Sardarpura, 50 km from Mehsana town and not far from Vadnagar, home of Chief Minister Narendra Modi, had been declared a Samras village, part of one of the first schemes launched by Modi after he took charge in 2001. Under the scheme, a village could appoint its sarpanch unanimously without an election. In Sardarpura, sarpanch Kachra Tribhovan Patel and former sarpanch Kanu Joitaram Patel were among the accused. Both were among...

Till Tuesday, Jayanti Patel, 46, was farming to earn a living, having secured bail. On Wednesday, he worried not only about his mother, wife and children but also about his father, elderly and ailing, who has been sentenced to life with him. Jayanti and his his father Mangal Patel, a paralytic, are among the 31 sentenced to life. So were at least three of their relatives, Amrat Somabhai, Bhikha Joitabhai and...

Accused No 1 Noor-ul-Huda, 26 Labourer, Arrested on October 22, 2006 A month after the Malegaon blasts in September 2006, two policemen walked up to the house of Noor-ul-Huda at Jaffer Nagar on a Ramzan evening. They took Noor with them, telling his father they would send him back in 10 minutes. “Five years have passed. How long is their 10 minutes?” asks Noor’s father Shumshuz Zoha. This wasn’t the first time Noor...

-The Hindu   The Supreme Court has expressed serious concern over fake encounters by the police and said “tolerance of police atrocities would amount to acceptance of systemic subversion and erosion of the rule of law”. Upholding the life sentence awarded to four Punjab Police officers who were responsible for kidnap and killing of a human rights activist, a Bench of Justices P. Sathasivam and B.S. Chauhan said: “Police atrocities are always violative...

-DNA   Four RTI activisits have been butchered and six have escaped murder attempts, as authorities continue to wink at the culprits. DNA profiles the heroes who are fighting a not so appreciated battle for upholding democratic values. Manisha Goswami Manisha Goswami, a resident of Vapi, has been waging a lone battle against the pollution spread by industries in Vapi. In the latest case, Goswami had moved an RTI application seeking information about a...