Shalu Nigam

  Combating Everyday Gender Stereotypes in the Courtrooms The Supreme Court of India recently published a Handbook on  Combating Gender Stereotypes [2] , which highlights how gender-unjust terms are used in pleadings, orders, and judgements to reiterate common stereotypes about women and end up denying them justice. It suggests using alternate terms. This piece argues that to ensure gender justice, what is required is not only countering and challenging the stereotypes in the day-to-day language deployed in courtrooms but also changing the patriarchal mindset. The war against women started in the minds. Patriarchy manifested itself in the form of sexism, misogyny, toxic masculinity, ghettoizing, and labelling, women, and therefore, it is essential to consciously examine the ways subjectivities operate on a daily basis, dismantling the sexist biases, shattering prejudices, countering myths and misogyny, developing an empathetic approach to judging, and more importantly, rethinking the c

  Fighting for the Justice in the Patriarchal Courts 29 August 2017 The last few days witnessed the pronouncement of several significant celebrated judgments by the courts in the cases relating to the right to privacy, triple talaq, and the sentencing of a 20-years life term to a self-proclaimed Godman who raped women. All these three cases, somehow uphold people’s trust in courts as the custodian of the rule of law. Even otherwise, in normal parlance in India, courts are considered a temple of justice as well as the custodian of constitutional values by the common people. The courtroom is a space where domination and oppression are challenged and social as well as economic and political justice is facilitated. The prime duty of the court, hence, is to uphold the spirit of the constitution, the rights of people, and the rule of law. In fact, the democratic society places a high value on the independence of the judiciary. However, often, deeply embedded in the layered, hierarchical, pat