Juvenile justice
While the rehabilitation of this juvenile rapist may be nothing new or special, the barbarity of his crime was extraordinary ("Rehabilitation of Delhi gang-rape juvenile convict as per the law, say child rights workers").
It is appalling that Indian law is following a course reserved for juvenile criminals who have committed lesser crimes. This man, no longer a boy, ought to pay now. His name and face should be plastered on every media platform. He gave no quarter to the victim and does not deserve any sympathy. I object to my taxes paying for a sewing machine or anything else for this man.
I am an Indian woman and a mother of one. The casual, continuous and warped violence experienced daily at all levels of society is sickening. I have urged my daughter, a brilliant student, to flee India. This is no country for young women. – Alka Singh
***
I think the proposed law will not act as a strong deterrent, but will definitely ensure "justice" to the victim. After becoming the law of the land, the responsibility rests on the Juvenile Justice Board, police investigation and the proposed panel of psychologists to make sure that the law is not misused.
Now that the government has ensured justice to the victim, it must now move towards preventing juvenile crime rather than focusing only on the punishment. A child involved in petty crimes today has a very high chance of getting involved in heinous crimes tomorrow.
The government can set up juvenile crime prevention boards in each district, comprising members of district administration, police, judiciary and civil society. The board can assess the mental framework of the children and can keep a check on any signs of criminal behaviour. – Gaurav Singhal
***
Let's say that we as a society recognise our culpability in the crimes of the cold winter night of December 16 and other crimes in the country ("India divided: The tragedy of the Juvenile Justice Bill, in two heart-rending stories").. What do we next? Do you have a solution, a next step, a way forward, anything that will bring about immediate change? I am guessing the answer is no.
While we take these small steps to correct the wrongdoings of our society and our great culture, I believe that your cynicism and quest for a one-size-fits-all solution is pathetic, to say the least.
I am glad that you researched so well about the juvenile's rehabilitation. Maybe you should spend some time researching about how many girls are raped and killed everyday. Maybe you should also conduct research on the number of such incidents which go unreported. Maybe you should also do some research on how Jyoti Singh's parents are coping with the rape and death of their daughter. Maybe you should do some research and tell me if there is any justice at all. – Pragya Agarwal
***
In this case, emotions have clearly won over reason. The people who express their opinions on social media are mostly teenagers with little reason and lots of emotion. The parliamentarians who supported the amendment did so based on public demand and not on their own conviction. This does not augur well for the country. – Shashi Verma
***
Kudos to Harsh Mander. This is another very relevant and excellent article from him. I fully agree that we should also look into the juvenile's poverty-ridden past. Aren't we as a nation indirectly creating young criminals like him because of our indifference to poverty, illiteracy and suffering all around us? The juvenile definitely deserves a second chance. – Gowri Badri
Media bias
This is the problem with our media ("'Wait is over': How the media reported the Juvenile Justice Bill being cleared by Rajya Sabha"). It is governed these days by sentiments expressed vociferously by a minuscule minority of urban, metro, middle class people, which the media takes to be the "voice of the nation".
Consider who will be more affected by the Juvenile Justice Act in future. It will not be those in the middle class, but mostly people living in rural areas and urban slums who have to deal with improprieties by the police.
If the juvenile in question was from the middle class, would the media have been as persistent in pressuring the government to amend the law? This type of one-sided biased reporting and opinion building in favour of this chattering, dented and painted class will lead to a flawed legal and justice system. – Vishal Jindal
DDCA crackdown
Justice Katju's opinion proves that "purposive interpretation" is the need of hour in such matters of public interest ("Why Najeeb Jung is wrong about Delhi government's right to order an enquiry into DDCA").
One must not forget that these sports associations have been turned into the fiefdoms of a few people for decades. Election processes have been manipulated for years altogether to remain in power.
We hope that this time the commission of inquiry will bring the truth before the people. – Anand Mohan
***
A very nice article from Markandey Katju. It was great, reasonable and clear in logic. He simplified the details so that even an ordinary reader could understand a complex issue. – Jamshaid
***
Such erudite explanations are wanted upon self-seeking individuals like Najeeb Jung, who want to hold on to power and are ready to compromise everything to meet that end. – Hem
Double standards?
A beautiful article that lays bare the hollowness of a rookie chief minister on a matter under whose banner Arvind Kejriwal sought to change the system ("Special Session of Delhi Assembly sees AAP fulminate about one corruption case and ignore another").
Yes, he has changed the system, but only the one which involves the use of indecent language. He has completely betrayed the hopes and aspirations of crores of people. – Ashok Saran
***
Arvind Kejriwal has lost all the respect he had earned through his previous work. To me, he is now just like any other corrupt politician who will fall flat on his face in the next election. – Manoj Kumar Anand
Marathas in Bengal
This article contains false information aimed at creating hatred between communities or just being hurtful ("Forgotten Indian history: The brutal Maratha invasions of Bengal").
I'm sure that Marathas looted the rich in enemy territories and harassed those rulers as a war tactic. However, to claim that they were brutal to innocent people is completely unfounded.
Brutality was the hallmark of the Mughals. The author wants to paint Marathas with the same brush for his own purposes. Had it not been for the Mughals, would there be a Bangladesh today? – Rupesh Shelar
***
Many thanks to Mr Shoaib Daniyal for acquainting readers with this aspect of India's history. The common man in general and students in particular are not told the correct history of the country. They are only being told a partisan history. More such articles will be welcome. – Shashi Verma
***
The Marathas plundered but did not convert Muslims to Hinduism - that is the basic difference. – Anjan Dasgupta
Silencing of scholarship
The manner in which Dr Sudha Chaudhary and her departmental activities have been thwarted by self-proclaimed messiahs of Indian culture is a clear indication of the fact that intellectually sterile minds are out to dictate the path of universities and academic bodies ("Another intolerance debate: Why the silencing of scholarship in Udaipur needs to be taken seriously").
What is the University Grants Commission doing when petty-minded persons are destroying the fabric of intellectualism? What will UGC promote if intellectual debates are done away with?
Suppose somebody believes in the existence of devils. Fine, he or she is convinced about it. What harm will come to the devil if somebody else denies the existence of devils? Are our devils so fragile that they will melt away simply because someone denies their existence?
In other words, are we not fully satisfied that our intellectual fort is strong enough to drive out the forces ranged against them?
The RSS' intellectual stalwarts must put their heads together and examine India's tradition of intellectualism before they start hurling abuses at those who sincerely study and analyse our past and present. – G Ramakrishna
Saffron syllabus
Such attempts to saffronise education put students in peril ("Rajasthan wants to add Gita to school libraries – but few students actually use those facilities"). Governments of this sort will only produce dumb citizens who will obey their every desire. People being educated in such a manner will have very low IQ. Nothing can be gained by employing these methods. – Shashi Varma
Gamergate debate
As a member of Gamergate, I understand how you could easily view the movement in the manner in which you have described in the article ("Why feminists playing videogames are being compared to the colonisers of the British Raj"). But to ignore the thousands of women and people of colour in Gamergate is just blatant hypocrisy.
The advent of "more diverse" characters is a myth. Gaming has always had a massive catalogue of non-white and non-male protagonists. The only increase is in the quality of story writing, which thankfully applies to characters across the board.
What Gamergate objects to is the outrage and "virtue signaling" whenever a character in a game isn't some sort of Tumblr wet dream. Or the complaints of racism and sexism levied at developers (unfairly in most cases) whenever a character is deemed not diverse enough. – Eamon DeMarsh
Warped theory
As someone who followed the relationship between the Naxalite movement and the state, I can say that the Andhra Pradesh police used to dub arrests and giving up weapons as surrender ("Ground report: The truth about Chhattisgarh’s recent Maoist surrenders"). But under the right-wing government in Chhattisgarh, the police seem to think there is something called surrendering ideology, as if they are physical objects. They may also produce ideology as seized objects of evidence before court. They also make it sound as if democracy is not an ideology.
Are the police the correct organ of the political system to preach how to give up ideology and embrace democracy? Can there be more evidence of bankruptcy of political forces representing democracy? Using the police for political purpose is the ultimate indicator that all is not well.
This facade of surrender has been practiced for long, but the mainstream media's willingness to buy into this theory is a bit startling. – Murali Karnam
Ayodhya alert
The arrival of two truckloads of stones in Ayodhya for the construction of a Ram temple is a matter of concern for the whole country ("Ayodhya litigants want Modi to clear the air over arrival of stones for Ram temple"). I wonder how the Uttar Pradesh government allowed this to happen. This incident puts the state government in the dock. It is possible that this is an election gimmick of the BJP/RSS in connivance with the central and state governments. When such things happen, the onus is on the people to defeat these parties in the next election. – Shashi Varma
Finding fault
Whenever a new mega project is announced, most social activists create fear only to gain popularity ("As floodwaters recede, the mistakes of Chennai look set to be repeated in Cheyyur"). They are unable to provide any alternative. Reading such an article reaffirms my belief that we are a nation of fault finders. – sayarchallani on email
The social media effect
Social media is not the real voice of India, where the majority are not Internet users ("From Snapdeal to Barkha Dutt’s book: Social media intimidation falls flat on its face"). It was great to read this analysis on such a relevant subject. – Nikhil Suryawanshi
***
The Snapdeal app's ranking rose because of increased downloads. That happened because people needed to download the app first before giving it a ranking of 1. Once the rush fades, the app will fall down the charts again. What will stay, however, is the net rating, which is now down to 4, the lowest among all such apps.
In the long run, this will mean lower downloads and lower sales. Also note that people who downloaded the app just to rate it will not buy anything, so the recent increased downloads are also useless. Either you didn't know this, which makes you clueless, or deliberately didn't mention it, which makes you a hypocrite.
Non-fiction books don't sell very much anyway. I doubt that Barkha Dutt's book is a best seller, otherwise there would be more reviews by verified buyers. – Sabin
***
In your zeal to promote Barkha Dutt's book, you have tried to downgrade the general abhorrence of this lady. You try to insinuate that it is only the few people who are media-savvy and support the Bharatiya Janata Party who dislike her. A survey would reveal that most people give her a thumbs down. The reputation she had built has not been diminished even if she tried to curry favour with the current government. She is against everything and is a blot in the journalistic firmament. – Ravi
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letters@scroll.in.
While the rehabilitation of this juvenile rapist may be nothing new or special, the barbarity of his crime was extraordinary ("Rehabilitation of Delhi gang-rape juvenile convict as per the law, say child rights workers").
It is appalling that Indian law is following a course reserved for juvenile criminals who have committed lesser crimes. This man, no longer a boy, ought to pay now. His name and face should be plastered on every media platform. He gave no quarter to the victim and does not deserve any sympathy. I object to my taxes paying for a sewing machine or anything else for this man.
I am an Indian woman and a mother of one. The casual, continuous and warped violence experienced daily at all levels of society is sickening. I have urged my daughter, a brilliant student, to flee India. This is no country for young women. – Alka Singh
***
I think the proposed law will not act as a strong deterrent, but will definitely ensure "justice" to the victim. After becoming the law of the land, the responsibility rests on the Juvenile Justice Board, police investigation and the proposed panel of psychologists to make sure that the law is not misused.
Now that the government has ensured justice to the victim, it must now move towards preventing juvenile crime rather than focusing only on the punishment. A child involved in petty crimes today has a very high chance of getting involved in heinous crimes tomorrow.
The government can set up juvenile crime prevention boards in each district, comprising members of district administration, police, judiciary and civil society. The board can assess the mental framework of the children and can keep a check on any signs of criminal behaviour. – Gaurav Singhal
***
Let's say that we as a society recognise our culpability in the crimes of the cold winter night of December 16 and other crimes in the country ("India divided: The tragedy of the Juvenile Justice Bill, in two heart-rending stories").. What do we next? Do you have a solution, a next step, a way forward, anything that will bring about immediate change? I am guessing the answer is no.
While we take these small steps to correct the wrongdoings of our society and our great culture, I believe that your cynicism and quest for a one-size-fits-all solution is pathetic, to say the least.
I am glad that you researched so well about the juvenile's rehabilitation. Maybe you should spend some time researching about how many girls are raped and killed everyday. Maybe you should also conduct research on the number of such incidents which go unreported. Maybe you should also do some research on how Jyoti Singh's parents are coping with the rape and death of their daughter. Maybe you should do some research and tell me if there is any justice at all. – Pragya Agarwal
***
In this case, emotions have clearly won over reason. The people who express their opinions on social media are mostly teenagers with little reason and lots of emotion. The parliamentarians who supported the amendment did so based on public demand and not on their own conviction. This does not augur well for the country. – Shashi Verma
***
Kudos to Harsh Mander. This is another very relevant and excellent article from him. I fully agree that we should also look into the juvenile's poverty-ridden past. Aren't we as a nation indirectly creating young criminals like him because of our indifference to poverty, illiteracy and suffering all around us? The juvenile definitely deserves a second chance. – Gowri Badri
Media bias
This is the problem with our media ("'Wait is over': How the media reported the Juvenile Justice Bill being cleared by Rajya Sabha"). It is governed these days by sentiments expressed vociferously by a minuscule minority of urban, metro, middle class people, which the media takes to be the "voice of the nation".
Consider who will be more affected by the Juvenile Justice Act in future. It will not be those in the middle class, but mostly people living in rural areas and urban slums who have to deal with improprieties by the police.
If the juvenile in question was from the middle class, would the media have been as persistent in pressuring the government to amend the law? This type of one-sided biased reporting and opinion building in favour of this chattering, dented and painted class will lead to a flawed legal and justice system. – Vishal Jindal
DDCA crackdown
Justice Katju's opinion proves that "purposive interpretation" is the need of hour in such matters of public interest ("Why Najeeb Jung is wrong about Delhi government's right to order an enquiry into DDCA").
One must not forget that these sports associations have been turned into the fiefdoms of a few people for decades. Election processes have been manipulated for years altogether to remain in power.
We hope that this time the commission of inquiry will bring the truth before the people. – Anand Mohan
***
A very nice article from Markandey Katju. It was great, reasonable and clear in logic. He simplified the details so that even an ordinary reader could understand a complex issue. – Jamshaid
***
Such erudite explanations are wanted upon self-seeking individuals like Najeeb Jung, who want to hold on to power and are ready to compromise everything to meet that end. – Hem
Double standards?
A beautiful article that lays bare the hollowness of a rookie chief minister on a matter under whose banner Arvind Kejriwal sought to change the system ("Special Session of Delhi Assembly sees AAP fulminate about one corruption case and ignore another").
Yes, he has changed the system, but only the one which involves the use of indecent language. He has completely betrayed the hopes and aspirations of crores of people. – Ashok Saran
***
Arvind Kejriwal has lost all the respect he had earned through his previous work. To me, he is now just like any other corrupt politician who will fall flat on his face in the next election. – Manoj Kumar Anand
Marathas in Bengal
This article contains false information aimed at creating hatred between communities or just being hurtful ("Forgotten Indian history: The brutal Maratha invasions of Bengal").
I'm sure that Marathas looted the rich in enemy territories and harassed those rulers as a war tactic. However, to claim that they were brutal to innocent people is completely unfounded.
Brutality was the hallmark of the Mughals. The author wants to paint Marathas with the same brush for his own purposes. Had it not been for the Mughals, would there be a Bangladesh today? – Rupesh Shelar
***
Many thanks to Mr Shoaib Daniyal for acquainting readers with this aspect of India's history. The common man in general and students in particular are not told the correct history of the country. They are only being told a partisan history. More such articles will be welcome. – Shashi Verma
***
The Marathas plundered but did not convert Muslims to Hinduism - that is the basic difference. – Anjan Dasgupta
Silencing of scholarship
The manner in which Dr Sudha Chaudhary and her departmental activities have been thwarted by self-proclaimed messiahs of Indian culture is a clear indication of the fact that intellectually sterile minds are out to dictate the path of universities and academic bodies ("Another intolerance debate: Why the silencing of scholarship in Udaipur needs to be taken seriously").
What is the University Grants Commission doing when petty-minded persons are destroying the fabric of intellectualism? What will UGC promote if intellectual debates are done away with?
Suppose somebody believes in the existence of devils. Fine, he or she is convinced about it. What harm will come to the devil if somebody else denies the existence of devils? Are our devils so fragile that they will melt away simply because someone denies their existence?
In other words, are we not fully satisfied that our intellectual fort is strong enough to drive out the forces ranged against them?
The RSS' intellectual stalwarts must put their heads together and examine India's tradition of intellectualism before they start hurling abuses at those who sincerely study and analyse our past and present. – G Ramakrishna
Saffron syllabus
Such attempts to saffronise education put students in peril ("Rajasthan wants to add Gita to school libraries – but few students actually use those facilities"). Governments of this sort will only produce dumb citizens who will obey their every desire. People being educated in such a manner will have very low IQ. Nothing can be gained by employing these methods. – Shashi Varma
Gamergate debate
As a member of Gamergate, I understand how you could easily view the movement in the manner in which you have described in the article ("Why feminists playing videogames are being compared to the colonisers of the British Raj"). But to ignore the thousands of women and people of colour in Gamergate is just blatant hypocrisy.
The advent of "more diverse" characters is a myth. Gaming has always had a massive catalogue of non-white and non-male protagonists. The only increase is in the quality of story writing, which thankfully applies to characters across the board.
What Gamergate objects to is the outrage and "virtue signaling" whenever a character in a game isn't some sort of Tumblr wet dream. Or the complaints of racism and sexism levied at developers (unfairly in most cases) whenever a character is deemed not diverse enough. – Eamon DeMarsh
Warped theory
As someone who followed the relationship between the Naxalite movement and the state, I can say that the Andhra Pradesh police used to dub arrests and giving up weapons as surrender ("Ground report: The truth about Chhattisgarh’s recent Maoist surrenders"). But under the right-wing government in Chhattisgarh, the police seem to think there is something called surrendering ideology, as if they are physical objects. They may also produce ideology as seized objects of evidence before court. They also make it sound as if democracy is not an ideology.
Are the police the correct organ of the political system to preach how to give up ideology and embrace democracy? Can there be more evidence of bankruptcy of political forces representing democracy? Using the police for political purpose is the ultimate indicator that all is not well.
This facade of surrender has been practiced for long, but the mainstream media's willingness to buy into this theory is a bit startling. – Murali Karnam
Ayodhya alert
The arrival of two truckloads of stones in Ayodhya for the construction of a Ram temple is a matter of concern for the whole country ("Ayodhya litigants want Modi to clear the air over arrival of stones for Ram temple"). I wonder how the Uttar Pradesh government allowed this to happen. This incident puts the state government in the dock. It is possible that this is an election gimmick of the BJP/RSS in connivance with the central and state governments. When such things happen, the onus is on the people to defeat these parties in the next election. – Shashi Varma
Finding fault
Whenever a new mega project is announced, most social activists create fear only to gain popularity ("As floodwaters recede, the mistakes of Chennai look set to be repeated in Cheyyur"). They are unable to provide any alternative. Reading such an article reaffirms my belief that we are a nation of fault finders. – sayarchallani on email
The social media effect
Social media is not the real voice of India, where the majority are not Internet users ("From Snapdeal to Barkha Dutt’s book: Social media intimidation falls flat on its face"). It was great to read this analysis on such a relevant subject. – Nikhil Suryawanshi
***
The Snapdeal app's ranking rose because of increased downloads. That happened because people needed to download the app first before giving it a ranking of 1. Once the rush fades, the app will fall down the charts again. What will stay, however, is the net rating, which is now down to 4, the lowest among all such apps.
In the long run, this will mean lower downloads and lower sales. Also note that people who downloaded the app just to rate it will not buy anything, so the recent increased downloads are also useless. Either you didn't know this, which makes you clueless, or deliberately didn't mention it, which makes you a hypocrite.
Non-fiction books don't sell very much anyway. I doubt that Barkha Dutt's book is a best seller, otherwise there would be more reviews by verified buyers. – Sabin
***
In your zeal to promote Barkha Dutt's book, you have tried to downgrade the general abhorrence of this lady. You try to insinuate that it is only the few people who are media-savvy and support the Bharatiya Janata Party who dislike her. A survey would reveal that most people give her a thumbs down. The reputation she had built has not been diminished even if she tried to curry favour with the current government. She is against everything and is a blot in the journalistic firmament. – Ravi