Transcript for the Piece Audio version of RN Documentary: Durga's Court

You?re listening to Durga?s Court: social justice at work in India, from Radio Netherlands. The programme is produced and presented by Dheera Sujan.

Sound ? marriage fight ?35
?jao. Bang

It may not sound like it, but this is a court of justice in action. We?re in rural India, and two parties have come, each with their supporters, and they?re having a blazing row before the judge.

Sound ? crying

In this particular case, a young woman who is from a slightly higher class family than her husband refuses to live in his joint family but neither will she agree to a separation. Her husband is demanding his marital rights and says that she must either to come back to his house or divorce him so he can re-marry.

Sound ? marriage fight end ?12

In this particular court, the judge may just disappear for a moment to finish off some errands in her house while the parties are busy shouting at each other, or occasionally she will talk on her mobile phone. And by the end of the day, she is totally hoarse from having to out-shout every one else.

Sound ? hoarse

(SPEAK OVER CLIP) In this case, the judge has ruled in the man?s favour. Tartly she advises the woman if she won?t be a wife, then she?s not entitled to the army pension she?s hanging on to this marriage for. Go she tells her ? go and free this man to find another wife.
This is a Woman?s Court, but its impartiality is what has made it so famous in the region.

SFX ? village sound

The court is convened on the verandah of a house in a remote village in West Bengal. This village, Katna is famous in the district for being the place where ordinary people ? and in this part of the world that means poor sharecroppers, rice farmers, rickshaw pullers and road labourers ? where the people who have neither money, nor political influence can come for justice.
The court officially convenes twice a week, but in effect the steady stream of people seeking the help of Shabnam Ramaswamy never stops.
Katna is Shabnam?s ancestral village and together with her husband Jugnu she gave up her middle class life in Delhi to come and live here 7 years ago to start a school. But they found that the region was so poor and neglected that it had many other needs. Her husband died last year and she?s been running both the school and this project on her own since.
Shabnam?s attention is a precious commodity in this place so to get some quiet time in which we could talk, I joined her for an early morning cup of tea on her verandah at 4.30 ? when the village was just waking up.
1?30

S ? intro ?28
I have no educ b?ground?. To do something.

India?s courts are famously sluggish. It can take years to get a case heard and if the accused can grease enough palms, its quite easy for them to be released on bail, and then disappear until some later time when their case file will also mysteriously follow suit. For the people of rural India, often poor and illiterate, going to file an official grievance can be a daunting if not insurmountable effort.

s- police useless 1?28
supposing a woman goes to the police..where does she go to

When the Ramaswamys first came to Katna, they found that though many of the lower ranking police officers were on the take, they could connect with the district?s young and idealistic Superintendent of Police. In turn, the officer recognized that Shabnam had just the qualities he could harness to help with his station?s large backlog of cases ? most of them dealing with the abuse of women. Together they came up with the project they called Shtree Shakti ? women?s power.

s- ss 1?39
its an access to justice, a forum....this verandah

SOUND - men arguing
7

Overlap with (but needs end when she stars talking)

S ? curry fight 3?06
Beng ? come to me
10?06

But many of the cases are not much of a laughing matter. A lot of Shabnam?s petitioners who walk wearily through her garden gate in their torn clothes and hollow eyes are on their last reserves. Abandoned women, rape victims, the tearful families of abused daughters in law.

s- kind of cases 1?34
the kind of cases? will beat a woman

You?re listening to Durga?s Court: Social Justice at work in India brought to you by Radio Netherlands
I invited a group of village elders to tell me about how they thought this court had made a difference in the area. The men had had a long day in the fields and the burning afternoon was just melting in to a mild evening when they gathered to talk to me about Shtree Shakti.

Beng + ?20 earlier
Beng - being delivered.
13

beng - village men dowry Beng + clip - +- 1?00
beng ? over it play teachers translation ? starts at 2?19 ?back their money

s ? outer space ?42
any time..as if I?m from outer space
Shabnam Ramaswamy is such an anomaly in this village that she may as well be from outer space. She is the only person in the area who is from the village but not of the village. She can claim clan ties here but her middle class education has given her immunity from being treated simply as one of the village women ? ie a second class citizen. And her proven commitment has earned her the respect that in this feudal minded land, would normally be awarded to rulers.
I can see it in the way the village elders steadfastly refuse to criticize her in any way ? yes women are still being beaten here they admit but the Women?s Court has made a noticeable difference. Domestic violence has now become a much more serious offence than it was in the past.

Beng + ?26 women beaten ?28
Beng ? now a male thinks a 1000 times.. women of this village
16

I?m skeptical of the rosy picture this all- male posse presents me so I separately ask some village women to tell me their accounts but they have a similar story to tell.

Beng women 1

Before Shtree Shakti came here says Jeleka Bibi, the men would torture us in every way ? they?d make us to go back to our parents place to ask for money from our fathers. They were always telling us that they earned and we consumed and that was an excuse to beat us ? but now Shabnam didi is fighting for us and we have our dignity back.

Beng woman 2

Dolly bibi agrees that before Shtree Shakti, violence in the home was routine. But she says, in the last few years the situation has changed a lot.
Shabnam?s presence may have improved the lives of some of the women here but that doesn?t mean that all women can live in total security.
Katna, this small village of 2000 souls still sees the kind of tragedies that are played out in villages all over India.

s- murder case 6?43
there was a girl last yr..lost case
25
Shabnam is not a trained lawyer. But she reads up as well as she can on the Indian Penal Code and over the years, she?s picked up a fair amount of knowledge on how to negotiate the intricate byways of the law.
And it helps that people here know her family, have seen her on the visits she paid during childhood holidays.
She understands their culture, their fierce clan affiliations, and their psyche. Her rulings are a complicated stew of a basic knowledge of the law, - Hindu, Muslim and constitutional - as well as a dose of homespun wisdom, a good helping of common sense and a dash of her own flamboyant personality.

S ? theatrical 1?28
Working with illiterate masses? at home

In handing out her rulings, Shabnam often enlists something that every Indian recognizes ? the metaphor of mythology. Both Islam and Hinduism are rich with stories of brave kings and warrior queens. Despite the fact that the majority of the village and Shabnam herself are Muslim, one of the characters she loves to adopt is that of Durga ? the invincible goddess of vengeance.

s ? durga (lawyers) 1?33
I tell people I?m going to be Durga.. .. ..run to them

Shtree Shakti is an unfunded project. Shabnam and her law clerk work for free. And she never refuses the supplicants who come in a steady stream to her house. They?ll come at 5 in the morning, at 10 at night, they?ll come on Sundays, and even during the hot afternoons when the village has shut down to rest. Sometimes they?ve walked from as far as 50 kilometres, an unending tide of human helplessness seeking the only justice they have access to.
Occasionally, when both her voice and energy have given out, Shabnam tries to hide in her house for a few hours of rest, but they cross the neighbouring rice field to tap on her bedroom window. ?Didi, they?ll call out softly ?didi, please listen to our story.
A couple of years ago, Shabnam?s husband Jugnu offered to help out with the backlog. He was a fair man, much loved in the village, but he couldn?t produce Shabnam?s special alchemy. After he?d had a go with one or two cases, the people said simply, ?We?ll wait till didi can see us?

s ? love potion End ? ?46
I can?t give you one magic potion?it?s a sure win

Durga?s Court: Social Justice at work in India was produced and presented by Dheera Sujan for Radio Netherlands World Wide

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