Vasudha Dhagamwar, legal activist and academician, passed away on February 10, in Pune of multiple organ failure. Vasudha’s mother Geeta Sane was a well-known Marathi writer and feminist and her father, Advocate Narasimha Dhagamwar active in the Indian freedom movement. Vasudha studied at the Indian Law Society’s Law College in Pune and taught at the Department of Law of University of Pune.

As a young lawyer, she fought case of a teenage tribal girl Mathura who was gang-raped by two policemen in uniform at the police station in 1972. In this case, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court acquitted the accused and stated that the sexual intercourse was voluntary, since the onus of proving that the act was one of coercion, rested on the victim. After 8 years of legal battle from 1972-1979 when the Supreme Court of India gave misogynist judgment in the year 1979, Vasudha along with three law professors from Delhi University — Prof. Upendra Baxi, Prof. Raghunath Kelkar and Prof. Lotika Sarkar wrote an open letter to the Supreme Court challenging the judgment as well as demanding reopening of Mathura Rape Case and urging the court to bring about a change in the Rape Law. This sparked nationwide anti rape movement and influenced heated debates and became the rallying point of an active campaign on the issue of gender-based violence.

Vasudha was awarded coveted Ashoka fellowship in 1982 for her courageous and consistent work for the rights of displaced people.

Contribution through MARG

In 1985, she set up the MARG (Multiple Action Research Group) Delhi, which took up the most challenging issues of land acquisition and displacement arising out of the Sardar Sarovar Project in Gujarat. Under her leadership, MARG produced the following valuable publications:

1. The Law of Resettlement of Project Displaced Persons in Madhya Pradesh

2. Land Acquisition Act and You - A Manual

3. Law, Power and Justice: The Protection of Personal Rights in the Indian Penal Code, 1993

4. Our Laws/ Hamare Kanoon (a set of 10 manuals in Hindi and English)

5. Industrial Development and Displacement – The People of Korba, 2003

6. Women and Divorce, Somaiya Publications, Delhi, 1987

7. Reading on Uniform Civil Code and Gender and Child Just Laws

8. Role and Image of Law in India – The Tribal Experience, 2006

9. Criminal Justice or Chaos? 1997

Through her activist use of the law, she influenced two generations of feminists and activists of social movements of the marginalised communities. Vasudha’s legal activism was tremendous Sardar Sarovar Project in Gujarat. She demystified draconian Land Acquisition Act.

Path-breaking Contribution Towards Legal Reforms

During last 4 decades, innumerable of legal reforms with respect to women’s issues were put in place in India due to pressure from women’s movement. Vasudha played important role in this process thro’ her writings, speeches, training programmes and debates on the laws concerning rape, domestic violence, discriminatory family laws with respect to marriage, divorce, maintenance, alimony, custody and guardianship, land and housing rights of women. Vasudha worked closely with the National Commission of Women as a legal expert. She was also a member of the Executive Body of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, Delhi NGO working to protect human rights in the Commonwealth countries.

Because of her down to earth approach towards legal matters, practical suggestions and solution seeking approach, Vasudha was a much sought after legal luminary. She was an excellent communicator, spoke logically and convincingly. Her stand on Muslim personal law and Common Civil Code angered many fellow feminists. But no one doubted her integrity as a defender of women’s right to dignified life.

From 1980 to 2006, Vasudha worked in Delhi. She moved to Pune in 2007.

Vasudha was suffering from cancer. In spite of painful existence during last couple of years, she was translating the memoirs of her mother, Geeta Sane from Marathi into English. Vasudha was highly respected in Maharashtra. She has left her permanent mark as a sincere, committed, honest and pro people lawyer of our country.

Prof. Vibhuti Patel