28 September 2000
National Public Radio
There are more than 25 million court cases pending in India. More than half are criminal cases. And many people awaiting trial have spent decades behind bars without ever being convicted of a crime. NPR’s Michael Sullivan reports from New Delhi.

MICHAEL SULLIVAN reporting:
Santo Sananda Avaduta(ph) is a 66-year-old monk in saffron robes, Coke-bottle glasses and a long, gray beard. He sleeps on a thin blanket on the concrete floor of a one-room, third-floor walk-up. Santo Sananda, who used to edit his order’s newspaper, has been on trial for nearly 25 years. He and three others are accused of murder but Santo Sananda says they are all innocent victims of a political vendetta. But he’s having a hard proving it in court.

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Jails And Courts In India Overflowing Due To A Lack Of JudgesRead More »

22 July 2000
Financial Times (London)
In a village near Delhi, two lovers lay dead – murdered by their own families in the name of caste. Samia Nakhoul reports on a social system that condemns millions to a life of squalor and inequality and asks whether it can ever change

The young Indian lovers lay side by side on the blazing funeral pyre of cow dung. When police arrived to recover the bodies, they had already been burnt beyond recognition. Their remains, a piece of blue cloth from a sari and torn shoes, were the only evidence left in the fields of Rajpura village of a crime committed in the name of caste.

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Born to be UntouchableRead More »

31 January 2000
South China Morning Post
NEW DELHI – Human rights groups are alarmed over a proposal to combat rising terrorism in India, arguing a similar law in the 1980s harassed minorities while doing little to stem violence.

Parliament is due to debate the Criminal Law Amendment Bill when it resumes next month.
It would give police sweeping powers to act against the terrorists, who New Delhi says are backed by Pakistan.

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Anti-Terrorism Proposal Triggers Fears for MinoritiesRead More »