-The Hindu “They (tribals) are in live-in relationship. Once a couple gets separated, the case goes to the police. Those are not rape,” says Vibha Rao, chairperson of Chhattisgarh State Women Commission Vibha Rao, the chairperson of Chhattisgarh State Women Commission, doesn’t agree that her views are a case of ‘blaming the victim’ but is emphatic that women are “equally responsible” for the sexual offences committed against them. The gruesome acts of rape...

-The Times of India Women's groups have criticised RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's view on rape in "India" and "Bharat" for being regressive. But data shows that not only are Bhagwat's views regressive, they're also plain wrong. While the National Crime Records Bureau does not split registered cases of sexual assault by rural and urban areas, Mrinal Satish, an associate professor of law at Delhi's National Law University, used court data to find...

-The Times of India The Supreme Court on Friday endorsed the clamour for deterrent punishment to offenders in cases of crime against women saying no leniency be shown while sentencing the guilty in such cases. The strong pitch for tougher punishment for those guilty of crime against women came as part of a judgment, where a bench of Justices P Sathasivam and Ranjan Gogoi upheld life imprisonment for two sisters along with...

-The Hindustan Times In the wake of the barbaric gang rape on a Delhi bus in which one of the attackers is thought to have been a juvenile, India will amend its laws to treat such criminals as adults for the purposes of punishment in some cases. Women and child development minister Krishna Tirath told HT on Friday that the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act will be amended to treat those over...

-The Hindu Rival religious extremists survive by feeding off each other. In India, Hindutva and Islamist leaders and activists have often mobilised men and materials through inflammatory hate speeches. But by any yardstick, the recent rabble-rousing speech of Akbaruddin Owaisi, leader of the Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly, plumbs new depths. In substance, his speech was a clear attempt to promote enmity between Hindus and Muslims, and disrupt the...