Feminists’ efforts in the last decade have led to the passing of much legislation including the laws on: abortion, rape, maternity benefits, equal remuneration, sexual harassment, domestic violence. In context of India, laws prohibiting sati, child marriage, dowry, right to property and other have been passed. Despite these legislations, socio-economic status of women has shown little improvement resulting from a gap between women’s formal legal rights and their continuing substantive inequality. The assumption working here is that either law is an instrument of change or that of oppression