In the current hullabaloo about the lok pal bill and the Anna agitation, one question has frequently been raised, both by protagonists of the Congress and the government and by constitutionalists and legal experts: however laudable the goals of Anna and his supporters, aren’t the methods adopted by them illegitimate? Doesn’t a fast unto death amount to blackmail of the legislature? Isn’t it an attempt by the unelected to usurp...

-The New York Times   India has 1.2 billion people, among them bankers, gurus, rag pickers, billionaires, snake charmers, software engineers, lentil farmers, rickshaw drivers, Maoist rebels, Bollywood movie stars and Vedic scholars, to name a few. Humanity runneth over. Except in one profession: India is searching for a hangman. Usually, India would not need one, given the rarity of executions. The last was in 2004. But in May, India's president unexpectedly rejected...

Sentenced to two-year rigorous imprisonment A Judicial Magistrate (First Class) was on Monday convicted by the Ahmedabad (rural) special sessions court on the charges of corruption and amassment of wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income and sentenced to two years rigorous imprisonment. According to the proceedings of the case, Premji Gohil, who was serving in a court at Bulsar district's Pardi in 2002, was found, by the Gujarat High Court...

‘Mere possession of Maoist materials cannot be considered an offence' Observing that mere possession of materials eulogising Maoist ideologies could not be considered sedition, the Supreme Court on Tuesday granted bail to Kolkata-based businessman Piyush Guha, co-accused with rights activist Binayak Sen in the sedition case, and sentenced to life imprisonment. A vacation Bench of Justices G.S. Singhvi and C.K. Prasad, after hearing counsel Prashant Bhushan for the petitioner and senior counsel...

Dr Binayak Sen has given a double blow to the state administration of Chattisgarh. First, the Supreme Court rejected the sedition charges levelled against him for which the state courts found him guilty. And then he was appointed to the 40-member steering committee on health in the planning commission. The Chattisgarh government has been vocally protesting against Sen's appointment, saying that he still remains a convict out on bail and should...