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  • Who was Sri Ramanuja?

    Work is going apace on the 216-ft tall ‘Statue of Equality’ of the 11th century reformer and Vaishnavite saint, Sri Ramanuja, to be unveiled by PM Modi next month in Hyderabad.

    Statue of Equality

    • The ‘Statue of Equality’, as it is called, is being installed to mark the 1,000th birth anniversary of Sri Ramanuja.
    • It was built of panchaloha, a combination of gold, silver, copper, brass and zinc, by the Aerospun Corporation in China and shipped to India.
    • It is the second largest in the world in sitting position of the saint.
    • The monument will be surrounded by 108 “Divya Desams” of Sri Vaishnavite tradition (model temples) like Tirumala, Srirangam, Kanchi, Ahobhilam, Badrinath, Muktinath, Ayodhya, Brindavan, Kumbakonam and others.
    • The idols of deities and structures were constructed in the shape at the existing temples.

    Who was Sri Ramanuja?

    Ramanuja or Ramanujacharya (1017–1137 CE) was a philosopher, Hindu theologian, social reformer, and one of the most important exponents of Sri Vaishnavism tradition within Hinduism.

    • His philosophical foundations for devotionalism were influential to the Bhakti movement.

    His works

    • Ramanuja’s philosophical foundation was qualified monism and is called Vishishtadvaita in the Hindu tradition.
    • His ideas are one of three subschools in Vedanta, the other two are known as Adi Shankara’s Advaita (absolute monism) and Madhvacharya’s Dvaita (dualism)
    • Important writings include:
    1. Vedarthasangraha (literally, “Summary of the Vedas meaning”),
    2. Sri Bhashya (a review and commentary on the Brahma Sutras),
    3. Bhagavad Gita Bhashya (a review and commentary on the Bhagavad Gita), and
    • The minor works titled Vedantapida, Vedantasara, Gadya Trayam (which is a compilation of three texts called the Saranagati Gadyam, Sriranga Gadyam and the Srivaikunta Gadyam), and Nitya Grantham.

     

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  • Amar Jawan Jyoti and its Relocation

    The iconic Amar Jawan Jyoti (AJJ) at India Gate was extinguished as a part of its merger with the flame at the National War Memorial (NWM). This has sparked a political controversy.

    What is the Amar Jawan Jyoti?

    • The eternal flame at the AJJ underneath India Gate in central Delhi was an iconic symbol of the nation’s tributes to the soldiers who have died for the country in various wars and conflicts since Independence.
    • Established in 1972, it was to mark India’s victory over Pakistan in the 1971 War, which resulted in the creation of Bangladesh.
    • The then PM Indira Gandhi had inaugurated it on Republic Day 1972, after India defeated Pakistan in December 1971.

    Description of the bust

    • The key elements of the Amar Jawan Jyoti included a black marble plinth, a cenotaph, which acted as a tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
    • The plinth had an inverted L1A1 self-loading rifle with a bayonet, on top of which was a soldier’s war helmet.

    How the eternal flame was kept burning?

    • For 50 years the eternal flame had been burning underneath India Gate, without being extinguished.
    • But on Friday, the flame was finally put off, as it was merged with another eternal flame at the National War Memorial.
    • Since 1972, when it was inaugurated, it used to be kept alive with the help of cylinders of liquefied petroleum gas, or LPG.
    • One cylinder could keep one burner alive for a day and a half.
    • In 2006 that was changed. Though a project that cost around Rs 6 lakh the fuel for the flames was changed from LPG to piped natural gas, or PNG.
    • It is through this piped gas that the flame marking the tribute to Indian soldiers had been kept alive eternally.

    Why was it placed at India Gate?

    • The India Gate, All India War Memorial, as it was known earlier, was built by the British in 1931.
    • It was erected as a memorial to around 90,000 Indian soldiers of the British Indian Army, who had died in several wars and campaigns till then.
    • Names of more than 13,000 dead soldiers are mentioned on the memorial commemorating them.
    • As it was a memorial for the Indian soldiers killed in wars, the Amar Jawan Jyoti was established underneath it by the government in 1972.

    Reasons for its relocation

    • The correct perspective is that the flame will not be extinguished, but just moved to be merged with the one at the National War Memorial.
    • The flame which paid homage to the soldiers killed in the 1971 War, does not even mention their name, and the India Gate is a “symbol of our colonial past”.
    • The names of all Indian martyrs from all the wars, including 1971 and wars before and after it are housed at the National War Memorial.
    • Hence it is a true tribute to have the flame paying tribute to martyrs there.
    • Further, it can also be seen as part of the government’s redevelopment of the entire Central Vista, of which India Gate, the AJJ and the National War Memorial are parts of.

    What else is planned with the extinguish?

    • The canopy next to the India Gate will get a statue of the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
    • The new statue will be 28 feet high.
    • Till the statue is completed, a hologram statue of Bose will be placed under the canopy, which he will unveil on January 23.
    • The canopy used to have a statue of Kind George V, which was removed in 1968.

    Why Netaji?

    • January 23 this year marks his 125th birth anniversary.
    • From this year onwards, Republic Day celebrations will start on January 23, as opposed to the usual practice of starting it on January 24, to mark the birth anniversary of Bose.
    • It will end on January 30, the day Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated.
    • The government had earlier announced that Bose’s birth anniversary would be celebrated as Parakram Divas.

    What is the National War Memorial and when was it made?

    • The National War Memorial, which is around 400 meters from India Gate was inaugurated in February 2019, in an area of around 40 acres.
    • It was built to commemorate all the soldiers who have laid down their lives in the various battles, wars, operations and conflicts of Independent India.
    • There are many independent memorials for such soldiers, but no memorial existed commemorating them all at the national level.
    • Discussions to build such a memorial had been ongoing since 1961, but it did not come up.

    Its architecture

    • The architecture of the memorial is based on four concentric circles.
    • Largest is the Raksha Chakra or the Circle of Protection which is marked by a row of trees, each of which represent soldiers, who protect the country.
    • The Tyag Chakra, the Circle of Sacrifice, has circular concentric walls of honour based on the Chakravyuh.
    • The walls have independent granite tablets for each of the soldiers who have died for the country since Independence.
    • As of today, there are 26,466 names of such soldiers on these granite tablets etched in golden letters.
    • A tablet is added every time a soldier is killed in the line of duty.
    • The final is the Amar Chakra, the Circle of Immortality, which has an obelisk, and the Eternal Flame.
    • Busts of the 21 soldiers who have been conferred with the highest gallantry award of the country, Param Vir Chakra, are also installed at the memorial.

     

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  • Telangana’s Tribal Fair: Sammakka-Sarakka Jatara

    Medaram, a tiny village in Telangana’s tribal heartland of Mulugu district, is getting ready to host the Sammakka-Sarakka jatara, billed as the country’s biggest tribal fair.

    Sammakka-Sarakka Jatara

    • The mega four-day jatara, scheduled to begin on February 16 in Medaram. It takes place once in two years.
    • It is perhaps the only tribal fair devoted to pay tribute to tribal warriors who made supreme sacrifices defending the rights of aboriginal tribal people.
    • It symbolises the traditions and heritage of the Koya tribal people.
    • The sacred site in Medaram and its surrounding Jampanna vagu, named after tribal martyr Jampanna, son of Sammakka, comes alive with lakhs of devotees during the four-day jatara.

    Why do tribals come to Medaram?

    • This festival commemorates a tribal revolt led by Sammakka and Saralamma, a mother-daughter duo, against levy of taxes on tribal people during drought conditions by the then Kakatiya rulers in the 12th century.
    • Tribals (and others) flock to Medaram during the jatara not just from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh but also from as far as Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.
    • Sammakka and Saralamma are revered by devotees as tribal goddesses, and devotees make offerings to propitiate them to bestow health and wealth.
    • All the rituals at the jatara site are held in tune with tribal traditions under the aegis of tribal priests.

    Features of the celebrations

    • One of the striking features of the tribal fair is the offering of jaggery to the tribal goddess at the altars (bamboo poles).
    • It encompasses common features of tribal fairs – die-hard devotees going into a trance, the sacrifice of fowls and goats, besides pulsating traditional drum beats accompanying folk songs.

     

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  • In news: Ancient Tamil Civilization

    A reconnaissance survey in the sea off the coast of Korkai in Thoothukudi district where Tamiraparani River joins the sea, which finds mention in Sangam literature, will be undertaken by the Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department.

    About Tamiraparani River

    • The Thamirabarani or Tamraparni or Porunai is a perennial river that originates from the Agastyarkoodam peak of the Pothigai hills of the Western Ghats.
    • It flows through the Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts of the Tamil Nadu state of southern India into the Gulf of Mannar.
    • It was called the Tamraparni River in the pre-classical period, a name it lent to the island of Sri Lanka.
    • The old Tamil name of the river is Porunai.

    Its history

    • Its many name derivations of Tan Porunai include Tampraparani, Tamirabarni, Tamiravaruni.
    • Tan Porunai nathi finds mention by classical Tamil poets in ancient Sangam Tamil literature Purananuru.
    • Recognised as a holy river in Sanskrit literature Puranas, Mahabharata and Ramayana, the river was famed in the Early Pandyan Kingdom for its pearl and conch fisheries and trade.
    • The movement of people, including the faithful, trade merchants and toddy tapers from Tamraparni river to northwestern Sri Lanka led to the shared appellation of the name for the closely connected region.
    • One important historical document on the river is the treatise Tamraparni Mahatmyam.
    • It has many ancient temples along its banks. A hamlet known as Appankoil is located on the northern side of the river.

    Back2Basics: Keeladi Civilization

    • The Keeladi tale began to unravel in March 2015 when first round of excavation was undertaken by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
    • It unearthed antiquities providing crucial evidence to understanding the missing links of the Iron Age [12th century BCE to 6th century BCE] to the Early Historic Period [6th century BCE to 4th century BCE].
    • Further excavations threw up strong clues about the existence of a Tamil Civilization that had trade links with other regions in the country and abroad.
    • This civilization has been described by Tamil poets belonging to the Sangam period.
    • Results of carbon dating of a few artifacts traced their existence to 2nd century BCE (the Sangam period).

    Key findings in excavations

    • These included brick structures, terracotta ring wells, fallen roofing with tiles, golden ornaments, broken parts of copper objects, iron implements, terracotta chess pieces, ear ornaments, spindle whorls, figurines.
    • It also had black and redware, rouletted ware and a few pieces of Arretine ware, besides beads made of glass, terracotta and semi-precious stones.

     

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  • What is the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’?

    The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano which massively erupted lies along the Pacific ‘Ring of fire’, and is just over 60 kilometers from the island nation of Tonga.

    What is the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’?

    • The Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’ or Pacific rim, or the Circum-Pacific Belt, is an area along the Pacific Ocean that is characterized by active volcanoes and frequent earthquakes.
    • Volcanic arcs and oceanic trenches partly encircling the Pacific Basin form the so-called Ring of Fire.
    • It is home to about 75 per cent of the world’s volcanoes – more than 450 volcanoes.
    • Also, about 90 per cent of the world’s earthquakes occur here.

    Its spread

    • Its length is over 40,000 kilometres and traces from New Zealand clockwise in an almost circular arc covering Tonga, Kermadec Islands, Indonesia.
    • It is moving up to the Philippines, Japan, and stretching eastward to the Aleutian Islands, then southward along the western coast of North America and South America.

    Seismic activity of the region

    • The area is along several tectonic plates including the Pacific plate, Philippine Plate, Juan de Fuca plate, Cocos plate, Nazca plate, and North American plate.
    • The movement of these plates or tectonic activity makes the area witness abundant earthquakes and tsunamis every year.
    • Along much of the Ring, tectonic plates move towards each other creating subduction zones.
    • One plate gets pushed down or is subducted by the other plate.
    • This is a very slow process – a movement of just one or two inches per year.
    • As this subduction happens, rocks melt, become magma and move to Earth’s surface and cause volcanic activity.

    What has happened in recent eruption in Tonga?

    • In the case of Tonga, the Pacific Plate was pushed down below the Indo-Australian Plate and Tonga plate, causing the molten rock to rise above and form the chain of volcanoes.
    • Subduction zones are also where most of the violent earthquakes on the planet occur.
    • The December 26, 2004 earthquake occurred along the subduction zone where the Indian Plate was subducted beneath the Burma plate.

     

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  • Nusantara City: New Capital of Indonesia

    Indonesia passed a bill replacing its capital Jakarta with East Kalimantan, situated to the east of Borneo island. The new capital city of the country will be called Nusantara.

    About Nusantara

    • The New State Capital Law Bill has been drafted by a special committee set up by Widodo’s government and makes Nusantara, also called IKN, the capital of the Republic of Indonesia.
    • The transfer of the status of Jakarta as Indonesia’s capital to Nusantara, where 256,142 hectares of land has been set aside for the project, will take place in the “first semester” of 2024.
    • East Kalimantan, where the new capital will be, as per the bill is said to have a world-city vision.
    • It will be designed and managed with the objective of becoming a sustainable city in the world.

    Why is Indonesia changing its capital city?

    • The new location is very strategic – it’s in the centre of Indonesia and close to urban areas.
    • The burden Jakarta is holding right now is too heavy as the centre of governance, business, finance, trade and services.
    • Jakarta is also infamous for being the worlds’ first sinking capital city due to rising sea levels.
    • The city’s pollution levels are so bad that it has been ranking as one of the most polluted cities in the world for years.
    • Another important reason to shift the capital from Java island to Borneo island has been the growing inequality – financial and otherwise.

    Where is East Kalimantan?

    • East Kalimantan is 2,300 kilometres from Jakarta on the eastern side of Borneo island, shared by Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.
    • The new capital will be located in the North Penajam Paser and Kutai Kartanegara regions.
    • East Kalimantan is an area with immense water resources and habitable terrain.
    • East Kalimantan is rich in flora and fauna.

    Why Nusantara?

    • Nusantara is an old Javanese term that means ‘archipelago’.
    • Nusantara has historical, sociological, and philosophical aspects attached to the name.
    • The name would represent Indonesia as a whole and would show the potential of the nation.

    What are the other countries that have changed capitals?

    • Indonesia is not the first country to change its capital city.
    • There has been a long list of countries that have changed their capitals for various reasons. Brazil changed its capital city from Rio De Janerio to Brasilia, a more centrally-located city, in 1960.
    • In 1991, Nigeria hanged the country’s capital from Lagos to Abuja.
    • Kazakhstan moved its capital city from Almaty, which is still its commercial centre, to Nur-Sultan in 1997.
    • Myanmar changed its capital from Rangoon to Naypyidaw in 2005.

     

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  • AP govt bans Chintamani Padya Natakam: A noted Telugu folk play

    The Andhra Pradesh government has brought the curtains down on the popular Telugu play ‘Chintamani Padya Natakam’, which has enthralled people for almost 100 years.

    Chintamani Padya Natakam

    • It is a stage play penned by social reformer, writer and poet Kallakuri Narayana Rao about 100 years ago.
    • In the play, the writer explains how people neglect their families by falling prey to certain social evils.
    • It was aimed to create awareness on the Devadasi system and how the flesh trade was ruining many families at that particular period.
    • Subbisetty, Chintamani, Bilvamangaludu, Bhavani Shankaram, and Srihari are some of the characters in the play.

    Its performance

    • The play is named after the main character, Chintamani, a woman born into a family involved in the flesh trade.
    • The play focuses on how she attained salvation after repentance.
    • Subbi Shetty, a character in the play, loses his wealth to Chintamani and his character is utilised in a way that engages the audience.
    • Chintamani play is popular across the state. It has been performed at thousands of places.
    • The play continues to engage the audience even today and has become a must stage play in villages during Dasara celebrations.

    Why it got banned?

    • Began as a social sermon, this play has been increasingly going vulgar.
    • Subbi Shetty, who resembles a person of a transgender community, is used to portray the social group in a bad way.
    • Obscene dialogues are added to the play in the name of creativity.

     

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  • Art-form in news: Kathak

    Kathak legend Pandit Birju Maharaj has recently passed away.

    About Kathak

    • Kathak is one of the eight major forms of Indian classical dance.
    • The origin of Kathak is traditionally attributed to the traveling bards in of ancient northern India known as Kathakars or storytellers.
    • The term Kathak is derived from the Vedic Sanskrit word Katha which means “story”, and Kathakar which means “the one who tells a story”, or “to do with stories”.
    • Wandering Kathakars communicated stories from the great epics and ancient mythology through dance, songs and music.

    Its origin

    • Kathak dancers tell various stories through their hand movements and extensive footwork, their body movements and flexibility but most importantly through their facial expressions.
    • It evolved during the Bhakti movement, particularly by incorporating the childhood and stories of the Hindu god Krishna, as well as independently in the courts of north Indian kingdoms.
    • Kathak is unique in having both Hindu and Muslim gharanas and cultural elements of these gharanas.
    • Kathak performances include Urdu Ghazals and commonly used instruments brought during the Mughal period.

    Major gharanas

    • Kathak is found in three distinct forms, called “gharanas”, named after the cities where the Kathak dance tradition evolved – Jaipur, Banaras and Lucknow.
    • While the Jaipur gharana focuses more on the foot movements, the Banaras and Lucknow gharanas focus more on facial expressions and graceful hand movements.

    Performance details

    • It involves both Nritta (pure dance) and Nritya (expressive dance).
    • Stylistically, the Kathak dance form emphasizes rhythmic foot movements, adorned with small bells (Ghungroo) and the movement harmonized to the music.
    • The legs and torso are generally straight, and the story is told through a developed vocabulary based on the gestures of arms and upper body movement, facial expressions, neck movements, eyes and eyebrow movement, stage movements, bends and turns.
    • The main focus of the dance becomes the eyes and the foot movements.
    • The eyes work as a medium of communication of the story the dancer is trying to communicate. With the eyebrows the dancer gives various facial expressions.
    • A Kathak performance can be solo, duo or team. In a technical performance, the speed and energy the dancers exchange with the audience increases in multiples, that is the tempo doubles or quadruples.

     

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  • Undersea Volcanic Eruption in Hunga Islands, Tonga

    A distant undersea volcano has erupted in spectacular fashion near the Pacific nation of Tonga sending large tsunami waves reaching the shore.

    Hunga Volcano

    • The Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai volcano has erupted regularly over the past few decades.
    • It consists of two small uninhabited islands, Hunga-Ha’apai and Hunga-Tonga, poking about 100m above sea level 65km north of Tonga’s capital Nuku’alofa.
    • But hiding below the waves is a massive volcano, around 1800m high and 20 kilometres wide.
    • During events in 2009 and 2014/15 hot jets of magma and steam exploded through the waves. But these eruptions were small, dwarfed in scale by the January 2022 events.
    • Researchers suggest this is one of the massive explosions the volcano is capable of producing roughly every thousand years.

    Impact of the eruption

    • The ash plume is already about 20km high.
    • Most remarkably, it spread out almost concentrically over a distance of about 130km from the volcano, creating a plume with a 260km diameter, before it was distorted by the wind.
    • The eruption also produced a tsunami throughout Tonga and neighbouring Fiji and Samoa.
    • Shock waves traversed many thousands of kilometres, were seen from space, and recorded in New Zealand some 2000km away.
    • All these signs suggest the large Hunga caldera has awoken.

    Why is it so explosive even after being underwater?

    Answer: Fuel-coolant interaction

    • If magma rises into sea water slowly, even at temperatures of about 1200 degrees Celsius, a thin film of steam forms between the magma and water.
    • This provides a layer of insulation to allow the outer surface of the magma to cool.
    • But this process doesn’t work when magma is blasted out of the ground full of volcanic gas.
    • When magma enters the water rapidly, any steam layers are quickly disrupted, bringing hot magma in direct contact with cold water.
    • Volcano researchers call this ‘fuel-coolant interaction’ and it is akin to weapons-grade chemical explosions.

    A chain reaction

    • Extremely violent blasts tear the magma apart.
    • A chain reaction begins, with new magma fragments exposing fresh hot interior surfaces to water, and the explosions repeat, ultimately jetting out volcanic particles and causing blasts with supersonic speeds.

    How has it emerged out to be so big?

    • The caldera is a crater-like depression around 5km across.
    • Small eruptions (such as in 2009 and 2014/15) occur mainly at the edge of the caldera, but very big ones come from the caldera itself.
    • These big eruptions are so large the top of the erupting magma collapses inward, deepening the caldera.
    • Looking at the chemistry of past eruptions, we now think the small eruptions represent the magma system slowly recharging itself to prepare for a big event.

    What next?

    • This latest eruption has stepped up the scale in terms of violence.
    • Researchers are still in the middle of this major eruptive sequence and many aspects remain unclear, partly because the island is currently obscured by ash clouds.

     

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  • Criminalizing Marital Rape in India

    The Delhi High Court has told the Centre that it will continue hearing the petitions challenging the legal exception to marital rape and not wait for the government’s ongoing process of initiating reform in the criminal laws.

    What is Marital Rape?

    • Marital rape is the act of sexual intercourse with one’s spouse without her consent.
    • It is no different manifestation of domestic violence and sexual abuse.
    • It is often a chronic form of violence for the victim which takes place within abusive relations.

    Status in India

    • Historically considered as right of the spouses, this is now widely classified as rape by many societies around the world.
    • In India, marital rape is not a criminal offense (as protected under IPC section 375).
    • India is one of fifty countries that have not yet outlawed marital rape.

    Reasons for disapproval of this concept

    • The reluctance to define non-consensual sex between married couples as a crime and to prosecute has been attributed to:
    1. Traditional views of marriage
    2. Interpretations of religious doctrines
    3. Ideas about male and female sexuality
    4. Cultural expectations of subordination of a wife to her husband
    • It is widely held that a husband cannot be guilty of any sexual act committed by himself upon his lawful wife their on account of their mutual matrimonial consent.

    Why it must be a crime?

    • Associated physical violence: Rape by a spouse, partner or ex-partner is more often associated with physical violence.
    • Mental harassment: There is research showing that marital rape can be more emotionally and physically damaging than rape by a stranger.
    • Compulsive relationship: Marital rape may occur as part of an abusive relationship.
    • Revengeful nature: Furthermore, marital rape is rarely a one-time event, but a repeated if not frequent occurrence.
    • Obligation on women: In the case of marital rape the victim often has no choice but to continue living with their spouse.

    Violation of fundamental rights

    • Marital rape is considered as the violation of FR guaranteed under Article 14 of the Indian constitution which guarantees the equal protection of laws to all persons.
    • By depriving married women of an effective penal remedy against forced sexual intercourse, it violates their right to privacy and bodily integrity, aspects of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21.

    Problems in prosecuting marital rape

    • Lack of awareness: A lack of public awareness, as well as reluctance or outright refusal of authorities to prosecute is common globally.
    • Gender norms: Additionally, gender norms that place wives in subservient positions to their husbands, make it more difficult for women to recognize such rape.
    • Acceptability of the concept: Another problem results from prevailing social norms that exist.

    Present regulations in India

    • Indian Penal Code criminalizes rape in most cases, although marital rape is not illegal when the woman is over the age of 18.
    • However, until 2017, men married to those between 15 and 18 could not be convicted of rape.
    • Marital rape of an adult wife, who is unofficially or officially separated, is a criminal offence punishable by 2 to 7 year in prison; it is not dealt by normal rape laws which stipulate the possibility of a death sentence.
    • According to the Protection of Women From Domestic Violence Act (2005), other married women subject to such crime by their husband may demand for financial compensation.
    • They also have the right to continue to live in their marital household if they wish, or may approach shelter or aid homes.

    However, marital rape is still not a criminal offence in this case and is only a misdemeanour.

    Arguments against criminalization

    • Subjective: It is very subjective and intricate to determine whether consent was acquired or not.
    • Prone to Misuse: If marital rape is criminalized without adequate safeguards it could be misused like the current dowry law by the dissatisfied wives to harass and torture their Husbands.
    • Burden on Judiciary: It will increase the burden of judiciary which otherwise may serve other more important causes.

    Way forward

    • Sanctioning marital rape is an acknowledgment of the woman’s right to self-determination (i.e., control) of all matters relating to her body.
    • In the absence of any concrete law, the judiciary always finds it difficult to decide the matter of domestic rape in the absence of solid evidence.
    • The main purpose of marriage is procreation, and sometimes divorce is sought on the ground of non-consummation of marriage.
    • Before giving a final interpretation, the judiciary must balance the rights and duties of both partners.

    Must read:

    [RSTV Archive] Sexual Crime – Fast-tracking Justice

     

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