-The Hindu As I write this column, my gaze is on the post-Deepavali haze that has enveloped Delhi. As a third-generation asthmatic, with a fourth-generation asthmatic daughter, it is set me wondering whether returning to Delhi, the city of my birth, from the United States a decade ago was a mistake. This haze is smog (smoke + fog), a hazardous mix of noxious gases and very high levels of suspended respirable...
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NHRC issues notices to MP's top bureaucrat, cops for SIMI men's killing
-Hindustan Times New Delhi: The country’s Human Rights watchdog has issued notices to the Madhya Pradesh government and state police for the shooting of eight Islamist prisoners who had escaped from a Bhopal jail. The National Human Rights Commission sent notices the state’s chief secretary, director general of police, director general of prisons & inspector general of prisons for the killing alleged activists of the Students Islamic Movement of India. The men fled...
More »What SC says: No automatic right to shoot -R Balaji
-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Supreme Court had recently said security forces had no inherent right to shoot people, which suggests that yesterday's killing of the eight Simi operatives by Madhya Pradesh police went against that ruling. The court had held that even if a person was seen carrying weapons in a "disturbed" area, it did not automatically give the security forces the right to shoot him. Even the army had no blanket...
More »'Two-thirds of prisoners in India are undertrials' -Samarth Bansal
-The Hindu The ‘Prison Statistics India 2015’ report was released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) on Monday. Here are five things the data tells us about the state of Indian prisons. The problem of overcrowding The report calls overcrowding as “one of the biggest problems faced by prison inmates.” It results in poor hygiene and lack of sleep among other problems. “Keeping in view the Human Rights of the prisoners, it...
More »Tired of Persecution By 'Gau Rakshaks', Rajasthan's Banjaras Are Raising Their Voice -Paras Banjara, Nikhil Dey and Cheryl D'souza
-TheWire.in For a community that trades in oxen, the rise in cow vigilantism has meant a loss of livelihood. Continued apathy from the state hasn’t helped. Rajasmand, Rajasthan: Dadri, Una and now Railmangra. How many more? Emboldened by their proximity to state power and riding the wave of religious fanaticism, self-appointed gau rakshaks have unleashed terror across the country. For communities that deal with cattle in any form, it has rapidly brought...
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