Sporadic incidents of unrest marred the West Bengal bypolls, with a local Trinamool Congress worker Ashok Shaw dying following a crude bomb attack in Bhatpara, an area adjoining Naihati assembly constituency where voting was underway.
The effective strength of both the Houses together is 786 and the winning candidate will require 394 votes, considering that all eligible voters exercise their franchise.
A contractual woman employee, who has alleged molestation by West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose, has moved the Supreme Court against 'blanket immunity' conferred to him under Article 361 of the Constitution.
In a significant development, the Supreme Court on Friday agreed to consider the separate pleas of opposition-ruled Kerala and West Bengal, alleging the denial of assent to bills passed by the respective legislative assemblies.
The college student's family said the 'shradh' was held as she brought dishonour to the members and she is "dead" to them.
The Supreme Court expressed serious concern over the Enforcement Directorate summoning advocates for offering legal advice or representing clients during investigations, calling for guidelines on the matter.
'If the INDIA bloc ever forms the government, they will be more than tempted to use such provisions to bring about regime change in BJP-ruled states.'
'Suchitra Sen threatened to leave, with the film only 80 per cent complete.'
The election for the post of Vice President will be held on September 9, with the notification being issued on August 7 and the last date for filing nominations on August 21.
Bose is planning to convert the police outpost near the North Gate of the Raj Bhavan into a 'Jan Manch' (public platform), he said.
The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea filed by the West Bengal government challenging the Calcutta high court's order which directed a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the allegations of crimes against women and land grabbing in Sandeshkhali.
Malik had served as the 18th governor of Goa between November 3, 2019, and August 18, 2020.
The high court also instructed both the Mamata government and the Centre to submit detailed reports on the situation. The matter is scheduled for further hearing on April 17.
A year after the RG Kar rape-murder Swarupa Dutt/Rediff look at the city where it happened, Kolkata -- its study in dichotomy, at once the self-proclaimed cultural capital of India as also a petri dish for a peculiar rage that breeds crimes against women.
As the results of last year's AITA elections stay unannounced, the rival factions in the national tennis federation have picked separate team managers for the upcoming Davis Cup tie against Switzerland, leading to an ego tussle between the members.
The order came following a petition in the high court seeking direction to the police to ensure protection to Opposition party workers in the wake of alleged post-poll violence in some places of the state following the elections.
Opposition parties allege the Modi government is attempting to turn India into a 'dictatorship' with the introduction of three Bills that seek to provide for removal of the prime minister, chief ministers and ministers arrested on serious charges, and vowed to oppose it 'tooth and nail'.
Speaking to reporters at Kanthi in Purba Medinipur district, Giri said he will resign but won't apologise.
Terming the rape and murder case of a medic at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital as horrific, the Supreme Court on Tuesday came down heavily on the West Bengal government over delay in filing first information report (FIR) in the matter.
A Kolkata court rejected a petition by the parents of the R G Kar Hospital rape-murder victim to allow their lawyer to visit the scene of the crime, citing a lack of legal basis and potential violation of established procedure.
The Central Bureau of Investigation is under the superintendence of the Union government as per the statutory scheme, the Supreme Court held on Wednesday while rejecting the Centre's objection to the maintainability of a lawsuit by West Bengal contesting the federal agency's action of pressing ahead with investigation of cases in the state despite withdrawal of general consent.
Body of Bhabesh Chandra Roy, 58, a resident of Basudebpur village of Dinajpur, about 330 kilometres northwest of Dhaka, was recovered on Thursday night, The Daily Star said quoting police and family members.
The protests by resident doctors at government hospitals in several states across the country ended on Thursday as major doctors' bodies called off their 11-day strike over the rape-murder of a trainee medic in Kolkata after the Supreme Court made an appeal to them to resume work.
"The NIA categorically refuted allegations of mala fide in its Bhupatinagar blast case," an agency spokesperson said.
Senior police officials said they received a complaint and are looking into it.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of a "scam" after the poll panel admitted to the existence of duplicate voter ID numbers. The ECI has said it will address the issue in the next three months. TMC leader Saket Gokhale alleged that the ECI is trying to "protect" someone and demanded answers about the extent of the duplication and why it took 25 years to address the problem.
A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra said it will hear the matter on May 6.
A team of senior Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officers, who reached Kolkata on Wednesday morning, began its investigation into the alleged rape and murder of a woman doctor at a state-run hospital in West Bengal, officials said.
A first-year student of a law college in south Kolkata was allegedly "gang-raped" inside the institution by an alumnus and two senior students of the institution, a police officer said on Friday.
The counsel appearing for the state said it was aggrieved by some comments made in the high court order.
Advocate Raju Ganguly, who appeared for Mishra in court, maintained that the suspect did not perpetrate any torture on the victim and referred to the presence of "love bites" on his client's body in support of his claim.
The Calcutta high court on Thursday granted interim bail to social media influencer Sharmistha Panoli, who was arrested by the Kolkata police for allegedly uploading a video with communal comments.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee slammed the Sealdah court's decision to award life imprisonment till death to Sanjay Roy, the sole convict in the rape-murder of an on-duty doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. Banerjee said the incident was a "rare, heinous and sensitive crime" and she has been seeking capital punishment for Roy. She said the state government would challenge the verdict and move Calcutta High Court, which has granted permission to file an appeal against the Sealdah court order.
The home ministry also asked the state government to send details of the action taken following the attacks on the central probe agency teams, the sources said.
Meanwhile, ED officers faced resistance again during the arrest of TMC leader and former Bongaon Municipality chairman Shankar Adhya on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday.
The Calcutta High Court has ordered the formation of a three-member committee to identify and rehabilitate people displaced by violence during protests over the Waqf (Amendment) Act in Murshidabad district. The court also extended the deployment of Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) in the area. The committee will consist of officials from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), West Bengal Human Rights Commission (WBHRC), and the State Legal Services Authority (SLSA). It will be responsible for identifying displaced persons, assessing damage to properties, collecting FIR data, facilitating FIR filing, and overseeing the well-being of displaced individuals. The state government has been instructed to provide necessary infrastructure to the committee and report on its progress by May 15. The court also directed the state to formulate a rehabilitation scheme for displaced persons, including the construction of damaged houses and shops, compensation for lost livelihoods, and protection for families of those who died in the violence.
Chowdhury said he has directed Congress workers to extend all cooperation to the CPI-M in fighting the July 8 polls.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed an appeal in the Calcutta High Court seeking the death penalty for Sanjay Roy, who was sentenced to "life imprisonment until death" for the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. The CBI argued that the crime falls under the "rarest of rare" category deserving capital punishment, while the trial court had ruled otherwise. The West Bengal government has also appealed for the death penalty, but the CBI opposed the state's right to file an appeal, claiming it was the prosecuting agency and therefore had the right to appeal on the grounds of inadequacy of the sentence. The high court will hear the appeals from the CBI, the victim's family, and the convict on January 27.
Amid this unrest came the verdict of the Allahabad high court on June 12, 1975 that found Gandhi guilty over discrepancies in the electoral campaign, which led to the Emergency on the night of June 25.
The Calcutta high court on Wednesday directed CFSL Delhi to immediately collect necessary materials for forensic examination at Bogtui village in Bengal's Birbhum district, where at least eight people were charred to death in the suspected fallout of a TMC panchayat official's murder.
