From Mathura to Manorama : resisting violence against women in India [Book Review]

From Mathura to Manorama: Resisting Violence Against Women in India is of potential interest to anyone who is engaged in the area of women’s issues and especially to those who are interested in women’s issues in India. It discusses a spectrum of issues related to violence against women belonging to different castes, classes, religions, and sexual orientations in India although parallels could possibly be drawn to similar population groups in the rest of South Asia as well. The choice of the cases of two women, Mathura and Manorama, in tracing the trajectory of the women’s movement from the 1980s, when Mathura was raped in police custody, to 2004, when Manorama was allegedly raped and killed by the Indian army, is interesting as both cases deal with sexual violence, both belonged to marginalized communities (one a woman of a lower caste and the other a tribal woman), both cases of assault were committed by state custodians, both contributed to consciousness-raising among the women’s movement, and both facilitated a process of collectivization among women giving rise to protests and demonstrations that were theretofore not witnessed in India.