Jhuma Sen

On International Women’s Day 2025, we are introducing a special issue curating writings that articulate the multi-faceted backlash against India’s feminist movements, effectuated through our courts, the legislature and the executive. As hard-fought feminist gains are resisted and diluted by dominant interests, this special issue makes a simple, but profound argument - if the law can betray, it can also be reclaimed.

What was conceived as an exercise in electoral roll maintenance has morphed into a miniature NRC, with all its attendant dangers, minus even the fig leaf of safeguards.

On the eleventh anniversary of the Nirbhaya gang rape and fatal assault, a timely assessment of whether the criminal justice system has changed for the better.

The three new criminal laws meant to overhaul India’s criminal justice system are set to come into force on July 1, 2024, but beyond packaging old wine in a new bottle, do even the new provisions move forward the cause of justice?

Many so-called women-centric criminal law reforms in India focus heavily on punishment rather than addressing systemic and structural issues, writes Jhuma Sen.