-The Indian Express Asking if the nature of a crime should be taken into account before granting immunity to juveniles from criminal prosecution, the Supreme Court Monday asked the Centre to defend the “constitutional validity” of the provision in the Juvenile Justice Act that treats a person as minor until 18 years. Seeking a comprehensive response from the Centre, a Bench of Justices K S Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra said that the...

-The Hindu The ordinance on sexual assault cleared by the Union Cabinet and signed into law on Sunday by the President is problematic, not in what it seeks to achieve, but in what it does not attempt to redress. If this is all that the government intends to do on the basis of the Justice Verma Committee report, then, quite worryingly, the nationwide protests and expressions of outrage at rape and...

-The Indian Express On the Delhi rape case, let’s keep the indignation, disturb legislative slumbers The Verma Committee Report (VCR) speaks against civil society and political rape cultures. The poignancy and urgency of the VCR owes much to the experience of conversing with rape survivors and traumatised children. A precious message of the VCR is this: one may not take law reform seriously without taking human and social suffering equally seriously. The committee...

-The Hindu Verma panel recommended fixing responsibility on superior officers The Centre has not accepted the recommendations of the Justice Verma Committee regarding punishment to government servants, particularly police and army personnel, involved in acts of crime against women. The ordinance, cleared by the Union Cabinet on Friday, aims at making changes in various sections of the Indian Penal Code dealing with crime against women. For instance, the three-member panel had suggested changes in...

-PTI The Supreme Court today sought the response of former UP Chief Minister Mayawati on a plea seeking her prosecution in the Rs 17 crore Taj corridor scam case without the sanction of the Governor. "We will examine the case," a bench comprising justices H L Dattu and Ranjan Gogoi said. The court also issued notice to the Centre, the CBI and the Uttar Pradesh government on a petition challenging a judgement of...