On 12th and 13th January 2019 we will conduct interviews to select up to 6 Equality Fellows who will dedicate the next 2 years to the better implementation of equality and non-discrimination law in India. 13 talented candidates will appear before a 4 member panel of prominent activists and human rights advocates: Mihir Desai, Martin Macwan, Anindya Hajra and Jayna Kothari.
Mihir Desai is a renowned human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate in the Bombay High Court. He has taken up cases of police violence and state excesses, communal violence, freedom of speech, political activists and prisoners of conscience. Mr. Desai is also a co-founder of the Indian People’s Tribunal (IPT) and the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN).
Anindya Hajra is a transfeminist, transgender rights and social justice activist based in Calcutta, India. In 1998 she founded Pratyay Gender Trust, one of the earliest community-led initiatives in India that became a support space for kothi identified and other gender non-conforming/ transgender persons facing harassment, stigma and violence for their gender identity/ expression. A significant part of her work is focussed on collectivization of transgender persons across India, advocating with policy makers and building synergies across other human rights movements.
Jayna Kothari is a co-founder of the Centre for Law and Policy Research. She is a human rights lawyer and Senior Counsel in the Karnataka High Court. Her key areas of work include disability rights, transgender rights, and the right to education, health, and housing.
Martin Macwan is a Dalit human rights activist based in Ahmedabad. He has worked on issues of land rights, minimum wages and women’s rights for Dalit persons in India. He founded the Navsarjan Trust in 1989 to promote Dalit human rights. He has also served as the convener of the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights.
