HRLN - A Profile - Human Rights Law Network

Medha Kotwal v. Union of IndiaAlthough guidelines were earlier formulated by theSupreme Court in the Vishaka case requiring thesetting up complaints committees to enquire into casesof sexual harassment, these were not set up. HRLN thenfiled a case in the Supreme Court which is pending.Interim directions have issued by the Supreme Courtfor effective implementation.been filed in the Supreme Court.People's Tribunal on the 2 Child NormA people's tribunal heard evidence from across thecountry on coercive population policies and practices.HRLN works with several groups and sees education,nutrition and development and not coercion as the wayto move towards smaller family.Nazma Bibi v. State of OrissaTraditional communities used violence to interfere withthe right of a young couple to live together citingreligion as the basis. HRLN filed a case in the SupremeCourt and police protection was given to the couple.The matter is pending adjudication on the issue as towhether religious communities can interfere with theconstitutionally protected rights of citizens.Forced sterilisation of womenIn a situation where poor women are being coerced intosterilisation camps, often operating in inhuman andunhygienic conditions, the Supreme Court intervenedand laid down critical guidelines.Pre-conception and Pre-birth sex selection and sexselective abortionsFollowing a national consultation organised byHRLN, a major legal initiative has started withseveral organisation and a class action petition hasCampaign for Amendment of the Hindu SuccessionAct (HSA), 1956WJI members played a critical role in the campaignresulting in gender equal inheritance laws for agriculturalland. The successful campaign led to the passage of theHindu Succession (Amendment) Act 2005. Some otherinequalities relating to the heirs of predeceased daughtersand the daughters' rights of residence and partition of thedwelling house were also removed.Bar Dancer's Case (Mumbai)Nearly 75,000 bar dancers across Maharashtra wererendered unemployed through a ban on dance bars bythe State of Maharashtra. Our lawyers, along with fiveother women's rights organisations approached theBombay High Court condemning the ban asunconstitutional and violative of the fundamental rightto livelihood. The Bombay High Court lifted the banand an appeal has been filed by the State in theSupreme Court.Violence against womenDelhi, the capital of India, ranked fifth for the incidence of rape against women and first for the rape on children. (Crimein India 2002)Sex Ratio of the child population in the age group 0-6 has reduced drastically from 976 in 1961, 945 in 1991 to 927 in2001.18