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Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Fight for your rights! - Update 1

We worked late into the night looking up various information relating to women rights, harassment, eve-teasing, etc on the Internet. Its heartening to find a wealth of information on the Internet from India. From women's rights groups, to laws, to the Indian Penal Code, to judgments, stories of other women who have been in similar situations, helplines, how to file an FIR, blogs, we found it all! We wrote up a complaint detailing exactly what had happened, and decided to file an FIR at our Police Station the next morning. The basis of the FIR was IPC Section 509 which states:
Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman - whoever intending to insult the modesty of any woman utters any word, makes any sound or gesture, or exhibits any object intending that such word or sound shall be heard, or that such gesture or object shall be seen by such woman, or intrudes upon the privacy of such woman, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or both.

We also decided to lodge a complaint with the District Consumer Forum, as well as KMF, addresses and contact details for which we again found on the Internet.

Here's a bunch of links that can help someone else who wants more information:

Blank Noise Project which has a mine of information.
Taking legal action upon being "eve-teased" from Blank Noise Project, which has answers from a lawyer from Alternative Law Forum.
Sexual harassment, paper by Pratiksha Baxi.
Existing laws in India which can be used in cases of sexual harassment, from the Network of Women in Media, India.
In defence of women, from Frontline magazine.
What is an FIR?

Read Fight for your rights!.

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