Our new approach is to view discrimination through the lens of Intersectionality and respond to caste–based discrimination in the context of gender, sexuality and disability.
Women in law have seen great progress over the last 100 years in India. The first woman lawyer, Cornelia Sorabji, was entitled to practice in 1924. Since then, the number of women lawyers has increased, several women have been designated Senior Advocates, and there have been many women judges in the lower judiciary. However, there remains a glass ceiling for women in the higher judiciary.
This book is part of our “Equality Now!” series of four resource books, one on…
The judicial appointments made by the Chandrachud-led Collegium become an interesting point of analysis, especially in the context of gender equality. In this piece, we seek to analyse the extent to which he was able to get more women in the higher judiciary. The Supreme Court started publishing all resolutions of the Collegium since October 2017 on the Supreme Court’s website.
When the gender gap in the higher judiciary is raised, the responses often range from there not being enough women lawyers to choose from, that merit cannot be compromised, or that women are not interested.
The last part in the discussion series with Professor Sandra Fredman on her latest monograph – Discrimination Law featuring Jayna Kothari, Executive Director of CLPR, Rosalie Abella, formerly a Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, and Helen Mountfield KC, a barrister practising at Matrix Chambers in the UK and Principal of Mansfield College Oxford.
The second part in the discussion series with Professor Sandra Fredman on her latest monograph – Discrimination Law featuring Jayna Kothari, Executive Director of CLPR, Rosalie Abella, formerly a Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, and Helen Mountfield KC, a barrister practising at Matrix Chambers in the UK and Principal of Mansfield College Oxford.
Dive into Discrimination Law with Professor Sandra Fredman’s latest monograph on the New OxHRH RightsUp Podcast. Featuring insightful conversations with legal luminaries including Jayna Kothari, Executive Director at CLPR.
Senior Advocate and Executive Director of CLPR, Jayna Kothari, pens her thoughts on the legal challenges faced by single women in India regarding surrogacy and bias in the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021.
Writing in the Deccan herald, CLPR Executive Director Jayna Kothari, pens her thoughts on the latest Supreme Court ruling regarding the Marriage Equality case stating that the rejection of right to marry as a fundamental right is certainly a setback, not just to the queer community, but for everyone.
Writing in The Hindu, Jayna highlights the intersectional nature of inequality and how the exclusion of socially backward classes from the EWS category is unconstitutional. She further argues that the exclusion of SC, ST, and OBC communities from reservations would amount to discrimination and a clear violation of the Indian Constitution.
In this opinion piece, published by Gaysi, Rajeev Anand Kushwah explores the understanding of Allyship, exploring what constitutes effective allyship, and what support straight allies can extend to queer movements and communities.
In this article published by the Hindustan Times, Jayna Kothari highlights the need to support the transgender rights movement amidst the various human rights violations happening worldwide. In her piece, she says “Everyone needs to join the battle for trans rights, because the systemic changes required to put these basic rights in place would benefit everyone.”
A legislation drafted by CLPR which provides the legal framework to prevent, investigate and adjudicate crimes in the name of ‘honour’ and protect individual liberty.
In this article, published by the Oxford Human Rights Hub, Mansi Singh, and Mihir Rajamane explore the need to accommodate welfare in judicial analysis of LGBTQ+ rights, by acknowledging close intersections between queer identities and identities of caste, disability and class.
This report is an effort by CLPR to compile all the important judgements and materials on the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities ) Act, 1989.
In this article published by Indian Law Review, Thulasi K Raj argues for a renewed interpretation of Article 15(2) in the light of the Supreme Court judgment in IMA case.
In this article published by The Hindu, Jayna Kothari, Senior Advocate & Executive Director at Center for Law and Policy Research argues that how the recent Supreme Court judgment in Patan Jamal v. State of Andhra Pradesh missed an opportunity to use the concept of intersectionality to uphold the conviction under the Prevention of Atrocities Act (PoA) 1989. Despite highlighting the need for an intersectional approach that takes into account the multiple marginalities faced by the victim, the apex court failed to set a larger precedent recognising caste-based violence against women.
CLPR’s draft Equality Bill 2021 takes a new step in addressing discrimination experienced by people on the basis of caste, gender, religion, transgender and intersex identity, disability and other grounds. It aims to promote equality, prohibit different types of discriminatory conduct, provide adequate civil remedies and set up fora for redressal that are accessible and effective in addressing discrimination.
In this article published by Indian Express, Jayna Kothari, Senior Advocate & Executive Director at Center for Law and Policy Research argues that new UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance 2020 leads to serious violation of the right to equality based on religion. She also adds that there is no evidence to support the argument of harms if any, of inter-faith marriages.
In this paper published by Socio-Legal Review, Almas Shaikh writes about India’s obligations under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). Focusing on the 3rd pillar, access to remedy, She shows the specific need for an accessible framework to address business and human rights violations, especially in the context of COVID-19.
In this paper published by NUJS Law Review, Jayna Kothari, Senior Advocate & Executive Director argues that the verdicts in NALSA and Navtej had the negligible impact on preventing deprivation of basic rights and legal recognition for the transgender community. She examines how the right to life also includes the right to bodily integrity which precludes the reliance of a medical model to decide gender identity, as is required in Indian law at present, and examines Indian and comparative jurisprudence on this issue.
In this article published by Frontline, co-authored by Thulasi K Raj along with Kaleeswaram Raj & Bastian Steuwer, they argue that even though a right to the reservation may not be culled out from the equality code of the Constitution, it nevertheless remains a significant political and moral duty.
In this opinion piece published by Huff Post, Vikramaditya Sahai argues that how trans politics and their demands challenge the logic of representative democracy that holds the formation of the National Council for Transgender Persons as signs of development and progress itself.
This Policy paper explores the importance of the intersections of disability and caste. The authors argue that to address the fulfillment of basic social rights of employment, education, housing & health for the most vulnerable, there is need to look at people from inter sectional perspective. The Policy paper also recommends empirical research and data collection to understand depth of the socio-economic deprivation faced by Dalits/Adivasi persons with disabilities, need of inter sectional approach in policy and welfare schemes, need of Anti-discrimination law and also for social movements to work together for overall welfare of marginalized sections of the society.
In this piece published by Deccan Herald, Jayna Kothari argues that this is a high time when India needs an equality law that would provide a broad framework to address stigma and discrimination prevalent in the society which is quite openly visible during this pandemic and also impose positive duties and obligations on governments and private actors to ensure that all their actions and measures are non-discriminatory.
In this article published by Asian Legal Conversations- Covid-19 website of Melbourne Law School, Thulasi…
This Policy Brief reviews the status of implementation of the three important legislations addressing caste discrimination in India namely, the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, and the Prohibition of Employment of Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
CLPR’s policy brief on the Devadasi practice in States like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra investigates the prevalence of the practice and reviews the implementation of legislations prohibiting the practice. The policy brief pays close attention to the intersectional discrimination faced by Devadasi women due to their caste, class, and gender and suggests a range of recommendations from statutory amendments to regular empirical studies and training programmes to strengthen the working of the legislations.
CLPR’s report collates the life experiences of intersectional discrimination in the four South Indian States of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu to understand the relationship between different intersecting identities and various sites of discrimination. The report finds that individuals who fall at the intersection of multiple identities face aggravated forms of discrimination in their daily lives. These gaps in the legal landscape are best addressed by a single and comprehensive equality legislation that adopts a broad approach and imposes positive equality duties on the State and private actors.
In the article in The Hindu, Thulasi K. Raj argues that the repatriation of Rohingya refugees by India violates both domestic and International law.
CLPR has conducted qualitative and quantitative research on discrimination faced by persons at the intersection of caste with gender, gender identity and disability. We presented the preliminary findings of the study on 21 November 2018 at a consultation organised with community members and other stakeholders. CLPR intends to prepare and publish a detailed report on the methodology and results of the study shortly.
In this NLSIR Online article (of two parts), Thulasi K. Raj and Maitreyi Hegde discuss the judgment in Joseph Shine v. Union of India and argue that while the judgment explored the transformative nature of the anti-discrimination provisions, its appreciation of the right to privacy was unsatisfactory.
In this NLSIR Online article (of two parts), Thulasi K. Raj and Maitreyi Hegde discuss the judgment in Joseph Shine v. Union of India and argue that while the judgment explored the transformative nature of the anti-discrimination provisions, its appreciation of the right to privacy was unsatisfactory.
In this article in The Times of India, Thulasi K. Raj and Kaleeswaram Raj argue that the judgment in Joseph Shine v. Union of India contributes to developing the doctrine of unprincipled criminalisation.
In this article in The Wire, Thulasi K. Raj argues that the exclusion arguments based on the right to religious freedom are not constitutionally protected.
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Dr. Balram Singh filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition on 31 January 2023, concerning the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act 1993 and the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act 2013 (the Acts).
A petition challenging the constitutional validity of the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA) and the Citizenship Amendment Rules, 2024 was filed at the Supreme Court of India, arguing that the law discriminates based on religion rather than persecution.
The Supreme Court dismissed an SLP filed by the Association of Indian Schools against the Bombay HC judgment which quashed the amendment notification exempting private unaided schools from the 25% reservation under the RTE Act, 2009.
A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed at the Bombay High Court (HC) against the Maharashtra government’s amendment to the state’s Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules 2011, exempting private unaided schools in the vicinity of government-supported schools from having to reserve their 25% seats for economically weaker and disadvantaged children.
28th
Jun 2025
Venue Westminster, ITC Windsor, Bengaluru
Time 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM
07th
Jun 2025
Venue Patrakarthara Bhavana, Kolar
Time 10:00 AM - 1:45 PM
22nd
Mar 2025
Venue Sabha Bengaluru No.44/A, Kamaraj Rd
Time March 22: 2:00 PM - 5:30 PM & March 23: 10:00 AM - 1:30 PM
08th
Mar 2025
Venue Sabha Bengaluru No.44/A, Kamaraj Rd
Time 5:00 PM
Supreme Court Observer
A two-day national consultation organised by the Centre for Law and Policy Research was held in Bengaluru on 22 and 23 March to address this issue. Titled “Equal Justice: Securing Equal Inclusion of Women in the Higher Judiciary,” the consultation comprised four panel discussions which highlighted the systemic barriers that hinder women’s advancement in the judiciary.
Live Law
When Justice Kant enquired as to when the elections in the High Court Bar and District Bar were scheduled in the state, Senior Advocate Jayna Kothari, appearing for the Karnataka Federation of Women Lawyers, informed that women lawyers had secured Treasurer plus 30% EC posts in the High Court Bar. The issue only remained with respect to district bar associations, Kothari said, of which elections are upcoming. Accordingly, the Court passed its order.
The Hindu
The Centre for Law and Policy Research (CLPR) hosted a national consultation titled ‘Equal Justice: Securing Equal Inclusion of Women in the Higher Judiciary’ on Saturday and Sunday at Sabha, Bengaluru.
Deccan Herald
The underrepresentation of women in the higher judiciary remains a major issue in India, where women constitute only 14.27% of high court judges and 6 per cent of Supreme Court judges, according to the Centre for Law and Policy Research (CLPR).
The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (PWDVA) safeguards women against acts of domestic violence. Whether trans women, who are assigned male at birth but identify their gender identity as female would be able to seek protection under the PWDVA, is of significance.
On June 28th, 2025, CLPR organised a Roundtable in Bangalore with senior women lawyers from the corporate bar to examine the emergence of a judiciary pathway for corporate women lawyers and address the challenges of securing gender inclusion within the judiciary. This is part of CLPR’s ongoing Equal Justice initiative to aiming to address the gender gap in the higher judiciary.
On December 10th, the Centre for Law and Policy Research convened a Roundtable Consultation in Mumbai with women lawyers from the Aurangabad, Bombay, and Nagpur benches of the Bombay High Court.
On March 22nd, 2025, the Centre for Law and Policy Research (CLPR) organised a Roundtable in Bangalore with senior women lawyers practising in the Supreme Court of India. The consultation was part of CLPR’s ongoing initiative to address the systematic barriers and propose reforms to enhance women’s representation in the higher judiciary.
