2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001

2006

India tackles domestic violence
October 26, 2006 – (BBC) A landmark new law seeking to protect women from domestic violence has come into effect in India. The law also bans harassment by way of dowry demands and gives sweeping powers to a magistrate to issue protection orders where needed. Punishment could range from a jail term of up to one year and/or a fine of up to 20,000 rupees ($450).

India's All-Women Police Pursue Dowry Complaints
September 13, 2006 – (Women’s Enews) In her three years working at the Basavangudi all-women police station in Bangalore, Constable Mylaaiah Rangajura has taken hundreds of statements of women with dowry-related complaints. Some are freshly bruised, others have been starved for days and some fear that their husbands or in-laws will burn or strangle them to death, a tragically common end to a dowry dispute.

Apunba Lup scoffs at AR's gestures
August 2, 2006 – (The Sangai Express) Dismissing efforts by Indian Army authorities particularly the Assam Rifles of holding talks with meira paibis to bring peace and tranquillity in the State as cover-up exercises, the Apunba Lup said until and unless the Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958 is repealed no positive development can be achieved. Talking to mediaper-sons at Manipur Press Club today in the backdrop of reports regarding constant consultations between AR's top officials and meira paibi members, women leaders of the Apunba Lup contended that so far no representatives of any women organisations had reciprocated to the AR proposals.

Prostitution 'Increases' In India
July 3, 2006 - (BBC) The number of prostitutes in India has risen by 50% in less than a decade, according to a new survey.
Two million sex workers in 1997 had risen to three million by 2003-04, the government-commissioned study said. Many prostitutes are said to be underage, entering the sex trade between the ages of 12 and 15.

Women's groups in India outraged by army leader's remark
June 19, 2006 - (Zee News): A day after the National Commission for Women (NCW) expressed its displeasure over the reported remarks of the Army Vice Chief on the presence of women in the Force, the women's panel today said there was a need for gender sensitisation of the forces.

2005

Girls allegedly released from forced prostitution should receive rehabilitation
November 9, 2005 - (The Asian Human Rights Commission): The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) called yesterday for the protection of underage girls and rehabilitation of those over 18 allegedly taken from forced prostitution in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.

Women police battle city rape
November 8, 2005 – (BBC News) High-profile cases of rapes and assault on women in Delhi have prompted many to dub it "the rape capital of India". Worried about the bad press, Delhi police have been trying a new tactic - 40 women constables have been put on the beat in north-west Delhi in an area known for its high incidence of crimes against women. Sagar Preet Hooda is the Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of north-west Delhi and is heading this campaign, named Parivartan (Change).

India: Mother of Peace Talks
November 7, 2005 -(Women's Feature Service) Neidonuo Angami (born 1950), one of the founding members and former president of the Naga Mothers Association (NMA), was born at a time when Nagaland was ravaged by fierce fighting between the Naga underground army and Indian security forces. She spent her early childhood hiding in thick and precarious jungles to escape the onslaught of incessant bullets.

Educating India’s child labourers
September 13, 2005 – (BBC) Girls at a village school in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh gather for a morning assembly under the shade of a tamarind tree, seeking relief from the heat and humidity of the summer.

Women Are Naturals At Grassroots Governance
September 10, 2005 (IPS) - The picturesque Himalayan state of Uttaranchal is leading the rest of the country in taking advantage of legislation that reserves a third of all elected seats in local bodies for women. No longer satisfied with playing second fiddle in local leadership, women in this state now occupy a full 45 percent of seats in its panchayats (rural local bodies).

India backs domestic abuse bill
August 24, 2005 – (BBC News) India's lower house of parliament has passed a bill seeking to protect women from domestic violence. The bill seeks to ban harassment by way of dowry demands and gives sweeping powers to a magistrate to issue protection orders where needed.

Indian women poised to get parliament seats
August 24, 2005 - (News International) Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Tuesday he was confident that parliament would pass a bill to set aside a third of federal and state legislature seats for women despite a storm of opposition. His comments came a day after MPs fought tooth-and-nail in parliament to oppose the draft legislation. "We are building consensus on the issue of reserving 33 per cent of seats in parliament and state legislatures for women and I am confident that we will succeed," Singh told a national women’s conference in New Delhi.

RIGHTS-INDIA: For Rural Women Self-help Is Best
Aug 16, 2005 - (IPS) Tackling issues like female illiteracy became easy once the women in this remote village on the Tibetan border in picturesque Uttaranchal state, decided that they were closely linked to the shiftlessness of the men folk coupled with their ruinous drinking habits.

India prefers sons, snuffs out girl child
August 4, 2005 – (Reuters) It's a scenario that's hit India straight in the gut. Some time in the future in a village in eastern India, there are only a few women left. As a result, five brothers are married to one woman -- who then take turns brutalising her every night.

India wakes up to its battered women
July 5, 2005 – (Reuters) Squatting on the floor of a women's shelter, 33-year-old Swati lifts her blue cotton sari to reveal blackish scars on her disfigured feet.

Indian girl, 14, wins a divorce
June 22, 2005 - (BBC) A 14-year-old girl in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh has won a battle to have her two-year marriage to a teenage boy annulled.

Pakistani sex workers visit India
June 22, 2005 - (BBC) A group of Pakistani sex workers have visited the red light district in the Indian city of Calcutta to discuss safe sex practices and combating AIDS.

Woman 'ordered to marry rapist'
June 15, 2005 – (BBC) An Indian woman who was allegedly raped by her father-in-law is now being ordered by a Muslim council of community elders to marry him.

'WOMEN MUST INFLUENCE CONFLICT RESOLUTION'
MAY 23, 2005 - (The Times of India) After all these years of promoting gender equality, violence against women seems to be rising. How do we remedy this?

ASIAN MEET FOR ACHIEVING MDG'S THROUGH GENDER MAINSTREAMING
May 20, 2005- (OneWorld) New Delhi: 2005 being the year for the Beijing +10 and MDGs + 5, is a year for reflection and moving forward. IFAD, UNIFEM and IDRC collaborated to organize a three day regional conference on 'Development Effectiveness through Gender Mainstreaming'. Over 120 representatives from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Fiji, India, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka attended the conference.

GOVERNMENT FIRM TO TABLE WOMEN'S BILL
May 8, 2005 - (Central Chronicle) Government today said it is committed to bringing in the much-debated Women's Reservation Bill for reservation of seats in Parliament besides looking at amendments in other legislations and bringing another Bill to check domestic violence to ensure gender equality and women empowerment.

YOUNG PAINTERS SPEAK OUT FOR WOMEN IN VIOLENCE
May 8, 2005 - (PTI) The sense of insecurity for women in the cities has moved budding artists in the capital to pick up the brush on the sensitive theme, "women, violence and international humanitarian law".

SOUTH ASIA CONFRONTS TREND OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
May 5, 2005 - (Reuters) Changing laws is the easy part, changing attitudes is something else.Shameful stories in recent days of horrific rapes in Pakistan and India, murders in Afghanistan and an impoverished Bangladeshi mother offering to sell an eye have all underscored how far South Asia has to go to give downtrodden womenfolk justice.

WOMEN'S QUOTA BILL AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
May 4, 2005 - (PTI) Cornered by women members in the Rajya Sabha, Government today assured the House that it would try to bring in Parliament the long-awaited Women's Reservation bill "as soon as possible".

INDIAN DANCING GIRLS
April 8, 2005 (BBC News) In some areas, dancing has a darker side, and is closely linked to prostitution.

RURAL WOMEN USING AUDIO-VISUAL TOOLS TO PROPAGATE KNOWLEDGE
March 14, 2005 -(PTI) At a safe distance from the avalanche of media channels jostling to grab the attention of the urbanite, a group of illiterate women from a remote district of Andhra Pradesh has opened a new communication vista by making video and radio programmes on social and development issues.

For Bride, Dowry Is Deal Breaker
Defiant Indian Women Increasingly Fighting In-Laws' Demands
March 27, 2005 - (Washington Post) She wore a sari of red silk. He wore a maroon business suit and a gold-and-white turban. In front of several hundred guests, they garlanded each other with roses and marigolds, then sealed their union by circling a fire of mango-tree wood seven times as a Hindu priest chanted prayers. All agreed it was a splendid wedding.

ANDHRA PRADESH OFFERS 1 LAKH TO "ONE DAUGHTER ONLY" FAMILIES
March 11, 2005 - (Reuters) The southern state of Andhra Pradesh hopes the offer of cash to bring up daughters will address the problem of an imbalanced sex ratio and improve the status of the girl-child.

EMPOWERING WOMEN TO FIGHT HIV/AIDS
February 14, 2005- (New Straights Times) Bejewelled and dressed in a sequined salwar kameez, pretty Kiran Zareen looks nothing like the stereotype exploited sex worker. She’s only 23 but her heavily-kohled eyes and knowing smile belie her age.

2004

TRIPURA REBELS USING WOMEN TO LURE YOUTH
September 3, 2004 - (IANSA) Struck by mass desertions, an influential tribal separatist group in India's restive northeastern state of Tripura has been trying to recruit local youths through pretty women.

CHILDREN BURN BOOKS STRIKE SHUTS INDIA'S MANIPUR
September 3, 2004 - (Reuters) School children burnt textbooks and women set up roadblocks in the Indian state of Manipur on Friday at the start of a three-day strike against an unpopular anti-terror law.

PIPFPD 10TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS BEGIN AMID TRUMPET BLASTS
September 3, 2004 - (PIPFPD Press Release) A seventy member delegation of the Pakistan India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy crossed over to Pakistan at the Attari-Wahga border today to participate in the three day joint celebration of the Forum’s 10th Anniversary, being organised in Lahore.

INDIA'S MAKE-UP MEN DON WAR PAINT
September 2, 2004 - (BBC) Banu Bashyam has been a make-up artist in India for the past 15 years, but she mostly has to work secretively.

INDIA: BAR GIRLS SEEK RIGHTS
September 1, 2004 - (BBC) Seeking recognition, respect, dignity and their right to livelihood as entertainers, about 30,000 women from dance bars across India's commercial capital, Mumbai, recently staged a protest at a landmark public ground in the city.

INDIA TO SEND MORE WOMEN FOR UN PEACE MISSIONS
September 1, 2004 - (IANS) India Wednesday said it planned to increase the number of women police personnel sent for UN peacekeeping missions as it reiterated its commitment to such operations worldwide.

ARMY GETS FIRST WOMAN LIEUTENANT GENERAL
September 1, 2004 - (India News) The Army on Wednesday got its first woman Lieutenant General when Punita Arora assumed command of Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) in Pune on Wednesday.

WIVES OF "DISAPPEARED" IN INDIA FACE POVERTY AND HARDSHIP
September 1, 2004 (Amnesty International) Years after their relatives "disappeared", hundreds of Indian families still do not know what happened to them. Without effective legal redress, families continue to experience an enduring sense of frustration and helplessness as well as grief.

KALEM: ENLIGHTENED WOMEN VITAL FOR INDIA
August 29, 2004 - (UPI) Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam says empowerment of women would stabilize society and help transform India into a developed nation.

NO PEACE WITHOUT CIVIL SOCIETY
August 28 - September 10, 2004 - (Frontline) The `detente from below' launched exactly 10 years ago through an India-Pakistan people-to-people dialogue has been a critical, if unacknowledged, input into the peace process now under way. This vital civil society initiative must be sustained and expanded.

WOMAN AT THE CENTRE OF MANIPUR STORM
August 27, 2004 - (BBC) BBC correspondent in Manipur At the centre of a huge political storm gripping the north-eastern Indian state of Manipur for the past two months is a woman whose rape and murder has sparked widespread protests.

INDIAN PEACE DELEGATION ARRIVES
August 27, 2004 - (Daily Times) A 22-member inter-faith delegation of peace activists, ex-army officers, educationists, parliamentarians, social activists and intellectuals from India arrived in Lahore via Wagah on Thursday.

COP ADMITS HE GOT BODIES OF 13 MUSLIM VICTIMS BURNT
August 25, 2004 - (The Indian Express) Yet another shocking chapter has been opened in the search for justice for Gujarat riot victims.

INDIA CRACKS DOWN ON MEDIA, NGOS IN DISTURBED NORTHEAST
August 25, 2004 - (One World) The banning of a private television channel in the northeast Indian state of Manipur combined with the federal government's accusation Tuesday that at least five nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the region have links with militants has triggered a controversy in this already volatile region.

COMMUNAL VIOLENCE: NEED FOR ROBUST LAW ON GENOCIDE
August 25, 2004 - (The Hindu) The Common Minimum Programme of the Manmohan Singh Government promises the enactment of a "comprehensive law on communal violence" but a group of eminent jurists, retired police officials and human rights activists is leaving nothing to chance.

CPI DELIVERS DOUBLE SERMON
August 19, 2004 - (The Telegraph) CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan, the lone representative of the Left Front at the United Progressive Alliance meeting last evening, spoke his mind to the Congress on two issues: the volatile situation in Manipur and the bill on property rights of women in Jammu and Kashmir.

BLAST KILLS 15 MOTHERS AND CHILDREN AT INDIAN INDEPENDENCE DAY PARADE
August 15, 2004 - (AFP) At least 15 people, seven of them children, were killed when a bomb ripped through an Indian Independence Day parade in the revolt-hit northeastern state of Assa sm, officials and witnesses said.

NEW PROTESTS IN INDIA'S MANIPUR AGAINST TERROR LAW
August 11, 2004 - (Reuters) Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas shells at hundreds of women in India's northeastern Manipur state on Wednesday as protesters marked the first month anniversary of the killing of a local woman by soldiers.

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE MOVEMENT SNOWBALLS IN INDIA'S NORTHEAST
August 9, 2004 - (One World) As turmoil rages in India's troubled northeastern state of Manipur, with most government offices shutting down Monday, and employees boycotting work to support a public rebellion against a federal law giving the army unlimited powers, experts fear the unrest could fuel insurgency in the region.

GANG RAPE VICTIM EYES JUSTICE FOR GUJARAT WOMEN AFTER RULING
August 9, 2004 - (AFP) A Muslim woman allegedly gang-raped during 2002 religious riots in the Indian state of Gujarat voiced hope that thousands of fellow victims would finally see justice after her case was shifted to another location to ensure a fair trial.

EXCLUDING RAPE FOR GUJARAT RIOTS COMPENSATION FLAYED
August 8, 2004 - (IANS) Bilkis Yukoob Rasool, a gang rape victim of the 2002 Gujarat violence, Sunday flayed the government for not acknowledging sexual violence committed against women during the sectarian massacre.

CURFEW RE-IMPOSED IN TURBULENT IMPHAL
August 4, 2004 - (IANS) An indefinite curfew was clamped on this capital of India's northeastern state of Manipur Wednesday as angry mobs demonstrated demanding the withdrawal of a statute that gives security forces sweeping powers.

ANARCHY IN MANIPUR AS PROTESTS BECOME STRIDENT
August 3, 2004 - (IANS) Total anarchy has been prevailing for the past three weeks in India's restive northeastern state of Manipur, with protestors continuing to clash with security forces over the custodial killing of a woman and demands for withdrawing laws that empower troops to act with impunity.

SC RULING ON ARRESTS OF WOMEN OPPOSED
August 3, 2004 - (Times of India) Human rights activists and city-based social organisations have come out strongly against a December 2003 supreme court (SC) ruling on procedures for arresting women.

WOMEN GO MISSING FROM MAHILA THANA
August 3, 2004 - (Times of India) A question resounding in the minds of concerned activists is the rising incidence of women going missing from Mahila Thana, Hazratganj. Activists allege that ironically women who have been handed over for safe custody to the thana have disappeared without a trace and with no accountability.

WPC TO ORGANISE PEACE FESTIVALS IN FIVE INDIAN CITIES
August 3, 2004 - (The Daily Times) The World Punjabi Congress (WPC) will hold peace festivals in the Indian cities of Haryana, Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Lucknow between November 2004 and March 2005, the WPC’s steering committee has decided.

POLICY ON UNWED MOTHERS: THROUGH THE PERISCOPE
August 2, 2004 - (The Hindustan Times) Orissa was in the news recently because it had an unprecedented number of young unwed mothers between the ages of 14 to 20. Shunned by society and rejected by their families they are allegedly falling into the hands of traffickers and an estimated 3000 girls are missing.

IF THERE IS ANYTHING TRULY SECULAR IN INDIA IT IS THE VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
July 2004 - (Communalism Combat) There are two or three key issues that need to be kept in mind when intervening in the controversy over triple talaq. Generally speaking, if one looks at the position of all women, that is women belonging to all communities, their position in all aspects of life is worsening. Whether it is the issue of domestic violence or inequalities across the board, there is a marked increase in the violence against women that we are seeing through our work all over the country.

ALL UNJUST PERSONAL LAWS MUST GO, BE THEY HINDU, MUSLIM OR CHRISTIAN
July 2004 - (Communalism Combat) Triple talaq is a system of di-vorce that exists in Muslim Per-sonal Law that allows the hus-band to divorce his wife by uttering the word 'talaq' thrice. This right does not exist for the woman. A Muslim woman has no right to divorce her husband through a system similar to the triple talaq. She would need to go to a Darul Qaza and prove the atrocities committed by her husband in order to get a divorce.

THE FURIES COME TO LIFE
July 30, 2004 - (The Hindu) For years, public opinion in the Northeast has protested against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act but to no avail. What lessons, and what message, does the unprecedented demonstration by a group of Manipuri women in front of the headquarters of Assam Rifles in Imphal on the morning of July 15 have for the rest of the country? What lesson, indeed, does it have closer home, for the men and women in Manipur itself?

LOSING HEARTS AND MINDS: IT'S EASY WHEN YOU USE LAWS LIKE THE AFSPA
July 29, 2004 - (Asia-Pacific Human Rights Network) Defenders of extrajudicial killings clearly suffer from acute nostalgia for the Stone Age when a man with a club was a law unto himself. It is unpardonable when such excesses are condoned - and often, even wished upon their fellow citizens.

PROTEST AT MANIPUR WOMAN'S DEATH
July 21, 2004 - (BBC) Police in India's north-eastern Manipur state have fired tear-gas at protesters who claimed a woman had been raped and murdered in paramilitary custody.

WOMEN AS SPOILS OF WAR
July 18, 2004 - (The Daily Times) On March 17, 2004, I interviewed Hans Raj Khatri (born 1920) of Sidhwan Bet, the twin village of Saleempura, in Jagraon tehsil of Ludhiana district, East Punjab. Before Partition, these villages were populated by Muslim Arains who had a large presence throughout the Jagraon tehsil as well as rest of the district. He told me the heart-rending story of two sisters, Zainab Bibi
and Ramzan Bibi.

THE BODY REMEMBERS
July 17, 2004 - (The Telegraph) It takes only twelve women to make a point, and to make it unforgettably. About 40 Manipuri women gathered before the headquarters of the Assam Rifles' 9 Sector in Imphal, of whom twelve stripped to the skin and called out to the army to come and rape them.

THE CASE FOR BANNING THE VHP, BAJRANG DAL AND RSS
June-July 2004 - (Combat Law) In the context of the prolonged and horrific violence in Gujarat, there have been numerous calls for the VHP and Bajrang Dal to be banned. For some people, evidently, the well-documented role of these organisations in planning, inciting and perpetrating systematic attacks on Muslims -
destroying their livelihoods, driving them out of their homes, raping hundreds of women and girls, and murdering thousands of men, women, children and babies - seems an obvious reason for outlawing them.

MEN HELD OVER 'CASTE GANG RAPE'
June 7, 2004 - (BBC News) Eight people have been arrested in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh over the gang-rape of three women from the Dalit lower-caste Hindu community.

GENDER - A LEFT PRIORITY
June 2004 - (IndiaTogether) The just-released West Bengal Human Development Report (HDR) 2004 focuses on the two major public initiatives that have characterised the state in the past 26 years: land reforms and decentralisation. While there is no separate chapter on gender, the attempt has been to incorporate a gender perspective on all issues considered in the report. This is the first HDR from West Bengal and is of particular interest given that the Left parties, with their emphasis on economic equity and social justice, have ruled the state for an uninterrupted 27 years.

INDIA'S OUTCAST WIDOWS HAVE NEW HAVENS
April 18, 2004 – (WeNews) Widows in India still undergo ritual humiliations and extreme ostracism; conditions that several new programs are seeking to redress.

'DIFFERENCES ON WOMEN'S BILL TO BE SORTED OUT'
APRIL 8, 2004 – (Times of India) Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Thursday expressed confidence that differences over the Women's Reservation Bill will be sorted out to pave way for securing its approval in Parliament.

'ODDS STACKED AGAINST INDIAN WOMEN'
April 1, 2004 – (BBC) Men behaving like barbarians, the sex explosion in the media, humiliating judicial rules for women - it's all too much for Bollywood's Preity Zinta. In her latest column for BBC News Online she writes about why she wants a better deal for India's women.

WOMEN AND HINDUTVA
March 20, 2004 – (South Asia Citizens Wire) Two years after the genocidal attacks on the Muslim community in Gujarat in which women were targeted for horrific violence, we are holding this meeting to expose the different aspects of the Hindu right's 'war on women', and discuss how we can build support for those who are resisting. As the BJP and its allies launch an aggressive election campaign across India we will be looking at how fascism has taken hold and the struggles ahead.

WOMEN INCREASINGLY 'UNSAFE' FROM THE LAW
March 9, 2004 – (South Asian Citizens Wire) Two sub-inspectors at Tilak Marg PS, Jaipal Sharma and RS Sharma accused in a custodial rape case in New Delhi, have just been acquitted by a sessions court alongwith the employer of the accused, Umesh Pant, on the grounds that there was 'inadequate evidence' of rape. In a case where the victim was in custody while the crime took place, where she is fighting the very establishment that meted violence upon her, and struggled for two years just to get her complaint registered, what did the court expect? Implicating medical evidence? Witnesses? Damning testimonies of colleagues?

INDIAN WOMEN SHAKEN INTO ACTION BY EARTHQUAKES
February 17, 2004 – (WeNews) Female survivors of an Indian earthquake over a decade ago rose from the rubble to rebuild their lives, homes and communities. In turn, they reached out to involve women in post-disaster relief and rehabilitation projects in Turkey and Bam, Iran.

‘WARS AGAINST WOMEN, WOMEN AGAINST WAR’
January 2004 – (InfoChange) Addressing a public meeting at the World Social Forum 2004, on the theme ‘Wars Against Women, Women Against War', Irene Khan, secretary-general of Amnesty International (AI) said that domestic violence kills more women in the age-group 14-44 than do road accidents. She said that there's the common misconception that women in developed countries are not subject to sexual and physical violence as are women in developing countries. This is because even in the so-called ‘ First World ' countries many cases go unreported. In Norway , conviction of rape is only 11%, Khan said.

A FEW GOOD WOMEN
January 2004 – (India Together) In 1985, when the Defence Ministry decided to set up a Nuclear Test Range (NTR) in Baliapal - part of a rich multi-product belt in Balasore, Orissa - the local protests it faced made global news. The protest had women leading from the front. They not only formed the front rung of human barricades to prevent government officials from entering the notified area, the suicide squad that was formed also had a good number of women.

DIVIDED INDIAN - PAKISTANI FAMILIES GATHER
January 21, 2004 – (AP) Hajra Bibi held up her 1-year-old son on the Pakistani side of the Neelum River on Wednesday so her mother, across the rushing water on the Indian side, could see him for the first time.

HONOR KILLINGS ON THE RISE IN ASIA
January 15, 2004 – (IPPF News) This has promoted Indian women activists to urge for a law change. The All Indian Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) in a resolution passed in the Indian capital, New Delhi has called for a change in the law to allow courts to intervene in all crimes where violence is committed in the name of "honor."

INDIAN COURT RULES THAT RAPE CASES MUST HAVE FEMALE JUDGES
January 5, 2004 – (Feminist Daily News Wire) India's Supreme Court has set up special courts to deal with rape cases that will be judged by female judges. According to the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS), the court has asked that all courts show more responsibility and sensitivity while dealing with sexual assault cases. The female judges will also deal with cases of sexual harassment and dowry-related offenses in India.

2003

BANGLADESH: DREAMS AND HUNGER DRIVE WOMEN INTO INDIAN SEX TRADE
December 9, 2003 - (IPS/GIN) Thirty-year-old Safia Begum, a domestic worker at a high-rise apartment in the upwardly mobile Gulshan enclave of the Bangladeshi capital, has a little secret.

INDIAN WOMEN POLITICIANS ON RISE
December 8, 2003 – (BBC) Women in India may still make up a small proportion of election candidates but after last week's state polls, there are now no fewer than five female chief ministers.

INDIA'S POLITICAL WOMEN: PROGRESS OR WINDOW DRESSING?
December 4, 2003 – (NYT) Uma Bharti emerged from her helicopter in the saffron robes that mark her as a Hindu holy woman, pushing through a crowd that bent to touch her feet. She berated a party worker for poor directions — "How can you be so irresponsible?" — then drove to town and ascended a small stage.

INDIANS RALLY AGAINST DOWRIES
November 28, 2003 – (BBC) Female and male students from across the city marched through the streets, yelling "Down, Down, Dowry", and holding starkly worded banners - "Brides are not for Burning", "Real Men Don't Demand Dowry", and "Dowry Causes Women's Deaths".

MEET ON CRIME AGAINST WOMEN
November 25, 2003 – (Delhi Newsline - Express News Service) Women’s organisations in Delhi today released their agenda for the forthcoming international fortnight protesting "Violence Against Women and Girls'' which begins tomorrow and released posters of cricketer Sachin Tendulkar endorsing the cause at the Indian Women's Press Corps.

INDIAN ARMY BATTLING RISING MOB VIOLENCE IN ASSAM
November 19, 2003 – (Reuters) Soldiers struggled to control an orgy of killing and arson in northwestern India on Wednesday as mobs rampaged through parts of Assam targeting settlers from a neighboring state.

FIGHTING INDIA'S DOWRY CRIME
November 14, 2003 – (BBC) India's illegal dowry system is still thriving, leaving women vulnerable to abuse, sometimes even murder. Adam Mynott asks if new police powers to combat violence against brides are proving effective.

STATES IN INDIA TAKE NEW STEPS TO LIMIT BIRTHS
November 7, 2003 – (NYT) A new reckoning is under way in India over how
best to stabilize a population that is set to surpass China's as the world's biggest by midcentury.

IN INDIA, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE RISES WITH EDUCATION
November 6, 2003 - (WeNews) Debate about the cultural underpinnings of domestic violence in India is being stirred by a study that found a woman's risk of being beaten, kicked or hit rises with her level of education.

STUDY SHOWS INFANTICIDE OF GIRLS ON UPSURGE IN INDIA
October 31, 2003 – (UN Wire) Despite national laws prohibiting sex selection, more Indians are terminating female fetuses and committing infanticide than a decade ago, according to a report released Tuesday by the Indian government.

THE DANCING SKELETONS
October 30, 2003 – (Metro Plus Delhi| The Hindu) " I have seen many such women. Whenever communal violence occurs, it is the women who have to bear the brunt of it, but why?"

DELHI WOMEN MORE AT RISK OF RAPE IN THEIR OWN HOMES: SURVEY
October 30, 2003 – (THE PIONEER) According to a recent Delhi police survey, neighbours and acquaintances are responsible for most rapes in Delhi.

UNPA URGES END TO FEMALE INFANTICIDE IN INDIA
October 30, 2003 – (Feminist.org) Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, the head of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), urges the end of sex-selective abortion and infanticide in India. According to the UN News Services, the ratio of girls to boys has sharply decreased over the past decade due to such practices. According to Obaid, "discrimination against girls anywhere in the world is a social ill and human rights violation, which must be stopped. Girls, like boys, deserve equal love, equal opportunity and equal rights."

UNSAFE IN THE CITY: CREATE GENDER-FRIENDLY SPACES
October 28, 2003 – (The Times of India – Editorial) The recent incidents of rape in Delhi have once again sparked off the debate on law reform.

FEAR STALKS DELHI WOMEN
October 15, 2003 – (BBC) A series of sexual assaults on women have rocked the Indian capital Delhi recently.

FOR LOVE OF MONEY
October 5, 2003 – (CBS) In most of the world, Nisha Sharma would be considered quite a catch. She’s young, pretty and intelligent - someone any young man would be proud to marry.

CRIMES AGAINST WOMEN IN NEW DELHI ON THE RISE
August 1, 2003 – (ENAWA) The image of New Delhi has been tainted. It is fast becoming known as the "crime capital of India" and its victims are often women.

WOMEN FORM PEACE ORGANIZATION
March 4, 2003 – (Off Our Backs - Journal) In February 2002, the Centre for Peace Studies at McMaster University co-sponsored a peace conference in India. The conference helped start a peace organization known as Women Shanti Sena (Women Peace Soldiers). Shanti Sena women go through a week of rigorous training on peace, nonviolence and democracy. Less than a year old, the Women Shanti Sena has 3,000 members and continues to grow.

2002

REDRESSING SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN GUJARAT
December 20, 2002 - (Women's Feature Service) An all-women international panel of feminist jurists, activists, lawyers, writers and academics visited Gujarat between 14th and 17th December to investigate the physical and sexual violence perpetrated in the carnage - in view of international laws, conventions and norms. They drew parallels with such violence in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Rwanda; and described the horror experienced by the minority community in Gujarat as a "larger genocidal project" - a crime against humanity. The Panel said the BJP's recent electoral victory in Gujarat would give the perpetrators of violence the power and potential to continue their campaign of terror against the Muslims.

INDIA’S VOICELESS WOMEN ARE EASY PREY FOR AIDS
December 1, 2002 – (LA Times) The $100 million that Bill Gates' philanthropy will add to the battle against HIV and AIDS in India is a welcome expression of concern for what Gates rightly portrays as one of the worst epidemics in the world. But the Gates Foundation's generous support may be undone by factors that neither the government of India nor its donors are addressing: the voicelessness of women and increasing violence against those most affected by the epidemic.

RAPES GO UNPUNISHED IN INDIAN MOB ATTACKS; MUSLIM WOMEN SAY CLAIMS ARE IGNORED
June 3, 2002 - (The Washington Post) Sultana Feroz Sheikh sat motionless, staring at the mud floor in a dark, windowless room. Three months ago, as religious riots engulfed the western Indian state of Gujarat, Sheikh saw her husband and several relatives burned alive. Then, she said, she was brutally raped by three men as her 4-year-old son wailed nearby.

REPORT SAYS WOMEN TARGETED DURING INDIA'S VIOLENCE
May 27, 2002 - (WeNews) In the Indian state of Gujarat, where attacks on Muslims by Hindu mobs have killed at least 1,000 people in the last three months, a shattered woman named Jannat Sheikh lives in helpless agony. In one terror-filled day, this Muslim mother saw her husband tortured and burned alive, her baby niece doused in gasoline and set on fire, her mother-in-law raped and teen-age girls in the neighborhood rounded up and stripped before being sexually abused in the street.

INDIAN WOMEN PROTEST "UNPRECEDENTED VIOLENCE" IN GUJARAT
May 14, 2002 - (Feminist.org news) Thousands of women in state capitals throughout India – including New Delhi and Chennai – demonstrated yesterday, denouncing the violence committed against women in Gujarat following the religious riots in late February.

PRETEENS IN INDIAN CASTE FORCED INTO PROSTITUTION
April 29, 2002 - (WEnews) In one Indian community, 12-year-old girls are forced into prostitution, driven by the economic needs of their families and the pressure of religious legend. Human rights officials are trying to end the practice, but red tape slows their efforts.

2001

HELL OF DALIT WOMEN EXPOSED
May 9, 2001 – (GUARDIAN) A new report on the plight of lower caste women in rural India reveals a depressing portrait of rape, sexual abuse and harassment, and suggests that it is virtually impossible for victims even to file a complaint at a police station, let alone achieve justice.

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