Carry red chilli spray to feel safe in Delhi, a doctor and her 28 friends are telling women.Through camps in colleges and neighbourhoods, the group has over the past fortnight been spreading awareness about the use of chilli powder as a weapon of self-defence.“Carry a pack of red chillies in the bag and blind an assailant,” said Seema Malik, a doctor who has launched the Mirchi Jhonk campaign, possibly inspired...

If you thought the recent spate of violent crimes against women in the national capital was an aberration, take a look at this. A poll of women in Delhi and Gurgaon has revealed that almost two-thirds feel unsafe in these cities aspiring to be considered world cities. Incidentally, it is in Delhi that a larger proportion of women feel unsafe (70%) compared to Gurgaon's 65%. This feeling of being unsafe is...

Observing that killing a six months pregnant wife is the most heinous and barbaric crime warranting the death penalty, the Supreme Court has issued notice to the husband, who was awarded 10-year rigorous imprisonment why it should not be enhanced. A Bench of Justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Misra also issued notice to Haryana on the appellant's 80-year-old mother, who was sentenced to two-year imprisonment. The Bench, however, granted...

Observing that crimes against women should be firmly dealt with and no leniency must be shown to the offender, the Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to a life convict asking him to show cause why the sentence should not be enhanced into one of death penalty for killing his wife. A Bench of Justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Misra passed this interim order on a special leave petition filed...

Untouchability was not so much a sin as a calculated crime. But it is easier for everyone, even some victims, to treat it as a sin, for acceptance of moral culpability costs nothing. The recent walkabout (padayatre) of Basavananda Maadara Channaiah Swamiji, head of a Dalit matha (gurupeetha) in Chitradurga, in a predominantly Brahmin-inhabited agrahara in Mysore, and the cordial, indeed reverential, welcome he received highlight the changing formal perceptions about...