ISSUES AND CONCERNS

Dussehra or Vijayadashami, the festival of Hindus, represents the culmination of 9 days (Navraathri) or 9 nights of celebration. The 10th day is called Vijayadashami or Dussehra. The festival denotes the victory of good over evil, during a fierce battle of 9 days between goddess Durga and Mahishasura a vicious demon. On the 10th day, the victory is celebrated according to the Hindu mythology. In most parts of India the festival is celebrated with fervor. In Bengal, Durga Pooja is one of the most important festivals. However, in the erstwhile East Bengal, which became East Pakistan in 1947 and then Bangladesh in 1971, this year the festival turned out to be bloody and devastating. An engineered blasphemy episode snow-balled into a major catastrophe for Bangladeshi Hindus. Reportedly, one Iqbal Husain had placed a copy of the Holy Quran at a Durga Pooja venue in Comilla. According to the police he was seen in CCTV footage-placing a copy of Quran at the knees of a Hanuman idol at the Durg...

NEW DELHI: In a recent judgment by Bombay High Court, learned judge had observed that groping a minor’s breast without “skin to skin contact” cannot be termed sexual assault under the POSCO Act. The judgment had said that since the man groped the child without removing her clothes the offence cannot be termed as sexual assault but it does constitute the offence of outraging the modesty of woman under IPC section 354. The High Court had accordingly acquitted the man for the offence under section 7 of the POSCO. Here is a case of an aged man pressing the breast of a fully dressed 12 year old child without removing her clothes. The victim is not even a teenager, and chances are that child can get deeply traumatized by the shock of this unexpected attack on her persona by a father like man which the so-called learned judge of Bombay High Court has failed to recognise. Court went by the argument of equally ‘learned’ advocates, that this is a fit case under section 354 of IPC, and therefore...