-The Indian Express Preventive detention is being routinised as an instrument of state repression The recent preventive detention (PD) of Khurram Parvez, a Kashmiri human rights activist, and Jignesh Mewani, a Dalit leader from Gujarat, has turned the spotlight on the provision of PD and the purposes it is being made to serve. National Crime Records Bureau data released in September 2015 indicate that over 3,200 people were being held in administrative...

-The Hindu The sense of impunity that drives discrimination against Dalits is at the heart of recent demands for the dilution, or even repeal, of the Act for prevention of atrocities against SCs and STs It is the sense of impunity nurtured by caste hierarchy that prepares the social ground for the “shockingly cruel and inhumane” crimes against Dalits called atrocities. It is this impunity that the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled...

-Hindustan Times Toronto: A culture of intolerance has taken root in India and grown “more menacing” since Narendra Modi became Prime Minister two years ago, according to a new report prepared jointly by a Canadian university and global writers group PEN International. India must overhaul its antiquated laws and cumbersome legal system, which are increasingly being misused to silence dissent, said the report titled “Fearful Silence: The Chill on India’s Public Sphere”. It...

-The Hindu The number of FIRs registered against personnel is few and far between, show new data from NCRB New Delhi: India may not have enough safeguards to protect its citizens from human rights violations by the police, official data suggest. As many as 35,831 cases were registered against the police with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in 2015-16, a figure that experts say is highly under-reported. And only 94 first information...

-Business Standard CIC to adopt new software system from next week to enable applicants to receive notifications and updates Citizens will now get real-time updates on any complaints or appeals filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, reported the Economic Times on Monday. The report added that the Central Information Commission (CIC) would now function akin to an e-court. How will it work? According to the report, from next week, the CIC will...