“This war is between a small minority of exploiters and toiling masses” The Maoists have promised to “rehabilitate” all Special Police officers (SPOs) in Chhattisgarh who sever all connections with the State machinery and return to their villages, according to a signed press release dated July 7. The Communist Party of India (Maoist) release was issued in the backdrop of a July 5 Supreme Court ruling that the use of armed SPOs...
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People vs the people by Ramachandra Guha
The Supreme Court order against the Salwa Judum’s vigilantism in Chhattisgarh must be read by all, especially government officials. The details of the civil war in the tribal districts of Chhattisgarh are largely unknown to most readers of this newspaper. For the region is remote and inaccessible, and easily ignored by the national media. This civil war pits, on the one side, Maoist extremists, and, on the other, a band of...
More »A six-pack judiciary by Tarunabh Khaitan
A Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Sudershan Reddy and Surinder Singh Nijjar passed orders in two politically sensitive cases this week.These orders have caused much controversy over the role of judiciary in constitutional cases. In the first of the two cases, Nandini Sundar v State of Chattisgarh, the judges held that the armed deployment of ill-trained, uneducated and poor tribal youths in combat operations against Naxals by appointing them as...
More »Unwatched Watchdog by Sugata Srinivasaraju
A PIL questions the very legitimacy of the IB No whereofs to it? * A PIL filed in and admitted by the Karnataka High Court asks if the IB is “extra-constitutional” * The IB hasn’t been constituted under an Act of Parliament, does not have a charter of duties * The British set it up in 1887 * The court has served notices on the home ministry and the IB *** Is...
More »“Review plea in Salwa Judum case will be against constitutional norms” by Vidya Subrahmaniam
With Chhattisgarh and the Centre almost decided on filing review petitions against the Supreme Court judgment on the Salwa Judum, it has been left to the petitioners in the case to underscore the historic and constitutional significance of the verdict and to point out to the two governments that any review petition would necessarily strike at the core human values enshrined in the Constitution. In a blow to both the Central...
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