In 2017, Lawyer Manasi Chaudhari was driving herself home from work particularly late one night and near the Jubilee Hills Check Post, met with a minor accident with another car. Albeit small, the issue became big when the men in the other car surrounded Manasi's car and started shouting and banging at the window aggressively. Manasi was able to take a picture of their number plate and escape unscathed, but the incident stayed with her for a long time. "I took action and filed an FIR and the men had to give me an unconditional written apology, but the thought dawned on me that because I'm a lawyer, I know the steps that need to be taken in such situations. But what if it was someone else?" wonders the lawyer who has always been passionate about women's rights and gender equality.
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To help other women, this 27-year-old has been working on pinklegal.in— a portal that will cover all rights and laws related to women in a simple-to-read format thus, making the law accessible to women — since 2018. And they have plans of launching it on this International Women's Day. In the two years, it took to put together the website, Manasi — using her network — brought on board 15 law students from Symbiosis Law School and NALSAR University of Law who are equally passionate about women's rights, and they conducted a survey to find out if women knew their legal rights. "A whopping 80 per cent said that they didn't and 75 per cent said that they would find such a website useful," shares Manasi, who pursued her law from Jindal Global Law School, New Delhi. The portal will cover topics like identifying sexual harassment, taking steps against domestic violence, maternity leave and so on.
For Manasi and her team, the focus is on the presentation of content. It will not come across as one boring, verbose legal document, instead, the content will be interactive, attractive and colourful. It will be broken down as FAQs when need be and presented as interactive media when it serves the purpose better. "Our mission is to empower women with the knowledge of their legal rights," says Manasi, who was born in Mumbai and brought up in Hyderabad.
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What does the future hold for of pinklegal.in
- Onboarding lawyers who women in need can contact through the portal
- Starting a dedicated WhatsApp number that will make offering legal advice easier
- Starting a community called Pink Legal Tribe through which women will receive newsletters and latest law updates concerning them and so on
- Launching a campaign that will help women approach a police station and file a complaint
For more on then, check out instagram.com/pinklegal.in
