The Human Rights Law Network invites you to an evening of discussions, photography & film, exploring India's maternal health crisis. 

5th March 2011, Indian Islamic Cultural Centre, Lodi Rd, New Delhi.

Post Event Exhibit
6th-12th March 2011, Alliance Francaise, Lodi Rd, New Delhi.

HRLN

Mera Haq is produced by the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN), a not for profit NGO, who has for the last 21 years consistently worked to ensure justice and accountability for victims of human rights abuses. HRLN provides pro bono legal aid for the poor, marginalised and vulnerable whose human rights continue to be violated. HRLN’s Reproductive Rights Unit is only nationwide initiative utilizing legal and public advocacy to attain government accountability for maternal and reproductive health violations. The issues raised by the event are featured in HRLN’s Public Interest Litigation (PIL) cases.

Synopsis

The Journey of Thousands

Told through the untimely death of Shanti Devi, Mera Haq reveals the daily toils of surviving pregnancy for society’s most vulnerable and marginalized.

Narrated through a 15-minute documentary and an accompanying photography exhibit, Mera Haq highlights the systemic barriers Indian women and girls encounter in accessing basic medical care. Mera Haq recounts Shanti’s journey to maternal death, a journey tragically representative of the hundreds of thousands of women and girls who have lost their lives during pregnancy. 

Through photographs and interviews with Shanti’s family and friends, and internationally recognized legal and health experts, Mera Haq unveils the Indian government’s failure to respect, protect, and fulfill the human rights of its people.

Despite rapid economic growth and panoply of laws mandating access to reproductive health services, Mera Haq exposes India’s lack of will power in tackling maternal mortality. India consistently has the highest incidence of maternal death worldwide, currently carrying 20% of the global burden. For every woman who dies from pregnancy-related causes, 20 to 30 suffer short- or long-term morbidities.

Refusing to accept delay and denial of medical treatment as a foregone outcome for the lives of the poor, Shanti’s family turned to the courts. They sought accountability and a restoration of dignity, and in December 2008 filed Laxmi Mandal v. Deen Dayal Harinagar Hospital & ORS, W.P.(C) 8853/2008, in the Delhi High Court. In a groundbreaking judgment issued in June 2010, the government was ordered to pay compensation for Shanti’s preventable death, and for the first time in history, maternal mortality was recognized as a human rights violation. 

Mera Haq pays tribute to the tireless spirit of Shanti’s family and community members, and illustrates litigation as a powerful tool for advancement of social change and government accountability.

The event includes a film screening, photography exhibit , and panel discussion comprised of maternal health and legal experts, as well artists and journalists engaged in creative activism efforts. 

Through this multi-faceted approach we aspire to raise awareness, dialogue, and action on maternal mortality, with the hope that all women and girls, in the not so distant future, survive pregnancy with dignity.

    Shanta Shanta is a community leader in Nangloi, a jhuggi colony in western Delhi.  Her unwavering commitment in seeking justice for Shanti Devi’s death and the struggles of the Nangloi community at large, inspires a demand for social change.

    Shanta

    Shanta is a community leader in Nangloi, a jhuggi colony in western Delhi.  Her unwavering commitment in seeking justice for Shanti Devi’s death and the struggles of the Nangloi community at large, inspires a demand for social change.

    Artist Statement

    The progress of India’s development dominates its media coverage around the World. Stories like Shanti Devi’s are shadowed against proud news reports that India is the second fastest developing country in the World.

    This portrayal may not be unfounded, as the government illustrates through its GDP figures. However, this development has only reached a very small percentage of the population. In reality, divisions between classes are becoming ever more vast.

    Is it not more rational to fathom a nation’s state of development by the universal standards of living held by its citizens and not solely by economical statistics? How can it be then that this exhibition is able to exist? If this nation has truly become a developed country, would we be able to draw attention to such a tragic story? 

    It is our aspiration that the images in this exhibition will resonate in your consciousness.  We hope that upon viewing the photographs you are inspired to dispute amongst yourselves, your contemporaries, your family and friends, why India carries 20% of the World’s maternal mortality burden. And what you can do to change this.

    We urge you to actively challenge your government. Shame them into providing the infrastructure that should already exist, and that is so desperately needed in order for women to survive pregnancy in India, and to do so with dignity.

    It is hoped that you are able to consider these images with empathy and respect for Shanti Devi; who’s life like so many women before her, and the countless victims that will undoubtably follow, was cut short due to a system that failed her.  


    Laxmi Mandal Laxmi is the brother of late Shanti Devi and the petitioner for the case filled by HRLN.  He  stood up to hold the government accountable for the egregious violations suffered by his sister. His courage reflects a refusal to accept delay and denial of medical treatment as a foregone outcome for the lives of the poor.

    Laxmi Mandal

    Laxmi is the brother of late Shanti Devi and the petitioner for the case filled by HRLN.  He  stood up to hold the government accountable for the egregious violations suffered by his sister. His courage reflects a refusal to accept delay and denial of medical treatment as a foregone outcome for the lives of the poor.

    Deen Dayal Upadhyay Government Hospital, Delhi The appalling level of hygiene in many government hospitals contravenes India’s international legal obligations to guarantee available, accessible, acceptable, and quality health care services.  

    Deen Dayal Upadhyay Government Hospital, Delhi

    The appalling level of hygiene in many government hospitals contravenes India’s international legal obligations to guarantee available, accessible, acceptable, and quality health care services.  

    Sitting, Wishing, Waiting High demand for government health care services and a lack of available staff and adequate facilities results in the delay and denial of life-saving medical treatment for millions of Indian women, including Shanti Devi.

    Sitting, Wishing, Waiting

    High demand for government health care services and a lack of available staff and adequate facilities results in the delay and denial of life-saving medical treatment for millions of Indian women, including Shanti Devi.

    Saroj Hospital (Private),  Delhi Price of real estate in Delhi is very high.  Private hospitals are sold land at drastically reduced rates by the government on the premise that they reserve 20% of their bed space for below poverty line (BPL) citizens.  In reality this is rarely achieved, and poor people are often turned away because they can’t pay.  Shanti & Kishen were demanded to pay 2.4 lakh to have the dead foetus removed. 

    Saroj Hospital (Private),  Delhi

    Price of real estate in Delhi is very high.  Private hospitals are sold land at drastically reduced rates by the government on the premise that they reserve 20% of their bed space for below poverty line (BPL) citizens.  In reality this is rarely achieved, and poor people are often turned away because they can’t pay.  Shanti & Kishen were demanded to pay 2.4 lakh to have the dead foetus removed. 

    The (un)Breakable Cycle New life should not be delivered in a place resembling where old life leaves it.

    The (un)Breakable Cycle

    New life should not be delivered in a place resembling where old life leaves it.

    Blood Money Despite constitutional obligations, patients are often denied urgent medical treatment due to a shortage of blood.  It is unfortunately common, as in Shanti Devi’s case that hospitals will only treat people on the condition that they provide their own donated blood.  Thus, blood has become a form of currency. 

    Blood Money

    Despite constitutional obligations, patients are often denied urgent medical treatment due to a shortage of blood.  It is unfortunately common, as in Shanti Devi’s case that hospitals will only treat people on the condition that they provide their own donated blood.  Thus, blood has become a form of currency. 

    Lack of meaningful control ‘Reproductive rights include the right of all to make decisions concerning reproductive health free of discrimination, coercion and violence.’ - International Cairo Programme of Action 1994 (India is a signatory) Shanti Devi at the age of 35 had 6 pregnancies, 3 of which resulted in miscarriage and 1 in her eventual death . Her story underscores the lack of meaningful control women in India possess over their reproductive freedom. 

    Lack of meaningful control

    ‘Reproductive rights include the right of all to make decisions concerning reproductive health free of discrimination, coercion and violence.’ - International Cairo Programme of Action 1994 (India is a signatory)

    Shanti Devi at the age of 35 had 6 pregnancies, 3 of which resulted in miscarriage and 1 in her eventual death . Her story underscores the lack of meaningful control women in India possess over their reproductive freedom. 


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