-The Indian Express By doing nothing, institutions foster hostile sexual environments. Once upon a time, facts amounting to sexual harassment did not socially "exist", let alone constitute a legal claim. Behaviour such as sexual innuendo, sexually offensive gestures, sexually explicit material, sexual expletives, hostile workplace environments, job-related decisions based on implied requests for sexual favours were, well, just the way things were - it was systemic in nature. These were common life...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has slammed states and Union territories for adopting an "utterly callous attitude" in enforcing path-breaking laws enacted by Parliament to protect children from sexual exploitation and to ensure them their rights including right to education. The court had on January 3 issued a series of directions asking states and UTs to implement three laws: Protection of Rights of Children from Sexual Offences Act,...

-The Indian Express The Justice Ganguly case shows up some lacunae. For one, the sexual harassment act will have to be changed to extend to unpaid interns. There is immense pressure from women activists, the media and some political parties for retired Supreme Court justice, A.K. Ganguly, to resign as the chairperson of the West Bengal Human Rights Commission for allegedly harassing a young intern. The courage of the young intern in...

-The Hindu     The political executive and the permanent executive should realise they are public servants first and work in harmony to achieve the constitutional objectives There is a need to arrest the ‘laal batti' [red beacon] culture in public governance. The Supreme Court of India has been delivering a variety of judgments on matters of public governance, and these have been the subject of debate and discussion. Some of these related to...

-The Telegraph The 153-year-old law that criminalises gay sex is likely contributing to hidden depression and possibly even substance abuse among homosexuals, mental health professionals campaigning for its repeal have said. The experts have said the Supreme Court's ruling earlier this week re-criminalising gay sex could lead to a surge in depression levels across the community. They have cited international studies that point to higher levels of mental health problems among gay...