Here’s Empowering Through Justice: Landmark Legal Victories for Women in India
India’s path to gender equality has been facilitated by persistent struggles of activists, legal trailblazers, and ordinary citizens who never allowed injustice to prevail. Dozens of years have seen historic courtroom battles that not only solidified women’s rights but paved the way for the doors of change in society as a whole. Some of the milestones where justice provided a push to women in India are mentioned below:
1. Vishaka Guidelines (1997)
The success of the Bhanwari Devi case, where a village activist was gang-raped while attempting to stop a child marriage, was the benchmark of Indian law. When they came to know that there was no workplace sexual harassment law, the Supreme Court created the Vishaka Guidelines, holding all employers vicariously liable for ensuring a safe working environment for women. This eventually culminated in the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.
2. Triple Talaq Judgment (2017)
Supreme Court gave a landmark judgment, ruling instant “triple talaq” (talaq-e-biddat) unconstitutional. The judgment gave crores of Muslim women empowerment by safeguarding their dignity and gender equality right. The judgment also paved the way for the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019.
3. Daughters’ Right to Property (2020)
The Supreme Court held daughters to be co-parceners with sons in the Hindu Undivided Family property even if the father had expired prior to the amendment of the Hindu Succession Act in 2005. It reiterated the principle that the right of inheritance cannot be gender-based, a healthy precedent for economic empowerment.
4. Sabarimala Temple Entry (2018)
Shattering decades of tradition, the ruling approved the entry of all women into the Sabarimala temple in Kerala. The ruling relegated centuries of menstruation taboo to the past and sparked a wider debate about religion, gender, and constitutional law.
5. Decriminalization of Adultery (2018)
An another step taken in sync with its times, the Supreme Court repealed Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code criminalizing adultery and treating husbands as owners and wives as properties. The judgement was a severe assertion of the independence and will of women.
6. Army Permanent Commission for Women (2020)
In a major booster to gender equality in the military, the Supreme Court held that women officers of the Indian Army were as much entitled to permanent commissions as their male counterparts. In arriving at its verdict, the court had spurned prejudiced recommendations and opened the floodgates to even more women as commanders of the army.
Conclusion: These courtroom-turning moments in history are not judicial fiat – they’re tools of empowerment that inspire tens of thousands of women to make their voices heard for their rights and challenge tradition. As insurmountable as the roadblocks ahead look, each journey on the way to justice in the court takes India closer towards a world in which justice merely doesn’t comprehend gender.
Add comment