-The Hindu A total of 241 persons out of the 385 death row inmates in India are first time offenders, new findings contained in the “Death Penalty India Report” released on Friday said. For the study, 373 of all the 385 death row inmates in India were interviewed from July 2013 to January 2015 by the Center of Death Penalty at National Law University, Delhi. The study found that around 60 per...

-The Hindu Rather than criminalising bribegivers, the objective of combating coercive corruption would be achieved if the government puts in place a grievance redress mechanism The Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA), the key legislation which defines what constitutes corruption and prescribes penalties for corruption-related offences, is set to be amended by Parliament. The proposed Bill, now before a select committee of the Rajya Sabha, includes several contentious amendments that are likely to...

-News18.com The US State Department for Human Rights in its report for 2015 has slammed India for its record on encounter killing and has observed that judicial corruption is widespread in the country. The report also mentioned the Malegaon case the allegation is that the National Investigation Agency was "going soft" on Hindutva elements over the Malegaon blasts case. The report said there were 555 “encounter killings,” by security forces and police between...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Supreme Court has expressed concern over growing human rights violations in Chhattisgarh, a Maoist hotbed, with the Centre and rights activists blaming each other for the state's volatile atmosphere. Journalists, lawyers and civil rights activists have reported being targeted and hounded out of Bastar district after being branded Maoist sympathisers. Tribal activist Soni Sori, who had protested against an alleged fake encounter, had her face burnt with...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: An SC/ST victim of gang rape, murder or an acid attack will now get a minimum compensation of Rs 8.5 lakh from a state government, in what is an significant enhancement of relief for such crimes through an amendment to the rules by Centre. The Centre has amended the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Rules, 1995 through a notification on April 14, now...