-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Supreme Court has expressed concern over growing human rights violations in Chhattisgarh, a Maoist hotbed, with the Centre and rights activists blaming each other for the state's volatile atmosphere. Journalists, lawyers and civil rights activists have reported being targeted and hounded out of Bastar district after being branded Maoist sympathisers. Tribal activist Soni Sori, who had protested against an alleged fake encounter, had her face burnt with...

-Hindustan Times The social justice and empowerment ministry has decided to go ahead with a bill which seeks to provide recognition to transgenders and protect their rights despite other ministries “failing” to send their comments on it during the inter-ministerial consultation process. It has sent the draft bill on the ‘Rights of Transgender Persons Bill, 2016’ to the law ministry for finalisation before it is sent to the cabinet for approval. “The draft...

-PTI New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday pulled up states and union territories for not filing affidavits of steps taken by them for removal of illegal religious structures from public roads and pavements. The apex court was hearing the petition filed in 2006 in which directions were passed earlier to the states to remove unauthorised constructions, including places of worships, from roads and public places. After the states and union territories failed...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: As many as 882 deaths in five years, nearly four-fifths of them in a single state. These statistics do not pertain to some inexorable natural calamities. These are figures of tribal children who lost their lives in state-run residential schools across the country between 2010 and 2015. These are numbers of innocent lives lost seemingly on account of sheer official apathy, manifest in the lack of basic...

Publicly available data collected and collated by the civil society organization DAKSH under the Rule of Law Project shows that in the 21 high courts of India, the average pendency of cases is over 3 years i.e. 1,141 days, as on 11 April, 2016. The oldest case in a high court has been pending since 1 January, 1958, which indicates the extent of delay in getting justice in India. The 21 high...