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‘We will cut your tongues’: CM KCR tells Telangana BJP leaders, attacks Centre over fuel prices, GDP after Huzurabad loss

OpIndia Staff
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‘We will cut your tongues’: CM KCR tells Telangana BJP leaders, attacks Centre over fuel prices, GDP after Huzurabad loss

Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday issued multiple threats to Bhartiya Janta Party’s state leadership after facing defeat in Huzurabad. While addressing a press conference, KCR warned, “We’ll cut your tongues if you pass unnecessary comments on us.” 

Threatening BJP State president Bandi Sanjay Kumar, KCR further said, “What do you think of yourself? I have been forgiving you even though you are making gutter-level utterances. You are saying that you would send me to jail. Do it. I dare you to touch me and see what would happen to you.” 

KCR’s statements came after the BJP leaders in Telangana accused KCR’s party of corruption and claimed that when BJP comes into power in the state, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi chief would be sent to jail. 

KCR called BJP leaders ‘barking dogs’

The Telangana Chief Minister at the press conference regarded the BJP leaders as ‘barking dogs.’ 

Continuing his tirade against the BJP, KCR said, “Till now, I did not attach much importance to his comments. It was like street dogs barking at an elephant as it goes by.” He further said that he will take action against Kumar and others in accordance with law if they ‘crossed the line of decency.’ 

“Ours is a party that led the Telangana movement. After all who are you? We can snub you out in no time,” added KCR. The TRS chief was allegedly upset over paddy procurement by the Centre. 

KCR rattled after losing stronghold in Telangana 

The Chief Minister seems to be rattled after TRS stronghold- Huzurabad went to the BJP. From crude oil prices to GDP to China, KCR in the press conference lashed out at the centre making vague claims. 

“Crude oil prices were 105 US dollars in 2014 and now it is 83 US dollars. BJP lied to the public saying that prices of petrol and diesel have increased internationally,” claimed KCR at the presser. 

He further demanded from the Central government to remove the cess on petrol and fuel. “We will continue to fight…and we will hold dharna for withdrawing cess on petrol and diesel,” he said.

The TRS supremo further claimed that India’s GDP has been dipping continuously. “What has BJP done in the last 7 years? India’s GDP is less than Bangladesh, Pakistan and Centre have increased taxes unnecessarily,” claimed KCR. 

It is imperative to note that several reports had busted the anxiety sparked due to a false comparison of India’s GDP with Bangladesh in 2020. Economist and former chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian in a Twitter thread in October 2020 had clarified that the metrics being compared are incorrect and misleading. 

Not just this, KCR spreading misinformation claimed that China has intruded in Arunachal Pradesh and that the BJP government at the Centre is acting as a mute spectator. “China is attacking us in Arunachal Pradesh but Centre hasn’t taken any action,” the Telangana CM alleged further. 

We reported how Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju slammed the Congress party and a ‘mischievous’ media house on Sunday for falsely claiming that China has built a village inside the territory of Arunachal Pradesh.

The Union Law Minister, who is an MP from Arunachal Pradesh, posted a tweet today saying, “Some mischievous media wrote in bold that ‘China has built a village inside Arunachal’ and then slightly mentioned ‘at the area occupied by China in 1959’. What’s your purpose? And these people deliberately don’t believe the Indian Army but quickly quoted a foreign story to create a misleading headline to question the credibility of our Govt and the strength of our Army with a malicious motive to demoralize the nation.”

However, ignoring the statement, KCR joined the opposition club to peddle misinformation. 

The TRS chief also extended support to the ongoing farmers’ stir and claimed that his party would not allow the Centre to rest until those “anti-farm laws” are taken back. 

Twitter user threatens to assassinate PM Modi, UP CM Yogi Adityanath, police initiates probe

OpIndia Staff
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Twitter user threatens to assassinate PM Modi, UP CM Yogi Adityanath, police initiates probe

The Uttar Pradesh Police has initiated an investigation against an undisclosed Twitter user for posting a threat to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath by a bomb on the microblogging site. In a statement, Pramod Kumar Tiwari, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime), said, “The matter came to light, as we got information about this threat from UP 112 (police helpline). Somebody has made mischief on Twitter.”

The Police has sought more information about the user from Twitter. Tiwari said as these accounts are generally fraud and wrong names are used, it would not be possible to reveal the handle before the probe was over the authentic name was found.

Threats against PM Modi and CM Yogi

This is not the first time PM Modi or CM Yogi has received death threats. At the beginning of the farmer protests, several so-called protesters issued threats to PM Modi. On December 26 last year, it was reported that Bharatiya Kisan Union leader’s wife threatened to stab PM Modi with a knife. On August 8, security agencies had received an email in which a death threat was issued against PM Modi. In June 2021, out on bail, Salman called the Police and threatened PM Modi’s life.

In May 2021, a call was made to UP Police’s WhatsApp number, and the caller threatened he would kill CM Yogi in four days. In November 2020, a teenager was arrested for sending a message to the state’s emergency service that he would blow up CM Yogi.

‘Shri Ramayan Yatra’ starts with 100% occupancy, Railways minister announces next tour: Read details

OpIndia Staff
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‘Shri Ramayan Yatra’ starts with 100% occupancy, Railways minister announces next tour: Read details

Union Minister for Railways, Ashwini Vaishnaw, took to Twitter on Sunday to share the first glimpses of the ‘Shri Ramayan Yatra,’ a rail circuit specifically designed to promote religious tourism in places associated with the Ramayana. 

As per the minister, the journey commenced with 100% occupancy on Sunday. “Overwhelming response! The first tour of ‘Shri Ramayana Yatra’ with 100% occupancy started today. Next tour on the Ramayana circuit is on 12th Dec 2021. जय जय श्री राम,” Tweeted Vaishnaw. 

The deluxe AC tourist train departed from Delhi Safdarjung Railway Station on November 07 for 16 nights and 17 days with as many as 132 tourists on board.

‘Dekho Apna Desh’

The Shri Ramayan Yatra rail circuit has been launched under the “Dekho Apna Desh” initiative by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) to encourage and facilitate religious tourism. 

While the Ramayan Yatra is the first, the IRCTC has planned for other trains with different packages under Shri Ramayana Yatra Tours which is said to be launched soon. 

Yatra details

The rail circuit is set to cover every destination that has Shri Ram’s footprints including Ayodhya, Nandigram, Janakpur, Sitamarhi, Kashi, Prayag, Shringverpur, Chitrakoot, Nashik, Hampi and Rameshwaram.

The journey will commence with Shri Ram’s birthplace Ayodhya where tourists will visit Shri Ram Janmbhumi temple and Hanuman temple followed by Bharat Mandir at Nandigram, the place from where King Bharat ruled Ayodhya when Shri Ram was in Vanvaas. 

The next destination of the Ramayan Yatra will be Sitamarhi in Bihar where the pilgrims will be taken to Maa Sita’s birthplace and Ram-Janki Temple in Janakpur, which will be covered by road.

Following this, the train will proceed towards Varanasi where the tourists will get to visit the temples of Varanasi, Prayag, Shringverpur and Chitrakoot by road. 

As per the schedule, the night halt will be at Varanasi, Prayag and Chitrakoot. The yatra will then move to Nasik (Trayambakeshwar temple) in Maharashtra followed by a visit to Panchvati. 

Before reaching the last destination of Rameshwaram, the yatra will halt in the ancient city also known as the birthplace of Hanuman- Kishkinda in Hampi. The passengers will be covering a distance of roughly 7500kms in the entire journey. 

‘Shri Ramayan Yatra’ coach. Image Source: Twitter

As per a report, the yatra has boarding and de-boarding points at Abohar- Malout, Bhatinda, Barnala, Patiala, Rajpura, Ambala Cantt., Kurukshetra, Karnal, Panipat, Delhi Cantt, Gurgaon, Rewari, Alwar, Jaipur, Agra Fort, Itawah and Kanpur.

Reportedly, the Ramayan Yatra is the brainchild of IRCTC’s senior official Achyut Singh, who is also the in-charge of this special train.

The train has two categories- 2AC and 1AC for which passengers have paid Rs 83,000 and Rs 1.02 lakh respectively. 

While speaking with India Today, Singh informed that the package takes care of complete facilities for the passengers. This includes AC travel, local AC travel arrangements, hotels, and vegetarian meals for passengers.

To ensure safety, the passengers have also been provided with separate lockers with CCTVs installed in the train for security. Additionally, the train has two separate coaches for dining. 

Dining coach in ‘Shri Ramayan Yatra’. Image Source: India Today

As per IRCTC, the next tour on the Ramayan circuit will be flagged off on December 12 with similar duration and packages.

After the ‘Shri Ramayan Yatra,’ the IRCTC is also planning to launch a special Rampath Yatra Train scheduled to commence on November 27.

Kerala: Two teenaged Hindu girls go missing with their classmates, Arshad and Afzal, police initiates investigation

OpIndia Staff
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Kerala: Two teenaged Hindu girls go missing with their classmates, Arshad and Afzal, police initiates investigation

Months after the disappearance of Alathur native, Surya Krishna (21), two teen girls have now gone missing in Alathur, a village located near Palakkad-Thrissur highway, Kerala. According to reports, 14 year old twin sisters Shreya and Shreja, daughter of Suresh Kumar were found missing on November 3 along with their two male classmates from Palakkad district. Arshad and Afzal Muhammad, the two classmates were seen accompanying the girls.

According to the Police, the four teens had entered Tamil Nadu via Pollachi. The police investigating the case have not been able to locate the teens yet. CCTV visuals have confirmed that the four teens were travelling together. Concerns have been raised about the safety of the girls as similarities have been drawn with the other missing girls cases including Jasna and Surya Krishna disappearance cases.

According to reports, Shreya and Shreja and their classmates Arshad (14) son of Yakkoob of Chundakkad, and Afzal Mohammad (14) son of Manaf of Melarcod were all Class 9 students of the ASM Higher Secondary School. CCTV footages showed that they had reached Palakkad town at around 3.30pm on November 3. A case has been registered on the parents’ complaint.

Alathur police official Riyaz Chakkeri said, “The girls had told their friends that they were planning a tour. But they did not reveal the destination. Their family is not aware of any mobile phone they might be carrying. We suspect they were using a phone in private. We are trying to trace the details of this phone,”

According to Riyaz Chakkeri, CCTV visuals have also indicated that the four teens had reached the KSRTC bus stand on Wednesday evening and then took a bus to Tamil Nadu. 

Earlier, on August 30, another native from Alathur, Surya Krishna, daughter of Radhakrishnan, had disappeared after she went out to purchase books. Surya Krishna was a second-year BA (Literature) student at Mercy College, Palakkad. Reports suggest that Surya Krishna had sudden desires of becoming a traveller and visited Goa after spending lot of time on the phone before her disappearance.

On March 22, 2018 Jasna Mariya James, a second-year B Com student at St. Dominic College, Kanjirapally, had disappeared from her home at Ranni in Pathanamthitta district. Recent reports have indicated that Jasna was seen in a Muslim seminary in Mangaluru which fuelled suspicions of forced religious conversion.

Delhi: Woman and her 2 minor grandsons assaulted near Nabi Masjid at Mukundpur, FIR registered against Zaheem, Naeem, Alam and others

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi: Woman and her 2 minor grandsons assaulted near Nabi Masjid at Mukundpur, FIR registered against Zaheem, Naeem, Alam and others

A case has been registered against a Muslim mob for assaulting a Hindu family in the national capital Delhi. The incident took place near Nabi Masjid of Bhalswa Dairy area, ​​North Outer Delhi on Friday at around 7 pm. Delhi police have started the investigation of the incident which occurred near Nabi Masjid at Mukundpur Part 1, Gali No 13.

As per reports, grandsons of a woman named Kusum Devi were ambushed by the Muslim mob. OpIndia has a copy of the FIR regarding the incident. According to the victim Kusum Devi, her younger grandson had gone to a shop to buy milk. On the way, two unknown boys started snatching money from him. He came home crying and went back to that place with his 12-year-old elder brother. When these two brothers reached the spot, 3-4 boys who were already present there started misbehaving with both the brothers and started dragging them towards the mosque.

When the family members of both the children came to know about this, they ran towards the spot. The grandmother of the children, Kusum Devi informed that a man working under Bhola Property started quarreling with her. He assaulted Kusum Devi and the children, and then called 15-20 more people. Kusum Devi has identified Zaheem, Naeem, Alam and Chhote among others who were in the mob.

Police have registered a case under sections 323, 341, 356, 379, 506 and 34 of the IPC. The investigation of this case has been handed over to Sub Inspector Sandeep Narwal Kumar. All these sections carry a sentence of less than 7 years.

Hindu organizations have reached out to the victim’s family after they came to know about the incident. An organization named Mahakal Sena has demanded justice for the victim’s family. In the video released with the family, it has been said that Hindus would take to the streets if justice is not served in the case. In the video, the Bhalswa Dairy police have been accused of beating the victim’s family.

Conversion syndicate leader Umar Gautam’s son Abdullah arrested by UP Police ATS for his involvement in the racket

OpIndia Staff
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Conversion syndicate leader Umar Gautam’s son Abdullah arrested by UP Police ATS for his involvement in the racket

The Anti-Terrorist Squad of Uttar Pradesh has arrested Maulana Mohammed Umar Gautam’s son Abdullah in connection with the alleged ISI-funded conversion racket having international links. While Gautam was arrested on June 20 this year, his son was arrested on Saturday (November 6) from Gautam Buddha Nagar.

Abdullah is alleged to have deep involvement in the conversion racket along with his father who along with other accused said to have converted over 1000 people. In a press statement, UP ATS has disclosed the charges on which Abdullah was arrested. “As per protocols, the arrested will be produced before the court. The foreign funding and the expenditure of funds as well as relation with other accused are some of the things that the police will interrogate Abdullah about, and for the same, is pleading the court for custody,” the ATS said in the statement. 

The investigation has revealed that like his father, Abdullah had received huge funding worth Rs 75 lakh in his bank account out of which Rs 17 lakh was obtained through foreign fundings. Both have the same source of funding which was used for the purpose of religious conversion into Islam by luring people. The fund was distributed among converted people and to further attract non-Muslims for conversion. Abdullah also used to manage and run Al Farooqi Madrasa and mosque and Islamic Dawa Center (IDC), two fronts of Gautam to carry conversion racket. ATS has said that Abdullah was an important cog of this conversion racket and he was in direct touch with other accused of this case namely Jahangir Alam, Kaushar and Faraz.

The ATS so far has arrested 17 accused in this case including Gautam, his son, Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui, Rameshwar Kawade alias Adam, Arsalan alias Bhupriya Bando, Kaushar Alam and others. ATS has also established the flow of foreign funds worth Rs 57 Crore to the account of Gautam and his associates through hawala channels. ATS said that Al Hasan Education and Welfare Foundation of Gautam and Jamia Imam Waliullah of Kaleem Siddiqui received funds from the same sources. ATS traced sources of fundings to UK, USA and Gulf countries. Investigation so far has established Kaleem Siddiqui having received Rs 22 Crore through foreign funding for the purpose of conversion. It also claimed that Accused like Adam and Kaushar were spreading the ideology of Al-Qaeda.

Kiren Rijiju slams NDTV and Congress for claiming that China built a village in Arunachal, which is in an area under Chinese occupation since 1959

OpIndia Staff
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Kiren Rijiju slams NDTV and Congress for claiming that China built a village in Arunachal, which is in an area under Chinese occupation since 1959

On Sunday (November 7), Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju slammed the Congress party and a ‘mischievous media’ house for claiming that China has built a village inside the territory of Arunachal Pradesh.

The Union Law Minister, who is an MP from Arunachal Pradesh, posted a tweet today saying, “Some mischievous media wrote in bold that ‘China has built a village inside Arunachal’ and then slightly mentioned ‘at the area occupied by China in 1959’. What’s your purpose? And these people deliberately don’t believe the Indian Army but quickly quoted a foreign story to create a misleading headline to question the credibility of our Govt and the strength of our Army with a malicious motive to demoralize the nation.”

The comments by Kiren Rijiju came at the backdrop of a tweet by the Congress party wherein they claimed that China has built an entire village within the territory of India. The grand-old party had tweeted on Saturday (November 6), “China built a village in Arunachal Pradesh which can act as a military base. One among several such villages across the LAC.”

Screengrab of the tweet by the Congress party

Earlier in January, Congress scion Rahul Gandhi had made similar claims about the Chinese forces occupying Indian territory. He had shared a Hindi newspaper cutting which claimed that the Chinese forces had established a village in the State of Arunachal Pradesh.

Screengrab of the tweet by Rahul Gandhi

The tweet posted by the Congress party on Saturday is based on an NDTV report published on November 4, which had quoted a ‘US Defence Report’ to claim that China has built a village inside Arunachal Pradesh. They used the so-called US defence report as a validation for their earlier report published on January 18 this year, where they had made the same claim for the first time. The report had said, “China has constructed a new village in Arunachal Pradesh, consisting of about 101 homes, show satellite images accessed exclusively by NDTV. The same images, dated November 1, 2020, have been analysed by several experts approached by NDTV, who confirmed that the construction, approximately 4.5 kms within Indian territory of the de facto border, will be of huge concern to India.”

Although this was a sensational update as it implied that China has recently occupied Indian territory in Arunachal and built a village, the NDTV report in January itself has revealed the truth, that it is not a recent incursion, and the concerned area is under Chinese occupation for more than 60 years. The NDTV report had said, “Though this area is Indian territory, according to official government maps, it has been in effective Chinese control since 1959.”

The report had said that earlier there was only a Chinese military post in the area, but now a village has been constructed. Therefore, NDTV itself had said that the area had been under Chinese control for the past 62 years. But it still claimed that China has built a village in Arunachal, implying that the village has been constructed in current Indian territory. The left-wing media house again made the same claim on Thursday (November 4) by publishing a new report, allegedly after being ‘vindicated’ by the US Department of Defence. After that, most other media houses have carried the story, spreading the rumour that China has occupied Indian territory to build a village, ignoring the fact the area is under Chinese occupation since 1959, and they have built a village there recently.

Since then, the Congress party had been reiterating the ‘claim’ of China setting up a village within the Indian territory. However, all aspersions cast by the grand old party had been put to rest by Kiren Rijiju who emphasised how the same people show no Faith in the statements of the Indian armed forces.

This is not the first time Rijiju has pointed out that the area in question is under Chinese occupation for a long time. When Rahul Gandhi had raised the matter in January after NDTV had made the claim for the first time in January, he had tweeted, “Those locations you are referring to have been under Chinese occupation since very-very long Congress regime in India. How can a national leader is ignorant and unaware of sensitive facts?”

The village has been built by China in an area that was occupied by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) after overrunning an Assam Rifles post in 1959 along the frontier in Arunachal Pradesh, and therefore it is not in the territory controlled by India. It was captured by China in 1959 in an operation known as Longju incident. It is notable that Congress leader Jawaharlal Nehru was the Prime Minister of India in 1959. The village along the contentious border in the upper Subansiri district is in the territory controlled by China. They have, for years, maintained an Army post in the region and the various constructions undertaken by the Chinese have not happened in a fortnight.

Kiren Rijiju also shared a 2013 speech of former Defence Minister AK Anthony wherein he had conceded that the area adjoining the border had been left underdeveloped on purpose. “Independent India had a policy for many years. The best defence is to not develop the border. The undeveloped border is safer than the developed border. So, for many years, there was no construction of roads, airfields on the border areas. By that time, China continued to develop their infrastructure in the border areas,” Anthony could be heard as saying.

He had further conceded, “So as a result, they have now gone ahead of us. Compared to us, infrastructure wise, capability wise, in the border areas, they (China) are ahead. I admit that it is a part of history.” While slamming the Congress party for its past policy, Kirren Rijiju pointed out, “Dear Congress, before commenting on India-China border issues, please listen to your former Defence Minister. “

New Zealand beat Afghanistan by 8 wickets, ensure India’s exit from T20 World Cup: How social media reacted

OpIndia Staff
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New Zealand beat Afghanistan by 8 wickets, ensure India’s exit from T20 World Cup: How social media reacted

New Zealand defeated Afghanistan by 8 wickets and 11 balls to spare on Sunday, thereby ensuring India’s exit from the T20 World Cup. Batting first, Afghanistan posted a measly score of 124 runs which New Zealand managed to chase down comfortably.

The result has expectedly generated a host of reactions from Indian cricket fans, who were hoping for an Afghanistan win as that would have ensured India remained in contention for a semi-final sport in the T20 World Cup. However, with New Zealand winning the game, India would only be playing for pride versus Namibia in their final match.

How social media reacted to India’s exit from the T20 World Cup

Indian fans were displeased with the result and demanded that there must be some accountability from the team management.

Others mocked the Indian cricket team for their performative wokeness during the tournament.

Virat Kohli, personally, is receiving a lot of stick from fans.

Others remarked that the exit marked the end of the era of Virat Kohli’s captaincy in T20s.

There were also calls for a complete reboot of the Indian T20 team.

As always, the memes

As always, memes flooded social media on the backdrop of India’s elimination from the T20 World Cup.

For India to qualify for the semi-finals, Afghanistan had to defeat New Zealand and then India had to beat Namibia. While India are expected to beat Namibia, the maximum points they can score is 6 points while Pakistan and New Zealand are already sitting at 8. Pakistan has won 4 out of 4 matches and their match versus Scotland is currently underway.

Punjab: Farmers stop screening of Akshay Kumar starrer Sooryavanshi because the actor ‘supports farm laws and praises PM Modi’

OpIndia Staff
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Punjab: Farmers stop screening of Akshay Kumar starrer Sooryavanshi because the actor ‘supports farm laws and praises PM Modi’

Angry farmers protesting against the Central Farm laws have forced several cinema halls across Punjab including five cinema halls in Hoshiarpur to stop the screening of the Akshay Kumar Sooryavanshi. According to reports, the protesting farmers tore apart movie posters outside theatres to oppose Akhshay Kumar for not joining in the farmers’ protest. The farmers have also vowed to halt the screening of the movie in theatres until the three farm laws are repealed.

BKU activists led by district president Swaran Dhugga organized a protest march in Hoshiarpur from the local Shaheed Udham Singh Park to Swaran cinema to stop the screening of the movie.

Reportedly, farmers have stopped the screening of the movie in Barnala, Jalalabad, Moga and Zirakpur. They have alleged that Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar supported all the three agricultural laws passed by the central government and hence they could not allow the movie to be screened.

Farmer leader Manpreet Singh Sandhu said that Akshay Kumar praises Prime Minister Modi for his personal interest. Hence no Akshay Kumar film will be allowed to run in Punjab. 

In Moga, the theatre owners themselves took down the posters of Sooryavanshi movie and closed the screening after protest by the farmers. According to the manager of a cinema hall named Raj Kumar, the district administration had given orders to keep the atmosphere calm which made him stop the screening of the movie.

Farmers also claimed that the movie was made to promote Prime Minister Narendra Modi and that Industrialists like Ambani had invested money in film production. Actor Sunny Deol, MP from Gurdaspur in Punjab, was also accused of not raising his voice in favour of farmers.

Kerala: 11-year-old girl dies while receiving ‘treatment’ from ‘faith healer’ Muhammad Uwais, uncovers dark truth about Kannur

OpIndia Staff
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Kerala: 11-year-old girl dies while receiving ‘treatment’ from ‘faith healer’ Muhammad Uwais, uncovers dark truth about Kannur

The Kannur Police has arrested 35-year-old faith healer Muhammad Uwais after an 11-year-old girl died at his healing centre. As per a report in Manorama, she was forced to keep fast and recite verses of the Quran during the process. Kannur City is a densely populated neighbourhood under the Arakkal and Ayikkara divisions of the Kannur corporation.

The victim developed a fever on October 26. Her father, Abdul Sathar, is highly influenced by Uwais. He rushed her daughter to Uwais for treatment. Uwais, who often warns his followers, says, “Doctors are devils. Hospitals are hells. If you die in a hospital, you will not go to Heaven. So you should never visit hospitals.” He began the healing process that went for five days.

On October 31, her condition deteriorated, and his father took her to a private hospital, where she died. The paternal uncle of the deceased girl filed a complaint at the police station to inquire about the unnatural death of the girl. The post-mortem revealed that she died of infection, fever and anaemia.

Based on the complaint and post-mortem report, the Police took Uwais and Sathar into custody. During interrogation, Sathar told the Police that Uwais directed him not to take the girl to the hospital. Interestingly, Uwais stuck to his viewpoint and told the Police that there was no need to take the girl to the hospital. He denied sorcery acts but told the Police that he served ‘Quran-infused’ water to those who visit his centre that he runs from his house.

Police have filed a case against both with culpable homicide not amounting to murder (Section 304 of the Indian Penal Code) and punishment to cruelty to child (Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act). The court has sent them to Police custody till November 17.

Multiple deaths in mysterious circumstances linked to Uwais

Uwais was living a trouble-free life with a huge cult following for the past eight years. Since the case made to headlines, four more deaths linked to Uwais have emerged. In December 2014, 75-year-old Safiya had died under mysterious circumstances. Reportedly, she was facing breathing difficulties and taking allopathic medicines. Uwais convinced her to stop taking the medicines that led to her death.

Her 53-year-old son Ashraf had died in August 2016. Her 67-year-old sister Nafeesu died in April 2017. Another man, 57-year-old Anwar, died in May 2018. Nafeesu’s son, Siraj Padikkal, has been trying to pursue Police to investigate these deaths, but no one paid heed to his requests. Notably, Siraj and Uwais used to live in the same house, but Siraj left after falling out with the family because he was not in favour of the occult practices.

Siraj said, “I had filed a complaint with the Police after my mother’s unnatural death. But the Police neither registered a first information report nor conducted a post-mortem. The callous approach helped the culprits go scot-free. It is time to re-investigate all the mysterious deaths.” Siraj told Manorama that her mother was under allopathy treatment after she broke her leg. In 2017 Uwais made her stop the treatment, after which her condition got worse, leading to her death.

A nexus of faith healers

Unfortunately, he is not the only faith healer in Kannur City. There are many others, and the death of the 11-year-old girl opened Pandora’s box of faith healing practitioners in the area. In just 1 square km area, Uwais, his mother and another woman practice faith healing.

These faith healers, though they may not ask for money directly, often get huge amounts offered in return for health. One of his followers told Manorama that he had paid a “handsome amount as a token” for the healing.

Siraj alleged that Uwais has great networking skills that he uses to mislead people, including close relatives. He said, “He misguided around ten families in our neighbourhood. Their children have never received immunity vaccinations. The adults haven’t taken COVID-19 vaccines so far.”

Lack of evidence and witnesses

Everyone knows what is happening in Kannur, but lack of evidence and witnesses do not let the investigation go further. Police, however, believe that the recent death of the girl may build a case. R Ilango, Kannur City Police Commissioner, said that Siraj’s statement had given a big boost to the investigation. “We will investigate all suspicious deaths in the neighbourhood during the last seven years. We will seek legal advice on how to proceed with the investigation,” he added.

Awareness programs

The organizations in the region are now coming forward to put an end to occult practices in Kannur. Muhammed Younus, an activist of the City Snehatheeram, said, “People like Uwais wield considerable clout in the society. They enjoy a cult following. Their followers are ready to do anything for them. It is a dangerous trend. The society should take initiatives to educate common people about the hazards of following them.”

The Kodapparamba Mosque, which is located close to Uwais’s residence, is planning to launch a house-to-house campaign to inform people to stay away from faith healers. Marzooque Saadi Imam of the Kodapparamba said, “We will educate people that faith healing is illegal. We will also teach them that Islam abhors such practices. That is the only way to dissuade people from the clutches of black magic practitioners.”

He further added, “We summoned him after we came to know about his fraudulent activities. He failed to give us a clear explanation. So we told him to stop such practices. But he continued his activities secretly.”

The anti-superstition bill

In 2019, the Law Reforms Commission submitted a draft of the anti-superstition bill to the State government. It has been waiting since then to become a law in the state. Ilango has vouched for the law to be passed soon. He said, “Existing laws are a bit general, and anti-superstition law would have ensured stringent punishment for those involved in sorcery, black magic and occult practices.”

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