ON August 15, 2024, as we stand at the crossroads of redefining freedom in India, it's crucial to reexamine what freedom truly means for some of society's most marginalised individuals. For those living with mental illness, especially coupled with other vulnerabilities such as poverty and homelessness, the concept of freedom remains elusive. In the tapestry of human rights, freedom stands as a fundamental thread-a thread that when unravelled, has the power to dismantle the entire tapestry.
We live in an age where voices of, and for, a diverse group of vulnerable individuals and communities have finally found a meaningful position in civil society and political discourse.
Disability activism made huge strides through treaties such as the United Nations Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), framed around the resolution Nothing About Us, Without Us. Public places are becoming more accessible, and education and workspaces for Persons with Disabilities (PWD) are undergoing positive and technologically empowering evolutions. Similarly, the LGBTQIA+ community realised a huge victory with the reading down of Section 377. Along with the Supreme Court's declaration of the rights of transpersons to identify themselves as the third gender, stand for elections, occupy official government positions, India's apex court has brought about a tectonic shift in their legitimacy as Indian citizens with rights.
This story is from the August 21, 2024 edition of Outlook.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the August 21, 2024 edition of Outlook.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Criminal Amnesia
The focus may have now shifted to the Kolkata gang rape case, but questions about the sexual violence in Manipur since May 2023 remain unanswered
To Rape A Wife
Survivors of marital rape face twin hurdles: a lack of legal framework to deal with these cases and the social stigma that comes with reporting them
A City Violated
Public outburst of anger over the rape and murder of a junior doctor in Kolkata has left the Mamata Banerjee government puzzled, worried
The Forest of Loss
From a legal perspective, justice appears to have been served in the 2017 Gudiya rape and murder case at Kotkhai, Himachal Pradesh. But several questions persist
Here, Nobody Speaks of the Wounds
Muhammad Iqbal Shah's 14-year-old cousin was gang-raped and murdered at Handwara town, Kupwara, in 2007. The family is still trudging along the long road to justice
She Must Have Been Afraid
The 2012 Delhi gang rape is reflective of a systematic failure to cleanse the societal malaise
The Burning Woman
UP has the highest rate of crimes against women, and the district of Unnao has seen some of the State's most gruesome cases
Naked (vs.) Justice
On March 14, 2006, Latabai and her son, six, were paraded naked in a village in Solapur. Less than six months later, four members of a Dalit family were paraded naked; mother & daughter were allegedly gang-raped
Songlines of Chambal
How do the residents of Sheikhpur Gudha, Phoolan Devi's village in Uttar Pradesh, remember her: as a survivor, a rebel, a leader?
Don't You Remember My Story?
A child gang rape survivor's 12-year long ordeal in Sikar, Rajasthan shows how calls for punishment of perpetrators don't always mean empathy for the victim
