ISSN (Print) - 0012-9976 | ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846

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Afzal Guru - I

The Committee for the Protection of Democratic Rights (CPDR), Mumbai strongly condemns the hanging of Afzal Guru by the Indian state.

Secularism and the Indian Judiciary

The judgment of the Allahabad High Court of 30 September 2010 in the Babri masjid-Ram janmabhoomi case has put the final seal on the acts of installation of statues and demolition of the mosque. In accordance with our constitutional scheme one seeks remedial measures from the judiciary when the executive or even the legislature commits illegal acts. But what can one do when the judiciary itself commits unlawful acts? What is worse is that this verdict is the latest addition to a series of judgments by the highest courts in India which cast doubt on the secular character of the Indian judicial system.

Shahid Azmi (1977-2010)

Shahid Azmi is no more. He led a turbulent and rebellious life. When he was in his mid-teens, he saw his co-religionist slaughtered in the 1992-93 anti-Muslim carnage in Mumbai.

Quintessential Intellectual-Activist

K Balagopal's role as a civil liberties and democratic rights activist had two phases - the first, when the opening sentence of the Communist Manifesto and Marx's last thesis on Feuerbach guided his life's activity, and the second, when, even as he gave up on these precepts, he continued in the tradition of practical humanism.

Reversion to Barbarism?

Violence Today: Actually Existing Barbarism - Socialist Register 2009 edited by Leo Panitch and Colin Leys

Narco-Analysis and the Indian Criminal Justice System

It is inconceivable that Shiv Sena and Bal Thackeray financed the Communist Party of India (Maoist), but that is part of the confession extracted through narco-analysis of Arun Ferreira, alleged to be a member of the latter party. Narco-analysis is torture, both physical and mental. No wonder that India is yet to ratify the UN Convention against Torture which came into force on June 26, 1987.

In Memoriam: Anuradha Ghandy

 It was a memorable and short life. Anuradha Ghandy was born in 1954 and died in 2008. But the length of life is not the criterion. What matters is the contribution that one makes to what is called human civilisation.

Death Sentence to Saddam Hussein

The trial of Saddam Hussein violated all the basic principles of international law. The Iraqi Special Tribunal lacked independence; its judges openly displayed their prejudices; they did not act on evidence before them; and the defence was not provided with documents and transcripts of the trial testimony needed to enable it to question witnesses as required by law.

Political Context of Mumbai Bomb Blasts

The government's reaction to the Mumbai bomb blasts of July 11 seems like a ploy to conceal one's motives by appearing merely as the victim and to falsify the issues involved. There is a need to situate the problem of terrorism in the international and national political context of which it is a part and understand the frustration, hopelessness and intense sense of humiliation that breed people who vow to sacrifice their lives and avenge what they perceive as injustice. Force cannot remedy such a situation.

Fighting Casteism and Imperialism Together

and Imperialism Together Anti-imperialism and Annihilation of Castes by Anand Telthumbde; Ramai Prakashan, Thane, 2005;
P A SEBASTIAN The book tries to highlight how important it is to incorporate the dalits in the anti-imperialist struggle led by the left in India. The dalits constitute more than 15 per cent of the Indian population; the vast majority of them do not have anything to lose but the chains which bind them. However, the dalits are alienated from the left movement because of certain omissions and commissions committed by their leadership.

Terrorism and the State

her to the site. She refuted the claims of the Doyens owner. Afraid of en masse mobilisation of village people at the site, the Doyens was compelled to wind up the breaching work and flee from the scene. The MRO had made a detailed report on the whole episode to the Ranga Reddy district collector.

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