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'Investigating agencies are not acting as independent authorities; they have stopped being neutral.' IMAGE: Protesters at Bhima Koregaon near Pune in Maharashtra. Photograph: PTI Photo Senior counsel and advocate of the Bombay high court and Supreme Court of India, Mihir Desai is advising lawyers representing the 13 accused in a case that has charged them with hatching a conspiracy to kill Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi The charge of hatching this conspiracy -- known infamously as the Bhima Koregaon case -- has been pressed by the National Investigation Agency, and the Pune police before the NIA in 2018, against Sudhir Dhawale, Mahesh Raut, Sudha Bharadwaj, Professor Shoma Sen, Surendra Gadling, Rona Jacob Wilson, Professor Varavara Rao, Gautam Navlakha, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sagar Tatyaram Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor, Jyoti Raghoba Jagtap, Anand Teltumbde and Professor Hanybabu Tarayil is based on a piece of electronic evidence, a typed letter, ... » Learn More about ‘Democracy in India is being killed very fast’

'The Constitution, which talks about democracy and equality, is something that will be applied in this country, and not Manusmriti in which the RSS believes.' IMAGE: Dalits protest during the Maharashtra bandh on Wednesday, January 3, in Dharavi, Mumbai. Photograph: Sahil Salvi As violence in Pune spread to other parts of Maharashtra on Tuesday, January 2, the Pune police said it had received a complaint against Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani and student leader Umar Khalid for 'provocative' speeches at an event in Pune on December 31. Mevani and Khalid had attended the Elgar Parishad, an event organised to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the battle of Bhima Koregaon, at Shaniwar Wada in Pune. Khalid, who left Pune a day before violence broke out, spoke to Rediff.com 's Syed Firdaus Ashraf about Dalit politics in India. Tell us about the meeting you attended in Pune on December 31. The meeting was about the celebration of the battle of Bhima Koregaon in ... » Learn More about ‘BJP hasn’t given up its Brahminical vision for India’

Your guide to the Jab Harry Met Sejal way of life. When Sejal talks matter-of-factly about 'intercourse', and Harry openly admits he is a ' waise wala aadmi ' -- in the Anuskha Sharma-Shah Rukh Khan starrer, Jab Harry Met Sejal -- they're just reflecting the times we live in. Our only bit of advice? Read what we've listed below before you take the plunge. Girls, it's okay to make the first move It's 2017, guys! Swipe right, swipe left, but swipe! Be willing to burn a hole in your pocket Forget 'your place or mine'. Splurge on a room in a REALLY GOOD hotel -- and we can't reiterate this enough. Let a friend in on the secret Safety comes first. Be prepared... With condoms/morning after pills and pepper spray. What's underneath is just as important as what's on top And that means undergarments with no holes. DO NOT skimp on the mints Hygiene counts. If you are a virgin, do not hide it Be ... » Learn More about Must-know rules of casual sex in modern India

'The Dalits have always asserted themselves, but there has never been any gain for Dalits.' bandh successful.' bandh has become a success.' IMAGE: A scene from the January 3 bandh in Mumbai. Photograph: Sahil Salvi Prakash Yashwant Ambedkar , founder of the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh -- and, more importantly, Dr B R Ambedkar 's grandson -- minces no words as he takes on the Maharashtra government. Ambedkar tells Rediff.com 's Prasanna D Zore about the RSS concerns about the January 1 attack on Dalits in Bhima Koregaon and how he hopes to create a coalition of forces to offer an alternative to the BJP and Congress. What has the Dalit movement achieved from the Maharashtra bandh you called on January 3? This bandh was supported not just by the Dalits who were attacked during the January 1 celebrations at Bhima Koregaon. A large number of smaller OBCs ( other backward classes ) too joined in the bandh and that is the reason why it was so ... » Learn More about Why Maharashtra

'Today, Dalits can become IAS officers, doctors, IPS, MLAs, MPs and even the President due to the Constitution.' IMAGE: Bhim Army Sena members stop a train during the Bharat Bandh call given by Dalit organisations against the alleged dilution of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Act in Patna, April 2, 2018. Photograph: PTI Photo On Monday, April 2, north India witnessed violence during the Bharat Bandh protests which were called by Dalit organisations to protest against the dilution of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Already under pressure, the Narendra D Modi government faced internal rebellion when one of its own, Savitri Bai Phule -- the Bharatiya Janata Party MP who represents Uttar Pradesh's Bahraich Lok Sabha constituency -- accused the BJP of not doing enough to defend the rights of Dalits in the country. "I am not opposing the Government of India. I am only saying give respect to Dalits," an anguished Phule tells Rediff.com 's Syed ... » Learn More about The BJP’s Dalit MP who wants Modi to walk the talk

'To selectively look at the operation of certain laws -- in a manner that ignores the realities of caste and gender injustice in India -- and conclude that they are being particularly misused, is plain wrong,' says Aakar Patel. IMAGE: Dalits block a highway in Mumbai during a bandh to protest the violence at an event to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon. Photograph: Rajesh Alva/ Rediff.com Our Supreme Court's campaign against the 'misuse' of special laws continues. A few days ago, a two-judge bench of Justices A K Goel and U U Lalit issued new directions to prevent what they say is the 'rampant misuse' of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. What these directions are actually likely to do is gut a law crucial to protecting Dalit and Adivasi rights. On the face of it, much of the judgment aims to uphold the fair trial rights of criminal suspects. The Court rightly observes that wrongful arrests and ... » Learn More about Supreme Court verdict is a blow to Dalit, Adivasi rights

'Such a serious threat -- to assassinate the prime minister of India, no less -- was not handed over to the Maharashtra Anti Terrorist Squad for investigation, but to the Pune crime branch.' Photograph: @narendramodi/Twitter So in the first of its kind political humour we have encountered in a long time, an e-mail is produced that is addressed to media organisations stating how they -- all 'Naxals' -- want to threaten Prime Minister Narendra D Modi with assassination 'Rajiv Gandhi style', an e-mail which was also copied to the police! The authorities in Maharashtra quickly pounced on five people -- including a lawyer, professor and editor -- who are directly connected with the Dalit cause. This is, after all, a Bharatiya Janata Party government. Apart from these five individuals, the e-mail named activists who had been arrested by the Maharashtra police during the previous Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government. It's no surprise that we are being served ... » Learn More about Dalits, Urban Maoists and a plot to kill the PM

IMAGE: Dalits enforce the closure of markets during a protest in Ahmedabad July 20 against the assault by cow protectors in Rajkot. Photograph: PTI 'Only the smoke is coming out now. Let us prevent the lava from coming out by taking proper measures.' T hough P S Krishnan , 84, retired after three decades of service as an IAS officer in 1990, as the secretary to the Government of India, he continues his work for the socially deprived classes in India. Krishnan, below, left , has been on numerous government committees after retirement, and is currently the advisor to the government of Telangana on backward classes, and the government of Andhra Pradesh on identification of and reservation for socially and educationally backward classes among Muslims. He is also a member of the National Monitoring Committee for Education of SCs, STs and Persons with Disabilities, and a member of the Central Monitoring Committee of the National Mission for Empowering Women. One of the ... » Learn More about ‘You are sitting on a volcano of Dalit anger’

'It is not happening in the same manner as it was happening during the time of the Peshwas.' Image only published for representational purposes. Bhima-Koregaon near Pune witnessed tension and violence this year when Dalits, like they have done for many years now, congregated at the site of the battle between the East India Company and the Peshwa's forces exactly 200 years ago. Aiding the British in the battle of Bhima-Koregaon were the Mahars, a Dalit community who claim the victory against the Peshwa empire as their own and commemorate it every year. This year, events took on an added edge with Jignesh Mevani , the newly elected Dalit MLA from Gujarat, visiting the site, incorporating a Jay Stambh or victory memorial, to pay tribute. Violence broke between those marking the victory over the Peshwas and those protesting the commemoration, in which one person was killed. The Battle of Koregaon on January 1, 1818 marked the last confrontation between the ... » Learn More about ‘There is a Brahminical resurgence’

'When you talk badly of the country and project a bad image of the country to the rest of the world, is it not sedition?' IMAGE: E Sreedharan. Photograph: Vijay Mathur/Reuters E Sreedharan , is the architect behind the Konkan Railway, the Delhi and Kochi Metros. On February 19, the 88 year old announced his decision to join the Bharatiya Janata Party. He even spoke about becoming the next chief minister of Kerala if the BJP won the assembly elections due in a few weeks' time. In the first part of a revealing interview to Shobha Warrier/ Rediff.com , Sreedharan declares, "I have sympathy for the BJP for quite some time." What made you take the decision to join politics now? All these years I have been discharging my professional responsibilities entrusted on me by various government agencies, and the last responsibility will be over by the 5th of March. I felt even after that, my experience and my talent should be available to the people of ... » Learn More about ‘Projecting the country in a wrong way is sedition’