'India could find itself in an acute health crisis over the next few months and the direct cause of it will not be the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Hundreds of thousands of children might already have missed vital immunizations, shows a Mint analysis of the latest health ministry data. Thousands of adults may have missed potentially life-saving medical treatment as the novel coronavirus epidemic spread and a lockdown came into force.
'Safoora Zargar, a research scholar from Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) university, spent her first day of Ramadan in the high-security Tihar jail in the Indian capital, New Delhi. The 27-year old, in the second trimester of her first pregnancy, was arrested on April 10 and subsequently charged under the stringent anti-terror law, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 2019 (UAPA), by the Delhi police. Zargar was associated with the Jamia Coordination Committee (JCC), which organised weeks of peaceful protests in the capital against a citizenship law passed last December...'
'The health ministry, citing the Covid-19 pandemic, has suspended until June 30 rules governing the law that bans prenatal sex disclosure, stirring concerns that this could be misused by unscrupulous clinics and exacerbate selective abortion of female foetuses. The ministry in an April 4 notification suspended certain rules under the Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Rules, 1996, until June 30 this year, citing the “emergency situation” due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the nationwide lockdown...'
'Twenty-seven-year-old Sunita Sharma spends all her time cooking, cleaning and staying out of her husband's way. "One misstep and I will be slapped. His mood swings have been quite erratic since he started working from home. I just want to stay away," she tells The Quint on a call at 6 am. She does not know if she can "speak freely" while he is awake. Her voice quivering, she says that earlier, she would at least have the day to herself, but now she is “locked in captivity.”...
'Renuka Devi, who lives in Bengaluru, is staring at an uncertain future. For the next two weeks of the lockdown, the 32-year-old, who works as domestic help, is not going to get her monthly salary. Renuka works in multiple households to earn enough to run and manage her household. With the lockdown, several of her employers have refused to pay her and she is struggling to sustain her livelihood. Just like many women across India, who work as domestic helps, Renuka too is struggling to buy ration and does not have the privilege of social distancing in times of a pandemic.
'Following a huge reception that was organised for ousted Bigg Boss member Rajith Kumar in Kochi, a police case has been registered against 79 people responsible for it. Ernakulam Collector S Suhas wrote a Facebook post about the irresponsible behaviour at the time of coronavirus scare... Rajith Kumar, a Botany lecturer and public speaker, had first got into controversy at the time he made a speech at the Government Women's College in Thiruvananthapuram in 2013. He had then made derogatory remarks about women, which prompted one of the students to boo him and walk away.
'A local BJP leader and four others have been booked for allegedly torturing a 55-year-old tribal woman after branding her as a witch in Jhargram district. While three persons have been arrested, the BJP leader, Rabindra Hansda, and one more accused is absconding. According to police, the incident happened on Sunday night when the woman was abducted allegedly by Hansda and his men from her home at Bhalkishore village. They took her to his native village, Baghmari, where they beat her up and branded her with a hot rod. After the woman fell unconscious, she was dumped in her home.
'The festival of colors, Holi is here and soon all over one message is set to boom across – ‘Bura na maano, Holi hai (It’s Holi, take no offense).” However, we have been slow to realize what a travesty of consent the above slogan is. Starting by being normalized through Bollywood, the idea of a woman’s consent washed off faster that the color on her. From then to now has come such a time that this festival is now been given a communal colour by the right-wing saffron brigade. We tell you why the celebration of Holi in its current form is a threat to women throughout India...'
'West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party chief Dilip Ghosh on Sunday claimed that women had “lost all decency” and were being made to stage protests under the influence of drugs, the Hindustan Times reported. Ghosh made the derogatory remarks on International Women’s Day while commenting about an incident at Kolkata’s Rabindra Bharati University that led to massive outrage last week...'
'A dowry harassment case has been filed against Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal by his wife Priya in Bengaluru’s Koramangala police station. Four persons have been named in the FIR registered - Sachin Bansal, his father Satprakash Aggarwal, mother Kiran Bansal and brother Nitin Bansal... Priya, a dentist by profession, alleges that Sachin physically assaulted her and demanded money. In October last year, Sachin allegedly physically assaulted her after demanding that the properties they owned jointly must be signed over to him.
