By granting a six week stay on the death sentence of four aides of ivory and sandalwood smuggler Veerappan, the Supreme Court has heightened emotions in Jammu and Kashmir over the hanging of Afzal Guru, and strengthened feelings in some quarters that the President did an injustice by rejecting the … Read More
Amidst a near-complete media blackout and distressing silence from statutory bodies like the National Human Rights Commission, a serious communal flare up has taken place in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, with more than 200 Hindu homes torched and looted in four villages of Naliakhali, Herobhanga, Gopalpur and … Read More
Nowhere in Harsh Mander’s impressive CVs found on the websites of various organisations, including Sonia Gandhi’s National Advisory Council of which he was a member till June 2012, and Wikipedia, is it mentioned that he is associated with the Justice Foundation Kashmir Centre UK, along with the ISI’s now-famous Syed … Read More
In light of serial controversies over the ‘objectionable’ depiction of Hindu deities by modern Indian artists, with some feeling sufficiently provoked to interrupt exhibitions of such art, it may be in order to examine the legitimacy of secular artists exploiting sacred symbols to promote their work (and their commercial interests). … Read More
In his anxiety to shield himself from the adverse fallout of the sudden execution of Afzal Guru, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah made a startling confession, which raises legitimate questions about the National Conference’s role in the so-called alienation of Kashmiri Muslims (Sunni, not Shia) from the nation. … Read More
VHP leader Praveen Togadia’s tasteless response to MIM legislator Akbaruddin Owaisi was not so much a warning in case the latter instigated communal mischief as an open indictment of his bête noire Narendra Modi for alleged complicity in the Gujarat riots of 2002. Using Owaisi’s ‘remove the police’ boast as … Read More
In a fresh blow to the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman whose exit is now virtually sealed, advocate SS Dharmarajan, the sole person convicted in the sensational Suryanelli serial rape case, has informed a Kerala television channel that PJ Kurien was with him at the Kumily panchayat rest house on the … Read More
In the new national mood of zero tolerance towards rape, and with the witnesses he forwarded to claim exoneration, suddenly contradicting his claims on television channels in Kerala yesterday (February 5), Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien is unlikely to succeed in evading a fresh probe into his conduct and … Read More
The Suryanelli rape case, which rocked Kerala 17 years ago, has returned to haunt the Congress party and the UPA coalition as the victim steadily maintains that PJ Kurien, Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha, was one of her tormentors. With the Government taking special interest in fast-tracking rape cases and framing … Read More
The Congress-led UPA coalition, anxious not to rock the boat with Pakistan despite the mutilation of the bodies of two jawans and beheading of one in the Mendhar sector on January 6, has still not asked Islamabad to rectify depiction of Manavadar and Junagadh towns as “disputed” in its physical … Read More
