-The Indian Express As the Delhi gangrape case came up before the special fast track court on Monday, a second accused claimed he was under the age of 18 and asked to be treated as juvenile, his lawyer said. Vinay Sharma, an assistant gym instructor, has moved an application seeking a bone ossification test, his lawyer A P Singh told reporters outside the fast track court of additional sessions judge Yogesh Khanna....

-Bloomberg.com One of the most obscene moments after the death of the gang-rape victim in New Delhi was a tweet by Narendra Modi, the chief minister of the Indian state of Gujarat, offering regret and condolences to the dead woman’s family. Modi, who has quelled restive minorities by allowing attackers to subject women to unspeakable horrors, has done more than any man to numb his prudish country to sexual violence. Yet he...

-The Indian Express Former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, his son Ajay Chautala and two IAS officers were among 55 people convicted by a special CBI court in New Delhi Wednesday of illegally recruiting teachers in 1999. All 55 convicts in the case, known as the JBT (Junior Basic Trained teachers) recruitment scam, were taken into judicial custody and sent to Tihar jail until January 22, when the court is scheduled...

-Economic and Political Weekly The vigorous public discourse following the recent brutal gang rape and mutilation of the 23-year-old in Delhi is a positive sign but hopefully the demand for quick solutions will not ignore the complexities involved in dealing with all forms of violence against women. There are also other connected issues that require urgent attention including the description of a rape as a "state worse than death", making out...

-The Indian Express Following the recent “flash mob protests” against the government over the Delhi gangrape-and-murder, the Congress is set to discuss ways to tackle this “new phenomenon” at its chintan shivir to be held in Jaipur later this week. “We also have to discuss the impact and political ramifications of the social media. Thanks to Facebook and Twitter, you don’t need any organisation to mobilise people within minutes and hours... Although...