Books by Madhu Mehra
This Report is a narrative of the Peer Learning workshop that took place in Nepal from 26th – 28t... more This Report is a narrative of the Peer Learning workshop that took place in Nepal from 26th – 28th August 2009. The objectives of the workshop, which is reflected in the report, was to provide a platform for learning and exchange of knowledge/information/experiences on a) the key elements of the cedaw reporting process; b) process of implementing CEDAW concluding comments; c) identifying areas of technical assistance for reporting, implementing and monitoring CEDAW
Negotiating Gender Justice, Contesting Discrimination (2010)
This report documents diverse strategies adopted by community groups in Bangladesh, India, Indone... more This report documents diverse strategies adopted by community groups in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Nepal to negotiate women’s rights in the context of culture, while grounding the strategies in the specific political – historic local and national contexts. It looks at secular strategies along with the more recent responses to fundamentalism, that use of cultural identity and religious/ cultural resources. These admittedly political strategies that use cultural resources seek to contest not just sex discrimination, but also the orthodox, elite, male monopoly of cultural leadership. The report provides a rich account initiatives that promote culture as relational, transforming, plural and accommodating of women’s rights, and in doing so, challenge dominant static and fundamentalist assertions of culture.
This guide focuses on knowledge content and perspective, illustrations and examples, communicatio... more This guide focuses on knowledge content and perspective, illustrations and examples, communication tools and application exercises, all of them meant to be adapted or borrowed selectively at the discretion of the user. It is designed to meet the varied needs of the users/trainers, and the diverse constituencies with which they work.
This report seeks to provide the building blocks to CEDAW training for wider use. The workshop, o... more This report seeks to provide the building blocks to CEDAW training for wider use. The workshop, of which this report is an outcome, had certain specific objectives including the creation of awareness of the concepts and mechanisms pertaining to CEDAW. It also sought to enhance clarity on treaty regimes and CEDAW as effective tools for planning development and accessing rights for women.
Reports by Madhu Mehra
This is a socio legal study on witch-hunting conducted by Partners for Law in Development (PLD). ... more This is a socio legal study on witch-hunting conducted by Partners for Law in Development (PLD). It is based on action research conducted in collaboration with community organisations in the Indian states of Jharkhand, Bihar and Chhattisgarh. Against the backdrop of sensationalised narratives of witch hunting, and calls for state specific laws, this study reports critical insights that question narratives that mystify and 'other' targeting of women as witches: it questions the relevance of state responses in India that are framed exclusively for witch hunting.
The study, the first of its kind in India, provides evidence of contemporary social trends of witch hunting, and the interface of witch hunting related victimization with law. It draws upon a variety of sources: case studies from select blocks in the districts – Bilaspur and Janjgir-Champa (Chhattisgarh), Jamui (Bihar) and Ranchi (Jharkhand); police records collected from Jamui, Bilaspur , Gumla and Ranchi for the years 2010 to 2012; and High Court and Supreme Court judgments from ten states.
The findings suggest that that witch-hunting targets middle aged and older, mostly married women, across social groups. Although significantly fewer, there are male victims too. The data shows that the most violent acts, including murder, are one end of a continuum of violence which accompanies witch-hunting. Social stigma and ostracism, temporary or long term dislocation and resultant impoverishment are more common consequences of witch-hunting in the regions of the study. Threads of counter narratives challenge the flat discourse that conflates witch hunting with superstition and also highlight the relevance of structural contexts in which witch hunting occurs, bringing administrative neglect and governance concerns to the fore.
In relation to law and policy, the data and findings speak to the growing trend of enacting special laws at the state level in India. Though the three states where the field work was undertaken have special laws on witch-hunting- these are rarely, if at all, invoked on their own. Rather, action is likely to be taken under the Indian Penal Code when violence escalates. Preventive action is unlikely. Issues of reparative/ rehabilitation components of justice remain missing in the current legal responses including the special laws. The study thus offers an evidence based critique of current trends in law and policy making in response to incidences of witch-hunting.
Limited copies available on request: [email protected]
Papers in Academic Journals by Madhu Mehra
Economic and Political Weekly
This paper discusses the findings of a socio-legal study on witch-hunting conducted by the Partne... more This paper discusses the findings of a socio-legal study on witch-hunting conducted by the Partners for Law in Development in Jharkhand, Bihar and Chhattisgarh. It highlights the results of the study in order to offer a critical perspective on the increasing reliance on special laws to address the problem of witch-hunting. The socio-legal evidence from the states which already have such special laws on witch-hunting shows their inefficacy in dealing with witch-hunting and related forms of violence. Criminalisation of witch-hunting through special laws is an inadequate response to the problem which has much in common with other forms of violence. There is a need to focus on accountability and reform of the agencies that activate the criminal justice system and to plug the vacuum in relation to reparative justice. - See more at: http://www.epw.in/journal/2016/13/special-articles/witch-hunting-india.html#sthash.sRBUozeO.dpuf
Papers by Madhu Mehra
SSRN Electronic Journal
In the context of calls for no-exception stringent child marriage laws, both nationally and globa... more In the context of calls for no-exception stringent child marriage laws, both nationally and globally, this report offers first of its kind evidence, on how the law in its practice, aids power relations and social stigma within the Indian context. The study looks at district and High Court case law from 2008-2017, to evaluate whether in its usage, the law serves its intended purpose; and in its recommendations, draws on judicial principles that help minimise unintended harm of the law. In doing so, this study speaks to contemporary policy proposals relating underage marriage, and therefore is of significance. This study is the #3 in PLD's series on the theme of Adolescent Sexuality and Early Marriage
Child Marriage Prosecutions in India - Case Law Analysis of Actors, Motives and Outcomes 2008-2017, 2021
In the context of calls for no-exception stringent child marriage laws, both nationally and globa... more In the context of calls for no-exception stringent child marriage laws, both nationally and globally, this report offers first of its kind evidence, on how the law in its practice, aids power relations and social stigma within the Indian context. The study looks at district and High Court case law from 2008-2017, to evaluate whether in its usage, the law serves its intended purpose; and in its recommendations, draws on judicial principles that help minimise unintended harm of the law. In doing so, this study speaks to contemporary policy proposals relating underage marriage, and therefore is of significance. This study is the #3 in PLD's series on the theme of Adolescent Sexuality and Early Marriage
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
Feminist Legal Studies, 1998
Feminist Legal Studies, 1998
CEDAW in International, Regional and National Law, 2013
... Thanks are due to Mahesh Daga, Usha Ramanathan and Dr. Amita Dhanda for their helpful comment... more ... Thanks are due to Mahesh Daga, Usha Ramanathan and Dr. Amita Dhanda for their helpful comments on the first draft of this article. Page 2. 60 MADHU MEHRA ... 20 Shobha Rani v. Madhukar Reddy, AIR 1988 SC 121. Page 9. ...
Feminist Legal Studies, 1998
... Thanks are due to Mahesh Daga, Usha Ramanathan and Dr. Amita Dhanda for their helpful comment... more ... Thanks are due to Mahesh Daga, Usha Ramanathan and Dr. Amita Dhanda for their helpful comments on the first draft of this article. Page 2. 60 MADHU MEHRA ... 20 Shobha Rani v. Madhukar Reddy, AIR 1988 SC 121. Page 9. ...
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Books by Madhu Mehra
Reports by Madhu Mehra
The study, the first of its kind in India, provides evidence of contemporary social trends of witch hunting, and the interface of witch hunting related victimization with law. It draws upon a variety of sources: case studies from select blocks in the districts – Bilaspur and Janjgir-Champa (Chhattisgarh), Jamui (Bihar) and Ranchi (Jharkhand); police records collected from Jamui, Bilaspur , Gumla and Ranchi for the years 2010 to 2012; and High Court and Supreme Court judgments from ten states.
The findings suggest that that witch-hunting targets middle aged and older, mostly married women, across social groups. Although significantly fewer, there are male victims too. The data shows that the most violent acts, including murder, are one end of a continuum of violence which accompanies witch-hunting. Social stigma and ostracism, temporary or long term dislocation and resultant impoverishment are more common consequences of witch-hunting in the regions of the study. Threads of counter narratives challenge the flat discourse that conflates witch hunting with superstition and also highlight the relevance of structural contexts in which witch hunting occurs, bringing administrative neglect and governance concerns to the fore.
In relation to law and policy, the data and findings speak to the growing trend of enacting special laws at the state level in India. Though the three states where the field work was undertaken have special laws on witch-hunting- these are rarely, if at all, invoked on their own. Rather, action is likely to be taken under the Indian Penal Code when violence escalates. Preventive action is unlikely. Issues of reparative/ rehabilitation components of justice remain missing in the current legal responses including the special laws. The study thus offers an evidence based critique of current trends in law and policy making in response to incidences of witch-hunting.
Limited copies available on request: [email protected]
Papers in Academic Journals by Madhu Mehra
Papers by Madhu Mehra
The study, the first of its kind in India, provides evidence of contemporary social trends of witch hunting, and the interface of witch hunting related victimization with law. It draws upon a variety of sources: case studies from select blocks in the districts – Bilaspur and Janjgir-Champa (Chhattisgarh), Jamui (Bihar) and Ranchi (Jharkhand); police records collected from Jamui, Bilaspur , Gumla and Ranchi for the years 2010 to 2012; and High Court and Supreme Court judgments from ten states.
The findings suggest that that witch-hunting targets middle aged and older, mostly married women, across social groups. Although significantly fewer, there are male victims too. The data shows that the most violent acts, including murder, are one end of a continuum of violence which accompanies witch-hunting. Social stigma and ostracism, temporary or long term dislocation and resultant impoverishment are more common consequences of witch-hunting in the regions of the study. Threads of counter narratives challenge the flat discourse that conflates witch hunting with superstition and also highlight the relevance of structural contexts in which witch hunting occurs, bringing administrative neglect and governance concerns to the fore.
In relation to law and policy, the data and findings speak to the growing trend of enacting special laws at the state level in India. Though the three states where the field work was undertaken have special laws on witch-hunting- these are rarely, if at all, invoked on their own. Rather, action is likely to be taken under the Indian Penal Code when violence escalates. Preventive action is unlikely. Issues of reparative/ rehabilitation components of justice remain missing in the current legal responses including the special laws. The study thus offers an evidence based critique of current trends in law and policy making in response to incidences of witch-hunting.
Limited copies available on request: [email protected]