Left, Right & Centre

Massive outrage had followed the Nirbhaya gang-rape, bringing ordinary folks out on to the streets of Delhi. They were demanding justice, demanding accountability, demanding a change in the rape laws. The outrage was unprecedented. The BJP was in the opposition then. Everyone attacked the Congress government in Delhi and Sheila Dikshit did pay a heavy political price. Fast forward to now, to 2018, six years later, this is the story of 8-year-old Asifa, who was kidnapped by a group of men in a plot to drive out her Muslim Bakerwal community from the village in Kathua where they were living. The police chargesheet will make your hair stand on end. In fact, it will make you sick. Asifa was drugged, she was tied up, then repeatedly raped over the course of one week inside a temple. She was then strangled and her head smashed with a stone before her body was dumped. The case was handed over the crime branch, which in its chargesheet has also gone after four of their own men for rape, murder and for covering up the crime. But instead of outrage that such a ghastly crime had happened, two senior BJP ministers in the state government actually attended a rally supporting the accused. The Jammu BAR Association, which has links to both the BJP and the Congress, has extended till the 17th a strike it called demanding a CBI probe. They say the Jammu and Kashmir Police can't be trusted. Yes, this is the BAR Association, the men and women who should be upholding the law, now shamelessly defying it as they did when they physically tried to stop the police from filing a chargesheet. And in all of this, not a word from India's women ministers, not a word from Sushma Swaraj, Smriti Irani, Nirmala Sitharaman, and not a word from the Prime Minister. What will it take to get you to speak Mr Prime Minister? Why don't you say something?

An exclusive interview with Kerala's Finance Minister Thomas Isaac who is spearheading a southern movement against what they claim is bias in funding.

The BJP has emerged as the richest national party with the total annual income of over 1,000 crores. The Congress is a distant second. This according to a report by Delhi-based think-tank Association for Democratic Reforms. But where is the money coming from?

As the Cauvery protests take a new turn, the IPL gets caught in the middle. Various groups oppose the matches in Chennai, beginning with the one tonight. Should politics be kept out of the IPL?

Two horrific crimes have made national headlines this week, not just for the crimes that were committed, but for the shocking attempt at shielding the accused. In UP, a sitting BJP MLA has been accused of rape by a 16-year-old girl, but the police haven't even filed an FIR and the MLA roams free, smirking and giving TV interviews. In Jammu and Kashmir, the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl has shaken the state to its core. Two BJP ministers in the J&K government supported a rally by a Hindu group earlier this year, where they protested against the arrest of the accused. Now, the Kathua BAR Association, many of whom have links to the ruling party, tried to physically stop the police from filing a chargesheet, in a shocking display of behaviour that would've had them disbarred anywhere else. They've gone on strike and even called for a Jammu bandh tomorrow. So why? Why are rape accused being shielded?

Pakistan's former envoy to the US Husain Haqqani joins us on his new book Reimagining Pakistan where he takes a candid look at Pakistan's obsession with India, its turn towards extremism, terrorism and more.

In Uttar Pradesh, the father of a minor girl who alleged she was raped by a BJP MLA died after reportedly being beaten by the MLA's men while in custody. What is going on in Yogi Adityanath's UP? will there be justice for this girl and her family?

First there was the Punjab National Bank scam and now another crisis is brewing in India's banking sector. But this time, in India's second largest private sector bank ICICI. The story is essentially of a conflict of interest involving the bank's CEO Chanda Kochhar and a loan of Rs 3,250 crore to the Videocon Group which is now being investigated by the CBI. The loan was not paid back and turned into an NPA or non performing asset for the bank. Even though until now the ICICI board has expressed faith in Chanda Kochhar, NDTV has learnt that board members have held confernece calls with top investors. They are worried the ICICI stock has been down 7.5% over one month. Is India's banking crisis much worse than we thought?

Earlier this evening Salman Khan has walked out of the Jodhpur Jail, to the loud cheers of adoring fans . He has returned home to Mumbai tonight on a Chartered flight out of the Jodhpur airport after he was granted bail in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case. Guilty but granted bail in two days. Tonight on Left Right and Centre we asked, is there super fast freedom for superstars?

Why is a free press so important in a democracy like ours? And why should governments stay out of any regulation of the media? Because we have to hold governments accountable for what they do. And if the government begins to have a say in how the media should be regulated, then we have a big problem. That's not to say the media should not be regulated. Of course it should, but it cannot be done by the government. So when Smriti Irani, the Information and Broadcasting Minister, came out with an order to crackdown on 'fake news' earlier this week, there was a huge media backlash because if she had had her way, journalists could have lost their accreditation based on a mere complaint by anyone, even the government. The Prime Minister had to step in and the idea was scrapped. Now, Smriti Irani has another idea - she's constituted a committee to frame rules to regulate news and media websites. It is a 10-member committee comprising the secretaries of various ministries and others, but there is no representation from the digital media. There is also a raging row right now over the reconstituted Press Council of India that looks at the print media. The revamped council has mostly government friendly faces, so is there a pattern? Is the government trying to control the media?

This parliament session heads for a total wash-out and is the least productive Budget session since the year 2000. The NDA says its ministers are giving up their salaries for all the days lost. Should all MPs in fact do the same?

Salman Khan is one of India's biggest movie stars today, but he is also Bollywood's controversy child. From the killing of endangered animals to the hit-and-run case in which he was eventually cleared. The superstar has been sentenced to five years in jail for the kiling of an endangered blackbuck in Rajasthan in 1998. He has applied for bail in the High Court, but that won't be heard until Friday. And that means, he will spend tonight in jail. There are many different points of view on Salman Khan - some say he's getting the harsh end of the stick because he is a movie star, but others believe he's actually got away with much worse, exactly for the same reason. So has justice been served?

The big bank mess - the government tells parliament that 2.4 lakh crores have been written off by public sector banks in the last three years. As Mamata Banerjee goes after the centre at a time when farmers are committing suicide over loan defaults, where is the accountability for tax payers' money? A loan write off is not a loan waiver, so technically money is still owed to the banks, but how much do they actually end up recovering? Is the banking system in a complete mess?

A debate surrounding the government's short-lived order to punish journalists for fake news and the reconstitution of a top media watchdog saw a spirited clash of views between prominent journalists on Tuesday. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi cancelled an order that sought to penalize journalists for fake news, overruling the decision of the Information and Broadcasting ministry headed by Smriti Irani, the government faced criticism for another move - reconstituting two media bodies including one that hands accreditation cards to journalists, enabling them to attend government functions and events.

The Madhya Pradesh polls are just a few months away. For chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, this election promises to be a real challenge, especially as it comes just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. No one knows what will happen in Madhya Pradesh, but it does appear to be an interesting fight, especially after the Congress won crucial bypolls in the state just weeks ago. So when the chief minister decided that five babajis would be given Minister of State ranks, it immediately raised eyebrows, these five babas or religious leaders are part of some committee that's been set up for the conversation of the River Narmada. Some of them were actually going to start a protest against the state for an alleged Narmada plantation scam. And one of the babas is called Computer Baba, because he claims to have a brain as sharp as a computer. So what made Shivraj Singh Chouhan do this? Is this a desperate attempt to play the saffron card ahead of the elections?