Category: Community

Cabinet clears ordinance for death penalty to child rapists, key features

Editor

The move seeking death penalty for child rapists comes after nationwide outrage over the brutal rape of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua and the alleged rape of a minor in Unnao. The Union cabinet on Saturday cleared a proposal to award the death penalty for those convicted of raping children below 12 years by amending the existing law. The government will make the changes to the law through an ordinance as Parliament is not in session. The move seeking the death penalty for child rapists comes in the backdrop of…

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Reopen all rape, murder cases in Kashmir since 1990: Mirwaiz Umar Farooq

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Demanding exemplary punishment to the culprits in the gruesome rape and murder case of a minor girl of Kathua, chairman APHC Mirwaiz Umar Farooq Friday said all the rape cases reported in Kashmir during past three decades including the mass rape of Kunan-Poshpora should be reopened and reinvestigated so that the guilty “roaming free” are brought to book. Addressing the Friday congregational gathering at the historic Jamia Masjid, here, the Mirwaiz urged the world human rights bodies to raise their voice against the brutal rapes and murders of Kashmiri women…

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Omar Abdullah heckled in Berkeley, called ‘Criminal’

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Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was heckled and called “criminal” at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was invited for a conversation on Thursday to share his perspective on possible solutions to the Kashmir issue. Omar, who is in the US to attend the event organised by the Institute of South Asia Studies of the University of California Berkeley, faced a tough time as he was confronted with a protest by Kashmiri-Americans. “I want to take you to the International Criminal Court,” one of the woman protesters shouted at…

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Why parents are letting sons join militant ranks in Kashmir?

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A phone conversation between a father and his son has become a rallying cry for Kashmiri separatists. Aetimad Hussain had joined a terror group and was in the middle of a fierce gun battle in south Kashmir’s Shopian. He figured this was going to be his last. His friend had already been shot and this was his goodbye call to his parents. In the conversation, Aetimad Hussain is heard telling his father that he was trapped and there was no way to get out. “Look, I cannot tell you to…

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J&K people have shown courage in face of many challenges: President Ram Nath Kovind

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Praising the people of Jammu and Kashmir, President Ram Nath Kovind has said that they showed courage, fortitude and resilience in the face of challenges arising because of multiple factors. Praising the people of Jammu and Kashmir, President Ram Nath Kovind has said that they showed courage, fortitude and resilience in the face of challenges arising because of multiple factors. Speaking at a civic reception hosted in his honour at Amar Mahal palace in Jammu last night, Kovind said Jammu and Kashmir “is affected by ups and downs…and turmoil”, but…

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Not supporting lawyers protest in Kathua Case: Jammu Bar to Supreme Court

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The Jammu High Court Bar Association on Thursday told the Supreme Court that it did not support the lawyers’ protest in connection with the Kathua gangrape and murder case. The Bar Council of India (BCI) told a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra that it had constituted a team, headed by a former high court judge, which had visited Kathua to assess the situation relating to lawyers’ protest. Meanwhile, the Kathua District Bar Association told the bench, comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud, that it had already withdrawn…

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Deadly Clashes and Simmering Hostility across Kashmir Valley

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At least 20 soldiers, civilians and insurgents were killed and 200 wounded this week in clashes between Indian troops and Kashmiris who had taken to to the streets to protest Indian rule. Stones were hurled at the soldiers, who responded with live rounds and iron pellets. The big picture: This was the deadliest outbreak of fighting the region has seen this year, but Kashmiris have lived in the heart of the India–Pakistan conflict since the two countries — with Kashmir caught in the middle — split in 1947. Now, they’ve…

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Only in Kashmir protestors are being showered pellets, bullets and lathis: Aasiya Andrabi

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Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM) chairperson Syeda Aasiya Andrabi on Wednesday sternly condemned, what she said, the use of indiscriminate force against the peacefully protesting students across Valley. “While protests over the brutal Kathua rape and murder are held across the world, it is only in Kashmir that protestors are being showered pellets, bullets and lathis,” Aasiya Andrabi. “It is an irony that we are not allowed to mourn and protest against the brutal rape and murder of our own child. World is protesting but when we come out to protest, bullets and…

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Something wrong with our society: Mehbooba Mufti

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Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday lamented that something was wrong with a society where men indulge in rape and murder of a child who is a manifestation of the Mother Goddess. Referring to the shocking abduction, gang rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua in January, the Chief Minister said: “How can someone do such a cruel thing to a small girl who is a manifestation of Mata Vaishno Devi? There is something wrong with the society.” Along with President Ram Nath Kovind, Mehbooba…

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Justice Delayed, Justice Denied: Another horror story of rape and intimidation

Editor

For almost three months, a minor girl was drugged, raped and forced to be part of a sex racket. She has alleged that a Jammu cop and PDP MLA were party to the crime. The police is yet to file a chargesheet in the case. It took three months for the nation’s conscience to wake up to the grisly rape and murder of an eight-year-old in Kathua, Jammu. Around the same time as when the Bakerwal girl’s body was recovered in January, another minor girl from Kulgam, Kashmir, came out…

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