Blogs

Did you know one plus one can make zero? You didn't, you say? OK, take these two gospel truths: i) The Northeast does not quite make news in the Indian mainstream media ii) Media owners are loathe to disseminate news items about journalists through their outlets. Now take an incident which has these two incontrovertible truths as the background: the offices of many newspapers in Manipur and the state's only television channel were shut down on March 21 after threats to four journalists from an...

The Supreme Court has suspended legal proceedings against Richard Gere, who faced obscenity charges for publicly kissing Bollyood star Shilpa Shetty last year. Gere made headlines when he arched over and kissed Shilpa Shetty, winner of the British reality television show "Celebrity Big Brother", several times on the cheek at an anti-AIDS show in New Delhi. Reuters says Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan and Justice RV Raveendran stayed the arrest warrants against Gere and granted permission for him...

The Times of India has issued an apology. That's good news. The bad news is that the apology has been buried in the 20th page of Sunday's edition. The info comes to me courtesy Utpal. Here's what the paper had to say: "An article in TimesLife ('Spa With a Difference', March 2) had an inadvertent mention that has upset our friends from the northeast. We clarify here that we have the utmost regard for them and their contribution to the country. We apologise for upsetting any feelings and wish to...

Those of us who have more than a soft corner for the Northeast have been crying wolf since the day we stepped into journalism. We have been crying ourselves hoarse over the stepmotherly attitude of the Centre towards the region. And we have also been mincing no words about what we think of how the news media itself has been handling the Northeast. Over the last few years the news media has shown some interest in the region. For whatever reason. Maybe people have matured. Maybe they have...

The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the lifting of bans on the screening of "Jodhaa Akbar", a film about the romance between a Mughal emperor and a Hindu princess that had angered the Rajput community, says a Reuters report. [ Link] Several states banned the film on the grounds that its screening would incite violence after Rajputs protested and even attacked movie halls screening it. The makers of the film moved the Supreme Court, saying the bans were illegal and had led to huge revenue losses...

The Orissa State Women's Commission has taken upon itself the onerous job of playing the moral police in state capital Bhubaneswar. On Friday, they took help from the real police and hounded out 200 young couples from a popular dating haunt, the Science Park. The Indian Express had this to report: [ Link] (SCW chairperson Namita) Panda said she was prompted to raid the park because of rising cases of unwed mothers and rape on false promise of marriage by youngmen in the capital. “Most of the...

You can't beat this — the Andhra Pradesh government has banned dancing in clubs, bars and pubs to prevent law and order problems. Orchestra and singing accompanied by eating and drinking, however, has been permitted at these places if the managements obtained amusement licences. How amusing. We have been told as much by none other than the home minister of the state, K Jana Reddy. No, he did not convey this to us personally. He chose to announce this in the state Assembly during question hour on...

The Rajasthan police has quietly transferred the Shilpa Shetty-Richard Gere kissing-in-public case to its Delhi counterparts. The Indian Express has all the details of the case on which there is a Supreme Court stay order: [ Link] The Delhi Police had not registered any FIR after examining the complaints against Gere’s action — he planted kisses on Shetty’s cheek during an AIDS awareness programme at Samaipur Badli on April 15, 2007. On a lawyer’s complaint, the Rajasthan Police had registered a...

Valentine's Day comes every year with its share of spoils. I mean, the spoilsports. This year couldn't have been any different. More so, since the zealots have not died away. Just a quick rundown of some news reports: The New Indian Express: ROURKELA: Planning a date on Valentine Day. Here is a warning for unmarried young couples. The moral police in the saffron brigade will be on a prowl at vulnerable dating points to swoop down on lovebirds engaged in intimacy! This year too the VHP and its...

A year has rolled on, but Mallika Sherawat's "obscene" performance case of the last New Year's Eve still rolls on as well. A Mumbai court has directed three witnesses to record statement in the case. Metropolitan Magistrate G Wankhade at Bandra court has examined the evidence presented by the complainant Vinod Jain, a so-called social worker. [ Link] Wankhade has issued summons to Praveen Gala, Avinash Jain and Halim Qureshi, three witnesses in the case to appear before the court and record the...