The State finds a handy tool in a colonial law to quell dissent Wrong Arm Of The Law   Why ‘sedition’ rings hollow in India 2012 The law Section 124(A) of the Indian Penal Code, 1870; non-bailable offence The definition Whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the government...

Tata Motors welcomes verdict; Mamata says people’s choice will prevail In a setback to the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal, a division bench of the Calcutta High Court struck down the “Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act of 2011”, terming it unconstitutional and void. The law was enacted in 2011 to vest farm land acquired by the previous government for Tata Motors’ Nano small car factory in Singur...

-Tehelka Justice Sujata Manohar on how the Biotechnology Bill is fundamentally flawed IN THE last few years, regulatory systems across the board have been undergoing an overhaul to fit the needs of a new era. Likewise, new laws are being chalked out to meet new needs, and several are receiving flak owing to the loopholes and regressive grounds on which these have been drafted. The relatively more recent one to regulate modern...

-The Hindu Meet adopts outcome report on sustainable development The veil of mist hiding the Macico da Tijuca, the mountains that guard the Brazilian city of Rio, lifted as the Rio+20 summit concluded on Friday with the adoption of the outcome report on sustainable development. The report had been finalised by the heads of states and thousands of delegates after prolonged deliberation and intense sparring. The helicopters hovering over the mountainous city, the...

-The Hindustan Times Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi may have got a clean chit from the Supreme Court-appointed SIT in the Gulbarg Society massacre case, but may still run into trouble over a phone log CD, which reveals the number of calls exchanged by the accused with the top authorities, including calls received by the chief minister's office (CMO), during the 2002 riots. In a fresh development, the SIT has now...