The refusal by the government to accept marital rape as a criminal act, and to protect those who commit such a heinous crime behind some spurious notion of marriage as sacred, is to embrace the mentality of a colonial past that regarded some people as less entitled to humanity than others. Let's be clear. This stand has nothing to do with Indian cultural values. It has everything to do with a conviction that some people are simply lesser humans or non-humans, while others are superior.
07/05/2015 8:12 AM IST
Universities need to take the lead in changing attitudes about women. And this starts with treating women who demand change not as "frightening", "intimidating" or lacking maternal qualities, but as dedicated, passionate and committed to ensuring that higher education is an affirmative experience for all students, rather than a terrifying experience for even one.
19/04/2015 8:12 AM IST
The internet has become an invaluable space for speech, especially in times when fear and intimidation have become a pervasive mode of governance, and increased surveillance a technique for monitoring the citizen's speech and behaviour. The Supreme Court has played a historic role in ensuring that speech should and must be used to halt the increasingly untrammelled power by the State and its representatives.
31/03/2015 8:02 AM IST
The film needs to be screened not because it is going to bring about even an iota of change. It needs to be screened so that Indians can have their own reactions and responses to the film--to like it, to hate it and to criticise it--rather than being fed vicariously the views and opinions of those who have seen it and have the right to see it.
20/03/2015 8:10 AM IST
