Senior lawyer and Kashmir Committee chief Ram Jethmalani has demanded that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and the Public Safety Act be revoked, expressing concern at the human rights situation in the State. At the end of the committee's five-day visit to Kashmir, he told journalists that New Delhi was partly responsible for the situation. He said he would constitute a group of lawyers in Delhi to fight the cases...

Like millions of others across India, I have spent the past week repelled by the spectacle of a weak government entering into improbable contortions over the naive and somewhat bizarre demands of Baba Ramdev. And when the “toughness” followed in the early hours of Sunday, it came in a typically cowardly fashion — with police action in the dead of the night against unarmed supporters who did not pose an...

-The United Nations   An independent United Nations expert on freedom of expression today warned that governments are increasingly restricting the flow of information on the Internet due to its potential to mobilize people to challenge the status quo. Frank La Rue, a Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva today: “Governments are using increasingly sophisticated technologies to block content, and to monitor and identify...

No one’s buying the government’s desperate arguments to keep the prime minister above Lokpal scrutiny Points Of Friction   Government and civil society representatives have sparred on the question of including the prime minister in the proposed Lokpal Bill on seven key grounds: Point: The Prime Minister is accountable only to Parliament, and to the people of India Counterpoint: Does this mean a PM can never face action for criminal liability, however serious the charge,...

Freedom is important, so is responsibility. In countries like India, the media have a responsibility to fight backward ideas such as casteism and communalism, and help the people fight poverty and other social evils. Freedom of the press and journalistic ethics is an important topic today in India — with the word ‘press' encompassing the electronic media also. There should be a serious discussion on the topic. That discussion should include...