Call for Papers: Campus Law Center’s National Seminar on Gender Justice [March 8]; Submit Abstracts by Jan 20

Campus Law Centre University of Delhi, Delhi

National Seminar On Gender Justice – A Reality or Fragile Myth?

Changing Patriarchal Mindset through Strict Implementation of Women Laws

March 08, 2014

Full details are HERE.

Campus Law Centre, University of Delhi

Campus Law Centre (CLC), University of Delhi offering three year law degree, having a multi-cultural and multi-lingual student- body, is rated as one of the best law schools not only in India, but also in Asia.

About the Conference

A year back, on December 16, 2012, after the brutal gang-rape of a 23-year-old paramedical student in Delhi,  the Indian Government set up the Justice Verma Committee to propose amendments to criminal law dealing with sexual offences.

Justice Verma submitted its report, on time, recommending major amendments in criminal law to tackle the increasing number of rape cases  and the issue of women’s safety.

Accepting most of the recommendations, the Indian Parliament passed the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2013 which provides for amendment of the Indian Penal Code 1860, Indian Evidence Act, 1872 and the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

Some new offences have also been created under the amendment which include  acid attacks, sexual harassment, voyeurism, stalking and trafficking of persons.

The Parliament  also enacted the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prohibition, Prevention and Redressal) Act 2013, 16 years after the Supreme Court of India directed the Indian Government to provide legal framework to deal with the issue of sexual harassment of women at workplace. 

Has anything changed after a year?

Incidents of sexual harassment of women-from harassment at workplace to gang rape- continue to make their way into the front pages of Indian newspapers and mass media.

The legal fraternity was shocked when a young lawyer alleged that a retired Supreme Court judge had sexually harassed her in a Delhi hotel room while she was an intern.

In another incident, a senior journalist was arrested for outraging the modesty and rape of a woman colleague.

Before that, a spiritual leader was arrested for sexually molesting an ailing girl child on the pretext of exorcising evil spirits inhabiting her body.

Allegations of sexual assault on Ganguly, Tejpal, and Asaram highlight that it’s been a year of shame for India despite 2013 amendment. 

How to change the partiarchal  mindset of  men which see women as objects of sexual pleasure?

It is  believed that correction of the societal mindset of its gender bias depends more on social norms, than  legal regulations.

Nevertheless, law has also been regarded as an instrument for social change and gender equity as the purpose of law is to prescribe the standard of behavior of the people and to regulate their conduct in a civilized society.

However, enacting stringent laws to punish the guilty   may be necessary, but laws on paper give little protection, if they are not effectively implemented by executives and interpretated by judiciary.

Failure of effective implementation of law relating to women erodes the rule of law and generates the unsafe environment for women.

In the absence of strict implementation of newly enacted/amended laws protecting the dignity of women, the law would remain mere rhetoric and a dead letter.

Therefore, there is an urgent need for analyzing the new laws on women to find out inter alia as to- whether the implementing agencies prescribed there-under have been created, whether the regulatory mechanism prescribed there-under has been followed and whether the implementing agencies are sufficiently aware of 2013 amendment.etc.

Against this backdrop, Campus Law Centre, University of Delhi, a premier legal institution takes pride in organizing a National Seminar on ”Gender Justice: A Reality or Fragile Myth-Changing Patriarchal Mindset through Strict Implementation  of  Women Laws” .

Full details are HERE.

The Seminar will offer an opportunity to the academicians, judges, lawyers, researchers, NGOs and other concerned scholars to deliberate as to how to make law to work and achieve the desired objective of safe and secure environment for women through the effective implementation and interpretation of law.

Objectives of the Conference

Objectives of the conference, inter alia are-

to provide a platform for , academician, judges, lawyers, policy makers, executives, NGOs  etc  to critically analyse the implementation and interpretation of  gender laws;

to discuss empirical studies relating to implementation and interpretations of gender laws;

to critically analyze the provisions of Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013

to help bring attitudinal changes to correct the aberration of gender bias in the institutions of governance

to help correct societal mindset of its gender bias

to make recommendations for the better implementation of gender specific laws

Call for Papers

In order to achieve the objectives of the Conference, the participants are invited to make critical analysis of law relating to the dignity and safety of women.

Themes

I.    Gender Justice and Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013

        1.  Indian Penal Code, 1860

               a)       Rape Laws

               b)      Newly Created Offences

        2.    Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973

        3.    Indian Evidence Act, 1872

        4.    Protection of Children from Sexual offences Act, 2012  

II.   Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013

1. Implementation Structure  and Functioning

2. Effectiveness of the Act

3. Judicial Response against Sexual harassment

III.    Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 along with Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Rules, 2005

1.Implementation Structure and Functioning

2.Judicial Response  

IV.       Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994 along with Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Rules 1996

1.Implementation Structure and Functioning

2.Prosecution Pending Cases

3.Judicial Response

Papers are invited on any of the above themes. The papers accepted for presentation at the conference will be selected on a competitive selection process.

The selection criteria inter alia will be: relevance to the broad theme; quality of the abstract; geographical diversity of presenters etc. The abstract of paper should not be more than 400 words. It should indicate:

1.Title of Paper,

2.Theme of Conference,

3.Sub-theme of Conference

4.Presenters brief description, on a separate page, including name, designation, educational qualifications, professional status and experience in not more than 300 words.

 Abstract can be sent to  genderjustice@clc.du.ac.in.

The deadline for submission of abstract is January 20, 2014, 2300 hrs India Time.

Guidelines for Paper Submission

 (applicable to presenters whose abstracts would have been accepted )

Author’s Title & Name, University/Organization, Paper Title and Email Address to be stated clearly on the cover page of the paper.

The paper should consist of 3,500- 6,000 words, inclusive of footnotes.

Font – Times New Roman; Size 12 for Text, 10 for Footnotes

Line spacing -1.5 for  text and single for footnotes

Microsoft Word Document Format

Ppers to be sent to genderjustice@clc.du.ac.in  by February 15, 2014, 2300 hrs India Time

The language of presentation will be English. Each speaker will be allocated a maximum of 20 minutes to present his or her paper.

The presentation venue is equipped with a computer and LCD projector. Speakers who wish to use Power point slides to present their papers should save their slides onto a USB drive for this purpose.

Number of Selected Papers

Number of select paper presentations shall not be more than twenty five.  Whether paper is selected or not, conference may still be attended.

Number of Participants

The number of participants including paper presenters shall not be more than sixty. Non presenters will be selected on first- cum- first basis.

Resource Persons

In addition to select paper presentations, eminent persons such as Professors, Judges, lawyers, Representatives from International Organizations, Think Tanks, NGOs etc with specialization in gender justice shall address the audience.

Publication of Papers

Selected papers would be considered for publication in the form of a book.

Travel Allowance

No TA/DA will be provided to outstation participants. Participants are advised to arrange their own or claim the same from their institutions.

Sponsorship

Two papers will be selected for full sponsorship and three papers for half sponsorship.

Full sponsorship consists of travel fare (second class A/C rail fare), accommodation (university guest house) and waiver of registration fee.

Half sponsorship consists of accommodation (university guest house/hostel) and waiver of registration fee.

After acceptance of abstracts, interested candidates should apply for sponsorship justifying the need for award in 250-300 words latest by January 30, 2014, 2300 hrs India Time. 

Accommodation

The participants are advised to make their own arrangements. There are numerous hotels and inns within a radius 5 km from Campus Law Centre, University of Delhi, with tariff ranging from INR 1000/- to INR 5000.

Category	Early bird registration Before/on  January 31, 2014	After January 31, 2014 till February 10, 2014
Delegates	Rs 2,000	Rs. 3000
Accompanying Person	Rs. 500	Rs. 750

Before starting filling registration form, you will need the number of your demand draft, or the Unique Transaction Reference of the NEFT payment.  You can pay fees as follows:

Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT)

Name of Payee: Registrar; addressed: University of Delhi; Bank Name: State Bank of India; Branch: Delhi University; Account Number: 10851299052; Type: Saving; MICR Code: 110002030; IFSC; SBIN0001067

Demand Draft: DD in the name “Registrar, University of Delhi” payable at Delhi

The Demand Draft may be sent to the Contact Address mentioned below.

There is no registration fee for CLC faculty and students.

Registration fee will cover conference material, lunch, and tea during conference working day.

VENUE

The Venue of the Conference would be Seminar Hall, Campus Law Centre, Faculty of Law, Chhatra Marg, University of Delhi (North Campus).

Important Dates

Release of Call for papers	December 16, 2013
Abstract Submission	January 20, 2014
Declaration of Accepted Abstracts	January 25, 2014
Request for Sponsorship	January 30, 2014
Declaration of awarded sponsorship	February 02, 2014
Last date for Registration	February 10, 2014
Full Paper Submission	February 15, 2014
Dates of Conference	March 8, 2014

 

Above Dates shall be strictly adhered to for the smooth and successful conduct of the conference.

Contact:

Professor (Dr.) Usha Tandon

Professor-In-Charge

Campus Law Centre, University of Delhi

Delhi-110007

Phone and Fax +91 11 27667895

Email- genderjustice@clc.du.ac.in;  Website: clc.du.ac.in

Coordinators: Dr. Vandana Mahalwar 9971349461;  Ms. Cheshta Dahiya  9990690761

Full details are HERE.