Report on “Know Your Rights” by Vivel Ab Samjhauta Nahin

Symbiosis International (Deemed) University’s core philosophy is Vasudhaiava Kutumbakam. In pursuance of this and as part of the university’s emphasis on promoting gender sensitization, Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Hyderabad organized the event, ‘Know Your Rights’ by Vivel in the campus.

The speaker for the same was Ms. Devyani Verma from ITC, Vivel. The event received a participation of 183 students from SIBM and 195 from SLS.   

Ms. Devyani Verma addressing the gathering

The purpose of conducting this event was to create awareness about the legal rights for women, to act when necessary based on the guidelines available and share with other people this knowledge. 

Vivel drives this initiative on parallel stages, offline and online. At the online front, a website called ‘www.absamjhautanahin.com’ has been launched which provides the necessary information and guidelines about the legal rights available, what, how and who to approach to take some legal action against the crimes and also the major amendments that took place in laws related to women. At the offline front, the Vivel team goes to colleges and organizations to spread awareness about the same.

Learnings and takeaways

Laws for women were made specifically due to the prevalence of the patriarchal system in the Indian community. Landmark cases which led to major amendments in the law and Acts associated with them were briefly discussed. Some of them were Nirbhaya case, Mathura Das, KPS Gill v/s Rupan Deol Bajaj, Vishakha v/s State of Rajasthan and Section 377. The importance of voicing out opinions was made known in order to fight against the injustice meted out to women. It is only after women speak up that the society realizes what trauma they go through in their everyday life. People must make sure that they talk about these issues, otherwise  a woman can never express her anguish. As a society, we need to dismantle all kinds of taboo against conversation about such grave issues.

The legal system has foundations of fundamental rights which are- right to equality, right to freedom, right against exploitation, right to freedom of religion, cultural and educational rights and right to constitutional remedies. People belonging to any gender, caste or religion should be able to excersise their rights in the secular country of India. They should be able to express their sexual orientation and identity without any discrimination. Animations were displayed which explained different scenarios of- harassment in the name of dowry, domestic violence, harassment at work place, female foeticide, inheritance rights- and the procedures to be followed in case of such a situation. 

Another pressing need of the hour is understanding the meaning of consent. It is often taken for granted because silence is generally treated as a ‘YES’. Any form of physical resistance or gestures depicting ‘not interested’ should be clearly understood. Definitions of words such as – RAPE, SEXUAL HARRASMENT, CUSTODIAL CRIMES were explained after a series of cases which prove the fact that clarity of laws is still a far cry. Cinema has a huge influence on public and hence it needs to be considerate about how it depicts the social stigmas.

A book, describing different laws of crime against women was distributed to the students. Women would be considered safe when they will be able to walk the streets without carrying pepper sprays. The event reached its end with the message that as future managers, we must make sure that we enforce these values in society as well as the workplace.