Articles by P A Sebastian

The judgment of the Allahabad High Court of 30 September 2010 in the Babri masjid-Ram janmabhoomi case has put the final seal on the acts of installation of statues and demolition of the mosque. In accordance with our constitutional scheme one seeks remedial measures from the judiciary when the executive or even the legislature commits illegal acts. But what can one do when the judiciary itself commits unlawful acts? What is worse is that this verdict is the latest addition to a series of judgments by the highest courts in India which cast doubt on the secular character of the Indian judicial system.

K Balagopal's role as a civil liberties and democratic rights activist had two phases - the first, when the opening sentence of the Communist Manifesto and Marx's last thesis on Feuerbach guided his life's activity, and the second, when, even as he gave up on these precepts, he continued in the tradition of practical humanism.

Khairlanji: A Strange and Bitter Crop by Anand Teltumbde

 It was a memorable and short life. Anuradha Ghandy was born in 1954 and died in 2008. But the length of life is not the criterion. What matters is the contribution that one makes to what is called human civilisation.

The government's reaction to the Mumbai bomb blasts of July 11 seems like a ploy to conceal one's motives by appearing merely as the victim and to falsify the issues involved. There is a need to situate the problem of terrorism in the international and national political context of which it is a part and understand the frustration, hopelessness and intense sense of humiliation that breed people who vow to sacrifice their lives and avenge what they perceive as injustice. Force cannot remedy such a situation.