Naxalbari has some really good and unexpected twists and turns, observes Moumita Bhattacharjee.
Two incidents of hurling of crude bombs were reported in Sealdah and Khanna areas of Kolkata, and police contingents were rushed to the spot to bring the situation under control, a State Election Commission official said.
'Faith, and the notion that it has been 'outraged', is used to justify the most outrageous, illiberal and regressive acts,' notes Shuma Raha.
Finally breaking his silence, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that the former law minister and Aam Aadmi Party lawmaker Somnath Bharti, who has been booked in a domestic violence case, is becoming an embarrassment for the party and his family, and therefore should surrender.
Launching the fleet of 50 such new taxis in Kasba area, West Bengal Transport minister Madan Mitra said the cabs would be beneficial for both drivers and passengers.
A five-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court on Friday appointed its former chief justice Manjula Chellur to "overview" the functioning of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) that has been formed to probe allegations of post-poll violence, other than rape and murder.
Launching a blistering attack against the Centre, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee termed state Transport Minister Madan Mitra's arrest as "political vendetta" and "dirty conspiracy" by the BJP and dared the NDA government to arrest her.
Sporadic post-poll violence continued on Tuesday in West Bengal claiming several lives as chief minister Mamata Banerjee asked officials to act decisively and Prime Minister Narendra Modi rang up Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar to express anguish over the law-and-order situation.
West Bengal, which is governed by the Trinamool Congress, became the second state after Congress-ruled Punjab, where such a resolution has been tabled and passed.
One would not think that a Facebook status or a tweet could land you in jail, at least not in India -- the world's largest democracy. However, the reality is a lot more brutal in India, which has a shameful history of locking up its citizens for dissenting viewpoints. According to Mint, at least 50 people have been arrested through 2017 and 2018 for posts on social media. Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com presents some of the most prominent cases.
"What am I achieving ultimately; I will lose my husband, my children will lose their father. I am not happy with the development, but had to do all this to come out of the abuse," Lipika said.
Amid an outcry over the death of a 16-year-old girl who was gang-raped twice and had set herself ablaze, the West Bengal government on Thursday condemned politics over her body and claimed that it had fully cooperated with the bereaved family.
Former Delhi Law minister Somnath Bharti broke down during questioning by investigators, who on Wednesday took him to his Dwarka residence where he came face to face with his wife in connection with the dowry harassment and attempt to murder case.
Observing that there are "definite and proved" allegations that complaints of the victims of violence in the aftermath of the West Bengal assembly polls were not even registered, the Calcutta high court on Thursday ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into all alleged cases of heinous crimes like rape and murder, while accepting the recommendations of a National Human Rights Commission panel.
The state government in its special leave petition alleged that it did not expect fair and just investigation by the central agency which is busy foisting cases against the functionaries of ruling Trinamool Congress Party.
Sources said the police have identified the youths who attacked the CRPF personnel and action against them is expected soon.
The permission is subject to some restrictions including a cap of 4,000 on the number of attendees.
Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Srinjoy Bose was on Friday arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation after a marathon interrogation for five hours for his alleged involvement in the multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam.
Initially reluctant to involve the CBI in the investigation on the ground that the central agency had not been able to make any headway into the Nandigram and Netai killings, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee later changed her stance, saying that the government was not averse to it.
The deployment of modern weapons has helped in effectively checking infiltration on the borders
Delhi Police have registered an FIR against former state law minister and Aam Aadmi Party legislator Somnath Bharti over domestic violence allegations levelled against him by his wife, Lipika Mitra.
The estranged wife of former Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti on Monday told the Supreme Court that she was not ready to undergo mediation to settle the domestic violence and attempt to murder case lodged by her against the Aam Aadmi Party leader.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the state government, pointed to the members of the committee that has been formed to investigate the incidents and said, "Can you imagine these people have been appointed to collect the data? Is this a BJP investigating committee my Lords?"
A quick look at the 66-year-old leader's political journey in the mid-1970s shows how injuries and physical assaults have shaped her political career over the years.
With Communist Party India-Marxist and Trinamool workers clashing in South 24 Parganas district and indulging in violence, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday held a high-level meeting at the state secretariat in Kolkata.
A minister who was with Mamata Banerjee when she and state Finance Minister Amit Mitra were targeted in Delhi by the Students Federation of India activists, on Wednesday alleged that the attack was aimed at killing the West Bengal chief minister.
'If they succeed in silencing this great university, it will be a tragic day for the nation.'
A controversy broke out on Wednesday over whether or not West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who was gheraoed by Left activists on Tuesday, ignored an advice to enter the Planning Commission building through the VIP gate.
A division bench of justices Biswanath Somadder and A Mukherjee said the government's silence on the permission is 'astonishing and astounding'.
After spending 20 days in jail, two Zee group editors were granted bail on Monday by a Delhi court in the case of alleged Rs 100 crore extortion bid from Congress MP Naveen Jindal's firm.
The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notice to the Centre and all the state governments on a PIL seeking its direction to them for tracing 55,000 missing children in the country.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the state, told a bench comprising Justices Vineet Saran and Aniruddha Bose that whenever there is an allegation that a probe is not being carried fairly, the court takes the facts into account and then transfers the case to CBI after a prima facie conclusion.
Hasty, ill-conceived steps show how isolated Mamata Banerjee had been from the national political trend. A fascinating excerpt from Sugato Hazra's Losing The Plot: Political Isolation Of West Bengal.
All four persons, including state minister Sabitri Mitra's son-in-law Samadip Sarkar alias Tinku, accused of beating up Election Commission personnel in Malda's Manikchak area were arrested on Friday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party decided to put on hold Shah's proposed rally and the Rath Yatra, saying it will wait for the final order from the high court, which will now hear an appeal by the saffron party on Friday morning.
The 14 were in jail custody and their bail prayers were rejected twice earlier by additional chief judicial magistrate of Haldia.
The Aam Aadmi Party's national executive is meeting in New Delhi where it is likely to take a decision on the fate of its former minister and member of Legislative Assembly Somanath Bharti, who is on the run in a domestic violence case.
A group of Maoists kidnapped a school headmaster in West Bengal's Bankura District on Friday evening and threatened to kill him if the state government failed to release the six villagers arrested after police officer Rabi Lochan Mitra's murder. On Friday evening, the armed Maoists barged into Shibram Satpathy School in Sarulia village of the District and went around searching for its headmaster Ranjit Duley.
In a candid conversation with rediff.com's Indrani Roy Mitra from an undisclosed location late on Wednesday night, Kishanji talked about his party's ideology, the road of violence, problems of tribals in Lalgarh among other things.
"It's a nightmare over here," says Eddy Handal. "There's no electricity, no water. Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing! Absolutely nothing."Handal is the honourary consul to India in Haiti, and he has been in touch with his superior, Ambassador Mitra Vashist in Havana in Cuba, the 140 Indian personnel making up the Formed Police Unit, and the Missionaries of Charities there."The situation is very critical. food is not being properly distributed," says Handal.
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