Audit reveals massive corruption in India jobs scheme

Irregularities have crippled the implementation of a job guarantee program introduced eight years ago, leaving “the poorest of the poor” still unable to exercise their rights, according to a government auditor. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India found improper diversion of funds, tampering with payrolls and impermissible works undertaken, to the tune of [...]

India: Outrage grows over Muslim’s execution

Rights groups have led a chorus of disapproval over Saturday’s execution of Mohammad Afzal Guru, a Muslim convicted of an attack on parliament in 2001. Criticism mounted over the weekend after Guru’s family said they were not notified that he would be executed in New Delhi. The execution took place just six days after President [...]

India: State accused of failing missing children

The Supreme Court of India has criticized the federal and state governments for what it called a lack of concern over tens of thousands of missing children across the country. Following a petition from child welfare group Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA, Save Childhood Movement), Chief Justice Atamas Kabir said on Tuesday that the government has [...]

India: Islamists declare fatwa on girls’ band

Police have filed a case against Islamists who posted online death threats targeting an all-girl rock band in Kashmir. Grand Mufti Bashiruddin Ahmad issued a fatwa on Sunday, declaring singing to be un-Islamic after the band Pragaash (Light.) Critics of the band have also posted a series of death threats online. Dukhataarn-e-Millat, a radical women’s [...]

Protesters in India demand death for rapists

Scores of protesters gathered near India’s Parliament on Tuesday demanding the death penalty for six men accused of the fatal gang rape of a young woman in New Delhi last month. The protesters carried placards saying: “Give us Justice, Hang the Rapists,” and shouted slogans before conducting a mock hanging of the men who are [...]

India: Schools launch self-defense lessons for girls

An alarming number of violent attacks on women in Madhya Pradesh has prompted schools and colleges in the state to begin self-defense classes for female students. Girls must be able to protect themselves in any emergency situation when immediate help from others might not be available, said JN Kansotiya, the state’s principal secretary for higher [...]

India: Priest accused of student sex attack

An Indian court remanded a Catholic priest in police custody after he was accused of molesting and attempting to rape a female student in the western city of Pune. Salesian Father Igidius Falcao, 61, appeared before the local court in Pune on Tuesday morning. He is being charged under various criminal sections for outraging the [...]

5 men charged with murder in New Delhi gang rape

Five men accused of raping a university student for hours on a bus as it drove through India’s capital were charged with murder, rape and other crimes that could bring them the death penalty. The attack on the 23-year-old woman, who died of severe internal injuries over the weekend, provoked a fierce debate across India [...]

India: Attackers tried to run over Delhi rape victim

A gang of rapists who assaulted and murdered a woman on a bus in New Delhi last month tried to run her over with the vehicle after the attack, reports said today, citing a grisly police account of the incident. Her boyfriend, who was beaten up and thrown off the bus after the girl had [...]

Indian gang rape victim dies in Singapore

An Indian gang rape victim died Saturday in Singapore after suffering severe organ failure, the hospital treating her said, in a case that sparked widespread street protests over violence against women. Authorities in India have been preparing for the possibility her death could ignite more protests after riot police were deployed on the capital’s streets [...]

India announces gang-rape inquiry

India’s government ordered a special inquiry Wednesday into the gang-rape of a student which sparked mass protests, as police announced the arrest of 10 men over another multiple sex assault. While a wave of angry protests over the December 16 assault on the student in New Delhi subsided, news of a Christmas Eve gang-rape in [...]

India: Police use teargas, water to disperse rape protesters

Indian police have used tear gas and water cannons to keep back thousands of protesters marching in Delhi over the gang rape of a young woman. Violence broke out as the protesters, mainly college students, tried to break through police barricades to march on the presidential palace. There has been outrage in India over the [...]

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