A day after the Raipur Additional District and Sessions Court pronounced Dr. Binayak Sen guilty of sedition and conspiracy, human rights activists and his supporters staged a protest in the Capital. A small but determined group of people gathered at the Jantar Mantar on Saturday to condemn the sentencing of Dr. Sen and the “threat” to activism in the country. Various human rights organisations, including the Human Rights Law Network, the...

Legal experts have called for repealing of anti-beggary laws and demanded effective implementation of welfare and social security laws for enhancing sources of livelihood for the beggars. Usha Ramanathan, law researcher, Poverty and Rights, New Delhi, and B.B. Pande, former professor of Law, University of Delhi, said prevention and prohibition of beggary laws enacted in several States have infringed upon individual liberties and have provided powers to State authorities to round...

Nothing is going to be right if the proposed amendments in the RTI rules are limited to 250 words and to only one topic, rules for processing RTI application suggested by the Department of Personnel (DoPT) if got approved. This is the thinking of most of RTI activists, according to them common man’s weapon will not be so common if these amendment got approved. According to the proposed amendments in the...

Deshmukh protected Congress MLA's family member from normal process of law: Bench ‘Cases involving misuse of public office for private gains shake people's confidence'Taking serious view of the former Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Vilasrao Deshmukh (currently the Union Industries Minister), interfering in a criminal investigation against a family of a Congress MLA, the Supreme Court on Tuesday imposed an exemplary cost of Rs.10 lakh on the Maharashtra government.A Bench comprising...

The National Advisory Council is set to oppose the Centre’s proposal to dilute the Right to Information Act through a new set of rules.A meeting of the panel’s working group on transparency, accountability and governance — headed by RTI activist Aruna Roy — objected to the move to compress applications for information to only one matter at a time and set a word limit of 250.The sub-committee that recently consulted...