On 11th January, while hearing a case related to the controversial farm laws, the Chief Justice of India said ‘At some time, we might say in the order that old people and women need not be there in the protests… tell them that the Chief Justice of India wants them (old people and women) to go back.’ The farm laws had triggered a wave of protests across the country, especially in Punjab and Haryana. A large number of women are participants in this protest. As per the Agriculture Census, 73.2% of rural women workers are farmers, and they would be directly impacted by the farm laws.
The Centre for Policy and Legal Research participated in the State Level Workshop on the legal issues pertaining to women and children with disabilities under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 and other applicable laws.
The recent gruesome report of the beheading of a minor SC girl in Tamil Nadu for rejecting the advances of an upper caste male once again throws the issue of caste discrimination into sharp focus. Women from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are particularly vulnerable to discrimination and violence due to the intersection caste and gender. Despite this, we note that crimes against SC and ST women are viewed as either caste based crimes or sex based crimes. Further, while data on caste based crimes is readily available in the NCRB reports, which we have analysed in our previous posts I, II and III, disaggregated data on crimes against women is not presented.
