Freedom of speech and expression
The
research draws a distinction between the legal
regulation of sexual speech and of hate speech - two
very different kinds of speech, with two very different
kinds of laws.
Hate
speech laws addresses a specific harm -
promotion of hatred towards different racial, caste and
religious groups.
The
dimensions of hate speech and the handling of such
speech by the courts, has become an increasingly
sensitive issue in the context of the contemporary
communal environment and the ascendance of the right
wing.
Sexual
speech laws
or
the legal regulation of sexual speech are designed to
reinforce traditional and highly conservative sexual
moralities. The Centre examines how interventions
by right wing political forces, human rights groups or
feminist groups on issues such as sexual harassment or
obscenity compromise the right to free speech,
especially to sexual speech, and the implications of this
move on the rights of sexual subalterns.
Culture,
Media and Censorship
Sexual speech and sexual
expression, whether in the form of Hindi film songs,
beauty contests, advertisements, or satellite
broadcasting, constitute zones of contestation where
culture is invoked either
to legitimize or delegitimize sexual speech. The
call to censor sexual representations has come
from progressive and conservative groups alike.
This call also implicates deeper issues of
nationalism and cultural authenticity that reinforce an
us/them, west/rest divide.
The Centre examines the different meanings of
culture that inform debates on speech and expression,
how culture is used to justify censorship and the
implications of these cultural moves on media today.
Right to Freedom of
Religion
& Secularism
The
right to freedom of religion is of particular concern in
the context communal politics and the assertion of the
Hindutva agenda. This right is about the protection of
the rights of religions minorities, the cornerstone of
democracy. The meaning accorded to this right depends, in
part, on the meaning of secularism. Secularism in India
is based on the equal treatment of all religious. The
meaning of secularism is contingent on the meaning that
is given to the right to equality. If equality means
treating everyone the same, then it is a call for
minority groups to give up their special rights – to
education, personal law, and special educational
institutions. If equality is based on a substantive
model, that is, redressing the disadvantage that groups
or communities have historically endured on the grounds
that they are different, then temporary special measures
are justified to accomplish that end.
Right
to Equality
The
right to equality is also subject to different meanings
within and outside the courtroom. The dominant
understanding of equality has meant treating likes alike,
that is, if you are the same, then you are
entitled to equality. This is described as the formal
model of equality. Difference precludes any further
equality analysis of the group in question.
However,
another understanding of equality is based on examining
if the difference has been a basis for historical
disadvantage. This model is based on a substantive
understanding of equality. If the difference has been
the basis for historical disadvantage, such as race,
gender, or religion, then certain institutional, state,
and legal measures may need to be put in place in order
to redress this historical disadvantage. The difference
would not preclude entitlement to equality. Indeed the
difference would be treated as integral to the meaning
of equality.
The
Centre’s research in this area has focused on
discrimination against religious and sexual minorities
and women.
Right
to Sexual Autonomy
and Bodily Integrity
The
right to sexual autonomy and bodily integrity
encompasses a broad array of concerns.
·Sexual
Subalterns:
The
Centre has focused on the issue of agency and
subjectivity in its research areas. The notion of the
resistive subject has been a central feature of
postcolonial theory and subaltern studies. The subaltern
subject has been able to articulate resistance in deeply
coercive circumstances, namely, under the conditions of
colonialism. This
history is useful in the contemporary struggles for
empowerment of religious minorities as well as
sexual minorities in postcolonial India. The
subaltern exposes how liberalism has operated to exclude
certain voices from the enjoyment of rights and
benefits. These exclusions were justified on the ground
that the `other’ was infantile, civilizationally
immature, naturally different and backward, or simply
dangerous and threatening. The subaltern exposes how the
legal treatment of difference in the area of sexuality
reinforces sexual norms and stigmatizes sex, and
excludes and penalizes sexual speech and conduct that
falls outside of these norms.
The Centre’s research has highlighted how
contemporary sexual subalterns, including sex workers,
gays, lesbians, kothis, hijras, and girias
(a unique variety of transgendered/transsexual
subjects) are bringing a significant challenge to
dominant assumptions about sex in a postcolonial context
and cultural claims around sexual purity.
Sexual Rights
Sexual
wrongs have been the core focus of contemporary feminist
engagements with law in India. Rape, sexual assault,
sexual harassment and obscenity have all been the
subject of law reform.
As important as these issues may be, the Centre
also draws attention to limitations of this strategy.
There has not been a similar focus on the articulation
of sexual rights. Sexual
rights claims are often confronted by competing claims
about Indian cultural values, sexual morality, the
family and violence against women.
The articulation of a sexual rights strategy
within a postcolonial context is important to develop.
It is distinct from the way sexual rights and issues of
sexuality have been articulated in other contexts which
have been influenced by a psychoanalytic perspective.
· Migration and Trafficking of Women:
The
Centre works with the Global Alliance Against
Trafficking in Women to address issues of trafficking
and migration of women at the regional and global
levels. This particular initiative focuses on research
and evaluation of the discourses and interventions on
trafficking, migration, sexuality and sex work.
The
Centre is also engaged with the Sex Workers' Rights
movement in India, and is an active ally of the National
Network of Sex Workers (NNSW). It facilitates conceptual
and strategy meetings amongst the sex workers community.
Its research examines how the treatment of sex workers
is based on dominant sexual ideology and cultural
essentialism. It also examines the rights claims of sex
workers, how they contest assumptions about sexuality
that inform the law, expand the right to sexual speech,
and expose the discrimination they experience based on
sexual stigma
· Sexuality, HIV/AIDS and Culture:
There
is little analysis of the complex intersection between
sexual behaviour, HIV prevalence and culture in Indian
research and scholarship. CFLR focuses on analyzing how
the epidemic impacts on the women's rights agenda,
especially sexual speech and expression, as well as
trying to influence the development of successful human
rights intervention policies and programmes in this
area.
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