Post Date: Wednesday, May 25, 2016
On 2 March 2015, Janko Bi died as a result of the State’s failure to ensure women’s fundamental right to survive pregnancy in Bilaspur District. It took a government ambulance one hour to reach her home. A pediatrician examined Janko Bi five hours after her family called the ambulance and three hours after she arrived at the Gaurella Community Health Centre. She died as a result of delivery related complications nine and a half hours later.
The Hospital staff did not inform the family of the official cause of death. Janko’s maternal death is a regular occurrence in India and Chhattisgarh. India accounts for the largest number of maternal deaths in the world. The latest data shows that 50,000 women died from pregnancy related causes in 2013 alone – 137 women die every day and 6 women every hour.
The World Health Organization reports that the 90% of maternal deaths are preventable where women have access to antenatal services, skilled delivery assistance, and post-natal care. Deaths persist even while courts in India and abroad consistently rule that maternal death constitutes a violation of a woman’s fundamental rights to life, health, dignity, and equality.
Litigation
- Presentations from the Two Day Webinar on Reproductive Rights on 23rd & 24th of May, 2020
- Patna High Court: Ration facility for all transgender persons
- Nikhil Datar vs. Union of India: A long drawn struggle
- Patna High Court gives favourable order in response to the PIL on water logging in the state
- Guwahati High Court delivers landmark judgement; Department of Health and Family Welfare to pay Twenty Five Lakh Rupees to Petitioner in Nagaland
Fact Finding
- Presentations from the Two Day Webinar on Reproductive Rights on 23rd & 24th of May, 2020
- Report on the State level Consultation in Arunachal Pradesh on 2nd & 3rd November, 2019
- Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights Dictionary
News
- Report of the two day webinar on ‘Access to Reproductive Justice’ on 23rd & 24th May, 2020
- Report of the National level consultation on Trans people and women’s issues- 28th & 29th December, 2019
- Nikhil Datar vs. Union of India: A long drawn struggle