Pledge to Stop Violence against Women- Guest Lecture 31st July 2013

Amity  Law School Noida organised a guest lecture on  “Violence against Women” today on 31^st July 2013 in F2 auditorium to sensitise and increase students awareness of violence against women in India today. The external guest speaker was Ms Winnie Singh, executive director from Maitri NGO, while Ms Manika Kantham, Law faculty in ALS Noida was our internal speaker on the topic. This guest lecture was organised by the Initiative for Gender Justice and Child Rights, a cell newly launched in ALS Noida, under the flagship of the ALS Centre of Law and Policy. 

The IGJCR cell has been the brainchild of Ms Mokshda Bhushan and Ms Manika Kantham, both assistant professors of law in ALS Noida, with the objective of imparting gender and children rights awareness to our law students and beyond as well as review gender specific laws and carry out other activities related to law and gender and children rights such as research projects, legal literacy and gender sensitization programs in the community and society at large.  

The welcome address was given by ALS Noida Director, Major Gen. Nilender Kumar, who spoke about the need to sensitize society on gender awareness and violence against women for actual changes to take place in our society.  Already, sensitisation campaigns and awareness programs have been carried out in Amity Law School Noida through seminars, workshops, projects and Human Values Quarter etc. Moreover he exhorted students to stop violence against women as they are the ones in whose hands the future of this country relies.

The Guest speaker, Ms. Winnie Singh (founder of Maitri India) talked about the need for respect and control of aggression in our society and in ourselves so as to stop any form of violence against women. She highlighted the different types of violence which exist in society, and how each one of us can forsake these forms of violence through controlling our own behaviour. Violence against women has been in our society for a long time, and it will only change if there is a genuine change in mindsets of people, even women themselves who contribute to violence against other women.  She further added that TOLERANCE for violence is one of the major causes for violence. If we stop tolerating violence against women, then only will violence against women will stop. She launched the “One million signature campaign” to stop violence against women, which Maitri NGO is supporting. This campaign is  a pledge undertaken by every person in India to stop violence against women through their own actions and show respect for women’s dignity and rights. Amity Law School Noida students showed their support to this noble cause by signing the pledge.

Ms Manika  Kantham from  ALS Noida highlighted the legal aspects on gender laws in India and highlighted the problems of violence tolerance in politics and media and propounded that sensitization on gender issues is a must for us to achieve genuine gender equality. She discussed the constitutional issues as well as various enactments in India and the UN charters. She made a brief presentation on gender violence by showing statistics in various forms and concluded that the effort to stop violence against women has to be a united effort of all. 

It was a highly interactive session where students from Amity Law School Noida participated with enthusiasm. Ms. Mokshda Bhushan delivered the vote of thanks while a small token of appreciation was given to Ms Winnie Singh from Dr Shefali Raizada, professor in ALS Noida.