Mahek Anil Bhatia

I am a PhD candidate in the Law School, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). I read for the MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Oxford (Somerville College) as the Cornelia Sorabji Scholar, where my dissertation on marital rape litigation won the Best Dissertation Prize. Before this, I graduated with a first-class law degree from Warwick Law School, where I was the Global Excellence Scholar.

Broadly, my work sits at the intersection of socio-legal studies, criminology, and feminist legal theories. My project is a socio-legal study of lawyers' roles in the litigation process for domestic violence victims in India.

I have also been involved in impact-oriented research. I was an external reviewer for a reportLink opens in a new window on the marital rape exemption in India, produced by MAYA Initiative, which was subsequently cited in a writ petition before the Supreme Court of India challenging the constitutional validity of penal provisions shielding husbands from marital rape charges. The hearing (Diary Number: 28157/2026) is before the Supreme Court Bench of the Hon'ble Chief Justice of India, and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana.

I am also the PGR representative at the Socio-Legal Studies Association.Link opens in a new window

Previous work:

• Mahek Bhatia, 'Book Review: Domestic Violence in Pakistan: The Legal Construction of “Bad” and “Mad” Women” by Daanika Kamal' (2026) Social & Legal Studies 1.

• Mahek Bhatia, ‘Blurring the Insider/Outsider Distinction? Reflections on the Impact of Digital Networking on Legal Fieldwork in India’ (Socio Legal Review Forum, 11 November 2025) <https://forum.nls.ac.in/slr-forum-blog/blurring-the-insider-outsider-distinction-reflections-on-the-impact-of-digital-networking-on-legal-fieldwork-in-india/>

• Mahek Bhatia, 'Rethinking the Romanticisation of Community-Based Approaches in Anti-Carceral Feminist Theorisation' (2025 Oxford Law Blogs) <https://blogs.law.ox.ac.uk/centre-criminology-blog/blog-post/2025/03/rethinking-romanticisation-community-based-approaches>

• Mahek Bhatia, 'Marital Rape Criminalisation in India - Feminist Conundrums' (Obiter Dicta, 9 November 2023) <https://obiterdicta.co.uk/2324/blog-post-title-two-nfyp9>

• Stefania Paredes Fuentes, Mahek Bhatia, Alero Etuwewe, Ivanne Gnaoure, Caitlin Hoyland and Dipbuk Panchal, How to Start Decolonising Social Sciences: A Workbook(University of Warwick, October 2022).