The Supreme Court has ruled that fast-track courts, set up to ease the load of pending cases in subordinate courts, will continue to function in all states till further orders. Most of these courts were created under a centrally funded scheme on April 1, 2001, and were expected to lapse within five years. But they have since been given repeated extensions, the last one valid till March 31, 2010. “The scheme will...
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Maoism at Its Nadir: The Killings in Bengal by Vijay Prashad
Violence in West Bengal’s western districts has reached crisis proportions. Each day, one or more cadre member or sympathizer of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPM] is killed either by Maoists or the Trinamul Congress (TMC). The Maoists have found common cause with the TMC, a breakaway from the Congress Party in Bengal. Mamata Banerjee, whose authoritarian populism draws from both Juan and Evita Peron, leads the TMC. Backed...
More »Centre nod for anti-corruption bill by Nalin Verma
The Nitish Kumar government has earned the power to confiscate the property of corrupt public servants with the Centre eventually giving its assent to the Bihar Special Court Bill, 2008. The state legislature had passed the bill and sent to the Union government for presidential nod. But the central government failed to clear it for a year apparently because of the pressure of what is learnt to be the “IAS lobby”....
More »Moily's mission: Get 75% of undertrials out of prison by July 31 by Dhananjay Mahapatra
Year 2010 could go down in history as a watershed for undertrial prisoners, who for long have been the silent victims of apathy of the police, prosecuting agencies, prison authorities and judiciary. The UPA government is setting a six-month deadline, starting January 26, for the release of 1.25 lakh of the 1.7 lakh undertrials languishing in jail though booked for petty offences and despite having served a major part of...
More »Land grab, even by poor, illegal by Samanwaya Rautray
The Supreme Court has struck a blow against a menace “as old as human civilisation”, saying courts cannot sanction encroachments even if the land-grabbers are poor. In a ruling last week in a case that went back over 40 years, a two-judge bench said it was “necessary to remember” that no amount of vigil could stop unauthorised occupation of public land by “unscrupulous” elements who “act like vultures”. Justices G.S. Singhvi and...
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