In the absence of legislation to protect women from sexual harassment at the workplace, the Supreme Court in 1997 laid down guidelines in the Vishaka vs State of Rajasthan in 1997. Thirteen years later, Parliament came up with the “Protection of Women against Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill, 2010”. However, the Bill sees sexual harassment at the workplace not as a criminal offence but as a mere civil wrong, the...

-The Times of India   The crime branch of Delhi police on Monday questioned 2G petitioner and Janata Party chief - Subramanian Swamy in connection with a case of writing an 'inflammatory article'. The leader, officials say, during the questioning claimed that his writings were edited by the newspaper before publication. After the questioning, Swamy alleged that the case was registered against him at the behest of home minister P Chidambaram.  Swamy, accompanied...

Facing trial over “objectionable content”, social networking websites Google India and Facebook India today sought to invoke their right to freedom of speech and expression before the Delhi High Court and contended that a “casual” approach by a magisterial court had unjustifiably put them in the dock. Responding to the judge’s remark at the last date of hearing that the court would have to block websites like in China if “such...

-The Economic Times   Bureaucracy bashing is India's favourite national vocation. And for good reason. Our bureaucracy has its good share of crooks, criminals and cheats who need to be put away - with or without a Lokpal. The simple counter-question is, does the bureaucracy have a disproportionately larger share of crooks than in other professions in India, and the data clearly does not say a resounding yes.  In fact, there is perhaps...

A desperate state is making Maoists out of innocents Arun Ferreira smiles easily. The four years and eight months of incarceration, as an alleged Naxalite/Maoist, sit lightly on the 40-year-old quintessential Bandra boy. Released on January 5 from Nagpur Central Jail—acquitted in 10 of the 11 cases and bailed in one—Ferreira is taking his time to readjust to his life with family and friends in Mumbai. He must build anew...