‘Beggar type.’ Like most of us, Smita Jacob had never come across that pithy official phrase before. It’s a classification in the records of the police of New Delhi, India’s richest city, used to describe a dead homeless person whose death is too insignificant to investigate. The police are as sensitive as you and I to the cripple on the pavement, the child at the car window. They mean no...

Human rights groups combating sexual assault, women's groups and groups working on child rights have come together to reflect on the extent to which the proposed Criminal Law Amendment Bill 2010 addresses concerns on the ground.  The Criminal Law Amendment Bill 2010, being proposed to bring about changes in the criminal laws with respect to protections against sexual assault, has been a subject of discussion and popular misinterpretation in the...

The proposed land acquisition Bill should adopt scores of suggestions coming from judges. Few laws have drawn criticism from the Supreme Court with such regular frequency as has the Land Acquisition Act, all the more so in recent times as the weak links in the archaic law have led to continuing legal and political battles and bloodletting. Last month, the Supreme Court identified five areas of conflict arising from the inadequacies of...

Quacks cannot play with the lives of “little Indians” on the strength of questionable certificates, the Supreme Court ruled today in a judgment with far-reaching consequences if enforced strictly. The court said an “unqualified, unregistered and unauthorised medical practitioner” who had no “valid” qualification, degree or diploma couldn’t be permitted to “exploit poor Indians” on the basis of a certificate granted by an institution. The vacation bench cleared the air after...

Taking a serious view of recent arson against Balmiki community by upper caste men in Mirchpur in Haryana, the Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a warning to the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government: serious consequences will follow if atrocities against dalits are reported again. Directing the Hisar district administration to build new houses in place of damaged ones of dalits in the village and provide one member of each family with...