-Outlook.com The obligation of the police is not only to control crime and maintain peace but to do in an unbiased and even-handed manner, writes Vipul Mudgal A disturbing template of policing is emerging in India: one of selective and disproportionate action against some, deliberate inaction against others and collusion with a section of troublemakers. All these at the cost of neutrality and fair play. If there is something ominous about the...

-The Telegraph Don’t casually curb rights, govt told The Supreme Court on Friday frowned on the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir governments for claiming statutory immunity from revealing the reasons for the restrictions imposed in the region, quoting legal philosopher Lone L. Fuller to say “there can be no greater legal monstrosity than a secret statute”. “A democracy, which is sworn to transparency and accountability, necessarily mandates the production of orders as...

-The Hindu Delays in local body polls can be avoided with sterner fixing of accountability It’s been more than two decades since the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments were passed by Parliament, which accorded constitutional status to local administration bodies across India. Yet, the Tamil Nadu government delayed holding rural local body elections, due in 2016, by three years. This unconstitutional delay started when the Madras High Court cancelled the notification put...

-Hindustan Times Indian democracy is robust. The balance is good for the polity The Jharkhand election, in which a coalition of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-Congress-Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has succeeded in dislodging the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, is a reflection of a broader pattern in national politics. For one, it shows, yet again, that the BJP is vulnerable at the state level — and Narendra Modi’s popularity at the...

-The Indian Express “A government committed to democracy and the Constitution has nothing to fear from information and dissent,” he said. “Any government that discourages dissent and autonomy of ideas is not a liberal government.” Institutions that are responsible for implementing the Right to Information Act should not be anything but completely autonomous, Bombay High Court judge Justice Gautam Patel said on Tuesday. “A government committed to democracy and the Constitution has nothing...