-The Hindu   Rajya Sabha MP and Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi chaired the 30-member parliamentary panel that presented its voluminous report earlier this month on the Lokpal Bill 2011. The report has points of divergence with both the official Lokpal Bill draft and the Team Anna version. (The Union Cabinet on Tuesday night approved a Bill for the creation of the Lokpal with constitutional status that will have no control over the...

Citing lack of evidence, Jharkhand High Court today acquitted four alleged Maoists, sentenced to death for opening fire on spectators of a football match in Giridih in October 2007 and killing Babulal Marandi’s son and 18 others. A division bench of Justices R.K. Merathia and P.P. Bhatt heard the appeals filed by accused Jeetan Marandi, Manoj Rajwar, Anil Ram and Chhatrapti Mandal and gave them the “benefit of doubt” after citing...

-EPW Despite curative measures and judgments, undertrials who are poor continue to rot in jails. The public debate over bail to the 2G spectrum accused and the controversy over the parole granted to murder convict Manu Sharma has unfortunately sidestepped a much more pressing concern – the plight of poor undertrial prisoners who have spent years inside jail without being convicted of any offence. A series of Supreme Court judgments over the...

Two days after major opposition parties extended their support to the demand for a strong Lokpal (ombudsman) as proposed by the anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare during his one day fast at Jantar Mantar, Uttar Pradesh (UP) chief minister and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati also offered her conditional endorsement. Mayawati on Tuesday rejected the Parliamentary Standing committee's report on Lokpal bill. She described the Lokpal report drafted by the committee...

A tragic fire broke out in the Advanced Medicare & Research Institute (AMRI) Hospital in Kolkata early Friday morning in which 91 persons have died, making it one of the worst tragedies in any hospital in India. Many patients died while asleep.The government has ordered a judicial probe which shall run parallel to the inquiry under police's detective department. AMRI hospital, where the unfortunate incident occurred, is a private hospital and...