Case by Case: Kerala HC shows how judges can protect women’s rights

A judge expressed ‘shock’ that in Kerala, of all states, a woman was given ‘written instructions’ by in-laws to help conceive a ‘good baby boy’. And that for long, state depts ignored her pleas. The petitioner (39), married in 2012, was long tormented by in-laws and husband for giving birth to a girl, a ‘financial liability’ for the in-laws.

Home truths | Surelythe judge knows that obsession for boys is unsurprising in modern-day Kerala? It’s no news the once matriarchal state is jauntily patriarchal today. Only recently, HC took the state to task for denying pension to a divorced daughter of a freedom fighter. In Sabarimala, it took an SC order for women to breach hoary temple customs. Kerala movie world’s vicious misogyny and abusive actors’ troll armies cannot have escaped the judiciary’s attention either. Kerala’s society can plumb patriarchy’s depths as effortlessly as any other. In January, a judicial officer took her own life – her notes alleged severe workplace harassment.

Court matters | Where Kerala stands out is in the fight in its women.That’s why they knock at court’s doors – especially on family matters, where those in most states would baulk. So, Anupama Chandran, a politician’s daughter, justly won back her child, ‘kidnapped’ by her parents. HC junked a govt dept ban on hiring women for jobs with night shifts. HC has often restored women’s rights. Even under socially embedded patriarchy so long as courts have women’s back, women can hope to have their rights realised.

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