-Deccan Herald Mumbai: Palghar that grabbed headlines late last year for all the wrong reasons continues to simmer with news trickling from interiors  that communalist forces have barred Christian adivasi families from drawing water or collecting firewood to cook food. The ostracising of Christian adivasis in the tribal taluk of rural Thane district reached its peak on Sunday when a mob raising slogans disrupted a worship service and assaulted worshippers. Delayed reports...

-Open Democracy Were Ram Singh and his cohort simply claiming a notion of masculinity promoted every day by their role models in politics, business and the media? Ruchira Gupta writes of the steady creeping of a rape culture into the fabric of India, and what needs to be done to counter the idea that women are commodities Let us talk about Ram Singh, the chief rapist accused in the case of Damini,...

-The Indian Express Ahmedabad: The uncovering of what appears to be baby trading has blurred the line between such rackets and surrogacy, amid signs that the woman not only sold off at least one child but has also struck a deal for one she is expecting. Manjula, or Mona Thakor, admits she was paid for a baby by a Ahmedabad gynaecologist who routed it to a couple. The crime branch has found...

-Outlook As a debate raged over imposing death penalty for rape convicts, National Commission for Minorities (NCM) opposed such a "blanket provision", saying this would prompt offenders to kill their victims. "The laws concerning rape provisions should be made for enhancement of punishment with imprisonment of life and also liability to fine. A blanket provision for death would prompt offenders to kill their victims, compounding instances of rape and murder," the NCM...

-Outlook Lucknow: An application was today moved in a local court here seeking direction to lodge a criminal case against spiritual leader Asaram Bapu for his remarks in connection with the Delhi gang-rape case. The application was moved in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Rajesh Upadhyaya by social activist Madan Lal Shukla. The applicant has alleged that Asaram Bapu made the statement to insult women, which was an offence under the Indian...