-The Telegraph The world lauds us as the largest democracy. Yet, how much of a democracy are we and where must we improve? Elections and their consequences: We have regular elections. They are supervised with increasing effectiveness as far as booth capturing, bogus voters and violence are concerned. The influence of money has not waned; if anything, it has increased. It is not as it used to be, for paying voters only....

-The Times of India India may be reporting one death penalty every third day but it also commutes one capital punishment to life imprisonment every day - thanks to Delhi which leads the chart by making course correction in old cases. The national Capital, which reported 71 death penalties during 2001-11, saw 2,462 commutations in that 11-year period - accounting for more than 50% of the total commutations (4,321) in the...

-The Telegraph Law minister Ashwani Kumar today said the government had an “open” mind on changes in the juvenile justice act and the recently introduced Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance to ensure a credible deterrent that wouldn’t lend itself to abuse. He said the “final shape” to the new criminal law would emerge after a “comprehensive debate” in Parliament but didn’t set a time frame for changes in the JJ Act, 2000. The minister’s...

-Outlook While great awareness has been raised about sexual violence against women in India, much less is known about the problem of sexual abuse of children' Summary The rape and murder of a student in New Delhi on December 16, 2012, followed by large public protests, has led to a great deal of soul searching about the problem of sexual violence in India. Politicians, lawyers, women’s rights activists, and an independent government...

-The Economic Times Beginning today, the country's highest court will hear petitions filed by telecom-industry lobbies challenging a recent Rajasthan High Court order that directed telecom companies to remove cellphone towers from schools, hospitals, jails and heritage buildings in the state amid claims that tower radiation was harmful. Officials of two leading industry associations, representing mobile operators and telecom tower companies, feel the Supreme Court's verdict in the case could set...