Five men and a 17-year old boy were arrested after the December 16 bus rape in 2012. Of the five adults convicted of the crime one is dead, and four have had the death sentence passed against them. The 17-year-old, called Accused #6, was also convicted and punished. After serving his time in jail, equipped with some education and skills, he is set to start a new life.
'“Modi is a coward and a psychopath” tweeted Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal just after his office was raided by the Central Bureau of Investigation without permission, or even forewarning. The tweet made it clear that relations between the two governments and leaders have now deteriorated to perhaps a point of no return. The CBI that reportedly stormed into the Chief Ministers office, sealed off the floor and refused to allow officials to enter.
'Incredibly, the government of India will spend more on this one line than it does on rail safety, Swachh Bharat, schools, highways or health... In every which way, Narendra Modi’s 2014 campaign was spectacular. From communication to ground management, the Bharatiya Janata Party electoral machine, it is widely acknowledged, got it right. However, a year and a half after Modi took office, one aspect of his campaign seems to have been a bit too spectacular altogether.
'From all accounts, Superintendent of Police Pankaj Choudhary played a stellar role in ensuring that three deliberately crafted incidents of violence in Nainwa and Khanpur in Bundi district, Rajasthan, didn’t turn into a bloody communal riot. Among the measures he took was to arrest 11 activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal.
'The judgment of the Supreme Court in the Raj Bala case deals a near fatal blow to the health of the Indian democracy. In essence, the court has held that those who have no formal education, those who have no “functioning toilet” and those who are in rural indebtedness cannot contest an election for the position of sarpanch. The judgment effectively disenfranchises – and it recognises this – 68% of Scheduled Caste women, 41% of Scheduled Caste men and over 50% of all women in Haryana from contesting a panchayat election.
'An FIR was registered against a former Delhi University professor Ashok Vohra, on Tuesday night, for allegedly hurting religious sentiments of Hindus during his speech at the Mohan Lal Sukhadia (MLS) University in Udaipur. On Tuesday evening several right-wing groups blocked the highway at Udaipur to pressurise the police into filing an FIR against the professor.
Notwithstanding popular perception, professional soldiers do not join the armed services out of overwhelming ‘patriotism’. They are in fact driven by the desire to get a job that offers material security for them and their family. It is predominantly their own livelihood needs that drives people to enlist.
Over the years, every so-called spontaneous attack on free expression has had the support of political groups... Violence is the weapon of choice of all self-styled defenders of faiths and ideas in India. This week’s example comes from Maharashtra, where offices of the Marathi newspaper Lokmat in Akola and Jalgaon were vandalised. The attackers, it seems, were upset by an illustration for an article in the newspaper’s Sunday edition about how the ISIS is funded.
'Madras High court on Tuesday directed Tamil Nadu Government and Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Department to implement dress code for devotees coming to offer worship in temples to enhance spiritual ambiance. Disposing a petition filed by one Rasu seeking police protection and permission for "Adal Paadal programme" (dance and music) at Sri Shenbaga Vinayagar temple in Tiruchirappalli district, Justice S Vaidyanathan said "we should dress for public worship in a way that is generally considered appropriate".
'A family was evicted by fellow patrons at a cinema hall here on November 29 for allegedly not standing up when the national anthem was played. As per a State government order passed in 2003, cinema halls in Maharashtra are required to play the national anthem before the start of each movie. The incident came to light when a moviegoer in the same theatre (PVR Cinemas in the suburb of Kurla in central Mumbai) filmed the altercation and posted it on Twitter and Facebook, leading to an online uproar...
