INDIA SUMMARIZED

New Delhi, Dec. 30 ( ANI ): Amid the nationwide protest over the brutal gang-rape of a 23-year-old girl, the  Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday reiterated its demand to convene a Special  Session of Parliament  and amend the laws so that the harshest punishment is given to those accused of the heinous crime. Lashing out at the Congress-led  UPA Government , BJP spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi  alleged that the Centre has failed to address the people's outrage after the horrific incident that took place on December 16. "This is high time that the government and the whole system should ensure the people and make them believe that such crimes will not occur again in the future. That's why, we are demanding a  Special Session  to amend the useless and expired laws," said Naqvi. "The culprits have no fear of laws, they are moving freely and the people protesting against such crimes are afraid of police and the government. The government w...

New Delhi, Dec. 30 ( ANI ): The  Bharatiya Janata Party  (BJP) on Sunday demanded a clarification from the Congress-led  UPA Government  over former President  Pratibha Devisingh Patil 's recent disclosure that she converted  capital punishment  into life imprisonment or lighter sentences for some of the criminals convicted of rape and murder after recommendations from the Union Home Ministry  during her tenure. Lashing out at the Centre, BJP spokesperson  Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the nation is certainly entitled to know as to why did the government recommend a lighter punishment when the court has given serious punishment in such offences, involving rape and murder. "The former  President of India Pratibha Patil  has publicly stated that some of the criminals convicted of dastardly rape and murder, their capital punishment was converted to either life imprisonment or lighter sentences by exercising the power of pardon. ...

A group of ‘well known film and theatre personalities’ voiced their protest over the rape of a young woman in Delhi with a silent march on Saturday.  Not on the day of the brutal attack on her but on the day of her death. Perhaps when the news first came out of the rape, no one, not even the film and theatre people, knew how deeply this would affect the entire nation. After all, rape is an everyday occurrence in our country. I am just wondering — if the girl hadn’t died, would there be no protest march by ‘well known film and theatre personalities’? No deluge of tweets by directors and actors big and small? Of course, this is a free country and they have every right to protest or mourn as the next person. And so they do, when the timing is right. AFP Of course, the timing is never right for a protest march by the same people about the way women are treated and shown in their own work on celluloid. We talk about public or police apathy towards crimes against women but n...

The day the young gang rape victim died in Singapore,  Mamata Banerjee , the chief minister of West Bengal mourned her “ chhoto bon ” – her little sister. “It has crossed all limits,” she said. “A special session of the Parliament can be called.” Of course this is the same  Mamata Banerjee  who famously dismissed rape cases on her watch as “concocted events”. That same evening I chanced upon a protest march in Kolkata led by the state Congress. It was a silent march but while the marchers were walking quietly, candles in their hands, a party man in the three-wheeler at the head of the march was ranting at full volume. He mourned the “terrible event” of Delhi but didn’t mention that the Congress was in charge there. Instead he saved much of his fire for Mamata’s record on the Park Street rape case repeating what his party MP Deepa Das Munshi had asked earlier that day. Politicians who are crying themselves hoarse demanding death for rapists, should look into thei...

इतनी देर तो कभी नेताजी पार्लियामेन्ट में भी टकटकी लगाकर नहीं बैठते जितनी देर वे बिपाशा बसु, मलायका अरोड़ा और ईशा कोप्पिकर के ठुमके देखने के लिए बैठे रहे। शुक्रवार की शाम से ही बलात्कार पीड़िता के मौत की आशंकाओं के बीच जब सारा देश गमगीन हो चला था तब भी तय कार्यक्रम के अनुसार वे सारे फिल्मी सितारे सैफई पहुंचे। शुक्रवार को शाम 7 बजे से रात 12 बजे के बीच सैफई महोत्सव में लटको झटकों के कई रंगारंग कार्यक्रम हुए। और उन सभी रंगारंग कार्यक्रमों में नेताजी और नेताजी के बेटाजी दोनों पूरे समय मौजूद रहे। इस कार्यक्रम में मौजूद एक व्यक्ति से जब हमने जानना चाहा कि क्या नेताजी ने पीड़िता के बारे में भी दो शब्द बोले तो उसने कहा बिल्कुल नहीं। यह नेताजी कोई और नहीं बल्कि समाजवादी पार्टी के अध्यक्ष मुलायम सिंह यादव हैं और बेटा जी यानी उनके बेटे और उत्तर प्रदेश के मुख्यमंत्री अखिलेश यादव। शुक्रवार को सैफई महोत्सव का आखिरी दिन था और इस दिन फिल्म स्टारों की महफिल सजनी थी। पांच विशेष चार्टर्ड विमानों से ढोकर फिल्म स्टारों को सैफई लाया गया जिसमें स्टार ऋत्विक रोशन के अलावा बिपाशा बसु, मलायका अरोड़ा, ईशा को...

By  Palash R. Ghosh  | December 30 2012 Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani women’s-rights activist currently recuperating from a gunshot wound in a British hospital, has expressed her condolences to the family of the 23-year-old Indian woman who was gang-raped in Delhi two weeks ago and died Saturday. Malala also blasted the Indian government for mysteriously transporting the rape victim from Delhi to Singapore despite her weakened condition, according to the Daily Bhaskar newspaper of India. “The rapists dumped her on [the] road,” Malala tweeted. “The government dumped her in Singapore. What's the difference?” Malala’s concern about the decision to shift the victim to a foreign hospital 2,600 miles away is shared by many medical professionals and academics in India. According to Indian media reports, Brahma Chellaney, a prominent strategic-affairs expert, tweeted that he suspected that if the rape victim had died in Delhi, a new round of violent protests ...

The Direct Cash Transfer to the ‘poor’ will not succeed as it would face the same leakages which the other schemes faced. These are populist measures aimed to get away with historically successful Initiatives in the name of corruption and creating another corrupt practice which will only work during the elections and will give rise to competitive populist schemes by the states too. The central government is in extraordinary hurry to bring the ‘economy’ on the track. The decisions are being fast tracked and suddenly Dr Man Mohan Singh has become the ‘economist’ prime minister leaving aside his politics. The Industries are buoyant as the Parliament has passed the FDI bill which was so difficult to get through in Rajya Sabha yet its managers ‘defeated’ the opposition in the number games. Now the government wants to get through the important bills such as Food Security Bill, Land Bill, and Elimination of Manual Scavenging Bills which will be presented in the Parliament very soon. At the m...

 ‘MUMBAI KE GAREEBON KI NAYI JUNG’   Mumbai. On January 1st 2013, thousands of poor will take to the streets of Mumbai and will begin their march in afternoon from Mankhurd to Mantralaya. They would reach Azad Maidan on 2nd January and demand fulfilment of their rights and a complete end to all atrocities by the builder-state nexus. Thousands of hard-working, poor families in Mumbai are facing brutal atrocities in violation of their legal and human right to housing and livelihood. On one hand are the wealthiest and consumerist rich elites in Mumbai, displaying the material well-being in this financial capital of India while 30 to 40 % people live in the poor localities even when they are the ‘real builders’ of the houses and infrastructure and real producers in Mumbai. With least of the burden put on the city’s administration and the society at large and without begging before the Government, they live the life of simplicity and make maximum contribution in public int...

New Delhi. Members of the Socialist Party and Socialist Yuvjan Sabha observed one-day fast at Rajghat today (21 December 2012) in solidarity of the victim, gang-raped in the moving bus; and to condemn the callous attitude of the Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit and the UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, P. M. Man Mohan Singh towards the gruesome crime. Smt. Renu Gambhir, president, Socialist Party, Delhi, lead the fast. Speaking on this occasion Justice Rajindar Sachar said that it gives me some solace that Socialist Party workers hold this fast at Bapu’s Samadhi to show solidarity with the victim and aguish against the government. He said that it is a matter of shame on the part of Delhi Chief Minister who allowed water cannon and lathi charge on women protesters at his residence. She must resign and an effective inquiry and speedy judicial process should be done to punish the culprits. He showed heartfelt concern for the victim and her family and condemned the dismissive and insensi...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A woman suspected of shoving a man to his death in front of an oncoming  New York subway  train was arrested on Dec 29 and charged with "second-degree murder as a hate crime" in the second such fatality this month for one of the world's busiest transit systems. The  district attorney  for the  New York City  borough of Queens said Erika Menendez , 31, who was seen pacing the subway platform and muttering to herself before the attack, had told investigators that she pushed the victim,  Sunando Sen , 46, on Thursday because "I hate Hindus and Muslims." Menendez was taken into custody in Brooklyn by authorities acting on a tip from someone who recognized the suspect from video of the incident that was aired on television, a spokeswoman for the district attorney told Reuters. "The defendant is accused of committing what is every subway commuter's worst nightmare - being suddenly and senselessly pushed into the path of an oncom...

New York , Dec 30 (IANS) A 31-year-old woman suspected of shoving an Indian immigrant in front of a  subway train  has been charged with second-degree murder as a  hate crime  after she told the police that she hated Hindus and Muslims since 9/11. Prosecutors Saturday identified the woman, who allegedly shoved India-born Sunando Sen of Queens, in front of a subway train Thursday as  Erika Menendez  of Bronx. "(She) said in sum and substance 'I pushed a Muslim off the train tracks because I hate Hindus and Muslims ever since 2001 when they put down the twin towers I've been beating them up,'"  Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown  said in a statement. Witnesses cited by CNN said a woman paced the platform and talked to herself Thursday evening shortly before pushing Sen as the 11-car train entered the station. The body of 46-year-old Sen, a graphic designer for posters who ran a small copying business called New Amsterdam Copies on ...

New Delhi, Dec 29 ( IANS ) The family of the male friend of the woman who died Saturday after being gang-raped demanded that the six rapists should be hanged "as soon as possible". "Our hearts are with the family of the girl, and we are very sad," a family member  of the woman's friend told IANS, declining to be identified. The 23-year-old woman was gang-raped on board a moving bus Dec 16. Five men and a suspected juvenile also tortured her and beat her friend too when they resisted. Both were then stripped and dumped by the roadside. "Now that the girl has died, the six men should be tried for murder," the family member said. "They should be hanged as soon as possible." The family member said they would attend the last rites of the woman after her body was brought to India from Singapore.

Sonakshi Srivastava Kayastha (heart of the world) स्पीडी ट्रायल के लिए जजों ने दिए महत्वपूर्ण सुझाव नई दिल्ली। दिल्ली गैंगरेप मामले में आरोपियों की पैरवी करने से वकीलों के इन्कार के बीच दो महिला जजों ने प्रभावी फास्ट ट्रैक सुनवाई के लिए महत्वपूर्ण सुझाव दिए हैं। सुप्रीम कोर्ट की न्यायाधीश ज्ञान सुधा मिश्रा ने जहां ऐसे मामलों में कम से कम समय में सुनवाई पूरी करने के लिए साक्ष्य अधिनियम में बदलाव का सुझाव दिया है, वहीं दिल्ली हाई कोर्ट की पूर्व न्यायाधीश उषा मेहरा का मानना है कि मामले की सुनवाई करने वाले जज को आरोपियों के लिए वकीलों की सेवा सुनिश्चित करनी चाहिए। जस्टिस मिश्रा ने कहा कि मुझे लगता है कि महिलाओं के लिए इस तरह के जघन्य अपराध के मामले में पुलिस द्वारा जुटाए गए साक्ष्य के आधार पर पीड़ित और आरोपी को आमने-सामने बैठाकर बयान दर्ज किया जाना चाहिए। उन्होंने कहा कि पुलिस को न्यायिक अधिकारी के समक्ष पीडि़त और आरोपी के रिकॉर्डेड बयान पेश करना चाहिए। जस्टिस मिश्रा ने सवाल उठाते हुए कहा कि अभियोजन पक्ष और बचाव पक्ष की गवाही कई स्तर पर क्यों हो। इसके कारण सुनवाई में काफी विलंब होता...