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Bangladeshi man Mohammad Belal arrested with fake Aadhaar and Indian voter cards in Jharkhand

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Bangladeshi man Mohammad Belal arrested with fake Aadhaar and Indian voter cards in Jharkhand

Amidst a raging debate in the country over Citizenship Amendment Act in the country, a Bangladeshi man has been arrested with fake Aadhaar and Indian voter cards in Dhanbad, Jharkand by a Government Railway Police (GRP) on Saturday, reports India Today.

Reportedly, Mohammad Belal, a resident of Tejpur in Sylhet district of Bangladesh, has been nabbed by the police officials for travelling in the Amritsar-Kolkata Durgiana Express without a ticket.

GRP Inspector Harinarayan Singh said that Belal was caught during ticket checking at Dhanbad railway station on Friday. The officer said that they have seized three Bangladeshi passports, the country’s currency and US dollars from Belal.

“The accused had initially claimed that he hails from Murshidabad district of West Bengal but the TTE saw Bangladeshi passports with Belal and informed RPF personnel, who took him into custody,” Singh said.

Reportedly, Mohammad Belal had boarded the train at Lucknow and was on his way to Kolkata, from where he had plans to cross over to Bangladesh. The officer said Belal’s elder brother is lodged in Lucknow prison.

During interrogation, the accused has confessed that he is a Bangladeshi and had illegally obtained fake Aadhaar and Indian voter cards from in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal.

Inspector Singh said Belal was produced before the Special Railway Judicial Magistrate, Gaurav Khurana, who sent him to 14 days in judicial custody. A case of forgery has been registered against the accused, the inspector added.

Anti-CAA protests: Mayawati alleges Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar got himself jailed to cut into BSP votes in upcoming Delhi elections

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Anti-CAA protests: Mayawati alleges Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar got himself jailed to cut into BSP votes in upcoming Delhi elections

Dalit leader and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati took to Twitter to warn BSP supporters against supporting Bhim Army Chief Chandrashekhar Azad.


Taking a veiled dig on Congress, the BSP chief tweeted that “Dalits believe that Bhim Army’s Chandrashekhar is playing by the hands of ‘Opposition parties’ and conspiring to cut into BSP votes since elections are near.” She tweeted that he has got himself jailed to influence people against BSP and in favour of other parties.


She further tweeted that while he is a resident of Uttar Pradesh, he went to Delhi’s Jama Masjid to protest against the CAA and got himself arrested by police because Delhi Assembly elections are round the corner. “Hence, I appeal to the party workers that they should stay away from the selfish people with ulterior motives. This is why the party never takes in such people, no matter how hard they try,” she tweeted.

Read: Bahujan Samaj Party rejects Bhim Army’s proposal to join hands to fight BJP

After his release from his arrest over the agitations during the Ravidas Temple incident, Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad had extended a hand of friendship towards BSP supremo Mayawati asking her to come together to fight against the BJP. Chandrashekhar, who refers to Mayawati as ‘Bua’ or aunt, had written an open letter to Mayawati asking her to join him in a discussion over strengthening the Bahujan movement to fight the incumbent BJP government for its alleged anti-Dalit policies. However, the BSP chief had rejected the offer as BSP thought it was Azad’s ‘ploy to create confusion among Dalits’.

On Friday, he had surfaced at the Jama Masjid in Delhi dramatically defying a ban on protests amidst heavy police presence. Azad was seen holding up a copy of the preamble of the constitution along with posters of BR Ambedkar as he led his supporters in a protest inside the gates of the Jama Masjid just after Friday prayers. As per reports, Delhi Police had detained Azad first near Jama Masjid, but he managed to slip away. Later he was detained near Daryaganj.

UP govt seals properties of rioters to recover the cost of damage during anti-CAA riots

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UP govt seals properties of rioters to recover the cost of damage during anti-CAA riots

Two days after UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath had warned the anti-CAA rioters that their assets would be seized if they indulged in violence, the UP administration has started proceedings to identify and seal properties of the several violent protestors in the state.

According to the Times of India report, backed by a Supreme Court order of 2018, the Uttar Pradesh administration has sealed 50 shops belonging to rioters in Muzaffarnagar who caused damage to public property. The sealed shops are all in the trouble-hit Minakshi Chowk and Kachchi Sadak areas of the town.

SSP Abhishek Yadav speaking to the media said, “We have to confirm why these shops were kept closed and mobs had also gathered around the shops. An investigation is on into the matter.”

Read: Anti-CAA riots: RJD workers, armed with sticks and flags with Lalu’s face, vandalise autorickshaws during ‘bandh’ called in Bihar

Earlier on Thursday, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had announced tough measures to combat the anti-citizenship amendment act (CAA) rioters and promised to seize the property of every rioter and use its funds to repair the damaged public property.

Condemning the violence and protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act in parts of Uttar Pradesh and parts of the country, Yogi Adityanath had said people cannot indulge in violence in the “name of protests”. The UP CM had assured that strict actions will be taken against hoodlums who have been trying to create unrest in his state and various parts of the country.

CM Yogi Adityanath had said that faces of such miscreants have been captured on CCTV cameras and had promised that he will personally look into it that they are punished adequately.

Reportedly, the campaign intends to act as a deterrent to mob-violence and assumes significance because of speed and scale. Meanwhile, Firozabad police chief Sachindra Patel said the NSA will be used against the rioters.

Further, the UP government has also formed a four-member panel to look into the videos of riots and identify vandals in the state capital Lucknow. As per police, stringent action will be taken against perpetrators once identified.

Read: Anti-CAA protest at Kranti Maidan, Mumbai: 11 videos that show clueless protestors who have no idea why they are protesting

The protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act have already violent in various parts of the country. The Muslim mobs have resorted to vandalism and has gone on a rampage against the police officials. The rioters have already destructed several public properties while indulging in stone-pelting to attack police officials.

The Citizenship Amendment act seeks to give Indian citizenship to the members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from three neighbouring Islamic countries – Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh after facing religious persecution.

Watch: Jabalpur SP makes shocking revelation, rioting mob which pelted stones at police included kids from age 7 to 14

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Watch: Jabalpur SP makes shocking revelation, rioting mob which pelted stones at police included kids from age 7 to 14

In Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur, Superintendent of Police, Amit Singh made a shocking revelation that kids as young as seven years old were part of the mob which pelted stones at the police during the anti-CAA riots. He said that kids and teenagers between the age of 7 to 15 years who had no idea regarding CAA or NRC pelted stones at policemen and damaged police vehicles.


Usually the allegations are put on police that they lathicharged the kids and used teargas on minors but even now there are some parts of the city where little children are indulging in stone-pelting, the police officer said. “Not only the children but action will be taken against their guardians as well,” he said. Following the violence, curfew was imposed in the area to bring situation under control.

A protest march attended by mobs against the Citizenship Act and National Register of Citizens (NRC) took a violent turn in Jabalpur.

Reportedly, the violent mobs pelted stones at not only policemen but also media personnel and damaged public properties. The mob pelted stones at policemen and media personnel and damaged public property. As mobs went on a rampage some of the police officers were injured, who are now taken to the hospital.

Read: Anti-CAA riots: As propaganda spreads about ‘children’ being arrested, CNN-News18 deletes video showing young Muslim rioters in Kanpur

SP Singh further added that large presence of masked children in the crowd was a clear indication that they were instigated by certain elements, adding police lobbed tear gas shells to disperse the mob. As the priority is to bring things under control, curfew had been imposed in four police station areas, he added.

The police official said that the mobs resorted to stone-pelting soon after Friday prayers and locals disbanded into small groups and disappeared in small lanes and tried to lead processions. The mob consisting of children and teenagers also attacked reporters and camera crew and warned them against the covering the unrest. Several media persons were hit by stones.

The violent protests by Muslim mob took place after thousands took to streets on Friday afternoon to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act. Following the riots, curfew has been imposed in four police station areas — Adhartal, Hanumantal, Gohalpur and Kotwali.

Curfew has now been relaxed in Jabalpur even as section 144 remains imposed in as many as 50 districts of Madhya Pradesh. Bhopal Qazi has appealed for peace.

Watch: ‘Kaafiron se azadi’ slogans chanted during anti-CAA protests in Bhubaneswar

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Watch: ‘Kaafiron se azadi’ slogans chanted during anti-CAA protests in Bhubaneswar

In anti-CAA protest rally that took place in Odisha’s Bhubaneswar, ‘Kaafiron se azadi slogans’ were chanted by the mob.

The video was shared on 20th December, 2019 on OdishaPost’s YouTube channel. At around 1 minute 15 seconds into the above video, one visibly agitated man in grey jacket could be heard shouting, “Hum le ke rahenge, azadi, in kaafiron se, azadi, (we will take freedom, from these kaafirs).” As he chanted these slogans, no one came forward to stop him.

Read: Delhi: ‘Hinduon se Azadi’ slogans raised at Jamia Nagar where anti-CAB protesters set buses on fire

Kaafir is a pejorative reference to non-Muslims. The “sheroes” of Jamia hailed by controversial journalist Barkha Dutt as well as Congress who have now used their example to urge people to ‘protest like a girl’, had glorified the battles of Badr, Uhd and Karbala is significant as these are battles where the early Muslims had scored decisive victories against the ‘Kaafirs’ in their now deleted Facebook pages.

As per the holy book of Islam, Quran, Kaafirs, the ones who dispute the signs of Allah, are hated by Allah and they should be mocked at. Kaafirs should also be ‘punished’ for having rejected the truth of Allah. Quran says when the believers come across Kaafirs on the battlefield, they should be beheaded. Believers should also not befriend ‘kaafirs’ and those who do make friends with ‘kaafirs’ will not have protection of Allah.

Govt has only given legal form to the Act whose foundation was laid in 1985 & 2003: Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan on CAA

OpIndia Staff
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Govt has only given legal form to the Act whose foundation was laid in 1985 & 2003: Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan on CAA

The Governor of Kerala, Arif Mohammad Khan has welcomed the central government’s move to enact the Citizenship Amendment Act claiming that the government, through this Act, has upheld the promise made by Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Nehru and Congress to the people who were leading deplorable lives in Pakistan.


Khan further reasoned that the foundation if the Citizenship Amendment Act was laid in 1995 and 2003 and the BJP government has simply given a legal form to it.

Two days ago while speaking at an event in Mallapuram, Khan had said that the amendment is an “extraordinary solution” in the wake of minorities from neighbouring countries fleeing religious persecution. He had said that the percentage of minorities has gone down in the neighbouring countries, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan, while it has increased significantly in India. “There are over 19 crore official Muslims in India. Everybody admits that the number stands at over 20 crore. At the time of partition, there were 17 per cent Hindus in Pakistan who are left with less than 1.7 per cent today. In Bangladesh, Hindus were 30 per cent, now they make of just 17 per cent of the total population, Where did they disappear?” he asked. He had added, “is not it an exceptional situation and it needs an extraordinary solution?”

The approval from the Kerala Governor comes at a time when widespread anti-CAA protests were triggered across the nation following the police crackdown on the lumpen students in AMU and Jamia Islamia universities protesting against the Bill.

Violence has been recurrent theme of these protests where the ‘demonstrators’ have blatantly indulged in acts of arson, vandalism and stone-pelting, thereby, inviting police clampdown. The rampaging mobs of protestors, from Delhi to Assam, Uttar Pradesh to Maharashtra have brutally assaulted the law enforcement personnel and caused extensive damages to public properties.

Amidst the ensuing violence, PM Modi had exhorted the students and protestors to see through the opposition propaganda and refrain from blindly opposing the Bill without going through its details. Union Home Minister Amit Shah too asked the protestors to go through the Bill first before joining the protest against it.

The Citizenship Amendment Act aims to grant citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis and Buddhists from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who fled these countries and came to India on or before December 31, 2014.

Shashi Tharoor issued arrest warrant for failing to appear in court in a case alleging defamation of Hindu women in his 1989 book

OpIndia Staff
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Shashi Tharoor issued arrest warrant for failing to appear in court in a case alleging defamation of Hindu women in his 1989 book

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has once again landed in the soup as an arrest warrant has been issued against him by the Trivandrum Court after he failed to appear in the court, in a defamation case alleging that he had maligned Hindu women in one of the books authored by him.


The Chief Judicial Magistrate issued the arrest warrant on Saturday against the Thiruvananthapuram MP on charges of defamation of Hindu women in one of his books. Despite the notice of the court in this case, Tharoor neither appeared himself nor any lawyer representing him appeared before the magistrate, after which the court issued an arrest warrant against him.

The defamation case was filed by person named Sandhya Sreekumar, who has alleged that Shashi Tharoor had defamed women of the Nair community by portraying them in bad light in his 1989 book ‘The Great Indian Novel’, a satirical novel that makes fun of the political class in India.

Although the book was published decades ago, it comes back to haunt the author occasionally. During 2014 and 2019 elections, Tharoor was attacked citing the book. Even the CPI had asked him to apologise for the same. The controversial lines from the book are, “In Kerala, the men of Nair community realise that their wives are free to receive them by seeing if another man’s slippers aren’t outside her door.” These lines are spoken by king Pandu of Mahabharata, the father of Pandavas, while talking to his wife Kunthi. It is alleged that Tharoor deliberately tried to defame Nair women by putting the statement into Pandu’s mouth. The book narrates the story of Mahabharata in the context of the Indian independence movement and the earlier decades of Independent India.

Earlier this year, Kolkata Magistrate had issued an arrest warrant against Shashi Tharoor for his ‘Hindu Pakistan’ remark based on a case filed by Advocate Sumeet Chowdhary. Tharoor had received massive criticism for his comment that BJP will enable Hindu Pakistan if it comes to power in 2019 elections.

In January 2019, Tharoor had also made derogatory remarks for the Hindu festival of Kumbh. The Trivandrum MP had posted a tweet mocking the tradition of Kumbh by stating that Ganga has to be kept clean while one also expects it to purge the devotees of their sins.

This is not the first time that Tharoor has hurt the sentiments of Hindus. He has often been critical of Hinduism and the demands raised by Hindus. Apart from keeping a stoic silence on the atrocious murders of Hindu activists in Kerala, he has also gratuitously claimed that no ‘good Hindu’ would want to build a Ram Temple in Ayodhya. Later, he also went on a tirade against Ram Temple at the Ramjanmabhoomi by sermonising Hindus to follow their scriptures.

Times of India publishes ‘sources based’ fake news about Train 18 not being produced by ICF: Here is the truth

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Times of India publishes ‘sources based’ fake news about Train 18 not being produced by ICF: Here is the truth

As the Railway Board continues its probe against alleged irregularities in the procurement of electric propulsion systems for EMU/MEMUs (Electric Multiple Unit / Mainline Electric Multiple Unit) and the Train18, the officials under scanner continue to allege conspiracy behind the probe. The officials facing the vigilance investigation have been alleging that it is a ploy to stop making the Train 18 in the Integrated Coach Factory in Chennai and import the same from foreign manufacturers.

The Times of India published a report by journalist Siddharth Prabhakar earlier this month which carries similar charges levelled by an official who was transferred from the ICF. The report quoted a letter by former chief mechanical engineer of the ICF to Railway Board Chairman V K Yadav, where he had alleged that the probe and the change of specifications by Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) has caused delay in production of Train18, and this delay has been used to float a proposal to import 60 train sets at a cost of ₹25,000.

But there is no truth in the allegations, as the government of India has repeatedly confirmed that the Train18 sets will be made at ICF in Chennai after the technical issues with them are resolved. Last month while answering a question in Lok Sabha, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal had said that ICF will make 160, 240 and 240 coaches of Train18 respectively during 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22. After that, Railway ministry had informed that the ICF has been given the approval to manufacture 45 new sets of Train 18, also known as Vande Bharat Express, by 2021-22. This translates to 720 coaches of the train to be made by ICF by 2021-22.

Read- Mumbai Mirror tries to garner sympathy for officials being investigated for corruption in the production of Vande Bharat train

Earlier the production of Train18 was halted at the ICF after it was found that the trains didn’t meet RDSO specifications. The coaches were heavier and consumed more power. The tenders for the train were cancelled due to this reason. The issues with the train have been resolved and the specifications were revised. The Railway Board chairman Vinod Yadav had also informed that although no new sets of Vande Bharat Express will be made in the current fiscal due to the issues, 40 sets will be made in the next two fiscals with new specifications. This means the Railway Ministry has ordered five more trainsets than the estimate of Yadav.

The Times of India report also quotes an anonymous Railway Board official claiming that due to the ongoing probe, ICF is not able to process tenders. The official said that they don’t know when ICF will be able to process the tenders due to the issues. But a cursory glance at recent tenders issued by ICF proves that it is not correct. Tender monitoring websites list several ongoing tenders issued by ICF, showing that there is no halt in tender processing at the factory.

Moreover, the ICF produced its 3000th coach of the year in less than 9 months, displaying a huge improvement in efficiency. Over the last 5 years, the average time taken to manufacture a coach has come down drastically, resulting in a three-fold increase in the number of coaches built at the factory. In 2013-14, the ICF took 217 days to make 1000 coaches, while it made 3000 coaches in 215 days. These figures prove that there is no impact on the operations at the ICF due to the probe and change of specifications for Train 18, and the allegations made by the disgruntled officials have no base.

Jammu: In the wake of anti-CAA protests, Hindus and Muslims come together in support of the Act

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Jammu: In the wake of anti-CAA protests, Hindus and Muslims come together in support of the Act

Amidst violent protests happening across the country in opposition to the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 (CAA), the Hindu and Muslim communities in Jammu came together to extend their support to the Act and appealed for Hindu-Muslim brotherhood in the country.

“The Citizenship Amendment Act is not anti-Muslim and it does not concern the residents of India. It concerns foreigners, not Indians,” the two communities jointly issued a statement. They also questioned former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh that if he was going to bring the Citizenship Amendment Act in his tenure, then why is his party vehemently opposing it now.

In an allusive remark to the political parties who are fuelling unrest in the name of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act, members of the Hindu community in Jammu put forth rhetorical questions- Who are vandalising the vehicles after namaz prayers? Who is instigating people against the Act by holding the tri-colour flag in their hands? Without explicitly mentioning any single political parties, the Hindu community in Jammu alleged that some politicians gain benefits in keeping the pot of the CAB boiling through their inflammatory speeches. It further said that the Hindus and the Muslims in the country should remain united and not tricked by such opportunist politicians.

Read: New map demarcating Union Territories Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh released by the Centre

Shehzad, one of the members of the Muslim community said that the brotherhood between the followers of Hinduism and Islam in India should prevail. Another participant, Farooq allayed the lingering fear among Muslims saying that there is no need for the citizens of India to worry as Citizenship Amendment Act does not concern Indians but is for the foreigners seeking refuge in India. He also exhorted Hindus and Muslims to shun violence and live peacefully with other each other.

The passage of Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 has touched off violent protests across the country as ‘protestors’ indulged in blatant acts of arson, vandalism and stone-pelting. Several reports had underscored that the protests were not spontaneous acts of defiance but carefully engineered demonstrations aimed to disrupt the prevailing peace in the country. Interestingly, most of these protests took place in left-leaning universities such as Aligarh Muslim University, Jamia Millia Islamia University.

From ‘we want Lalu out of jail’ to ‘CAA is a machine that produces Indian citizens’: Read bizarre reasons why RJD supporters are protesting

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From ‘we want Lalu out of jail’ to ‘CAA is a machine that produces Indian citizens’: Read bizarre reasons why RJD supporters are protesting

The opposition party in Bihar, RJD, today called out a state-wide bandh and protest against the enactment of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). A raft of RJD supporters obeyed the party call and hit the streets, feverishly protesting against the Bill, except for they did not know the exact cause for their protest.

The questions regarding the purpose of their protest elicited a wide array of profoundly ludicrous answers from the RJD supporters. From the explanations ranging from “the protest was against the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi” to “CAA is a machine that produces Indian citizens”, RJD supporters proffered hilariously inconceivable reasons to defend their participation in the demonstrations against the Citizenship Bill. Evidently, most of them were not even aware of the constitutional argots- the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register for Citizens.

Read: Watch: While assuring a journalist that their anti-CAA protests are ‘peaceful’, RJD leader spots an autorickshaw and vandalises it

“We are protesting because Mahatma Gandhi was murdered. Nathuram Godse murdered him. This government supports those who murdered Gandhi,” one of the protesters exclaimed. Perhaps, when you run out of logical reasons, the safest hedge is to invoke Mahatma Gandhi.

Another protester, having no good reason to offer, claimed that he participated in the protest to demand the release of their leader Lalu Prasad Yadav, notwithstanding the court order which sentenced him for 27 years for his involvement in the fodder scam.

Read: Anti-CAA riots: RJD workers, armed with sticks and flags with Lalu’s face, vandalise autorickshaws during ‘bandh’ called in Bihar

One protestor, who identified himself as a local RJD leader, Nandkishore Mandal provided an absurd reason claiming he is protesting because people garlanded him with a ‘Mala’. “I am protesting because people have garlanded me with a ‘Mala’. I am protesting because girls and women are being raped and set ablaze in Bihar.”

However, one of the most outlandish explanation came from a protestor who said CAA is a machine that provides Indian citizenship. “CAA/NRC is a machine. These machines produce Indian citizens. They grant citizenship,” he said.

The Citizenship Amendment Act passed by the central government aims to grant citizenship to the persecuted minorities-Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, Parsis, Christians, and Buddhists from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.

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