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"Just two days ago, all of you would know, of this advertisement which a company was required to pull down. It was an advertisement was for Karva Chauth of a same-sex couple. It had to be withdrawn on the ground of public intolerance!", Justice D.Y. Chandrachud of the Supreme Court observed while speaking on 'Empowerment Of Women Through Legal Awareness' at the Nationwide Launch Of Legal Awareness Programmes by NALSA in collaboration with the National Commission for Women.
Justice Chandrachud was referring to an advertisement by Dabur, wherein two women were depicted as celebrating ‘karvachauth’. Soon after its launch, the advertisement faced backlash in social media platforms from a section. Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra had earlier issued a warning to Dabur India to withdraw the "objectionable" advertisement or face legal action. Following the controversy, Dabur India withdrew the advertisement and tendered unconditional apology for "unintentionally hurting people's sentiments".
Further, on heteronormativity he noted "The deviations from heteronormativity are characterised as deviants- Whether it be gender, non-conformance expressed through trans or non-binary identity or through sexual orientations that displace heterosexuality as a default, since they erode the very basis of the gender binary and result in gender roles.
While stating that there must be an intersectional approach to discrimination and violence which women face, Justice Chandrachud observed there are multiple identities within the large class of women for whom the law has entitled the conferment of rights. He continued to elaborate that in a recent judgement that the judge has delivered, where he came across discrimination against scheduled caste women, he has observed that when the identity of a woman intersects with her caste, her class, religion, disability and sexual orientation, she may face violence and discrimination due to 2 or more grounds. "Transwomen, for instance, may face violence because of their heterodox gender identity", he elucidated.
Justice Chandrachud quoted Nivedita Menon while talking about the roles men and women play in society. He quoted Menon and said, “sexual division of labour is not just a technique to divide work but it conceals the fact that men's work is considered human while women's work is perceived as determined by their nature"
Justice Chandrachud observed that the Constitution of India is devised to rectify the patriarchal character of our past. That, “it has become a powerful tool to secure material entitlements and provide public affirmations of dignity and equality of women. Legislations like domestic violence act, prevention of sexual harassment at workplace act have been enacted to achieve the goal of fulfilling the constitutional rights of women. However, every day in our lives as judges of the Supreme Court, we come across injustice against women. There are real-life situations which show that there is great divergence between ideals of the law and the real state of the society today"
Speaking on the matter, Justice Chandrachud harped that it is important to spread legal awareness about the rights of women. He said,
“Awareness about the rights of women can be truly meaningful if that awareness is created amongst the younger generation of men in our society. “Because I believe that the deprivation of rights of women, if we have to find an answer to them, the origin must be in the changing of mindset, both of men and women. The more we realise that the category of women encompasses various social, economic and political disadvantages, the more we will be able to cater to their individualised and actual needs. True freedom for women, in other words, is truly intersectional.”
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