It is implicit in the judgement of the Supreme Court that freedom of speech also comprehends the right not to speak. The essence of the judgement lies in its message of tolerance articulated in the ringing words of Justice Chinnappa Reddy—‘‘Our tradition teaches tolerance; our philosophy preaches tolerance; our Constitution practises tolerance; let us not dilute it.’’ If some persons do not wish to sing let them sulk in silence whilst others joyfully raise their voices and thrill to the stanzas of our Vande Mataram.

US Judiciary: The American judiciary is a bright redeeming feature in the US despite the Bush administration’s clumsy foreign policy and the Iraq imbroglio. Apart from the judgements of the US Supreme Court which provided some relief to suspected detainees rotting for indefinite periods in prison in Guantanamo Bay, the federal judiciary has done its bit in protection of human rights. Federal Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit recently ruled that the Bush administration’s eavesdropping programme had overstepped the bounds of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and was also unconstitutional. The administration’s stand that it could not defend itself in the lawsuit without doing the country harm was negated as disingenuous and without merit. She boldly ruled that ‘‘there are no hereditary kings in America and no powers not created by the Constitution’’.

Female Stereotype: Cynics have observed that corruption, like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is universal in its reach and transcends race, religion, colour, including gender. Authorities in Russia apparently think differently. There is a proposal to create its first women-only traffic police unit because it is believed that women are less corrupt than the male-dominated traffic police who routinely forgive traffic violations in exchange for bribes. The consequence is that Russia’s roads are among the world’s most dangerous and about 35,000 people are killed in accidents each year. The first female platoon of 26 traffic officers will patrol the centre of Volgograd in southern Russia. Let us wait and watch whether bribe-taking will diminish on account of this irrational stereotpe about the female sex. The motivation behind taking of bribes by the police is not gender but other causes, one of which is their pitiably low salaries and pathetic living conditions.