First, some “facts”. “Facts” within quotes because no one quite appears to know the “truth”. I am therefore relying on emails, first-person (albeit unverified) accounts, news-reports and of course, the wonderful world of internet..As you will realise after reading this, the whole thing appears mysterious – and raises more questions than answers. Earlier yesterday morning, I was alerted to this news-report (from the HT) by Sh Krishen Kak (emphasis added, throughout):
Over 2,500 refugees from Myanmar have landed right in front of the 13th century tomb of Sultan Garhi — an …

Dear All: Here’s something to spoil your Sunday evening reverie…a disturbing and thought-provoking guest post by Sh Haresh Raichura – an advocate at Supreme Court. The post first appeared on his blog here. Please read and share widely…We need to create more awareness around this and the need for fundamental reforms in the legal system. Please note emphasis has been added.
*** The Business of Filing False Civil and Criminal Cases in India by Haresh Raichura ***
The tile of this blog is somewhat unbelievable. Do I mean to say that some people …

This post has been some time in coming – and I am penning my thoughts on something controversial after a long time. It was prompted by the recent decision of government of MP to increase the punishment for cow slaughter. As many of you would know, the issue of cow-slaughter is not a new one.  In fact, the demand for a ban on slaughter of cows is more than a century old – and was first raised in modern times by Swami Dayanand Saraswati and the Arya Samaj. It has …

Nanopost of the day…
…in which a High Court with 466 years of backlog of cases will now also monitor sale of “junk food” near schools and other educational institutes, potentially worsening (and adding several more years to) an already creaking system.

Sigh.
Related Post: Forget Right to Justice; Just Do What is Right and Do we Really Need a Jan LokPal?
Dumb Headline of the Day: Do women really realize how harmful junk food is? Image Courtesy: Wikipedia

Dear All: Below excerpts from a remarkable “ Open Letter To Arundhati Roy“ (from more than 12 years ago) by Gail Omvedt.  What is remarkable about this piece is that Gail is far from an armchair critic. She is married to an activist, lives the life of a farming family and has been at the forefront of issues around development for more than a decade..She brings to this piece her remarkable insights combined with pragmatic and practical approach to resolving the issues of development, rural poverty and displacement related to development projects.
Her “Open …

Many of you must have read/heard about these two fairly “popular” myths about J&K:

“Kashmir is the ‘most heavily militarized zone’ in the world” or its variations: “There is an Indian soldier for every ten civilians in Kashmir”; “The Indian troops-to-Kashmiri people ratio in the occupied Kashmir is the largest ever soldiers-to-civilians ratio in the world”
The last two decades of violence in the state have left 10,000 missing and 100,000 dead

Pragmatic_desi has done a fine job of exploding the first one…Excerpts from Mythbusting: Soldiers-to-civilians ratio in Kashmir (emphasis added):
These myths …

..or how Justice delayed is justice denied.
Some of you must have read the recent news-report of a bill proposed to be tabled in Parliament to ensure “time-bound justice for citizens“. The bill has some interesting provisions, including
…measures like discharge of an accused in a traffic offence if trial is pending for more than two years due to non-service of summons. “In case of trial of offences compoundable under the Indian Penal Code, or any other law in force, pending for more than two years, the court shall discharge the accused …

Most of you must have read the news a few days back about President Pratibha Patil rejecting the mercy plea of Devinderpal Singh Bhullar – the first such “decision” in more than 10 years. At least some of you would have also read about the demands from some political parties to pardon Devinderpal Singh  and/or reconsider the decision. Very few of you might have thought any more about it. I was in the same camp…until an email from my friend Gurmeet shook me up. Below the story of an extraordinary …

Did you know that the term “Secularism” – forced into the Preamble of the Constitution by Indira Gandhi during the dark days of Emergency – has not been defined in the Constitution?
The reason?
…presumably because it is a very elastic term not capable of a precise definition and perhaps best left undefined.

These are the words of Justice P Sathasivan quoted in a recent HT news-report. Lack of definition does not prevent anyone from “interpreting” what it means…and so we have Justice Sathasivan saying:
…in Indian context secularism meant “Sarva Dharma Sambhav” …

..and why blocking of blogs is not the only thing you should be worrying about.
Most, if not all, of you must have read about the recent case against Rahul Gandhi involving a missing girl that was dismissed last week. What struck me was this last sentence from the report in The Hindu (emphasis added):
On the basis of her deposition, the court imposed a cost of Rs. 50 lakh on the petitioner and, taking suo motu cognisance of an effort to defame a high-profile person, ordered a CBI probe.
Suo-moto cognisance? I …