“I am scared because my parents are under immense pressure … I just want to get rid of everything,” says Right to Information activist Arun Mane of Pune. Mr. Mane, who registered a police complaint after he was attacked by an unknown assailant on Sunday, withdrew his complaint on Tuesday. In the affidavit given to the Maval taluk tahsildar, Mr. Mane said two of his complaints — about being threatened and attacked...

The Raipur sessions court judgment against civil liberties defender and health activist Binayak Sen has provoked outrage. His two-year long detention had drawn protests from the world over. The only substantial charge against Sen is that he passed on three letters from Narayan Sanyal, an undertrial, suspected -- but not yet proved -- to be a Maoist, to the Maoist leadership. It takes several leaps of imagination, or nasty prejudice, to...

The wife of a leading Indian human rights activist who has been sent to prison for helping Maoist rebels has said she may seek "political asylum". Ilina Sen, wife of Dr Binayak Sen, told reporters that she and her family were "not feeling safe in India" after her husband's incarceration. Last month Dr Sen was found guilty of carrying messages and setting up bank accounts for the rebels. Activists say the Evidence against...

With the Assam elections approaching, Congress and BJP have begun sparring over the issue of illegal migration from across the Bangladesh border into the state and made it clear that the issue will snowball into a major issue. As the BJP petitioned the Election Commission on Monday seeking deletion of names of the Bangladeshi infiltrators, Congress accused its rival of 'communalizing' the issue of migration. A BJP delegation submitted a memorandum to...

Slamming the Central government’s stand on the use of toxic pesticide endosulfan as leading to “a grave violation of human rights”, the National Human Rights Commission has called for a nation-wide ban. India should also agree to a global ban, said the Commission, which also recommended higher compensation for victims. In its report submitted on Friday, the NHRC panel accused the government of ignoring the National Institute of Occupational Health’s study...