All stories by Swarupa Dutt
'If CBI director bows to government pressure it is because he wants to'
Rediff.com1 Nov 2018'I was at a very senior position in the CBI and what happens is, hints are dropped for you to act upon. But then it depends upon your conscience, to do it or otherwise.' 'I know the rank and file of the CBI, they will bounce back; it is the leadership which has failed.'
How Swapna Barman became the toast of Asia
Rediff.com26 Sep 2018'To be good at the heptathlon takes at least seven years; to compete internationally and win medals takes 10 years.' 'Swapna became Asia's best heptathlete in just five years!' 'Nobody would have believed it. but she did it.'
'A film is like a one-night stand'
Rediff.com30 Aug 2018'I'm a rascal, I'm going to play a paramahansa?!'
'I hope my daughter can rest in peace soon'
Rediff.com17 Apr 2018'She was just a little girl. She didn't understand religion. Who is Hindu, who is Muslim.' 'She was just 8! Why punish her?' The family of the eight-year-old girl who was gang-raped and murdered in Jammu's Kathua district say everything has changed since that horrific crime.
'Sometimes I wish ISIS had killed me too'
Rediff.com4 Apr 2018"Everyone knows me because of that terrible tragedy. My memories of Mosul only bring me sadness. How can I be proud about my fame? I lost everything there," Harjit Masih told Rediff.com's Swarupa Dutt over the phone.
'Living will is an idea whose time has come'
Rediff.com21 Mar 2018'Passive euthanasia is actually more important in the sense that the need to administer it arises every day in some hospital or the other. And it can be administered without a living will,' Vipul Mudgal, director of the NGO Common Cause -- which had filed a plea to declare 'right to die with dignity' as a Fundamental Right flowing from Article 21 or the Right to Life, -- tells Rediff.com's Swarupa Dutt.
'We have a long, long battle ahead'
Rediff.com29 Dec 2017'He has terror charges against him. And for an army officer, it's just terrible.'
'The new year will bring good tidings. It will, I know it will'
Rediff.com29 Dec 2017'My husband will never forget the torture nor forgive those responsible for it.'
'Are we waiting for something like Nirbhaya to happen again?'
Rediff.com27 Nov 2017Ten days after it came to light that a four-and-a-half-year-old boy inserted his finger and a sharpened pencil in the private parts of his classmate in a Delhi school, the girl's mother says the biggest hurdle in getting justice for her daughter is to battle the disbelief that she faces since the accused is so young.
'I was shocked when I saw the injury'
Rediff.com27 Nov 2017'The school's criminality needs to established. The school should be booked for scarring my innocent child for no fault of hers and letting something like this happen in the classroom,' the girl's mother tells Rediff.com in an email.
'My husband can come home because of the CBI'
Rediff.com21 Nov 2017With the CBI ruling out bus conductor Ashok Kumar's involvement in Ryan International School student Pradhyumn Thakur's murder, his wife Mamata is hopeful of him getting bail on November 16. 'I just want my man to come home, I don't want anything else,' she tells Rediff.com's Swarupa Dutt.
Prison diary: 38 days in Arthur Road jail
Rediff.com26 Sep 2017A young IT grad jailed for visa fraud committed by his agent, gives an insider's view of life in jail.
'Pradhyumn gives me the strength to fight'
Rediff.com19 Sep 2017'I have to fight to ensure something like this doesn't happen to any other child, that no other parent faces what we are going through.' 'That is how I will find strength.'
Why marital rape should be criminalised
Rediff.com12 Sep 2017'Why doesn't the prime minister wake up to these social issues?' 'This government is basically saying rape is all right.'
Varnika Kundu: 'My fight is to make women fearless'
Rediff.com11 Aug 2017'I live in a privileged city, I have a privileged life, I was in a car.' 'If it can happen here, then there is literally no hope for women in rural India or smaller cities.' 'If more women think we can help ourselves, we can survive, and men would be a lot more hesitant to try something like this.'
When India's President served a meal
Rediff.com8 Mar 2017Dr Kalam, The Dalai Lama, M F Husain. Mrinalini Sarabhai. Dancer Astad Deboo lists his favourite Indian treasures.
Sweeping success: Meet the PhD student who's a garbage collector
Rediff.com17 Aug 201636-year-old Sunil Yadav, who works as a garbage collector for the civic body in Mumbai is an inspiration. He chronicles the arduous journey he took to secure his MPhil degree and why he refuses to give up his job despite his education.
Don't look at him with pity; look up to him for his grit
Rediff.com25 Jul 2016Dhruv Shirpurkar's parents never let go of their faith in God while standing with him in his battle against a rare disorder that left him 85 per cent disabled and bound to a wheelchair.
Dear Mr Modi. Congratulations, but...
Rediff.com26 May 2016As the NDA government completes two years in office, there are more questions on Swarupa Dutt's mind than answers.
'The juvenile rapist is a threat to society, why release him?'
Rediff.com16 Dec 2015That it's the day his daughter was brutalised, raped and died as a result of her horrific injuries does not weigh heavily on Badrinath Singh. 'We remember her every single day. In fact, we try not to think of her today, of what happened to her today,' he says.