Shoma A. Chatterji

From unpaid menstrual leave to clandestine hysterectomies, Beed district exposes the hidden violence of informal labour. Sugar is not as sweet as you think, especially if it is coming from Beed District in Maharashtra where hundreds of women workers in their reproductive age are not allowed paid menstrual leave. That is not the only inhuman practice invested in women. Based on 2026 reports, Beed district in Maharashtra is considered a major hub for sugarcane labour, sending approximately 1.75...

India’s hidden crisis of abused boys has been sustained by stigma and toxic masculinity, resulting in victims being unheard and perpetrators going unchallenged. “Sexual Abuse” is a term which is both by direct implication and by suggestion, refers to the girl child. So, the idea of a little boy being sexually abused when he doesn't even understand the words “sexual” and “abuse” is not only never questioned by anyone in authority but not believed either. In some tragic cases, that small boy...

Sadly, marital rape is not a punishable crime in India. More than half of the world’s countries do not criminalise sexual assault in marriage, including OECD countries like the Czech Republic and Japan. But is marriage the right solution even at a suggestive stage in countries like India where domestic violence on wives by husbands is very high? Many such violent acts are directly linked to violent rape never mind whether the wife is willing or not, whether the wife is battered as a result...