India's Supreme Court has rejected a plea to end the life of a woman who has been in a vegetative state since 1973. Aruna Shanbaug suffered severe brain damage and has been paralysed since a brutal rape in 1973. But the court said the medical evidence suggested that she should live. However, in what correspondents are calling a "landmark" judgment, the court also said some cases of euthanasia could be sanctioned if doctors...
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Binayak moves SC against HC decision by Dhananjay Mahapatra
People's Union for Civil Liberties leader and paediatrician Binayak Sen on Friday moved the Supreme Court seeking bail in a Maoist-linked sedition case, in which he has been sentenced to life imPRIsonment. Sen's petition challenges a February 10 decision of the Chhattisgarh High Court refusing bail during the pendency of his appeal against conviction and sentence. A Raipur additional district and sessions court had on December 24 convicted Sen and Kolkata businessman...
More »Limbless singer gives voice to India's rural poor by Beatrice Le Bohec
Bant Singh, a scarred survivor of class violence in rural India, has an indisputable claim to be a voice for India's impoverished and muted millions. The folk singer lost both arms and a leg in an attack five years ago after he dared to challenge high-caste landlords in his area of the northwestern state of Punjab who had raped his 17-year-old daughter. Set upon by a gang armed with iron bars, he...
More »Riot bill jolt to NAC by Radhika Ramaseshan
The National Advisory Council today suffered its first setback in revamping the anti-communal violence bill when four associate members quit because their concerns were not addressed. Two of the members are Shabnam Hashmi and John Dayal, who were part of an advisory group that was constituted to help the conveners of a sub-committee working on the proposed law. The other two are Vrinda Grover and Usha Ramanathan, enlisted to help the...
More »Tribal outfit hails decision on jailed members by Satyanarayan Pattnaik
Activists on Wednesday welcomed the government's decision to review the cases against members of the alleged Maoist-backed Chasi Muliya Adivasi Sangha (CMAS) outfit and take steps for their early release from PRIson. The tribal outfit has forcibly occupied over 3,000 acres of non-tribal land in Koraput's Narayanpatna block between 2009 and 2010. On November 20, 2009, CMAS activists had attacked the Narayanpatna police station. Two activists were killed in subsequent...
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