Seminar on Women Empowerment

Or at least that's what I made out of it. Basically, one lady gave us a brief history of feminism, nothing you can't find on the first page of newspapers on 8th March, and the other gave the dirt on the legal system and the provisions for women, nothing you won't be aware of if your cousin happens to be a feminist and a lawyer.

Learnt a few things though - basically the grounds for divorce. The dude speaking didn't cover the IPC, but the crux of the matter is that either one of the spouses can file a case for divorce if he or she can prove the other's adultry. (Moving off at a slight tangent, Adultry is considered sexual intercourse, but I guess, as it is with rape, here too, anal or oral intercourse WILL NOT amount to adultry!). Under the IPC, Adultry is defined in such a way that it is impossible for a woman to commit it. Therefore, while Adultry by a woman is sufficient grounds for divorce in a civil court, it will be a criminal offence only if a man commits it.
Basically, Adultry by a guy is a criminal offence, but not by a woman.

Another thing that the speaker said was that there is some cell established that any female can report abuse to when she is harassed with any connection to this institution. If you are asking why this should be any different from a normal harassment case, then consider this: A music teacher calls a twelve year old girl to his home, gainst her consent to have sex with her under the pretext that it will clear her voice, and then has sex with her.
Here, the guy got off only because the consent of a minor is not valid...

The problem is that the punishment for rape, sexual abuse, and indignity towards women are all seperate offences, and one guy can get away with a lesser offence on a mare technicality (for example the anal rape of a girl child is NOT considered rape by law - only penal intercourse is).

Apart from the above, there are SEPERATE laws for abuse under custody - like in a mental hospitals, orphanages, government schools or jails. It might be outrageous to people to learn that a rape in a police station is not considered a normal rape, but this is actually done to protect the policeman. All of us are humans, and consent might be gained in the police station by the policeman. The woman might consent, and then file a case against the police man as a form of revenge.

There are many more intricasies, and all of them are pretty interesting. To quote the guy (I am going to find out his name) who delivered the seminar, "the law is complicated because the people are complicated". Probably the best thing to say at this point is Justice Krishna's famous statement "unequals cannot be treated as equals."

What really matters is that our college was cool enough to organise such a seminar at all. It even had an interactive session where the students asked questions. Damned good initiative... only wish they had invited students from other colleges as well.