Human Rights Watch has appealed Indian authorities to end politically motivated intimidation and harassment of human rights activists who have been pursuing justice for victims of the 2002 anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat state. “While all nongovernmental organizations should fully adhere to financial regulations, police in Gujarat state appear to be acting to undermine the human rights…
Activists, actors and politicians gathered Saturday in New York City to honor civil rights leader Malcolm X with a ceremony at the Harlem site where he was killed 50 years ago. About 300 people converged to hear remarks from one of Malcolm X’s six daughters, Ilyasah Shabazz, as well as elected officials. The ceremony was…
A former police officer and Chelsea fan apologised for his involvement in an alleged racist incident involving football supporters on a Paris Metro train. Footage posted online last week showed supporters blocking a man named as Souleymane S from boarding a metro train in the French capital and chanting “we’re racist and that’s the way…
Hearing a PIL seeking installation of closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras in all police stations of Uttar Pradesh in order to check human rights violations, the Allahabad High Court has directed the state’s principal secretary (Home) to file reply (counter affidavit) within six weeks.
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A cybercrime lawyer has pulled out of the legal defence team of UN climate panel chief Rajendra Pachauri who is facing sexual harassment allegations levelled by a 29-year-old woman employee at his Delhi-based non-profit energy organisation. “I’ve returned the brief – this was a professional decision,” Pawan Duggal, who specialises in digital cases and was…
When I set up a Dropcam last year, my original goal certainly wasn’t to become some sort of neighbourhood watchdog. Dropcam, which was acquired by Google’s Nest Labs for $555 million last year, sells Internet-connected video cameras that can constantly stream video and store it to the cloud for a monthly fee of at least…
With a view to empowering women councillors of local urban bodies and Nagar Panchayats in Bhagalpur district by way of e-governance, the urban development and housing department (UDHD) is working on an ambitious plan to impart training to them. The department is also planning to utilise information and communication technique for their capacity building. Read…
Building a truly progressive and tolerant society requires absolute freedom of speech, and not a conditional one (“Comedy without malice”, Feb.21); it should protect and promote contrarian voices. No idea should be too sacrosanct to be made fun of or disagreed with totally. The interesting aspect of stand-up comedy is that despite the laughter value…
Music composer and singer Aditya Narayan feels that Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC)’s ban on use of certain words in the films is an attack on the freedom of speech and expression. The list of 28 words which was leaked to the media recently has drawn widespread criticism.
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