On August 9, an FIR was filed at Ayodhya’s Ram Janmabhoomi police station based on a complaint lodged by contactor Shekhar Sharma regarding the theft of 3,800 bamboo lights installed on the trees of Ram Path and 36 gobo projector lights on Bhakti Path, worth over Rs 50 lakh. Shekhar Sharma is a representative of the firm Yash Enterprises and Krishna Automobiles, which set up the lights under a contract awarded by the Ayodhya Development Authority.
According to the FIR, as many as 6,400 bamboo lights were installed on Ram Path and 96 gobo projector lights on Bhakti Path by the firm.
“Till 19 March, all the lights were there but after an inspection on May 9, it was found that some lights were missing. Till now around 3,800 bamboo lights and 36 projector lights have been stolen by some unknown thieves”, Shekhar Sharma said.
According to the FIR, the firm came to know about the theft in May but filed the complaint on August 9.
The Bhakti Path is a road that connects Shringar Ghat, Hanuman Garhi, and the Ram Mandir. The 742-meter route has a unique aesthetic appeal because it is bordered by homes and businesses painted in saffron. Along this path are additional notable landmarks like Dashrath Mahal and Kanak Bhawan. The Ram Path, a four-lane, 13-kilometre stretch of road that links Sadatganj and Naya Ghat, intersects the Bhakti Path.
Ayodhya underwent extensive renovations as part of a major project ahead of the Ram Mandir’s consecration ceremony on January 22.
On Sunday, August 11, 2024, a 45-day-old toddler died hours after a circumcision procedure was administered to him. According to reports, the child succumbed to excessive bleeding as the barber, Kabir had severed a wrong nerve during the circumcision procedure. He has been booked for causing death due to negligence, police officials said on Tuesday (August 13).
उत्तर प्रदेश : बरेली में खतना करने के 8 दिन बाद एक मासूम बच्चे की मौत हो गई। आरोप है कि नाई ने लापरवाही से गलत नस काट दी। ब्लीडिंग नहीं रुकी और मौत हो गई। नाई कबीर पर FIR दर्ज हुई। pic.twitter.com/CqWfxNUc8O
The deceased was identified as Mohd Shifan, son of Mohd Wajid, resident of Shivpuri Radhauli village of Fatehganj Poorvi locality.
On Sunday, around 10 am, the child’s family got his circumcision done by a barber named Kabir. During the procedure Kabir severed the wrong nerve of the child, resulting in excessive bleeding.
According to the police, soon after the procedure, Kabir realized something was amiss and left the ceremony without eating or informing the child’s family.
The child’s condition deteriorated but since the family members were busy hosting the guests, they did not realise the seriousness of the situation. However, by the time they reached the hospital, it was too late and the doctors were unable to save the child. The child breathed his last at around 8 pm after which the family approached the police for an FIR against the barber.
The police sent the child’s body for post-mortem on Monday (August 12), and efforts were on to arrest the accused, said another officer.
Additional SP Manush Pareek said, “Kabir has been charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, and will be arrested soon”.
On 14th August, propaganda journalist Ajit Anjum called out Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra for blocking him after he tagged her in a video related to RG Kar Medical College Rape and Murder Case. In a post on X in Hindi, Ajit wrote, “As soon as I tagged a question about the brutality against a doctor daughter in Bengal, Mahua Moitra blocked me. Well done, Madam, well done. You question Modi’s government with sharp criticism every day, but when I asked your government one question, you immediately blocked me. Can’t you handle a single question? Are you only capable of asking them? Do you only know how to preach about freedom of expression? A daughter was brutalised under your party’s rule, and no one should even ask you about it? Alright, no worries. That’s why people say—there are limits to hypocrisy…”
Source: X
When Ajit Anjum did not get a reaction from Mahua, he quoted his own post and said, “There are limits to hypocrisy too, Madam Mahua Moitra. Asking for an answer regarding such brutality against a daughter in your state results in being blocked. Please don’t lecture us about freedom of expression now, Madam. If, as an MP of the ruling party in Bengal, you can’t bear to hear a single question, then you have no right to comment on rape incidents in UP, Bihar, or any other state. Don’t shout at the top of your lungs in Parliament or on the streets about rape and murder incidents in other states, Madam.”
Source: X
Ajit Anjum had tagged Mahua Moitra and others in a video where a female relative of the victim was explaining what they had to go through after the brutal murder. The woman also raised question over the way victim’s family members were treated when they reached the college after learning about the incident. She raised concerns over the authorities’ attempts to delay the parents seeing the body of their daughter.
Interestingly, Mahua is the second TMC MP who came under fire from their own side in just 24 hours. Earlier, TMC’s Rajya Sabha MP and former journalist Sagarika Ghose was called out was Swati Chaturvedi for copying an “exclusive” video that Swati had posted on her X profile.
RG Kar Medical College Rape and Murder Case
On 9th August, a semi-nude and brutalised body of a female PG trainee doctor was found inside the seminar hall of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. It is a government-run hospital. Following the discovery, her father had said that she was raped and killed inside the hospital, and efforts were underway to “conceal the truth.”
The doctor had dinner with four of her coworkers at 2:30 am that night after seeing Neeraj Chopra’s javelin throw event during the Paris Olympics. Afterwards, she went to the seminar hall to relax. The main accused in the case, Sanjay Roy, had access to every department as he worked at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital police outpost. He was not affiliated with the institution but often went there. CCTV evidence shows him entering the premises where the doctor was discovered, that led to his arrest on 10th August. He returned home after committing the horrifying act and slept in late. Roy also cleaned the outfit he wore to remove any evidence. The police recovered his bloodstained shoes during a search.
The Doctor was brutally tortured before she was suffocated to death, according to the post-mortem report. The four-page report stated that she had been strangled and that “perverted sexuality” and “genital torture” had resulted in a serious wounds in her private parts.
The Doctor’s thyroid cartilage was also shattered. A source stated that the rape and murder occurred on 9th August most likely between 3 and 5 am. Her lips, fingers, left leg, and abdomen were all covered with injuries.
According to sources, the Doctor’s head was slammed against a wall or the floor resulting in severe injuries and her mouth and nose were squeezed shut to stop the victim from shouting. The accused had reportedly beaten her up as she attempted to defend herself and resist. He then raped and killed her. According to the autopsy, the girl’s hands and face had cuts on them. Shards of glass from her spectacles broke and got into her eyes following an intense blow. The initial postmortem report ruled out suicide and stated that the trainee doctor had been sexually assaulted before being murdered.
On 13th August, Calcutta High Court came down heavily on West Bengal government for attempting to save principal of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
In the case of the stabbing of an 11-year-old madrasa student Mohammad Ayan in Uttar Pradesh’s Balrampur by a 12-year-old classmate, shocking allegations of sexual abuse has emerged. On Monday (12th August), the deceased victim’s parents submitted a complaint to SP Vikas Kumar in which they stated that their deceased child was being threatened and sexually abused by teachers of the madarsa.
The complaint states that Mohammad Ayan had complained about this to the madrasa management several times, however, no action was taken. The deceased victim’s parents alleged that their son was killed for complaining about the crimes of the madrasa teachers. The complainant has questioned the police investigation saying that the CCTV camera was switched off at the time of the incident, no other students present in the room were making any noise at the time of the incident, and no blood was found at the spot. The SP, however, assured the complainant that they would conduct a thorough investigation of these allegations.
As reported earlier, on the intervening night of 1-2 August, minor Mohammad Ayan, a class 5th student was stabbed to death by his classmate inside a madrasa in Balrampur district of Uttar Pradesh. On 4th August, the Police arrested another minor who was also studying in the same madrasa. During the investigation, Police found out that a few days earlier, verbal arguments broke out between Mohammad Ayan and the accused minor. The earlier heated argument is said to be the reason behind the murder. However, as the parents of the deceased victim have made fresh allegations in the matter, the police are investigating the rape and harassment angle.
On Tuesday (13th August), Pinaki Bhattacharya, who is notorious for anti-India propaganda, took to X to whitewash the Islamist attack on the residence of famous Bangladeshi Hindu musician Rahul Anand. Notably, one of the most devastating stories coming out of violence-hit Bangladesh following the violent ouster of Sheikh Hasina was of famous Bangladeshi singer Rahul Anand whose house was looted and burnt down by an Islamist mob on 5th August.
However, in an apparent bid to whitewash the incident, Pinaki Bhattacharya said that Rahul Anand’s home and musical instruments were not “deliberately burned”. According to him, ‘someone’ set an neighbouring Awami League establishment on fire which accidentally spread to his house and destroyed everything. He added that it is unfortunate that the truth wasn’t fully disclosed which according to him is that Rahul Anand’s house was a collateral damage and that the destruction of the musician’s house was an ‘accident’. For him, the protesters who were indulging in arson torched the adjacent building linked to Awami League which happened to engulf the Hindu musician’s house.
Pinaki Bhattacharya also quoted Rahul Anand saying that the fire was ‘unintentional’ and that his family were forced to leave the house with only clothings.
Bhattacharya wrote, “Rahul Anand’s home and musical instruments were not deliberately burned. A fire was set to an Awami League establishment next to his home, and that fire accidentally spread to his residence, destroying everything. According to Rahul Anand, the fire was unintentional, and they were forced to leave their home with only the clothes on their backs as the house was engulfed in flames. It’s unfortunate that the truth wasn’t fully disclosed.”
It is pertinent to note that Pinaki Bhattacharya is a controversial person who is living in exile in France. He is a neo-convert to Islam and notorious for spearheading the ‘India Out’ campaign in Bangladesh. He has ties with Jihadi outfit Jamaat-e-Islami and Pakistan’s ISI and has been supporting the Taliban. Click here, to read more about him and his ties with Jihadi outfits.
Incidentally, apart from Bhattacharya, earlier some of the “friends” of Rahul Anand had also attempted to whitewash the incident as an attack on a Hindu singer claiming that his house was not torched rather it caught fire because it was adjacent to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s old house in Dhanmondi 32. They have argued that the destruction of Anand’s house had nothing to do with his religion, categorically noting that if the rioters wanted to, they would have not “allowed the opportunity for Rahul Anand’s family to escape alive” and would have torched them alive.
Incidentally, on 6th August, the official social media handles of Rahul Anand’s music band Joler Gaan posted a video which contrasted old visuals of the instruments and the condition of the house post-attack. While parts of Rahul Anand’s house could be seen ablaze, signs of vandalism and loot could also be seen in the video.
Later, on 8th August, Farhana Hamid, reportedly the business partner of Rahul Anand’s wife Urmila Shukla, wrote a long Facebook post in which she said that the fire incident at Rahul Anand’s house had nothing to do with religion. Her post was also shared from the official page of ‘Joler Gaan’ (Rahul Anand’s band) with the caption, ‘Please read the text and know the truth.’
In the post, Fashion designer Farhana Hamid said that miscreants targeted the Bangabandhu Museum in Dhanmondi 32 and set fire to it. Rahul Anand’s house is within the walls of the museum. Later his house was also set on fire.
According to Bangladeshi media outlet, Prothom Alo, Rahul Anand confirmed the sharing of the post from the official page of the song. He told Prothom Alo that people love him and that his house could not be set on fire.
Further in the post, Farhana Hamid argued that had the miscreants wanted to they would not have given his family a chance to get out alive.
“They would not have given this family a chance to get out like this if they set fire to Rahulda. And it is impossible to get out of that house if you don’t give a chance. Rahulda’s religion, caste, caste and culture have nothing to do with the fire in Rahulda’s house. So please don’t spread such rumours. In the conditions of the country, any rumor can take a dire shape. We become aware,” her Bangali post was quoted saying in Prothom Alo.
The 5th August incident
On the afternoon of 5th August, an Islamist mob reached the house of Rahul Anand. He was living in a rental house that was attacked. When the attack happened, Rahul, his wife Urmila Shukla, his son Tota and other family members were there. Somehow, they managed to escape and took shelter at an unknown location.
Back then, Rahul Anand’s family sources and the founding member of the band had mentioned that a mob attacked and “torched” the musician’s house.
Saiful Islam Journal, founding member of Joler Gaan said, “..From what I have heard, a group of goons attacked the residence and Rahul Da, Shukla Di (Rahul’s wife), Tota (his son) and other family members somehow got out.”
Speaking to The Daily Star, a family source had said, “As soon as they had broken the gate, they started ravaging the house taking whatever they could find for themselves. They took everything from furniture and mirrors to valuables. After that, they torched the whole house along with Rahul da’s musical instruments.”
Additionally, in the video of the incident shared by the official page of the band, the signs of vandalism and loot is clearly visible, negating the assertion that Rahul Anand’s house was not targeted in the aftermath of Sheikh Hasina’s ouster. It is pertinent to note that since the regime change in Bangladesh, more than 200 incidents of attacks and religious persecution of Hindus and other minority communities have been reported in the past few days.
Nonetheless, in September 2023, France’s President Emmanuel Macron made a friendly visit to Rahul’s house making it a centre of attention across the country. The house, where Rahul lived, was a 140-year-old place which has now been burnt to ashes with all the memories and history it contained.
On Tuesday, August 13, 2024, the Kushinagar police in Uttar Pradesh arrested a Maulvi on charges of rape and illegal conversion of a minor Dalit girl. The arrest came after the mother of the victim lodged a complaint against the Muslim cleric on August 8, 2024.
In her complaint, she accused Maulana Muhammad Owais, a resident of West Bengal, of kidnapping, rape and illegal conversion of her daughter. Maulana Muhammad Owais has been teaching in a Madarsa in Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh for the past two years.
Kushinagar, UP: Mohd Owais, a teacher in a madrasa, allegedly converted a minor Dalit Hindu girl to Islam, as per the police.
He changed her name to Rani Khatun and impregnated her. Owais is from West Bengal.
Speaking about the incident, Kushinagar SP Santosh Kumar Mishra said that Maulana Muhammad Owais, a resident of Uttar Jharbari in the Gwalpokhar police station area of North Dinajpur district of West Bengal, had come to teach in a madarsa situated in Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh. He took the teenager to his village located on the border of Bangladesh and converted her religion there. The Maulvi raped the teenager under the false pretext of marriage due to which she became pregnant. Maulana changed the name of the teenager to Rani Khatun.
SP further said that the investigation has revealed that the accused Maulvi used to visit the Bangladesh border frequently.
On the intervening night of Monday (August 11) and Tuesday (August 12), the Kushinagar police got the information that Maulana Muhammad Owasi was trying to flee the city with the teenage girl. Kushinagar PS SHO Omprakash Tiwari and Mansachhapar PS outpost in charge Gaurav Shukla formed a team and reached the spot. The police saw that the accused was trying to flee with the victim to Padrauna. The police arrested him. The teenage girl was sent to her parents.
The Maulvi was charged under various provisions of the IPC for kidnapping, rape and illegal conversion. Sections of the POCSO Act and SC/ST Act were also added to the FIR registered against him.
According to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Ahmedabad has framed criminal charges against Rajya Sabha MP of All India Trinamool Congress (AITC or TMC) Saket Gokhale under the anti-money laundering statute on 13th August. The Gujarat Police filed a First Information Report (FIR) against him, citing misappropriation of cash obtained through crowdsourcing.
The Hon’ble Principal District and Sessions Judge, Ahmedabad (Rural) and Designated Special Court (PMLA), Ahmedabad, today i.e. 13.08.2024 framed the Criminal Charges against Saket Gokhale, M.P., Rajya Sabha
The ED apprehended Gokhale in January 2023. The federal probe agency case stems from an official complaint submitted by Gujarat Police. The 31-year-old MP was the subject of a charge sheet submitted by the ED last year by the anti-money laundering law. Gokhale’s request to halt the PMLA proceedings until the court decided on the scheduled offence case that was filed against him under Section 309 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) was also denied by the special court. He was arrested by the Gujarat Police in December 2022 after they suspected him of embezzling money obtained via crowdsourcing.
The ED informed the court that “huge amounts of money collected through crowdfunding by Gokhale have been squandered on speculative share trading, dining, and other personal expenses, which appear to be extravagant in nature.” A special court did, however, give Gokhale regular bail in May of last year in connection with a money laundering case involving anomalies.
Gokhale was ordered by the Delhi High Court earlier in July to compensate Union Minister Hardeep Puri’s wife Lakshmi Puri for defamation with Rs 50 lakhs after he was sued for defamation by Lakshmi Puri due to his offensive remarks on social media. The dispute started as a result of several public remarks and tweets made by Gokhale, which Lakshmi Puri alleged were deceptive and damaging to her reputation. She reportedly suffered significant anguish and reputational harm as a result of these remarks, which purportedly touched on her financial affairs and public behaviour. Lakshmi Puri’s legal team, Karanjawala & Company, reported that the court ordered Gokhale to stop releasing more offensive material regarding the plaintiff.
The Enforcement Directorate stated that a charge sheet was lodged against him under the anti-money laundering sections after his detention last year. “Charges against him for the scheduled offence in the police case (Gujarat Police) had also been framed.”
On Tuesday (13th August), the Crime Branch probing the investment fraud worth Rs 17 crores arrested KPCC Secretary C S Srinivasan. The Kerala Congress leader is the Managing Director of the financial firm which is embroiled in an investment fraud case. Srinivasan is also the former Chairman of the Standing Committee of Thrissur Corporation.
The KPCC District Secretary was arrested from Kalady on charges of defrauding people who invested in his finance company headquartered in Thrissur’s Punkunnam.
In the complaint, the investors said that they were lured into depositing huge sums of money in Heewan Nidhi Limited and Heewan Finance with a promise that their returns will be doubled in five years. According to them, the company committed a fraud to the tune of Rs 17 crores as it did not return their money.
They said that they invested lakhs of rupees in Heewan Finance and Heewan Nidhi Company by trusting the political and social involvement of Congress leader CS Srinivasan and Sundar Menon.
However, the company failed to return either the principal amount, or the promised interest. The investors further stated that the company even refused to return money to those investors suffering from serious illnesses.
According to the Police, the company amassed investments in violation of RBI guidelines.
Earlier this month, on 4th August, the Thrissur Crime Branch arrested Heewan Chairman Sundar Menon in connection with this investment fraud case. Menon is a prominent businessman, Padma Shri winner, and the president of Thiruvampadi Devaswom.
According to reports, the Congress leader Sreenivasan remained in hiding after filing for anticipatory bail but he was arrested by the district crime branch from Kalady.
The Thrissur West police have registered 18 cases overall. At various stages, around 300 investors had filed complaints against the firm and a petition was also filed in the High Court.
As per reports, the Police will also initiate measures like confiscation of assets of the Heewan company and its owners.
As former Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina hastily resigned and fled from the country in the grips of rampaging Islamist mobs who pillaged, plundered, and attacked minorities in the name of ‘revolution’, a sordid attempt to whitewash and downplay their atrocities was underway in India. With ghastly visuals of barbarity by rioters against religious minorities pouring on social media platforms, the far-left portal known for shielding Islamists and their violent tendencies, Alt News, along with their founders, took to the task of coming to the rescue of their ideological brethren perpetrating carnage in neighbouring Bangladesh.
Mohammed Zubair, one of the co-founders of Alt News and who is known for muddling truth about issues with his ‘selective fact checks’, swiftly hunkered down to publishing and sharing ‘fact-checks’ about inconsequential details about videos to give an impression that everything is hunky-dory in Bangladesh and the reports of targeted attacks against minorities, especially its vibrant Hindu population, is an online hysteria blew up by vested interest groups back in India.
One such attempt to downplay instances of violence and ransacking faced by Hindus in Bangladesh was made by Zubair and Alt News on August 6, 2024, as it published a ‘fact-check’ about a bloodcurdling video of a woman being gang-raped by Bangladeshi men.
Source: X
While the premise of the video was how Bangladeshi men had been using rape as a tool to attack women—a centuries-old practice ascribed to Islamic marauders who treated women and children as war booty and wreaked unimaginable horrors on them, including violating them and forcibly enlisting them in their harems—Zubair, instead, focused on where the video was from and ignored the sentiments it conveyed.
Attacking social media users, Zubair said the video was old and unrelated and pertained to a 2021 incident from Bengaluru where a Bangladeshi woman was gang-raped. Zubair also shared a link to the Alt News ‘fact-check’ of the incident.
The ‘fact-check’ said the video was from 2021 and not from Bangladesh. Instead, the article cited a News Bangla 24 report, stating that the incident took place in Kerala and both, the survivors and the perpetrators, were of Bangladeshi origins.
Citing police reports, the report said that the Bangalore police arrested 12 persons, including three women who were illegal Bangladeshi migrants. They had brought the Bangladeshi girl to India under the pretence of offering her a job but subsequently coerced her into prostitution.
The incident has, nevertheless, brought attention to the scourge of illegal immigration facing the country. The influx of illegal immigrants into India via Bangladesh continues unabated. The illegal immigrants enter India, obtain fake identity documents at times, and also engage in illegal activities. There have been many cases in the past when these illegal immigrants were found involved in human trafficking rackets, illegal drug trade, and other criminal activities involving theft, assault, and other cases.
Despite the Indian government’s efforts and actions, the constant rush of illegal immigrants into India through Bangladesh continues. In the past ten days, several such cases have been reported from various parts of the country where the Bangladeshi happened to illegally enter India. However, the immigrants were identified and immediately nabbed by the Indian administration.
On 31st March this year, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) announced the arrest of five Bangladeshi nationals in Navi Mumbai for illegally entering and staying in India without proper documents. The arrested persons were identified as Aahat Jamal Sheikh (22), Rebul Samad Sheikh (40), Ronney Soriful Khan (25), Julu Billal Sharif (28) and Mohammad Munir Mohammad Siraj Mulla (49).
An ATS official stated that they received a tip-off and that the Vikhroli unit conducted an operation in two sites in Ghansoli, Navi Mumbai. During the operation, five Bangladeshis were detained in Ghansoli’s Janai Compound and Shivaji Talao area.
As per the reports, none had legitimate documents or a permit to live in India, but they worked as masons in Navi Mumbai. The immigrants were arrested under the provisions of the Foreigners Act of 1946 and the Passport (Entry into India) Rules of 1950.
On the very same day, 31st March, Mankachar police in Assam nabbed an illegal Bangladeshi national who had been living in the area for eight months. The suspect was identified as Osama Bin Hasan Sajib, son of Manzoorul Hasan from Veluya village in Sherpur district, Bangladesh, and was found hiding at Khalilur Miah’s home in Jhanjhani village, Mankachar.
According to reports, Sajib crossed the border into Mankachar from Mahendraganj, Meghalaya, some eight months ago. During his stay, he practised ‘faith healing’ in Mankasar and other areas in Meghalaya. Several such reports of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants creating law and order problems have surfaced from different parts of the country, highlighting one of the challenges the Home Ministry faces in ensuring the internal safety of the nation.
How illegal Bangladeshi immigrants have been indulging in criminal activities in India
Though the aim of the ‘fact-check’ was to discredit reports of violence and rape directed at Hindu minorities in Bangladesh amid ongoing political turmoil, Zubair and Alt News inadvertently shone a light on the extent of barbarity illegal Bangladeshis committed with impunity in India. It demonstrated how, not just in Bangladesh, where Islamists are in the majority, but in a Hindu-majority India too, they have no fear of the law as the viral video depicted, showing illegal Bangladeshi immigrants ruthlessly violating a woman.
But more importantly, the ‘fact-check’ by Alt News, though carried out with ulterior motives, served as a grim cautionary tale for what awaits India if we don’t take strict action against illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, including Rohingyas, living in our midst. If not deported to their country, this bunch of unlawful Bangladeshis, a majority of whom are intoxicated with the venom of Islamic supremacism and brainwashed for waging jihad, would eventually render the country inhabitable, as history suggests and the present spasm of violence in Bangladesh attests.
Mohammed Zubair and Alt News tried to whitewash Islamist violence against Hindu minorities in Bangladesh
Zubair, infamous for dog-whistling against former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, which triggered a diplomatic crisis for India and nationwide ‘Sar Tan Se Juda’ protests that led to the deaths of many innocent people, including Kanhaiya Lal of Udaipur and Umesh Kolhe from Amravati, tried hard to portray recent atrocities directed against Hindu minorities in Bangladesh as ‘right-wing propaganda’.
However, truth eventually caught up with him, as Bangladeshi Hindus came forth and shared their ordeal with the world. The videos and pictures of Islamists going on rampage against Hindus in Bangladesh, defiling their temples and desecrating their idols, violating their women, and killing their men debunked his propaganda that Bangladeshi Hindus were safe and not subjected to religious persecution.
Amidst the unrest in the neighbouring country, Islamists saw an opportunity to kill and torture the minority Hindus in the country and loot their properties. One of the most devastating stories coming from Bangladesh is of famous Bangladeshi singer Rahul Ananda whose house was looted and burnt down by an Islamist mob.
On the afternoon of 5th August, an Islamist mob reached the house of the singer and frontman of the band Joler Gaan, Rahul Ananda. He was living in a rental house that was attacked. When the attack happened, Rahul, his wife Shukla, his son Tota and other family members were there. Somehow, they managed to escape and took shelter at an unknown location.
Speaking to The Daily Star, a family source said, “As soon as they had broken the gate, they started ravaging the house taking whatever they could find for themselves. They took everything from furniture and mirrors to valuables. After that, they torched the whole house and Rahul da’s musical instruments.” There were around 3,000 irreplaceable musical instruments at the house which he designed and made over the years. The monetary value of household items could be close to Tk 10 lakh, but Jarnal said, “But how could you put a price on the instruments which he so lovingly built?”
When a famous singer in Bangladesh, who brought pride to the nation, wasn’t spared by Islamists. In that case, it’s easy to imagine the plight of countless ordinary Hindus who lacked the privileges of Ananda and had to endure the wrath of Islamists driven to target them solely because of their religion.
A shocking case of rape and forceful confinement of a Hindu teenage girl has come to light from the Shajapur district of Madhya Pradesh. The accused named Danish raped the teenager inside a house that belongs to the victim’s friend Kiran and Kiran’s husband, Tausif. It is said that Danish also held the victim captive in that house. Both Kiran and Tausif are also accused in this case. When the victim’s family came to rescue their daughter, the accused pelted stones on them and misbehaved with the Police.
The Police have registered an FIR against four persons, including the main accused Danish, the victim’s friend Kiran, her husband Tausif, and Tausif’s brother, Nikki. So far, Police have arrested Tausif and his wife Kiran. They have launched a search operation to apprehend the absconding accused Danish and Nikki.
According to media reports, the incident took place on Qila Road under Kotwali police station in Shajapur district. On Monday (12th August 2024) night, a 19-year-old Hindu girl lodged a complaint with the police about the case.
In the complaint, the girl stated that a man named Danish had been frequenting the area around her house for a long time. On Saturday (10th August), he was loitering around her house and when her father saw Danish, he chased him away. Her father asked her the reason why Danish was hanging around the house to which she replied that she did not know.
The complaint further states that when the victim’s father scolded her, she got angry and went to her friend Kiran’s house. At her friend’s house, Kiran’s husband, Tausif Pathan alias Jackie, and her brother-in-law Nikki were also present. Moments later, Danish also reached there.
An hour later, it is alleged that Kiran and her husband Tausif locked the victim in a room. Later, Danish entered the room and raped her while Kiran and Tausif guarded the gate. After committing the heinous act, Danish left from there.
When the victim came out and asked Tausif why he did this, he threatened the victim and told her not to disclose the rape to anyone. It is alleged that the victim was kept locked inside the room for 2 days. Subsequently, on Monday (12th August), the victim’s family members reached Kiran’s house while searching for their teenage daughter.
Noticing the girl’s family approaching, the entire family, including Kiran and her husband Tausif started pelting stones. Meanwhile, after getting information about the heinous case, members of the Hindu organisations intervened. They started gathering outside the house of the accused. When the matter flared up, the Police also rushed to the spot.
Reportedly Tausif and his wife Kiran also misbehaved with the police. However, the Police eventually entered the house and rescued the victim who was then brought to the Police station.
The members of the Hindu organisation also reached the police station. They started raising slogans demanding strict action against the accused. Finally, based on the victim’s complaint, the Police filed a case against Danish, Kiran, Tausif and his brother Nikki. In the FIR, the Police have invoked relevant sections including rape.
Tausif’s brother Nikki and the main accused in this case, Danish, are currently absconding.
The Hindu organisations have also said that prostitution business was running from Tausif’s house for a long time.
The Police have assured strict against in this case and sent back the members of the Hindu organisations after pacifying them. Police investigation and further legal action is underway.
