What is it that makes the Indian middle class treat their domestic help with such derision and abuse? In her nine years as a nurse working with rescued domestic workers in Delhi, Mariamma K. thought she had seen the worst. That was until 2010, when she and her colleagues went to rescue a 17-year-old girl from a home in west Delhi. Sangeeta was found with bite marks all over her body....

-The United Nations While commending India's generally high level of commitment to human rights, a United Nations expert today urged the Government to continue to fight impunity for extrajudicial executions, and communal and traditional killings. The UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns, said he recognized the size, complexity, security concerns and diversity of India – however, he remains concerned that the challenges with respect to the protection...

Block the loo and train the child. If a recent report of the National Commission of Child Rights is to be believed, barring students bathroom breaks seems to be teachers’ favourite form of punishment. According to the report, “Eliminating Corporal Punishment in Schools”, released earlier this month, almost 18 per cent students are not allowed to go to the restroom as punishment for bad behaviour in class. This is at the top of...

To make the RTI Act more effective and meaningful, the State Information Commission(SIC) has come out with a mechanism to help the activists being harassed and tortured for seeking information and take action against their tormentors. Working at the suggestion of CM Nitish Kumar, the SIC has decided to create a monitoring cell and deploy officials in its office and provide a helpline number for filing their complaints which will...

-The Indian Express Former Uttar Pradesh minister Babu Singh Kushwaha has alleged that he was "tortured" in CBI custody during interrogations. "CBI tortured us during interrogations for ten days," said the sacked BSP minister, while he along with another accused, former BSP MLA Ram Pratap Jaiswal, were being taken to Dasna prison on Tuesday. While talking to media at the entry gate of the prison, Kushwaha said that both of them gave full...