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.
The court noted that no appreciable steps have been taken ever since an order was passed by it on June 13 to deploy central forces in sensitive areas for the poll process.
West Bengal with its porous borders has turned into an easy transit point and secure hideout for the agents of terror outfits like Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh and Pakistani secret service Inter-Services Intelligence.
The Enforcement Directorate has issued a fresh summons to Trinamool Congress member of Parliament Abhishek Banerjee, asking him to appear before it for questioning on March 29 in a money-laundering case linked to an alleged coal scam in West Bengal, officials said on Thursday.
The 34-year-old TMC national general secretary was seen entering the new office of the central probe agency in central Delhi around 11 am.
Rezaul Karim was the custodian and courier of bombs and explosives for Jamaat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh modules in Burdwan.
Affaq Husain and his wife Saira built a Rs 100 crore empire preying on the most vulnerable people in society.
Banerjee, the 34-year-old nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, is stated to have sent an email to the investigating officer of the case citing some personal reasons for his non-appearance.
The Simulia madrassa, on the outskirts of Bardhaman town in West Bengal, allegedly had links with Gulshana Bibi and Amina Bibi, the women arrested after the October 2 blast in the town. The NIA alleges the madrassa trained poor Muslim women in jihad. The madrassa had an unwritten convention: The women trained there would be married only to men who were on the same 'mission.'
Sources claimed that Singhal was "evasive" in her replies and hence was arrested.
'He has always loved to help people. He has donated his blood three times'
They say new rules that make over-billing by private hospitals a criminal offence will hurt their ability to treat patients properly, says Subir Roy.
The central probe agency's letter was dispatched a day after it had sent a notice to the TMC MP asking him to appear before its sleuths at its Kolkata office for questioning in connection with the school jobs scam following certain allegations of arrested Trinamool Congress youth leader Kuntal Ghosh.
The 61-year-old has proved to be as elusive as he has been brash, defying the Supreme Court and passing his own judgments against his peers.
'One Sandeshkhali won't turn around women's perception of Mamata Banerjee in this state'
Jharkhand mining secretary Pooja Singhal, earlier arrested and remanded to the custody of the ED in a suspected money laundering case, was suspended by the Jharkhand government on Thursday, an official said.
Four days after the busting of the kidney racket in Apollo Hospital in New Delhi, T Rajkumar Rao, the alleged kingpin, and three others were on Tuesday arrested, even as police said 10 doctors are likely to be questioned in connection with the case.
The Delhi police on Wednesday said Mohammad Ashraf alias Ali Ahmed Noorie, a Pakistani terrorist with ISI links who was living in India for over 10 years under a fake identity, had conducted a reconnaissance of the high court here ahead of the 2011 blast on the court premises.
'This is the real purpose behind the arrest, and it is not about controlling corruption.' 'It is like taking Amit Shah into custody before the 2024 elections.' 'How will it affect the BJP's election machinery?'
In Phase 6, indications are that the BJP, which is defending 40 seats, will lose in double digits and gain in single digits. Not good, if you are the ruling party scrambling to earn a working majority, with just one phase left to go, argues Prem Panicker.
Rediff.com's Indrani Dey digs up chilling details of the ongoing investigation in the Bardhaman blast case, which exposed the a militant network that had been operating in West Bengal since many years.
An initial probe has revealed that the 53-year-old singer, who was on a two-day tour to Kolkata to perform at two college programmes, was 'almost mobbed' by fan followers at the hotel where he had returned to after performing at Nazrul Mancha auditorium in the southern part of Kolkata.
She has been called again on Wednesday for a fresh round of grilling.
Complaints of electronic voting machine malfunctioning poured in from several booths on Tuesday during the third and largest phase of Lok Sabha polls which saw voters turning out in large numbers to cast their vote in 116 seats, including all constituencies of Gujarat and Kerala.
They dragged out the driver of the vehicle, Mohammed Allimuddin, a resident of neighbouring Hazaribagh district, and thrashed him, injuring him seriously.
While people voted in a fifth round that will set the tone as this election rounds into the straight, and while Modi on the stump chews the cud of personal grievances and hackneyed promises that have long since passed their use-by date, there is a rogue wave rising -- what damage it will do, we will know 16 days from today, observes Prem Panicker.
The CID had unearthed a child trafficking racket earlier this year under which babies and children were allegedly sold, some to foreigners, through illegal adoption deals.
'I don't think the state administration has shown the resolve to enter Muslim neighbourhoods and arrest offenders in the last decade.'
24 migrant workers were declared dead on Saturday early morning when a trailer truck carrying sacks of lime along with people rammed into the back of a stationary truck with many migrant workers sitting in it near a roadside eatery on the national highway in Auraiya.
'I traced 76 children within two-and-a-half months,' says Assistant Sub Inspector Seema Dhaka.
A high voter turnout was recorded in West Bengal, Assam Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry assembly elections on Tuesday. The massive polling exercise following COVID-19 health protocol and involving lakhs of personnel began at 7 am and the last hour from 6 pm to 7 pm was set aside for COVID-19 patients and those under isolation. The counting of votes in the states will be held on May 2.
A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, in a unanimous verdict, ruled that its 2014 verdict, which had struck down a provision of the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, 1946 providing immunity to such officers in graft cases, will have retrospective effect.
Hopeful of getting a resident permit in India, controversial Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen has said that even if Bangladesh allows her to enter, she wants to spend the rest of her life in her second home -- India.
Indrani Roy/Rediff.com visits Ranaghat in West Bengal's Nadia district, the scene of the horrific rape of a 72-year-old nun, and encounters a clueless police and a frightened Christian community.
BCCI president and former India captain Sourav Ganguly Saturday suffered a "mild" heart attack and had to undergo a quick "primary angioplasty" to clear a blocked coronary artery, a doctor said.
Bahujan Samaj party Member of Parliament Dhananjay Singh, who was arrested along with his wife Jagriti Singh in connection with the murder of their maid, was today allowed by a Delhi court to sign documents related to disbursement of Member of Parliament Local Area Development funds.
A third domestic help of Bahujan Samaj Party MP Dhananjay Singh's wife Jagriti Singh has claimed that she too was assaulted.
Protests broke out in some states on Friday, including Delhi's Jama Masjid and stone-petling at policemen in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj and Saharanpur, over the controversial remarks on Prophet Muhammad by two now-suspended Bharatiya Janata Party functionaries with demonstrators in Jharkhand injuring a few policemen while authorities in Jammu imposed a curfew in few areas and parts of Kashmir observed a shutdown.
The Delhi Police on Tuesday said it has foiled a major terror plan during the festival season with the arrest of a 40-year-old Pakistani terrorist who has Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) links and had been living in India for over 10 years under a fake identity.
How did a small-time businessman from Hyderabad come to mastermind the kidney racket?
