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Ahmednagar: Hindu girl kidnapped, threatened, raped, forcefully converted to Islam, Sayam, Imran, Kaleem, Faiyaaz arrested

Siddhi Somani
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Ahmednagar: Hindu girl kidnapped, threatened, raped, forcefully converted to Islam, Sayam, Imran, Kaleem, Faiyaaz arrested

In a fresh case of love jihad that has been reported from the Kopargaon region of the Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, a Hindu girl was reportedly kidnapped, raped, and threatened with death before her forceful conversion. The accused persons are also said to have threatened the girl saying that “Muslims are converting people all over the world. Nothing wrong can happen to us. We have strong connections” etc.

The accused persons have been identified as Sayam Qureshi, Imran Sheikh, Chotu alias Kaleem, Faiyyaz, and one unidentified Maulvi. The Ahmednagar police have arrested all the accused except for the Maulvi who is said to have converted the victim girl to Islam. All the accused persons hail from Indore, Madhya Pradesh, and have been booked for threatening, raping, and forcefully converting the religion of a 20-year-old Hindu girl.

The sections imposed by the police in the case are 376 (rape), 363 (kidnapping), 354 (outraging woman’s modesty), 328 (Causing hurt by means of poison), 295, 295A (hurting religious sentiments), 298, 504 (insult, provoking), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. As per the sources, the accused persons are in police custody and are being interrogated. However, the Maulvi is yet to be arrested.

FIR copy obtained by OpIndia

As per the FIR copy obtained by OpIndia, the victim woman runs a cafe in the Kopargaon region of Ahmednagar district. She got introduced to the primary accused Sayam through Instagram in the year 2019. Eventually, they became friends, exchanged phone numbers, and developed a friendship. The relationship continued until it took a horrific turn to expose the true face of the accused in the year 2023.

The girl was intoxicated, then raped, videos were shot

In May 2023, Sayam traveled all the way from Indore to Koargaon and pressed the woman to meet. He called her at the local bus station and asked her to follow him. On refusal, the woman was threatened to death. He also called his associates (other three identified accused) and then forcefully took her to a Madarssa in the Khadki region. “Now you are alone here. No one is going to come to save you,” they said before forcefully intoxicating her. Sayam then raped her while the other accused persons shot derogatory videos and photos of the event, as per the complaint.

Accused persons named in the FIR copy obtained by OpIndia

The girl in the complaint mentioned that though she was intoxicated, she tried to resist but nothing worked. “He raped me and then dropped me back to my house. Later he again called and forced me to accompany him in a white Ertiga. He touched me inappropriately and allowed me to go after an hour or so,” the FIR roughly reads.

Maulvi from Indore converted the girl to Islam, forced her to read Namaz

The accused further used derogatory photos and videos of the rape to blackmail the girl. He forced her to travel to Indore and accompany him to one of his friend’s engagement party. “He had threatened me. He had said that he would publicize the videos if I don’t travel to Indore. He raped me in Indore also,” the girl said.

As per the complaint, the accused threatened the girl to share the derogatory videos and took her to his home in Indore. This time he again brutally raped the woman leaving her in severe pain. Later he took her to a Maulvi (fifth accused) in the city and forcefully converted her to Islam. He blackmailed her against the videos and forced her to read Namaz. The woman said that he raped her several times after that and also threatened her family members.

‘Your daughter will be sold into prostitution’: accused threatened victim’s family

“He used to WhatsApp call my family members including my sister and ask them to convert their religion too. He told my parents that he would throw me into the prostitution business if they fail to convert their religion and follow Islam. He also said that conversion to Islam was being practiced all over the world and that it was common now,” the girl said.

‘Conversion to Islam is happening worldwide, we have strong connections,’ Sayam boasted

The accused Sayam is said to have threatened the family of the girl saying, “Muslims are converting people all over the world. Nothing wrong can happen to us. We have strong connections. Do not open your mouths. Otherwise, we will sell your daughters and kill your son.”

Complaint copy obtained by OpIndia

Sayam also threatened the parents of the girl to get her married to him given that he was in the possession of her intimate videos.

Links to Sambhajinagar suspected

Sources confirmed to OpIndia that Faiyyaz, one of the accused was involved in making fake documents and had helped the primary accused also in this case. Sources say that these accused persons have connections with Islamists in Sambhajinagar district of Maharashtra who probably provide funds for conversion activities.

How was the girl converted?

While talking to the local media, the girl confirmed the incident and said that she was influenced to accept that Islam. “While we were in a relationship, Sayam used to show me videos of Zakir Naik and boast about Quran. He used to say that Quran has solution to every problem in this world,” the girl said.

She said that the accused showed her videos also of some ‘Hindu Pandits’ who would say that “Islam is best”. “He sent me videos for around a year after which I also started believing that Islam is good. When we went to Indore, he took me to a Maulvi who converted me. But later I was raped,” she said.

Similar horrific case was reported from Manchar, Pune

Earlier, a similar case was reported from the Manchar region of the Pune district where a Hindu minor was trapped, kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and forcefully converted to Islam by Javed Sheikh (22). The brutal face of the accused was exposed after it was learned that the girl was kept hostage for years and was given bruises of lit cigarette. She was also assaulted by the family members of the accused. The girl seemed scared and intimidated even after she was rescued, due to prolonged trauma.

‘To understand the true nature of the universe’: Elon Musk announces new AI company xAI

OpIndia Staff
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‘To understand the true nature of the universe’: Elon Musk announces new AI company xAI

On 12th July (local time), billionaire and Tesla chief Elon Musk announced the formation of a new company focused on Artificial Intelligence (AI). Musk had been hinting at building a rival to ChatGPT for a long time. The company has been named xAI and has a team of a dozen of staff members on its website, with Musk as the chief.

According to the website, xAI’s main goal is to understand the true nature of the universe. The team members of the newly formed AI company have worked with several companies like DeepMind, OpenAI, Google Research, Microsoft Research, Tesla, and the University of Toronto. Collectively, they have contributed to several projects, including Adam Optimizer, Batch Normalisation, Layer Normalisation and the discovery of adversarial examples.

Furthermore, the company has worked on introducing innovative techniques and analyses, including Transformer-XL, Autoformalization, the Memorizing Transformer, Batch Size Scaling, and μTransfer. The team members have experience in the development of AI projects, including  AlphaStar, AlphaCode, Inception, Minerva, GPT-3.5, and GPT-4.

Notably, Musk was an early backer of ChatGPT-creator OpenAI. However, later he criticised the company for inputting safeguards to prevent the chatbot from generating biased or sexist responses. In December 2022, he tweeted, “The danger of training AI to be woke – in other words, lie – is deadly” while responding to a Twitter user who had asked OpenAI’s CEO if it was possible to “turn off the woke settings” on the chatbot platform ChatGPT.

In April 2023, during an interview with former-Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Musk hinted at the plans for a new AI venture. He said, “We’re going to start something which I call TruthGPT.” He described it as a “maximum truth-seeking AI that cares about understanding the universe.”

A few months ago, during an interview, he opined that AI could cause the destruction of civilization and called for a pause on an “out of control” race in the field of Artificial Intelligence.

Apart from Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, and The Boring Company, followed by social media platform Twitter, Musk now owns an AI platform that may raise the bar much higher for the players in the industry.

The announcement of the new company came at a time when Twitter was seeing a new rival in the market in the form of Threads by Instagram, which was launched on 6th July.

We are planning to introduce the bill to ban polygamy in the upcoming assembly session: Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma

OpIndia Staff
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We are planning to introduce the bill to ban polygamy in the upcoming assembly session: Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma

The chief minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma has once again reiterated his commitment to ban polygamy and informed that his government will soon bring the bill to the state assembly to ban the practice. The bill will be tabled after the expert committee formed the purpose submits its bill.

Talking to the media, the Assam CM stated, “If the expert committee give the report, before that, then we want to introduce it in the upcoming assembly session in September. If for some reason we could not do it, then, we will do it in the January assembly session.”

When asked about political opposition to the proposed Uniform Civil Code, Himanta Biswa Sarma said that UCC is a larger subject and polygamy is just a part of it. He said that while work on UCC is going on at the central level, the state wants to ban polygamy immediately.

“UCC is a matter which will be decided by the parliament and of course, state can also take the call with the assent of the president. So, UCC involves various issues. The law commission is looking at it. The parliamentary committee is looking at it and the Assam government has already conveyed that we are in support of UCC,” he responded to a question regarding the objection of the opposition parties to the Uniform Civil Code.

He added, “Pending the decision on UCC, we want to take out one segment of UCC that is polygamy. So, in Assam, we want to ban polygamy immediately.”

Notably, the chief minister’s significant declaration came after his administration established a panel in May to assess the validity of a legislative measure to outlaw the tradition of polygamy. Justice Rumi Phukan, a retired judge from the Gauhati High Court, is the chairperson of the four-person panel. The other members are Gauhati High Court attorney Nekibur Zaman, Assam Additional Advocate General Nalin Kohli and Assam Advocate General Debajit Saikia.

The committee was tasked with scrutinising the provisions of The Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Act, 1937, as well as Article 25 of the Indian Constitution, in relation to the directive principle of state policy for a uniform civil code. The government had said that the committee will engage in extensive discussions with all stakeholders, including legal experts, to arrive at a well-informed decision.

On 11 July, he asserted that polygamy needed to be ended for the benefit of Muslim women. He emphasised that women would greatly benefit from the law since it would grant them equal property rights. “UCC means that polygamy should be stopped and women should get equal rights in property. For the upliftment of Muslim women, it is necessary to end polygamy. Besides this UCC will equate these women with men,” he proclaimed.

Notably, Himanta Biswa Sarma had said that the new law will ban both direct and indirect polygamy.  While Muslim men are allowed to marry up to four women, the same is not allowed for other religions, and some non-Muslim men circumvent this by keeping women without formal marriage. The CM said that many men keep other wives without marriage, and this is worse than direct polygamy. Calling it de-facto polygamy, he had said that the govt wants to end both formal and informal polygamy.

Defence Ministry approves proposals to buy 26 Rafales, 3 Scorpene submarines from France

OpIndia Staff
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Defence Ministry approves proposals to buy 26 Rafales, 3 Scorpene submarines from France

Defence Ministry on Thursday approved plans to buy 26 Rafale fighter aircraft and three Scorpene class conventional submarines for the Indian Navy from France.

The proposals were approved by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) meeting attended by Defence Minister Rajanth Singh, Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan and the three services chiefs and senior officials, defence officials told ANI. 

The deals, which have been accorded Acceptance of Necessity by DAC, are likely to be announced during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to France, sources said. PM Modi embarked on a two-day visit to France on Thursday morning.

As per the proposals, the Indian Navy will get 22 single-seated Rafale Marine aircraft along with four trainer aircraft.

The Navy has been pressing for acquiring these fighter aircraft and submarines urgently as the force has been facing shortages in view of the security challenges around the country.

The aircraft carriers INS Vikramaditya and Vikrant have been operating the MiG-29s and need the Rafales for operations on both carriers.

Meanwhile, the three Scorpene class submarines would be acquired under the repeat clause by the Navy as part of Project 75 and would be built at the Mazagon Dockyards Limited in Mumbai.

The deals are estimated to be worth over Rs 90,000 crore but the final cost would be clear only after the contract negotiations are completed which will be held after the deal is announced.

India is likely to seek price concessions in the deal and would be insisting on having more ‘Make-in-India’ content in the plan, sources said.

Industry sources said for the Rafale-Marine deal, India and France are expected to form a joint team for negotiations as was done for the previous Rafale deal for 36 fighter aircraft.

The deal would be negotiated and only after that it would be finalised and implemented by the two sides.

(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)

Rohini double murder: Imran strangles his wife Khushboo, stabs neighbour Ranjit to death with scissors after suspecting an affair

OpIndia Staff
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Rohini double murder: Imran strangles his wife Khushboo, stabs neighbour Ranjit to death with scissors after suspecting an affair

In a piece of shocking news from the capital, a case of double murder has come to light in Delhi’s Rohini South neighbourhood where a Muslim man named Imran killed his wife Khushboo and her alleged boyfriend Ranjit. Imran and Khushboo were married for the last twelve years and had three children together.

The police reported that the perpetrator is an e-rickshaw driver whereas Ranjit used to work at a factory. Imran believed that his spouse was having an extramarital affair with Ranjit who was their neighbour. He used to live in front of Imran’s house. The culprit, therefore, planned to have them both killed.

Imran first strangled Khushboo to death and then fatally stabbed Ranjit with scissors. The police were informed of the double murder on the morning of 13 July. Soon, police arrived at the scene of the crime with the forensics team.

Afterwards, they arrested the offender and launched an investigation. The police have also transferred the dead bodies for postmortem examination.

The police confirmed that both the assailant and the victim of the double homicide were neighbours and that the horrific crime was carried out on suspicion of an illicit relationship.

Further investigations into the case are currently underway.

Assam: 72-year-old Shukkur Ali Barabhuiya rapes 13-year-old girl in Hailakandi, arrested after complaint filed

OpIndia Staff
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Assam: 72-year-old Shukkur Ali Barabhuiya rapes 13-year-old girl in Hailakandi, arrested after complaint filed

In the Hailakandi district of Assam, a shocking case has come to the fore wherein a 72-year-old man identified as Shukkur Ali Barabhuiya allegedly raped a 13-year-old girl multiple times. The man was arrested after the victim girl’s family a complaint against him at Hailakandi Sadar police station. Acting upon the complaint, police arrested the accused on Tuesday, July 11. 

Reportedly, accused Shukkur Ali used to rape the minor girl when her parents would not be at home. The 72-year-old accused used to threaten to kill the girl if she dared to inform her parents about his crime. 

According to the police, a medical examination of the victim confirmed sexual assault. The police informed that the statement of the victim has been recorded and the accused has been arrested. 

The arrested reportedly came after the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) intervened urging the police to nab the absconding accused on priority. Following this, the accused was arrested on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Hailakandi Deputy Superintendent of Police (SP) Leena Doley said that an investigation into the matter is underway. The police added that the arrested accused was presented before the court on Wednesday. The court has remanded two-day custody of the accused. However, an Organiser report states that the accused is remanded till July 21st. Accused Shukkur Ali Barbhuiya has been booked under the POCSO Act. 

This comes days after Assam Police on July 6 informed that two people have been arrested for raping two minor schoolgirls in Hailakandi district. One of the victims succumbed to her injuries. The accused have been identified as Jabir Ahmed Barbhuiya (21) and Ansar Uddin Mazumdar (22), both residents of Barnee Breese in the Algapur police station area. Another wanted accused in the case Jubair Ahmed Talukdar is still absconding.

Reportedly, the accused with the help of some others abducted the victim girls on Tuesday at around 11 am. According to the Algapur police station in-charge Mrinal Das, the accused allegedly took the girls to a forest in the Mohanpur area where they raped the minor girls. 

UP: Muslim man Aamir Ali files an application to become a Hindu in Moradabad, his wife claims he is doing drama to marry his Hindu girlfriend

OpIndia Staff
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UP: Muslim man Aamir Ali files an application to become a Hindu in Moradabad, his wife claims he is doing drama to marry his Hindu girlfriend

In the Moradabad district of Uttar Pradesh, a controversy has broken out after a Muslim man named Aamir Ali submitted an application to the District Magistrate (DM) for conversion to Hinduism. Meanwhile, the 22-year-old man’s wife has claimed that he wants to convert to Hinduism only to marry a Hindu woman and avoid a triple talaq case. He also wants to get rid of the love jihad accusations, she alleges.

Reportedly, Gulafshaan, a resident of Mughalpura police station precinct in Moradabad got married to Aamir Ali in February last year. Within six months of her marriage to Ali, she learnt that her husband was in a relationship with a Hindu woman since 2014. Recently she caught Aamir Ali chatting with a woman named Shubhangi Maheshwari. When Gulafshaan confronted Ali, he claimed that he has been in a relationship with Shubhangi since 2014 and that now she is blackmailing him.

19-year-old Gulafshaan who has a four-month-old daughter informed her mother about this. Gulfashaan’s mother pacified her and asked her to convince Aamir Ali. However, the situation took a bitter turn as Aamir Ali submitted an application to change his religion and become Amit Maheshwari.

Gulafshaan alleged that Aamir Ali is doing a “drama” of becoming a Hindu. She claimed that Ali is a hardcore Islamist and that he does not even purchase goods from Hindu shop owners. She alleged that he is doing the conversion drama to get married to his Hindu girlfriend Shubhangi and also get rid of Gulafshaan. By ‘converting’ to Hinduism Aamir Ali also aims to fend off the love jihad allegations. 

“I got married in February 2022, and six months later I found out about his relationship. I objected, and he promised to distance himself from her. His girlfriend threatened to deem their relationship to be a love jihad case. If he divorces me, my family will file a case against him under the triple talaq law. This is why he is tricking people by asking for conversion permission,” she said.

It is pertinent to note that the central government enacted the law against triple talaq in 2019 after the Supreme Court declared the regressive practice unconstitutional in 2017. The law criminalises the practice of triple talaq and prescribes punishment for up to 3 years. The woman is entitled to maintenance for her dependent children under the law.

Gulafshaan has appealed to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to take action against her husband Aamir Ali. 

She claimed to have written to CM Yogi Adityanath seeking his intervention in the matter. “I am your daughter, and I do hope that you will come to my rescue to protect your daughter in this issue,” she pleaded with the chief minister.

Meanwhile, Mughalpura police station in-charge Amit Kumar said, “We’ve been told he has moved an application to the superiors asking for permission to convert, but we have not received any orders in this respect yet. To ensure his safety, a police officer has been posted outside his home.

WFI Assistant Secretary Vinod Tomar facilitated harassment of wrestlers by Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, says Delhi Police chargesheet

OpIndia Staff
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WFI Assistant Secretary Vinod Tomar facilitated harassment of wrestlers by Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, says Delhi Police chargesheet

Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) assistant secretary Vinod Tomar ‘intentionally aided’ and ‘facilitated’ former WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has been accused of sexual harassment by six female wrestlers of the country.

Two of the six complaints listed Tomar as a co-accused. According to the charge sheet, he “intentionally” and “purposefully” prevented the husband in one case and the coach in the other from accompanying the complainants when they went to meet Brij Bhushan on three separate occasions at the latter’s office-cum-residence on Ashoka Road in Delhi.

Vinod Tomar, who was associated with the WFI for more than 20 years, has been charged with violating the Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 506 (criminal intimidation), 109 (abetment), 354 (outraging modesty of a woman) and 354 A (sexual harassment). However, the allegations brought against the former WFI official were reportedly completely denied by him during interrogation.

The charge sheet made reference to a complaint made by one of the wrestlers and mentioned, “The complainant (statement under Sections 161 and 164) has made the allegation that when she had gone to the office of the WFI in Delhi along with (her husband) to meet Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the accused, Vinod Tomar, allowed only the victim to enter the office and intentionally did not allow (her husband) inside the office and it was on that day that Brij Bhushan molested her. The next day, (her husband) was not allowed to enter, and the victim was molested again.”

It added, “The intent of Vinod Tomar in not allowing her husband to sit or wait outside Brij Bhushan’s office and rather make him sit near his office implies clear mala fide intent on his part as the door of Brij Bhushan’s room was not visible from outside the office of Vinod Tomar.”

The two claimed occurrences took place in 2017. Vinod Tomar allegedly requested that the complainant’s spouse wait outside the WFI office the first time. The second time, her husband was told to stay near Vinod Tomar’s chamber at the WFI office.

The chargesheet asserted that the ex-WFI employee also called the wrestler to his residence where “he humiliated and mentally harassed her on the basis of her failure to secure a position at the Olympics.” When another complainant was instructed to visit the WFI head in his office in a similar instance in 2022, Vinod Tomar ordered her coach to wait outside.

The charge sheet informed, “The complainant, in her statement under Section 164, has specifically stated that Vinod Tomar went inside the chamber of the accused, Brij Bhushan, and thereafter asked the victim to go inside the chamber alone, and purposefully stopped the coach from going inside, and closed the door.”

“When the victim was alone inside the chamber of the accused, Brij Bhushan, the accused made indecent sexual advances seeking sexual favours. Thereby, Vinod Tomar aided and facilitated the commission of the above offence in a planned manner,” it concluded.

Notably, Vinod Tomar was suspended in January of this year by the Union Ministry of Sports. The action was taken after the protest by the wrestlers against the wrestling federation and its chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

Jharkhand: RSS member and Gaurakshak Shankar Prasad Dey shot dead by unknown assailants, local Hindus outraged

OpIndia Staff
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Jharkhand: RSS member and Gaurakshak Shankar Prasad Dey shot dead by unknown assailants, local Hindus outraged

On Tuesday, 11th July 2023, Shankar Prasad Dey, a 55-year-old district liaison head of Vanvasi Kalyan Kendra and block president of Gram Raksha Dal, was shot dead in the Dumma village, located in the East Tundi block area of Dhanbad, Jharkhand. Shankar, known for his active role in curbing cow smuggling in the Tundi area, was reportedly targeted by unidentified assailants.

The incident took place late Tuesday night when Shankar was en route to the Gram Raksha Dal’s checkpost in Shaharpura to attend to his regular duty. Between Hathsara and Dumma villages, near a pond, the assailants caught him and fired six bullets into his chest at close range. Tragically, his lifeless body remained undiscovered until around 5 am when Chintamani Dey, the deputy head of the panchayat, stumbled upon it while passing by.

Shankar’s family members have alleged the involvement of a contract shooter in his murder. The local Hindu community is outraged by this shocking incident, and on Wednesday, 12th July 2023, they expressed their anger by blocking the Govindpur-Sahibganj road for an hour. The body of Shankar Prasad Dey was placed in the middle of the road during the protest. The former head of Mairanwatand panchayat, Vipin, and BJP OBC Morcha district president, Mahadev Kumbhkar, were contacted by the police station in charge, who assured swift action in apprehending the culprits.

In connection with the murder of Shankar Dey, his son Madhusudan Dey has accused 11 individuals, including his cousins Mihir Dey, Umesh Dey, and Susen Dey, all residing in Dumma village. The police have detained Umesh and Susen for interrogation as part of their ongoing investigation.

The tragic killing of Shankar Prasad Dey highlights the dangerous risks faced by those working to curb cow smuggling in the region. Shankar’s dedication to protecting cows from being smuggled and slaughtered has been cut short by this heinous act, leaving a void in the community he served.

It is important to note that Jharkhand is currently under Congress rule, and the state government has faced criticism for its alleged negligence towards repeated incidents of violence and crime. This incident adds to concerns regarding the prevailing law and order situation in the state.

NIA special court sentences 4 Indian Mujahideen terrorists to 10-year-jail term for plotting blasts across India

OpIndia Staff
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NIA special court sentences 4 Indian Mujahideen terrorists to 10-year-jail term for plotting blasts across India

A special court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Delhi handed down 10-year prison sentences to four individuals involved in the Indian Mujahideen conspiracy case. The probe pertains to a plot orchestrated by Pakistan-backed terrorists to carry out bomb blasts across India. The conviction has paved the way for their release, however, given the length of time they have already spent behind bars.

According to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the accused named Danish Ansari (Darbhanga, Bihar), Aftab Alam (Purnea, Bihar), Imran Khan (Nanded, Maharashtra) and Obaid-Ur-Rehman (Hyderabad, Telangana), were found guilty on 7 July. They were apprehended between January and March 2013. The Special Judge also imposed fines of Rs 2,000 on Danish Ansari and Rs 10,000 on Aftab Alam as part of the judgement delivered on 12 July.

The perpetrators were closely associated with Indian Mujahideen members, notably the prime accused Riyaz Bhatkal with ties to Pakistan and Yasin Bhatkal, who is based in India. They reportedly had conducted reconnaissance in significant locations, such as Hyderabad and Delhi and had also acquired explosives as well as weapons and ammunition.

A Delhi court filed charges against 11 members of the outlawed terrorist group Indian Mujahideen, including these four, on 31 March for plotting to launch an assault on India. The other seven have been identified as Yasin Bhatkal, Asadullah Akhtar, Zia-Ur-Rehman, Tehsin Akhter and Hyder Ali, who are facing trials. However, the court also exonerated three defendants in the same case due to a lack of evidence.

In accordance with the NIA, they were members of the Indian Mujahideen who engaged in “large scale recruitment/induction of new members for the commission of terrorist activities in various parts of India, with active aid and support from Pakistan based associates as well as sleeper cells within the country to commit terrorist acts by bomb blasts at prominent places in India, especially in Delhi.”

It is noteworthy to mention the inclusion of the Indian Mujahideen in the UAPA’s First Schedule as a prohibited terrorist group as of 22 June 2009.

The NIA stated that Yasin Bhatkal, one of the founding members of the Indian Mujahideen, was “instrumental in motivating young Muslim boys into the path of violent Jihad and to further indoctrinated them and to induct them into Indian Mujahideen.” He actively participated in “causing bomb blasts resulting in the loss of several lives and destruction of properties,” based on the agency’s submission.

The case focuses on the conspiracy hatched by the Indian Mujahideen, which was behind a number of attacks across the country, including the Varanasi blasts in March 2006, the Mumbai sequential explosions in July 2006, the detonations in the courts of Uttar Pradesh in Varanasi, Faizabad and Lucknow in November 2007 as well as the Jaipur periodic bomb blasts, Delhi serial explosions and the Hyderabad twin blasts in August 2007.

Indian Mujahideen

Indian Mujahideen is an Islamist terrorist group which has been particularly active in India. The jihadist group was founded as an offshoot of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) by several radicalized members including Iqbal Bhatkal, Riyaz Bhatkal, Yasin Bhatkal, Abdul Subhan Qureshi, Amir Reza Khan and Sadiq Israr Sheikh, among others.

SIMI is a banned terrorist outfit that was formed in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh in April 1977. The stated mission of SIMI is the ‘liberation of India’ by converting it to an Islamic land.

Indian Mujahideen has been active since at least 2005 when it bombed the Dashashwamedh Ghat in Varanasi where eight people were injured. It carried out several serial bombings in Indian cities in the following years notably the 2007 Uttar Pradesh bombings, 2008 Jaipur bombings, 2008 Ahmedabad bombings, 2008 Delhi bombings, 2010 Pune bombing, 2011 Mumbai bombings, 2011 Delhi bombing, 2013 Patna bombings, 2013 Hyderabad blasts and the 2013 Bodh Gaya bombings.

Indian Mujahideen is believed to be one of the numerous organisations made up of lower-level SIMI members, per the investigators.

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