Karishma Paun is a second-year university student, studying Law at Wadham College, University of Oxford. A former non-fiction editor of The Isis Magazine and current People of Colour representative, she tells Nima Suchak how the plight of women inspired her to take up law.
Kiranjit Ahluwalia, a young Punjabi woman with two children, found herself facing life imprisonment. Her crime? Setting her husband’s sleeping body alight, leading to his death. Her reason? She had suffered years of horrific domestic abuse, including food depravation and marital rape. In her depressed state, she even attempted overdosing. One night, reeling from yet another attack and fearing the safety of herself and her child, she attempted to exert some control over her life for once. Her defence? She raised none in court.
Speaking broken English with little understanding of the judicial proceedings, Kiranjit accepted her fate, and was convicted of murder. Eventually, Southall Black Sisters campaigned for a mistrial, and it came to light that Kiranjit was suffering from Battered Women’s Syndrome. Her crime was reclassified as manslaughter and the case redefined what it meant to be provoked by an abuser. Similarly, imprisoned women were freed, and crucially it raised awareness of domestic and ‘honourbased’ violence in the UK’s South Asian community. As a young student, this case resonated with me.
Ultimately, it is no one’s religion or culture to inflict violence or abuse another person. Yet such behaviour occurs in our communities and goes largely overlooked. When people are brave enough to speak out, often familiar competing factors of family ‘honour’ and ‘reputation’ seem to stifle any action. At these moments, what is needed most is condemnation, but what often ensues is complicity with such crimes. In the face of all this, there is one institution to ensure that justice prevails – the law. The law can cut through hostile/ backwards views and lay down that fundamentally noone should be subjected to this kind of treatment. The law guarantees our human rights and for women’s rights, the judiciary is a powerful tool in securing equality.
While law operates as the bedrock of society and permeates all imaginable parts of our existence, it is often an imperfect and blunt instrument, as was shown in the original outcome of the Ahluwalia case. But as an institution, law is mouldable and can be changed to represent the needs of those who require its protection. That is why it is essential to engage in the legal and political systems, and campaign for legal reform where outcomes are undesirable. These institutions have massive control over us, so we ought to ensure that they represent the values which we think are important in society.
Such stories evoke a sense of shared womanhood and female identity. I have some incredible women in my life, but I have also seen the subtle and not-so-subtle ways in Karishma Paun is a second-year university student, studying Law at Wadham College, University of Oxford. A former non-fiction editor of The Isis Magazine and current People of Colour representative, she tells Nima Suchak how the plight of women inspired her to take up law. Which cultural expectations can hinder female development and empowerment. While I have the autonomy to pursue my goals, control what I wear, and who I associate with, other women don’t. Such injustice, while is it is not my own, is inseparable from my own through the very fact that I too am a woman. One of my favourite quotes is from Audre Lorde, that ‘I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different to my own’. It is these very shackles which the law can be a great opposing force against.
Now in my second year, with graduation in sight, some of the idealism which initially drew me to studying law has been tested. I can see how law can only do so much, and real change must come from families, communities and ultimately people themselves. While not all the myths surrounding Oxford are true, there are parts of the traditional establishment in need of change. This year I ran for a position on the student union as the People of Colour representative and now organise talks, socials and Wadham’s Annual Race Symposium. More so than that, it has been really rewarding creating a support system for people of colour.
It’s a great way to leave your mark on the institution and give back. So, this International Women’s Day, I will be thinking about Kiranjit and the other inspirational women in my life who have – in steady and quiet defiance – laid the seeds for great change which ultimately allow women to pursue their ambitions today.
