-The Times of India Revealing the casual manner in which mercy petitions are dealt with, the Supreme Court found that former President APJ Abdul Kalam's 2005 note favouring commutation of Mahendra Nath Das's death penalty to life term was never placed before his successor Pratibha Patil, who rejected Das's mercy plea in 2011. This and the 12-year delay in deciding Das's mercy plea were cited by a bench of Justices G S...

-The Telegraph Kolkata: Mamata Banerjee today waved at a rally photographs and newspaper advertisements that she claimed established "links" between CPM leaders and the Saradha Group and other deposit-mobilising companies, but steered clear of commenting on Trinamul's alleged connections with such entities. Addressing her first public meeting since the Saradha crisis unfolded, the chief minister did not mention if she was planning action against Trinamul leaders whose names have cropped up in...

-The Hindu Ahmedabad: In another blow to the Gujarat police, already in the dock for a series of fake encounter killings, a special CBI sessions court on Thursday ordered the CBI Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate to issue an arrest warrant against Additional Director- General of Police (CID Crime) P.P. Pandey in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case. The Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate had turned down a plea by the CBI to issue...

-The Times of India The Supreme Court on Wednesday frowned upon official security cover being provided to the rich, saying if the government and police had been alive to providing adequate security to citizens, then 5/6-year-olds would not have been raped in the country. Even though the government's decision to provide paid security cover through CISF personnel to one of the world's richest businessmen, Mukesh Ambani, did not figure specifically during the...

-Live Mint Panchayat-related caste violence continues unabated and has become a part of the social reality today In ancient India, the panchayat system was based on the age-old caste system, social status and family. Although the local self-government concept was introduced in 1882, it took more than 100 years for the local self-government institutions to become a part of the Indian Constitution. While tremendous possibilities have been opened up in the...