An Indian mummy: a case report

A case of mummification occurring in northwest India (Chandigarh) is described. A middle-aged man developed an abscess on his back and was treated by a mystical man who did not allow him any food or water. After a few days the patient died. On the advice of the mystical man the body was kept in a room which was made hot and dry. The police discovered the body after 2 years. A postmortem examination was conducted and findings are reported.     

The right to be forgotten: The Israeli version

The right to be forgotten and erase, originally introduced in the well-known case of Google Spain, has caused considerable legal debates on both theoretical and procedural issues. The Israeli Supreme Court has also just recently considered the issue when it was asked to enforce the right to be forgotten of an Israeli advocate, Jonathan Miller, and delist harmful information which appeared in a Google search, and was in truth related to a different adv. Jonathan Miller. The plaintiff relied on the Israeli Prohibition of Defamation Law. Liability was denied on the basis that the information was indeed true, and thus- justified. We suggest in this article that the court should have imposed liability in negligence, an open ended general tort that mainly applies when particular torts fail to supply a reasonable and just solution in new factual situations due to change in social, economic and technological circumstances.     

Regulating online gambling: The Indian perspective

In India, the government has perniciously ignored the issue of internet gambling. Unfortunately, there is no specific legislation in place that addresses internet gambling, nor has there been any consistent policy professed with regard to internet gambling. Thus, online gambling operators, both domestic and offshore, are allowed to operate with impunity in India. Spurred on by factors like inadequate legislation, a lack of enforcement, and an indifferent judiciary, online gambling in India is unregulated, untaxed, and most of all, unclear. This paper posits that there is an urgent need for legislative clarity in India's policy towards internet gambling.     

An Early Indian Interpretive Puzzle: Vedic Etymologies as a Tool for Thinking

Etymologies are often encountered in Vedic prose, in Brāhma?as and early Upani?ads. Though they have received a fair amount of scholarly attention, Vedic etymologies still present a challenge to interpreters. To respond to it, I critically review previous interpretations, and focus on three case studies, Aitareya Brāhma?a 1.1.2, B?hadāra?yaka Upani?ad 1.3, and Chāndogya Upani?ad 6.8. In my interpretation, I emphasize the need for a contextual reading, foreground Vedic etymologies’ complexity and sophistication, and call attention to the variety of purposes they serve to achieve as well as to Vedic etymologists’ agency. Supplementing conventional interpretations concentrating mostly on their religious-magical aspects, I describe Vedic etymologies as discursive devices used by Vedic authors to further their thoughts and agendas.     

An evaluation of the Maxcan fibre finder version 3.3 on cotton fibres

The Maxcan fibre finder system is a product of Cox Analytical Systems, Sweden, and has been developed for the primary purpose of searching for fibres on tape lifts. This paper evaluates the ability of the Maxcan system to search for different fibre types and colours under varying conditions. The system performed effectively in most situations, although it did have problems with some search combinations that a human operator would also find difficult in a manual search. The Maxcan system has the added advantages of being objective, consistent and able to do large batch searches unattended. These attributes make it very useful where a large number of tapes need to be searched in casework and also in research where large quantities of data need to be gathered within a reasonable time.     

Good and Evil in Indian Buddhism: The five Sins of Immediate Retribution

Indian Buddhist sources speak of five sins of immediate retribution: murder of mother, father, an arhat, drawing the blood of a buddha, and creating a schism in the monastic community. This category provides the paradigm for sinfulness in Buddhism. Yet even these sins can and will, be expiated in the long run, demonstrating the overwhelmingly positive nature of Buddhist ethics     

An osteometric study of northern Indian populations for sexual dimorphism in craniofacial region

Sex identification is an initial crucial objective in the revelation of the complete identity of the human skeleton as it also renders significantly clearer guidance towards age and stature estimation. Population specific standards are of great practical relevance in the present era of increasing population intermixing. Size differences and robusticity are the two well-elaborated pillars holding most of the dimorphic burdens of the skull. This study is designed to explore dimorphic characteristics of the craniofacial region to establish anthropometric standards for contemporary North Indian populations, which have not been available so far. One hundred and twelve adult crania of known age (23-65 years) and sex (M:F; 82:30) were collected in the Department of Forensic Medicine, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India. Ten standard metric parameters of craniofacial region were measured and subjected to stepwise and direct discriminant function analysis employing SPSS 16.00. Bizygomatic breadth emerged as the single best parameter in stepwise analysis, providing an average accuracy of 85.5%.