Sujata Gotoskar at Demonstration at Dadar 22-12-2012

Public Interest Litigation (PIL) by the Women's Groups
Women's groups have filed PILs to activise the state enforcement machinery and to sensitise the masses. Manushi, a women's magazine files a PIL in the Supreme Court of India after the Delhi riots in 1984 in which hundreds of Sikh women were raped and who are still languishing in the refugee camps. So far, none of the culprits have been charged. When a tribal woman, Guntaben was raped by eight policemen, paraded naked, brutally beaten and verbally abused; the concerned police station, district magistrate and the hospital staff got together to hush up the matter. There was an atmosphere of terror in the community. In this situation, two women's groups and democratic rights organisations filed public interest litigation and also continued their campaign. The government responded by setting up a tribunal which, declared that the rapists must be punished. Amnesty International also took up this case. Finally, the culprits were punished.