Virginity test in the Valley

The Supreme Court banned the two-finger test in 2013, but states like J&K still haven’t adopted the Centre’s new guidelines It’s a cold February day and it’s a cold table. Sixteen-year-old Abda is asked to lie down on it. She must do as she’s told. There are people standing around her. One person rolls her […]

Cruelty begins at home

Tribal girls are brought from Jharkhand as domestic workers but forced to work for free as placement agencies pocket all the salary. Cruelty, rape and murder are often part of this sad story The month of May alone has seen three cases of domestic help abuse come to light from Delhi — and all three […]

The case against death penalty

The government’s recent Ordinance on child rape is more of a political decision than a real answer to the problem In 2012, India stepped back in time, into the pro-death penalty era for the crime of rape. Before that, academicians, jurists, judges, lawyers and other intellectuals were thinking about the abolition of the death penalty […]

Mind of a rapist

Rape is a behavioural crime. The rapist may not be sinister looking nor a stranger. More often than not, he is a serial offender.   The largest international study on rape was carried out by United Nations for two years involving 10,000 men from Bangladesh, China, Cambodia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Sri Lanka, was […]