In November last year, the rape of a Maulana Azad Medical College student in broad daylight focused attention on how unsafe Delhi had become for women. A public furor broke out and Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani declared that convicted rapists should be given the death sentence. In popular perception, death for rapists — failing which, castration — seems to be the most fitting punishment. Only extreme measures can serve as an effective deterrent, goes the argument. The existing punishment under section 376 of the Indian Penal Code is a maximum of 10 years in jail. Even the National Commission…

A consensual theme that emerged from HT Leadership Initiative was ‘need to open borders, extend dialogue and expand understanding among South Asian nations’. HT Image If there was one consensual theme that emerged from the two-day Hindustan Times Leadership Initiative on “Peace Dividend — Progress for India and South Asia”, it was this: the need to open borders, extend dialogue and expand understanding among the countries of the region. Delegate after high-powered delegate spoke with some measure of urgency for countries of the region to adopt a more generous stand and foster better understanding and communication with each other. While Prime Minister…

For a place to treat its homeless they way it does, Delhi is one callous city. Namita Bhandare writes HT Image On a foggy winter afternoon early this week, I went looking for the invisible and found Bibi Ayesha, wheelchair-bound, lean, with a grin and optimism placed equally on her face. Bibi is telling me about home — her home in a makeshift tent with two rows of neatly made-up beds, one side for men, the other for women and children. She is telling me of how her real home, a jhuggi near Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium was demolished in a…

There is a clear link between keeping girls in school and delaying marriage. Raising the minimum age of marriage for girls to 21 is not a solution We are in danger of losing this gain due to the pandemic. As this newspaper reported, 166,000 students, girls and boys, in Delhi government and municipal schools have fallen off the grid as a result of education moving online. One can only speculate on how many will eventually return to school, and whether some have already joined the labour force or been married off. (Santosh Kumar/HT) Growing up in a village in Rajasthan’s…

Seldom has the State’s concern to protect one half of its citizens been so high So many laws, still no solution. Perhaps because there’s a contradiction here. The contradiction in wanting to protect women but within the decorous folds of patriarchy (Hindustan Times) Seldom has the State’s concern to protect one half of its citizens been so high. In Andhra Pradesh, a Disha law. In Maharashtra, a Shakti Bill. And “love jihad” ordinances in three states. All in the name of protecting women. We should be so reassured. But even as Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was launching a…