Be wary of torture-induced confessions before police Mere membership of a banned organisation will not make a person criminal unless he resorts to violence or incites people to violence or creates public disorder by violence or incitement to violence, the Supreme Court held on Thursday. A Bench of Justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Misra gave this ruling, setting aside a designated court judgment which convicted Arup Bhuyan under Section 3 (5)...

Deputy election commissioner Vinod Zutshi is expected to visit Bengal on Wednesday, the third such trip in less than a month by the poll panel, which described the move as “rare, if not unprecedented”. During his three-day trip, Zutshi will meet the district authorities to “inspect the progress” in implementing the recommendations of an observer team that toured the state earlier this month. Zutshi is also expected to meet state government officials...

Gauhati high court has issued showcause notices to the state chief secretary and more than 20 government departments for allegedly violating job reservation rules of tribal candidates. "The high court has issued a showcause notice to the chief secretary and more than 20 departments on January 10," said Aditya Khakhlari, the general secretary of All Assam Tribal Sangha (AATS) on Thursday. He added that the court has issued the showcause...

The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act has in its four years faced many challenges in implementation, says a monitoring report. FIVE years ago, Parliament enacted a significant piece of legislation relating to women. The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (PWDVA), 2005, designed as a civil law, came into effect a year later, in October 2006. The fundamental feature of the Act was that it empowered magistrates...

Death toll rises to nine; several houses in three villages torched Fresh violence erupted along Assam-Meghalaya border areas with miscreants torching several houses in three villages and setting ablaze a truck carrying relief materials on Saturday night and Sunday. Two more persons were killed taking the death toll in ongoing ethnic clashes between the Garos and the Rabhas to nine. Of the nine lives claimed by ethnic violence, five died on Assam side...