In what could raise the hackles of women's rights activists, the Law Commission has recommended to the Centre that the strict law dealing with dowry offences be made compoundable - a move that will allow an accused to escape a jail term by paying a fine. The recommendation to alter the tough provisions of Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code comes in the backdrop of Supreme Court suggesting it may...

-The Hindu   For 11 Muslim youths exonerated in connection with 2008 Jaipur serial blasts; denied bail, they spent three years in prison   More than a month after a fast track court here acquitted 11 persons of the charge of involvement in the May 2008 Jaipur serial blasts, the Congress-led government in Rajasthan is yet to respond to demands for compensation to the exonerated youths on the Andhra Pradesh pattern and action against...

Police claim it's suicide, but medical report establishes signs of ToRture On the day Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh addressed a public gathering to mark the creation of Sukma district, carved out of Maoist-affected Dantewada, a custodial death in the Sukma police station underlines the difficulty in winning over a disaffected tribal populace in the backdrop of a violent counterinsurgency campaign. Podiyam Mara of Kondre village died in the police station on...

A desperate state is making Maoists out of innocents Arun Ferreira smiles easily. The four years and eight months of incarceration, as an alleged Naxalite/Maoist, sit lightly on the 40-year-old quintessential Bandra boy. Released on January 5 from Nagpur Central Jail—acquitted in 10 of the 11 cases and bailed in one—Ferreira is taking his time to readjust to his life with family and friends in Mumbai. He must build anew...

Up against a formidable line-up of Army officials who were members of an inquiry panel that ended up taking away her job, a victim of alleged sexual harassment by the principal of an Army Public School in Jaipur came knocking on Defence Minister A.K. Antony's door here on Tuesday seeking justice. She was accompanied by the former MP and Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat and...