India

The Supreme Court has said that AFSPA is not a license to kill, sovereign immunity does not protect the State from liability for custodial death, and rape by a soldier requires no special court. At the same time, the number of armed forces personnel convicted by an ordinary civilian criminal court for rape in a conflict area is, on the available record, low.

The appeal by the Palestinian Embassy in New Delhi has called on all Indians to support and join the call for the immediate and unconditional release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya; advocating for the protection of Palestinian healthcare workers, hospitals, ambulances, and medical facilities in accordance with international humanitarian law.

With three deaths on the same day in two different incidents in Madhya Pradesh, 101 people have died so far in sewers and septic tanks across the country in 188 days this year, according the data compiled by Safai Karamchari Andolan (SKA). NCR Delhi alone accounts for 12 deaths.

A passport is undeniably a travel document, but it is also the republic’s assurance of belonging and sovereign protection in moments of crisis. Reducing it to mere travel facilitation strips it of its civic meaning, since passports are issued not to transients but to members of a political community.

The author traces similarities of people’s mobilisations in Giral, Barmer and Islampur, Jhunjunu wherein both involve local communities asserting agency against decisions made elsewhere. In Giral, villagers have been robustly protesting the “benefits from mineral extraction in the name of development,” while in Islampur, residents have been questioning the communal (read majoriatrian moves to re-name and thereby, re-define a region’s identity

Invoking Section 69A of the IT Act, the Centre has ordered Satluj offline pending further review under the IT Rules

The river Kho, that breathes life into both the Ganga and Ramganga — and supports countless farmers — is under severe threat at its source. Both the Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh governments need to take urgent steps to protect and preserve this river and surroundings from resorts and uncontrolled ‘religious tourism;’ besides Dogadda, a culturally and politically important town in Uttarakhand also deserves official recognition as the origin point of the Kho argues the author