Some of the recent cases in the higher courts bring into sharp focus the dilemmas on the death penalty. ON October 10, the Supreme Court Bench of Justices Aftab Alam and C.K. Prasad stayed the execution of Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving assailant in the November 2008 Mumbai terror attack, by admitting his appeal against the death sentence awarded to him by the Bombay High Court. The Bench wondered whether Kasab deserved...
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DAP and the holy cow by Sreelatha Menon
DAP — the three-letter magic word which rules the life of most farmers. Some say it is not magic, but black magic, like a drug with a tantalising hold that just won’t let you go. DAP is short for Diammonium Phosphate (a commonly used fertiliser). Whether illiterate or not, farmers all over India know about DAP. And, currently, the biggest crisis that they are facing is the 100 per cent...
More »Why the honour killing Bill won’t work by Aakar Patel
The Congress govt has drafted a Bill against honour killing. It is called “The Prevention of Crimes in the Name of ‘Honour’ and Tradition Bill”. Strangely, all the acts which find mention in this Bill—murder,coercion, abetting murder—are already punishable The Congress government has drafted a Bill against honour killing. It is called “The Prevention of Crimes in the Name of ‘Honour’ and Tradition Bill”. Strangely, all the acts which find mention...
More »"Wife-sharing" haunts Indian villages as girls decline by Nita Bhalla
When Munni arrived in this fertile, sugarcane-growing region of north India as a young bride years ago, little did she imagine she would be forced into having sex and bearing children with her husband's two brothers who had failed to find wives. "My husband and his parents said I had to share myself with his brothers," said the woman in her mid-40s, dressed in a yellow sari, sitting in a village...
More »‘Dying declaration cannot form basis of conviction if it is not trustworthy' by J Venkatesan
Court: if it is suspicious, it should not be acted upon without corroborative evidence A dying declaration made by a victim, accusing a person of having been responsible for his/her death, cannot form the basis of conviction if it suffers from infirmity, the Supreme Court has held. A Bench of Justices P. Sathasivam and B.S. Chauhan said, “Where a dying declaration is suspicious, it should not be acted upon without corroborative evidence....
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