Articles by: Adv Dr Shalu Nigam

Eradicate Dowry, Eliminate Dowry Violence

Eradicate Dowry, Eliminate Dowry Violence

On 22 May 2023, a woman who married six months ago was burned alive in Sawai Madhopur Rajasthan for dowry. Her father stated that she was severely tortured for a motorcycle and Rs 50,000[2]. 22-year-old Lovepreet Kaur, a resident of Ludhiana, Punjab, got married to Gurinder Singh on 24 June 2022[3]. On 18 April 2023, within ten months of her[Read More…]

by 01/06/2023 Comments are Disabled Patriarchy
Violence Against Women in Live-In Relationships and the Legal Safeguards

Violence Against Women in Live-In Relationships and the Legal Safeguards

Recently several cases are sensationalized by the media where in women in live-in relationships have been subjected to gruesome violence and are brutally murdered. The mainstream media and politics pushed a toxic communal narrative and blamed women for marrying by choice and having an inter-caste or inter-religious relationship while evoking the unreasonable patriarchal notions of `love jihad’ or `honor killings’.[Read More…]

by 27/12/2022 Comments are Disabled Patriarchy
The Curses of Patriarchy

The Curses of Patriarchy

Patriarchy cursed me, I laughed and move on They said you are a female, your birth is a burden I survived and thrived, flourished and bloomed Confronted their stereotypes and challenged their misleading notions I vowed that I will not accept their false binaries or phony divisions I will keep demanding equal rights and opportunities to be a human That[Read More…]

by 08/11/2022 Comments are Disabled Arts/Literature
Feminist Foreign Policy in India: A Trifecta Approach to Hope, Imagination and Possibilities

Feminist Foreign Policy in India: A Trifecta Approach to Hope, Imagination and Possibilities

In the present world order, when the countries worldwide are facing climate crisis as well as other forms of vulnerabilities including rising misogyny, increased emphasis on nationalism, populism and hate, unique challenges are emerging that need to be addressed. Persistent social, economic and political inequalities have further sharpened during COVID-19 crisis while the countries have rolled back policies that could[Read More…]

by 20/10/2022 Comments are Disabled Patriarchy
From a Pati-Parmeshawar or a Lord to a Partner

From a Pati-Parmeshawar or a Lord to a Partner

How the conservative patriarchal Family Ideology operates and is challenged in the courts                                                   The data from the NCRB shows that increasingly a large number of women are approaching the courts with the complaints of domestic[Read More…]

by 29/08/2022 Comments are Disabled Patriarchy
People-Centric Legal System Not Decolonization or Indianization Is The Need of the Hour

People-Centric Legal System Not Decolonization or Indianization Is The Need of the Hour

Recently, the debate is being re-initiated when several judges of the Supreme Court have recommended the decolonization of the Indian legal system. Also, the Chief Justice of India in several of his speeches has expressed the need to `Indianize’ the system to provide the access to justice to the poor. This article while examining the deliberations that took place since[Read More…]

by 31/01/2022 1 comment India
MeeLord! I am seeking justice as a citizen!

MeeLord! I am seeking justice as a citizen!

She hesitated and fumbled, vacillated and dithered, When the Magistrate announced, “go for ADR, counseling and mediation”, MeeLord, he promised he will not beat me when my parents intervened, she squeaked, Though I may be naïve and inept to speak, yet I must tell you, He assured he will not hit me when the neighbors intruded, but violence never stopped,[Read More…]

by 20/11/2021 Comments are Disabled Arts/Literature
Every little girl has a dream, a dream that will not die….

Every little girl has a dream, a dream that will not die….

                                                                         Every little girl has a dream A dream to study, a dream to play, A dream to dance, a dream to fly, A dream[Read More…]

by 27/09/2021 Comments are Disabled Arts/Literature
Strategic Law Suits Against Public Participation in India: Why the neutrality principle of law not working?

Strategic Law Suits Against Public Participation in India: Why the neutrality principle of law not working?

Abstract During recent years, a sharp rise is noted in the number of frivolous law suits filed to silence voices of dissenters and the marginalized sections including women who complaint against violence. These legal tactics are striking the roots of democracy and curbing the public discourse on the vital issues while choking the freedom of speech. In western countries, anti-SLAPP[Read More…]

by 15/07/2021 Comments are Disabled India
Vaccine Equity and G7 Summit: Solidarity Not Charity, Justice Not Denial of Human Rights

Vaccine Equity and G7 Summit: Solidarity Not Charity, Justice Not Denial of Human Rights

Vaccine equity is not working because besides the role played by the fascists and the authoritarian regimes in denying vaccine access to their population, also, it is behind the cloak of human rights that the western countries are not sharing the knowledge of production and manufacturing of the basic life-saving technologies in the times of pandemic. The G7 Summit pledged[Read More…]

by 21/06/2021 Comments are Disabled World
I Can’t Breathe: In India, in the USA, or anywhere else, Transform the Oppressive System that is Choking

I Can’t Breathe: In India, in the USA, or anywhere else, Transform the Oppressive System that is Choking

`Derek Chauvin found guilty on all three charges for killing George Floyd’ read the news item published on 21 April 2021. The verdict was pronounced eleven months after the video emerged that showed Chauvin kneeling on the neck and back of a 46-year-old black man named George Floyd, handcuffed and lying prone on the street, for 9 minutes 29 seconds[Read More…]

by 22/04/2021 Comments are Disabled India
A Year of Pandemic, Deadlock, Disaster and Dissent

A Year of Pandemic, Deadlock, Disaster and Dissent

The lockdown that has been imposed almost a year back in the wake of COVID-19 has introduced several changes in almost every part of the world. The virus has not only resulted in damages resulting in high mortality and morbidity, but it has also made adverse qualitative changes in the lives of billions while its socio-political repercussions have devastated economies[Read More…]

by 25/03/2021 Comments are Disabled India
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and South Asian Women

Universal Declaration of Human Rights and South Asian Women

Abstract Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) 1948 is a basic and most significant document. It is not only about indivisible, inalienable, basic human rights. Several people in South Asia discredit human rights as the foreign, Eurocentric, or Western and the male concept, however, in contradiction, this piece argues that firstly, the human rights as proclaimed in the UDHR is[Read More…]

by 15/10/2020 Comments are Disabled Human Rights
COVID-19 Lockdown And Violence Against Women In Home

COVID-19 Lockdown And Violence Against Women In Home

COVID-19 has imposed mandatory lockdowns in many countries including India. However, since the lockdown has been imposed, attention is being focused on its economic repercussions and on providing food and shelter to poor and migrants. But the pandemic has exposed vulnerabilities and created challenges at other fronts too. More specifically, women’s lack of autonomy in the patriarchal homes is further[Read More…]

by 28/04/2020 Comments are Disabled Patriarchy
COVID-19: Dealing With An Untamable Virus

COVID-19: Dealing With An Untamable Virus

COVID-19, a virus of disease and death, has affected the world since the beginning of 2020. Dealing against it is becoming increasingly difficult for the governments, across the world, because each one has different priorities. More so, in India, the fight against this virus becomes more challenging because of persisting difficulties such as extensive socio-economic inequalities, less value of life[Read More…]

by 08/04/2020 Comments are Disabled World
`Rights To Have Rights’ In Context Of Citizenship Matrix In India

`Rights To Have Rights’ In Context Of Citizenship Matrix In India

Much has been said about the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 while protestors all over India demanded to withdraw the law claiming that it is discriminatory. The matter is pending before the Supreme Court but in this piece, it is added that the amendments made over the years, in the citizenship law, have changed the very notion and discourse of[Read More…]

by 02/04/2020 Comments are Disabled India
Many Dimensions of Shaheen Bagh Movement in India

Many Dimensions of Shaheen Bagh Movement in India

The protest in Shaheenbagh began on December 16, 2019 against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC), National Population Register (NPR) and against police brutalities. Now, more than seventy days later, it emerged as a non-violent, creative and an inspiring movement led by women – a movement against fascism, a movement of reckoning based on the ideology[Read More…]

by 24/02/2020 Comments are Disabled India
Death Penalty or Victim Centric Justice System?

Death Penalty or Victim Centric Justice System?

For past few days, since the Supreme Court has awarded death penalty to four convicts, the media headlines are screaming for the blood of rapists who brutally gang-raped Nirbhaya or Jyoti Singh on 16th December 2012.  Heated discussions are going on regarding the execution of convicts where several experts and activists argue against death penalty, while there are those who[Read More…]

by 04/02/2020 Comments are Disabled Human Rights
Travesty of Justice

Travesty of Justice

Justice, in normal parlance, is supposedly neutral and seemingly fair attainment of what is equitable, righteous and just in its moral correctness, ethical consideration, rational perspective and from legal point of view. Edmund Burke sees justice from the prism of humanity and reason while Mahatma Gandhi has evoked the conscience to envision justice. Bentham upheld utilitarian principles that promote human[Read More…]

by 18/11/2019 1 comment India
The Powerful Mighty State versus the Human Rights Defenders:  The Courage to Challenge the Unruly Authority

The Powerful Mighty State versus the Human Rights Defenders:  The Courage to Challenge the Unruly Authority

In December 2018, the National Human Rights Institutions (NHRI) across the globe pledge to bolster their support for human rights defenders amidst a growing climate of threats and reprisals. While adopting the Marrakech Declaration and reaffirming the principles of Paris Declaration, NHRIs recognized that “Human rights defenders have a positive, important and legitimate role in contributing to the realisation of[Read More…]

by 27/06/2019 Comments are Disabled Human Rights
Struggle for Women’s Liberation Across the World: A Long Way to Go

Struggle for Women’s Liberation Across the World: A Long Way to Go

Writing `herstory’ has never been an easy process in a male-dominated world where sexism, bigotry racism, casteism and fascism all have been used in an unimaginative way by the free market economy in congruence with the fascists forces to undermine democratic processes. The trio of totalitarian state, free market and increasing fundamentalism is giving new reasons to dissent every day.[Read More…]

by 20/06/2019 Comments are Disabled Patriarchy
Legislating on Transnational Dowry Abuse: A Ray of Hope from Australia

Legislating on Transnational Dowry Abuse: A Ray of Hope from Australia

As per the report titled Crimes in India 2016, published by the National Crime Record Bureau of India, death of 7621 women is registered as dowry death under Section 304B of the Indian Penal Code. This implies that more than 21 women die every day because they could not fulfill dowry demands made by their husbands or in-laws. Also, 1,10,378[Read More…]

by 02/03/2019 Comments are Disabled Life/Philosophy
A Year After Brutal Gang Rape and Murder in Kathua:  Apathetic State Agenda, Regressive Policies and Escalating Violence Continued

A Year After Brutal Gang Rape and Murder in Kathua:  Apathetic State Agenda, Regressive Policies and Escalating Violence Continued

Abstract In 2012 when Nirbhaya had been raped brutally in a moving bus in Delhi, the massive protest that went for several days could awake the then government which then constituted the Justice Verma Committee and made amendments in the criminal laws relating to rape. However, in January 2018, the socio-political situation is completely altered. Ironically, a Hindutva government is[Read More…]

by 04/02/2019 1 comment Patriarchy
#MeToo In India Is Just A Tip Of An Iceberg And It Has Shaken The Patriarchy To Its Core

#MeToo In India Is Just A Tip Of An Iceberg And It Has Shaken The Patriarchy To Its Core

India is witnessing the crucial change where a few women courageously came out with their experience of sexual harrassment they have faced at their work placeand shared with the hastag #MeToo on the social media. Though, their number is small, yet the movement is reaching and spreading out. Still, what is being shared is just the tip of iceberg. There[Read More…]

by 23/10/2018 1 comment Patriarchy
The Cult of 56-Inches and Toxic Masculinity

The Cult of 56-Inches and Toxic Masculinity

The cult of 56 inches does not symbolize courage or strength, it portrays toxic masculinity. And toxic masculinity is not normal.It must be resisted. When Simon de Beauvoir[1] wrote about becoming women’ she was referring to the notion of social construction of a person as a woman. Similarly, masculinity is also related to the notion of becoming aman’ in a[Read More…]

by 23/06/2018 2 comments Patriarchy, India
No Wages For Love: Women’s Rights Within Families And Changing Economic Paradigm

No Wages For Love: Women’s Rights Within Families And Changing Economic Paradigm

  The neoliberal economy has changed the manner in which labour, love and relationshipshave been recognized,appreciated and structured in a society. The economic crisis which has cropped up in recent years, where the employment is shrinking, the economy is deteriorating, the common people are left with little options to earn their livelihoods and the state is rolling back from its[Read More…]

by 30/03/2018 Comments are Disabled Patriarchy
Infantilization And Degeneration of the Politics in the Recent Times

Infantilization And Degeneration of the Politics in the Recent Times

  Across the world, many democracies are in crisis and the civilization is crumbling. The crisis erupts because there is an impoverishment of political life where intolerance, greed, ignorance and rageare growing recklessly. The vibrancy of the democracies is diminishing as the public sphere of informed democratic dialogue is shrinking. Blatant lies, infantile emotionalism, absolute disrespect, open display of religious[Read More…]

by 16/02/2018 1 comment Life/Philosophy
An Ordinary Life Enslaved By A Card:  Coercively Linking Aadhaar With Hunger Is No Solution

An Ordinary Life Enslaved By A Card:  Coercively Linking Aadhaar With Hunger Is No Solution

  Santoshi Kumari In August 2017, in KS Puttuswamy v Union of India[1], commonly known as Privacy judgment, the nine judges bench of the Supreme Court unanimously in its landmark verdict established the fundamental right to privacy and transformed the civil rights jurisprudence.The decision strengthened the claims of citizens to the individual right to privacy, personal autonomy and the bodily[Read More…]

by 28/10/2017 Comments are Disabled India
From Mathura To Farooqui Rape Case: The Regressive Patriarchy Found its Way Back

From Mathura To Farooqui Rape Case: The Regressive Patriarchy Found its Way Back

  Way back in 1972, a tribal girl was raped in custody by two constables in Desai Ganj Police Station in Maharashtra. The Supreme Court in Tuka Ram v State of Maharashtra[1](also known as Mathura’s rape case) acquitted the two accused policemen on the ground that the victim has raised no alarm, there was no visible injury mark on her[Read More…]

by 09/10/2017 1 comment India
Fighting For Justice In the Patriarchal Courts

Fighting For Justice In the Patriarchal Courts

Advocate Dr Shalu Nigam Last few days witnessed the pronouncement of several significant celebrated judgements by the courts in the cases relating to right to privacy[1], triple talaq[2], and sentencing of 20-years life term to a self-proclaimed Godman who raped women[3]. All these three cases, somehow uphold people’s trust in courts as the custodian of rule of law. Even otherwise,[Read More…]

by 30/08/2017 Comments are Disabled Patriarchy
Of Celebrating India’s 100th Independence Day After 30 Years……

Of Celebrating India’s 100th Independence Day After 30 Years……

After 30 years from now India will be celebrating its 100thyear of independence from the colonial rule. What will happen in the year 2047-48? Will India be able to fulfill the vision of those who fought for the freedom? Will the country be able to adapt itself to the dreams and aspirations of the present and the future citizens of[Read More…]

by 08/04/2017 1 comment India
Battered Women Syndrome: Applying This Legal Doctrine In The Indian Context

Battered Women Syndrome: Applying This Legal Doctrine In The Indian Context

Over the last decade, a shift in approach towards domestic violence has taken place and several legal reforms have been directed to assist the survivors. The Protection of Women Against Domestic Violence Act is one of such law that has been enacted in the year 2005 to provide civil remedies to the survivors besides criminalizing domestic violence. While these legal[Read More…]

by 06/08/2016 1 comment Patriarchy
A Quest For Identity: From Personal To Political

A Quest For Identity: From Personal To Political

By J Nigam and Shalu Nigam Mature men and some women in mysterious black coats, a weary face listening, though with little attention, to these two segments arguing, fighting, abusing and shouting, and an allegorical lady justice with blindfolds balancing some scales- that’s a courtroom in my eyes as a four year old child! Though I had barely opened my[Read More…]

by 24/06/2016 Comments are Disabled Patriarchy