-The Telegraph Calcutta: Mamata Banerjee was staring at her darkest night in power after the chief minister shunted out police commissioner R.K. Pachnanda for ignoring the ruling party’s diktats and earned a damning rebuke from the governor. A crackdown that netted several Trinamul supporters and brought the police within striking distance of bigger fish during investigations into the murder of sub-inspector Tapas Chowdhury was said to be the immediate trigger for the...

-The Hindu Freedom of expression will continue to remain under siege unless all groups accept that people can have different opinions and beliefs in a free country “Our tradition teaches tolerance; our philosophy preaches tolerance; our Constitution practises tolerance; let us not dilute it.” These stirring sentiments were expressed by Justice Chinnappa Reddy in a Supreme Court judgment pronounced in August 1986 which invalidated expulsion from school of students belonging to Jehova’s...

-Economic and Political Weekly The committee of inquiry headed by justice Verma is a landmark for the way in which it has inscribed into the very foundations of law, the equality and liberty of India’s women citizens. To uphold the constitutional guarantees afforded to women, it is essential that the rights given to working women in the Vishaka judgment (also delivered by justice Verma) are not elided or compromised, either by...

-The Hindu Bangalore: Taking suo motu cognisance of the adverse effect on patients at government hospitals in the State owing to doctors’ strike, the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday directed the State government to prima facie treat doctors’ conduct as criminal offence under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and initiate legal action against them. A Division Bench comprising acting Chief Justice K. Sreedhar Rao and Justice S. Abdul Nazeer passed the order...

-The Indian Express In a criminal trial, if a juvenile girl can be judged on the basis of her assumed mental and physical developments, why should a juvenile accused be let off by giving benefits that he was less than 18 years of age on the date of the incident? While a debate rages over the trial of a Delhi gangrape accused who has been declared a juvenile, a Delhi court has...