Over 250 activists, academics, intellectuals and democratic institutions have written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh demanding that medical attention be immediately provided to Adivasi school teacher, Soni Sori, who is currently in custody in Raipur Central Jail. NAC members Aruna Roy, Jean Dreze and Harsh Mander, poet Meena Kandaswamy and film-maker Anand Patwardhan are amongst the signatories to the letter. The text of the open letter...

BHUBANESWAR/KORAPUT: The Odisha government on Thursday indicated possible release of abducted BJD legislator Jhina Hikaka by the Maoists soon. "We hope to get some positive response from them (Maoists) soon," state home secretary Upendra Behera told reporters in Bhubaneswar. The government's hope reportedly stemmed from reports reaching Bhubaneswar that the Maoists began their "praja court" (people's court) to decide whether or not to release Hikaka. Sources said the court was held...

—PTI Hours before the deadline set by Naxals for releasing their jailed members in exchange for an abducted MLA, a retired Army officer approached the Supreme Court on Wednesday to restrain the Odisha government from meeting the Maoists' demands. Major-General (retd.) Gangurdep Bakshi pleaded that the government be restrained from releasing the Naxals as they had been captured by security forces while putting their lives at stake. Maj.-Gen. Bakshi, an expert in counter-terrorism...

Social activists and students of Jadavpur University took out separate processions here on Tuesday in protest against the police action last week against Ambikesh Mahapatra, a professor of the university, for circulating e-mails containing graphics of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and other Trinamool Congress leaders. Dr. Mahapatra, who was arrested in connection with the incident and subsequently released on bail, was present in both the processions. Students carried placards...

There has been a veritable deluge of criticism of Mamata and the Trinamool on the arrest of a Jadavpur professor for circulating through email a gentle spoof on Mamata's sacking of the Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi.   From life imitating cartoons to Mamata suffering from certifiable paranoia – this has been the refrain in the mass media. By this single act, Mamata and her regime have subjected themselves to far greater ridicule...