Dressed formally in sari, fifty-year-old Shashi Adhikari scrolls through her work emails on her laptop early morning in her office at Man Bhavan. Her father was a Justice and wanted one of his seven children to follow in his footsteps. Now with almost three decades of experience in the legal field, Adhikari has come this far struggling to bring gender-sensitive legislative changes and policy reforms in favor of women’s rights.
“My father encouraged me to take up law. I was very good in mathematics, so I wanted to study engineering but I wanted to fulfill my father’s wish,” says Adhikari who is currently juggling her work as Associate Professor at Nepal Law Campus and as well working on her PhD.[break]
Currently the Chairperson of Legal Aid & Consultancy Centre (LAAC), it was since 1990 that Adhikari actively participated in fighting discrimination against women and provided free legal help for financially weak women. Till now, LAAC has looked over 20,000 cases of women who have been discriminated against one way or the other. It was due to her commitment that she recently received the N Peace Award that recognizes leadership role of women from six conflict-affected countries in Asia.
Adhikari was only 25 when she started practicing law in 1986. She then began teaching Law at Tahachal Campus from 1989. She then realized that being in the legal field gave her the power to help those who were in need and she pursued her mission through LAAC. When those who received legal help from her won cases and started advocating women’s rights themselves, she felt a sense of achievement which further served as a motivation for her.
Dipesh Shreshta
She says that even after she got married, her husband supported her to pursue her legal profession. “After my husband passed away, it’s just my son and I in my family now. But I’ve always got full support from all of my extended family members,” she says.
She remembers her college days when there were just ten female law students at Nepal Law Campus. “Many people during that time questioned us regarding why we had taken up law instead of education since they considered law as a thing to be studied by men. But we had unity among female students and performed well in college,” she says.
But soon after she started studying law and completed her Bachelors in Law, she developed a keen interest to delve into the matters of women’s rights and the conditions of disadvantaged women in the country. During that time, her friend Sapana Pradhan Malla also belonged to the same group and shared a strong opinion that they should be out on the field to practice what they have studied.
Since there wasn’t any facility of Masters in Law (LL.M) courses in Nepal, she took up political science course from Tribhuwan University. She was juggling between her studies and her work as a teacher. But she was ecstatic when she got the opportunity to teach at Law Campus in 1989 as Assistant Lecturer. She later passed the exams and then earned the position of Associate Professor.
“When we entered law, there were very few female lawyers. So whichever firm we went to, it was all male-dominated. Women had just started to practice law during that time. But it was a good opportunity when justices encouraged us to plea in courts,” she says.
But on the other hand, being a female lawyer, it was also hard to gain the trust of both her colleagues and clients. When she and her friend took women’s cases of rape and child marriage voluntarily and won, it helped change the perspectives.
“It was also hard to get permission from home as the work demanded for us to stay till late at night. So we had to utilize the day,” she adds.
She then joined LAAC as soon as it was established by her Professor Shanta Thapaliya in 1987. Adhikari points out that legal service is very expensive, and when women face legal problems, it is not possible for her to get justice if she is economically weak.
“Even to file a case, she has to pay a certain fee and she can’t afford a private lawyer to fight her case. Not all women are educated or economically strong. Due to that, if a woman is caught in disputes or face discrimination from her family, she is suppressed,” she says.
Adhikari thought that it was women like her who were educated and who knew about legal processes and were economically sound enough that should help downtrodden women. With the same motive, LAAC has provided legal service to over thousands of women all over the country in thirteen districts like Kanchanpur and Doti of the Far Western region, Banke, Bardiya and Surkhet of Mid-Western region, Kaski, Syangja, Tanahun of Western region, among other places, like Morang, Sunsari, Ilam and Panchthar.
She has dealt mostly with cases of family matters like domestic violence, property rights cases, divorce, transaction, land and property cases, and criminal cases like rape, public offences, citizenship and witchcraft.
Adhikari explains that it was after entering the legal field that she found out that there was gender discrimination in every law and in every sector of legal provision. In that way, through LAAC and with support from other organizations like Women Protection Pressure Group, she helped to raise voices and pressure in policymaking.
“Ignorance is bliss but once you know something and the more you learn, you see the reality and more obstacles ahead of you. So we had huge obstacles to clear,” she says.
The organization first identified the laws that were biased on the basis of gender. It became the landmark decision when they fought for the equal property rights for male and female among many other issues of women’s rights.
So along with her group, she started providing leadership development training for women from various backgrounds, including legal internship program. LAAC also provided six months of clinical legal education program for women law graduates in places like Pokhara, Nepalgunj, Biratnagar. In that way, after gaining practical knowledge, more women were able to establish their private firms.
“Nothing’s going to happen if we just tell women their about their rights. They need to start practicing as well,” she says.
Even during the conflict period, Adhikari along with LAAC visited places like Doti, Nepalgunj though there was no participation from the government.
“It was very risky and we had to get permission to get past the Maoist posts which were put up at random places,” she says and continues, “But even during conflict or the post-conflict period, we never took sides of anyone as we just looked at the cases from the perspective of a victim as we just wanted justice.”
Adhikari points that many women, especially middle class women, are worried about their status and so suppress their violence issues. There are times when they have come out only after reaching an extreme level.
“In communities and districts, there are women’s groups who help advocate women’s issues. But the cases in cities are different and we don’t see that unity here. Be it middle, lower or upper class women, if they aren’t self-confident, they still face discrimination and are vulnerable,” she says.
Another issue she points out is that many people have migrated to the city areas but many still don’t get their marriage certificate or birth certificate of their children. “People don’t consider it necessary until they face problems in their relationships. But it is hard for us to process the case or provide justice in that matter,” she says.
One of the important issues that Adhikari along with LAAC is trying to reform is the Citizenship Law. “The law states that a child can get citizenship if either of his parents is born in Nepal. Women still face difficulties to get citizenship for her child in the absence of their father but the father is not questioned if his wife is a foreigner or a Nepali,” she explains.
At a time when gender-related issues have been on the spotlight, Adhikari believes there is so much yet to be done to bring awareness regarding women’s rights. She has her hands full with an immensely hectic schedule and despite constant threats from opponent parties, she is headstrong and continues to work with unflinching dedication.
nistha.rayamajhi11@gmail.com
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