Family members and friends hail Supreme Court order granting bail to rights activist Friends, family members and Union Ministers on Friday hailed the Supreme Court order granting bail to rights activist Binayak Sen, with his lawyer Ram Jethmalani saying the verdict was an endorsement of the right to freedom of speech as “a principle of democracy.” Union Minister Salman Khurshid expressed happiness over the court decision to release Dr. Sen, who was...

Speculation on whether contents are intended to tarnish his and his son's image CD released prior to first meeting of joint committee on Lokpal Bill Circulation comes before Supreme Court verdict in Amar Singh tapes case The surreptitious surfacing of a compact disc containing an alleged phone conversation between senior advocate Shanti Bhushan; the former Samajwadi Party general secretary, Amar Singh; and the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mulayam Singh Yadav, has raised...

After the Supreme Court ordered the release of human rights activist Binayak Sen on bail, Sen's counsel and senior advocate Ram Jethmalani said the trial court was guided by the colonial concept of sedition and its judgment violated at least two Supreme Court judgments enunciating what constituted sedition. The bench picked up from where Jethmalani left. When Chhattisgarh's counsel and senior advocate U U Lalit attempted to justify the sedition charge...

Union Law and Justice Minister M. Veerappa Moily said on Friday that an overarching law premised on the “right to justice” could soon be a reality. He said the first draft of the Bill was ready though it was still to be circulated for feedback. Mr. Moily's promise of a new law on justice came at a seminar, “Towards knowledge, development and peace,” organised by the Institute of Objective Studies (IOS)...

India's Supreme Court has granted bail to leading public health specialist and human rights activist, Dr Binayak Sen. In December a court in the central state of Chhattisgarh sentenced to life in prison for helping Maoist rebels. The lower court had found him guilty of carrying messages and setting up bank accounts for the rebels, who are active in large parts of India. Rights groups in India and abroad had called on the...