-The Hindu Hundred and nine civilian deaths occurred due to police firing in 2011, according to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). Disproportionate use of force during demonstrations caused many deaths and at least 100 deaths were caused due to excessive use of force against demonstrators in Jammu and Kashmir in 2010. According to the NHRC, 2,560 deaths during encounters with police were reported between 1993 and 2008. Of this, 1,224 cases...

-The Indian Express It is anger on the streets that brought the neglected issue of sexual violence back to the forefront, energised a government-appointed committee to put together clear and well reasoned recommendations on law reform and forced the government to table the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2013. It is public pressure and years of struggle by the women's movement that is reflected in the more progressive parts of the bill,...

-The Hindu     The circumstances surrounding the custodial death of a Dalit woman in Tamil Nadu in 2002 serve as a reminder of the difficulties in securing justice when the offenders are government functionaries This is a case of justice being awarded after a decade. Last month, the Ramanathapuram Sessions Court sentenced eight policemen to rigorous imprisonment, for up to 10 years, for the 2002 custodial killing of Karuppi, a poor Dalit woman,...

-The Hindu The House must ensure that the new Bill to replace the Criminal Law Ordinance consciously upholds the provisions and spirit of the Verma Committee report A brave young woman died a brutal death in the heart of the nation’s capital. And Parliament must speak. Today. Tomorrow. Or, the day after. But speak it must. And in a unified voice of conviction and certitude, rising above the cacophony of political difference...

-The Indian Express The CPM has demanded that the maximum punishment in cases of “aggravated sexual assault” and “rape” be enhanced to rigorous life imprisonment till death and suggested that laws related to sexual assault be made “gender specific”. The party is not in favour of death penalty as it feels existing laws provide for capital punishment in “rarest of the rare” cases of gangrape and murder like the Delhi incident. In...