Perhaps no other case exemplifies judicial delay as much as the Uphaar fire that claimed 59 lives and left 103 injured in 1997. Now in its 18th year, the case has undergone the tortuous route of magisterial probe, CBI inquiry, adjournments and 344 hearings in the first seven years alone. HT Image Jaya Bachchan declares in Parliament: Hand over the rapist and we ‘will deal with him’. The Rajya Sabha MP is angry because the Supreme Court has not held a single hearing in the year since it admitted an appeal against the death sentence handed down to four of…

For most American Muslims, discrimination is a reality of their lives with 43% reporting discrimination in the last year alone. The discrimination comes not just from ignorant red-necks but from those in positions of influence and leadership. This is what an American Muslim looks like, says the man on CNN. The man is talking about his friend Deah Shaddy Barakat, who was gunned down along with his wife of one month, Yusor, and her sister Razan on Tuesday. The friend is holding up a photograph of Barakat imitating the basketball pose of his favorite athlete. I guess the message he…

At around the time that TV was breathlessly covering the 3.7 million people rally in Paris, there was considerably less attention on the protests in India against Tamil writer Perumal Murugan, whose novel Madhurobhagan was under attack, and who announced his retirement from writing, Namita Bhandare writes. HT Image There are no Charlie Hebdos in India. Je suis declarations notwithstanding, freedom of expression now seems to be an abstract ideal, a distant dream of our founding fathers. At around the time that TV was breathlessly covering the 3.7 million people rally in Paris, there was considerably less attention on the…

It’s not a coincidence that the attack comes at a time when right-wing muscle flexing continues. But the PM has refused to utter a single word of disapproval, writes Namita Bhandare. First columns of the year should herald new beginnings. But for me the year begins on a note of disquiet. And nothing exemplifies this more than the controversy around the film PK. I saw the film before the #BanPK and #SupportPK hashtags began trending on twitter, before cinema halls were vandalised and before Uttar Pradesh’s chief minister Akhilesh Yadav made it tax-free. Who would have guessed that an entertaining…

The Central Board of Film Certification’s job should be to issue age appropriate certification, not play a public morality nanny with scissors in hand at the slightest whiff of sex, politics and religion. A nation of Perpetually Hurt Sentiment has no shortage of moral minders, writes Namita Bhandare. For a party that talks of less government, more governance, this was an opportunity missed. The controversy over the resignation of the previous chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) notwithstanding, this was a chance to dismantle what one commentator calls a ‘Soviet-era censor board’. Instead what we have is…

We know that caste and untouchability persist in India. What we don’t know is the extent. Certainly, our politicians’ overt play of the caste card has ensured that their vote-banks stay intact, writes Namita Bhandare. HT Image The editor, a liberal man, is taken aback by my question. “I don’t hire people on the basis of their caste but their ability,” he informs me when I ask how many Dalits he has in his newsroom. Nearly 70 years after Independence, my question should have been irrelevant. But a caste survey by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and…

Unfortunately, for all our talk about ‘respecting age’, we regard wrinkles and grey hair with a measure of horror. When we talk of our demographic challenge, it is inevitably about ageing, writes Namita Bhandare. My mother fell, again, the other night. She didn’t tell me about it until the next morning and when I reached her house down the road from where I live, I found her stoic, unmoved and making light of the gash on her forehead and rapidly swelling eye. “There was no point in waking you up,” she shrugged, daring me to contradict her. “So I didn’t.”…

A new book by the first woman high court chief justice offers insights into the causes affecting women today. At the sprightly age of 84, Leila Seth is busy planning her schedule. There are literary seminars to attend, talks to be given to schoolchildren, a book that has just been launched and, yes, already, another book to be written. The latest is barely out. Launched on her 84th birthday on 20 October, Talking Of Justice: People’s Rights In Modern India is a collection of essays on subjects the former chief justice of the Himachal Pradesh high court holds dear: children’s rights, the status of…

At this point, Haryana is poised for change, not just in government but for a new deal and a new direction for its women. It certainly deserves a chief minister who is more empathetic and better informed. Not one who sounds like an echo chamber of the khap panchayats in his state. BJP-leaders-offering-flowers-to-Manohar-Lal-Khattar-after-he-was-elected-as-the-New-chief-minister-of-Haryana-after-press-briefing-at-UT-guest-house-in-Chandigarh-on-Tuesday-Gurpreet-Singh-HT At this point, Haryana is poised for change, not just in government but for a new deal and a new direction for its women. It certainly deserves a chief minister who is more empathetic and better informed. Not one who sounds like an echo chamber of the…

At this point, Haryana is poised for change, not just in government but for a new deal and a new direction for its women. It certainly deserves a chief minister who is more empathetic and better informed. Not one who sounds like an echo chamber of the khap panchayats in his state. At this point, Haryana is poised for change, not just in government but for a new deal and a new direction for its women. It certainly deserves a chief minister who is more empathetic and better informed. Not one who sounds like an echo chamber of the khap…

By placing the onus on individual participation, Narendra Modi is challenging every citizen. Can we actually stop to pick up and clean up our own mess. In the darkened Goa multiplex, the cheers and whistles from the audience are what usually follow when Salman Khan rips his shirt off on screen. But the whistle and cheer-inducing film is not even the main feature. It’s a short film commissioned by the ministry of information and broadcasting. Its subject: Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. When it is over, cries of ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ fill the auditorium. You have to hand it to Prime…

By placing the onus on individual participation, Narendra Modi is challenging every citizen. Can we actually stop to pick up and clean up our own mess, asks Namita Bhandare. In the darkened Goa multiplex, the cheers and whistles from the audience are what usually follow when Salman Khan rips his shirt off on screen. But the whistle and cheer-inducing film is not even the main feature. It’s a short film commissioned by the ministry of information and broadcasting. Its subject: Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. When it is over, cries of ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ fill the auditorium. You have to hand…