Where does one find a man who shows no bitterness or animosity towards Hindus, even after a frenzied Hindu mob burnt his house down?, Jyoti Punwani asks in this tribute to a truly extraordinary Indian.
In the aftermath of the 2002 riots in Gujarat, the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee appeared to be not keen on President APJ Abdul Kalam's official visit to the state, according to a book.
'No one talks about the Mumbai riots anymore, though like Delhi 1984, the guilty have not been punished. In Gujarat, many powerful leaders of the state's ruling party are in jail for their role in the riots... In Mumbai, only one politician of the Shiv Sena, a former MP, was convicted of hate speech, along with two other Shiv Sainiks, one of whom was a corporator and the other a junior functionary... So why the apathy? Could it be because despite these statistics and the widely-publicised findings of the Srikrishna Commission, what remained in public consciousness was the violence by the Muslims, thanks to a highly efficient Sena propaganda machine? There's no demand for it, but would an SIT probe into the closed cases of the Mumbai riots help today?' The fadeout of Mumbai's riots from public debate can be called a triumph of the communal State, argues Jyoti Punwani.
'...to give a benevolent interpretation of the statutes, and to protect the weak and the victims. The aim is to make justice reach all the people,' says former Chief Justice V N Khare.
Days after the Congress praised A B Vajpayee to target Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial Narendra Modi, the party did a U-turn on Monday, calling the BJP veteran "the weakest PM India ever had", a taunt often directed at Manmohan Singh by the opposition party.
The Nanavati Commission probing the 2002 riots in Gujarat has been granted another extension of six months till December 31 this year by Gujarat government, officials said on Tuesday.
The Bharat Nyay Yatra will be mostly covered by bus along with short stretches of walking.
Maulana Gulam Mohammad Vastanvi, who stirred a controversy with his remarks on Gujarat, on Thursday said he has not resigned as the vice chancellor of Darul Uloom Deoband. "I have not yet resigned. A meeting of the Majlis-e-Soora (governing council) will be held on February 23, which scholars from all over the country will attend. I will present my case and they will decide on whether I should continue or not," said Vastanvi.
The court said that all the convicts will have to undertake community services for six hours a week besides reporting to the local police station on a weekly basis as bail conditions.
The over half-an-hour meeting between the opposition parties and the government, however, remained inconclusive.
The court of additional sessions judge R M Asodiya reserved its order on Hindustani's bail plea for April 13, additional public prosecutor Moham Gohel said.
A special court in the Sabarmati jail in Ahmedabad on Tuesday convicted 31 accused in what is the first verdict in the Godhra train burning case.
Thirty-one persons convicted in the 2002 Sardarpura riot case of Mehsana district on Monday withdrew their regular bail plea from the Gujarat high court.
The former Union minister quit the party accusing it of 'insulting' minorities and Dalits.
The former prime minister confirmed what had been widely speculated earlier that he personally favoured Modi's removal but was prevailed upon by hawks in the Sangh Parivar.
The high court also upheld the trial court order convicting two on charges of murder and acquitted another accused Devabhai Samatbhai Bharwad.
Ending suspense over his appearance before the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team probing the 2002 Gujarat riots, Chief Minister Narendra Modi has agreed to present himself before the panel on March 27.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said he does not appreciate the "impotent" remark made by Union Minister Salman Khurshid against Narendra Modi in the context of the 2002 Gujarat riots.
The Supreme Court appointed Special Investigation Team investigating the 2002 post-Godhra riots has summoned Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in connection with the Gulbarg Society massacre, on March 21.
The Supreme Court was told that the Special Investigation Team probing the Gujarat riots completed its inquiry into allegations levelled by the wife of a former Congress MP, Zakia Jaffery, that Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his close aides aided and abetted the carnage in which her husband was killed.
Palshikar and Yadav, who were chief advisors for the original Political Science books for classes 9 to 12, said, "While the modifications have been justified in the name of rationalisation, we fail to see any pedagogic rationale at work here. We find that the text has been mutilated beyond recognition. There are innumerable and irrational cuts and large deletions without any attempts to fill the gaps created.
A study reveals religious communities in Gujarat have moved from mixed neighbourhoods to community-dominated areas.
Critical of then BJP-led Central government, Bhandari claimed the Modi's removal would have prevented the situation from deteriorating.
Bilkis will depose before special judge U D Salvi in an in-camera trial.
A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha, while granting them the relief took note of the time they have already served and the unlikelihood of their appeals being taken up for disposal anytime soon.
The acquittal of all 67 accused in the Naroda Gam case in which 11 members of a minority community were killed amounts to "murder" of justice and the verdict will only embolden rioters, said some of the survivors of the communal violence.
Key Best Bakery witness Zaheera Sheikh had moved the apex Court seeking retrial of the case at any place outside Gujarat.
'I like to tell stories that are real. When you say something true, it becomes controversial. It's not that I desire controversy; it's just that I want to tell the truth.' Director Rahul Dholakia talks about his new film Lamhaa and the Kashmir issue.
The Congress' rebuttal came after the Gujarat police on Friday opposed activist Teesta Setalvad's bail application.
Congress leaders and lawyers of 2002 post-Godhra riots victims on Thursday slammed the Gujarat government for destroying vital State Intelligence Bureau records pertaining to the clashes, calling the action a "criminal conspiracy."
The Supreme Court on Thursday wondered why the Gujarat high court has listed the bail plea of activist Teesta Setalvad for hearing on September 19, six weeks after it sent a notice to the state government seeking a response to her application, and asked the state to inform it by 2 pm on Friday about whether such a precedent existed there.
The income and profits shown by various BBC group entities are "not commensurate" with the scale of their operations in India and tax has not been paid on certain remittances by its foreign entities, the income tax authorities said Friday, a day after they ended a three-day-long survey operation against the British media organisation.
The Centre and the Gujarat government on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that they may file a plea seeking a review of its March 27 order asking them to be ready with original files on the grant of remission to the convicts in the Bilkis Bano case.
The latest case was registered at the Dhoomanganj police station on Monday, the official added.
Former Union law minister Ram Jethmalani on Thursday demanded setting up of a special investigation team to probe unaccounted money of Indians, estimated to the tune of $1500 billion, lying in Swiss and other foreign banks.
He's a devout Hindu but places fairness above religion.
Chief Minister Narendra Modi has described his marathon grilling by the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team in a Gujarat riots case as a difficult moment of his life and thanked the people of the state for standing by him.
The Gujarat government, which sought a probe into the role of activist Teesta Setalvad's NGO, is now targeting her main funding source, the US-based NGO, Ford Foundation.
