Questioning the extent to which the Army can claim blanket immunity under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), the Supreme Court today said rape and murder committed by its personnel should be considered a “normal crime”, and that there is “no question of sanction” from the government before prosecution of offenders in such cases. Under AFSPA, prior approval is required before prosecution or any other legal action can be initiated...

Seven members of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) surrendered in Chhattisgarh's Kanker district on Monday — a sign, police officers say, that a new policy of rapprochement with rebel cadres is gradually paying dividends. Five of the seven surrendered Maoists are from the Rowghat Area Committee, of which three are relatively senior commanders. Of the remaining two, Sunil alias Rajesh Kumar is a member of the East Bastar Divisional...

—PTI Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has expressed surprise over “more resistance” from the Army for removal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from certain areas of the State despite assurances that its interests would be protected. Discussions on partial withdrawal of the AFSPA were an “ongoing process,” Mr. Abdullah told PTI here. “Unfortunately, there is more resistance than I would have liked from the Army for reasons...

The hunger and malnutrition situation in the country has shown marginal improvement, according to the HUNGaMA report. ONE area that has always bothered policymakers in a growth-obsessed economy is the state of the social sector, in particular figures indicating the numbers of people going hungry or are homeless and children who are out of school, the poor nutritional status of women and children, and the high infant and maternal mortality rates....

The reference is to incidents that occurred during 2002-06 Dealing a blow to the Narendra Modi government in Gujarat, the Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Monitoring Authority (MA) headed by M.B. Shah, a retired Supreme Court judge, to probe all fake Encounter deaths in the State from 2002 to 2006. A Bench of Justices Aftab Alam and C.K. Prasad passed the order on two petitions filed by Javed Akthar, B.G. Varghese...