Sandeshkhali Block 2, the epicentre of the violent protests triggered by allegations of land encroachment and sexual misconduct involving local TMC leaders, has contributed the largest share of close to 1,000 complaints.
Patra, who is yet to join the BJP officially, was fielded from Basirhat Lok Sabha seat.
A 23-year-old physiotherapy intern, who came to be known as "Nirbhaya (the fearless one)", was raped and assaulted by six men inside a bus in south Delhi on December 16, 2012, before being thrown out of the moving vehicle.
The Supreme Court of India has formed a National Task Force (NTF) to address the growing concern of student suicides in higher educational institutions. The court took note of the recurring cases and directed Delhi Police to register FIRs on the complaints of families of two students who died by suicide at IIT Delhi in 2023. The NTF, chaired by former apex court judge Justice S Ravindra Bhat, will prepare a comprehensive report, including the identification of causes leading to suicides, analysis of existing regulations, and recommendations for strengthening protections. The NTF will also have the authority to conduct surprise inspections of higher educational institutions and make further recommendations to ensure a holistic approach to addressing mental health concerns and eliminating suicides.
The Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Tripura's capital Agartala on Tuesday announced the suspension of all visa and consular services with immediate effect until further notice because of 'security reasons', a day after the mission's premises was breached by a group of people protesting against the arrest of Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das in Dhaka.
A team of CBI officials reached CID headquarters Bhawani Bhawan in Kolkata before 4 pm. But the handover from the state agency took place at around 6:48 pm, despite the Calcutta high court setting a deadline of 4.15 pm.
Bharatiya Janata Party's Sandeshkhali leader Gangadhar Koyal on Friday moved the Calcutta high court, claiming that technology-aided videos mimicking his voice were being circulated in a bid to defame him, and prayed for security be provided to him by central agencies.
TMC's Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose submitted a letter to the Election Commission on Thursday.
PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti drew comparisons between the treatment of Hindus in Bangladesh and minorities in India, sparking criticism from the BJP. Mufti expressed concerns about the alleged oppression of Hindus in Bangladesh and criticized recent surveys of mosques in India. She called for a united front against forces dividing people on religious lines and warned of a potential repeat of 1947-like riots.
More than 100 women were among the protesters who tried to block a road in Barsu and Solgaon areas of the district, around 400km from Mumbai, by lying on the ground to stop government vehicles from entering the proposed site of the refinery, he said.
The Delhi gangrape case has highlighted how vulnerable women remain in India. But the situation in neighbouring Pakistan is worse, as most cases of sexual assault in that country are hushed up due to the stigma attached to the victims of such crimes.
Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil said that he supports the demand to award capital punishment to rapists. Replying to a debate on atrocities against women, Patil termed the Delhi gangrape incident as deplorable, and sought the highest possible punishment to the accused. The view was earlier expressed by women legislators in the Legislative Council on Thursday.
Noting that the young girl belonged to a Dalit migrant family from Bihar, Finance Minister and senior BJP leader Nirmala Sitharaman also took a swipe at Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav, questioning if he had asked Rahul Gandhi about the issue while holding a joint poll campaign with him in the state.
In a post in Hindi on X, Gandhi accused the prime minister of twisting his words and said he was speaking about the power of which Modi was wearing the mask.
The unrest in the Sandeshkhali region of West Bengal ballooned into a major political row on Thursday as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee blamed the saffron camp of fomenting trouble in the area, while the Bharatiya Janata Party and the National Commission for Women (NCW) accused her party Trinamool Congress and the state government of being complicit in crimes against women in the area.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday took the Congress to the cleaners over making the 2024 general elections about the protection of the Constitution, saying Indians voted on the plank only once when they threw out the Indira Gandhi government in 1977 after the Emergency.
The CBI has so far registered eight cases which include two related to alleged sexual assault on women in Manipur.
'Even Mamtadi would react to the rising statistics of crimes against women and rape with the same horror as I did if she stops being a politician protecting her position and looks at the problem as a woman.'
A parliamentary panel on Thursday questioned the Delhi police chief over the gang-rape incident in the capital and pointed out deficiencies like vacancies at officer level and lack of vehicles to patrol the streets.
Natural calamities, breakdown in law and order, bandh calls, coal scam and attacks on journalists and media houses marked the year 2012 in Arunachal Pradesh.
Congress in charge for Rajasthan Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said that the one who does not follow the ideology of the Congress has no place in the party and the decision to sack Gudha was a collective decision.
Bharatiya Janata Party MPs from Uttar Pradesh on Monday staged a day-long dharna in Lucknow as part of a state-wide agitation against alleged power crisis and poor law and order situation in the state.
In what may be a serious allegation against the Delhi police, the organisers of Baba Ramdev's Ramlila grounds protest have claimed that the CCTV footages of the events surrounding the yoga guru's arrest are missing.
The TMC leader's assertion comes immediately after the Calcutta high court clarified that there is no stay on the arrest of Shajahan.
Citing Section 144 CrPC was in force in parts of Sandeshkhali and it would not be prudent to allow them access to the area even in groups of four-five, senior police officers stopped their convoy at the Bhojerhat area, which is around 52 km from the riverine area, on Basanti Highway.
'...We should first look at and acknowledge what we have done to ourselves.' 'To not do so opens us to the accusation of rank hypocrisy and also reduces the stature of our globetrotting peaceniks,' asserts Aakar Patel.
Even as political pressure was building against Ranjith, actor Siddique quit as the general secretary of Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) amid voices from within his fraternity seeking his resignation.
The Supreme Court Monday termed as 'horrendous' the video of two women being paraded naked in Manipur and sought information about steps taken so far in the first information reports (FIRs) lodged, saying now it will not want the state police to probe the matter as they virtually handed over the women to the rioting mob.
The Calcutta high court on Tuesday directed that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) be handed over the case of attack on Enforcement Directorate officials at Sandeshkhali and the custody of suspended Trinamool Congress leader Shajahan Sheikh, as it slammed West Bengal Police for 'totally biased' conduct and said every attempt is being made to delay the probe to 'protect' the accused.
The opposition parties are seeking the President's intervention in the matter, claiming that violence in the BJP-ruled northeastern state is continuing unabated.
The Rajya Sabha chairman asked him to authenticate his assertions and refused to accept newspaper clippings that the Congress leader showed to buttress his points.
After a meeting of its working committee in New Delhi, the board adopted a resolution which stated that the recent judgment of the Supreme Court on the maintenance of Muslim divorcee women is "against the Islamic law (Shariah)".
'The present generation, either due to historical amnesia or political propaganda, has been fed a narrative that paints India as an adversary rather than an ally.'
Expressing anguish over the manner in which women were subjected to grave atrocities in Manipur, the Supreme Court has said that mobs use sexual violence to send a message of subordination to the other community and the state is bound to stop this.
The National Human Rights Commission, in its report, also observed that the "pervasive fear of reprisal, coupled with the power dynamics at play, acted as a formidable barrier", preventing individuals from voicing their grievances.
'Why is she against refugees obtaining citizenship? I request refugees not to be afraid, please apply for citizenship'
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra launched a scathing attack on the BJP in her maiden Lok Sabha speech, accusing the government of trying to weaken the Constitution and prioritizing the interests of one individual over the people. She criticized the BJP's alleged attempts to change the Constitution, the growing monopoly of the Adani Group, atrocities on women, and the demand for a nationwide caste census. She also challenged the BJP to hold elections using ballot paper, saying it would expose the reality.
New Delhi also has the dubious distinction of topping the NCRB list in cases of murder, kidnapping and abduction, juveniles in conflict and economic offences.
Former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot on Tuesday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre had 'failed in every field' and claimed if the Congress wins in upcoming state elections, then the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) will form a coalition government in 2024.
Armed with sticks, they set ablaze thatched structures near a fishing yard in Belmajur area of Sandeshkhali, venting their fury against the elusive TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh and his brother Siraj. The torched structure, it was revealed, belonged to Siraj.
