Disability, Gender Violence and the Law

What are the laws that affect the lives of women with disabilities? How different are Indian laws from those prescribed by the UN? What are the challenges faced by women with disabilities in accessing these laws? These are just some of the questions addressed in ‘Disability, Gender Violence and the Law’, a video resource produced by Inclusive Planet Centre for Disability, Law and Policy, Vidya Sagar and Prajnya Trust as part of the Prajnya 16 Days Campaign Against Gender Violence. The film, intended to be used as a teaching aid by anyone who wishes to, is up on YouTube.

Made by Jyothi Kumar and Ramesh B, the film features lawyer Amba Salelkar from Inclusive Planet and Smitha Sadasivan, who works with Vidya Sagar. The focus of the film is to be a go-to resource on gender violence and disability.

About Inclusive Planet Centre for Disability, Law and Policy:

Inclusive Planet Centre for Disability and Policy works with various stakeholders to try and ensure that India is fully compliant with its obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Centre aims to achieve this objective by research, intervention with the Government and collaboration with stakeholders in the disability sector, policy makers and researchers.

About Vidya Sagar:Vidya Sagar is a voluntary organization based in Chennai that works with children and young adults with cerebral palsy and other neurological disabilities, their families and the communities they live in. Vidya Sagar has pioneered parent training programs that are suited to Indian conditions and today at any given time through work reaches out to over 3,500 families who have children with special needs.

16 Days 16 Tweets: Day 10, Access to Justice

Prajnya Initiatives ‏@prajnyaThere’s more to accessing justice than just having good laws. http://bit.ly/rkSB5V #nosgbv

Urvashi Butalia and Navsharan Singh on impunity for VAW in South Asia: http://bit.ly/1k8fYiV #nosgbv

Ending impunity for VAW: http://bit.ly/1k8fVUb And http://bit.ly/1k8fVUd #nosgbv

Access to justice should matter to everyone. http://bit.ly/1k8fNE1 #nosgbv

The role of civil society in facilitating access to justice. http://bit.ly/1k8fxoN #nosgbv

Caste, gender & poverty together impair Dalit women's access to justice. http://bit.ly/1k8fedy Also, this: http://bit.ly/1k8fglL #nosgbv

SAARC Law papers on access to justice: http://bit.ly/1k8eRzu http://bit.ly/1k8eUeV http://bit.ly/1k8eRzw http://bit.ly/1k8eUeX #nosgbv

Note on CEDAW provisions relating to access to justice: http://bit.ly/1k8ezsp #nosgbv

What does it mean to have “Access to Justice”? http://bit.ly/1k8etRE #nosgbv

Legal literacy has been a part of our work in different ways, including information initiatives on the blog: http://bit.ly/1k8eaGD #nosgbv

Indian Constitution bars sex discrimination; guarantees right agst exploitation (incl trafficking). http://bit.ly/ted1R1 #nosgbv

Provisions of the Indian Penal Code (1860) http://bit.ly/1k8dHUM still apply to many kinds of gender violence. #nosgbv

The Child Marriage Restraint Act (1929) http://bit.ly/1k8dvF7 ; but 47% Indian women 20-24 married before 18. http://bit.ly/1k8dxNh #nosgbv

The Widow Remarriage Act (1856) http://bit.ly/1k8docD And still, abandoned widows live in poverty and elder abuse is on the rise. #nosgbv

Day 14 -- Law, gender-based violence and Indian society

Prajnya held a roundtable discussion on "Law, gender-based violence and Indian society" and the speaker was Ms. Sheila Jayaprakash,  a senior advocate in the Madras High Court. Ms. Jayaprakash started with an overview of the various Indian laws that address gender violence. She noted that while there are more laws around gender violence, the crime rate has been steadily increasing. Other forms of violence are falling but violence against women continues to rise, she noted.

Violence against women fall in two categories -- inside the home and outside the home -- and can be addressed by either civil law or criminal law. As per the Indian constitution, women are guaranteed equality but the ground reality is often quite different. "How can I access that equality when so much inequality follows me? We have to move beyond formal equality," she said.

She described her experiences in court and recounted the various interpretations judges and lawyers have applied to the law. She noted that sections of the law that are aimed at giving equality of women often does not help and protective equality has a negative impact. "If we are to bring down the crime rate against women, cases need to be time bound and there needs to be surety of punishment," she said.

This was followed by a Q&A session, where participants asked a range of questions like access to public records, laws regarding marital rape, child abuse, personal laws that govern various communities.