After the publication of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) notice in the Punjab illegal cremations matter, victims’ kin from other districts have questioned when they will receive justice. As per its January 13, 1999 order, the NHRC limited its inquiry to three crematoria in Amritsar district, despite the pattern of disappearances throughout Punjab and […]
The Supreme Court has stayed the proceedings in the case of Bilkis Yakub Rasool until August 2. This case involves the gang-rape of 3 members and murder of 14 family members of Rasool, including her own gang rape, arising out of the 2002 Gujarat pogroms against Muslims. She had filed a petition for transfer of […]
The Nanavati-Shah commission, investigating the Godhra carnage and Gujarat pogroms, rejected the state government’s plea to adjourn hearings:
The G.T. Nanavati and K.G. Shah Commission ruled that the proceedings could go simultaneously with the collection of additional evidence under the new notification issued by the Government last week. There was no need to postpone the ongoing […]
The central government extended the term of the Nanavati Commission’s inquiry into the 1984 pogroms against Sikhs. The Commission’s term was set to expire on August 2, 2004, but was extended for the seventh time. It will now function until November 2, 2004.
Last week, the Gujarat government also extended the scope of the Nanavati Commission’s […]
The Gujarat government has expanded the scope of the Nanavati panel to include an investigation into the acts of the Chief Minister and other senior state government officials, relating to the Godhra train carnage and subsequent 2002 Gujarat pogroms against Muslims. The Commission’s term ends in December, unless the state government extends it. The Commission […]
Rakesh Sharma’s documentary Final Solution—documenting the right-wing politics of hate in India—is facing stiff opposition by India’s censor board. Although Sharma has not been able to show his documentary in India publicly because the censor board has not issued him the required certificate, he has won several international awards:
“What has upset the board is the […]
Newspapers throughout Punjab have published a notice soliciting claims from survivors of disappearances perpetrated by the Punjab police during the police counterinsurgency movement. At the March 17 hearing of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in the Punjab illegal cremations matter, the Commission had ordered the Punjab government to solicit affidavits from victim families. The […]
India’s Supreme Court ordered the release of millions of rupees of compensation for the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy of December 1984. Three thousand people died in the days after a leakage at the Union Carbide pesticide plant. 20,000 more died later from the long-term impacts, such as disease:
The court directed that 15bn rupees ($327.5m) […]
Last week, the Union Law Minister Ram Jethmalani released the People’s Tribunal report on the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA):
At a press conference here today to mark the release of the People’s Tribunal’s report on POTA and other security legislation, Mr. Jethmalani said: “I did support the enactment of the Act, but I now realise […]
A new film called Kaya Taran (Chrysallis), based on a Malayam short story called When Big Trees Fall, uses memories of the 1984 Sikh pogroms to reflect on the 2002 Gujarat pogroms against Muslims:
Shifting through past and present, the tale follows the lives of Preet (Angad Bedi), a Delhi reporter working on a story on […]