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AERO dies by suicide in Kolkata, family alleges extreme election duty pressure and humiliation

A 48-year-old Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO) died by suicide in South Kolkata’s Bansdroni area after consuming pesticide, the tragic death of Malabika Roy Bhattacharyya has sparked serious concerns regarding the immense pressure placed on government officials tasked with SIR/Election duties, with her family explicitly blaming the ECI for the extreme workload

66 Deaths in 13 Months: Uproar in Chhattisgarh Assembly by opposition over prison conditions and custodial accountability

Government confirms inmate deaths; Opposition alleges overcrowding, medical neglect, and governance failure — demands legislative probe into tribal leader’s custodial death

Policing Identity: Maharashtra’s birth certificate crackdown and the politics of belonging

What is framed as an administrative clean-up of fraudulent records in Maharashtra has unfolded into a securitised campaign in Mumbai — raising urgent constitutional questions about due process, discrimination, and the weaponisation of civil documentation

From Permanent Refuge to Perpetual Limbo: Why Sri Lankan Tamil refugees remain without citizenship even as electoral assurances reshape belonging in Bengal

Four decades after the 1983 exodus, thousands of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees remain classified as foreigners despite generations of residence in India — even as citizenship becomes a visible electoral assurance in Bengal through CAA-linked mobilisation

From D-Voter Tagging to Citizenship Declaration: Anowara Khatun’s case before the foreigners’ tribunal

A Goalpara woman’s case underscores structural barriers faced by economically disadvantaged individuals in proving citizenship

The Double Stage: Caste’s Schizophrenic Modernity between Spectacle and Shadow

Caste from the pre-modern, colonial to the post-Republican; this analysis draws from, among others, works by Nicholas Dirks (2001), Anand Teltumbde (2014) and Gopal Guru (2016) to map this transition showing that contemporary caste should be best understood as a sort of social schizophrenia driven by imaginative acts whereby power perpetuates itself through a convoluted hermetic legitimising act in India.

UGC Guidelines 2026: AISA Protest at Delhi University followed by sexual abuse allegations amid police presence

Delhi university has seen persistent protest by Ambedkarite and left groups demanding implementation of the UGC Guidelines 2026 that were summarily stayed by the Supreme Court; in one such, a confrontation during a mobilisation over UGC equity regulations, AISA women leaders were subject to brute and allegedly sexualised threats, while a right-wing YouTuber filed a separate assault complaint; police have registered parallel FIRs

‘Democracies Erode When Those Entrusted With Power Fear Laughter and Start Taking Action Against It’

The Wire's submission to the government at the post-facto hearing on a request to block social media URLs over a 52-second satirical video.

2025 in Protest: Across issues, across India

In 2025, citizens nationwide mobilised across labour, environment, religious freedom, and electoral integrity

February 12: Workers and Farmers Forge a Historic Axis of Resistance Across India

For observers of general strikes and journalists covering trade...

Synthetic Content, Three-Hour Compliance and the Risk of Over-Removal: Analysing the IT rules amendments

While the government introduces safeguards against deep fakes and non-consensual imagery, the amendments also shorten response timelines and expand administrative takedown authority, prompting questions about due process and free expression

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Censorship and the Drumbeats of Hate: Mapping the state of free speech ahead of the 2026 polls

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AERO dies by suicide in Kolkata, family alleges extreme election duty pressure and humiliation

A 48-year-old Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO) died by suicide in South Kolkata’s Bansdroni area after consuming pesticide, the tragic death of Malabika Roy Bhattacharyya has sparked serious concerns regarding the immense pressure placed on government officials tasked with SIR/Election duties, with her family explicitly blaming the ECI for the extreme workload

UP’s syncretic warrior cults facing Hindutva challenge

Be it the attack on the Gogamedi shrine in the Hanumangarh district of northern Rajasthan or the Neja Mela in the Sambhal district of western Uttar Pradesh, Hindutva’s systemic attack on India’s syncretic traditions, past and present, reveals its rigid and Brahmanical ideological orientation: imposition of a strictly hierarchical, exclusionary and structured notion of faith and practice

No Hearing, No Notice, Just Deletion: How Bengal’s SIR Erased a Decorated IAF Officer

The removal of Wing Commander Md Shamim Akhtar, who served the nation for 17 years, during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) highlights a systemic lack of due process that threatens the voting rights of even the most distinguished citizens

An Adivasi woman once in bonded labour now serves her village as a Sarpanch

As India marks 50 years of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976, cases of bonded labour still surface in states like Telangana where many workers in sectors such as agriculture, brick kilns, fishing and construction remain trapped in debt and coercion; here the author reflects on a transformative journey of an Adivasi woman who serves as a Sarpanch.

Abdul Sheikh Citizenship Case: Deportation stayed as Gauhati High Court Hears challenge to ex parte foreigner declaration, state to raise maintainability issue

Court allows preliminary objection while continuing stay on deportation; petitioner explains delay to challenge FT order through prolonged detention, lack of access to the detenue, financial constraints, and absence of legal aid

Bhagat Singh sent to gallows once again!

Repeated attempts by present day academics to whittle down the tradition followed and forged by young revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh are bound to fail; as history endures with the traditions laid by these very men