-The Times of India MUMBAI: A disproportionately high number of undertrial prisoners in Maharashtra are Muslims. Data compiled by the Union home ministry reveals that while Muslims comprise about 12% of the state's total population, they make up nearly 32% of the undertrial population in prisons. Similarly, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes form 12% and 9% of Maharashtra's population, but they account for 18.15% and 18.34% of the undertrial population. NCP's Rajya...

-The Hindu 'It invades right to free speech, every expression used in it is nebulous' Section 66A of the Information Technology Act is unconstitutional in its entirety, the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday striking down a "draconian" provision that had led to the arrests of many people for posting content deemed to be "allegedly objectionable" on the Internet. "It is clear that Section 66A arbitrarily, excessively and disproportionately invades the right of free...

-Business Standard Amendments skip key controversial issues The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has made nine amendments to its land Bill, tabled in Parliament on Monday. Most of these were cosmetic in nature, leaving the key elements of the original promulgation intact - the lack of need for consent and social impact assessment while acquiring land for private projects; public-private partnerships and government acquisitions. Rural Development Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh did move two amendments...

-The Indian Express The NDA government's ordinance to amend the land acquisition Act does not merely expand the list of projects that would be exempted from requirements of consent and Social Impact Assessment but also quietly makes other provisions in the law less stringent. It dilutes the requirement that unused acquired land be returned to the original owners, makes it tougher to prosecute defaulting civil servants, reduces the scope of the...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: In what could lead to freedom for thousands of undertrials languishing in jail for years on end, the Narendra Modi government has initiated steps to release prisoners who have served at least half the sentence they would have been awarded if convicted, irrespective of the progress of their trial. However, this largesse will not extend to those who have been held for offences which specify...