Residents overcome an age-old bastion of discrimination The Dalits of Uthapuram village near here, where the ‘untouchability' wall was demolished in 2008, on Thursday entered a temple under the control of the upper caste Hindus, with police protection. Although scores of upper caste Hindus received the 11 Dalit persons outside the temple with folded hands, the scene was marred by the loud wails of women from the nearby streets who were opposed...

-The Hindu   In a historic first, a special court in Gujarat has convicted and awarded life sentences to as many as 31 mostly high caste, landed Patels for burning alive 33 Muslims — the majority of them women and children — of Sardarpura village in Mehsana district. The village was among numerous Muslim habitations targeted across the State by irate Hindu mobs as part of a pogrom ruthlessly executed in the...

-The Indian Express   Almost a decade after the Gujarat riots of 2002, the first verdict in the nine Post-Godhra cases monitored by the Supreme Court has been pronounced, and 31 people have been sentenced to life imprisonment by a special court for the deaths of 33 Muslims at Sardarpura village in Mehsana district. Among the victims were 17 women and 11 children. When the court lifted the stay on the trials...

From hypocrisy and secrecy to arrogance, nepotism and plagiarism, all bedevil the higher judiciary, said former Supreme Court Justice Ruma Pal today in one of the most scathing indictments of the higher judiciary by one who has been part of it. With sitting and retired judges of the Supreme Court and Delhi High Court listening, Pal, delivering the fifth V M Tarkunde Memorial Lecture on ‘An Independent Judiciary’, turned the searchlight...

The Gujarat government had sacked an employee in connection with the riot case that led to 31 life terms yesterday — not the three among the accused but one who became a key prosecution witness. It was police constable Munsaf Khan, who had not only identified several key accused in the Sardarpura massacre of 33 Muslims but exposed the rioter-police collusion. Khan’s victimisation partly mirrors that of another whistleblower policeman, IPS officer...