-The Hindu Verdict wrongly held that even terror activities would amount to political movement: West Bengal The Supreme Court has stayed a Calcutta High Court judgment directing West Bengal to treat arrested members of the banned Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) as “political Prisoners” by declaring the outfit a “political movement.” A Bench of Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Desai was acting on the State government’s appeal challenging the rationale of the August...
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Shut away from all human rights
-The Hindustan Times West Bengal's Dum Dum Central Jail could put the notorious Abu Ghraib in a shade going by some of the disturbing incidents which have taken place there recently. A mere request for better food earned Bikram Mahato, undergoing trial for murder, a severe beating after which he was handcuffed and kept naked in a cell. And this is not an isolated incident in this jail. When Mahato had...
More »Supreme Court stays execution of Veerappan's aides -Dhananjay Mahapatra
-The Times of India The Supreme Court has stayed the execution of Veerappan's aides till Wednesday. The apex court said though the petition filed by an advocate on behalf of the convicts is not maintainable, the case of 4 condemned Prisoners were similar to the case of other death row convicts pending consideration of the Supreme Court. SC's decision came after the defence advocate informed the court that he has now got...
More »Rejecting mercy pleas not President’s decision alone -Himanshi Dhawan
-The Times of India President Pranab Mukherjee, having rejected the mercy petitions of seven death row convicts in less than seven months of assuming office, may appear to have a hard line on capital punishment but experts say he does not have much discretion in the matter. While the statute grants clemency powers to the President through Article 72, constitutional experts say the power to grant pardon is not personal but...
More »PM Manmohan Singh 'upset' that Afzal Guru's family was not informed well in time- Masood Hussain & Soma Banerjee
-The Economic Times Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is unhappy with the home ministry for not following routine procedures such as informing the family of Parliament attack convict Mohammad Afzal Guru before his hanging last Saturday, two people familiar with the matter have told ET. The prime minister felt the matter could have been handled better, one of the persons said, adding that he had told the same to Home Minister Sushil Kumar...
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