As the Karnataka hijab row is being exploited by the political parties during the ongoing assembly polls, usual suspects have started to familiar arguments in support of Islamic veil rules for woman. In the latest episode, Congress leader Zameer Ahmed has claimed that women without hijab get raped.
B. Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan, Congress MLA from Chamrajpet constituency in Karnataka, has joined the hijab debate by claiming that the Islamic veil is for protecting the beauty of women from potential rapists. When asked about his views on the matter, he said, “Hijab means purdah in Islam, (those who are opposing it) may not have women and children in their house, if they had, they would have known it. The purpose of the hijab is, after the girls grow up, it is used to keep them under Purdah, as their beauty should not be seen. Hijab is used to keep their beauty hidden’.
#WATCH | Hijab means ‘Parda’ in Islam…to hide the beauty of women…women get raped when they don’t wear Hijab: Congress leader Zameer Ahmed on #HijabRow in Hubli, Karnataka pic.twitter.com/8Ole8wjLQF
Zameer Ahmed Khan further added, ‘As you must have seen, the rape rate in India is perhaps the highest in the world. What is the reason, because the women are not kept under purdah.’
He however added that hijab is not compulsory, but those women who want to keep their beauty hidden can wear it to prevent getting raped. He said that there is nothing new in this, and this is a years old system.
As expected, the comments made by the Congress MLA are baseless and misleading. First, Karnataka govt has not banned Muslim women from wearing hijab like the Congress party and the so-called feminists are claiming. Only the students of colleges, where dress codes are in place, are being prevented from wearing hijab inside classrooms. They can wear it elsewhere, and other Muslim women are free to be under purdah as per their wish. The restriction is only on students, as they are expected to follow the uniform rules of their colleges.
The claim that exposure of body by women leads to more rape has been debunked numerous times, as the data on rape does not support this claim. Fully clothed women are raped and harassed regularly, and incidents of women in burqa getting raped also have quite often.
And the claim that rape rate in India is highest is completely wrong. According to data, the rate of rape in India is 1.81 per 100,000 population, which at 95th position among 119 countries, which implies a significantly lower rate. Botswana tops the chart with 93 rapes er 100000 citizens.
After the mob lynching incident of Hazaribagh, Jharkhand, where 17-year-old Rupesh Pandey was murdered by an Islamist mob during the Saraswati Visarjan, instead of punishing the culprits, the state govt is taking action against Hindu groups protesting against the murder and demanding justice. The Jharkhand Police has now registered an FIR against the protesters who had organised a candle march in Chatra condemning the murder.
Thousands of people including the members of Bharatiya Janata Party, BJYM, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, Vishwas Hindu Parishad have been protesting the brutal killing of Pandey. In Jamua of Giridih, Vishwa Hindu Parishad protested against the murder and demanded capital punishment for the killers of Rupesh Pandey.
Meanwhile, the youth in Chatra had taken out a candle march on February 10 and demanded the government action against the culprits. The youths involved in the rally had said that the state government was giving protection to the accused of mob lynching and warned that if strict action is not taken against the culprits, the protests would be more aggressive.
Alok Kumar, Ankit Pandey, Baijnath Yaduvanshi, Bhavani Roy, Pintu Kumar, Rajkumar, Santosh Kumar, Satish Pandey, Umesh Bharti, Rajesh Ram, Himanshu Gupta, Kanhai Pandey, Rajdeep Pandey and Uttam Pandey who were a part of candle march protest in Chatra have specifically been named in the FIR.
The Police officials have charged them under section 147 (nuisance or rioting) and section, 188 (violation of government instructions during the pandemic) of IPC in addition to section 51 (Disobeying government orders during disaster) of the Disaster Management Act (NDMA) and Section 3 of the Epidemic Act.
BJYM says govt, police trying to cover up the case-
BJYM leader Suman Saurav while talking exclusively to OpIndia said that the protest rally in Chatra was huge and banners demanding justice for Rupesh Pandey were established all over the city. “Many Hindu organisations had participated in the rally. They questioned the government about the law and order in the state. The protest was not at all violent and hence the Police was also silent during the march. But the next day we were informed that an FIR has been registered”, he added.
Suman Saurav said that the protest march was conducted peacefully, and even the police didn’t object to it. But on the next day, the case was filed for organising the march by the police.
He stated that the Hindus have often been targeted by Chatra Police and SHO Luv Kumar Singh. “Candle marches, protests have been organized in various cities of Jharkhand. BJYM wants the matter to be heard in fast track court and capital punishment must be given to the culprits. We have also lodged complaint to the NCPCR”, he said adding that a govt job and compensation of Rs 50 lakh must be given to the family of Rupesh Pandey.
It is important to note that a crime report has been registered against 27 accused Muslims and 5 of them have been arrested so far in the case. Suman Saurav has further said that the Police is looking at the murder as some small fight and is trying to cover up the case. The matter should be looked upon as a severe ‘mob lynching’ act and the govt should also extend its helping had to the victim’s family, he added.
Muslim women had teased unconscious Rupesh, said “He’s alive, probably not beaten properly”
It is reported that Rupesh Pandey was an intermediate student and was working part-time in a mobile shop to support the family expenses. His brother died long back due to snake bite leaving Rupesh alone to look after his family. Rupesh’s mother who works in a women’s committee and father who is a small scale farmer are worried about the murder case as they say the matter can escalate to the Supreme Court.
According to Rupesh’s parents, they don’t see the case resolved at the earliest as it pertains to mob lynching by Muslims. BJYM leader said that they have initiated collecting funds via crowdfunding to help the family of Rupesh.
Reports mention that the Muslim women of Hazaribagh who witnessed the murder of Rupesh Pandey were passing intimidating comments on the victim. When Rupesh was being admitted to the hospital, the women said, “He’s alive, probably not beaten properly”.
The BJYM held the protests in the entire state under the leadership of former CM Babulal Marandi. It has also led the initial talks with the state governor Ramesh Bais and demanded justice in the case. Accusing the state government of ignoring the matter, Suman Saurav said that the protest is not only from the political party, but even the public wants justice.
‘Either hang them or give them to me, I will kill them’, Rupesh Pandey’s mother demands capital punishment for killers of her son
Earlier, Rupesh’s mother had demanded justice for her minor son’s brutal murder. She had demanded that the culprits be hanged. “I don’t want anything else, simply return my son to me. They have taken away the apple of our eye. We cannot bear the loss, we are going crazy. So far, no concrete action has been taken by the police. I’m alone. My son was my only hope. I do not keep well. Somehow we were making ends meet”, she had said.
She recalled receiving a call from a doctor on the day of the incident, informing her that her son was lying unconscious. When she arrived, the cops refused to let her see Rupesh, she claimed. Remembering her minor son, Rupesh’s mother had said brusquely, “Either hang the culprits or give them to me. I will kill them. Just like they tortured and brutally hacked my son to death, I would kill them too”.
What does the FIR read?
The initial report filed by Anil Kumar Pandey, Rupesh’s uncle narrates the exact episode of Rupesh’s murder. According to the report, Rupesh was sitting in the mobile shop at around 5 pm on February 5. Some of his friends invited him to the Saraswati puja. Suddenly the Muslim crowd led by Aslam Ansari alias Pappu Miya approached Pandey and started beating him.
The crowd also consisted of Muslim women. The mob attacked Pandey and sat on him so he could not escape, the report mentioned. The accused named in this case are – Aslam Ansari, Mohammad Naushad, Mohammad Kaif, Mohammad Gufran, Mohammad Chand, Mohammad Osama, Mohammad Ehtam, Mohammad Zahid, Mohammad Sonu.
Mohammad Faisal, Mohammad Shahbaz, Rabbani Miyan, Mohammad Ashiq, Mohammad Jashid, Mohammad Ashiq. , Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Salman, Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Salman alias Bhale, Mohammad Chhote, Mohammad Istekhar, Mohammad Iqbal, Mohammad Hassan, Mohd Anees and Mohd Naushad have also been mentioned as accused in the report.
The Hijab row in the southern state of Karnataka has been a talking point across the country. The Karnataka government’s decision on strict enforcement of already existing rules and regulations on the uniforms has angered a section of Muslims and radical Islamic organisations, who have now descended on the streets to protest against such rules. They have also insisted that they would be wearing Hijab inside educational institutions, challenging the country’s secular ethos.
The Hijab ban in schools and the subsequent violent reaction of Muslims have now given a major shock, putting the pluralistic foundations of the nation at risk. Moreover, the mounting attacks on the idea of secular-democratic constitutional value by a section of society and their attempts to impose theocratic values on a nation that is bound by civilisational values have put the indigenous communities of the nation into a state of trepidation.
Amidst all of these raging debates over the future of India’s secular-democratic republic and fears of Islamisation, there is a growing demand for the immediate introduction of a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) that could act as a check against the misuse of personal laws, especially by the Muslims, to challenge the foundational ideas of the country such as secularism and pluralism.
According to its proponents, UCC will bring some kind of parity among all the communities and halt the growing Islamisation in the country. The UCC, if implemented, will make personal laws applicable to all citizens equally regardless of their religion.
However, Supreme Court Advocate J Sai Deepak, who is one of the leading voices on Indic issues, has an interesting take on the idea of the Uniform Civil Code. Sai Deepak, who has extensively written and spoken about the issue of the Uniform Civil Code, has, in fact, raises a flag of caution on the scope and the nature of the Uniform Civil Code.
Recently, in a debate on Times Now, Advocate Sai Deepak pointed out that nobody yet understands the rationale behind the Uniform Civil Code. According to Sai Deepak, for Hindus, the discussions around the Uniform Civil Code will start with a compromise. Hindus will be pushed to start from a loser’s position as a part of the bargain, notes the Supreme Court advocate.
“Hindus have already lost a lot due to the policies of Nehru. The diversity of Hindu culture has been destroyed by codifying Hindu personal laws. With the introduction of the Uniform Civil Code, it is the Hindu culture that will lose out,” Sai Deepak said, adding that the proposed Uniform Civil Code’s fundamental nature will yet again revolve around the colonial ideas of secularism and democracy.
Sai Deepak notes that the Nehru government had codified the Hindu personal laws into four successive bills under the Hindu Code Bill. He adds that the personal laws were not only codified, but a good number of Hindu customs were completely done away with, and the community was never consulted.
“Only two people decided it, Dr Ambedkar is a mixed bag, and in this case, he completely supported Nehru in his unilateral imposition of this position without any consultation because Dr Ambedkar had already prepared the framework even before the independence. In the 1940s, Ambedkar had already worked on this, during which there was no consultation undertaken with respect to Hindus,” Sai Deepak argues.
Sai Deepak says he neither supports the Uniform Civil Code nor rejects it as the basic structure of the policy is yet to be decided. “We also want to know what the other communities are willing to compromise. If anybody thinks that this discussion will be a secular one, then they are wrong. This is an absolute religious-communal discussion issue. There is no point in secularising this issue,” Sai Deepak notes.
The Supreme Court advocate points out that the Hindu Civil Code has been based on only two schools – Mithakshara and Dayabhaga. As per him, there are more than two schools. The lawmakers established a polarity among all the practices in North, South, East and West regions to codify a personal law for Hindus.
The area of Muslim personal law has been effectively left entirely to the community and its religious authorities, in stark contrast with Hindus, says Sai Deepak.
In the current situation, if the countries want to arrive at a Uniform Civil Code, the Hindus will be made to compromise for accomodating concerns of non-Hindus. In addition, the Uniform Civil code will be presented as the biggest project of minority victimhood for the rest of the world, Sai Deepak expressed his worry about pushing for a Uniform Civil Code that is not include concerns of Hindus.
The Supreme Court advocate also suggests a pragmatic solution in place of a Uniform Civil Code. Sai Deepak says that instead of the UCC, the political class should first arrive at a uniform civil code for each religion, which is to say that a process should start first to at least rationalise the internal operation of each religion.
On question of reactions from Muslim community and on Muslims becoming the subject matter whenever there is a discussion on Uniform Civil Code:
One of the major talking points regarding implementing the Uniform Civil Code in the country is the opposition to the idea from the Muslim community. Even though there are legitimate concerns from the Hindu community, the left-liberal secular establishment of the country has often ignored it; instead, they have resorted to fear-mongering that the UCC would violate the religious rights of the Muslims in the country.
On the issue of perpetual display of victimhood by the Muslims and their response to the idea of UCC, Sai Deepak observes that the Muslims in the country reacted violently for the simple matter of Hijab not being allowed inside a secular classroom.
“When we start a discussion on Uniform Civil Code, India will have a larger issue on its hands. When former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee wanted to bring Uniform Civil Code, the critics of UCC said the Muslims were not ready; this was in 1998 and not 1947. Now it is 2022; we are being told the same thing,” he laments, adding that the government should not raise the issue of UCC without any preparation.
“If it wants to decide on UCC, people have a right to ask, how does it smell, how do we touch it, what is its flesh and blood character,” says Sai Deepak in his interview with Journalist Arihant Pawariya.
In the discussion, Sai Deepak also explains how the Indian state has consistently been anti-Hindu when it comes to interference with Hindu customs. Therefore, more than the impact of the Uniform Civil Code on the Muslim community, he says, adding that he is concerned with the impact it will have on the Hindu community because the standard operating procedure of the Indian state, regardless of the ruling dispensation, is that if the state wants to undertake a measure which is specific to the non-Hindu community. The secular state will not be able to sell it across the board unless there is a compromise that is made by the Hindu community.
Therefore, since this is seen as a slap on the face of minorities, the Hindus will also be slapped. This is the traditional position, he adds.
The Supreme Court advocate also challenges the detractors to name one legislation that is Muslim-centric or non-Hindu centric in nature that has been passed since 1947, which has the effect of imposing even reasonable constitutional restrictions on their religious rights. “None, zilch,” says J Sai Deepak.
The only legislation that was doing this was the Maintenance Act, concerning marriage maintenance, which led to the Shah Bano, and that snowballed into the controversy of Ram Janmabhoomi, whose consequences Hindus are still facing.
Hindus cannot be used a cannon-fodder by a political party
Responding to BJP and RSS’s ideological position on the Hindutva movement, J Sai Deepak says that Hindus have sentiments independent of the BJP and RSS.
“Hindus have certain issues with the way they have been treated in this country independent of what BJP and RSS says. Hindus certainly have a problem with the fact that over 40,000 temples are under occupation within their country under the name of Places of Worship Act, 1991. Kindly do not reduce the Hindu concerns to a political party’s concerns as these are legitimate concerns,” adds Sai Deepak.
Sai Deepak asks, “Was there a BJP when Ram Janmabhoomi started? BJP did not even exist. Even RSS did not exist. RSS was formed in 1925, whereas the Ram Janmabhoomi has been going on since at least 1858 when the very first police complaint was filed.”
“So, it is extremely convenient on the part of some of these people to reduce all Hindu interests and issues as pro-BJP or pro-RSS as if they are pure political issues. No, they are very serious cultural, civilisation, and religious issues with which we have a legitimate problem. In every other country, we speak of reclamation of places that colonisers have taken over. Bharat has seen two waves of colonisation, maybe three waves of colonisation, first by the Muslims, second by the Christians and third by the Nehruvian-Marxists, who are hell-bent on propagating the first two colonisations and changing the self-image of the country and its natives. That is a fact.”
In his interview, Sai Deepak says the victimhood complex displayed by the Muslims is way past its expiry date because if Saudi Arabia can look at its past and say, “We wish to move forward, and this is not what we want to be for the rest of our lives, and this is not we wanted to be known far. I am sorry to say, in this country, where we recognise specifically three categories, it is time for the Ashrafs, Arzals and Ajlafs of this country to change.”
Pointing out the patience displayed by the Hindus, Sai Deepak notes, “In which of the country with close to 80 per cent majority, would – you have expected the majority population to wait for 200 years to get one of its places out of 40,000 places and that too through the court. The matter reached the Faizabad court; from there, it went to the Allahabad High Court in 1989. In 2010, the matter got transferred to Supreme Court delivered a judgement in 2019. This is the extent of patience Hindus have exhibited.”
Sai Deepak also cautions the secular Indian state not to take the tolerance of Hindus lightly. He says it is essential for the state to know that at times the community patience runs out, failing which the faultiness may keep on appearing again and again.
“Even after being patient for so many decades, when Hindus have finally said enough is enough, we are only asking for parity and not preferential treatment, and even if parity is seen as inequality and discrimination, well history has a way of teaching lessons and no constitution can come in that particular way because the constituent is part of the history and history is not the part of the constitution.”
Alleged journalist Rana Ayyub recently issued a statement in connection to the seize of funds by Enforcement Directorate and accepted almost all the charges laid down by the agency. The international lobby has come in her support, alleging the Indian government is hounding Ayyub for her “fearless” journalist. Twitter user Hawk Eye, who had initially busted the alleged charity scam by Rana, has published another thread on Twitter explaining how the scam took place. In the thread, Hawk Eye compared the claims made by Ayyub with what actually happened in the background.
In the Tweet threat, Hawk Eye published the timeline of the events that took place across three campaigns run by Ayyub on crowdfunding platform Ketto. During the first campaign that ran from April 2020 to May 2020, she made three claims. On April 28, 2020, Ayyub had posted on Twitter that she had provided relief material to 2500 families. On May 17, she alleged her team provided relief material to 23 thousand families across Maharashtra, including migrant workers, Adivasi families and more.
Take a close look at this illustration and the entire charity scandal’s modus-operandi will be clear.
How to read: At the center check the timeline and follow the sequence of events in order only.
(spent 2 min time on this infographic before scrolling down)
The next claim was made on May 18, 2020, in which she said to have arranged transport for 600 migrants. Amidst all the claims, she quietly created an FD of Rs 50 lakh in her father’s name allegedly to establish a Covid care centre or a hospital. In the first campaign, she had collected 1.24 crore.
When she started the second campaign, to boost up her image, she allegedly flaunted tall claims for her previous campaign. She claimed to have provided relief to 70,000 families and sent 10,000 migrant workers back to their homes. She further claimed the distribution of relief material including 8 tonnes of food, 80,000 litres of milk, 50,000 litres of oil, 50,000 KG pulses, 1 lakh KG flour, 700 PPE kits and more.
And then started a series of tall claims & photo-ops. Rana claimed to provide relief to 70K families & sent 10K migrants home, 8 tonnes of food, 80K ltr milk, 50K ltr oil, 50k kg dal, 100k kg flour, 700 PPE kits etc. The estimation of such relief work would be in crores. 4/ pic.twitter.com/o816InQide
Hawk Eye said, “One month of relief to 15K families would cost with rough estimate 4.5Cr (with just 100/- per day of a family of 4 members). Rana Ayyub claimed to have sent 10,000 migrants from Mumbai to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh (a rough estimate would be 37.5L). However, NO bills were produced to ED/I-T that of transport.”
During the investigation, Rana produced bills worth 40 Lakh to the ED that included Taurpolin sheets and grains. Hawk Eye said, “The biggest lie was, in August 2020 claimed that “all funds are exhausted & donate more”, while 50 Lakhs FD and 57 Lakh unutilized funds are reported at the same time by ED.”
To put things in perspective, she had alleged to have donated sunflower oil in the relief package. At that time, the price of a one-litre pack of sunflower oil was around Rs 140. If she got a discount for buying in bulk, it would not have been less than Rs 125 per pack. She claimed to have donated 50,000 such packets that would clock to 62 lakh 50 thousand just for the oil. Similarly, she would have spent Rs 30 lakh on the flour and approx 32 lakh on rice. Only these three items sum up to an estimate of 1 crore 24 lakh. However, she had collected only 1.24 crore from the campaign, out of which 50 Lakh were used for FD, and 57 Lakh were lying in her account unutilized as per ED.
“70K families & 10K migrants” “50L FD to earmark hospital & earn interest” when ppl were dying of starvation (as per one tweet). “My PAN not available” but sister’s one was arranged who live abroad” “Hospital refused to accept a 90L donation bcz I writes against govt.” 8/ pic.twitter.com/0XQIPfnwDP
Hawk Eye added that her fictional stories, from her PAN not being available to the hospital refusing to accept donations, have fallen flat. What he found most hilarious was the argument where she donated 74.5 Lakh CM/PM Care funds because funds were unutilized, even during the deadly second wave!! Notably, she keeps questioning PM Care day and night.
ED seized 1.77 crore funds in Rana Ayyub and her family’s accounts
On February 10, OpIndia had reported that ED seized Rs 1.77 crore in Ayyub’s and her family’s accounts under the Money Laundering Act. The ED has, in its attachment order, said, “Rana Ayyub has cheated the general Public Donors in a pre-planned manner and with the intention to cheat the general public donors”.
On February 12, lifestyle and entertainment magazine Filmfare shared a video of a toddler who recreated Gangubai Kathiawadi look where Alia Bhatt played the role of a madame sexually assaulted by the mafia. Filmfare wrote, “Knocked it out the park! How amazing is this recreation of Alia Bhatt’s scene in Gangubai Kathiawadi?”
Filmfare shared video of toddler recreating scene from upcoming movie Gangubai Kathiawadi. Source: Twitter
The child artist who recreated the scene has a popular Instagram account managed by her parents, Amit Aboti and Hemal Joshi. With little research, OpIndia found tens of such videos where toddlers and minor children had recreated scenes from Gangubai.
Child recreating scene of movie Gangubai Kathiawadi based on the life of madame Gangubai starring Alia Bhatt in the lead role. Source: Instagram
Child recreating scene of movie Gangubai Kathiawadi based on the life of madame Gangubai starring Alia Bhatt in the lead role. Source: Instagram
Child recreating scene of movie Gangubai Kathiawadi based on the life of madame Gangubai starring Alia Bhatt in the lead role. Source: Instagram
Child recreating scene of movie Gangubai Kathiawadi based on the life of madame Gangubai starring Alia Bhatt in the lead role. Source: Instagram
Child recreating scene of movie Gangubai Kathiawadi based on the life of madame Gangubai starring Alia Bhatt in the lead role. Source: Instagram
Child recreating scene of movie Gangubai Kathiawadi based on the life of madame Gangubai starring Alia Bhatt in the lead role. Source: Instagram
Child recreating scene of movie Gangubai Kathiawadi based on the life of madame Gangubai starring Alia Bhatt in the lead role. Source: Instagram
Child recreating scene of movie Gangubai Kathiawadi based on the life of madame Gangubai starring Alia Bhatt in the lead role. Source: Instagram
Child recreating scene of movie Gangubai Kathiawadi based on the life of madame Gangubai starring Alia Bhatt in the lead role. Source: Instagram
Child recreating scene of movie Gangubai Kathiawadi based on the life of madame Gangubai starring Alia Bhatt in the lead role. Source: Instagram
Child recreating scene of movie Gangubai Kathiawadi based on the life of madame Gangubai starring Alia Bhatt in the lead role. Source: Instagram
Netizens in aghast watching children portraying a madame
Netizens on both Twitter and Instagram have heavily criticized parents for portraying their kids as madame. People were disturbed by the fact that toddlers were portrayed as role of a woman who was thrown into brother by her own father.
Source: Twitter
Many Twitter users also urged Filmfare to remove such a post, especially in times when the Internet is full of perverts.
Committing a mistake is one thing. Shamelessly sticking to it is quite another. Before a legal action is taken against you, its better to remove this post.
Alia Bhatt starrer Gangubai Kathiawadi is set to be released on 25th February 2022. The film is directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali.
Several users tagged Smriti Irani, Union Minister of Women and Child Development and Priyank Kanoongo, Chairman NCPCR, urging them to take strict action in the matter to ensure the safety of the children.
OpIndia has not embedded any video in the report and we have blackened/blurred the screenshots to ensure the child’s safety.
On February 8, a speeding van mauled 5 members of a Hindu family to death in Bangladesh in what is believed to be a ‘premeditated’ attack. The incident took place on Chakaria Upazila in Cox Bazar district in the Chittagong Division of Bangladesh.
During the accident, 5 members of the family were killed at the spot, 3 others were injured and one of them is battling with his life at the Chittagong General Hospital. According to survivor Munni Sushil, the ‘road accident’ was a pre-meditated murder. While five of her brothers were killed, two other brothers and one sister were injured in the targeted attack.
The five brothers killed in the incident are Dr Anupam Sushil (47), Nirupam Sushil (45), Dipak Sushil (40), Champak Sushil (30) and Swaran Sushil (24). They had lost their father Suresh Chandra Sushil just 10 days ago. On the day of the incident, all the seven sons and two daughters of the family had to a temple for worshipping early in the morning as a part of the last rites of Suresh. They were returning from the temple when the speeding pick-up van hit them at about 5:00 am. After hitting them, the vehicle returned to run over them. After that, the vehicle sped away towards Cox’s Bazar. Seven brothers were injured in the attack, and five of them died later at the Chattagfram Medical College hospital.
Raktim Sushil is in critical condition at the hospital, while the condition of the other brother Plaban Sushil is said to be stable. Their sister Hira Sushil has undergone surgery on her leg and is recovering at a hospital.
While recounting the tragedy that befell her family, she said, “My six brothers and one sister were about two arms’ length away from the road on the day of the accident. My other brother and I were on the street. Instead of hitting us, the pickup van targeted and crushed my brothers. The vehicle then came back and crushed my injured sister after killing my brothers.”
She said, “We could not eat in the last four days. I can’t bear to look at the little children of my dead brothers. The whole family is living in inhumane situation.” Munni further added, “It’s a premeditated murder…If not, why did the vehicle crush my brothers who were away from the road instead of killing the two of us who were standing on the road?”
Funeral ceremony of the deceased, image via Daily Star
Explaining why they believe it was a planned mass murder, Munni Sushil said that a frenzied mob of 40-50 people had attacked her family on January 29, 2022 also. She said that the mob had threatened their father, and he died a day later of a heart attack on January 30.
Narrating the reason for this attack, Munni said that her father had been organising Durga Puja in the area with her family. And in the month of January, her brother Deepak Sushil, who was living abroad, had brought about 4,000 bricks and gravel to build a small temple in Hasinapara area, which angered the Islamists.
The village is home to 30-35 Hindu families. After the temple construction began, Munni’s father began receiving threats. The mother of the deceased siblings, Mrinalini Sushil, lamented, “Whom will I go to with my grandchildren from the five sons? Champak’s daughter will be only one month old next Monday. My children have never harmed anyone. Why were my five children killed in this way?”
Mrinalini said that she hid 2 of her children under the bed during the January 29 attack. “They attacked us because we wanted to build a temple…We could not recognise the attackers,” she narrated.
The last rites of all the five brothers were conducted on Friday, participated by their wives.
After the incident, a case was registered by Plaban Chandra Sushil, the surviving brother, at the Chakaria police station. The Highway police have already recovered the pickup van used in the murder on the same day, but the driver of the vehicle was absconding, who was identified as Sahidul Islam alias Saiful.
Sahidul was arrested on Friday night from the Mohammadpur area in Dhaka. According to reports, Sahidul has accepted that he was driving the vehicle at that time, but denied kitting the Sushil family willingly. He said that visibility was low due to fog at that time, and as he was driving at high speed, he could not control the vehicle. Explaining the reason behind returning to hit them again, he said that he had returned to see the condition of the victims, but the owner of the vehicle, who was present in the van, ordered him to not stop and speed away.
The owner of the vehicle Mahmudul Karim is absconding after the incident.
However, minority groups are refusing to accept the explanation given by the driver. Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council’s Cox’s Bazar president Dipankar Baruah and secretary Priyatosh Sharma said that this is a preplanned murder.
Islamists attack Hindus, Durga Puja pandals under the garb of blasphemy
In the wee hours of October 13, 201, radical Islamists reportedly entered the Nanuar Dighir Par Durga Mandir in Cumilla district and placed a copy of the Quran on the feet of the idol of Lord Hanuman.
According to Shibu Prasad Dutta, the general secretary of Cumilla Mahanagar Puja Udjapon Committee, someone carried out the mischief in the morning when the guard was asleep. “The miscreants took some pictures of this and ran away. Within a few hours, using Facebook, the propaganda spread like wildfire with the provocative pictures,” confirmed a district official.
The foundation for orchestrating a Hindu pogrom was perfectly laid – The insult of the ‘Holy Book’, the punishment for which is death. Dipan Mitra, the Secretary-General of World Hindu federation (Bangladesh Chapter), stated, “Then they raised an issue of insulting Islam and gathered a mob and started attacked Hindu Temples in Cumilla town. After that, the attack on temples and Hindus was spread all over the country…”
He further added, “They Vandalized more than 315 Temples and its Idols and looted all valuable things in more than 30 districts of Bangladesh during 13 – 16 October 2021. They attacked and vandalized nearly 1500 Hindu houses in Cumilla, Chandpur, Noakhali, Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar, Feni, Chapai Nawabgonj and other districts.”
Mitra recounted the names of the 10 Hindus who were slaughtered by radical Islamists under the garb of blasphemy. They included Manik Saha, Jatan Saha, Prashanta Das, Priest Nimai Krishna, 4 unnamed Hindu priests and 1 more unidentified victim. Besides, 23 Hindu women and girls were raped and 17 Hindus remain missing.
Mitra concluded, “Now is the time to clarify the position of the government – do they want Bangladesh to be a secular prosperous Bangladesh or do they want to take it back to the ideology of previous Pakistan”. He also mentioned that the lack of justice is giving birth to new crimes in this country.
In a heart-wrenching case that has come to light in the Churu district of Rajasthan, a young woman on Friday was allegedly gang-raped and was thrown down from the window of the first floor of a hotel. The girl had travelled from New Delhi to Churu as one of the accused had promised her an employment opportunity in Rajasthan. The girl is from Assam and is living in Delhi.
The girl was dragged into the hotel room near Churu railway station where accused Devendra Singh and Vikram Singh assaulted her and tied her hands with a rope. According to the reports, the incident that happened on Friday night was sighted after the victim was thrown from the window and was found hanging on an electricity pole. The girl was saved from falling to the ground as the rope with which she was edited got tangled with the pole, keeping her hanging there. Soon after she was rescued by police.
The Police in action initiated the investigation by seeking medical examination of the victim. Police Sub-Inspector Mamta Saraswat said that 2 more persons were involved in the crime and arrested them after they were identified by the victim. The accused so far arrested in the case are Devendra Singh, Vikram Singh, Bhavani Singh and Sunil Rajput.
The complaint was filed by the victim girl on Friday who informed the Police that she was badly beaten by all the four accused before they tied her and threw her off the balcony. The police have charged Devendra Singh, Vikram Singh, Bhavani Singh and Sunil Rajput for sexual assault and fracas under the relevant sections of the IPC.
Safety of women in Rajasthan has become a matter of concern since past a few months. Earlier, on January 10, a mentally challenged woman was brutalized by two men in Banswada. On January 9, it was reported that a standard 11 student was gang-raped by three people, after being kidnapped by her own teacher in Jodhpur. In Nagaur, on January 08, a two-and-a-half-year-old child was taken to the bushes and raped.
Recently, on January 25, a 19-year-old girl, hard of hearing and speech, from Rajasthan’s Bhilwara district was raped and was dropped pregnant by three men in Chittorgarh. Also, on January 12, a specially-abled minor girl was found abandoned at the Tijara flyover in Alwar, Rajasthan. She was bleeding from her private parts and was admitted to the hospital. The incident had caused widespread outrage and the protesters had hit the streets to question the deafening silence of the senior Congress party leaders over the horrific rape incident.
According to the data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Rajasthan has registered the highest number of rape and attempt to rape cases in year 2020. The crime rate for rape in the capital city of Jaipur stands at 28.1 cases per lakh population, which more than double of Delhi at 12.8.
The chapter of ‘Pehle hijab, fir kitab’ banners being flagged in Maharashtra is not over yet. Now the same banners supporting hijab and burqa have appeared in Mominpura area of the Georai town of Beed district in Maharashtra. It is notable that earlier the banners had appeared in the Bashir Ganj area of the Beed city – the district place; while now they are seen in the Taluka place Georai. This happens to be the hometown of Abu Jundal who is one of the six key conspirators of the terrorist attacks of 26/11 on Mumbai that claimed 166 lives.
Islamists in various parts of the country have openly come ahead to support the hijab after the Karnataka hijab row. One such place that attracted the attention was the Beed city where the banners were raised by a local student leader of AIMIM in support of hijab and burqa. However, the banners were removed after the police intervened.
Now, in Georai town which is a Taluka place situated at 30 KM from Beed, similar banners are seen in the Mominpura area. The banner reads ‘Pehle hijab, fir kitab’ which means ‘Hijab first, books later’. On the banner, it is also written that ‘hijab is our right’ and ‘har keemati cheez parade me hoti hai’ which means ‘every precious thing is kept covered’. The banner also reads the names of the organizations that have raised this banner. The organizations are named as ‘Mominpura Youth Club’, ‘International Human Rights Protection Council’, ‘Hazrat Tipu Sultan Youth Forum’ and ‘Maulana Azad Youth Forum’ of Georai.
The banner in Mominpura area of Georai town was seen on 13th February 2022, at 11:55 AM.
So far, there is no news of any police complaint or intervention by the police themselves taking cognizance. Georai is situated on Dhule-Solapur national highway and was first became famous – rather infamous – after it was revealed that Zabiuddin Ansari alias Anu Jundal alias Abu Hamza hailed from this town.
Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal alias Abu Hamza
This Islamic terrorist came into focus after his involvement in the terrorist attacks of 26/11 was revealed. He hailed from Georai. His family still lived in Hathi Khana mohalla of Georai which is not far away from the site these banners are flagged today. Zabiuddin Ansari had studied in the Urdu school of Georai till class 10th. He then moved to the district place that is Beed where he did electricians course in the Industrial Training Institute.
Zabiuddin Ansari was indoctrinated to the terrorist organization Lashkar E Taiba by Fayaz Kaghzi, his college senior. He left for Pakistan in 2000 soon after he completed his college education. He was trained there before returning to India in 2002 and joining the terrorist organization SIMI. He later stayed in Saudi Arabia and in Bangladesh for some time with as many as ten aliases.
Abu Jundal Image Source: www.rediff.com
He had managed to escape the Aurangabad police and the Maharashtra ATS on 8th May 2006 when the joint team had seized 30kg of RDX, 10 AK-47 assault rifles, and 3,200 bullets from a Tata Sumo and Indica car on the way to Malegaon. The three associate terrorists were captured while Zabiuddin Ansari who was driving the Indica car managed to escape. The plan was to eliminate the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and then Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Praveen Togadiya.
Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal later went to Pakistan where he conspired the 26/11 attacks of Mumbai. He helped the members of ISI and Lashkar E Taiba in training the Hindi language, especially in Mumbai accent to the ten attackers including Ajmal Kasab. He also guided, in detail, the terrorists in the Taj hotel to make demands through media against the people trapped in the hotel being kept as hostages. Details of calls intercepted by the security and investigation agencies revealed that Abu Jundal was present in the control room at Karachi from where the terrorists were getting the instructions.
Coincidentally, the then Lok Sabha MP of Beed constituency Jaisingrao Gaikwad was also trapped in the hotel that day. But the NSG commandos secured the people and killed the terrorists. Abu Jundal was arrested in 2012 and he has been sentenced to imprisonment till death.
Beed is situated right in the center of the Marathwada region of Maharashtra. This region was a part of the Nizam territory before getting independence on 17th September 1948. It has been a safe hiding place for and source land of many sleeper cells and terrorists like Abu Jundal.
In an hour-long phone call, US President Joe Biden has warned his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin of severe costs that the US would impose on Russia if Russia goes ahead with the invasion of Ukraine. As the tensed world watched and worried that Russia could invade Ukraine at any time now, Biden reiterated that any further invasion would produce widespread human suffering and diminish Russia’s standing.
The White House released a statement on Saturday and said that President Biden was clear with President Putin that the US remains prepared to engage in diplomacy, but is equally prepared for other scenarios. “If Russia undertakes a further invasion of Ukraine, the US along with its allies, partners will impose swift and severe costs on Russia”, the statement read.
A senior administration official suggested that there was no change by Putin in the call with Biden, and a Russian invasion remains a ‘distinct possibility.’
President Biden spoke with President Vladimir Putin today to make clear that if Russia further invades Ukraine, the U.S. and our allies will impose swift and severe costs on Russia. President Biden urged President Putin to engage in de-escalation and diplomacy instead. pic.twitter.com/HqK0b65kFm
This is a day after the United States decided to vacate the embassy in Kyiv issuing the warning that Russia could invade Ukraine at any time. Russia also announced to reduce its diplomatic staff in Ukraine. Earlier, US President had asked all the American citizens to leave Ukraine immediately. He had stressed that the US won’t send its troops to Ukraine on any terms as Americans and Russians shooting at one another will be a ‘World War’.
It is important to note that Russia has deployed more than one lakh servicemen at the Ukraine border. While Russia has constantly stated that it has no intentions to attack Ukraine, the US also has suggested other countries around the world to leave Ukraine as soon as possible.
Before talking to Biden, Putin had a telephone call with French President Emmanuel Macron. He slammed western countries claims of speculative invasion and called the idea ‘provocative’ that could lead to a conflict in the ex-Soviet country.
It’s been one and a half months since the possibility of war between Russia and Ukraine is looming large. Russia has demanded in writing from the West to cease expansion of NATO. It has demanded that Ukraine should never be allowed to join NATO.
Financial fraud accused Washington Post columnist Rana Ayyub had recently appeared on BBC World News to talk about the burqa controversy of Karnataka that has been spreading across the country. In the interview, Ayyub not only attempted to spread lies about girls wearing burqa in the educational institute but also called those students chanting Jai Shri Ram as ‘Hindu Terrorists’.
Ayyub ignored schools have a dress code that students need to follow
Ayyub claimed that Article 25 of the constitution gives a right to every citizen to practice their faith. While her statement was correct, it was not the whole truth. Though Article 25 gives a right to everyone to practice their faith, every educational institute has its own rules that include the dress code. Every student is bound to follow the dress code deemed either by the educational institute or by the state’s education department.
When the anchor countered her that she was informed by a BJP spokesperson about the dress code, that means students cannot wear religious symbols in the educational institutes. At that point, Ayyub lied and alleged the girls who were at the centre of the controversy wore a hijab to the school for a long time. She said, “These girls have been wearing hijab for a very long time. It is not for the first time. So why suddenly has this group of young Hindu vigilantes, Hindu terrorists for that matter, who are hoisting the saffron flag in an educational complex in Karnataka?”
She also claimed the youth were stopping the burqa clad girl, now identified as one Muskan Khan, daughter of PFI leader, from entering the school. In fact, the girls started the protests in December 2021 after they were consulted by the Campus Front of India (CFI), the students wing of the PFI in October 2021. The protestors have admitted that the CFI has been guiding them on the protests. PFI is a radical organisation that is banned in several states.
Muslim girls started wearing hijab recently
As a matter of fact, the school in question where the controversy first erupted had made photographs from previous years public in which it was evident the girls were not wearing hijab. It was only in December 2021 when they started coming to the school wearing hijab. Also, it was not male students but the administration that had barred them from wearing hijab in the school.
Another point that has to be noted here is that majority of the Muslim women and girls protesting in Karnataka and otherwise are wearing burqa that is completely different from hijab. While the hijab only covers the head, the burqa covers the woman from head to toe making them completely separated from the other students wearing school dresses.
When the anchor asked Ayyub if the hijab controversy was propaganda by the likes of her, she got baffled and pointed out the appointment of the new Vice-Chancellor of Jawahar Lal University. She alleged the new VC, Shantishree Dhulipudi Pandit, targeted Muslim and Christian students on Twitter. On the contrary, Pandit has categorically denied having any Twitter account. The handle that was in question has now been deleted from Twitter.
Ayyub ignored hate crimes against Hindus
Ayyub further alleged Muslims are being lynched, harassed and assaulted on the streets of India daily. She also claimed Muslims are not allowed to offer Namaz in designated areas. What she did not disclose is that the namaz was being offered on government land in sector 40 even though there were a lot of masjids nearby where one could offer namaz.
What Ayyub conveniently ignored is the countless hate crimes against Hindus over petty things like social media posts. Let it be Kishan Bharwad who was killed in Gujarat over a social media post or the recent murder of a young boy named Rupesh Pandey in Jharkhand who was killed for merely being part of Saraswati Visarjan, the likes of Rana Ayyub ignore these cases.
The mismatch in numbers in 4 minutes
Rana Ayyub, at the beginning of the interview, alleged 100 Hindu men hounded one Muslim girl in a hijab. Towards the end of the interview, she changed the number to 200. She said, “This is not the India we once took great pride in. This is the India of right-wing terrorists.”
Rana Ayyub accused of financial fraud in name of COVID donation
The Washington Post columnist is accused of financial fraud in name of COVID donation. Rs 1.77 crore of her assets were recently attached by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). It was alleged that she collected substantial amount of money through three fundraising campaigns on Ketto. Of that she failed to utilise most of the funds, which was lying unutilised in her personal bank accounts. She has accepted almost all charges but still claims innocence. Her supporters were most upset that despite putting their weight behind to discredit PM CARES fun, Rana went ahead and deposited part of the money there instead.
