After 12 days in Maoist captivity, Sukma collector Alex Paul Menon emerged from the forests around sunset on Thursday — accompanied by Maoist interlocutors BD Sharma and G Hargopal. Earlier, just a few days into Menon’s abduction, intelligence agencies had assured the government that things were not exactly following the abductors’ script. Adverse public opinion had forced even Maoist sympathisers to condemn the act. The interlocutors urged the Maoists to close...

-PTI Ensure that findings of the probe are kept in a sealed cover The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Election Commission to proceed with its probe into the authenticity of the former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan's spendings during the 2009 State Assembly elections, allegedly involving expenses on “paid news.” A Bench of Justices Altamas Kabir and J. Chelameshwar, however, asked the Commission's counsel Meenakshi Arora to ensure that findings of the...

-The Times of India A tribal woman MP from Gujarat broke down in Lok Sabha on Wednesday alleging rough treatment by state police, triggering an outpouring of solidarity and demand for action from members across party lines. Dahod MP Prabha Kishore Taviad sat quietly as Congress leader Girija Vyas stood up to recount her tale, saying the hurt MP was not in a position to talk. Prabha was stopped by Gujarat police from...

COIMBATORE: The Tamil Nadu forest department's push to get Sathyamangalam Wildlife Sanctuary declared a tiger reserve suffered a setback on Wednesday when grama sabhas in all 19 tribal-majority panchayats in the region passed separate resolutions against the move. The resolutions said the department had not consulted the local communities on the project, though Section 38 V of the Wildlife Protection Act makes it mandatory. The Wildlife Protection Act stipulates that approval from...

Makhdumpur is a village in Uttar Pradesh's Bhadohi district. Adjoining it is a cluster of huts inhabited by people of the Nat caste, one of the lowest among Dalits. Congress party general secretary Rahul Gandhi visited a hut in the settlement just before the recent State Assembly elections. He spent some time inside the hut, interacted with the residents, shared a meal with them and then went on his way....