-The Hindu Although it has left some crucial questions unanswered, the Verma Committee report is a big step forward in the struggle for women’s rights The UPA government has perhaps got more than what it bargained for from the committee it set up, headed by the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice J.S. Verma, in the wake of the public outrage following the horrific Delhi gang rape. The government had...

-The Indian Express Ahmedabad: Coming down heavily on the Police and prosecutors for their "casualness" in handling of rape cases, the Gujarat High Court has said they should be held accountable if they "fail the victims in securing justice". "It is high time the investigating officer as well as the prosecutor concerned are held accountable, and appropriate actions taken against them after affording them opportunity of being heard and explain the circumstances...

-Governance Now But his eminence is not worth a vote for Mayawati, Paswan and others baying for his blood In an age where 22-second sound bites become the source of heated political debate and vacuous intellectual discourse, eminent sociologist Ashis Nandy’s indiscretion may seem unpardonable. Clearly, he is too old to adapt to bites-induced intellectualism, making him almost incompatible with an impatient class of social elites whose intellectual span is defined by...

-The Hindu Madurai: Even as a campaign is on in Tamil Nadu that inter-caste marriages were mainly the result of dalits “luring” girls from other castes, here is a case in which a Vanniyar boy married a girl belonging to the Kongu Vellalar caste being separated on the basis of caste hierarchy. Unfortunately, the girl, who was pregnant, was forcibly made to undergo abortion by her parents, who lodged a complaint that...

-The Indian Express A day after The Indian Express reported that video clips showed Police destroying private property and looting shops in the north Maharashtra town of Dhule during violence earlier this month, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said there were “some communal elements” in the state Police too and this needed to be handled with great sensitivity. “I have seen the clips that you have written about. Unfortunately, there are some communal...