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This report has been prepared on the basis of THRD Alliance Chairperson Dipendra Jha’s field visit to Bhardah, Saptari District. On August 17, a day before the Bhardah police fired shots at the protesters, tensions ran high between the police and the protestors. In the evening, the superintendents of police of the Nepal Police and […]

(Note: this article was first published in the August 16, 2015 issue of the Sunday Examiner) Temogen (Cocoy) Tulawie, a rights advocate from Sulu, walked out of prison on July 20 after a court in Manila acquitted him of charges of murder and possessing explosives. His acquittal ended nearly four years of imprisonment. But the remaining […]

By Javeria Younes The ongoing fight against militancy and terrorism has seen many a fallen soldiers, the latest being Punjab Home Minister Col. (retd.) Shuja Khanzada, who was killed along with 16 others in a suicide blast at his political office in Shadi Khan near Attock on 16 August 2015. In another incident, political worker […]

By Javeria Younes August 11 is a historic day that marks the celebration of Minorities’ Day in Pakistan. It was on this date that the father of the nation, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, in a speech at the first Legislative Assembly of the country on 11 August 1947, i.e. three days before the official announcement of […]

Urikhimbam Jenison The Manipur state government has closed down all educational institutions in the state in an attempt to curb the ongoing movement for the implementation of the Inner Line Permit System (ILPS) in Manipur. It has been a month since this decision was taken. In other words, students have been kept out of their […]

Yakub Memon is dead and buried. He was legally murdered on Thursday, 30 July 2015. This was after the Supreme Court dismissed the final petition put forward by a group of eminent lawyers pleading postponement of the sentence in a dramatic hearing that took place in the early hours of Thursday, just 2 hours before […]

The true character of a society is revealed in how it treats its children – Nelson Mandela The Juvenile Justice (Amendment) Bill 2014 was not deliberated by the Parliamentary Standing Committee, as it strongly opposed the amendments made to it; despite this, the Union Cabinet went ahead and passed the bill in the Lok Sabha […]

Yakub Memon, a terror convict, will be hanged to death, most probably on 30 July 2015. He will be killed by the State because the Supreme Court of India rejected his curative plea, the final appeal, and cleared the way for hanging. He will hang after being convicted under the much reviled Terrorist and Disruptive […]

Javeria Younes The mob justice meted out to 13-year-old Samiul Alam Rajon, who was beaten to death in Bangladesh by an angry mob resolute on teaching the youngster a lesson for stealing a bicycle, is a classic case of mob madness witnessed on our streets every day. Throughout Asia, deteriorating rule of law and ineffective […]

by Avinash Pandey Photo © Sarath Kuchi Seven farmers have recently sought the governments’ permission to end their lives. They have drafted applications and submitted them – as per protocol in any “normal” application – to the Office of the Tehsildar (local revenue officer) in Wardha District, Maharashtra. What’s more, the seven have even received […]

by Avinash Pandey The police in Maharashtra sent a 17-year-old rape survivor back to her assaulters as “bait”, not once but twice. The insensitivity of placing a minor in this situation is manifest. The girl must still have been struggling with the trauma. But, the police also went ahead and botched up the ploy by […]

by Javeria Younes The arguments against jail term in the context of a developing country such as Pakistan holds water if one considers the factor of the State failing to reform inmates. The length of sentence awarded is increasing considerably for offences such as burglary, theft, rape and terrorism, however no significant drop in such […]

by JaveriaYounes “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever.” Perhaps the author of these words, George Orwell, could not have expected his prophesy would materialize quite as it has today. Torture has become a hard-hitting reality of our time; it is no longer an issue of […]

by Javeria Younus “I don’t want to die before I get justice.” These are the words of Kainat Soomro[1], a rape survivor awaiting justice. She is a victim twice over. She has suffered the crime of rape, and now she is also victim to our criminal justice system, which has denied her justice. Our criminal […]

by Basil Fernando Problem There has been much discussion on violence as a result of cultural, ethnic, religious, social, and economic factors, but hardly any on violence caused by failures of the justice sector. Why there is such an absence is hard to grasp. Everyone knows that competent and efficient functioning of policing, prosecution, and […]

By Basil Fernando In this series of short essays I have attempted to demonstrate the terrible situation of institutions of justice- police, prosecutors and the judiciary- through some samples. I have also tried to show how intricately linked are the political and societal crisis plaguing the country and the sad state of justice institutions. In […]

An Article by the Asian Human Rights Commission HONG KONG/PHILIPPINES: Remember who we were to knowwho we are by Danilo Reyes (Note: this article was first published in the June 7, 2015 issue of the Sunday Examiner) Wala namang espesyal dito (there is nothing special here),”a female staff from a hostel where I was staying in Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro, told me. I was […]

by Basil Fernando In this article, the “justice system” refers to the police, the prosecution (Attorney General’s Department), and the judicial institutions, as separate entities and as a collective in their interactions with each other. That these institutions suffered a great set back due to the operation of 1972 and 1978 Constitutions is unanimously acknowledged. […]

by Basil Fernando Rita, a rape victim visited the Magistrates Court 24 times between 2001 and 2004. Then, the case was referred to the Attorney General for the filing of indictment. The visits she made to the High Court thereafter, and reasons for postponements, are catalogued as follows: Case No: HC 57/2007 High Court – […]

By Basil Fernando The rape and murder of a 17-year-old schoolgirl two weeks ago, has given rise to the biggest protest seen in North in recent times. The police have announced that 9 persons have been arrested and are been investigated. DNA samples have been taken and sent for examination. Meanwhile, the President of Sri […]