-The Times of India Two months after questioning the rationale behind commuting death sentences of five rape-murder convicts to life imprisonment during then President Pratibha Patil's tenure, a Parliamentary committee has now suggested that the mercy petitions should not be by and large considered for such criminals. Though the Committee is not in favour of completely knocking out the provision of mercy plea for convicts like those on death row, it wants...

-The Hindu Despite media coverage and VIP interest, police unable to make headway BHANDARA: Ten days after the dead bodies of three sisters were found in a well near Murmadi village of Lakhani tehsil in Bhandara district of Maharashtra, the police have made no arrests and the perpetrators are still at large. Residents of Murmadi, Lakhani and nearby villages continue to protest by blocking the National highway No.6, taking out candle marches, and...

-The Hindu Panel made details of incident, witnessed by street-children, part of its report It is almost a month since the Justice Verma Committee came out with its recommendations to make laws more stringent to deal with crimes against women, particularly sexual assault cases. Though the government acted swiftly by bringing out an ordinance to make amendments in criminal laws, it seems to have overlooked some crucial portions of the report which...

-The Hindu “What is important is whether the police are serious about crimes against women” “Increasing the enormity of punishment in cases involving crimes against women will not solve the issue of rising crime against women,” Nobel laureate Amartya Sen said here on Monday, adding that there was no scientific basis to it.  “What is important is whether the police are serious about such crimes, how quickly the matter is tried in a...

-The Times of India India may be reporting one death penalty every third day but it also commutes one capital punishment to life imprisonment every day - thanks to Delhi which leads the chart by making course correction in old cases. The national Capital, which reported 71 death penalties during 2001-11, saw 2,462 commutations in that 11-year period - accounting for more than 50% of the total commutations (4,321) in the...