Opposing the current practice of appointing retired bureaucrats as information commissioners, RTI activists on Thursday demanded that future appointments take place through open advertisement with applicants giving a detailed application form and a presentation to be screened by a high level committee. Advocating an open and transparent process for appointment of information commissioners, RTI activists said persons of eminence in public life should be selected. MKSS leader and social activist...

The Supreme Court has awarded life sentence to three persons in an honour killing case, in which six members of a family were gunned down but said the accused deserved a capital punishment. The apex court, however, refrained from awarding death penalty to Master Krishna, Ram Sewak and Kishori as the incident was two decades old and slammed the High Court for acquitting them by rejecting the testimonies of a child...

The Supreme Court has ruled that a person cannot be convicted for merely demanding dowry unless the demand is followed by mental or physical torture resulting in the death of the victim. A Bench of Justices R M Lodha and A K Patnaik said in a judgement that the prosecution has to establish convincing evidence that the accused had subjected the victim to torture soon before her death in connection...

Delhi has reconfirmed its position as the worst city in the country as far as women’s safety is concerned. Last year, with 452 rapes, it emerged as the most unsafe. With 178 rape cases, Mumbai had 278 fewer rapes than Delhi, but 112 more than neighbouring Pune’s 66 and a lot more than Kolkata’s 40 — something that’s come as a shocker for a city that prides itself in being...

There's not much you can buy in terms of assets for Rs 1 lakh. But two Delhi businessmen gained access to a multi-crore iron ore mine in Chhattisgarh for just this much. On June 2, 2004, two brothers, Atul Jain and Sanjay Jain, pooled together Rs 1 lakh in Delhi to set up a company, Pushp Steel and Mines Ltd. The same day, the company applied for a prospecting licence...