Physical Relationship With Minor Not Rape If She Is Wife: Delhi High Court
New Age
Islam News Bureau
23 Aug 2023
·
Physical Relationship With Minor Not Rape If She Is Wife: Delhi High
Court
·
Education Denied To 80% Of School-Aged Girls In Afghanistan: Care Intl
Report
·
French Activists
Call for Release of 12 Detained Iranian Women
·
Schoolgirls In J&K's Budgam Learn Martial Arts For Self Defence
·
Bangladeshi Woman, Sonia Akhtar, Arrives In Noida With Infant; Claims
Saurav Kant Tiwari, A Resident Of Noida, Married Her In Bangladesh
·
Women Saudi Centre Empowers Women In Environmental Sector
·
Hate Crime Surge Raises Concerns For Muslim Women's Safety In India
·
Women In Translation Month: Celebrating 5 Arab Women Authors
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/physical-relationship-minor-rape/d/130508
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Physical Relationship With Minor Not Rape If
She Is Wife: Delhi High Court
Delhi High Court. (File Photo
| Shekhar Yadav, EPS)
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23rd August 2023
By PTI
NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has refused to
entertain the State's appeal against a man's acquittal in a case of raping his
15-year-old wife, saying his physical relationship with her cannot be termed as
rape.
The high court upheld a trial court's judgement
which had declared the Muslim man not guilty of raping his second wife, saying
he has been rightly acquitted.
"The additional sessions judge had rightly
observed that in view of the testimony of the child that she got married to the
respondent (man) in the month of December 2014 and only thereafter did they
have a physical relationship, no offence under Section 6 read with Section 5(1)
of POCSO Act was made out and the respondent was rightly acquitted," a
bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Neena Bansal Krishna said.
The high court said there was no ground for
grant of leave to appeal against the trial court's verdict and dismissed an
application filed by the police.
"We find that since the child victim was
the wife who was almost fifteen years of age, the physical relationship of the
respondent with the victim, cannot be termed as rape. The respondent has been
rightly acquitted," the bench said.
Under the exception given in Section 375 (rape)
of the IPC, sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his wife, the wife
not being under 15 years, is not rape.
According to the prosecution, a rape case was
lodged against the man in 2015 on the complaint of the girl's mother after
finding out that her minor daughter was pregnant.
The girl, in her testimony before the trial
court, submitted that the man who was her brother-in-law had married her in
December 2014 after which he established physical relations with her with her
consent and she became pregnant.
She said the fact that she had got married to
the man was not known to her mother, who lodged a complaint with the police
upon discovering that she was pregnant.
Source: newindianexpress.com
https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2023/aug/23/physical-relationship-with-minor-not-rape-ifshe-is-wife-delhi-high-court-2608035.html
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Education Denied To 80% Of School-Aged Girls In
Afghanistan: Care Intl Report
Photo: Khaama.com
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By Fidel Rahmati
August 23, 2023
According to a recent report by Care
International, a staggering 80 per cent of school-aged Afghan girls and young
women are currently being denied access to education in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan is the sole country globally to
enforce a ban on girls’ and women’s education, resulting in a substantial
economic toll of approximately $5.4 billion.
“Currently, 80 per cent of school-aged Afghan
girls and young women – 2.5 million people are out of school,” the report
reads.
A disheartening reality emerges from
Afghanistan, where over 700 days have elapsed since schools were shuttered for
female students beyond the sixth grade. The persistent closure has left these
students uncertain, with their educational future in the balance.
In this prolonged period of educational
standstill, the plight of these young women underscores the deep-seated
challenges that Afghan society faces. The lack of clarity surrounding the
resumption of their studies not only hampers individual growth but also
perpetuates a cycle of gender inequality and impedes the nation’s progress.
Since the Taliban assumed control over
Afghanistan in August 2021, there has been a disheartening series of actions
targeting women’s rights. The initial move involved the prohibition of girls
progressing beyond the sixth grade in schools, and an even more restrictive
measure followed this in December 2022, which effectively halted women’s access
to higher education at universities.
Compounding these restrictions, another
distressing development emerged as the Taliban authorities forbade women from
engaging with international aid agencies, including organizations like the
United Nations. Recently, this trend of regressive policies escalated as the
operation of women’s beauty salons was abruptly halted across the country. This
decision resulted in the termination of over 60,000 employment opportunities
for women.
Despite the vehement criticism voiced by both
international and domestic entities, the Taliban leadership appears steadfast
in their persistence to curtail women’s rights, whether it pertains to
education or employment opportunities. This stance has drawn widespread
condemnation, emphasizing the urgent need for Sustained advocacy and efforts to
restore Afghan women’s rights.
Source: khaama.com
https://www.khaama.com/education-denied-to-80-of-school-aged-girls-in-afghanistan-care-intl-report/
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French Activists Call for Release of 12
Detained Iranian Women
AUGUST 22, 2023
A coalition of lawyers, representatives from
the French parliament, artists, and women's rights activists have called for
the release of 12 detained women's rights activists in Iran.
A letter, which was sent to the Iranian embassy
in France on August 22, states that the activists were arrested in the northern
province of Gilan.
The activists were arrested on August 16 at
their homes in the cities of Rasht, Foman and Anzali, the feminist Twitter
account Bidarzani reported.
They include Forough Sami-nia, Yasamin
Hashdari, Jelveh Javaheri, Zahra Dadras, Zohreh Dadras and Negin Rezaei.
There is no information available about their
whereabouts.
The letter also states that the activists have
been detained in undisclosed locations and have not been allowed to contact
their families or lawyers.
"We remind you that no individual should
face persecution due to their beliefs and freedom of expression is
unequivocally safeguarded by the principles enshrined within the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, an agreement of which the Islamic
Republic of Iran is a signatory," the letter reads.
The letter's signatories argue that the arrests
are a violation of the activists' right to freedom of expression and assembly.
The Iranian government has a long history of
silencing and imprisoning women who speak out for their rights.
Anger over the suppression of human rights in
Iran has boiled over since the September 2022 death in police custody of
22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested for allegedly wearing a hijab
improperly.
The nationwide protest movement appears to have
waned in recent months following a bloody crackdown by security forces, but
resistance to forced hijab rules remains strong, with images of unveiled women
in public spaces being widely shared on social media.
Source: iranwire.com
https://iranwire.com/en/women/119715-french-activists-call-for-release-of-12-detained-iranian-women/
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Schoolgirls in J&K's Budgam learn martial
arts for self defence
ANI
23 Aug 2023
Budgam, Aug 23: In a move to empower and
protect schoolgirls in the Budgam district, martial arts training is being
provided to them.
This initiative aims to equip the girls with
self-defence skills and boost their confidence. The training program includes
various martial arts techniques such as karate, taekwondo, and judo.
Expert trainers have been hired to teach the
girls the fundamentals of self-defence and combat.
"The training sessions are conducted in a
safe and supportive environment, with emphasis on physical fitness, mental
discipline, and self-control. The girls also learn about situational awareness
and strategies to handle potential threats or attacks. This initiative is
commendable as it not only focuses on the physical aspect of self-defence but
also promotes mental and emotional well-being", said coach Syed Shujaat
Shah.
Coach Shah further said, "It encourages
the girls to be independent, self-reliant, and fearless. By providing martial
arts training to school girls in Budgam, they are being given the tools and
confidence to protect them in challenging situations".
It also sends a powerful message about gender
equality and the importance of women empowerment in society", said a
player Syed Urfi Rizvi while speaking to ANI.
In addition, player Sakina Yousuf said,
"Overall, this initiative is a positive step towards creating a safer and
more inclusive environment for girls in Budgam".
"By equipping them with martial arts
skills, they are being prepared to face any adversities and live a life of
empowerment and independence", another player added.
Source: greaterkashmir.com
https://www.greaterkashmir.com/kashmir/schoolgirls-in-jks-budgam-learn-martial-arts-for-self-defence
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Bangladeshi Woman, Sonia Akhtar, Arrives In
Noida With Infant; claims Saurav Kant Tiwari, a resident of Noida, married her
in Bangladesh
Aug 22, 2023
NOIDA: Even before the controversy surrounding
Pakistan national Seema Haider could settle, another woman from Bangladesh has
arrived in India with her infant son in search of her Indian husband, who she
claims has deserted her, police said. Sonia Akhtar, who is living in Noida for
the last eight days, claims that a man from Noida married her and after living
with her for three years, and returned to India.
She claims that Saurav Kant Tiwari, a resident
of Noida, married her in Bangladesh and together they have a son. Tiwari, the
woman claimed, used to work in Bangladesh when the two fell in love and got
married as per Muslim rituals. After she conceived, the man who had converted
to Islam, left for India promising to return after completing some important
work.
Later, the women cell of Noida Police
Commissionerate tried to mediate between Tiwari and Sonia but to no avail. A
determined Sonia says that either her husband should return to Bangladesh with
her or she will stay with him in India sending the Noida police in a tizzy.
Source: zeenews.india.com
https://zeenews.india.com/india/after-pakistani-bhabhi-seema-haider-now-bangladeshi-woman-arrives-in-noida-with-infant-check-her-story-2652031.html
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Saudi center empowers women in environmental
sector
August 22, 2023
RIYADH: The National Center for Environmental
Compliance recently reported a significant increase in the number of women
carrying out environmental inspections.
Compared to last year, there has been a rise of
more than 360 percent in the number of women involved in inspections, the Saudi
Press Agency reported.
This aligns with the center’s announcement of
an increase in the number of tours to control quality standards this year to
22,000.
The number of male inspectors has also seen a
growth of 10 percent compared to the same period last year, bringing the total
to 263.
Meanwhile, the number of female inspectors
quadrupled during the same period, reaching 111.
The center praised the efficiency of women
inspectors in applying environmental criteria and conditions after receiving
proper training. The increase in female inspectors aligns with the women’s
empowerment goals of Saudi Vision 2030.
They were selected according to the criteria
and conditions of employment after they met requirements, including holding a
bachelor’s or master’s degree in environmental disciplines.
The center recently signed an agreement with
King Khalid University for postgraduate programs in environmental sciences,
aiming to encourage student enrollment as well as research and studies.
Source: arabnews.com
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2359661/saudi-arabia
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Hate crime surge raises concerns for Muslim
women's safety in India
22/08/2023
Amidst a concerning surge in hate crimes,
Indian Railway Police have initiated legal action against Chetan Singh, an RPF
security personnel, for his involvement in a disturbing incident aboard the
Jaipur-Mumbai Central Superfast Express. Singh faces charges under Section 153A
of the Indian Penal Code, which pertains to acts fomenting animosity between
distinct groups. The incident, captured in visual media, depicts Singh standing
beside the lifeless body of a Muslim man, accompanied by divisive rhetoric. The
tragic event resulted in the deaths of three Muslim passengers and a senior
officer, Tikaram Meena. Additionally, Singh reportedly coerced a female
passenger wearing a burqa into uttering a slogan at gunpoint.
This alarming trend of violent assaults
targeting the Muslim community has sent ripples of concern throughout India.
Disturbing incidents, including the dissemination of a video depicting the
sexual assault of two minor Muslim girls, aged 14 and 16, through social media
platforms, have heightened public concern.
According to Nayla Khan's feature article in
Maktoob Media, the prevailing climate of fear for Muslim women extends beyond
physical safety and penetrates into the virtual domain. Instances of online
vitriol and harassment directed at Muslims, especially women, have escalated
significantly. The resultant caution has impelled some, like Uzma Sarwat, a
practicing psychologist, to withdraw from active engagement on social media
platforms due to heightened safety concerns for both themselves and their
families.
Amidst these challenges, the prevailing
apprehension is that perpetrators often evade appropriate consequences, fueling
an atmosphere of self-professed impunity. Instances such as the degrading
online platforms "Sulli Deals" and "Bulli Bai," which
exploit and mock Muslim women, have led many to impose self-censorship within
the digital realm.
Source: yenisafak.com
https://www.yenisafak.com/en/news/hate-crime-surge-raises-concerns-for-muslim-womens-safety-in-india-3669382
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Women in Translation Month: Celebrating 5 Arab
women authors
Noshin Bokth
23 August, 2023
In 2014, Meytal Radzinski, a U.S based book
blogger, established a crucial initiative to celebrate texts written and
translated by women.
Since then, August has been a time to honour
women authors across the globe.
The passage of time can attest to women’s
emphatic resilience toward having their voices heard in the literary canon.
At the same time, contemporary literature has
witnessed a lambent saturation of phenomenal female writers. Still, according
to Women in Translation, only 36 percent of the books translated into English
are from non-European countries, and women write less than 31 percent of
translations into English.
Thus, Women in Translation Month aims to
encompass writers from a dynamic array of faiths and backgrounds with a broader
mission to underscore our nuanced human experiences.
In particular, those works translated from
Arabic into English are historically tinged with misconceptions and
underrepresentation.
This year 34 books are to be translated from
Arabic to English, and only 13 are from women authors.
According to Radzinski’s salient revelations,
the impact of women writers in translation on how they are covered in the
media, recognised by award committees, and promoted in bookstores, is
profoundly devastating.
The New Arab has compiled a dynamic list of
titles from Arab woman authors for you to read this month. From Morocco, Cairo,
Lebanon, Sudan, and Oman, these narratives demand to be read and lauded.
History of Ash by Khadija Marouazi: Translated
by Alexander E. Elinson
History of Ash is Khadija Marouazi’s debut
novel. A human rights activist and a professor of literature at Ibn Tofail
University in Kenitra, Morocco, she tells us the story of Mouline and Leila.
The novel oscillates between past and present
to illustrate a comprehensive narrative of the Moroccan judicial system. They
are both incarcerated during Morocco’s “Years of Lead", telling the tale
of their survival and resistance under torture, years in prison life, and
re-assimilation into public life upon their release.
Intense and intimate, Marouazi writes with
explicit detail, compassion, and urgency. While this is a fictional account,
the realities of this era of heavy state repression in Morocco and the anguish
of those unjustly imprisoned are felt acutely in her brilliant prose.
Traces of Enayat - And Other Stories by Iman
Mersal: Translated by Robin Moger
Traces of Enayat is a heart-rending portrait of
the Egyptian writer Enayat al-Zayyat and was first published in Arabic in 2019,
winning the prestigious 2021 Sheikh Zayed Book Award.
Iman Mersal is a celebrated Egyptian poet and
academic who discovered this revered Egyptian author and her book, Love and
Silence, in the nineties.
Enamoured by her only novel, Mersal sets out to
explore Zayyat’s life and finds only tragedy and brilliance. In 1963 Cairo, she
committed suicide, lamentably never seeing the publication of her work.
After national acclaim, she cryptically fades
into obscurity, that is, until Mersal sets out to document this enigmatic and
talented woman. Through interviews with family members, friends, an investigation
into her media appearances, and archives of Enayat’s life, Mersal discovers a
pandemonium of devastating truths that uncover a tale of depression, domestic
abuse, a broken marriage, poverty, and artistic sagacity.
This Thing Called Love by Alawiya Sobh:
Translated by Max Weiss
Alawiya Sobh’s novel, This Thing Called Love,
is an acute meditation on companionship and womanhood and the idiosyncratic
ways in which people respond to the trauma of war.
Alawiya is a journalist born in Beirut and is
the founder and editor-in-chief of Snob Al-Hasnaa, the best-selling women’s
cultural magazine in the Arab world today. Her devotion to recounting the
voices of women is felt throughout this novel.
The 2006 war in Lebanon between Israel and
Hezbollah comprises the backdrop for the stories of Nahla, Suad, Azizeh, Hoda,
Nadine, and the narrator Alawiya, a group of friends whose lives are overturned
by the reverberations of the political turmoil in Lebanon when Nahla goes
missing.
The cause of her disappearance is dubious, and
the five women find in each other solace, silent understanding, and zeal for
finding Nahla. In a world inundated with violence, Sobh has eloquently crafted
a novel that depicts the subtle gradations of human love, experience, and
survival.
Something Evergreen Called Life by Rania
Mamoun: Translated by Yasmine Seale
Immediately following Rania Mamoun’s departure
from her homeland of Sudan to seek asylum in the United States with her young
daughters, the first Covid-19 lockdown commenced.
Forced to leave because of her work against the
regime of Omar al-Bashir, as a writer, journalist, and activist, she coped with
her exile and isolation by writing poetry daily.
Thus, Something Evergreen Called Life is a
collection of Mamoun's solemn and intimate poems. The lyrical cadence of her
prose reveals the allure of everyday life despite the anguish wrought by war
and censorship.
She writes with expert insight and fluidity in
which despair and gratitude coexist. Moreover, Seale’s translation retains the
authenticity of Mamoun’s voice and captures the mellifluous flow and fervour of
the Arabic language. Reading Mamoun’s anthology is akin to experiencing the
tranquillity of catharsis.
I Saw Her in My Dreams by Huda Hamed:
Translated by Nadine Sinno and William Taggart
I Saw Her in My Dreams is a poignant commentary
on the deplorable anti-blackness that has permeated the Arab world for decades.
Written with candour and humility, the novel focuses on an Omani artist,
Zahiyya, and Faheesh, her Ethiopian domestic worker.
They are left alone when Zahiyya’s husband,
Amer, embarks on a journey to find his biological Zanzibari mother. In their
loneliness, Zahiyya is left with little choice but to contend with the systemic
violence of Omani class systems and racial disparities and her own complicity
in it.
Hamed has intertwined varying perspectives and
narratives with adroit clarity to create a novel that prompts introspection and
social change.
Source: newarab.com
https://www.newarab.com/features/women-translation-month-celebrating-5-arab-women-authors
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/physical-relationship-minor-rape/d/130508