Gunjeet Sra

As the north-east part of the capital inches towards normalcy, Ruhani Kaur and Gunjeet Sra visit the riot affected areas
As we make our way to a police barricade in Seelampur, New Delhi, loaded buses filled with Rapid Action Force (RAF) whizz past in the opposite direction, a water cannon tanker follows behind and a cavalcade of white police cars makes its way inside. The silence of the deserted streets is punctuated by loud sirens. Some dogs linger nearby.
The first sign of human life is in ...

The Gond tribe of Hasdeo Arand, the largest and oldest stretch of forest land in central India, is on the verge of losing its home in the face of coal mining.

As the bus screeches to a halt, the air is thick with the smell of imminent rain against the quiet din of a forest waking up to the first morning light. We have just arrived at Madanpur—a village in the heart of the Indian state of Chhattisgarh, and some 300km from its capital, Raipur.

There are two small shops for everyday supplies tha...

Gunjeet Sra recounts her memories of heading out with her grandfather as a child to join the village in a celebration at the spot where a Khalistani separatist had been gunned down
One winter morning, my house was abuzz with excitement. Since I was the youngest in the joint family, I knew that no one would bother to fill me in on what was happening. My age barred me from the truth and I would often be fed fantastical versions of what had actually transpired by my father’s teenage brothers. I ...

Stop telling boys that real manhood is rooted in testosterone and privilege, writes Gunjeet Sra
We have all suffered at the hands of the questionable code of ethics which is the #brocode at some point in our lives, both men and women. Long before #BoisLockerRoom online, there were phone calls, malicious rumours, all boys clubs and exclusive groups that thrived on the stifling list of rules that bound them together in an endless vortex of misogyny and self loathing. Finding its idea in the roo...

India has an estimated 24 million of them. We meet a few
India has an estimated 24 million of them. We meet a few
She is adjusting the veil on her forehead to keep it from falling. The lipstick meant to accentuate her thin lips has been chewed off, but not for long. An older woman notices it and presses a tube to her tightly pressed lips again, hard. A dozen children at different stages of growth watch the gesture with curiosity. The girls lean forward repeatedly to touch her. She asks them t...

A candle light vigil calling for justice for rape victims in Bhopal, India, on November 7, 2017. (Image Credit: Sanjeev Gupta /European Pressphoto Agency-EFE)
In December 2012, India’s Parliament and public were forced to confront the issue of rape and violence against women. After the brutal gang rape, torture, and murder of a woman in South Delhi, protests broke out in the streets of the capital demanding justice for her. Within days, the government at the time made several promises to ensu...

We travelled to the UP village of Katra Sadatganj where two girls were allegedly raped and then hanged. The story that emerges from whispers of the villagers and conflicting versions of the police only multiplies the horror
We travelled to the UP village of Katra Sadatganj where two girls were allegedly raped and then hanged. The story that emerges from whispers of the villagers and conflicting versions of the police only multiplies the horror
On 27 May, 35-year-old Babu Ram was returning fro...

All the original everyday people who sparked the first wave of anti-rape protests are gone. Only a handful of feminist activists are continuing the fight

It was one day before the end of the year. The only thing that stood between me and home as I entered the Capital from New Delhi railway station was the blinding fog that engulfed everything around it. From the auto, I could see India Gate shrouded in misty embers that glowed in the moonlight, looking almost desolate. People went about their...

Life on the border between India and Nepal, revolves around illegally—and creatively—moving goods between the two countries
Sampurna Nagar is at the farthest end of Uttar Pradesh’s largest district, Lakhimpur Kheri, which borders Nepal. The town is isolated in acres of nothingness, surrounded by wetlands and a river that threatens to pillage its outlying villages every year. Twenty years ago, it was a traders’ hub, with a bustling bazaar and cinema hall. Now, the hall stands abandoned and lic...

Cervical cancer kills nearly 100,000 women every year in India. The real tragedy is that most of them could have been saved through immunisation and screening
‘I try to imagine what it looks like inside without a uterus, cervix, ovaries. What will my vagina be connected to… I didn’t know I was attached to my uterus. I never really thought about it… they don’t say there will be this huge absence. Or that we may have to take some of your vagina’ —Eve Ensler, In the Body of the World
Five years ...

With an increasing number of gender crimes, individuals and organizations have taken matters into their own hands. Here is how they all are doing their bit. Know more about various initiatives which are creating an impact.
Sarang Gupta, 18, was spending his summer vacations doing the regular Class 12 grind – tuitions, home, TV – when he chanced upon a newspaper clip that changed his life. “I don’t particularly remember the incident but I distinctly remember the feeling that crept in my gut as...

It’s been almost a week since India kicked its second round of #MeToo — a week of revelations that have hit too close home. As cathartic as this moment of reckoning is in the long run, it has also opened up the wounds trauma.
Women are angry at the ‘unspeakable’ truths that they have all had to endure for years in repressed silence. Many have lived through abuse personally — most, vicariously. They have all seen a friend, a colleague, go through unsolicited male attention way too often. For y...