-The Economic Times CPM, which has conventionally opposed capital punishment, has suggested enhancement of punishment in sexual offences and proposed life imprisonment and even death in rarest of rare cases.  In the final draft of suggestions being sent to Justice Verma Committee, formed by the government to rewrite the country's rape laws after the horrific gang-rape, the Left party has openly called for capital punishment in rare and brutal cases. According to...

-Outlook Delhi: Women in the national capital seem to be as unsafe in their homes as they are outside with close to 1,500 cases of cruelty against them by their husbands or relatives registered during 2011. According to Home Ministry data, there has been a surge in instances of violence against women by someone from the family as 1,498 such cases were registered in the capital during 2011 as against 1,273 in...

-The Indian Express While a sessions court in Karnataka thought that “one or two beatings is not the kind of cruelty that could drive a woman to commit suicide”, the Supreme Court on Thursday deprecated all kinds of “insensitivity” shown by people as well as judges towards crimes against women. Appealing for no-tolerance towards any sort of physical violence on women, the apex court said that “mindset” of people, including that of...

-The Hindu An independent all-woman criminal justice system for acts of violence against women would stand a better chance of enabling equitable justice than one dominated by patriarchal insensitivity. What more can I say about the unconscionable event that took place on the night of December 16 in Delhi that has not already been said or written about over the last fortnight? Every conceivable aspect of the brutal rape and the reactions...

-The Hindu Mid-January last year a fragile, dazed 14-year-old girl walked into the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences Trauma Centre here clutching what looked like a tiny bundle of clothes. Sensing something amiss, the medical staff there immediately swung into action, unfolding what was to be one of the worst reported cases of child assault by a juvenile in the country. Malnourished, pregnant and with a history of being violently abused mentally,...