Manu Shrivastava

It’s only recently that stalking is being discussed in the purview of crimes against women. For years, members of the public, even authorities, weren’t aware of the term and the gravity of the act. Amendments in the law and awareness through media and films have put the spotlight on stalking as a serious offence and is now being talked in legal and social debates. For the common man, stalking is a harmless and innocuous act. However, it’s only the victim who can give a perfect account of how stalking can affect one’s life. Take for instance the recent case of a school principal in south Mumbai who has accused another woman of stalking her since five years and making her life hell. There have been several instances where women being stalked had to change jobs, relocate to a new place or even change identity to keep a ‘crazy’ stalker at bay. There are myriad Bollywood films that show how following a girl, despite her displeasure, gets the girl to like you. The Indian film industr...

As the nation braced the strict lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the country, many women were being subjected to another kind of confinement. In Delhi, in the second week of April 2020, a man contacted a government-licensed shelter home for women survivors of violence and abuse to seek help for his sister. The woman, a mother of two toddlers and a resident of Uttam Nagar in Delhi, had allegedly suffered physical abuse at the hands of her husband and his family. The woman was suffering abuse for the past few years and that worsened during the lockdown. In another incident in Telangana in May 2020, a 22-year-old woman was raped by her 80-year-old relative after he offered to help her with accommodation during the lockdown. The woman had recently separated from her husband. In a shocking incident in Rajasthan, in April 2020, a 40-year-old woman was allegedly gang-raped by three men in a government school premises. The survivor had gone to Dausa to visit her son, but wa...

The #MeToo movement was welcome yet did not touch upon the most shocking acts of them all, #MeToo@home. Manu Shrivastava writes on the horrific trend that needs to be exposed The year 2018 will be remembered for many things – good, bad and ugly. But that one movement that took over the media and shook our collective sensibilities, was the #MeToo movement. Not only did it resonate with millions of working women from all walks of life, around the world, it brought to fore the extent of discrimination and harassment women face, when they chose to work. The movement definitely provided the much lacking support in incidents of molestation and sexual harassment, as thousands of women got the courage to speak up about their abuse, and many even publicly named their abusers. What started as a one-off revelation by a Hollywood actress abused by a multimillionaire producer, spread like a wildfire in Hollywood, USA, and around the world. Many women followed up with legal action, several ...

The Varnika Kundu case brought ‘Stalking’ back into the spotlight it belongs. The law should be used to book ‘stalking fathers’ too, writes Manu Shrivastava Isn’t it a scary situation to be 'stalked'? However, will you even realise if someone stalks you in person or online? And, do you even know what stalking means, at least legally? Some of us may have paid a reasonable amount of attention to the term 'stalking', if not the act, particularly during the media coverage of Varnika Kundu case where the Chandigarh-based DJ was allegedly stalked. While the Kundu case promised sufficient attention, ‘stalking’ had anyway been incorporated into the Indian Penal Code (IPC) through Section 354D in April 2013 after the infamous Nirbhaya Rape case of December 2012 that led to Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2013. It will, however, take many more high profile cases and maybe more serious crimes for people and women, in particular, to understand the gravity of ‘stalking’ and how so...

India has come a long way in protecting minors, though it’s almost always that isolated incident of brutal rape or gruesome murder that shakes up the society and the government into strengthening legal and societal frameworks for children, says Manu Shrivastava The case that brought to light the child rights debate in India recently was the rape of a minor girl, in Kathua, in January 2018. The medical reports that came out in September 2018 confirmed that the eight-year-old girl was sexually assaulted, and died of asphyxia. The brutal gang rape and murder of the girl shook the country to its core. The rape occurred in Rasana village in Kathua, in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Too many victims The victim, an eight-year-old girl from the nomadic Bakarwal community, had disappeared while she was out grazing the horses. She was abducted, and a week later her body was found, and investigations revealed that she was raped by eight men, including four police officers and a...

From focus on immigration to honouring Rajinikanth, Manu Shrivastava reports on the highlights of the fest in Goa Known for its casinos boats anchored in the Mandovi river and Portuguese architectural heritage such as Fontainhas, Goa’s capital Panjim donned an envious avatar with a generous sprinkling of art installations during the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) from 20-28 November 2019. Organised by the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Goa government’s Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG), IFFI is not only one of the first film festivals of Asia but also the most significant. This year marked the 50th edition of the festival that started in 1952 with the patronage of former Prime Minister Pt Jawaharlal Nehru. Since 2004, Goa became the permanent venue of the festival, a culmination of the efforts of the former Chief Minister of Goa, late Manohar Parrikar. The golden jubilee celebrations made IFFI 2019 a memorable event. “I was just amazed at th...

The heritage stepwell carries stories of yore, is a dome for devotion and an integral part of the social fibre, writes Manu Shrivastava In a quaint village - Adalaj - located 19 km north of India’s first UNESCO World Heritage City Ahmedabad, lies an architectural marvel - Adalaj Ni Vav meaning the stepwell of Adalaj. The five-storied stepwell has mesmerised for over five centuries. The history of architecture is as old as the existence of humans and reflects the life, spirit, faith and need of the people of the time. Adalaj stepwell is frequented by tourists both domestic and international. Photographers often flock the area to get spectacular shots of the intricately-carved columns, profusely-decorated lattice-like walls, multi-storeyed edifice, awe-inspiring sculptures, geometrically-designed roofs and deep-green waters that lie at the bottom of the well. A half-hour drive from Ahmedabad, once you approach Adalaj, the roads get dustier and a rustic scent fills the air. An...

For a woman, success also means being able to live a life of dignity and self-reliance as against the orthodox and oppressive patriarchy existing in society, writes Manu Shrivastava When it comes to lessons that are never taught in a classroom, it is said that ‘Life’s the best teacher’; Which is why it comes as no surprise that some of the most successful people in the world have either never attended college or have dropped out of it. Success has a string of definitions and for us at The Woman Survivor, success spells being able to live a life of dignity and self-reliance as against the orthodox and oppressive patriarchy existing in society. So, despite being from a very conservative family and region, Sushila Parihar always stood her ground and broke societal shackles. When the need arose, she stepped up to take care of her severely ailing husband and in the ‘autumn’ of her life embarked upon a career as well. A focussed Sushila Parihar at work, turning the tables and taking...

On a lazy Sunday morning, Navi Mumbai-resident Aditi Mathur is up early to prepare a healthy, filling brunch for her in-laws arriving from Delhi for the summers. Aditi, in a bid to make the most of a precious Sunday, hurriedly flips through her favourite event listing site to book a tour for the in-laws. “My father-in-law has a passion for history. He knows more about Mumbai’s architectural heritage than probably most locals,” she says as she confirms a booking of four persons for a guided tour in SoBo. “There are several walks and tours now so we have a lot of options to choose from to spend a productive weekend…and this way even I get a chance to explore Aamchi Mumbai,” she exclaims with pride. Mumbai today boasts of a host of tours focussing on ‘local footfalls’ and ‘Art Deco’. The Art Deco Mumbai Trust does its bit by organising guided tours to ‘know your neighbourhood’ presenting great opportunities to get a taste of Mumbai’s distinguished heritage. “The most unique feat...

“The climb to this platform needs a week-long camp to get ready,” quipped Sachin Tendulkar at Artisan Speak, a high-profile fashion showcase held at the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Elephanta Caves by the Ministry of Textiles in partnership with IMG Reliance. “We have 4.3 million people involved in the textile sector, second largest to agriculture. The partnerships will help us setting standards globally. I am confident that these partnerships will enable us to reach out to various parts of the world and show what India has been known for,” said the cricketing legend. He added that while people across the world valued hand-made goods and even pay much more for them than for those prepared mechanically, in India the converse held true. “We do not value things made by hand which are actually made from the heart,” he said. Sachin Tendulkar’s involvement here was in keeping with his investment in True Blue – a clothing line created in partnership with Arvind Fashion Brands. The...

The central government has started cracking down on the misuse of funds by NGOs in India, after an extensive audit. This is a good step towards better accountability, says Manu Shrivastava Asection of the civil society in India is a cautious lot now. The Indian government has strengthened its noose on the activities, operations and funding, particularly foreign funding, of NGOs to regulate and ensure transparency in the sector that has managed to stay away from government scrutiny and the public eye. Staggering numbers In 2015, an affidavit filed by the CBI in the Supreme Court before a bench led by Chief Justice of India H.L. Dattu, revealed the presence of a startling 29 lakh NGOs in India. This data was compiled from 26 Indian states (Karnataka, Telangana and Odisha did not submit the information), and was part of a ‘first’ such exercise following a 2013 Supreme Court order in response to a PIL filed in the Apex Court. An additional 82,000 NGOs were registered in the seven Un...

The Supreme Court of India has been very proactive when it comes to women and child welfare. The triple talaq and the reforms brought in after the Nirbhaya rape incident, are cases in point, says Manu Shrivastava The recent rape incidents in Kathua and Unnao in Jammu & Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh respectively, have once again brought the issue of women’s safety in India to the forefront. These incidents garnered global attention, albeit negative, of national and international media with some groups allegedly even donning T-shirts across the world warning women to not visit India. The Kathua rape and murder case, in particular, brought back memories of the Nirbhaya rape case and triggered widespread protests. That said, it must be noted that the Nirbhaya rape incident had led to the government bringing in swift legal reforms for victims of sexual violence and amendments in the law for crimes against women. The evolution of the judiciary Over the last 70-odd years, independent I...

Women and children are the most vulnerable to abuse like stalking, bullying, trolling, and offers of friendship via fake profiles, on social media. Manu Shrivastava outlines the dangers For a very long time now, social media platforms have been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Impersonation, fraud, stalking, blackmailing, identity theft, trolling, pornography, harassment, cyber bullying, violent games, videos of rape and murder, are only a handful of such reasons. Invariably, these crimes are targeted towards those weaker in the societal hierarchy, mostly women and children, across strata. With more than 196 million social media users in India in 2017, the magnitude of victims and potential targets is concurrently huge. The last decade and half has witnessed the emergence of some of the most popular social networking and data-sharing services such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Whats App, Snapchat, etc. These social media platforms were created to facilitate sharing ...