Noted women's rights activist Sonal Shukla dead

Ms. Shukla (80), who died after cardiac arrest on Thursday, was the founder and managing trustee of the Vacha Charitable Trust and worked with adolescent girls and women over the last four decades.

Noted women’s rights activist Sonal Shukla died after cardiac arrest in Mumbai on Thursday, a colleague said. Ms. Shukla (80) was the founder and managing trustee of the Vacha Charitable Trust and worked with adolescent girls and women over the last four decades. She was the co-founder of the group Forum Against Rape, now known as the Forum Against Oppression of Women. Vacha started in 1987 as a library and women’s resource centre. It was the first only women’s book library with a collection of over 3,000 books. In 1991, it produced two music albums and two documentaries on women in the independence movement.