“I have always been passionate about doing something different, in our community, girls are not allowed to pursue law. I am the first female lawyer in the Muslim community I am from. I have always seen women being suppressed and not being able to pursue what they want to pursue.” Rukhsar is an independent practising lawyer in the Bombay High Court, focusing on family matters. She is a majles empanelled lawyer and has always had a keen interest in working on the issues of women and children, to help them move forward and have better access to opportunities. During her internship with Mulla & Mulla, is when she got the opportunity to pursue the cause and start honing her skills. She then went on to intern with the ‘Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA)’, as a legal researcher and in currently working as their legal advisor. Rukhsar fought the first triple talaak case in the Bombay High Court, and has been BMMA’s spokesperson in the media. Through her work Rukhsar, came to see more and more the issues faced by women especially the social and economically marginalised communities, the slums etc. In the Muslim communities, she says – most of the women are not educated, illiteracy is high. She has therefore been on a mission to spread legal awareness, through workshops and sessions in the communities. Through her initiative in communities, she got involved with the commonwealth human rights initiative, she now also conducts sessions for them, and attends meetings as a member. She also works with an organisation called ‘Free a Girl India’, who work with children rescued from trafficking. Rukhsar helps them with legal advice and training, and also works with them as a motivational speaker. Rukhsar is also a member of ‘Aurato ki shayari adalat’ headed by Kaatun Shaikh at BMMA, which also conducts mediations. The Fellowship, she says, is giving her good exposure and opportunities, interacting with several senior and experienced lawyers, building skill sets at the same time providing access to resources to help many more women, through the funds given. Through the fellowships, she also hopes to pursue her research to study and codify muslim laws and understand how they differ from other family laws out there. Rukhsar also wants to conduct training for police, to make sure they are able better handle cases of distress of women and take the prescribed course of action to support them, by filing an FIR and so on. She also currently handles female adoption matters and their legal procedures. She deals with matters of property of women, making their will, sale deeds, and other property related legal advice and consultations. She works as a POCSO Act consultant for several National and International NGOs. She is also pursuing her LLM from Jindal Global Law School.

“Dalit and Adivasi women are not taken seriously by the local system, police don’t file their FIRs, lawyers ask them to withdraw complaints. In this scenario, my work facilitates their right to access legal services” Romita Reang is a women’s rights lawyer from a remote village in Gomati district in Tripura. She belongs to the Reang tribe, one of the 19 tribes of Tripura that are considered Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG/PTG) in India. During her childhood her village hardly had any road connectivity and proper schooling facilities. Due to this many children in her village, including Romita herself, did not get proper education. Romita was later able to access proper school education when her family shifted out to a neighbouring village which had a missionary school. She always wanted to work for the tribal people of her State who are deprived of access to legal justice due to the language barriers, communication, transportation and lack of awareness about their legal rights. She pursued her BA LLB from a University in Kolkata – unheard of as a career path for anyone from her village. Even after she started practicing, it has been a difficult journey for Romita, being judged for her social upbringing and identity; and the prevalence of informal community court/justice system in the villages. And people not really conforming to the legal system of justice. With the Legal Fellowship by SAWF-IN in 2014, Romita says she truly started her own practice. Before that she was attached to a lawyer and was mostly learning. But with this fellowship she was able to reach out to those women who wanted to file cases in courts but did not have the means to do so, at the same time learn concepts and get support from other lawyers hands on. The fellowship stipend helped her take up pro bono cases and she helped women with transport costs and case filing costs. Through the fellowship, Romita has transitioned from a mere observer at community-based tribunals, to an actual stakeholder, who encourages the use of formal law to bridge the gaps in the community-based systems. Romita also works with the community leaders as a trainer on human rights issues. She takes sessions with the village elders and talks to them about provisions under criminal laws and civil laws, and the mandate of the Constitution, so that they can use some basic tenets of formal law during their mediation and arbitration. She also wants to work with traditional courts of other tribes, as she feels that it is the first point of contact for anyone in tribal systems to access justice and if she can make even a small difference in how cases are looked at and judgements are passed, it will go a long way in restoring people’s faith in legal processes. As the traditional courts are male dominated, women hardly ever speak up at these courts or share their point of view. Romita is working with women in her tribe to increase their participation in these community-level processes, attempting to ensure that women’s rights are at the centre of these mediation processes.

"The lack of awareness about rights and access to the justice system is one of the biggest obstacles of our legal system. Through my work, I hope to bridge the gap between rights and justice, while working towards ensuring proper implementation of the law and its various facets. For me, the real work is to enable better access to law and the judicial system.” Priti is one of the five tribal women lawyers at the District Bar Association in Jamshedpur, where there are at least 1600 registered members. Her family was always supportive of her education. Her father was the first practicing MBBS doctor belonging to a Scheduled Tribe in the district. Priti was inspired to become a lawyer, witnessing various struggles of her community. She began litigating in 2004 at Jamshedpur Civil Court. As the only woman lawyer then, who is from the tribal community, she began taking up criminal and civil cases for Adivasi women. She is known for litigating for the rights of indigenous people, especially on upholding their culture, as mandated by the Constitution of India. Priti specialises in Domestic Violence litigation and strongly believes that the Act needs stricter and prompt implementation, to enable greater access to justice for all women. In 2012, she was the first in her district to have filed a case under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act. She faced a lot of challenges as the law was new, so even the magistrates and officers at the district level did not completely know or understand the nuances of the Act. The SAWF IN fellowship from 2015 supported Priti in pursuing cases in remote villages and she was able to support many litigants who were living in remote tribal villages and had no knowledge or understanding on how to approach a court for addressing their grievances. She was also able to organise awareness camps in the villages, with the support. Before her fellowship with SAWF IN she never took up rape cases, especially the defence side of it. Through the capacity building workshops, she says it gave her a better understanding of access to justice as a concept and that expanded her perspective tremendously. Priti believes that one needs to be a constant learner. thirst of knowledge is ever present within her and so even while she practices law, she continues to study and clear various examinations.

Y. Shaophen Phom belongs to the Phom Naga Tribe which is a Schedule Tribe in the hill region of Nagaland. She identifies as a feminist lawyer, and is a firm believer in equality. It was Phom’s childhood dream to join the legal profession. After completing her Bachelor’s in Political Science Honors, she pursued an LLB degree from Guwahati University. When she started her work as a lawyer in Guwahati in 2017, she overcame many challenges in her path. Her primary obstacle was the language barrier. Since Shaophen is from Nagaland, practicing in Guwahati meant that she had to learn both Assamese and Hindi. Moreover, the legal profession being male dominated, a woman lawyer’s capabilities are often underestimated. Female lawyers are stereotypically expected to quit work after marriage and are discouraged from making court appearances. But facing these barriers has only encouraged Shaophen to work harder, be stronger and let her work speak for itself. Since the start of her career, Shaophen has been involved mostly in divorce cases, as well as civil and criminal procedures. She often takes up cases of domestic violence. Putting a stop to human rights violations by winning such cases has been a milestone in her career. She has also taken up cases seeking rehabilitation for abandoned or orphaned children. Currently, she practices at the Principal District and Session Court, Kohima, Nagaland. “The fellowship will give me the opportunity to work on cases for women in Nagaland, especially tribal women who in some areas are still living in the shadow of a man, where their voices are not being heard. This fellowship will enable many women to come out of their shell and voice their opinions." Domestic violence is least reported in Nagaland. Shaophen is keen to use the fellowship as an opportunity to break that barrier of silence and raise awareness among women to stand up for their rights. She also aims to support and encourage women to understand their legal rights so that they can have equal rights and equal opportunities, especially in receiving equal remuneration as their male counterparts for the same work and responsibilities. Through the fellowship she hopes to reduce the stigma around violence against women and encouraging stigma-free reporting of the incidences. Shaophen thinks women should be able to talk about their experiences without hesitation and shame. Most of all she hopes to see more female lawyers in the courtrooms of Nagaland.