-The Times of India No obituary notice can do justice to Justice J S Verma. A judge for over 25 years, Chief Justice of India (CJI), Chairman National Human Right (NHRC), Verma Commission on Security Lapses, Verma Commission on rape laws. The list is endless. Many judges hanker for post-retirement jobs, Justice Verma did not. A CJI has to chair of NHRC. He did not ask for the job, but did...
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Reforms that never come
-The Hindu "Animal behaviour," was the unusual language the Supreme Court deployed recently. The context for the cryptic remarks was the gruesome lathi-charge on protesting teachers, predominantly women, engaged on contract by the Bihar government, and the attacks on a woman who sought police intervention in a case of assault. The police carry a long and ignominious record of resort to indiscriminate force to quell peaceful protesters, which peaked in the...
More »Starving to live, not die-Goutham Shivshankar and Suhrith Parthasarathy
-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...
More »The rugged road to justice-V Vasanthi Devi
-The Hindu The circumstances surrounding the custodial death of a Dalit woman in Tamil Nadu in 2002 serve as a reminder of the difficulties in securing justice when the offenders are government functionaries This is a case of justice being awarded after a decade. Last month, the Ramanathapuram Sessions Court sentenced eight policemen to rigorous imprisonment, for up to 10 years, for the 2002 custodial killing of Karuppi, a poor Dalit woman,...
More »Indian journalism at ground zero-V Gangadhar
-The Hindu Those opposing Justice Katju’s suggestion of minimum qualifications for journalists are out of touch with reality Some years ago, the journalism entrance test at a career development institute in Mumbai had this objective-type question: Kofi Annan is (a) a Nigerian footballer (b) lead singer of a Sierra Leone pop group (c) a Sri Lankan delicacy (d) Secretary-General of the United Nations. The 100-odd candidates who appeared for the test were...
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