-The Hindu   When the Supreme Court has recognised the right to go on hunger strike, why is Irom Sharmila's protest against impunity of the armed forces a criminal act? Over the past 12 years, Irom Sharmila Chanu has carried on an inconceivable hunger strike, which has seen her body wither and her skin turn pale. During this period, she has emerged as the face of the civilian resistance to the immunity, and...

-The Hindu The Sunday Story Innocent and unarmed people were beaten up in these incidents. This is animal behaviour: Supreme Court On March 11, the Supreme Court again issued notice to the Centre through the Secretary, Home Department, on police reforms. This was at the suo motu hearing of the case relating to the assault of a woman by Punjab constables and brutal beating up of women teachers in Bihar. Notices were also...

-The Hindu “What is important is whether the police are serious about crimes against women” “Increasing the enormity of punishment in cases involving crimes against women will not solve the issue of rising crime against women,” Nobel laureate Amartya Sen said here on Monday, adding that there was no scientific basis to it.  “What is important is whether the police are serious about such crimes, how quickly the matter is tried in a...

-The Hindu In protecting husbands from marital rape and khap panchayats from accountability for sexual wrongs, the government has lost an opportunity to change the way in which our society treats women In its eagerness to demonstrate that it is “doing something” about rape in response to the overwhelming protests over the brutal rape and murder of the 23-year-old Delhi student last December, the government has issued an ordinance that is both...

-The Hindu The All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) too objected to the "selective and arbitrary approach" of the Government to the recommendations. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has denounced the ordinance which the Union Cabinet issued on Friday to curb sexual violence against women. When Parliament was to convene for the budget session in three weeks, the promulgation of the ordinance ran counter to democratic norms, a statement issued by the...