Honour killings, rampant in Haryana, have led to a bizzare trend in rural areas: villagers are increasingly marrying off their minor daughters, fearing love affairs may force the girls to run away from homes. According to state women and child development department, about 100 child marriages were stopped in the last one year. Last month, Poonam (16) of Sirsa district was "saved" by a team of district police child marriage...

In recent years, Chhattisgarh police has been under a cloud for human rights violations in the conflict zone of Bastar. So far, the allegations have not been proved in a court of law, making it virtually impossible for victims to claim compensation. But on Friday, for the first time, the High Court of Chhattisgarh directed the state government to compensate the widows of three men allegedly killed by the police....

PONDICHERRY, India — P.M.L. Kalayansundaram calls himself a human rights worker. He runs an organization that provides a variety of services to villagers in this area — legal aid, financial assistance to help them organize marriage and death ceremonies, and free refrigerated coffin boxes that they would otherwise have to procure at exorbitant rates from private merchants. On a recent afternoon, he told me that he had been determined from...

On Tuesday, readers awoke to the Capital’s night of horror. A young girl, Asha, and her lover, Yogesh, were tortured to death by her family members inside her home, even as neighbours chose to shut out the victims’ screams. Those who tried to intervene were brushed off by family members claiming it was a ‘private matter’. This gruesome crime, committed in the name of ‘family honour’, raises three important questions. First,...

In the absence of whole-hearted steps to implement the provisions effectively, the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 is falling short of expectations.  The Delhi High Court ruled recently that a woman can also be held liable under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005. This the court did on the basis of the interpretation that ‘relatives' included not only male but also female members of...