Film censorship

The draft guidelines for film festivals have raised serious censorship doubts. The government is seeking to empower itself to refuse to allow the screening of a film on as flimsy grounds as 'offending sensibilities'.

Finally, police reforms take off

The task of reforming the police force was launched formally today with the Home Ministry setting up a high-powered committee to draft a new Police Act.

Reservations for Dalit Christians

It is bizzare that dalit Christians and Muslims are not given the benefits of reservation, even though their social realities continues to be determined by their caste status. It seems to be a clear case of discrimination on the basis of religion.

India's international human rights obligations

An argument for India to shed its third-world scepticism of international human rights regime and to accede to treaties like the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Code.

Dress code in universities

The increasing trend in many universities to dictate dress codes, particularly for female students, in deplorable.

Life term is for life

The Supreme Court has finally settled the controversy over the meaning of 'imprisonment for life' to insist that it does, literally, mean imprisonment for the rest of the convict's life, unless the state grants a repreive at an earlier date. Therefore, there is no automatic right to be released after spending 14 years in prison. This might have interesting implications the death penalty debate where the advocates of retaining the penalty often argue that there is no alternative punishment which is deterrent enough, since life imprisonment has come to mean imprisonment for 14 years only.

Relief scheme for rape victims

The National Commission for Women has suggested a relief and rehabilitation scheme for rape victims, to move beyond the focus on ensuring criminal conviction to address other materialand emotional needs of the victim.

Prison reforms

R.K. Raghavan talks about the need to reform our ailing prison system, which is debilitating and criminogenic.

Equal succession rights to women

The Parliament recently amended the Hindu Succession Act to grant equal rights to women. This interview with Bina Agarwal on its implications in insightful. Some reservations have been raised about whether the new amendments do in fact achieve full equality, though.

Whose streets?

Rights of slum and pavement-dwellers, squatters of public land, hawkers etc have always been controversial. The latest Delhi High Court judgment against hawking on the streets seems to be in absolute ignorance of the need to strike a balance between livelihood issues for the poorest of the population and the need to avail the streets for mobility of the public.

UN report on development

So much for trumpeting the supposed economic progress, the new UN Human Development Report cuts a sorry figure for India. Surely, the benefits of the new prosperity are not being accessed by a majority of the Indians.

Law on Contempt of Court set for reform

The much needed reform process of the draconian law on the contempt of court is underway, still the proposed reform seems to be half-hearted.

Rethinking censorship

A major overhaul of the censorship laws is on the cards. It was high time free speech got more prominence and censors were less enthusiastic about thier job.

Revamp of Police Act

A much-needed revamp of the Indian Police Act is on the cards, especially in the wake of the Nanavati Commission report criticising the role of the police in the anti-Sikh riots in 1984. However, this commentator stresses upon the role of training and orientation of the force in improving its services.