-The Hindu Is the voting population a true reflection of the country's population? New data for Delhi indicates that marginalised groups are less likely to be registered or vote, but the election commission is narrowing this gap. An Election Commission of India-commissioned survey shows that Muslims, new migrants, women and young people were less likely to be registered and vote than others. The ECI's own analysis of its data also shows that...

-The Hindu The pressure to furnish proof, the fear of fighting a superior, the likely impact on career, and adverse publicity prevent women from reporting sexual harassment An employee of Tehelka accuses Tarun Tejpal, founder and editor-in-chief of the weekly magazine, of sexually assaulting her during an event organised in Goa, and the police file a first information report. A law intern claims she was sexually harassed by a retired judge of...

-Outlook New Delhi: The Centre today asked state governments to put all information related to implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and Public Distribution System in public domain. It has also asked states to ensure proactive disclosure under Right to Information (RTI) Act of information on public works done by a department at block and panchayat levels. Section 4 of the RTI Act, 2005 lays down that information should be...

-The Hindu Says Kerala DGP in reply to RTI query Kochi (Kerala): How many innocent people are lodged in prisons across Kerala? About 40 per cent of the inmates are not guilty of any crime, says a reply from the office of the Director General of Prisons and Correctional Services to a query asked under provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The Director General, Alexander Jacob, said at a public function...

-The Hindu The Supreme Court, which on Tuesday ordered compulsory registration of First Information Reports, noted that the burking (suppression) of crime might itself be in the range of 60 lakh cases every year. Quoting figures from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), a five-judge Constitution Bench, said: "Registration of FIRs leads to less manipulation in criminal cases and lessens incidents of ‘antedated' FIR or deliberately delayed FIR." The NCRB figures showed that...