-The Hindu Verma panel recommended fixing responsibility on superior officers The Centre has not accepted the recommendations of the Justice Verma Committee regarding punishment to government servants, particularly police and army personnel, involved in acts of crime against women. The ordinance, cleared by the Union Cabinet on Friday, aims at making changes in various sections of the Indian Penal Code dealing with crime against women. For instance, the three-member panel had suggested changes in...

-The Hindu Belgaum: Vijay Karnataka journalists Mrityunjay Yellappamath (Chikkodi) and Raju Ustad (Belgaum) were beaten up on Wednesday, allegedly by around eight youths. The police have arrested four persons following a complaint by the journalists at the APMC police station. The arrested are Basavaraj Siddappa Lakati, Syed Patel, Suresh Singari and Mahantesh Kudachi. Mr. Yellappamath and Mr. Ustad, who, along with other journalists, met Superintendent of Police Sandeep Patil, said that they were...

-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...

-The Hindu Seeks an exception for the definition of marital rape in the existing laws Backing the long-standing demand of the women’s activists that marital rape be considered as an offence, the Justice J.S. Verma committee has said marriage or any other intimate relationship between a man and a woman is “not a valid” defence against sexual crimes like rape. The three-member panel, which was constituted to recommend amendments to criminal laws in...