Effect Of Transformative Constitutionalism On Indian Women

Swathi Muthukumar, VIT School of Law, VIT Chennai Campus

ABSTRACT

Throughout the decades, Indian society has tremendously faced social change. The processes of urbanisation and modernisation, has left India in cross roads. In various filed we have adapted ourselves to the modern needs. But only in the filed of law, we remain the same, even today we are governed by the pre-colonial laws. This is the same even with our Indian Constitution too, it is time we need to adapt to the present generation and start addressing the issues of the youth who are the leaders of tomorrow. The year 2018 has proven to be one such year of monumental events providing the nation a hope for change and a chance to improve their pace with the rest of the world. The decision of the Supreme Court to follow the constitutional morality over social morality by striking down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and recognizing the existence of the homosexual community, shows how the Judiciary, creates a way for renaissance. Transformative constitutionalism has started to catch its pace and bring in various reforms that uplifts the status of women and the sexual minorities, who were previously under the clutches of the primitive and medieval laws of the colonial period. The comparison of the situation of how women were treated before a decade and how they are being treated now shows the societal transformation that has taken place. Through this paper, the author has attempted to trace the timeline of how the Indian society has reacted to women empowerment throughout the years and define the current status of women in the Indian society. This paper will also focus on the challenges faced by the women population and the sexual minorities in the light of Indian Constitution.

Keywords: Constitution, transformative constitutionalism, women status, sexual minorities