Threat to Dissent

We, in the women’s movement, state our strong and unequivocal protest against the first information report (FIR) registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Lawyers Collective, in which they have clearly targeted senior advocates Indira Jaising and Anand Grover for their work as lawyers, and role as defenders of human rights. Their track record of defending the rights of the marginalised, discriminated and oppressed is long and indisputable.

Jaising, since the 1980s, has unwaveringly stood by the Constitution’s fundamental rights and taken up cases for women’s groups as well as women who faced the brunt of gender inequality. Her commitment to women’s rights is seen in her involvement with the 1983 changes in the rape laws, in securing inheritance rights for women as in the Mary Roy case, in securing guardianship for single women in the Githa Hariharan case, against sexual harassment in the Rupan Deol Bajaj case and campaigning for the formulation and enactment of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005. Besides women, Jaising has defended evicted pavement dwellers and the Bhopal gas tragedy victims.