Firstpost Editor's Picks: Sexual harassment charges against CJI, Masood Azhar designated global terrorist, closure for Avengers; today's must-read stories

SC panel's handling of sexual harassment charges against CJI Ranjan Gogoi shows why women suffer in silence The backlash against complaining about a powerful man is real. The woman claimed that the CJI had not only sexually harassed her but had also been also relentless in persecuting her and her family, due to which she and other family members lost their jobs and criminal cases were filed against them. Once she finally went public with her complaint, the structural sexism of the top court became clear for everyone to see. Exhibit A is lawyer Utsav Bains’ wild conspiracy theories — that the CJI was being targeted at the behest of other “disgruntled” judges, court fixers, corporate scamsters and corrupt politicians — and how the Supreme Court has taken him much more seriously than the woman who complained against the chief justice. Masood Azhar now a marked man: Pakistan must realise its all-weather friend China has business with India too Scepticism on the usefulness of such sanctions is also somewhat justified. After all, the Jaish hasn’t let any designation interfere with its activities. In Pakistan, it has not just been allowed to function but has expanded under successive governments. More importantly, it has also significantly increased its activities in Kashmir, particularly over the last two years, when severe adverse publicity made it (relatively) difficult for the Lashkar-e-Taiba to operate quite as freely as it did earlier. That, in essence, is the first point of this whole diplomatic exercise. _Avengers: Endgame_ — Has Marvel's Infinity Saga finale given its six original superheroes closure? It’s hard to decide how to judge something like Avengers: Endgame. Like Thanos himself, Endgame shrugs off our puny attempts to slot it into normal classifications. If it was judged as a conventional movie, with conventional storytelling needs, it would feel like a random assortment of incomprehensible moments. But it’s not a conventional movie, or even a conventional sequel. In some ways, it’s closest to being a series finale of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (And yes, we all know that the MCU will go on, but honestly, calling this a season finale wouldn’t do it justice). Jet Airways pilots ask PM to probe Etihad's role in airline's debacle: Can't expect foreign investors' hearts to bleed for domestic partners The point is Etihad is here to lubricate its international operations emanating from its hub Abu Dhabi. It finds Jet Airways useful to ferry Indian passengers to Abu Dhabi for onward journey to the American and European destinations just as Emirates does from its hub Dubai. In the event, the Jet Airways pilots cannot expect Etihad’s heart to bleed for them. In any case, pledging dud shares does not bring in dollops of cash. It is significant to note that SBI is hemming and hawing about further loans on shares pledged by Goyal precisely for this reason — it finds no security in them because the intrinsic value of Jet Airways shares is in the negative though the market price is positive thanks to the quirks of the share market. The Queer Take: Embracing the hidden parts of your life by casting aside deeply ingrained lessons In childhood, I quite quickly learned everyone’s routine in my house and whenever any room of the house was free of watchful eyes, it would be transformed into the fantastic. Rooms, corridors and gardens have been turned into a Paris runaway with me doing the Naomi Campbell walk to Snow’s “Informer”, to glittering with the gaudy glamour of a kotha and I was the one — the tawaif — seducing the gathered men, to running around on my tippy-toes in imaginary stilettos like Mariah Carey in her video for “Honey”.