Maoists have demanded release of Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh (CMAS) activists in exchange for Laxmipur MLA Jhina Hikaka. While the CMAS is believed to be a Maoist front fighting for tribal land rights in Orissa’s Naxal belt, at the heart of its rise lie allegations of strong-arm tactics by security forces. The tarred roads that snake up the hills on way to Narayanpatna block in Koraput district are smooth but treacherous....
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Small loans add up to lethal debts by Erika Kinetz
-AP The microfinance industry pursued a path of rapid business growth in recent years; two investigations now link it to debtor suicides First they were stripped of their utensils, furniture, mobile phones, television sets, ration cards and heirloom gold jewellery. Then, some of them drank pesticide. One woman threw herself into a pond. Another jumped into a well with her children. Sometimes, the debt collectors watched nearby. More than 200 poor, debt-ridden residents of...
More »Dubbed terror mastermind without any proof-Indranil Basu
At the age of 18, he had allegedly planted as many as 28 bombs in Delhi and NCR, that too single-handedly in all but one instance. Mohammad Amir Khan had, therefore, been implicated in 19 cases, charged with serious offences such as murder and waging war against the government. Yet, after spending 14 years in jail, he was released last month after being Acquitted in all but two cases. Though the...
More »Charged with terror, damned by aliases by Vidya Subrahmaniam
Mohammad Aamir had just turned 18, when one February day in 1998, he was ambushed by a police van. A month later, he found himself thrown against the cold, forbidding walls of a prison cell in the capital's Tihar jail. The charges were murder, terrorism and waging war against the nation. Aamir, released in January this year after 14 years, was named the main accused in 20 low-intensity bomb blasts executed...
More »Drive to scrap gag law by Pheroze Vincent
Rights organisations today launched a campaign to collect a million signatures against draconian sedition laws, the kickoff coming on the death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, who was among those jailed under such acts. The focus of the drive 65 years after Independence is on repealing Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code — which outlaws disaffection against the state and makes it punishable with life imprisonment. Retired judge Rajinder Sachar, among those...
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