The Gujarat Politics of Remission

 

 

PUDR condemns the passage of The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill 2019 by the Rajya Sabha on 26 November 2019. The Lok Sabha had earlier passed the Bill in the Monsoon session on 5 August 2019 amid the chaos relating to the unannounced abrogation of Article 370. Presently pending Presidential assent, the Parliament has completely ignored mass opposition and protests by queer and trans groups since last year in passing the Bill.

Today on the 8th of May, 2019, on a second day in succession, people protesting at Connaught Place, against the “clean chit” given to Justice Gogoi by an in-house inquiry that violated established procedures and principles and demanding an independent inquiry, were detained at Mandir Marg PS. The police came in large numbers armed with a water cannon.

On May 1st, 2019, the three-judge inquiry into charges of sexual harassment against the Chief Justice of India decided to proceed without the complainant, with the CJI appearing before it. The complainant had withdrawn from the inquiry the previous day, describing the shocking course of action adopted by the inquiry committee, in complete violation of basic tenets of natural justice and the Supreme Court’s own jurisprudence on sexual harassment.

PUDR condemns the anti-women stand of the Naga HoHo/ Naga Tribes Action Committee (NTAC) in the context of reservation of seats for women in elections to local urban bodies. The accompanying mob-violence and the threats to women who wanted to contest from reserved seats, reveals the irony that a movement fighting for freedom for Naga people is willing to suppress rights of half of the population who comprise women in the name of customary laws.