->Johnpacklambert at 12:44, 17 August 2021

2021-08-17T12:44:20Z

New page

{{Short description|Indian feminist, educator and lawyer}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Lotika Sarkar
| image = Lotika Sarkar.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1923|01|04}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2013|02|23|1923|01|04}}
| death_place = New Delhi, India
| nationality = Indian
|alma_mater= [[Cambridge University]]
|organization= [[Delhi University]]<br />[[Indian Law Institute]]
| other_names =
| occupation = feminist, educator and lawyer
| known_for =
}}

'''Lotika Sarkar''' (4 January 1923 – 23 February 2013) was a noted Indian feminist, social worker, educator and lawyer, who was a pioneer in the field of [[women's studies]] and [[women's rights]] in India. She was a founding member of Centre for Women's Development Studies (CWDS), Delhi, established in 1980, and also Indian Association for Women Studies, established in 1982. Starting in 1951, she taught law at [[Faculty of Law, University of Delhi]] till 1983, and also remained the head of the Law Faculty, thereafter she taught at [[Indian Law Institute]]. She was the first Indian woman to graduate from [[Cambridge University]], and later in 1951 she also became the first woman to receive a PhD degree in law from the university.<ref>{{cite news |title=Few saw her in last two years|url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2009-01-14/delhi/28027201_1_ips-officer-latika-sarkar-dhaundiyals |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203052252/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2009-01-14/delhi/28027201_1_ips-officer-latika-sarkar-dhaundiyals |url-status=dead |archive-date=3 December 2013 |date=14 January 2009 |newspaper=[[The Times of India]]|access-date=4 June 2013}}</ref><ref name=epw/>

==Early life and education==
Born in 1923, she was raised in an aristocratic family in [[West Bengal]], where her father Sir Dhiren Mitra was leading lawyer of India.<ref name=b&B>{{cite web |title=In Remembrance: Professor Lotika Sarkar (1923–2013)|url=http://barandbench.com/content/remembrance-professor-lotika-sarkar-1923-2013 |date=8 April 2013 |publisher=Bar and Bench |access-date=5 June 2013}}</ref>

Sarkar studied law at [[Newnham College, Cambridge]] and became the first Indian woman to study and also then graduate from the university.<ref name=epw/><ref name="Fem web">{{cite web|title=In memoriam: Lotika Sarkar 1923 – 2013|url=http://feministsindia.com/in-memoriam-lotika-sarkar-1927-2013/|publisher=feministsindia.com|access-date=4 June 2013|date=25 February 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Malini Chib|title=One Little Finger|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mtiGAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA7|date=11 January 2011|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-81-321-0671-5|page=7}}</ref> Later she wrote a PhD in Law, also at Cambridge University, awarded in 1951.<ref name=toi13/><ref name=age>{{cite news |title=Lawyer Here From India |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=s6ZVAAAAIBAJ&pg=7087,3745612&dq=lotika+sarkar&hl=en |publisher=[[The Age]], Australia|date= 26 July 1961 |access-date=4 June 2013}}</ref> Thereafter in 1960, she studied [[international law]] at the [[Harvard University]], where she was one of four Indian students, returning to India in 1961.<ref name=age/>

==Career==
In 1953, when Sarkar started teaching at the Law Faculty, University of Delhi, she was the first female lecturer in the faculty. Law was still a new field for women, initially there were only 10 girls in the course, a number which grew to 80–100 by the 1960s .<ref name=b&B/><ref name=age/> She taught here till 1983, teaching eminent jurist and lawyers, and finally became the Head of the Law Faculty,<ref name=toi13/> and also the [[university don]].<ref name=epw/><ref name=toidon>{{cite news |title=Lotika's friends meet Prez to seek justice
|url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2009-03-27/delhi/28020801_1_lotika-sarkar-nirmal-dhoundial-bihar-ips-officer |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130629121256/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2009-03-27/delhi/28020801_1_lotika-sarkar-nirmal-dhoundial-bihar-ips-officer |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 June 2013 |date=27 March 2009 |newspaper=[[The Times of India]]
|access-date=4 June 2013}}</ref>

In 1971, she became a member of the Committee on the Status of Women in India (CSWI),<ref>[[#Ag|Agrawal, p. 61]]</ref> where along with her colleague, [[Vina Mazumdar]], who joined in 1973 as Member-Secretary,<ref>[[#Ag|Agrawal, p. 62]]</ref> there went on to publish the seminal, ''Towards Equality: The Report of the Committee on the Status of Women in India'' (1974–75)<ref name=epw>{{cite web |title=Remembering Lotika Sarkar (1923–2013)|author=Indu Agnihotri|url=http://www.epw.in/commentary/remembering-lotika-sarkar-1923-2013.html |volume=XLVIII|issue= 20|date=18 May 2013 |publisher=[[Economic and Political Weekly]] |access-date=3 June 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Rolling stone who anchored the women's movement |author=Urvashi Butalia|author-link=Urvashi Butalia|url=http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/rolling-stone-who-anchored-the-womens-movement/article4766709.ece |work=The Hindu |date=31 May 2013 |access-date=3 June 2013}}</ref> In 1979, the [[Supreme Court of India]] reversed the judgment of [[Bombay High Court]] in the [[Mathura rape case]], in which two policemen were sentenced for raping of sixteen-year-old girl within a police station. The acquittal, went largely unnoticed until September 1979, when professors [[Upendra Baxi]], Raghunath Kelkar and Sarkar of [[Delhi University]] and Vasudha Dhagamwar of Pune, wrote an [[open letter]] to the Supreme Court, protesting the concept of consent in the judgment. "Consent involves submission, but the converse is not necessarily true...From the facts of case, all that is established is submission, and not consent...Is the taboo against pre-marital sex so strong as to provide a license to Indian police to rape young girls."<ref name=kh132>[[#Kh|Khullar, p. 132]]</ref> Later in January 1980 she formed the first feminist group against rape, "Forum Against Rape", widespread protests followed and eventually [[Indian Penal Code]] was amended.<ref name="Fem web"/><ref>{{cite web |title=The Mind And Heart of Lotika Sarkar, Legal Radical, Friend, Feminist |url=http://news.in.msn.com/her_courage/the-mind-and-heart-of-lotika-sarkar-legal-radical-friend-feminist |date=7 March 2013 |publisher=MSN News India |access-date=5 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131001155828/http://news.in.msn.com/her_courage/the-mind-and-heart-of-lotika-sarkar-legal-radical-friend-feminist |archive-date=1 October 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=slamming>{{cite news |last=Indira |first=Jaising |author-link=Indira Jaising |title=Slamming the doors of justice on women |work=The Indian Express |date=20 January 1999 |url=http://www.indianexpress.com/Storyold/74290/ |access-date=6 June 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/687aNhWS7?url=http://www.indianexpress.com/Storyold/74290/ |archive-date=2 June 2012 }}</ref>

In 1980, she became a founder member of Centre for Women's Development Studies (CWDS), Delhi, founded by Vina Mazumdar, and which went on to become an influential institution, impacting the course of [[women's studies]] in India.<ref name="to">{{cite news|url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-03-08/india/28147826_1_first-report-middle-class-women-equality|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811061337/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-03-08/india/28147826_1_first-report-middle-class-women-equality|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 August 2011|title=Educated middle class women are selfish |date=8 March 2010|first1=Rema|newspaper=[[The Times of India]]|last1=Nagarajan}}</ref> Through the 1980s and 90s, she taught criminal law at the [[Indian Law Institute]] in Delhi.<ref name=b&B/><ref name=toi13/> She was also a founding member of Indian Association for Women's Studies, established in 1982.<ref>{{cite web |title=Founding Members |url=http://www.iaws.org/ |publisher=Indian Association for Women's Studies |access-date=5 June 2013}}</ref>

==Personal life==
She met Chanchal Sarkar in 1951, while he too was studying at Cambridge, they married in 1957.<ref name=age/> Chanchal Sarkar went on to become an eminent journalist, assistant editor of ''[[The Statesman (India)|The Statesman]]'' and founding director of the Press Institute of India in 1963; he died on 10 October 2005 in Delhi.<ref>{{cite news |title=Chanchal Sarkar dead |url=http://www.hindu.com/2005/10/11/stories/2005101110301300.htm|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130629105252/http://www.hindu.com/2005/10/11/stories/2005101110301300.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=29 June 2013|date=11 October 2005 |work=[[The Hindu]] |access-date=3 June 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=OBITUARY: Chanchal Sarkar (1926–2005) |url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1051017/asp/opinion/story_5358748.asp |newspaper= The Telegraph|location=Kolkota |date= 17 October 2005|access-date=5 June 2013}}</ref> The couple had no children.<ref>{{cite news |title=Latika hasn't run out of options|url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2009-01-15/delhi/28006047_1_property-option-latika-sarkar |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131207055852/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2009-01-15/delhi/28006047_1_property-option-latika-sarkar |url-status=dead |archive-date=7 December 2013 |date=15 January 2009 |newspaper=[[The Times of India]]|access-date=4 June 2013}}</ref>

She continued to live thereafter at their [[Hauz Khas]], Delhi residence, which she was disposed of January 2009 by the tenants, which led to a media furore<ref>{{cite news |title=Owner's pride now friend, help's envy: catfight over house in Hauz Khas|url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/owner-s-pride-now-friend-help-s-envy-catfight-over-house-in-hauz-khas/410404/0 |work=The Indian Express |date=14 January 2009 |access-date=3 June 2013}}</ref> Several leading intellectuals, jurists, academics, journalists, activists and over a dozen national groups and institutions came forward in her support demanding speedy justice,<ref>{{cite news |title=150 notables demand justice for Lotika Sarkar|url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2009-03-17/delhi/28016838_1_lotika-sarkar-nirmal-dhoundial-hauz-khas-enclave |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130629133943/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2009-03-17/delhi/28016838_1_lotika-sarkar-nirmal-dhoundial-hauz-khas-enclave |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 June 2013 |date=17 March 2009 |newspaper=[[The Times of India]]|access-date=4 June 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Demand to transfer Lotika's property back to her|url=http://www.hindu.com/2009/03/17/stories/2009031754030400.htm|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130629110356/http://www.hindu.com/2009/03/17/stories/2009031754030400.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=29 June 2013|quote=a pioneer in the field of women's studies and human rights,.. |date=17 March 2009 |work=[[The Hindu]]|access-date=4 June 2013}}</ref> some even met the President,<ref name=toidon/> before the house was restored to her by the courts in November 2009.<ref>{{cite news |title=Lotika Sarkar gets her house back after all |url=http://www.hindu.com/2009/11/27/stories/2009112757920100.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091130040539/http://www.hindu.com/2009/11/27/stories/2009112757920100.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=30 November 2009 |date=27 November 2009 |work=[[The Hindu]] |access-date=4 June 2013}}</ref>

She died in New Delhi on 23 February 2013, at the age of 90.<ref name=toi13>{{cite news |title=Latika Sarkar, former head of DU law faculty, no more|url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-02-24/delhi/37269789_1_legal-education-social-worker-head-of-du-law |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130615045446/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-02-24/delhi/37269789_1_legal-education-social-worker-head-of-du-law |url-status=dead |archive-date=15 June 2013 |date=24 February 2013 |newspaper=[[The Times of India]]|access-date=3 June 2013}}</ref>

==Bibliography==
* ''New Perspectives for Third World Women'' (The E. V. Mathew memorial lectures), with [[Brigalia Bam|Brigalia H. Bam]]. Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society, 1979.
* ''National Policies and Legal Reform: Impact on Women'', Indian Council of Social Science Research, Programme of Women's Studies, 1980.
* ''Constitutional Guarantees: The Unequal Sex'' Centre for Women's Development Studies, 1986.
* ''National Specialised Agencies and Women's Equality: Law Commission of India''. Centre for Women's Development Studies, 1988.
* ''Legislative Measures and Policy Directions for Improving the Lot of Farm Women'', with [[Vina Mazumdar]], Kumud Sarma. Indian Council of Agricultural Research.
* ''Handbook on Women and Law, Vol. 1''. Legal Literacy Project, Department of Adult Continuing Education and Extension, University of Delhi, 1990.
* ''Women's Movement and the Legal Process'', Centre for Women's Development Studies, 1995.
* ''Engendering Law: Essays in Honour of Lotika Sarkar'', ed. Amita Dhanda, Archana Parashar. Eastern Book Company, 2005. {{ISBN|8170129540}}.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
* {{cite book |title=Women's Education in India: 1986–1987 |author=Surendra P. Agrawal |author2=J. C. Aggarwal |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |year=1992|isbn=978-8170223184 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bJD4EM2kvt0C&pg=PA61 |ref=Ag }}
* {{cite book |title=Writing the Women's Movement: A Reader |author=Mala Khullar |author2=Ihwa Yŏja Taehakkyo |publisher=Zubaan|year=2005|isbn=978-8186706992 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Efv3V7Y9WzsC&pg=PA132 |ref=Kh }}

==External links==
* [http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/eighteen-1751341-memorial-meeting-prof-latika-sarkar-13-2013/ Memorial Meeting, Prof. Lotika Sarkar]

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarkar, Lotika}}
[[Category:1923 births]]
[[Category:2013 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian women academics]]
[[Category:Indian legal scholars]]
[[Category:Bengali people]]
[[Category:Indian women's rights activists]]
[[Category:Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Harvard Law School alumni]]
[[Category:University of Delhi faculty]]
[[Category:Women educators from Delhi]]
[[Category:Women's studies academics]]
[[Category:Bengali scientists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian lawyers]]
[[Category:Legal educators]]
[[Category:Indian legal writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian educational theorists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women scientists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian social scientists]]
[[Category:Social workers]]
[[Category:Women scientists from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Activists from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Indian women scholars]]
[[Category:Scholars from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Indian academic administrators]]
[[Category:Women academic administrators]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian social scientists]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian women scientists]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian lawyers]]
[[Category:Social workers from Delhi]]
[[Category:21st-century women writers]]
[[Category:Women legal scholars]]
[[Category:20th-century women educators]]
[[Category:Indian expatriates in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Indian expatriates in the United States]]

Lotika Sarkar - Revision history

->Johnpacklambert at 12:44, 17 August 2021