Here’s your wrap of news for the week gone by:
Dalit labour activist Nodeep Kaur, who was arrested on January 12 from a labourers' protest at Kundli border point, was granted bail by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in an attempt to murder case. She has been lodged in a Karnal jail in Haryana. Ms Kaur had accused the police of sexual assault under custody, but the allegation was denied by authorities.
The court will consider separately her allegation of illegal confinement by the police, her advocate Harinder Deep Singh Bains told media persons today following the court order. It will also look at her medical records at a different date, he said.
While the overall number of crimes against women decreased in 2020 when compared to the previous year, the national capital still reported 1,699 rapes, 2,186 instances of molestation and 65 cases of sexual assault against children, according to data released by the Delhi Police. Delhi Police said this was the first time in several years that all types of crimes against women had reduced. However this could be owing to the Covid-19 lockdown in March with the movement of people had remained curtailed at least for four months. The city still experienced a rape every five hours, a murder every 19 hours, and a car theft every 15 minutes.
Governments in which women are well represented are more likely to fulfill campaign promises, concludes a study of 12 countries. And when women are involved in leadership, governments are even more likely to deliver on campaign promises, the study showed. It is the latest finding in a growing body of research that establishes the positive effects of inclusive governance. A 2018 U.N. study of 20 years’ worth of Indian data supports the new finding; it found significantly greater economic and infrastructure development in constituencies represented by women.
The UN on Monday slammed countries that are using the pandemic to justify cracking down on dissent and suppressing criticism. Speaking at the opening of the UN Human Rights Council’s main annual session, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres charged that authorities in a number of nations were using restrictions meant to halt the spread of COVID-19 to weaken opposition. “Using the pandemic as a pretext, authorities in some countries have deployed heavy-handed security responses and emergency measures to crush dissent, criminalise basic freedoms, silence independent reporting and curtail the activities of non-governmental organisations,” he said, without naming the countries.
Disha Ravi, the 22-year-old climate activist who was arrested from Bengaluru in the "Toolkit" case earlier this month, has been granted bail. A Delhi court, while granting her bail, made strong remarks in favour of freedom of speech and expression and right to dissent in the country. "The offence of sedition cannot be invoked to minister to the wounded vanity of the governments," the court said.
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