Crime

The rash of rapes and cases of molesations in the country continue to paint India as among the worst countries for women to live in, but research finds it otherwise. The incidence of sexual violence in India and Bangladesh are among the lowest in the world. It is, not surprisingly, the bloodiest in central sub-Saharan Africa. Worldwide, one in 14 women (7.2 per cent) aged 15 years or older report being sexually assaulted by someone other than an intimate partner at least once in their lives...

As of now, it is a case of ironies, albeit quite bitter for some. With the police in the city, as elsewhere in the country, gearing up to enforce the Supreme Court’s directive on vehicles with sun films, many women are an apprehensive lot. The same tinted glasses that were seen by the court as one of the reasons perpetrators of crime manage to get away with impunity also provide a safety cover to a section of society that is arguably the most vulnerable to such crimes—women. Now, with the...

Reported violence against Indian women is on the rise. But that’s not because of what you think. A recent study argues that this increase reflects growing willingness to report violence against women, rather than an increase in the incidence of crime. There’s a reason for this too: more women are involved in Indian politics than ever before. The study followed data since the 73rd Amenment to the Indian Constitution that required at least one-third of all seats in local governments to be set...

The black-naped hare, or the Indian hare, is so commonly found in the wild in India that it is described as a species of Least Concern by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and accorded least protection by India’s Wildlife (Protection) Act. But a recent spurt in poaching of this animal in South India has wildlifers worried. This came to light earlier this month when forest officials nabbed 21 poachers involved in the hunting of the Indian hare ( Lepus nigricollis) in...

The attacks carried out between 2005 and 2009 on Indian students studying in Australia should not be construed as an evidence of racism, a study has insisted. The attacks had previously created a diplomatic row between India and Australia. Indians studying in Australia, as well as other foreign students, were “less likely or as likely to be victims of physical assaults and other theft” than Australia’s population in general, a report released by the Canberra-based Australian Institute of...

A year after the earthquake that killed over 230,000 people, women and girls living in Haiti’s makeshift camps are facing an increasing risk of rape and sexual violence. The January 2010 devastating earthquake was the beginning of a nightmare. For Guerline, her travails only began with the death of her husband and home in the quake. In March 2010, her 13-year-old daughter was raped by four men. She was threatened with dire consequences if she spilled the beans to the police. Scared even to take...

Corruption has increased over the last three years, say six out of 10 people around the world, and one in four people report paying bribes in the last year. These are the findings of the 2010 Global Corruption Barometer, a worldwide public opinion survey on corruption, released Thursday, International Anti-Corruption Day, by Transparency International (TI). Views on corruption trends are most negative in Europe and North America, where 73 per cent and 67 per cent of people respectively think...

Given the rate at which scams are being uncovered these days, it isn't surprising that India comes across as the ninth most corrupt nation in the world. No, that's not Arundhati Roy's assertion, but that of the 2010 Global Corruption Barometer released on Thursday. In India, 54 per cent of the people have reported paying a bribe to receive attention from at least one of nine different service providers in the past 12 months. The services include education, judiciary, medical services, police...

Indians don't see any institution as clean. From political parties and NGOs to media and Army, everyone's perceived to be dirty. At least, that's what the 2010 Global Corruption Barometer of Transparency International (TI) has found. With headlines screaming every other day of this scam being unearthed or another, it seems muck all around for people. Worse, no one seems to come out as clean. Only the degree of cleanliness varies. The worst of the lot, needless to say are political parties. On a...

Big trees provide shade and improve air quality. But new study insists that they can fight crime as well. Large trees in urban areas are associated with lower crime rates. Conversely, smaller trees around homes were associated with higher crime rates. The claim comes from a US Forest Service study. Geoffrey Donovan led the research for the US Forest Service's Pacific Northwest and Southern Research Stations. The results have been published in the journal Environment and Behavior. The study says...