Protect Her, Empower Them,
Change Everything.

Harnessing the power of law to champion the cause of Women’s and Children’s Rights.

About The Centre

Transformative Social Change Through Law

The GNLU Centre for Women and Child Rights is a gathering of legal minds with the aim of harnessing the power of law to champion the causes of Women’s and Children’s Rights by encouraging and facilitating active discourse and deliberation in the field of women’s and children’s rights development. With this vision, Gujarat National Law University established the Centre for Women and Child Rights (“GCWCR“) on the 15th of September, 2020. The Centre integrates research, direct field action, and teaching on child rights law, using law and socio-legal strategies as tools for transformative social change to enable children to live with dignity. The specific aim of the Centre is to ensure social justice, human rights, and quality of life for all children and women in India, with a special focus on equitable quality education, care, protection, and justice for marginalised and excluded women and children.

The Context & Rationale

Rising Challenges

The National Health Family Survey suggests that 30% of women in the 15-49 age group have experienced physical violence, and 6% of the same have experienced sexual violence and abuse, and the latest NCRB data shows a 16% increase in crimes against women. The NCRB reports that the country saw a 500% increase in crimes against children in the past decade.

The Need for Policy

The high prevalence of malnutrition, the high neonatal mortality rate, poor coverage of full immunization, the declining sex ratio, and child marriage pose a challenge to improving human development outcomes for every child in Gujarat and it is pertinent that more time, research, and resources are allocated to make sure children have a safe, healthy and flourishing childhood. All these highlight the need for research and policy analysis in such areas to make sure that ironclad policies are implemented to progress gender equality in Gujarat and the in-country and to also assure that these policies are being rightly implemented.

* * *

Keeping this in mind, Gujarat National Law University has established the Centre for Women and Child Rights. The center is divided into two wings; one dedicated to research while the other for capacity building. The research division will be engaged in empirical and legal analysis to produce publications, reports, and policy briefs, and the capacity building division will organise field-driven activities with the key stakeholders (women and children) to improve their status and condition in society.

Meet Our Team

Shubhika Garg

Editor-in-Chief

Shubhika Garg is a final-year student at Gujarat National Law University. She has always followed what moves her, whether it’s international law, policy, or her half-obsessive dive into arbitration. An avid reader, she believes there’s no fixed method to her madness, only a constant hope to leave every cause a little better than she found it.

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Kale Sanskruti Madhukar

Blog Head

Sanskruti is a fourth-year B.S.W. LL.B. (Hons.) student. She is drawn to studying how the law behaves with the vulnerable factions of society. She strongly believes that “status quo” is just legalese for “we stopped caring,” and she is not great at that. Her free time is an even split between running tracks and taking naps.

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Avni Jain

Administrative Editor

Avni Jain is a final- year BBA LL.B student who believes that kindness and courage belongs in every space. She is still learning, unlearning and finding her own way to make a difference.

Anshika Patel

Administrative Editor

Anshika Patel is a third-year law student with a profound interest in policy-making and human rights. To her, hope breathes in unexpected places, and through her work, she strives to keep its light alive. Beyond academics, Anshika finds meaning in stories, in the films she watches, and especially Middle Eastern fiction.

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Sakshi Jain

Convenor

Sakshi Jain is a final-year B.A. LL.B. student. She believes that law is not merely a tool for justice, but a language of empowerment. She strives to make rights more real by fostering conversations and community engagement. Outside law, she can probably be found at a dance rehearsal.

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Nidhi Suman

Convenor

Nidhi Suman is a final-year B.S.W. LL.B. student. She’s interested in how ideas can actually create change in people’s lives, not just stay on paper. For her, law isn’t just about rules, it’s about listening to the right stories and making sure they matter.

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We welcome original and insightful contributions that explore contemporary issues within the realm of Women and Child Rights.

GNLU Centre for Women and Child Rights

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