing women who wanted to exercise their constitutional rights to visit the shrine... But all it took for the Left government to forget about constitutional rights was one election.
'A day after the Rajya Sabha passed the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2019, community representatives held a press conference at the Indian Women’s Press Corps to highlight their issues with the Bill, reiterating that it only serves to push the community further to the margins and reduce trans people to “mere bodies”...'
'A woman activist, who is part of a team headed for Sabarimala to offer prayers at the Lord Ayyappa Shrine, was allegedly attacked by a member of a Hindu outfit here on Tuesday. Bindu Ammini, who created history by visiting Sabarimala temple last year following the apex court order, was part of the team led by gender rights activist Trupti Desai. Ammini was attacked by a member of a Hindu outfit using pepper or chilli spray outside the police commissionerate...'
'The new version of the Transgender Rights Bill is undeniably an improvement over its predecessors. It has a comparatively expansive definition of the term ‘transgender’, and has done away with problematic provisions requiring a screening process and criminalising begging. Nevertheless, the new Bill leaves much to be desired – it presents a misplaced understanding of ‘gender’ and limited equalising potential. For starters, the Bill takes gender to be concrete and determinable.
'Twenty one people were arrested for allegedly parading an 81-year-old woman in her village after blackening her face and garlanding her with shoes on the suspicion that she practised sorcery, police said on Sunday. The police made the arrests only after the video of the incident, which took place on Wednesday, was widely circulated on social media and came to Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur's notice, prompting him to direct police to register an FIR...'
'These are particularly interesting times for those keen on maintaining whatever shred of communal amity that Kerala still possesses. The debate on the State of India’s recent decisions regarding Kashmir and Assam — the scrapping of Article 370 in the former and the completion of the second round of the National Register of Citizens in the latter — has emboldened many xenophobic Malayalis. One prominent voice was of a woman called KR Indira. A programme officer at the All India Radio, Indira is also known for her Facebook posts on current affairs.
'As members of the UP police were seen visiting schools across the town of Barabanki recently, one of the superintendent of police gave a long lecture to students of a school on women safety, and on need ‘to raise their voice against crimes’ for justice. From the audience, as reported, a Class XI girl in turn schooled the superintendent, asking, how can the UP police promise to assure safety for women if the ‘accused’ is a ‘powerful minister’, and the police administration remains complicit in protecting them.
'"Our best wishes are with him [Sengar]. We hope that he will overcome the bad times, fight through it and come out of it and be with all of you," Hardoi MLA Ashish Singh Ashu said... Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ashish Singh Ashu, MLA from Uttar Pradesh’s Hardoi constituency, on Friday expressed solidarity with Kuldeep Singh Sengar – a former BJP MLA who has been in jail for a year now on charges of raping a minor.
'On June 13, the Central Bureau of Investigation filed an FIR against Anand Grover and Lawyers Collective for alleged violations of rules related to NGOs receiving foreign funds... Grover and his partner Indira Jaising, both senior advocates, have been at the forefront of public interest and civil rights litigation in India. Several Indian lawyers have cut their teeth doing human rights work as a part of Lawyers Collective since 1981. Their work has had implications around the world. Between the two of them, they have contributed to the legal field in India for close to 80 years...'
