When the judge of the Hassan district court quashed a plea against a tractor company, two farmers Somshekar (45) of Sharanya village and Rangaswamy (48) of Hosaupanahalli village of Belur taluk attempted suicide on the court premises on Thursday. They had filed a case against the Angadha tractors company for selling them technically defective mini tractors and had demanded compensation, said police sub inspector Anil Kumar. Both farmers are undergoing...

A day after the arrest of the Mumbai-based Dalit activist and editor of Vidrohi magazine, Sudhir Dhawle (42), by the Gondia police in Wardha on charges of waging a war against the State, more than 150 human rights activists, social activists, writers and journalists protested here on Tuesday against the detention. Mr. Dhawle, also a freelance journalist, was arrested on charges of having links with the banned Communist Party of India...

“I am scared because my parents are under immense pressure … I just want to get rid of everything,” says Right to Information activist Arun Mane of Pune. Mr. Mane, who registered a police complaint after he was attacked by an unknown assailant on Sunday, withdrew his complaint on Tuesday. In the affidavit given to the Maval taluk tahsildar, Mr. Mane said two of his complaints — about being threatened and attacked...

The Supreme Court has said no person can be convicted merely because he was associated with a subversive organisation, unless he has shared its unlawful purpose or participated in its unlawful activities, in a judgment that could affect the fate of Binayak Sen and Maoist ideologues convicted by lower courts. Apart from being held guilty of sedition, Sen, a doctor, has been convicted for his links with Maoists. The judgment may...

The people adversely affected by the Tarapur Atomic Power Station today said they would revive their agitation against the project and meet villagers protesting a nuclear plant at Jaitapur to create awareness about the dark side of the project. The announcement came days before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s scheduled visit to Tarapur to inaugurate a nuclear reprocessing facility. “The government has offered a higher compensation package to the local residents affected by...