On September 6, Hindu organisations stopped Alia Bhatt, Ranbir Kapoor and Ayan Mukerji from entering Mahakaleshwar Temple in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh. The information about their visit was shared by Alia Bhatt on her Instagram account, where she had said she would be leaving for Ujjain on Tuesday with the team from the upcoming movie Brahmastra.
Bajrang Dal men protest ahead of film actor couple Ranbir Kapoor-Alia Bhatt’s visit to Ujjain’s Mahakal Temple, over Kapoor’s 2011 statement on beef eating. Holding black flags, the protestors gathered outside temple’s VVIP Gate. @NewIndianXpress@TheMornStandard@santwana99pic.twitter.com/VAQPSOx6o2
As Bajrang Dal came to know about their visit to the Mahakaleshwar Temple, one of the most revered Jyotirlinga, the organisation’s activists gathered outside the Temple and protested to stop them. When the team reached the Temple for Darshan, they were welcomed by Bajrang Dal activists with slogans of Jai Shri Ram. As per the videos on social media platforms, the activists formed a large group to stop Bhatt and Kapoor from entering the Temple.
It is notable that recently several videos of the members of team Brahmastra started making rounds on social media, out of which one was an old clip on Ranbir Kapoor where he had admitted he was a ‘beef lover’. Irked by the statement, Bajrang Dal activists stopped him and his wife Alia Bhatt, who is also his co-star in the upcoming film Brahmastra, from entering the Temple.
Mahakal Police were also present at the scene. They restored to Lathi Charge to disperse the activists. However, the Hindu organisations prevented the star duo from entering the Temple, and they returned without darshan. However, other members were able to offer prayers at the Temple later.
The Indian Express’s Special Correspondent from Ujjain, Anuraag Singh, shared a few videos of the incident. Bajrang Dal District President Ankit Chaubey said, “We are here to protest against Ranbir Kapoor. He has given derogatory comments against Gau Mata.” He further objected to the lathi charge done by the Police and said, “We will intensify the protests and will not allow Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt to enter the Temple. Ranbir Kapoor said on camera that eating beef is good. Bajrang Dal will not allow a beef-eater from entering the Temple.”
“We won’t allow Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt into the temple over the liking for beef remark. We’ll protest in big manner against local administration and police over the assault on our worker,” Bajrang Dal leader Ankit Chaube said. @NewIndianXpress@TheMornStandard@santwana99pic.twitter.com/ohJXZJLru1
Chaubey further added that Bajrang Dal activists were protesting peacefully and were at the spot to show black flags. OpIndia tried to reach out to Ankit Chaubey but could not connect.
Boycott calls against Brahmastra
Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt starrer film Brahmastra is scheduled for release on September 9. Apart from the duo, Amitabh Bachchan, Nagarjuna, and Mouni Roy are also in Ayan Mukerji’s directed film. Ahead of the release, there have been boycott calls due to the previous statements given by the cast members, including Ranbir and Alia. It is notable that the film was written to be based on Rumi, a Sufi saint, but later it was changed to connect it to Hindu mythology.
Several recent reports have shown that demography is changing rapidly along India’s border with Nepal. The number of mosques and madarasas is constantly increasing. From August 20 to 27, 2022, an OpIndia team visited several areas in Nepal bordering India to observe the ground situation. What follows here is the third episode of the series of reports documenting the facts noticed by the OpIndia team.
While the shift in demography was visible, our team also found evidence that proves how the menace of ‘love jihad’ or ‘grooming jihad’ has also plagued the land of mountains. Here too, the vulnerable Hindu native women are being targeted by Muslim men, lured and brainwashed, forcefully converted to Islam and married off.
Besides, the open Indo-Nepal border is also extensively used by criminals for smuggling and other notorious activities. Our team tried and obtained some data and information about these crimes too.
In the first report of this series, it was mentioned that the OpIndia team visited the Dang district in Nepal, that falls in the Lumbini state. We entered Dang from the Jarwa border in the Balrampur district of Uttar Pradesh. During the week-long trip, our team also visited the Kapilvastu district, another district of the Lumbini Province in Nepal.
Emerging menace of Love Jihad in Nepal: How young women are being lured and trapped
In June this year, a Nepalese woman named Sina Lama who lives in the Rupandehi area of the country filed a complaint at the Kapilvastu police station against a man named Sanaullah. In her complaint, she claimed that Sanaullah, who allegedly came to the hamlet to undertake a brick business, entrapped her into a love affair under false promises.
He lied about his marital status to her. Later, when she fell into the trap, he tricked her to get her to hand over 4 tolas (or around 10 grammes) of gold and 11 lakh Nepalese rupees to him, which he then took and fled.
Sina Lama with Sanaullah
According to Sina Lama, Sanaullah convinced her to convert to Islam and get married to him as per Islamic law. The FIR filed in the case, names Sanaullah’s father, his mother and Sanaullah as the accused.
FIR copy
The Delhi connection
According to details gathered, Sina Lama’s wedding rituals were performed by a Maulana of the Kapilvastu district who wrote their nikah nama (marriage contract) in Arabic. At the end of the Nikah Nama, ‘Amadullah Islampur’ was mentioned. However, what is interesting is that the form used to write the Nikah Nama was designed and printed by some Khurshid Book Depot having Delhi’s Pincode- 110006.
Notably, the areas that fall under the aforementioned pin code are Sadar Bazar, Chandni Chowk, Hauz Qazi, Chawri Bazar, Jama Masjid etc, all predominately Muslim-dominated areas of Delhi.
Smuggling business flourishing from Indo-Nepal border area: Statistics and the conspiracy
Anti-social elements on both sides have taken advantage of Nepal’s open border for carrying out illegal activities. In one such crackdown, the Siddharthnagar police of Uttar Pradesh seized 26 bottles of Napalese liquor and arrested one person identified as Saddam alias Jalaluddin in this connection on August 25, 2022. Jalaluddin is a resident of Siddharthnagar, Uttar Pradesh.
Notably, there are roughly 50 km between Siddharthnagar and the Indo-Nepal border, which is why many criminals prefer this route to cross the border illagally.
Mahmood Sheikh, a vehicle thief, was detained by the Shohratgarh police of Siddharthnagar, Uttar Pradesh on August 18, 2022, as he attempted to sell three stolen bikes from India to Nepal. Mehmood Sheikh is also a resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Siddharthnagar district.
Mahmood Sheikh arrested with the three stolen bikes
Crime hub and illegal entry of Pakistanis
In August 2022, a 24-year-old Pakistani national, Khadija Noor, was arrested at the Indo-Nepal border by the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), a border guarding force of India deployed along its borders with Nepal and Bhutan, for trying to enter India with fake documents. She was arrested in Bhithamore along the Indo-Nepal border. Officials also recovered a Pakistani visa from her. A Nepali accomplice who was assisting her, and her boyfriend, a resident of Hyderabad, were also taken into custody.
On 31 July 2022, District Police and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) officials, while conducting joint patrolling on the Indo-Nepal border, arrested one Mohammad Abid and seized heroine worth Rs 15 lakh from him. Abid was a resident of the Bahraich district in Uttar Pradesh.
On 23 July 2022, Siddharthnagar police arrested Salman Ahmed, who was reportedly smuggling fertilizers from Bajaha locality situated on the Nepal border. Two bikes used for smuggling and 39 sacks of manure were recovered from the accused. Salman is a resident of Siddharthnagar, UP.
One Shahnawaz was detained on July 9, 2022 by the Shahjahanpur Police of Uttar Pradesh after he was caught smuggling cannabis from Nepal to India. The police recovered cannabis worth Rs 70 lakhs from the accused. Shahnawaz is a resident of Shahjahanpur district only.
On 6 July 2022, Siddharthnagar police of Uttar Pradesh arrested Majjibula, for smuggling fertilizers from Nepal. The police also seized a marshal jeep he used for smuggling and 16 bags of manure. The accused is a resident of UP’s Siddharthnagar.
On 3 July 2022, Siddharthanagar police arrested Ziauddin of Nepal’s Rupandehi district with as many as 280 intoxicating tablets and a knife in Mohana area.
Nepalese Parliament and ex-minister Mirza Dilshad Baig and Dawood connection
As our team moved around the villages in the Kapilvastu district, we noticed that the residents were still recounting the tales of the dreaded criminal and two-time MLA Mirza Dilshad Baig in the 1990s. Every person from whom we inquired about the ex-member of the Nepalese Parliament’s residence, pointed to the road leading to his house.
When we got close to Mirza Baig’s residence, we noticed no activity nearby.
Mirza Dilshad Baig had crossed the border into Krishnanagar in Nepal 20 years ago. He won two subsequent elections from there and went on to become the minister for housing in the Girija Prasad Koirala government.
As per media reports, Baig was reportedly the primary representative of Dawood’s gang and was in charge of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) operations in the border region. It was said that Mirza Dilshad Baig was ISI one-stop shop for contract killings, gun running, drugs, explosives, and kidnappings. It is believed that Baig single-handedly made Nepal a safe haven for Dawood and the ISI.
He was shot in the bylanes of Kathmandu on June 29, 1998, by the gang of Chhota Rajan, the Malaysia-based underworld don and arch rival of Dawood Ibrahim.
Hindu leader Mangre Singh was killed on the open international border
Speaking to our team members, OP Mishra and Vidyabhushan, two activists of the Seema Jagran Manch of the Sangh of the Balrampur area recalled how in 1970s, Mangre Singh, a Hindu leader from the Jana Sangh, who was elected as the MLA of the Tulsipur constituency in the Balrampur district of Uttar Pradesh was killed on the Indo-Nepal border. He made a significant contribution in helping the local Hindus.
Mangre Singh was brutally murdered in the 1990s in the dark jungles of Jarwa, a village located in the northern Indian province of Uttar Pradesh 5 kilometres south of the Nepalese border. Firoz Pappu and Masood Ahmed were named as the perpetrators following the assassination. Later, the two murderers joined the Samajwadi Party.
Several recent reports have shown that demography is changing rapidly along India’s border with Nepal. The number of mosques and madarsas is constantly increasing. From August 20 to 27, 2022, an OpIndia team visited several areas in Nepal bordering India to observe the ground situation. What follows here is the second episode of the series of reports documenting the facts noticed by the OpIndia team.
Uttar Pradesh shares a 599.3-km-long open border with Nepal, touching seven districts – Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheri, Bahraich, Sravasti, Balrampur, Sidhharthnagar and Maharajganj. The distance between Barhni in Uttar Pradesh’s Siddharthnagar district to Nepal’s Kapilvastu is 53 Km by road. To enter the Kapilvastu district in Nepal one must cross the Barhni city in Siddharthnagar. It is one of the busiest stretches of the Indo-Nepal open border.
Kapilvastu is among the Nepali districts with the highest concentration of Muslims. Muslim residents make up about 18% of the district’s overall population, according to the 2011 census. Several mosques and madrasas can also be seen here along the international border.
Several mosques and madarsas are spotted on the entry to Nepal, domes visible even from the Indian border
The Kapilvastu district’s Krishnanagar area begins as soon as you cross into Nepal from the Barhni border. Right adjacent to the border is a huge market. Numerous businesses, including Dr Saeed Ahmed’s clinic, Faisal Printing, and Imran Mobile, are located on the market’s ground level. On the second floor, there is Al Halal Public Secondary School. It is an English-medium school, says the board. The last storey houses a mosque, whose dome can be seen clearly even from India’s border.
Adjacent to this mosque is a three-story madarsa. The madarsa is called Darul Salaam. Locals claimed that there are Talibs (students) in the madrassa from various regions of Nepal. Aside from this, students from West Bangel and Kashmir have also come here to receive Deni Taleem (religious education).
Darul Salaam madarsa
All the shops in the market belong to local Muslims
While we walked past the madarsa, we reached a street which led us straight to the primary market in Krishnanagar. What we noticed here was that the majority of shops in the market were owned by the local Muslims. Burqa-clad women roaming around the marketplace were a common sight. The majority of the males there were also dressed in ways that indicated the area’s considerable Islamic influence. Furthermore, numerous residences in the area were displaying flags with Islamic symbols, further demonstrating how Islam had spread in the region.
Burqa-clad women near Krishna Nagar market, house displaying Islamic flags
Indo-Nepal border: Mosque similar to that in Saudi Arabia
A little over a kilometre ahead of the Krishnanagar market, there was another sizable mosque with a madrasa right next to it. The mosque’s upper section resembled the Masjid Al Nawabi in Saudi Arabia. Madeena Masjid is the name of this mosque. Muslims in the area estimate that this mosque is roughly 70 years old.
Madeena Masjid in Kapilvastu, Nepal
The area in and around the Krishnanagar market housed innumerable mosques and madarsas. In fact, there was another big madarsa right in front of the Madeena Masjid. The name of this madrasa is ‘Jamia Umme Salma’. Locals told us that hundreds of boys from India migrated here to pursue their studies. According to an elderly Muslim who owns a grocery store, the Madeena Masjid belongs to the Islamic organisation Sunni Jamaat, while the mosque on the border belongs to the people of Ahl-e Hadith, which is a religious movement that emerged in northern India in the mid-nineteenth century.
The old temple-like structure next to the madarsa in Kapilvastu, Nepal
Right adjacent to the madarsa was saw a dilapidated dwelling. The structure resembled an ancient temple. However, the locals were unable to provide us with any information regarding the place. Near the madarsa, there was a clod during shop owned by one Arif Khan, who called himself the area’s potential MLA.
Arif Khan, owner of a cold drink store near the madarsa
All Political parties in Nepal are dominated by Muslim leaders
In Krishnanagar, the OpIndia team saw posters for numerous political parties. The posters show that Muslims are well represented in all major parties. On the posters, names like Intkhab Ahmed Khan, Mirza Rashid Baig, and Akram Pathan were written.
Muslim shops even on the main highway
A highway connects India’s Barhni border with Nepal’s capital Kathmandu. There are numerous Muslim-owned businesses on both sides of this stretch. The route is dotted with shops with Muslim names, whether it is Farooq’s Chicken Shop or Chand’s Garage. Deependra, a political activist in Krishnanagar, told us that Muslim people predominate in numerous areas of the Kapilvastu district, including Chapurwa, Laxminagar, Bhilmi, Bargadi, Kudarbetwa, and Javabhari.
The Jharkhand High Court ruled on Tuesday that the Jharkhand police attempted to shield those accused of lynching Rupesh Pandey as per a report by Lagatar24. The Court also directed the CBI to take over the case for a fair inquiry and justice. “Prima facie it appears that police are not investigating the matter independently and are being influenced at the behest of some persons. Incident was so alarming that the Human Right Commission and Commission for Children have also taken cognizance and they sent their representatives to Hazaribagh district of that area,” the court order read.
The Court was hearing a criminal writ suit which was filed by now deceased Pandey’s mother Urmila Devi. Justice Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi meanwhile pondered that even if the charge sheet in the case was not produced within 90 days, why the committee of higher officials of the police had not reviewed the matter. The court also made serious remarks about the rising threat of mob lynching.
The single justice bench noted that the police presented a charge sheet against just five people out of the 27 alleged accused. The state remained evasive in its explanation to the court of the efforts taken to conclude the investigation. Furthermore, the court questioned the veracity of the counter-FIR submitted by a member of the opposing Muslim group. It was filed two days after the lynching of Rupesh Pandey.
“In such a case which has taken place by way of mob lynching what step senior police officers have taken to conclude the investigation at the earliest, that has not been disclosed in the counter-affidavit. When the incident took place on February 6, 2022, the entire police administration, as well as the district administration, swung into action, why the arson case made by another community, has not been registered on the same day, raising eyebrows on the police and on the complaint by another community another F.I.R. was registered on February 8,” the court quoted.
Rupesh Pandey was lynched by a mob of Islamists in the middle of a ruckus when a Saraswati Visarjan procession was passing from Lakhna Dulmaha Imambada of the Nai Taand village in Hazaribagh on February 6. The 17-year-old son of Sikandar Pandey, who was part of the religious procession, was badly beaten amid the ruckus. He was declared dead when taken to the hospital.
According to the exclusive report by Lagatar 24, the deceased’s family had met Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and demanded a CBI investigation into the case. The court stated, about a counter-affidavit filed by the state government, that the state attempted to justify that the inquiry was proceeding on the proper path.
“Paragraph 59 of the counter-affidavit, who has sworn the affidavit has stated therein that investigating agency to proceed in its manner in the interrogation of the accused and that in course of investigation to be adopted in a particular case should be left to the discretion and wisdom of the investigating agency. The question remains if such statement is being made on affidavit by the Investigating Officer before the Court which suggests that the Investigating Officer has to say that inquiry should be left to the discretion of the said I.O. which is negated by the Court in view of the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Sidhartha Vashisht and Manu Sharma,” the court stated.
The court also stated that if something is being hidden by the police and that if the constitutional courts come to the opinion that a specific case has to be handed over to the specialised agency, it has the authority to do so. The bench however acknowledged that the CBI is overloaded and that the court should not regularly refer cases to the CBI. “It must be used only in rare instances, such as when it is necessary to establish credibility and trust in investigations, or when such an order is required to accomplish complete justice and enforce basic rights”, the bench added.
The bench meanwhile also mentioned a string of post-election violence in West Bengal in which workers of an opposition party were slain, and it ordered a CBI inquiry to ensure a fair investigation. Justice Sanjay Dwivedi noted that West Bengal had a similar situation in which there was a disturbance when political party activists were slain. “A similar issue occurred when the victims’ families did not trust the state police”, the court said.
Further, the court also recognized mob lynching as a serious crime and said that the threat of mob lynching was increasing. According to the court, mob violence and criminality committed by self-appointed keepers of public morals scare ordinary people without legal punishment, resulting in loss of life and property devastation.
Earlier, the mother of now-deceased Rupesh Pandey had demanded a CBI inquiry in the case and had said that she was dissatisfied with the Police investigation. She had demanded strict action against the culprits who murdered Rupesh during the Saraswati Puja Visarjan procession in Jharkhand. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of India had also taken cognizance of the brutal murder of Rupesh Pandey and had sought an action report from the Police in the case.
Students at Jamia Millia Islamia University protested and shouted slogans after the college revoked admission of anti-Hindu Delhi riots accused Safoora Zargar. Provocative and aggressive slogans such as ‘RSS Ki Kabr Khudegi, Jamia Ki Dharti Par’ and ‘ABVP Ki Kabr Khudegi Jamia Ki Dharti Par’ were raised on the campus by a group of students waving banners and placards.
This comes after the sociology department at Jamia Millia Islamia on Monday cancelled the admission of riots accused Safoora Zargar. Zargar was in the Department of Sociology’s interdisciplinary MPhil/PhD programme. Jamia Millia Islamia in a statement said, “Her progress report by the supervisor was unsatisfactory. The scholar did not apply for an extension as a woman scholar before the expiry of the stipulated maximum period.”
“The scholar did not submit her M.Phil dissertation within the maximum stipulated time of 5 semesters plus one additional semester of COVID extension (6th Semester) that was also given to her, which ended on 6th February 2022,” the statement further added. the registration of Ms Safoora Zargar from M.Phil./Ph.D. (Sociology) stands cancelled w.e.f. 22 August 2022 in anticipation of the approval of the same of the Faculty Committee,” it added in conclusion.
Safoora Zargar was booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for her alleged role in the conspiracy that led to the Delhi Riots in February. She was arrested in April 2020. The Delhi Police had claimed that she was part of the conspiracy to “destroy, destabilize and disintegrate the Government of India in order to compel to withdraw the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the alleged National Register of Citizens.”
The Delhi High Court granted bail to Safoora Zargar in the Delhi Riots case in June 2020 on humanitarian grounds. After the Central Government said that it had no objections to her release, bail was granted. A regular bail was granted to Safoora Zargar after furnishing a bond of Rs. 10,000 on the condition that she will not leave the territory of Delhi without the permission of the Court and will not hamper the investigation.
The Archdiocese of Thalassery in Kerala, Archbishop Mar Joseph Pamplany, has raised concerns over the rising cases of alleged targeting of girls from Christian families through “love traps”. In a pastoral letter, he urged the parents to be cautious against such incidents. The letter was read in the churches under the archdiocese in Kerala on Sunday, August 4.
The letter read, “During this eight-day Lent of Mary, let us fervently pray for the sorrows of parents who feel helpless when their children fall into the traps of religious extremists.” The letter further urged the members of the church to make use of the program to create awareness among teenagers as well as their parents to ensure they do not fall into the “trap” of extremist groups.
It read, “We have envisaged three action programs as a birthday present to St Mary – to protect all believers from extremists, donate land to provide houses for the landless, and to ensure that all residents have proper paths to their houses.”
It further added, “During these times when atrocities against women are on the rise, we should learn to respect women and womanhood as we respect the Holy Mother.” It is notable that last year the department of catechesis of the diocese of Thamarassery issued a handbook that warned about ‘Love Jihad’.
The handbook mentioned that Love Jihad was being implemented in nine stages and went on to explain the same. It also had a section on how to avoid falling into the trap set by extremist groups. Following the controversy over the handbook, the Thalassery diocese withdrew the controversial remarks published in the handbook by the diocese.
Mikhail Gorbachev passed away on August 30th, 2022. Ever since I was eagerly waiting for the Indian media to take this opportunity to criticise the Modi government. After 8 full days, The Hindu went a step further and utilised this opportunity to criticise the people of India themselves! Today (September 6th), The Hindu published a staggering opinion article on their editorial page, titled “Gorbachev, Macro-economics, and Gandhi”.
I would like to draw your attention to the text in the sub-title below the headline. “Concepts of free trade, financial freedom, and privatisation are not the right solutions for India’s citizens”
I am sure you have re-read the line again to make sure what you are reading is actually what has been printed. For a moment, let’s put aside the acutely insulting, preachy and condescending tone of the author (and the editor who allowed this). Have you ever heard before that “financial freedom” is actually a bad thing? Why would someone not want their fellow citizens to have “financial freedom”? Why would someone object to the concept of “free trade” that will make fellow citizens prosperous and therefore financially independent?
The answers to these questions lay in the bio of the author, published at the end of the piece. The author, Arun Maria, was appointed as a member of the Planning Commission in the year 2009 (by Sonia Gandhi-led UPA). The mind boggles at the quality of people who have been put in high positions by Sonia Gandhi’s party. Positions from which people like Arun Maria actually decide what is the “right solution for India’s citizens”.
Arun Maria also claims in this article that he was part of a group that went to Russia in 1989 to explain the “Indian model” to Gorbachev because he wanted that advice from Rajiv Gandhi. Not only does Arun Maria rue that the “Washington economics model” won over the “Indian Model” in Russia then, but he is very dejected that “it also reached India’s shores in 1991.” Clearly, Arun Maria was prone to regressive thinking for a very long time.
Arun Maria jumps from topic to topic in his article and more often than not, the topics are all not even linked to the headline in the first place! We are told that there has been a “shift in balance from democracy to capitalism in the last 30 years” in the world itself. I believe we need some extra-terrestrial intelligence to decode this statement. He writes about how his definition of capitalism has wreaked havoc in the entire world today (remember the article was supposed to be about Gorbachev!); of how meaningful property rights have increased a divide in the world; and of how capitalism created, wait for it, climate change!
But what is Arun Maria’s solution for all these devastating problems that the world is currently undergoing? Apparently, it is “Gandhi’s ethical economics?
Source: The Hindu
Intellectual fraudsters often think that using fancy terms such as these will cover up all the lofty and empty arguments that emanate from their pen. “Gandhi’s ethical economics” is one such term that no one has heard before and therefore no one will understand now. Arun Maria seeks to explain this term in the weirdest manner possible.
He tells us that “India’s policymakers seem obsessed with increasing the size of the economy.” I must say that I heaved a sigh of relief after this line because now everything falls into place! The author had to somehow link India’s recent achievement of becoming the 5th largest economy to a doomsday scenario. That he chose Gorbachev’s death to do this speaks volumes about the vacuousness in his cranium (I used cranium instead of the brain to sound like an intellectual!).
We are told that “The shape of an economy matters more than its size for human well-being.” By now, I have given up on trying to decode what he meant to convey with phrases like “shape of an economy”. The article now predictably ends with a recommendation to follow “Mahatma Gandhi’s calculus”, whatever that means!
The author (and the editor) use a lot of irrelevant data to make us feel that this is an intellectual piece. Once you separate the alleged intellectual chaff and realise what the undertone of this article is, you are bound to get very angry. Angry that they actually want Indians to remain poor; angry that they do not want Indians to prosper; Angry that such regressive thinkers were part of decision-making bodies in India; angry that they continue to propagate such regressive thinking, years after their leaders have been booted out of power by Indians.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a chargesheet in the NIA special court in Bengaluru against the accused in connection with the murder of Bajrang Dal activist Harsha in the Shivamogga district. It has been mentioned in the chargesheet that ‘Hate was the reason behind the murder of Bajrang Dal activist’.
‘Hatred due to issues of Hijab’: #NIA Files charge-sheet on the murder of 28-year old Bajrang-Dal Activist Harsha, hacked to death in Shivamogga on Feb 20th.@KeypadGuerilla & @kritsween with more on the charge-sheet. pic.twitter.com/yhyfnjSOA2
The investigating officers have submitted a chargesheet of more than 750 pages in the case. The case was transferred to the NIA in March this year. On February 20, 26-year-old Harsha was brutally murdered, over a Facebook post related to the hijab controversy, near Kamat Petrol Pump on NT Road in Shivamogga, Karnataka.
Many points were raised by NIA authorities in the chargesheet provided to the court. According to the prosecution document, the accused’s main motivation was to murder a Hindu organisation worker. It is stated that Harsha was slain after waiting for 15 days with the purpose of instilling terror if a Hindu is killed. Harsha was a member of a Hindu group, and the accused in the case sought to avenge an old grievance by murdering him.
Harsha murder case
Harsha was stabbed to death by a group of Muslim teens on the night of February 20 at Kamat petrol pump in Karnataka’s Shivamogga district. He was from Seegehatti and worked as a tailor. Harsha was a Bajrang Dal member who was spotted wearing a saffron shawl to seek consistency in school and college dress regulations.
According to a friend of the Bajrang Dal activist, Harsha had been under monitoring for some weeks and the murder was a “well-planned plot.” The cold-blooded murder of the Bajrang Dal activist sparked widespread outrage, compelling the district administration to enforce a curfew and close educational institutions.
On Monday (September 5), the dead body of a minor boy was recovered from a madrasa in Shah Chokha village in Punhana sub-division in Nuh district of Haryana.
As per reports, the 11-year-old boy went missing on Saturday (September 3) evening. He left his house to offer prayers at the madrassa but did not return home that night. The family kept on searching for the boy until Sunday and registered a missing complaint with the police on Monday.
On the same day, the child’s body was found buried in sand inside the premises of the madrassa. While speaking about the matter, SHO (Pinangwan police station) Satbir Singh informed that the police received information about the discovery of the victim’s body in the madrassa.
He was 11 years & was studying in this madrasa for 1 year. I was told that my nephew had left the madrasa but did not reach home. We searched for him but couldn’t find it anywhere. This is murder. We demand that action should be taken in this: Kin of the deceased (05.09) pic.twitter.com/VFWleyVRNu
He informed, “The boy’s partially decomposed body was found in the room buried in the sand. A foul smell had started emanating from the room, after which we were alerted.”
The victim’s uncle, Iqbal, informed, “We received a call from the madrassa on Saturday late evening that my nephew had gone missing.” He said that that the cleric (Haji) called him on Monday to inform him about the fate of his nephew.
“My nephew has been murdered and I want the police to find the accused soon,” he emphasised. A First Information Report (FIR) was lodged against unidentified people under the Indian penal Code (IPC) Section 302 (murder).
The child’s father had passed away. He is survived by his mother and 3 sisters. The body was learning Urdu and Arabic with religious texts in the madrasa for the past 1 year.
Recently, a 21-year-old madrasa caretaker was arrested in the Santosh Nagar Police Station area of Hyderabad for sodomising a 14-year-old boy. The offender was produced before a magistrate and then remanded to judicial custody.
A brutal incident of triple-murder driven by superstition has emerged from Jharkhand’s capital Ranchi. Three women were allegedly beaten to death on accusations of witchcraft at around 8:30 pm on Sunday, September 4, 2022. The incident occurred at Ranadih, the last village in the Sonahatu police station jurisdiction of Ranchi district.
In this case, police said on Tuesday, September 6, 2022, that the bodies of two victims were retrieved on Sunday, while another body was recovered on Monday.
Jharkhand | Three female bodies recovered in Sonahatu area of rural Ranchi. All are above 60 yrs of age. They have been murdered by fellow villagers on the accusations of practicing witchcraft.Four persons have been detained. Investigation underway: Naushad Alam, SP Ranchi, Rural pic.twitter.com/L6czaqnlzz
According to media reports, three ladies were assaulted with sticks by a group of locals who claimed that they practised witchcraft and that some individuals in the hamlet had been bitten by snakes as a result.
After they died, their bodies were “dumped” in a hilly area close to the village.
The news of the violent murder of three ladies, including an elderly woman, has caused quite a stir in the neighbourhood.
Meanwhile, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Kaushal Kishore informed that thirteen people, including the husband and the son of one of the murdered women, have been booked in connection with the killings. Eight people have so far been arrested and a search is on for the rest. The police have also detained the husband of one of the victims for questioning after he was named in the complaint filed by the woman’s nephew.
Story of ‘witchcraft’ concocted by an exorcist led to the brutal murder of the three women
In what transpired, Raj Kishore Munda, an 18-year-old student at Tamar’s Eklavya Vidyalaya and a resident of the hamlet, passed away from a snake bite on Thursday (September 1) evening. He was Ranadih inhabitant Ramsakal Singh Munda’s son.
Following the tragedy, locals went to a snake-charmer who also doubles up as an exorcist in the Ranadih hamlet. He informed the locals that the death was caused by some local women practising witchcraft and that if they were not eliminated, the village would be destroyed. The quack somehow convinced the locals to believe that the women would soon murder another young person from their own family.
Incidentally, on Friday, September 2, a boy named Abhimanyu Singh Munda was also bitten by a snake. Though he was saved after getting medical aid.
Taking Ojha’s superstition into account, a village assembly was held in the village, and Railu Devi (45 years), wife of Abhimanyu Singh Munda, was brought in and beaten up. She was asked to confess to being a witch. Under duress, Railu Devi admitted that she practised withchcraft. At this point, when she was pressurised to name other witches in the villages, she, out of fear, named Dholi Devi and Aloomani Devi. The three women were then taken to a mountain near Ranadih and beaten to death.
Mukesh Hembram, the station in charge of Sonahatu police station, learned of the murders. The police team arrived at the village on the orders of the higher officers. When people were questioned, it was discovered that the police’s information was accurate.
Speaking about the case, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Kaushal Kishore said, “We had constituted an SIT to probe into the ghastly incident. So far eight persons named in the FIR have been arrested. Search is on for another 16 persons. We will also be arresting the quack who had instigated the villagers.”
