Fwd: Submission to Justice Verma by Women's and Progressive Groups and Individuals Condemning Sexual Violence and opposing Death penalty

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From: Feroze Mithiborwala <feroze.moses777@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Jan 7, 2013 at 12:20 PM
Subject: Submission to Justice Verma by Women's and Progressive Groups and Individuals Condemning Sexual Violence and opposing Death penalty
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Submission to Justice Verma by Womens and Progressive Groups and Individuals Condemning Sexual Violence and opposing Death penalty

Dear Hon'ble. Justice Verma,

Referring to your public notice on 'Inviting suggestions on amendments to Criminal Laws Relating to Safety and Security of Women', please find enclosed the submission of women's groups, progressive groups and individuals, endorsed by approximately 1000 people, condemning sexual violence and opposing death penalty for sexual assault/rape.

We request you to kindly take this into account in your recommendations.

At the same time, we urge you to organise a meeting where we and other groups can share our views in person.

Thanks and regards, Amrita, Nandini and Deepti
For Citizens Collective againt Sexual Assault, New Delhi

Citizens' Collective against Sexual Assault (CCSA) is a group of individuals and organisations based in Delhi and the NCR. It was formed in the wake of a spate of crimes against women that took place in the region in 2012. The Collective has come together to raise awareness about and protest against the extreme culture of sexual violence against women, girls and transgender people in Delhi, Noida and Gurgaon. The Collective raises these issues with the public, the media, as well as the administration and the police of Delhi-NCR and work in different ways to stop and prevent sexual harassment against vulnerable groups.

On 16 December, 2012, a 23-year old woman and her friend hailed a bus at a crossing in South Delhi. In the bus, they were both brutally attacked by a group of men who claimed to be out on a 'joy-ride'. The woman was gang raped and the man beaten up; after several hours, they were both stripped and dumped on the road. While the young woman is still in hospital, bravely battling for her life, her friend has been discharged and is helping identify the men responsible for the heinous crime.

 

We, the undersigned, women's, students' and progressive groups and concerned citizens from around the country, are outraged at this incident and, in very strong terms, condemn her gang rape and the physical and sexual assault.

 

As our protests spill over to the streets all across the country, our demands for justice are strengthened by knowing that there are countless others who share this anger. We assert that rape and other forms of sexual violence are not just a women's issue, but a political one that should concern every citizen. We strongly demand that justice is done in this and all other cases and the perpetrators are punished.

 

This incident is not an isolated one; sexual assault occurs with frightening regularity in this country. Adivasi and dalit women and those working in the unorganised sector, women with disabilities, hijras, kothis, trans people and sex workers are especially targeted with impunity – it is well known that the complaints of sexual assault they file are simply disregarded. We urge that the wheels of justice turn not only to incidents such as the Delhi bus case, but to the epidemic of sexual violence that threatens all of us. We need to evolve punishments that act as true deterrents to the very large number of men who commit these crimes. Our stance is not anti-punishment but against the State executing the death penalty. The fact that cases of rape have a conviction rate of as low as 26% shows that perpetrators of sexual violence enjoy a high degree of impunity, including being freed of charges.

 

Silent witnesses to everyday forms of sexual assault such as leering, groping, passing comments, stalking and whistling are equally responsible for rape being embedded in our culture and hence being so prevalent today. We, therefore, also condemn the culture of silence and tolerance for sexual assault and the culture of valorising this kind of violence.

 

We also reject voices that are ready to imprison and control women and girls under the garb of 'safety', instead of ensuring their freedom as equal participants in society and their right to a life free of perpetual threats of sexual assault, both inside and outside their homes.

 

In cases (like this) which have lead to a huge public outcry all across the country, and where the perpetrators have been caught, we hope that justice will be speedily served and they will be convicted for the ghastly acts that they have committed. However, our vision of this justice does not include death penalty, which is neither a deterrent nor an effective or ethical response to these acts of sexual violence. We are opposed to it for the following reasons:

 

1. We recognise that every human being has a right to life. Our rage cannot give way to what are, in no uncertain terms, new cycles of violence. We refuse to deem 'legitimate' any act of violence that would give the State the right to take life in our names. Justice meted by the State cannot bypass complex socio-political questions of violence against women by punishing rapists by death. Death penalty is often used to distract attention away from the real issue – it changes nothing but becomes a tool in the hands of the State to further exert its power over its citizens. A huge set of changes are required in the system to end the widespread and daily culture of rape.

 

1. There is no evidence to suggest that the death penalty acts as a deterrent to rape. Available data shows that there is a low rate of conviction in rape cases and a strong possibility that the death penalty would lower this conviction rate even further as it is awarded only under the 'rarest of rare' circumstances. The most important factor that can act as a deterrent is the certainty of punishment, rather than the severity of its form.

 

1. As seen in countries like the US, men from minority communities make up a disproportionate number of death row inmates. In the context of India, a review of crimes that warrant capital punishment reveals the discriminatory way in which such laws are selectively and arbitrarily applied to disadvantaged communities, religious and ethnic minorities. This is a real and major concern, as the possibility of differential consequences for the same crime is injustice in itself.

 

1. The logic of awarding death penalty to rapists is based on the belief that rape is a fate worse than death. Patriarchal notions of 'honour' lead us to believe that rape is the worst thing that can happen to a woman. There is a need to strongly challenge this stereotype of the 'destroyed' woman who loses her honour and who has no place in society after she's been sexually assaulted. We believe that rape is tool of patriarchy, an act of violence, and has nothing to do with morality, character or behaviour.

 

1. An overwhelming number of women are sexually assaulted by people known to them, and often include near or distant family, friends and partners. Who will be able to face the psychological and social trauma of having reported against their own relatives? Would marital rape (currently not recognised by law), even conceptually, ever be looked at through the same retributive prism?

 

1. The State often reserves for itself the 'right to kill' — through the armed forces, the paramilitary and the police. We cannot forget the torture, rape and murder of Thangjam Manorama by the Assam Rifles in Manipur in 2004 or the abduction, gang rape and murder of Neelofar and Aasiya of Shopian (Kashmir) in 2009. Giving more powers to the State, whether arming the police and giving them the right to shoot at sight or awarding capital punishment, is not a viable solution to lessen the incidence of crime.

Furthermore, with death penalty at stake, the 'guardians of the law' will make sure that no complaints against them get registered and they will go to any length to make sure that justice does not see the light of day. The ordeal of Soni Sori, who had been tortured in police custody last year, still continues her fight from inside a prison in Chattisgarh, in spite of widespread publicity around her torture.

 

1. As we know, in cases of sexual assault where the perpetrator is in a position of power (such as in cases of custodial rape or caste and communal violence), conviction is notoriously difficult. The death penalty, for reasons that have already been mentioned, would make conviction next to impossible.

 

We, the undersigned, demand the following:

 

• Greater dignity, equality, autonomy and rights for women and girls from a society that should stop questioning and policing their actions at every step.

 

• Immediate relief in terms of legal, medical, financial and psychological assistance and long-term rehabilitation measures must be provided to survivors of sexual assault.

 

• Provision of improved infrastructure to make cities safer for women, including well-lit pavements and bus stops, help lines and emergency services.

 

• Effective registration, monitoring and regulation of transport services (whether public, private or contractual) to make them safe, accessible and available to all.

 

• Compulsory courses within the training curriculum on gender sensitisation for all personnel employed and engaged by the State in its various institutions, including the police.

 

• That the police do its duty to ensure that public spaces are free from harassment, molestation and assault. This means that they themselves have to stop sexually assaulting women who come to make complaints. They have to register all FIRs and attend to complaints. CCTV cameras should be set up in all police stations and swift action must be taken against errant police personnel.

 

• Immediate setting up of fast track courts for rape and other forms of sexual violence all across the country. State governments should operationalise their creation on a priority basis. Sentencing should be done within a period of six months.

 

• The National Commission for Women has time and again proved itself to be an institution that works against the interests of women. NCW's inability to fulfil its mandate of addressing issues of violence against women, the problematic nature of the statements made by the Chairperson and its sheer inertia in many serious situations warrants that the NCW role be reviewed and audited as soon as possible.

 

• The State acknowledges the reality of custodial violence against women in many parts of the country, especially in Kashmir, North-East and Chhattisgarh. There are several pending cases and immediate action should be taken by the government to punish the guilty and to ensure that these incidents of violence are not allowed to be repeated.

 

• Regarding the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill 2012, women's groups have already submitted detailed recommendations to the Home Ministry. We strongly underline that the Bill must not be passed in its current form because of its many serious loopholes and lacuna. Some points:

 

-      There has been no amendment to the flawed definition of consent under Sec 375IPC and this has worked against the interest of justice for women.

 

-      The formulation of the crime of sexual assault as gender neutral makes the identity of the perpetrator/accused also gender neutral. We demand that the definition of perpetrator be gender-specific and limited to men. Sexual violence also targets transgender people and legal reform must address this.

 

-      In its current form, the Bill does not recognise the structural and graded nature of sexual assault, based on concepts of hurt, harm, injury, humiliation and degradation. The Bill also does not use well-established categories of sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault and sexual offences.

 

-      It does not mention sexual assault by security forces as a specific category of aggravated sexual assault. We strongly recommend the inclusion of perpetration of sexual assault by security forces under Sec 376(2).

 

Date: 05/01/2012

 

Endorsed by the following groups and individuals:

 

Citizens' Collective against Sexual Assault (CCSA) Purnima, Nirantar, New Delhi Sandhya Gokhale, Forum Against Oppression of Women, Bombay Deepti, Saheli, Delhi Mary John, Centre for Women's Development Studies (CWDS), New Delhi Jagori, Delhi Vimochana, Bangalore Lokesh, Stree Mukti Sanghathan, Delhi Madhya Pradesh Mahila Manch 10. Maitreyi Gupta, Lawyers Collective, New Delhi 11. Kavita Krishnan, AIPWA, New Delhi 12. Anuradha Kapoor ,Swayam, Calcutta 13. People's Union for Democratic Rights PUDR 14. Indira, Women against Sexual Violence and State Repression, (WSS), New Delhi 15. Kavita Srivastav, PUCL 16. Padma Deosthali, CEHAT, Mumbai 17. Partners for Law in Development, New Delhi 18. Kalpana Mehta, Manasi Swasthya Sansthan, Indore 19. Nandita Gandhi, Akshara, Bombay 20. AALI (Association for Advocacy and Legal Initiatives), Lucknow 21. National Alliance of people's Movements (NAPM) 22. Mallika, Maati, Uttarakhand 23. Meena Saraswathi Seshu, SANGRAM, Sangli 24. Zubaan, New Delhi 25. Indrani Sinha, Sanlaap, Calcutta 26. GRAMEENA MAHILA Okkutta, Karnataka 27. WinG Assam 28. Arati Chokshi, PUCL, Bangalore. 29. Action India, Delhi 30. North East Network (NEN) 31. National Network Of Sex Workers NNSW 32. Majlis Law, Legal Services for Women, Mumbai 33. Sahiayar (Stree Sangathan), Vadodara 34. National Federation of Indian Women 35. Vasanth Kannabiran (NAWO, AP) Asmita 36. Sheba George, SAHRWARU, Ahmedabad 37. Anandi, Gujarat 38. Medha Kotwal, Aalochana, Pune 39. Sakhi Women's Resource Centre, Kerala 40. SAMYAK, Pune 41. Shabana Kazi, VAMP, Sangli 42. Sruti disAbility Rights Centre, Kolkata 43. Forum to Engage Men (FEM), New Delhi 44. MASVAW( Men Action for stopping Violence Against Women), UP 45. YP Foundation 46. Breakthrough, New Delhi 47. V Rukmini Rao, Gramya Resource Centre for Women, Secunderabad 48. LABIA, a queer feminist LBT collective, Mumbai 49. Law Trust, Tamil Nadu 50. Men's Action to Stop Violence against Women (MASVAW), UP 51. National Forum for Single Women's Rights 52. NAWO-AP, Arunachal Pradesh Women's Welfare Society (APWWS) 53. Indigenous Women's Resource Centre (IWRC) 54. New Socialist Initiative, Delhi 55. Gabriele Dietrich, Pennurimai Iyakkam 56. Sangat, a South Asian Feminist Network 57. Stree Mukti Sanghatana, Mumbai 58. SWATI, Ahmedabad 59. Tamil Nadu Women Fish Workers Forum 60. Subhash Mendhapurkar,SUTRA, H.P. 61. Mario, Nigah, queer collective, New Delhi 62. Sushma Varma, Samanatha Mahila Vedike, Bangalore 63. Mahila Sarvangeen Utkarsh Mandal (MASUM), Pune 64. Priti Darooka, PWESCR (The Programme on Women's Economic, Social and Cultural Rights), New Delhi 65. Pushpa Achanta (WSS, Karnataka) 66. AWN, Kabul 67. AZAD and Sakha Team, Delhi 68. Ekta, Madurai 69. Empower People 70. Society for Women's action and Training Initiatives-SWATI 71. Centre for Health and Social Justice 72. All India Network of Sex Workers (AINSW) 73. Qashti: A support group for LBT people assigned female at birth 74. Deep Sonpal, UNNATI Organisation for Development Education 75. Gautam Bandyopadhyay, Nadi Ghati Morcha, Chhattisgarh 76. Women's Welfare Center, Pune 77. Dolon Ganguly, Jeevika Development Society 78. Sangini (I) Trust 79. Parichiti – A Society for Empowermnet of Women 80. Minu Sud, Simla 81. Maya Ratnam, Baltimore, MD, United States 82. Diane Smith, Hornby Island, Canada 83. Ramlath Kavil 84. carmen urbín, Spain 85. Kochurani Abraham 86. Georgie Wemyss, London, United Kingdom 87. Sonali Gulati, Richmond, VA, United States 88. Ruchi Chaturvedi, South Africa 89. Nandini Manjrekar 90. Poulomi Pal 91. Juhi Agrawal, London, United Kingdom 92. Nandini Ghosh 93. shreya S 94. Varuni Bhatia, Ann Arbor, MI, United States 95. Ellen Sprenger, Johannesburg, South Africa 96. Sumita Chatterjee, Miami, FL, United States 97. Giovanna Pompele, Miami, FL, United States 98. Abhay Kashalkar 99. Monisha Dhingra swatija paranjpe Ribhav Dhingra jayesh jaidka, New Delhi Kanwaljit Khurana, Australia Pooja Gupta Abha Khetarpal Pawan Kumar Smriti Nevatia amol ranjan Manisha Sethi Manoj Bisani Divya S Sarathy Malini Chakravarty Pyoli Swatija Ayushi Saxena Preethi Krishnan, West Lafayette, United States Pothik Ghosh Usha  Raman suchismita chattopadhyay Vanmala Vachani Nitya Menon Rishika Gupta Swarna Rajagopalan SUJATA KHANDEKAR Ruchi Yadav Proshant Chakraborty Ajit Kumar Sumita Thapar Nalini Visvanathan, Washington, DC, United States Sandhya Rao Saikat Ghosh Azeema Vogeler, Honolulu, HI, United States Anuradha Prasad Ratna Sudarshan Hema Sekhar, Bangalore, Aradhana Sharma, Middletown, CT, United States Sandhya Ahuja ASHISH KUMAR DEY V VIJAYAKUMAR Shernaz Italia, New Delhi Lalita Ramdas Salita Naik Ahamed Raza, Hanford, CA, United States Shyamjyoti Saikia Afrah Abdulmughni Zoya Akthar Aparna Datta Kazim Khan, London, United Kingdom Nandita Bhatla Samia Vasa Arantxa Bharatiya, Pune Jaya Rose Lester Coutinho, Faridabad, Haryana, CA, Julia Hard, London, United Kingdom Seela M Mahapatra, New Delhi krishna Menon neetika vishwanath Khushboo Jain Avijit Michael Sucheta Bhattacharya, kolkata Pankaj Jha PRIYANKA SISODIYA Chetan Kumria Taipei, Taiwan Sreekala MG Vasudha Pande Kelly Lyon, United States Kanan Puntambekar Kumkum Roy Tushar Shah Meenakshi Malhotra Jigna Kothari garima shrivastava Neelima Aryan, Bangalore Mridu Kamal anusha lall Sangeetha Purushothaman Rita Thapa, kathmandu, Nepal Swati Sahi Lata Singh Nupur Amarnath, New Delhi, Sister Philomina, WWC, Pune Tej Prakash Prabita Chandran, Redmond, WA, United States Antonia McGuire, Boston, United Kingdom Vinaya More, Mumbai Anurag Acharya, Kathmandu, Nepal Shreya Sanghani, London, United Kingdom Rajender Negi Shilpi Bhattacharya Karthika Vijayan Meher Rehman Anubha Shukla Ratna Manjari benu mohanlal Ajay Cadambi Jaiprakash Taparia Rukmini Sen Sneha Banerjee Bhagyashri Mundhe Maya Shanker Jharna Pathak Bindu Menon Preetha Nair Amita Verma, American Samoa Gummy mug Afifa Azim, Afghan Women Network (AWN), Kabul, Afghanistan Purnima Gupta Nalini Varshney Arnaz Irani, Mumbai Apoorva Kaiwar Indu MG Sadia Saeed Saradamoni K Jahnvi Andharia Vinamarata Kaur Seema Srivastava indu prakash singh Ankush Das Deepa Sonpal Sangita Dasgupta Priyanka Sarkar Sanchali Sarkar pratibha dmello, Delhi Aman Khot adele tulli, United Kingdom Ruchi Tripathi, Tonbridge, United Kingdom Ayeshaa Sinha Tejaswini Niranjana Nupur Sanyal Dharmen Shah abhay singh Asha G Anima Sanyal Kartika Suhag, Gurgaons Sarmistha Dutta Gupta Chhaya Datar Savita Kulkarni Beenu Rawat Susheela Singh desai rashesh Alagar Gandimathi Krishna Kant Saurabh Nautiyal Rajoshi Nagchaudhuri, New Westminster, Canada Urvashi Chauhan Michelle Harrison Arpita Chatterjee Retu Singh Joy Tnjoy Rocky Schnaath        Oakland, CA, United States Eva Droetto, Göteborg, Sweden Udaya Kumar, New Delhi Pragna Patel, London, United Kingdom George Pulikuthiyil Dr. Jyotsna Chatterji Maninya M Siddharth Govindan mukesh RAWAT noorani mallick Ritika Ganguly, Guilderland, NY, United States shweta mahajan Beena Rehman, Delhi Srijeeta Mitra Anjali Monteiro Prtiesh Shah, Clinton, NJ, United States Ajitha Kunnikkal nalini menon Sunil D'Monte meenal chaudhari, United States shabana nessen, United States Muneeza Inam, United Kingdom Pradeep Esteves Shiney Varghese, Minneapolis, MN, United States Leila Fitton Bath, United Kingdom Dhrubo Jyoti Rahila Gupta, London, United Kingdom ADRIAN PARKER       boston, United Kingdom Murray Culshaw, Bangalore Krishnakant Chauhan Anil Karihaloo, cheshire, CT, United States indira balan S Ismail, London, CA, United States andrew gurevich, Gresham, OR, United States Ravi Chopra Namrata Sharma, Kathmandu, Nepal K M Venugopalan Anuradha Ramanujan Ana Guedes, Matosinhos, Portugal Chitra Ramanujan Sushmita Mukherjee Ginny Shrivastava, Udaipur, Rajasthan Biswa Ranjan Patnaik Bindu Amat Arun Jindal Sr.Flora Mary Balaraman Kuttamath Kunniyur Anindita Roy Sushmita Mandal Sumathi Rao Rohan DSouza Gauri Nigudkar Nidhi Shendurnikar Shalini Mahajan Amitangshu Acharya Janki Andharia puloma pal Sampoorna India A Network of Trans* Indians Sumeet Sharma Ishita Chaudhry suvanwita saha Ajth Kumar Drishadwati Bargi Muhammad Vapiwalla, Essex, United Kingdom Rukmini Dey Siddhartha Chatterjee Reshma R Smriti Acharya Rajlakshmi Iyengar Anuradha Nambiar Archana Khare Ghose Abbas Rohawala Anne Philpott, London Jaya Menon Anindya Bandyopadhyay Aditi Mehta, Indore Pallavi Gupta Sandhya P C Limnesh Augustine Vignesh Manjeshwar Sreya Chatterjee Liansangpuia Chhakchhuak Akhilesh Mattoo Chaitra Chandapillai shivangi puri Anya Gupta Krishna Das JAnet Price, Lpool, United Kingdom Ajith Kumar Suneetha Achyuta shereen bhan, atlanta, Puerto Rico Srila Roy, Nottingham, United Kingdom JAYASHREE KHIRE Uma Ravikumar Eddie Bruce-Jones, London, United Kingdom Suresh K Dubai, United Arab Emirates Pallabi Chakravorty, Wynnewood, PA, United States Sheila Shulman         London, United Kingdom lalit jha, Cypress, TX, United States Sikander Bhana, Birmingham, United Kingdom Shraddha Chatterjee Sheba George Simrita Gopal Singh, Pune Radha Misra Amit Baishya, Muncie, IN, United States Juhi Bhasin Ragini Deshpande Celeste Gurevich, Portland, OR, United States Amlan Das Gupta Anjum Rajabali Namita Kohli, austin, TX, United States Louise Banerjei, Mumbai Vahista Dastoor Arundhati Dhuru Poonam Muttreja Maria Paladino Eugene, United States Papiya Banerjee Sudhamani N Sheena Kanwar, New Delhi ilham khan Malati Roy Anita Anand Rita Manchanda Subha Dasgupta Kobyum Zirdo Himanshu Pandya Abrity Basu Shruti, PhD, JNU Sutapa Chakraborty ,Behala keertika Sarmistha Dutta Gupta ,Sachetana and Ebong Alap, Kolkata Madhupurna GhoshJt. Secretary Sutanutir Sakhya Swati Chatterjee, South Kolkata Sannidhya Sonali Banerjee, Sanlaap, Kolkata Rajashree Dasgupta Devyani Bhardwaj Anwesha Haldar Pragnya Joshi Saptarshi Mandal, Legal Researcher, New Delhi Reya Mozumdar, New Delhi Sabitha. T. P.,University College London Philip Vinod Peacock, Bishop's College Ananya Sarkar Trina Nileena Banerjee, School of Arts and Aesthetics, JNU. Satish Kumar Singh Rita Thapa, Nepal Lakshmi Premkumar, New Delhi Sourangshu Banerjee ,Executive, PRADAN Anubhuti Sharma Ratna Raman P.P. Verma, Jharkhand Alternative Development Forum, Ranchi, Jharkhand Shilpa Phadke Mini Matthew, advocate. Kriti Team, New delhi Shweta Vachani Neha Kagal Sophia Khan, Gender & Legal Consultant, Gujarat CFAR Chayya Datar Jarjum Ete ,Spokesperson, Arunachal Pradesh Women's Welfare Society Preetha Nair, Journalist Pramada Menon GEETA SESHU Sangeeta Chatterji shashi khurana Shruti Arora Ratna Appnender neha kagal, london, United Kingdom Amrita Shodhan, London, United Kingdom beena JP Amrita Chhachhi, New Delhi, Ila Patlolla, brighton, United Kingdom ponni arasu, New Delhi Hamsini Ravi, Brighton, United Kingdom Supriya Madangarli Ulrike M. Vieten, Leeds, United Kingdom Geetanjali Gangoli, Bristol, United Kingdom Ambika Nair G Arunima Kabi S Madhvi Zutshi Rachit Barak dhanu swadi Anney Unnikrishnan Mansi Sharma Seema Mustafa Imrana Qadeer Kabir Sharmila Rege, Pune Anna George, New Delhi Sheba Chhachhi Ayesha Kidwai, JNU Prakash Burte, freelance journalist ICAN Dhiviya David DidiBahini Deepa Sonali Khan Subhash Mohapatra Sapana Pradhan Malla, Nepal Prajanya Gargi Chakravartty Koninika Ray Ranjana Ray Vrinda Grover Chayanika Shah, Bombay Aruna Roy Kalyani Menon-Sen, Feminist Learning Partnerships, Gurgaon Nandini Rao Pratiksha Baxi Amrita Nandy Farah Naqvi, Writer & Activist, Delhi Nivedita Menon Urvashi Butalia Kaveri R I, Bengaluru Dunu Roy Harsh Mander Anil TV Laxmi Murthy, Journalist, Bangalore Rahul Roy Rituparna Borah, queer feminist activist Ranjana Padhi, New Delhi Trupti Shah, Vadodara, Gujarat Sudha Bharadwaj Annie Raja Veena Shatrugna,  Hyderabad Vani Subramanian, New Delhi, Kamayani Bali Mahabal Kiran Shaheen, Journalist and activist Lesley A Esteves, journalist, New Delhi Abha Bhaiya Aditi Malhotra devangana kalita, assam Aruna Burte Anita Ghai Mohan Rao, New Delhi Rakhi Sehgal, New Delhi Geetha Nambisan Charan Singh, New Delhi Manjima Bhattacharjya Jinee Lokaneeta,Associate professor, Drew University, Madison, NJ Kavita Panjabi, Jadavpur University, Kolkata Albertina Almeida, Goa Satyajit Rath, New Delhi Prerna Sud, New Delhi Priya Sen, New Delhi Aarthi Pai, Bangalore Kalpana Vishwanath, Gurgaon Aisha K. Gill, Reader in Criminology, University of Roehampton, London Ammu Abraham, Mumbai Anagha Sarpotdar, Activist and PhD Student, Mumbai Anand Pawar Anuradha Marwah, Ajmer Adult Education Association (AAEA), Ajmer Asha Ramesh, activist/researcher/consultant Bondita Gauri Gill, New delhi Sophia Khan, Gender & Legal Consultant, Gujarat Niranjani Iyer, Chennai Dyuti Ailawadi Gandimathi Alagar Gayatri Buragohain – Feminist Approach to Technology (FAT), New Delhi Geetha Nambisan, Delhi Sadhna Arya, New Delhi Vineeta Bal, New Delhi Suneeta Dhar Geeta Ramaseshan, Advocate, Chennai Sonal Sharma, New Delhi Anusha Hariharan, Delhi/Chennai Jayasree.A.K, Gautam Bhan, New Delhi Jayasree Subramanian, TISS, Hyderabad Jhuma Sen, Advocate, Supreme Court Teena Gill, New Delhi Kannamma Raman Karuna D W Kavita Panjabi Shalini Krishan, New Delhi Lalita Ramdas, Secunderabad Manasi Pingle Madhumita Dutta, Chennai, Tamil Nadu Manoj Mitta Pamela Philipose Parul Chaudhary Preethi Herman Sunil Gupta, New Delhi Radha Khan Rama Vedula Rebecca John Renu Khanna, SAHAJ Rohini Hensman (Writer and Activist, Bombay) Rohit Prajapati, Environmental activist, Gujarat Roshmi Goswami Shipra Nigam, Consultant Economist, Research and Information Systems, New Delhi Shipra Deo, Agribusiness Systems International Vamshakti, Pratapgarh Rukmini Datta Sridala Swami Sarba Raj Khadka, Kathmandu Satish K. Singh, CHSJ Shinkai Karokhail, from the Afghanistan Parliament Sima Samar, Kabul Smita Singh, FTII, Pune Subhalakshmi Nandi Sujata Gothoskar Swar Thounaojam Inayat Sabhikhi Jaya Vindhyala, Hyderabad Sukrit Chandhoke Svati Shah, South Asia Solidarity Initiative, NY, United States Anand Bhaiya Prabha N Nisha Biswas Pramodini Pradhan Chitra Panikkar Paroma Ray, Singapore Ketaki Chowkhani Shivani Gupta Brinda Bose Arunava Sinha neha chaturvedi Suchi Kushwah, New Delhi Kriti Budhiraja Indra Sengupta, London, United Kingdom Vineet Nagrath Ashley Tellis Barbara Holtmann, Randburg, South Africa Sushobha Barve shishir chandra Charusmita Gadekar Vasvi Oza Manisha Pathania rajashree gandhi Debarati Halder, Centre for Cyber Victim Counselling Malini Krishnankutty vandana mahajan Anup Dhar Anubha Sood, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Shrutipriya Dalmia Soumya Chattopadhyay Ravi Verma Rahul Mishra Nandini Sundar Leslie Jogi, Cape Town, South Africa Ritu Priya Hitakshi Sehgal Dwijen Rangnekar, Coventry, United Kingdom Mane Kumria, London, United Kingdom Sara Ortiz Escalante, Spain Mohini Sharm Ravindran Sriramachandran, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates Vinita Bhatia mohan dharavath Mythri Prasad Shreya K Harish Tharayil Binita Pandya Shrikant Wad zaida muxi, barcelona, Spain Tarang Mahajan Snigdha Gupta renu rajbhandari, kathmandu, Nepal Himakshi Piplani Janani Sekhar Swapnil Gupta, New Haven, CT, United States Shraddha Chickerur Gitanjali S Bishakha Bhanja Sharmishtha Bose Maya Ganesh Anand Kumria, london United Kingdom Meera Joshi William Toscano, Minneapolis, MN, United States Priyadarshini Rajagopalan Koonal Duggal, Hyderabad sulbha jagat Jayaram N. Sudha N, Bangalore Arti Maddali Poushali Basak Dhivya Sivaramane Aashita Jain Archita Bhuyan Maja Raicevic, Podgorica, Montenegro Sandya Hewamanne, Winston Salem, NC, United States Ellora Puri Pooja Das Sarkar Uma KP sushmita pati Sudha Venkataramachar Roli Khattri, United States Radhika Balakrishnan, New York, NY, United States Abhishek Srivastava Vivek Pathak srirupa Prasad, United States Rajan Kurai Krishnan Geetanjali Khanna Purwa Bharadwaj Jayita Roy, Moscow Seema Aroram, United States Shreya Sen, Kolkata, West Bengal Sourya Majumder Subhajit Das Moulshree Shukla Nithila Kanagasabai Sumit Chavan Manisha Gupte, Pune Ishita Ghosh, Palo Alto, CA, United States Bimla Chandrasekar Dilkash Kapur Abanti Dutta Abe Hayeem, Edgware, United Kingdom John Meghen, Bedford, United Kingdom Ritu Mahendru, london, United Kingdom Yamini Atmavilas Lakshmi Menon Anupama Raj RK Bhardwaj Runu Chakraborty, Uttar Pradesh, Prabhakar Sonparote, Gurnee, IL, United States Minor Outlying Islands Beulah Azariah cijo joy K.S.Sebastian Kandathil Shuchi Vora, Mumbai Rima Kashyap nevin thomas PANKTI JOG CK Ramachandran, Calicut, Philarisa Sarma Nongpiur Ciby James Kripa Basnyat, Kathmandu, Nepal Prasad Chacko Monika Walia Women for Human Rights single women group, Nepal Ammel Sharon Sudipta Mukhopadhyay Vinod Srinivasan, Guilderland, NY, United States M. Shankar Archana Shrivastava Khurshid Anwar Juhi Gautam nabanita bhattacharyya KURAPATI SRINIVAS Sunayana Walia Abhijit Das Anuja K Smitha Francis Anushree Tapadar MINAKSHI SANYAL Deepanwita Dutta shivangi jaiswal Hemal Shroff jishnu sadasivan BURNAD FATHIMA NATESAN Jayati Ghosh Sumathi Murthy Sheba Tejani Ruhi Gautam Juhi Jain Maya Valecha meera visvanathan azra siddiqui Urvashi Gandhi Anamika Bhattacharya Oishik Sircar, Australia Meenal Kannan Geeta Charusivam Shikha Sultan Anchita Ghatak, Kolkata Ruma Nguri Atiya Bose Amrita Nag karken riba, itanagar Eps Greenheads, Itanagar Gargie Bhattacharya Samantak Das NGULI DABI Sukumar Ray Rolly Shivhare Rupsa Nath Arijita Pal Deepa V M niti deoliya Patricia Mukhim Shilpi Aggarwal Shankar Tayung Jonai, Social Activist milli ossin Subhrajeet Chakraborty Nafisa Barot Madhu Menon Habung Dunya urmila unnikrishnan Hage Umpi Madhuja Mukherjee Anitha Sunil Probal Dasgupta Farah Batool Kousalya PWN Gurjeet Kaur Suparna Gupta Pereena Lamba, Mumbai, Budhaditya Das We Community Action Network VCAN josephine joseph RIMPLE MEHTA, KOLKATA, Salim Khalid, Gujranwala, Pakistan Joram Ruth Weeny Lisa lipi karso Shivshankar Menon Priya Agrawal tenzin dorjee ujjayini ray Neeti Daftari RIME NGULOM Aarif Saiyed, London, United Kingdom Dr Gita Bharali, United States Aban confectioner vikas kumar Joti Sekhon, Winston-Salem, NC, United States madhabi maity Radha Bhatt, London, United Kingdom susana barria Amiya Dev Arindam Ghatak Kamlesh Oza Usman Jawed Shawn Fontain, Elmira, OR, United States Shweta Radhakrishnan Carole Spary, York, United Kingdom Andy  Lee, Los Angeles, CA, United States Revathi Narayanan Aatreyee Sen Ajay T Edison, NJ, United States Moitreyee Mitra Prasad Pannian Bindu Balan, Puducherry Sasikala Ravichandran Uma Ramakrishnan Sudha Balakrishnan Elsie Roy Subadra Murthy Raheema Begam Raziya begam Jyothi Sambhani, Southampton, United Kingdom Urmi Duggal Vidya Lakshmi, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Nandita Basu Ram Mahalingam, Ann Arbor, MI, United States baisali mohanty Ujjwal Singh Anupama Roy Preethi Mohan, Ajman, United Arab Emirates Lalitha Devaradjy, Rochester Hills, MI, United States Joshina Ramakrishnan Onni Gust, Northampton, MA, United States preeti chauhan Yuki Hibben, Richmond, VA, United States Poorvi B LM Ishiguro, Vancouver, Canada Sanjukta Sunderason, Leiden, Netherlands Uditi Sen Soraya Victoria         France Priyanka Srivastava, Northampton, MA, United States Shrinkhla Agrawal, Mishawaka, IN, United States Deepti Tandon KhushI Kabir, Dhaka, Bangladesh Zarina Kabir, Stockholm, Sweden Pallavi Choudhuri, Grand Rapids, MI, United States Neepa Majumdar, Pittsburgh, PA, United States Erica Wald, London, United Kingdom AInoon Naher, Dhaka, Bangladesh Deepa Majumdar, Westville, IN, United States Marie De Santis, Gualala, CA, United States Aleeze Moss, Philadelphia, PA, United States Papa Nurun Nahar, Boston, MA, United States Bernhard Hertlein, Bielefeld, Germany Krupa Shandilya, Amherst, MA, United States Amrita Basu, Amherst, MA, United States Kumar Nishant Javed Anand Bimal Borah Indu Sagar Akku Chowdhury, Dhaka, Bangladesh Mahi Mahiuddin Palash, Dhaka, Bangladesh Tanisha Ameen, Australia jayadevan pc Uma Vennam Kate Swann, bognor regis, United Kingdom Anatya Vallabh Veena Nabar Yogesh Bhasin Nida Kirmani, Lahore, Pakistan Namita Bharati Jayarajan PK Tom Mundakel, Brooklyn, NY, United States Satish Shetty, Redmond, WA, United States rosemary antrobus, london, United Kingdom TAHERA YASMIN, dhaka, Bangladesh Ravinder Singh JAHNAVI BORTHAKUR SAXENA Mohseneen Mirza Shaista waseem Virendra Kumar Bizeth Banerjee CHITTARANJAN GUPTA Pankaj Ganeshgarhia Kishore Pisapati Salil Mathur Kunal Chugh Garima Puniani Alisha Kapoor RUMANA HASHEM, Beckton, United Kingdom Honey Gupta Supriya Naik Alyosha Goldstein, Albuquerque, NM, United States Apoorva Sinha Preeti Sheth Uma Asher PJ Saju, Ernakulam caroline RATCHAGANATHAN, France Poarkodi Natarajan Jhelum Roy Seema Sarohe Chandra sekhar sarita bakliwal pamela voekel, athens, GA, United States ROHITH CHANDRAN lia latha Sivagamavallie G abeedha samy, Singapore malathi jay Dhanalakshmi Ramany ali syed Banu Subramaniam, Amherst, MA, United States ARUP BARUA, Dhaka, Bangladesh Anuraag Verma Tanya Mehta AASTHA AHUJA Aqeel Imam, Rotterdam, Netherlands Priya Senthil, Chennai Subhashini Varadarajan Rajiny Balaji Satya Prakash Arya mohana rushyandhan, chennai, Shubham Gupta Aishwarya Aish Nita Gopal Devi Lakshmikutty, DH, Netherlands Satish Rathore Albert Helene Tushar Anjaria Dhirendra Panda Reena Mohan Kavitha Kuruganti, Bengalaru Mohan Hirabai Hiralal Vamshakti, Pratapgarh Amit R. Baishya ,Assistant Professor ,Ball State University, Indiana Deepika Tandon, Miranda House Saswati Ghosh Amrita Ibrahim, Washington, DC, United States Devika Chawla, Athens, OH, United States Neelanjana Mukhia Khushi Kabir, Nijera Kori, Bangladesh Akhila Sivadas Ritu Mahendru Krishnakant, Gujarat Dr. Smarajit Jana Dr. Sushena Reza-Paul Dr. Sundaraman Sarojini Nandita Bhatia Priya Thangarajah, legal researcher, Colombo Jan Pehal ActionAid Bhopal Soukhya Project, Bengaluru Vijayalakshmi BV Usha Shrivastava Prasanna PR

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Feroze Mithiborwala