Shabnam Ramaswamy is an unusual woman by any measure. A Muslim from the Indian middle class, she has spent most of her life helping the urban and rural poor. She escaped an early abusive marriage, defied her society's taboos by selecting for her second husband a Hindu Brahmin, and spent the rest of her life helping women to stand up for their rights.
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Shabnam Ramaswamy will join The State We're In team from time to time to help provide advice to listeners (and web visitors) on matters both personal and more general in nature. You'll find an automatic link - to send in your request for advice - at the bottom of this page. But first read on to find out more about this remarkable woman. |
From her small village, Katna near the Bangladeshi border, Shabnam runs a unique court. It's called Shree Shakti which means Women's Power. She founded it 8 years ago when she and her husband moved to the area and found that rape, dowry abuse, domestic violence and even murder were rife.
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| Shabnam Ramaswamy |
A fair trial for all
In India it can take years and cost a small fortune to get a case heard in a normal court. And the poor, the illiterate, the disenfranchised are generally afraid of taking disputes to the legal authorities so Shabnam set up a court on her front porch.
It started as a women's court, but Shabnam's justice was blind. Her justice was based on fairness, on equality, on common sense. Word spread and now people walk miles from far-flung villages to bring their disputes to her. Shabnam has the support of the local police and so though she has neither legal training nor official status, her rulings hold weight.
Upholding ideals
A man who beat his wife could now be told that if he hurts his wife again, he'll be sent to jail; a landowner trying to cheat his illiterate sharecropper will be compelled to pay compensation; a woman who abandoned her illegitimate baby will be brought to the court and Shabnam will convince her cuckolded husband to accept and even love the child. Because Shabnam's remit doesn't just stop at the letter of the law. Her genuine idealism is infectious. She believes simply that people must treat each other with respect and love and that in so doing, we will all be the better for it.
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Working things out
The State We're In is harnessing the experience, the idealism and the common sense of Shabnam Ramaswamy. The programme will be featuring a regular segment called Free Advice, and often it will be Shabnam Ramaswamy acting as the show's own kind of King Solomon.
If you have a problem, query or conundrum that you just can't find your way around, send it in and we may just put you on the show with Shabnam: 'She'll set you straight'.
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To send in your request click here. |
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Tags: advice, advisor, agony aunt, assistance, counsel, cry, help, page, problem, problems, queries, Shabnam , shoulder, wisdom, wise, words