'More than one-third of the world’s population is under lockdown. The recent UN Women’s Report titled ‘Covid-19 and ending violence against women and girls’ has reported that since the outbreak of Covid-19, violence against women, and particularly domestic violence, has increased in several countries as security, health and financial worries create tensions and strain accentuated by the cramped and confined living conditions of a lockdown. Billions of people are now sheltering at home from the global impact of Covid-19...'
'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...'
'A 45-year-old teacher who also is a BJP local leader in Kannur has been arrested in Kerala for allegedly sexually abusing his fourth grade student. K Padmarajan's arrest comes almost a month after a complaint was registered with the police via the children's helpline Childline...'
'Unable to wait to make their union official, a Kerala couple is in hot water for eloping and violating lockdown rules in Kerala. 21-year-old Rajini* and 23-year-old Ashiq*, who eloped away last Saturday, have been booked by police for leaving their homes for a cause that was not an emergency. In the wee hours of Saturday morning, Rajini left her home in Thamarassery with Ashiq. On finding out about the incident, Rajini’s father filed a complaint with the Thamarassery police station, saying that his daughter had gone missing...'
'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...'
'In a horrifying incident, a migrant woman was sexually abused in a Gaya hospital where she was kept in an isolation ward. Three days later, she died due to excessive bleeding. The matter came to light on Tuesday when her mother-in-law informed the authorities concerned about the shocking incident...'
'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.
'India's coronavirus lockdown leaves transgender people at heightened risk of poverty and ill health because they exist on the margins of society, eking out a living through sex work and begging, activists and community members said on Tuesday. The warning came as Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a 21-day nationwide lockdown in the country of 1.3 billion, where the virus has claimed at least nine lives.
