-The Hindu     Jagdalpur Jail Superintendent says that a psychiatrist asked her questions about "anger" The Chhattisgarh government has initiated an enquiry into the mental health of Adivasi teacher Soni Sori lodged in the Jagdalpur jail to ascertain whether she should be sent to the mental asylum in Agra, according to women's rights groups. A legal team visiting Ms. Sori on March 15 after she failed to appear for a hearing the previous day,...

-The Hindu Raipur: For the first time since the formation of Chhattisgarh in 2000, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) will hold a "full commission" sitting in State capital Raipur. NHRC chairperson Justice K. G. Balakrishnan and its members, Justice B. C. Patel and retired diplomat Satyabrat Pal, will hold several sessions till Friday. According to sources in the NHRC, investigating officers and the special rapporteur of the commission had visited the State,...

-The Hindu Hundreds of undertrials languish in overcrowded south Chhattisgarh prisons even as their trial proceeds sluggishly, says an RTI reply With most information regarding prisons closely guarded in the country, in conflict zones — some north-eastern States, Kashmir or Chhattisgarh — it is even more so. The only information about prisons that percolates to public space is about how inmates are becoming master painters, singers or dance drama designers. While those...

-The Hindu Dantewada (Chhattisgarh): Of the six tribal women of Shamsetti village in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh who in 2009 gave statements in court that they had been gang-raped by Salwa Judum functionaries, three have now withdrawn their charges. Three key witnesses — family members of the women — have also retracted their statements. Some lawyers in Dantewada familiar with the case say that the women are withdrawing due to “severe pressure”...

-The Times of India The CRPF have adopted a tribal mascot — Gond freedom fighter Gundadhur — to connect with the people in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region. So far, Gundadhur, who led the1910 Bhumkal rebellion against the British, was a mascot of the Maoists to rally tribals in their war against the Indian state. Annual Bhumkal Divas celebrations on February 10 have often been bloodied by Maoist violence. While Maoists organized programmes...