On 22 November, a senior journalist working with a prominent Malayalam newspaper wrote a poignant post on her Facebook account about sexual abuses her classmates had to face in a Madarassa years ago. For more than 24 hours now, journalist VP Rajeena’s Facebook account has been blocked, and she continues to receive threats.

In the Facebook post that became controversial Rajeena reminisced about an ‘Ustad’ or teacher at a Sunni Madarassa in Kozhikode city, who would feel up her male classmates’ private parts. She described how young boys in the class would be summoned by the ‘Ustad’ and asked to unzip their shorts. Rajeena said that even as the boys squirmed, the girls too were left embarrassed and shocked. The ‘Ustad’ would then tell the boys that he was only checking the size, she wrote. She also talked about how such experiences were spread out across her six years of education at the Madarassa and even the girls in her class were not spared. The journalist also alleged that another ‘Ustad’ who was above 60 years would move around the class during power cuts and sexually abuse minor girls.

Ever since Rajeena put up the Facebook post, she was at the receiving end of a barrage of abuses and threats, forcing her to write another post in which she declared that despite everything, she would remain fearless.

"Curses... Abuses... Venom spewing... Let everything befall on me. But I am least afraid because Allah is with me. And so, even if the whole world turns against me, I will not fear. It is becoming clearer that whatever I did was the correct thing. Even my life is at stake. History is replete with such stories of annihilation of voices that dissent. I am ready to face that." (Translated by Firstpost).
“After I put up the Facebook post my account was blocked for some time and it later came back. But from Wednesday morning it was blocked again and has not been reinstated by Facebook,” Rajeena told The News Minute (at the time of writing this on Wednesday night Rajeena’s Facebook account was still blocked, but the account was restored on Thursday morning.)


Rajeena believes she is being targeted for various reasons. “I am a woman, a Muslim woman that too and a journalist, so such a revelation from me was unacceptable for many. What should have lead to a healthy debate on child sexual abuse has denigrated to a fight against me. I have been called an anarchist and someone with an agenda to defame a particular religion,” she said. 

A Palestinian poet has been sentenced to death by a Saudi Arabian court for allegedly abandoning his Muslim faith, Human Rights Watch reports. The death sentence comes after an initial 2014 verdict that sentenced the poet to four years in prison and 800 lashes.
Poet Ashraf Fayadh was detained in Abha, southwest Saudi Arabia, in 2013 due to allegations by a prosecution witness, who claimed he heard Fayadh cursing God, the Prophet Mohammed and Saudi Arabia. Also, the prosecution alleged offenses based on a book of poems Fayadh had written several years prior to that.

The poet’s friends, however, believe he was being punished for posting a video showing Saudi Arabia’s religious police (mutaween) lashing a man in public.
“They accused me [of] atheism and spreading some destructive thoughts into society,” Fayadh told The Guardian. The book, “Instructions Within,” published in 2008, was “just about me being [a] Palestinian refugee … about cultural and philosophical issues. But the religious extremists explained it as destructive ideas against God.”

Human Rights Watch’s Middle East researcher Adam Coogle, who says he has seen the trial documents, confirmed Friday that the death sentence handed down to Fayadh, a Palestinian national, was on charges of “apostasy.”

“I have read the trial documents from the lower court verdict in 2014 and another one from 17 November. It is very clear he has been sentenced to death for apostasy,” Reuters cited Coogle as saying.

According to the court documents, Fayadh denied the blasphemy accusations, saying he is a faithful Muslim.
I am repentant to God most high and am innocent of what appeared in my book mentioned in this case,” he said.

The justice system of Saudi Arabia is not only based on Islamic Sharia law, but is also under great influence from the Wahhabi school of Sunni Islam, an ultra-conservative interpretation of Sharia that does not hesitate to designate the death penalty for apostasy and blasphemy.

The main reason why the initial ruling of four years in prison and 800 lashes has been replaced with the death sentence is that Saudi judges are empowered to impose sentences according to their own interpretation of Sharia law. In Fayadh’s case, a second judge ruled that the defense witness testimony was ineligible and considered only the testimony of the prosecution witness.

“I was really shocked but it was expected, though I didn’t do anything that deserves death,” Fayadh told The Guardian.

There is still a chance that Fayadh could avoid being executed. He has 30 days to appeal the ruling, and failing that, if his case passes through all the stages of the judicial system, specifically the lower courts, the appeals courts and the Supreme Court, he could in theory still be pardoned by the Saudi Arabian ruler, King Salman.

Earlier, liberal writer Raif Badawi, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for blasphemy last year, received his first 50 lashes in January, sparking international outcry. Although Badawi continues to serve his term in prison, foreign diplomats in Saudi Arabia believe he is not likely to face more floggings.

As for Fayadh’s fate, so far Saudi Arabia's officials and Justice Ministry have not made any official comment on the issue.

Firdaus Khan
Everybody agrees that justice delayed is justice denied. And yet, trials continue for several generations in our country. The condition is such that people are suffering from what can be called ‘ancestral trials’. An individual passes away, but the trials seem to continue. That is why innocent people sometimes spend their life behind bars. It has happened many a time that after spending the whole life behind bars or even after a person’s death, the verdict comes that the person was innocent. In that case, it is worthless to say who is responsible for the injustice that has happened to them. Nobody in this world can give back the time wasted behind the bars. The family of those people who get involved in trials also face a lot of difficulties in their life. They keep circling around the courts and the lawyers. During each circle, the lawyer earns a huge amount of money and the people lose a huge amount of money. In this era of unemployment and inflation, it is very difficult to earn money and often it is also difficult to manage two full meals a day. Filling the deposit boxes of the lawyer with this limited income is also not less than any kind of punishment.
In the courts country-wide, more than 3 crores cases are pending presently. A point of even greater concern is that out of those 3 crores cases, 60 per cent cases are related to the Government. In several cases the agonist and the antagonist states along with the Central Government are also present. The maximum cases are related to the Income Tax Department, Home Department, Finance Department, Industry Department, Mining-Petroleum Department, Forest Department, Public Health Engineering Department (PHED), Education Department, Village Councils, Transport and Revenue Department plus 19 other departments. The maximum cases that are against the Government are related to tax. S.S. Palanimanickam, Union Minister of State, Finance said in the Lok Sabha that 5860 cases related to direct tax worth Rs. 2707 crores are pending in the Supreme Court whereas 29650 cases related to direct tax worth Rs. 36,340 crores are still pending in the High Courts. He also said that 2855 cases related to indirect tax worth Rs. 8130 crores are pending in the Supreme Court whereas 14,626 cases related to indirect tax worth Rs. 11,459 crores are still pending in different High Courts of the country. Palanimanickam also said due to some ‘irremediable’ processes of the Government the outstanding taxes are not been collected. The recovery of the outstanding taxes is also not possible due to the suspension of application by the Appeal officials and also due to suspension of the cases by the courts.

Out of the total pending cases, 74 per cent cases fall within the last five years. Salman Khurshid, Law and Justice Minister, said in the Rajya Sabha that till 30 September 2010, 57,179 cases were pending in the Supreme Court, whereas 42,17,903 cases were pending in the High Courts and 2,69,86,307 cases in the lower courts.
Other than the impotency of the Judicial System, the reason behind the huge number of pending cases in the courts is also a glaring shortage of Judges. In proportion to the country’s population, the number of judges is less. There are 135 judges per 10 lakhs in America. Likewise in Canada it is 75, In Australia it is 57 and in Britain it is 50 whereas in India there are only 13 judges per 10 lakhs population. Despite this, the judge’s post in different courts are still empty. Last year, in about 21 High Courts of country-wide, 279 posts were empty, although 895 recommended posts are present in those High Courts. There are 160 posts for judges in the Allahabad High Court, but only 69 judges are present — that means 91 posts are still empty. In the High Courts of Haryana and Punjab there should be 68 judges in total, but only 20 judges are present and 48 posts are vacant. In Kolkata High Court, only 17 judges are present, whereas there should 58 judges in total. There 41 posts still vacant.
There are only 13 judges in the High Court of Rajasthan, but there should be 40 judges which means 27 posts are vacant. Gujarat High Court also has only 22 judges, whereas there should be 42 judges, 20 posts are vacant and in Sikkim High Courts only one judge is present, whereas there should be 3 in total. District and Subordinate courts are also more or less in the same situation. In total, 18,008 posts are recommended in those courts, whereas 3,634 posts are still vacant. In Gujarat, there are 1679 posts for judges, but only 863 judges are present and 816 posts are empty. Only 681 judges are present in Bihar, whereas the requirement is 1666 judges. 1897 judges are working in Uttar Pradesh, whereas 207 posts are still vacant. The requirement of judges in West Bengal is around 146. Around 194 posts are still vacant in Maharashtra. The other states of the country are more or less in the same situation. As a consequence, delays in court cases inevitable. The Prime Minster of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, Chief Justice of India, Mr. Sarosh Homi Kapadia and Law and Justice Minister, Mr. Salman Khurshid have agreed that in India cases in the courts run for a longer period of time and decisions also come very late.
Cabinet Minister and famous Advocate Kapil Sibal said that the biggest obstacles for appointing new Judges are the State Governments. They always cry over the deficiency of money. Justice is on the last pedal in their priority list.

The Government has now taken some major steps for rapid completion of court cases. According to this the Government has approved the National Justice Delivery and the Legal Reform Mission. In the financial year 2011-12, for infrastructure development, the Central government has alloted Rs. 500 crores _ five times more than the previous allotment. For the States, it has also been increased from 50:50 to 75:25 and for the Northern states it is kept as 90:10. Other than this, for the period in between 2010 to 2015, the Government has approved the recommendation of Rs. 5000 crores mentioned in the 13th Five Year Plan for the development of a viable justice pattern in the country. In 2010-11, the State Governments have already been granted Rs. 1000 crores each. With the help of these grants, the State Governments can build Morning/Evening/Special Magistrate courts in order to reduce the number of pending cases in their respective states. They can appoint court stewards; build Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Centers, provide training for the consultants and arrange more people for the courts. Grants are also been allotted for the training of Justice Officials, for making the State Justice academies more powerful, for the training of the public prosecutors and for the maintenance of the heritage courts. To make all the judicial processes computerised, the Government has alloted Rs. 935 crores for every district and Subordinate courts of the country. This process has been under way since 1997. Till 31 March 2012, around 12,000 courts are to be computerised and till 31 March 2014, 14.249 courts are to be computerised. State case policy is also being prepared with the aim of making the Government efficient and responsible. If the cases in which the Government is involved are reduced then the courts will get more time to resolve the other pending cases.
To provide justice to the people at ground level, village courts are to be constructed under the Village Court Act-2008. The Central Government is also providing expenses for the construction of village courts. For the first 3 years the amount for the help allotted is to be Rs. 3.20 lakhs per village court per year.

Justice After Five Decades
In a five decades old case, on August 2007, the Supreme Court gave a decision in favour of a farmer named Rajendra who died a few years ago. This land dispute case reached the court in 1957. In 1964, the Allahabad High Court stipulated the land was in Rajendra Singh’s name. The Supreme Court also deemed this decision to be correct. The persons, who occupied the land namely Prem Mai and Sudha Mai, also didn’t challenge this decision. In that case Rajendra Singh should have got the land, but in 1991 the High Court again interfered in this case and dissolved the final decision. In 2001, Rajendra Singh knocked at the door of the Supreme Court and in August 2007, Rajendra Singh got the decision in his favour. But Rajendra Singh had passed away a few years before the decision was given. In this issue the Court sorrowfully said that if the trust of the common people is to be reinstated in the Judicial system, then the cases should be completed expeditiously.

Agra (Uttar Pradesh). Justice Rajinder Sachar, former Chief Justice of Delhi Court and much famed panel headed by him on Muslim minorities in 2006 called Sachar Committee said in Mathura on Friday that more Hindus are involved in beef trade in India than Muslims. He said this in three days International Conference on Radical Islam in the wake Paris attack. His statement reads, “Almost 95% of beef traders are Hindus. Still, a man was lynched in Dadri because he ate beef. This is the death of mankind and humanity. Eating habits have nothing to do with religion. Even I can eat beef”.

In a subtle reference to BJP’s Sardhana MLA Sangeet Soma, who recently made news over allegation about owning a beef trading company,Mr Sachar told “MPs and MLAs too own beef company. Then why is only the common man being targeted by right wing groups”.

As soon as he delivered this at RC Degree College at Mathura, people comprising mostly scholars and teachers started leaving the venue in protest. A few of them also switched fans and lights in the hall to disrupt the address and demanded Sachar to stop the address.However,the former High Court Judge tried to pacify the audience by saying that he only meant to highlight the plight of Muslims who were being targeted unnecessarily due to the beef controversy.

Among the audience present at the venue, Mr Shiv Ram Bhardwaj,a teacher at a Degree College, Mathura did not like the comment made by Mr Sachar and told that Mr Sachar tried to turn a “pro Muslim topic into an Hindu one”. Another teacher present at the venue Yaduraj Yadav told Justice Sachar should not have made reference to Hindus and their scriptures to drive home his point. Several scholars and delegates from India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Canada and other countries were present at the Conference

Over 90% of Muslim women, surveyed by Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) across 10 states, want a ban on oral and unilateral Talaq (divorce) and have rejected polygamy.
The survey, released in New Delhi on Thursday, also revealed that an overwhelming number of women — 88.5% of the total 4,710 women surveyed — want action against the cleric for sending notice of oral divorces. A staggering 93% women also stated that they wanted arbitration to be made mandatory before a divorce.
“Around 91.7% or 4,320 women have spoken out against polygamy saying that a Muslim man should not be allowed to have another wife during the subsistence of the first marriage,” stated the survey findings, which covered states like West Bengal, Maharashtra, Bihar and Jharkhand.
The survey report also stated that 83.3% Muslim women surveyed believed that codification of Muslim family law will help them get justice.
“This is a very important finding which suggests that women want an elaborate codified law based on the Quranic justice framework to cover matters such as age of marriage, divorce, polygamy, maintenance and custody of children,” said Mumbai-based Noorjehan Safia Niaz, who along with Zakia Soman conducted the survey.
Niaz said that the survey was an attempt to give voice to what Muslim women want rather than letting others speak on their behalf.
“For long, everyone else has been speaking on behalf of Muslim women in India. We wanted to find out what do Indian Muslim women think and want so we conducted the survey which took us two years to complete. An overwhelming number of women want reforms in Muslim personal law as is prevalent in the country today,” said Niaz.
Courtesy :Hindustan Times

Firdaus Khan
Amethi (Uttar Pradesh). Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, who is on a three-day visit to his parliament constituency Amethi, laid the foundation stone for a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Camp and recruitment centre at Trisundi in Bhadar on Thursday, the last day of his visit.

He said, Now there is peace in Punjab and there is no violence there as of now. CRPF has been playing an important role in the positive developments in Punjab – the state which gives the entire food for our nation. CRPF jawans gave their blood and sweat to bring the state back on democracy, and to help the youth to build a bright future.  But it is unfortunate that once we achieve the target and everything becomes normal, we tend to forget their role.

Not only in Punjab but at every other region the CRPF jawans have been giving their blood, sweat and their precious youth to save our country and I take this opportunity to extend my heartiest gratitude to all of you.
While I was coming here, I was just asking Shindelji and others how many CRPF personnel actually get the housing facility. I was told only 30 to 40 per cent only avail it. The Government has been putting all its efforts to extend this facility to maximum.

I used to interact with various CRPF personnel – even my SPG officers also belong to CRPF. I used to ask them about their feelings when they take on terrorists and Maoists at various places.   I also ask about their difficulties. They used to tell me that they are not afraid at all to fight such anti-national forces as they get proper training. Their biggest issue is their family, their comfort and well being. In fact, they face with two challenges – one to fight for the country and the other is to ensure the welfare of their families.  I therefore request Shindeji, who is our Home Minister, to extend maximum support to CRPF Jawans for ensuring their families’ welfare and comfort.

Now, I want to tell something to my people in Amethi. I asked Meenakshi, Member of Parliament, today morning what benefits the people are getting from this CRPF centre. I also asked whether there are any issues due to the centre. She listed about some benefits. First thing is that a number of people come to this centre and the region is being benefitted economically. Second – people are able to get employment. About 70 per cent of the people here are from Uttar Pradesh and this is the first recruiting centre in the state.
Next thing I want to tell you is that Amethi is your home as well as mine. These CRPF Jawans are my guests as well as yours. So we must extend a warm welcome and affection to them and we all should work in tandem for the benefit of our country.

Hindustan is a concept as well as a country.  The people, the officers and the ministers frame this concept and the idea is to take everyone along in the process of development. So let us strengthen this concept.
We should control our anger. We see huge amount of anger everywhere in our country. It is because of the anger some people become militants. But when we control it and connect ourselves with the democratic political system, the country will develop. To control the anger, everyone should get a chance to ally with the political system here and to be a part in the process of development.

V. P. Prabhakar
The Department of Posts has been the backbone of India’s communication network and core of the country’s socio-economic development for the last 150 years.  It has touched the lives of every citizen, be it through mail, banking, insurance, money transfer or retail services.  India has the largest postal network in the world with 1,54,866 post offices as on March 31, 2011 of which 1,39,040 (89.78 per cent) are in the rural areas.  On an average, a post office serves an area of 21.23 sq. km and a population of 7,814 people (5992 in rural areas and 23828 in urban areas).

The core activity of the Department is processing, transmission and delivery of mail which is collected from more than 5.7 lakh letter boxes, processed by network of mail offices and conveyed by rail, road and airlines all over the country. Considering the vital need for providing benefits of technology to customers, counter operations are now being progressively computerized to provide a greater range of services to the customer from a single window leading to prompt and effort free services.

Mail Volume
The Department of Posts  handled 177.9 million registered letters, 6157.6  million unregistered mail traffic and 281 million Premium Products (speed post and express parcel post) during the year 2010-2011.

 Mail Network Optimization Project (MNOP)
As part of the Plan schemes, the Department has undertaken Mail Network Optimization Project to improve the quality of mail procession, transmission and delivery.  The project seeks to optimize the existing mail network of Department of Posts with a view to streamline core mail operations.   It also seeks to bring in greater standardization and improvement in the operational processes relating to mail processing, transmission and delivery.

            In the first phase, Speed Post has been covered and in the subsequent phases first and second class mail operations would be covered.  It seeks to improve the quality of mail operations.

Setting up of Automated Mail Processing Centres (AMPCs)
The Department has a proposal to set up Automated Mail Processing Centres in the metro cities with a view to automate mail sorting.   The letter sorting machines would be able to sort about 35000 articles per hour, whereas, the Mixed Mail Sorters would sort about 16000 articles per hour.  The Mixed Mail sorting machines would help in faster processing of large size letters, packets and parcels through the use of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology.

Automation in mail processing would also help the Department in modernization of mail network and consolidation of sorting activities in these cities.  The sorting machines in Delhi and Kolkata are under installation and commissioning.

Creation of National Address Data Base Management System
Under this project, the Department has taken an initiative to put in place a National Address Database Management System with an objective to effectively manage the address database of public customers, update the addresses online, and help customers in locating correct addresses.  The project has been completed in Delhi and Kolkata where address data up to street level has been collected and street directory prepared.

Project Arrow
It envisages upgradation of post offices in urban and rural areas, both in terms of urgradation and enhancing the quality of service in ‘core areas’ and improving their ‘look and feel’.  The project aims at creating a conducive and friendly work environment both for the staff and customers visiting post offices, providing all IT - Enabled Services through secure connectivity, improving the service quality levels in the core business areas, e.g. mail delivery, remittances, both electronic and manual, and postal savings schemes.  The ‘look and feel’ activity focuses on improvement in branding, information technology, human resource and infrastructure.

            So far the project has been implemented in respect of monitoring of core areas in more than 15,500 post offices and ‘look and feel’ has been improved in 1,530 post offices.  The Department of Posts received the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration for the year 2008-09 for “Project Arrow-Transforming India Post” on April 21, 2010.  In 2011-12, ‘look and feel’ component was implemented in 229 more post offices.

Business Development and Marketing
It has introduced a number of business products and services such as speed post, express parcel post, business post, bill mail, e-Post, etc.  to meet the demands of India’s growing economy, especially the service sector.  The Business Development and Marketing Directorate was set in 2004-05 to provide a sharper focus on marketing.  The Directorate now has a Speed Post and Marketing Division and a Business Products  Division.

Retail Post
With the introduction of Retail Post, India Post is leveraging the vast network of more than 150,000 post offices across India.  Services under Retail Post include collection of electricity bills, telephone bills, taxes and fees.  Application forms of State Public Service Commission, UPSC, universities and various educational institutions etc. are sold through the postal network.  Apart from this, sale of gold coins, railway tickets, forex, retailing of products through mail order service and address verification for telecom and gas companies are being done too.

An MoU was signed with National Stock Exchange for installation LCD TVs in select post offices for creating “financial awareness” among the public.

During 2011-12 (April 2011 to December 2011), 1.3 million railway tickets were issued through 179 post offices and network.

Financial Services
The Post Office Savings Bank (POSB) is the oldest and largest banking institution in the country.  It operates more than 238 million saving accounts in more than 154000 post offices.  These schemes are an agency function performed by the Department of Posts on behalf of the Finance Department of India.  Through the network, the Post Office Saving Bank provides an Avenue to people all over the country to deposit their savings in various schemes.  Its reach and service is unparalleled  by any other banking agency in the country.  The Ministry of Finance  remunerates Department of Posts for the savings bank work at a rate fixed from time to time.

Eight Savings Schemes are operated from post offices across the country.  The outstanding balance under all National Savings Schemes is Rs.6189.26 million as on March 31, 2011.

10-year National Savings Certificate (IX issue)
The new scheme was introduced on December 1,2011 which carried interest of 8.7  per cent compounded six monthly but payable at maturity.  There is a provision for getting income tax rebate under Section 80 C of Income Tax Act.  The interest accruing annually but deemed to be reinvested will also qualify for tax rebate.

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA)
Starting with Andhra Pradesh Circle in 2005,  the scheme of disbursement of MGNREGA wages through post office accounts is currently operational in 19 postal circles (except Delhi, J&K and Tamilnadu  circles).  As on December 30, 2011, nearly 53.5 million MGNREGA accounts have been opened in post offices.

Collection of Data for Computing Rural Consumer Price Indices
Data for rural CPI is collected for 1181 villages every month.  The branch post masters concerned collect prices of 185 to 292 commodities from the local market on the weeks fixed for each village.

Postal Life Insurance (PLI)
It caters to employees of the civil and  military personnel of the Central and State governments, local bodies, government aided educational institutions, universities, nationalized banks, autonomous institutions, public sector undertakings.  Rural Postal  Life Insurance (RPLI) scheme benefits rural populace.  On an average there are 46,86,245  policies under PLI and sum assured is Rs.640,778 million.  There are 1,22,03,345 policies under RPLI worth Rs.661,322.3 million.

Philately
A total of 61 stamps in 43 issues comprising commemorative/special postage stamps were released in 2011.

Financial Management
The total revenue earned, including remuneration for savings bank and sale of cash certificates work, in 2010-2011 was Rs. 69623.32 million and the amount received from other ministries/departments as agency charges (recoveries) was Rs.4857.21 million.  Gross working expenditure for 2010-2011 was Rs.137963.69 million (i.e. an increase of about 3.35 per cent).  The increase was mainly due to payment of dearness allowance/dearness relief and payment of pensionary charges etc.  In spite of the increase in salaries and pensionary charges, deficit of the Department was Rs. 63456.16  million as against the previous year (2009-2010)  deficit of Rs.66413.04 million.

The postal articles like postcard, printed postcard, inland letter, letter registered newspapers-single, registered newspapers-bundles, book post (book patron and sample packets), book post (printed books), book post (other periodicals), acknowledgement, registration, speed post, value payable post, money order and Indian Postal Order are highly subsidized by the department.