A 17 -year-old girl was targeted, assaulted openly near a mosque at Tarapur in Bihar’s Munger. Reportedly, four men named Sarfaraz, Haider, Haseeb and Aaqib attempted gang rape on the young victim while she was on her way to her grandmother’s house.
Dainik Bhaskar has reported that the 17-year-old victim was stopped on her way and was forcibly assaulted by four men near a public hand pump next to a mosque in Tarapur. As narrated by the girl in her complaint, she was on the way to her maternal grandmother’s house to offer namaz. Suddenly four men namely Sarfaraz, Haider, Haseeb and Aaqib appeared in the scene and started molesting her in open.
When the victim shouted for help, Haider forced his hand on her mouth while warning her to budge or else her brother will be killed. The victim detailed that she was abused and beaten badly. The perpetrators threatened the young girl that she will be left only after being raped by them.
Hearing the noise, the victim’s mother and sister came out and were shocked to witness the scene. The whole village gathered after they gave calls for help. Seeing this, the perpetrators ran away. SHO, Tarapur Police station has informed that the investigation is on after the victim has registered an FIR in the police.
In the Green Town area of Nishtar Tehsil in Lahore, Pakistan, a Muslim man reportedly climbed the cross on the roof of a church and chanted Islamic verses threatening the local public. He was accompanied by two other men who insulted local Christian men while ogling and making sexual gestures at young Christian girls in the locality.
Muhammed Bilal Saleem entered a factory and ascended the facility’s steps to the roof. He vaulted across to the roof of the adjacent church, where he straddled a massive cross anchored on a metal structure. Bilal began frantically swaying on the cross while yelling “Allah-u-Akbar” and other Islamic phrases.
A Twitter user Arzoo Kazmi, whose profile indicates that she is a Pakistani journalist, shared the video writing, “A Muslim fanatic climbed onto a church roof and chanted Islamic verses as he tried to terrorise a local community while vandalising a large cross. & #PMImranKhan is talking about #Islamophobia”
A Muslim fanatic climbed onto a church roof and chanted Islamic verses as he tried to terrorise a local community while vandalising a large cross. & #PMImranKhan is talking about #Islamophobia ???? pic.twitter.com/AdL75AkjcY
It can be clearly seen in the video the person violently hurls “Allah-u-Akbar” slogans and swings the cross. However, it is not clear about the date and time of the video but it is most likely a recent video as per many reports.
A large crowd of Christians gathered to see what was causing the uproar. At the same moment, several of them phoned the local police and were informed that a police team would arrive immediately to investigate the matter. Some Church members and other Christians went to his aid once he was brought down from the cross.
As reports suggest, Muhammad Bilal works in a facility that manufactures window grills, which is close to the Green Town locality. An FIR has also been filed against Muhammad Bilal for blasphemy under sections 295 and 295-A of the Pakistan Penal Code. Bilal is also being prosecuted for trespass and criminal damage. Despite their involvement in the abuse and vandalism, no action is being taken against Bilal’s companions.
Minorities in Pakistan
Pakistan has a dismal record of protecting its minority population. Christian and Hindu minorities in Pakistan face ongoing persecution at the hands of the country’s Muslim radicals. Muslim extremists frequently abduct girls from minority cultures, force them to marry and convert them to Islam. Non-compliance or resistance has frequently resulted in their murder.
In January this year, two Christian pastors were shot by miscreants in Peshawar’s Madina Market in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region. The pastors were members of Peshawar’s All Saints Church, which has been in existence since 1883. In September 2013, the Church was the target of a terrible terror assault, which resulted in the deaths of over 75 people.
In the case of blasphemy, the Pakistani legal system appears to sympathize with the extremists. In September 2020, a Pakistani court in Lahore convicted a Christian man of blasphemy and sentenced him to death under the contentious ‘blasphemy’ legislation. Asif Pervaiz Masih, 37, was punished by the Lahore Session Court for insulting Islam and sending a ‘blasphemous’ SMS to a former supervisor at work. Masih was detained in 2013 on suspicion of blasphemy.
The Supreme Court refused an early hearing of the appeals against the Karnataka High Court verdict that effectively upheld the ban on wearing hijab in educational institutions in the state.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court declined to give any specific date for the hearing of the hijab pleas challenging the Karnataka high court order.
Citing exams, senior advocate Devadatt Kamat argued before the apex court, asking them to hear the appeal on an urgent basis. Advocate Kamat said the students have their exams on March 28, and if they are not allowed inside the classroom without hijab, they will lose a year.
However, Chief Justice NV Ramana said, “Exams have nothing to do with the issue. Don’t sensationalise.” The court noted that it would hear the case in due course.
Hijab Issue : Supreme Court refuses to urgently hear the petitions
CJI says the matter will be taken up in due course, asks parties to not “sensationalise” the issue.
Earlier, the top court had refused to hear the appeal urgently and had posted the matter after the Holi break.
On March 15, the Karnataka High Court had upheld a government order (GO) that empowered college development committees of government colleges in the state to ban all religious attires inside the college premises and mandate unform dress codes.
A three-judge Bench of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justices Krishna S Dixit and JM Khazi had held that the hijab was not an essential religious practice and hence the constitutional articles that grant religious freedom cannot be used to violate the uniform dress code rules mandated by respective educational institutions.
Hijab row
The hijab controversy in Karnataka gained momentum since the first week of January after eight Muslim girls were denied entry to classes in a Udupi college because they were wearing hijab in violation of the college’s uniform rules. The college authorities had informed that the hijab was not a part of the uniform dress code mandated for the students.
The Muslim girls, with the support of Islamic organisations like CFI then filed a petition in High Court seeking permission to attend classes with hijab. They stated that wearing the hijab was their ‘fundamental right’ granted under Articles 14 and 25 of the Indian Constitution and ‘integral practice of Islam’.
The controversy spiralled as Hindu students in Karnataka styled with saffron scarves around their necks and protested against Muslim girls continuing to wear hijab to the college. Tensions also prevailed at some educational institutions in Udupi, Shivamogga, Bagalkote, and other parts, as stones-pelting and violence were reported from various parts of the state.
As reported earlier, the students had begun to wear hijab to schools and colleges after meeting the Campus Front of India (CFI), the student branch of the Islamist organization Popular Front of India (PFI), in October 2021. The students confessed that they had been in touch with the CFI.
The Udupi college where the issue had first broken out, has stated that they have over 100 Muslim students and most of them have been following the uniform dress code. Only a few girls, after visiting with a CFI lawyer, had started demanding the right to wear Hijabs inside classrooms.
Amidst the ongoing Russia-Ukraine clashes, Russia’s communications regulator Roskomnadzor has banned Google News, accusing the news aggregator of ‘spreading disinformation’ about the country’s military operation in Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Russia’s Interfax news agency confirmed that Russia’s communication regulator Roskomnadzor determined that the website “provided access to numerous publications and materials containing unreliable socially significant information about the course of a special military operation on the territory of Ukraine.”
Roskomnadzor said they had acted on a request from the office of Russia’s prosecutor general. Last week, the Russian communications watchdog had accused Google and its subsidiary YouTube of terrorist activities, asking them to stop broadcasting anti-Russian videos.
⚡️Russia bans Google News service.
Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media, or Roskomnadzor, has banned Google News service, accusing it of spreading “false news” about Russia’s war against Ukraine.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 23, 2022
“The American online news resource in question provided access to numerous publications and materials containing inauthentic and publicly important information about the course of the special military operation on the territory of Ukraine,” the Russian regulator said.
The tech giant Google had also earlier this month announced it would stop selling all online ads in Russia. Alphabet said they would block the advert payments to websites and YouTube videos that spread either false or harmful information about the war.
Responding to the ban, Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google, said, “We’ve confirmed that some people are having difficulty accessing the Google News app and website in Russia and that this is not due to any technical issues on our end”.
In a statement, “We’ve worked hard to keep information services like News accessible to people in Russia for as long as possible”.
Prior to the decision. Google had taken Russian news outlets RT and Sputnik off their platforms in YouTube. Earlier in March, Google had blocked the Apps of Russian media portals RT and Sputnik News from its play store.
Google’s parent company Alphabet had also confirmed that they are blocking Russian media portals like RT and Sputnik etc from Google News search results.
Russia bans Instagram after Meta allows calls for violence against Russians
The ban on Google News comes days after Russia had blocked several English-language websites, including Facebook and Instagram since Russia launched its military operations in Ukraine in late February. Russian lawmakers had also passed a new law that makes it illegal to report on events that could discredit the Russian forces. Similarly, the Russian court had banned Facebook and Instagram in the country, labelling its parent company Meta as “extremist”.
The ban on the sites came along with an access ban on western media outlets. Keeping the situation in mind, global media outlets have temporarily suspended reporting from Russia, the regulator had said. These organisations include the BBC, CNN, CBC, CBS News and Bloomberg News. Many news outlets had also removed the bylines of Russia-based journalists after assessing threats to their security.
The Russian ban on Meta came after Facebook and Instagram updated their policy allowing calls for violence against Russians and assassinations of President Putin and Belarus President Lukashenko on their platforms. The action against British and American news outlets came after the US and UK banned Russian media outlets in their respective countries.
In its defence, Russian communication regulator Roskomnadzor had claimed that false information was being peddled in the country on the behest of its enemies, including the US and its Western European allies.
On March 23, Rajasthan Police arrested one Arshad Khan and his three accomplices in a gang-rape and murder case of a 17-year-old minor girl. The incident took place on March 22 in village Dhunwadia which falls under the Pisanganj Police Station area. Arshad was found next to the dead body 100 meters inside the forest at Ras-Mangliawas highway near Karnaus of Village Dhunwadia.
Reports suggest Khan inflicted injury upon himself as well after killing the minor. Khan is a resident of Village Saray Sultan, Bilgram Mallava, District Hardoi, Uttar Pradesh. The victim belonged to Ravana Rajput Community. Heavy Police force was deployed in the region to maintain law and order.
During preliminary investigation, the Police found out that Arshad had lured the minor on Instagram. They had been continuously chatting on social media platforms. Whenever the minor refused anything he had demanded, Arshad would threaten her that he would commit suicide. On the day of the incident, he had threatened he would come to her house, after which she had gone to meet him out of fear of her family.
Dainik Bhaskar said in a report that they got access to the conversation between Arshad and the victim on Instagram. It was evident from the chat that he had pressurized her to meet him. When the girl said, “No… this cannot happen,” Arshad had said, “I swear on my mother I am coming to your house.” The girl, who was scared that Arshad would come to her house, left the phone at home and went to meet him.
Arshad allegedly gang-raped the minor with three of his friends and then slit her throat with a sharp weapon. When the girl did not reach home, her family started searching for her. Later at night, they found her dead body near Karnais. Arshad was sitting near the dead body, and as per Police’s statement, he had injured himself as well. When the family members tried to capture him, he ran away. He was later caught from the Ajmer Railway Station. The Police arrested him and his accomplices. Their car was confiscated as well. Ajmer SP Vikas Sharma said the accused was sitting next to the dead body. A probe has been initiated in the case.
The Police took possession of the phone of the minor and have initiated an investigation into the matter
The family sat on protest outside JLN hospital, demanding the arrest and strict action against the culprits. Initially, they refused to take the dead body of the minor, after four hours of deliberation by the Police and assurance of quick investigation, after which the protest was called off.
‘The Mental Boy’ of Instagram
Arshad had named himself the Mental Boy on Instagram. It was reported that he had posted videos of sprinkling petrol on himself and setting himself on fire on social media. In other videos and posts, he could be seen holding chilam and blowing weapons.
OpIndia tried calling Police for more information but could not connect.
The Himachal Pradesh Government has issued an order prohibiting vehicles carrying flags displaying photographs of Khalistani terrorist Bhindranwale from entering the state.
This move follows after locals in Jwalamukhi and Mandi districts had objected to banners displaying Bhindranwale’s images atop cars arriving from Punjab. Several videos of automobiles displaying Bhindranwale flags went viral, with locals demanding the removal of the flags.
Amaan Bali, a Twitter user, tweeted a video of a Sikh man holding Bhindranwale flags and locals objecting to its use. Amaan publicly condemned the removal of the flag, calling it hooliganism. He referred to Bhindranwale as Sant Ji in another tweet.
Urging @himachalpolice to clarify the rules that forbid the usage of flags carrying images of Deep Sidhu or Sant Ji. It would be great to help public understand what sections forbid use of Nishan Sahib on vehicles. In video a cop is seen removing Nishan pic.twitter.com/CpX8t8bkfU
It can be clearly seen in the video that the person accepted carrying flags of Bhindranwale and not Nishan Sahib. Also, the Himachal Pradesh police clarified on the next day that no religious flags were removed and they refuted all such claims made on Social Media platforms.
— Himachal Pradesh Police (@himachalpolice) March 19, 2022
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur stated that the issue has also been discussed with Punjab. “We have high regard for the Nishan Sahib symbol and anyone is welcome to use it but flags with pictures of Bhindranwale will not be tolerated,” he stated.
DGP Sanjay Kundu stated that there was no provocation from anybody and that Himachal is a peaceful state where people of all religions live happily. Prem Kaushal, the spokesperson for the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee, also stated at Hamirpur that cars with flags and images of Bhindranwale will instil fear and insecurity among Himachal residents.
SGPC opposes ‘banning’ of flags carrying Bhindranwale’s images
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) vehemently opposed the Himachal Pradesh government’s move to ‘ban’ banners with images of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale on Wednesday. In a letter to Himachal chief minister Jai Ram Thakur, Harjinder Singh Dhami stated that Sikhs throughout the globe see Bhindranwale as their idol and leader.
The SGPC insisted that the objection to Khalistani terrorist Bhindranwale, whose actions led to the deaths of thousands of people, is ‘hurting religious sentiments’.
In the letter addressed to Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister, SGPC stated, “From media reports, we have come to know your statement that the flags carrying a photo or portrait of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale will not be allowed in HP. We register our strong objection to this statement made by you as a CM of the state, in democratic India, which is a multi-religious country. To maintain the peace and communal harmony in the country, as a CM of the state, it is your duty to ensure the protection of religious sentiments of all the communities.”
“The statement made by you (Jai Ram Thakur) has hurt the sentiments of Sikhs. We urge you to withdraw your highly objectionable statement and expect that no such controversy is created in future in HP,” he further added.
Amidst the ongoing ‘The Kashmir Files’ movie rage, which has brought the brutally honest account of the Kashmiri Hindu genocide in Kashmir to the big screen, several far-left social media trolls and the Congress party supporters last week took to Twitter to claim that the disgraced cop Sanjiv Bhatt, who is serving prison time, also belonged to the Kashmiri Pandit community.
Several left-wing trolls targetted the Modi government days after the Kashmir Files movie released in the theatres that depicted how Kashmiri Hindus were massacred by the Jihadi Islamists in the Kashmir valley in the early 1990s. The Vivek Agnihotri film that exposes the horrific tales of genocide committed against the Kashmiri Hindus, seems to have angered the left-liberals, who have now started finding excuses to discredit and criticise the movie and the wide public support it is getting.
In doing so, the far-left social media users and the Congress party sympathisers dragged disgraced cop Sanjiv Bhatt to attack the Modi government. As per them, the Modi government should not try to sympathise with the Kashmiri Hindu community and BJP leaders should not promote the movie as they have ‘jailed’ Sanjiv Bhatt.
It is pertinent to note that Sanjiv Bhatt is currently languishing in jail for falsely implicating a lawyer Sumersingh Rajpurohit by planting opium in a hotel room in Palanpur. The tainted cop’s lies were also exposed by the Nanavati Commission in its report wherein it debunked his allegation on the then Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi that he had called a meeting at his residence post-Godhra riots to allow Hindus to vent out their anger against Muslims.
One troll account claimed that Sanjiv Bhatt is also a Kashmiri Pandit, and he deserves some help.
Dr Ajoy Kumar, the Congress party leader, was one of the first to claim that Sanjiv Bhatt is a ‘Kashmiri Pandit’.
Another troll account also claimed that Sanjiv Bhat, who is currently in jail in connection with a Narcotics drugs case, contended that Bhatt was a Kashmiri Pandit too.
Interestingly, Sanjiv Bhatt’s Twitter account, handled by some anonymous user, had claimed in 2018 that the sacked cop was a Kashmiri Pandit.
A Congress party troll Ravinder Kapur also peddled the same claim that the sacked IPS officer is a Kashmir Pandit and asked Prime Minister Modi whether he would make a movie on him.
The claims made by the far-left social media accounts and the Congress party supporters that the disgraced cop Sanjiv Bhatt is a Kashmir Pandit is not entirely true.
According to the reports, Sanjiv Bhatt is a Gujarati Brahmin. During an interview in 2012, Sanjiv Bhatt had himself claimed that he was a native Gujarati. Sanjiv Bhatt also served as an Indian Police Service officer in his home Gujarat-cadre before being arrested by the Gujarat CID.
The confusion over Sanjiv Bhatt’s Kashmiri Pandit lineage comes from his surname. The surname ‘Bhatt’, which is often used by Gujarati Brahmins just as Sanjiv Bhatt, is often conflated with the Kashmiri surname ‘Bhat’. Based on the above wrong assumption, the social media users sympathetic to Sanjiv Bhat claimed that the disgraced cop was a Kashmiri Hindu.
However, the claims of Bhatt being a Kashmiri Pandit do not seem to be accurate. Also, being a Kashmiri Pandit does not absolve Bhatt of his crimes. He has been found guilty by the courts after years of legal procedure and has been stripped of his rank and position.
It is also quite interesting to see that while the so-called ‘liberals’ keep denying the genocide that killed thousands of Kashmiri Hindus and displaced hundreds of thousands from their homeland, they chose a privileged ex-IPS officer to be their ‘ideal victim’.
India has responded strongly to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s statement on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir at a recent session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), asserting that China has no locus standi to comment on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir, which is India’s internal matter.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said other countries, including China, should note that India refrains from the public judgement of their internal issues. The MEA’s response came amidst the ongoing contacts between New Delhi and Beijing over a possible visit by Wang to India.
Our response to media queries on reference to Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir made by Chinese Foreign Minister in his speech to Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Pakistan:https://t.co/0VrVAR9tOTpic.twitter.com/pxvhD9G3Vm
“We reject the uncalled reference to India by the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his speech at the opening ceremony,” External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, in response to Wang’s reference to Jammu and Kashmir in his speech at the OIC meeting.
“Other countries including China have no locus standi to comment. They should note that India refrains from the public judgement of their internal issues,” he said.
On Tuesday, Wang Yi had raised the Kashmir issue in his speech at the OIC foreign ministers’ meeting held in Islamabad, Pakistan. The Chinese foreign minister had addressed the opening ceremony of the session of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
“On Kashmir, we have heard again today the calls of many of our Islamic friends. And China shares the same hope,” Wang said at the OIC meeting in Islamabad.
On March 23, Delhi Police condemned a section of netizens for willfully misrepresenting viral video of a man from Jammu & Kashmir who was denied a room in a Delhi hotel. In a statement released on Twitter, Delhi Police added that attempts to discredit the image of Delhi Police through willful misrepresentation may attract penal action.
A purported video is viral on social media wherein a person is being denied hotel reservation due to his J&K ID. The reason for cancellation is being given as direction from police. It is clarified that no such direction has been given by Delhi Police.(1/3)@ANI@PTI_News
The Delhi Police categorically denied giving any directions to deny hotel reservations to someone holding an ID of Jammu and Kashmir. They said, “A purported video is viral on social media wherein a person is being denied hotel reservation due to his J&K ID. The reason for cancellation is being given as direction from police. It is clarified that no such direction has been given by Delhi Police.”
Some netizens are trying to discredit the image of Delhi Police through willful misrepresentation of the video in circulation which can attract penal action.(3/3)@ANI@PTI_News#DelhiPoliceUpdates
They added that the person who published the video on YouTube said that he stayed in the same area in another hotel, and the hotel that denied the accommodation gave a lame excuse. Delhi Police added, “Some netizens are trying to discredit the image of Delhi Police through willful misrepresentation of the video in circulation, which can attract penal action.”
The viral video blamed Delhi Police and Vivek Agnihotri for hate against Kashmiris
An undated video was shared on Twitter by one Nasir Khuehami alleging that a hotel in Delhi denied accommodation to a person from Jammu & Kashmir. In the video, a man could be heard arguing with the receptionist of The Pleasant Inn, which is an OYO flagship property. A staff member of the hotel told the person that she was directed not to give accommodation to anyone with a J&K ID.
When the man protested, she called the manager, who told her to tell the person that Delhi Police directed for the same. Nasir, despite the fact that there was no mention of Vivek Agnihotri’s latest film, The Kashmir Files, in the viral video, blamed the filmmaker for “inciting people against Kashmiris”. Many netizens targeted Delhi Police for allegedly issuing the said directions.
It is noteworthy that such incidents, though isolated, have happened in the past. Many reports dated back as far as 2016 have been shared since the video went viral. Even in the previous incidents, Delhi Police had categorically denied issuing any directions to deny accommodation to people of J&K.
Severe protests have erupted against the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Kerala government’s SilverLine semi-high-speed rail project as several people have hit the streets across the state to oppose the Kerala government’s decision to go ahead with the controversial railway project.
On Wednesday, several Congress party workers and locals joined forces to oppose the project at Chottanikkara in Ernakulam district. The protestors removed the survey stones laid down for the project and threw them into a nearby pond.
Earlier, similar protests were held in Kozhikode and Kottayam.
#WATCH | Kerala: Congress workers and locals protest and throw away the survey stones for SilverLine semi-high-speed rail project, in Chottanikkara in Ernakulam district. pic.twitter.com/TJSl9ptQB9
Earlier, the opposition had stepped up the attacks against the Kerala government over the SilverLine project. The opposition parties had disrupted the Budget session of the Kerala Assembly and had staged a boycott in the House.
The K-Rail or SilverLine project
The SilverLine project, an ambitious high-speed railway project of the state government, has given rise to the biggest political turmoil in Kerala.
As per the Kerala government, the K-Rail or SilverLine project is expected to reduce the travel time between Kasargod and Thiruvananthapuram to four hours. The total length of the project is estimated to be 529.45 km. The Pinarayi Vijayan government has claimed that the project will reduce carbon emissions.
However, the high-speed railway project has met with strong opposition in the state as the project is expected to displace nearly 30,000 people and cause severe environmental damage.
The government has defended the project saying that it would benefit the next generation of people and fuel the economic development of the region.
The SilverLine train will stop at Kollam, Chengannur, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Tirur, Kozhikode, and Kannur on its 530-km journey between Kasargod and Thiruvananthapuram. Meanwhile, the opposition has alleged that the project will put Kerala under a financial burden.
