Sanjoy Roy, the accused in the rape and murder of a doctor at R G Kar hospital in Kolkata, was sentenced to life imprisonment till death on Monday. His mother, Malati Roy, who had previously expressed support for the punishment, shut herself in her home and refused to speak to reporters. Neighbors and family members of Roy have questioned whether he acted alone in the crime, suggesting others may have been involved.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday urged the junior doctors protesting the rape and murder of their colleague at R G Kar Hospital to end their fast-unto-death stir, stating that most of their demands have been addressed while rejecting their insistence on removing the state health secretary.
The TMC has won in 34,560 gram panchayat seats, besides leading in 705 seats, according to the SEC as of 11.30 am on Wednesday.
Suspected Maoists on Friday night blew up a community hall in Bandhgora village in Jhargram, police said.
The move came after a nine-member delegation of Bharatiya Janata Party MPs from West Bengal met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and sought his intervention and action against the perpetrators of the crime.
Senior leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress were stopped by police on Friday from visiting the trouble-torn Sandeshkhali, escalating the political tensions in the state as the leaders accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of fostering a 'lawless situation' and attempting to 'communalise' the issue.
The Bombay high court on Wednesday refused to grant any relief to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in a complaint seeking action against her for allegedly disrespecting the national anthem at an event in Mumbai in 2022.
A maximum of 92,000 personnel of CAPFs are likely to be deployed in politically volatile West Bengal, where elections will be held in seven phases, followed by 63,500 personnel in militancy-hit Jammu and Kashmir, where polling will be held in five phases.
In a letter, the EC said the state government must ensure that adequate steps are taken so that no post-poll violence happens.
The body, tied in a sack, was recovered from a pond in Hijuli area on the outskirts of Krishnanagar city on Saturday.
Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla may have a video conference with West Bengal's Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay and Director General of Police Virendra on Friday evening after they conveyed their inability to travel to the national capital, officials said.
Asserting that her government has zero tolerance to incidents of rape, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said an amendment to existing laws will be passed in the state assembly next week to ensure capital punishment to convicted rapists.
The Calcutta high court on Tuesday set aside the promulgation of prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC at Sandeshkhali, which has been witnessing protests over the last one week.
West Bengal Congress spokesperson Kaustav Bagchi was granted bail by a court in Kolkata on Saturday evening, hours after being arrested for his alleged comments against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Pronouncing sole accused Sanjay Roy guilty of rape and murder of an on-duty doctor at state-run RG Kar hospital, Sealdah court judge Anirban Das on Saturday said the convict had attacked the postgraduate trainee while she was asleep in the hospital's seminar room around 4 am on August 9, 2024.
With the Election Commission (EC) facing flak from some quarters for announcing eight-phase Assembly polls in West Bengal, officials on Friday said the polling had to be spread out due to festivals, the movement of security forces and an increased number of polling stations keeping in mind the Covid protocols.
West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Saturday accused the police of keeping the parents of the doctor who was allegedly raped and murdered under 'house arrest'.
A bench comprising Justices M R Shah and Sanjiv Khanna ordered that the Chief Judicial Magistrate at Alipore will apply his "judicial mind" and may direct the state police to conduct an enquiry on the complaint before lodging an FIR.
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.
The repolling started at 7 am amid tight security with four central forces personnel deployed in each booth, besides state police. Till 11 am, 10.9 per cent voter turnout was recorded.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Sougata Roy has demanded the removal of Kalyan Banerjee as the party's chief whip in the Lok Sabha after a spat with fellow MP Mahua Moitra. Roy accused Banerjee of "uncivilised" behaviour on multiple occasions and cited incidents of Banerjee breaking a bottle and throwing it at the chairman of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) meeting and making inappropriate remarks about Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. The spat between Moitra and Banerjee reportedly occurred on April 4 when a TMC delegation met the Election Commission over duplicate voter ID numbers. Banerjee was tasked with collecting signatures from TMC MPs on a memorandum to be submitted to the Election Commission, and Moitra alleged that she was not included in the signatories, leading to a heated exchange. Roy, who was present at the time, said he saw Moitra crying and complaining about Banerjee's behaviour. Roy believes that Banerjee's actions warrant his removal as chief whip and left the decision to Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee. The incident has also been highlighted in leaked WhatsApp messages, where Banerjee engaged in heated exchanges with another TMC MP, Kirti Azad, leading to further accusations of uncivilised behaviour.
Over 60 per cent voter turnout was recorded on Monday in 49 constituencies in six states and two Union territories in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections, with Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir recording its highest-ever voting percentage.
A bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul sought response from the West Bengal government on five separate pleas filed by BJP leaders alleging foisting of criminal cases to deter them from political activities and said interim protection from coercive action will continue till the next date of hearing.
Mohali Police on Wednesday said it has arrested three youths, including an Agniveer, in a vehicle snatching case.
The Calcutta High Court has granted conditional permission to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to hold a rally in West Bengal's Purba Bardhaman district on February 16, despite objections from the state government. The court allowed the event, which will be addressed by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, on the condition that the organizers keep the crowd size and sound levels under control and ensure that students taking secondary exams are not disturbed. The event will be held at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) complex, which is located in a remote area and away from any schools.
State Election Commissioner Rajiva Sinha on Thursday said that the village council elections will be held on a single day, with the deadline for filing nominations set for June 15. The votes will be counted on July 11.
Family members of a doctor, who was allegedly raped and murdered in Kolkata last month, joined the protesting medics at RG Kar hospital on Wednesday and accused the Kolkata Police of attempting to suppress the case by hurriedly cremating the body of the doctor.
The BJP, which has emerged as the main opposition party in West Bengal after winning 77 seats in the assembly polls last year, failed to win even a single civic body.
Within hours of assuming office, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday initiated a major reshuffle in the police hierarchy, transferring 29 top-level police officers, mostly those who were shifted by the election commission prior to the polls.
'Although there is a visible dent in TMC's urban votes, especially among women, the CPI-M and the BJP are unlikely to benefit from this'
The West Bengal police on Tuesday interrogated top Maoist leader Kobad Ghandy in a New Delhi jail, after obtaining permission from a local court, in connection with a criminal case registered at West Midnapore district in 2008.Chief Minister of West Bengal Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and former Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan had a narrow escape on November 2, 2008, when a landmine exploded within minutes of their convoy passing through Baroa near Salboni in Midnapore.
A purported video of the incident showing the mob beating the women up mercilessly on Wednesday was shared in the social media by Amit Malviya, the head of BJP's IT cell on Saturday.
Three Hindu temples were vandalized by a mob in Bangladesh's Chattogram on Friday, following protests and violence sparked by the arrest of a former ISKCON member on sedition charges. The attack occurred in the port city's Harish Chandra Munsef Lane, where the Shantaneshwari Matri Temple, the nearby Shoni Temple, and the Shantaneshwari Kalibari Temple were targeted. Temple authorities reported that a group of hundreds threw brickbats at the temples, causing damage to the Shoni Temple and the gates of the other two. The incident has triggered diplomatic tensions between India and Bangladesh, with both countries expressing concerns over the safety of their respective minorities.
According to the cause list of August 20 uploaded on the apex court website, a bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra is scheduled to hear on Tuesday.
A businessman in West Bengal's Howrah district was allegedly assaulted and his house vandalised after a kangaroo court session was convened by a local panchayat pradhan and Trinamool Congress leader to resolve his marital dispute.
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.
At least eight people drowned and several others went missing after they were swept away in the Mal river due to flash floods during idol immersion on Vijayadashami Jalpaiguri, a senior official said.
The decision followed a petition by former deputy superintendent of the medical establishment, Akhtar Ali, who sought an investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) into alleged financial misconduct during the tenure of the college's former principal, Sandip Ghosh.
The West Bengal chief secretary on Friday submitted a report to the Election Commission on the injuries sustained by Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee but the poll panel has sought more details by Saturday evening, sources said.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a money laundering case against Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra and businessman Darshan Hiranandani in connection with an alleged cash-for-queries scam case, official sources said Tuesday.