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Written by Administrator
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AMAN's legal aid programme in Jehanabad, Bihar the Kanooni Sahayata Kendra (KSK) organised a one-day workshop on Gender Violence and Law on 6th December 2008. The workshop was part of a one-year research that AMAN is conducting in the Jehanabad and Arwal districts of Bihar on the challenges that are encountered by women who are victims of violence and want to seek legal justice. The research includes extensive interviews with women, a detailed study of the court cases related to these women, a critical analysis of the responses of government institutions that are supposed to provide legal and moral support to such women as well as look at the role of democratic institutions like the elected panchayati raj members in mitigating gender violence. The aim of the workshop was to bring women who are victims of violence together and provide them with an opportunity to share their experiences and talk of the challenges they have encountered in their struggle for justice, invite district government officials and senior lawyers to respond to the women and explore the possibilities of collaboration with other civil society groups in such programmes. Over 50 women belonging to different villages of Jehanabad and Arwal district participated in the workshop. Many of these women are being assisted by KSK to seek justice in district courts. The meeting was also attended by noted High Court lawyers, writers, human rights activists and members of NGOs like Abhiyaan. The meeting was inaugurated by Etwaria Devi (70) and Ms Prabhavati Kumari (15) from Shanker Bigha Village. Both these women had lost their family members in the caste massacre that took place in 1999. This was followed by testimonies and experiences of the women in their struggle for justice in courts and various other government departments like Police. In the afternoon session, an open house discussion took place on how to develop collective strategies to make the judicial system gender sensitive and accountable. He entire workshop was coordinated by AMAN's KSK colleague Advocate Deorani.
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