'The consolation is that in recent years, the focus at the time of the anniversary has been increasingly shifting from Indira Gandhi's assassination to the plight of the thousands of innocent Sikhs who had been killed in retaliation,' Manoj Mitta, co-author of When a Tree Shook Delhi: The 1984 Carnage and its Aftermath, tells Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com.
On the claim of the victim's brothers that they were called 'beef eaters' by the accused, Goyal said, "No such thing has come to the fore during the main accused's questioning so far."
Family members of the victims say they have been denied justice even 16 years after the incident in which 58 Dalits were butchered allegedly by upper-caste Ranvir Sena men. M I Khan reports
'The National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party, as recent events suggest, are quite content as New Delhi's collaborators rather than trying to be true representatives of the Kashmiri people,' says Athar Parvaiz.
Breaking his silence, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday came out in strong defence of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in the 'Modigate' saying she acted "bona fide" and with "good intentions" and the entire government and party were one on the issue.
Protests by various parties could be seen as they demanded the Prime Minister Narendra Modi rolled back the demonetisation scheme.
'1984 is important as it is the beginning of the State making war against its citizens in India.' 'Since then, we had the government of the day organising riots or genocide by attacking certain people.'
Sachin Tendulkar was again under attack in Rajya Sabha on Monday for his prolonged absence even as the cricket icon sought to control damage by applying for leave for the entire Budget session, which was granted amid strong opposition from members.
Shiv Sena on Thursday defended its MPs involved in alleged force-feeding of a fasting Muslim employee and said a "protest" against mismanagement was given "communal colour" for "political mileage" even as the Opposition in Parliament pressed government for a statement.
'Forensics experts say in all such unexplained deaths of scientists and engineers involved in the nuclear programme, fingerprints are absent, as also other clues that would assist the police in identifying the culprit(s).' Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com reports on a petition that demands a Special Investigation Team probe the mysterious deaths of India's nuclear scientists.
Robert Vadra's land deals in a village in Haryana have returned to haunt the Congress party, with whistleblower IAS officer Ashok Khemka alleging that Vadra "falsified documents" for 3.53 acres of land in Gurgaon and "pocketed" a large premium on a commercial colony license.
Putting a spanner on Narayanaswami Srinivasan's bid to get reinstated as president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, the Supreme Court on Monday said it will look into the 'conflict of interest' issue arising from him being head of the board and owning an IPL team whose official was found to be involved in betting.
The leaked documents include details of submarine's underwater sensors, above-water sensors, combat management system, torpedo launch system and specifications, communications system and navigation systems.
The shutdown generated tension in Mumbai and a number of towns and cities across Maharashtra.
Will there be answers? Will we ever know the truth about who murdered Sheena Bora?
On the eve of the budget session of Parliament, the government on Sunday reached out to the opposition
'You know, there's not much else happening other than the juicy murder story starring the TV mogul's trophy turned huntress wife,' says Mango Indian.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
Despite Uber facing a ban across many states, including Karnataka and Maharashtra, for Lingaraju, a driver employed by the company in Bengaluru, it is business as usual.
Amidst reports of Congress' confabulations with the Rashtriya Janata Dal for a secular alliance in Bihar in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday took a dig at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for the Congress preferring Lalu Prasad over him and said such an 'opportunistic' alliance was not a cause of worry for it.
'What we see here is puppetry. The string is with the BJP.' 'All the puppets here are dancing to the direction the BJP pulls the strings.'
Taking an apparent dig at Modi, Gandhi satirised a song, saying "Aapka toh lagta hai bas yahi sapna, ram ram japna garibo kaa maal apna (It seems your only dream is to take away money from poor while chanting the name of Ram)".
'I was at a very senior position in the CBI and what happens is, hints are dropped for you to act upon. But then it depends upon your conscience, to do it or otherwise.' 'I know the rank and file of the CBI, they will bounce back; it is the leadership which has failed.'
Although the Haryana police claim to have solved the sensational Rs 100 crore bank heist case in Gohana town of Sonipat, the family of the robbery's alleged mastermind refuse to believe the cops. The family of Mahipal Banwala, the alleged mastermind who was found dead in his car, refuse to believe that a strong self-made man like him could never have committed suicide.
They say new rules that make over-billing by private hospitals a criminal offence will hurt their ability to treat patients properly, says Subir Roy.
'It is impossible for a decent man to live in Kairana town.' 'Any man who is not able to pay extortion money has left Kairana.' 'The people involved in this extortion want it to become a Hindu-Muslim problem.' 'The intention in Kashmir was that if Pandits leave Kashmir, all the property left behind will go to Muslims. The intention is the same in Kairana,'
To elect, or re-elect a chief minister, the AIADMK needs to call only the MLAs for a meeting. But to elect a new general secretary, it would have to conduct direct elections with all registered cadres participating and voting. And that is just the beginning of its problems, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
"They call me the Class 10 vice-chancellor," he says as his thin lips flirt with a smile. You almost feel that the tall man of spare build is being facetious. And then you see that his deep set eyes are not twinkling. There is a sense of the combative in them.
The year threw up quite a few shockers, some rather rude one. Below are Rediff.com's 12 picks that made us sit back and think, 'Did that really happen?'
Incidents of arson, firing and vandalism were reported from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Punjab as protesters agitated against the dilution of the SC/ST Act.
Rediff.com's Prasanna D Zore reports from Bhopal and Manikhedi Kot, Etkhedi Kot and Kejra Dev, about the October 30-31 escape and encounter in which 8 prisoners were killed, a case that has many questions and few answers.
Vinita Bisht and Vinita Kamte lost their husbands -- one an NSG commando, the other an IPS officer -- in the 26/11 terror attack. Six years later, Archana Masih/Rediff.com meets them to discover that closure is one of the hardest things to find.
Narendra Modi's mother washed utensils to make a living. Madhusudan Mistry's grandmother, who brought him up, was a vegetable vendor. Mistry's trajectory from poverty to membership of the all powerful Congress Working Committee is moving. the man who has Rahul Gandhi's ear and is all set to take on Narendra Modi in Vadodara, speaks to Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt in a fascinating interview.
