Jyoti Punwani writes on human rights issues. You can e-mail the author at jyoti.punwani@gmail.com
'An international survey has shown that India figures high in the list of countries on people's approval of torture.' 'What is surprising is that even if you look at the many vibrant social movements we've had, there's been no campaign that predominantly focuses on police torture.'
'Why potentially anybody, not only Muslims and Dalits, can be subjected to custodial death?'
There exists a curious link between Advocate Niteen Pradhan's client Milind Ekbote and Harshali Potdar: Both have blamed each other for the Bhima Koregaon violence, notes Jyoti Punwani.
'One police officer told me that trials take forever, conviction rates are low.' 'So one way to judge states' performance on handling crime is through the 'recovery rate' of their police.' 'The fastest way to get recovery is by torturing the accused.'
'Families think 100 times before sending their children to mainland India.'
'Those who support the attacks should realise that beating Kashmiri students can't help anyone change the result of the game.'
'The sense of fear generated by indiscriminate and unwarranted filing of FIRs prevents people from exercising their fundamental rights; people go silent or give up the fight as the legal process is itself the punishment.'
'Section 153A is not meant to protect fragile sentiments of the majority Hindu community who choose to get offended by slogans celebrating the success of the Pakistani cricket team.'
The hearing relates to a 1993 raid on a Mumbai bakery, which left 8 unarmed Muslims dead, none of whom had a criminal record. Justice Srikrishna had described the incident as 'not becoming of the police force of any civilised, democratic State.'
'Not giving the Commission space in Mumbai is an insult to Maharashtra's Dalits who are waiting for the inquiry report.'
BJP CMs promote a lawless culture, one where groups backed by the State are encouraged to attack fellow citizens, where being trigger-happy is the official police policy, notes Jyoti Punwani.
Testimony presented before the Bhima Korgaon Commission over the last two months reveals the background to the violence that broke out on January 1, 2018.
Sonal lived the feminist slogan: The personal is political, in a way few feminists have been able to. She will be remembered and missed for doing this not with a dour self-righteousness, but with humour and a rare joie de vivre, remembers Jyoti Punwani.
From playing to the Sikh vote bank because Punjab elections are round the corner, to ensuring that a discordant 'us versus them' note was struck, whatever could be done to exploit every last drop of communal appeal, was done, observes Jyoti Punwani.
Such was the terror created by the ATS, that all their relatives stayed away.
Have we been allowed to forget Partition? Isn't Partition the reason many Hindus cannot bring themselves to trust Muslims? So many Muslims born after 1947 have told me with anguish: "How long will we be blamed for Partition?" notes Jyoti Punwani.
Over the last decade, individual Muslims have started breaking from the tradition of sacrificing animals on Bakra Eid, motivated by the thought that the considerable amount spent on buying and sacrificing animals would be put to better use for the community's welfare, specially education.
A teenager who doesn't need to be told to study, who makes no demands on his parents even while preparing for his board exams -- and then goes on to score a perfect 100%.
'Stan's death is the culmination of a series of acts of abominable cruelty on the part of the Indian State.'
© 2025 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances