BJP general secretary and in charge for the party in West Bengal, Kailash Vijayvargiya had taken to social media today to point out West Bengal administration’s apathy, working at the behest of CM Mamata Banerjee, towards the members of the Opposition in the state.
Through videoes shared on Twitter, the BJP veteran alleged that his convoy was en route Navgram in Murshidabad district when a frenzied Muslim mob surrounded it. In his Tweet, Vijayvargiya alleged that the West Bengal administration deliberately did not take any action against the mob.
In his first messege, Kailash Vijayvargiya wrote, “On my way to Murshidabad, I am surrounded by a large crowd of Muslims near Navgram. There is a crowd on both sides of my car. The administration is not ready to help. Even SP and DG are not picking up the phones. Anything can happen in West Bengal due to its anarchic government. Nobody’s life is safe here!”, wrote the BJP leader.
मुर्शिदाबाद जाते हुए मुझे नवग्राम के पास मुस्लिमों की बड़ी भीड़ ने घेर लिया है। मेरी गाडी के दोनों तरफ भीड़ जमा है। प्रशासन कोई सुनवाई नहीं कर रहा! SP और DG भी फ़ोन नहीं उठा रहे! पश्चिम बंगाल में अराजक सरकार के रहते कुछ भी हो सकता है! यहाँ किसी की जान सुरक्षित नहीं है! pic.twitter.com/7fjiz9cwpI
Kailash Vijayvargiya followed this with another tweet in which he wrote: “The law and order situation has deteriorated so much that even the lives of opposition cannot be said to be safe!” Thousands of Muslims have surrounded my car near Navgram on the way to Murshidabad. I am still surrounded by the crowd.”
Referring to the same incident in his third tweet, Kailava Vijayvargiya wrote: “On our way to Murshidabad, a crowd of Muslims blocked our way in front of a rickshaw near Navgram. Seeing the fierceness of the crowd, it seems that they have been provoked against us. The negligence of the administration can be understood by the fact that no one is picking up my calls”.
Sharing another video which shows several trucks blocking the roads, Kailash Vijayvargiya said that most of the roads in Murshidabad today have been closed. He alleged that this was not a natural jam, but the administration has stopped trucks to block their way. “It is a conspiracy by the West Bengal government to not let us reach Murshidabad on time”, alleged the minister.
आज मुर्शिदाबाद का अधिकांश रास्ता ट्रकों के कारण बंद है। ये स्वाभाविक जाम नहीं है, बल्कि प्रशासन ने हमारे रास्ते को रोकने के लिए ट्रकों को रुकवा दिया है। ये सीधे-सीधे सरकार की साजिश है कि हम समय पर मुर्शिदाबाद न पहुँच पाएं! pic.twitter.com/lNInCQ5Mn7
The BJP leader shared another video and claimed that whichever detour his convoy tried to take was also blocked by these trucks which stood there at the behest of the West Bengal administration. “There are long lines without any reason. The drivers have been driven away from the trucks so that the jam does not open quick. The whole conspiracy is visible”, said the minister in his Tweet.
Reacting to this series of tweet, former Madhya Pradesh CM Shiv Raj Singh Chouhan took to Twitter to pray for Kailash Vijayvargiya’s safety in Mamata’ “jungle raj”.
Vijayvargiya had finally shared that he managed to reach Murshidabad after much struggle. He had stated that had the home minister not alerted CISF and local administration, anything could have happened to him.
West Bengal has been turned into a war zone after anti-CAA rioters continue to indulge in violence in the state. The rioters have been resorting to endless vandalism and arson attacks. Numerous railway stations and ticket counters in the state have been ransacked, various trains pelted with stones at and set on fire in the name of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act, causing immense loss of revenues and badly affecting rail services through the state.
The situation has escalated to such an extent that as many as 700 trains passing through the state have been cancelled since the protests picked up on Friday (December 13). However, CM Banerjee has played down the escalations and attacks on assets of the Indian Railways, rendering them to be “small incidents”.
In fact, the WB CM took out the third march from Howrah Maidan to Esplanade in Kolkata today to protest against the CAA.
Ladeeda Sakhaloon, the face of the Jamia Millia Islamia University protests, has been revealed to be a rabid Islamic extremist who gave a call for Jihad on social media. Not merely that, she glorified the genocidal maniacs who perpetrated the Moplah massacre of Hindus. Thus, it’s quite clear now that the Jamia protests cannot be disassociated from the mob violence that has gripped the national capital.
Furthermore, we see a nexus of Islamic fundamentalist organizations, foreign-funded NGOs and NGOs linked extensively to Maoists and ‘Urban Naxals’ combating hard to nullify the Citizenship Amendment Act. Simultaneously, the Congress party has been involved in instigating protests across Universities as OpIndia exposed in a recent report. Thus, what we see here is a well-oiled machine that is working to nullify the Citizenship Amendment Act using mob violence in addition to legal and political means.
In addition to these three options, country-wide protests by one specific community are being used to draw leverage against the government. In all of this, extremely dubious organizations are involved as well as Islamic fundamentalist organizations. We may choose to ignore the obvious but this is verily the Khilafat 2.0, the movement which led to creation of Pakistan.
Great efforts have been made to whitewash the Khilafat Movement but it’s a fact that widespread sections of the Muslim community supported it. It is also a fact that the Khilafat Movement owes its heritage to the Aligarh Muslim University. It was the founder of the said University that first gave the ‘Two-Nation Theory’. It is in this light that we need to see the role of Jamia Milia Islamia University and the Aligarh Muslim University in these protests.
There is a great nexus at work in these violent protests. Once again, in this report, we shall shed more light on this nexus. It’s important to note that the media has worked extensively to provide cover fire to these protests. These protests reeked of Islamic extremism from the very beginning and yet, the media worked greatly to portray it as a ‘movement’ to ‘Save the Constitution’. Barkha Dutt even called the rabid fundamentalists ‘Sheroes’. And as it turns out, she is not the only person in the media to blame.
The Outlook published a report lionizing the jihadis of Jamia. FirstPost even published a column by Ladeeda Sakhaloon. In the column, she said, “I would like to make two statements in this regard. Firstly, the solidarity and protests should recognise the sentiments of the community which is targeted through this Act. I’m a Muslim woman. A large proportion of protesters are Muslims. So, all those supporting the fight against CAA and NRC should respect the political stand and slogans that reflect their dignity and pride. Secondly, it is clear that the Sangh Parivar is imposing this Act to overturn the Indian Constitution. I believe that all groups who come together to protect the Constitution are basically part of the struggle to preserve the existence of Muslims in India. This is because of the fact that constitutional values are being destroyed by a fascist government, largely on Muslim issues.” She was careful not to make a call for Jihad in the said column or glorify the Moplah massacre of Hindus.
Clearly, the ‘Secular Media’ was hoodwinked by Islamic fundamentalists into peddling their narrative. Or, the ‘Secular Media’ was always sympathetic and supportive of Islamic fundamentalists. One individual who likely played a pivotal part in all of this is Afsal Rahman CA. He is the husband of Aysha Renna, another Jamia Jihadi who called India ‘fascist’ for executing the Mumbai Blast terrorist Yakub Memon.
Afsal Rahman CA has great links within the media fraternity. He is a contributor for the Outlook, Manorama Online and Asianet News. He is a contributor at Maktoob Media, where Shaheen, the ‘journalist’ the two girls ‘saved’ from police in that viral video. He has been a former associate producer for Zee Hindustan. Rahman has worked for a variety of news organizations as per his Linked.in profile. It’s pertinent to mention here that Outlook had published a fawning report on Aysha Renna and her ilk, a media outlet her husband contributed to. The IANS further reported on Tuesday that Aysha Renna is associated with the Fraternity Youth Movement which happens to be the youth organization of the Welfare Party of India, the political wing of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind.
Interestingly, the Jamaat-e-Islami which is part of the United Against Hate that is attempting to involve the NHRC into the CAA debate with help from foreign-funded NGOs and those with links to ‘Urban Naxals’. Thus, Aysha Renna provides a clear link between the Jamia protests, the move to get the NHRC involved and through her friend, who gave a call for Jihad, with the mob violence that was unleashed in the national capital.
The media does have a lot to answer for the manner in which these dubious individuals have been lionized and even defended by the media. Dhanya Rajendran of The News Minute, for example, provided an opportunity for the girls to clear their names and did not ask a single tough question about the extremely problematic worldview of the individuals concerned.
On her call for Jihad, Ladeeda said, “Sabr means patience and jihad in its truest sense means a fight against injustice. But these people are trying to portray it as extremist viewpoint.” We, at OpIndia, reported clearly why it cannot be portrayed as merely a call for struggle against injustice or a non-violent struggle or anything of that sort. In the same Facebook post, Ladeeda mentions the Hudaybiyyah, which is a peace treaty. She also mentions the battles of Badr, Uhud and Karbala. She clearly drew an analogy between breaking a peace treaty and going to war for Islam and yet, Dhanya did not bother to press her on the matter at all.
“Everyone has their opinions and share their opinions. I have shared my opinion, but to portray those as extremist is a fascist tactic. When someone uses an Arabic word, the Sangh has many times been successful in creating doubts among people that this is extremist,” Ladeeda said before attempting to paint her Facebook post as non-extremist. Unfortunately for her, it’s because we are aware of the historical context she has drawn in her Facebook post that we can presume safely that it was definitely not a call for struggle against injustice.
Furthermore, Ladeeda made a post on Facebook that glorified Ali Musliyar and Variyanuannathu who were the main antagonists in the Moplah massacre of Hindus in Kerala in 1921. Thus, we have a call for Jihad, the glorification of those who committed genocide of Hindus and violent protests in Delhi to boost. At what point do we stop pretending that the Jamia protesters had absolutely nothing to do with the protests at all?
The FIR filed by the Delhi Police in the matter also states that some ‘students’ did join the ‘miscreants’ in pelting stones from inside the University on Sunday. Furthermore, people associated with political parties have been named in the FIR as well. Former Congress MLA Asif Khan and Kasif Usmani, who is associated with CYSS, the student wing of Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party, were named as accused in the FIR.
AISA member Chandan Kumar and SIO member Asif Tanha, a member of the Students Islamic Organisation of India (SIO), were also named as accused in the matter. We are aware of the AISA but the SIO is an important institution here. Shiyas Perumathura, the husband of Ladeeda Sakhaloon, is a secretary at the SIO.
Ladeeda’s husband is no less- he’s secretary of SIO and Ladeeda started giving religious speeches at SIO. Its a media management group! pic.twitter.com/555URSNXG0
The SIO was founded by Jamaat-e-Islami in 1982 after the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) broke away from it in 1981. A Livemint report from 2008 puts the relationship between the two organizations in this manner, “Blood brothers they may be, but the groups have charted conflicting courses, both in principle and actions. While SIMI is largely underground after the government crackdown, SIO is a gradually swelling student revolution in the making, taking Islam beyond the parodied stereotypes of fundamentalism and violence. Its mission: to prepare students, Muslims and non-Muslims, for reconstruction of a peaceful India on the basis of Islamic principles.”
Regardless of what the report may say, the people associated with SIO have clearly demonstrated that they have a tendency to gravitate towards violence as well. The mainstream media through its ignorance has given a pass to extremely toxic individuals. Due to their inherent ‘secular’ biases, journalists have taken dubious individuals at face value and have made no effort to throw hard questions at them. Even when their bigotry stood exposed, the media has attempted to provide them with an opportunity to clear their names. After all of this is said and done, the mainstream media will have to take a long and hard look at the manner in which it has conducted itself in these turbulent times and if they have a shred of shame, they will make a formal apology to the people of this country.
The Jamaat-e-Islami itself has an extremely turbulent past. After the partition of the country, the organization split itself into independent organizations in the newly created states. It has been described as having undergone an “ideological transformation” and said to have abandoned its goal of transforming India into an Islamic State. But given everything that has occurred in recent times, we will have to revisit this question.
We have to remember here that Muslim politicians from mainstream political parties have contributed to the violence as well. Amanatullah Khan, a prominent leader of the Aam Aadmi Party, was reportedly spotted leading the protests in Delhi that turned violent. His role in the escalation of events will have to be investigated as well.
The conduct of the Congress party during the entire series of events has been most shameful. OpIndia has exposed the manner in which the NSUI, the students’ wing of the Congress, instigated protests across several Universities while simultaneously, working hard to maintain the pretense that these protests were spontaneous. Even the protests by ‘students’ at the University of Madras were actually headed by the SFI, another expose that OpIndia made.
Thus, we see a network of dubious individuals at Jamia Milia Islamia University, who are associated with an organization that is considered the ‘Blood Brother’ of a banned Radical Islamic outfit, giving calls for Jihad following which violence erupted at the national capital. The said individuals were well connected with the mainstream media which soon turned them into ‘Sheroes’. The ‘Blood Brother’ of SIMI, the SIO, has Jamaat-e-Islami Hind that splintered off after the partition of the country.
In the protests, even the Aligarh Muslim University, the founder of which gave the two-nation theory that led to the partition of the country, witnessed great violence and even the protesters of this University were portrayed as victims by the mainstream media. Thus, we witness an elaborate network of Islamic fundamentalist organizations whose people spread across the media and Universities attempted to foment discord within the country. The violence that shook Delhi cannot be disassociated from this network by any means.
The violence, of course, was not limited to the national capital. There was violence all across the country, especially in West Bengal and Assam. The violence in Assam, of course, has a different historical context but the violence in every other corner of the country had a similar background. In West Bengal, public property was damaged, buses were set on fire, trains were burnt and communal strife was created. Meanwhile, the ruling ‘secular’ dispensation watched as mute spectators because they did not wish to hurt their Muslim vote-bank.
We should also remember the slogans that were raised in Jamia. ‘Hinduon se Azadi‘ cannot be wished away in any manner. Glorifying people who committed the genocide of Hindus cannot be wished away in any manner. We cannot afford to ignore the graffiti and slogans that erupted in the Jamia protests. There is an insidious design at work here and we have to confront it. And the country will have to wake up to this sad reality at some point in time and the most opportune time is this.
This is the Khilafat 2.0 and the nation cannot afford to maintain wishful blindness any longer. The ‘Secular’ parties will be judged by history extremely harshly for their deplorable conduct. The Useful Idiots in Universities and the Media ought to understand the role it is playing in encouraging evil designs that seek to wreck the country once again.
The Karnataka state government has now decided to rename the Indira Canteens to ‘Maharshi Valmiki Anna Kuteera’. On Tuesday, Karnataka revenue minister R Ashoka said that the government will rename the canteens barring those in Bengaluru city.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, revenue minister R Ashoka said discussions were held with the chief minister in this regard and that the government was considering the change of name. The government was considering the change in name based on a request by former minister Rajugouda, the minister added.
Reportedly, this proposal is only for canteens outside Bengaluru. As Bengaluru city did not fall under the purview of Revenue ministry, a decision will be made by the Chief Minister on renaming the Indira Canteens in Bengaluru.
Following the proposal to change the name of Indira Canteen, a senior BJP leader said it was unfortunate that most schemes or projects by the Congress are named after members of the Gandhi family. “The name should be changed. We had proposed Annapoorna, which would have been apt,’’ he said.
Soon after Yediyurappa had taken oath as CM, there was a proposal to change the name of the canteen to Annapoorna. However, the Congress party had opposed the move.
In August this year, Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa had also directed officials to initiate a probe against the alleged discrepancies in subsidies issued to contractors for the Indira Canteens.
The Siddaramaiah government has introduced Indira Canteens in Bengaluru in August 2017. Initially, the canteens were just in Bengaluru but were later introduced to other parts of the state.
Former CM Siddaramaiah condemned the proposal, saying, “The BJP government’s intent to rename Indira Canteens shows it’s playing cheap politics. While we are proud of Maharshi Valmiki, Indira Gandhi was a leader of this nation and not restricted to the Congress. It is an absolute shame that the BJP is replacing her name with that of Maharshi Valmiki for political gains”.
As anti-CAA rioters continue to create ruckus in West Bengal, a senior police officer has reportedly been injured on Tuesday, December 17, as a violent mob hurled a bomb towards the team of personnel he was leading to arrest those involved in vandalising the railway station at Sankrail Manikpur area in Howrah city.
West Bengal: Deputy Commissioner of Police (HQ),Howrah Ajeet Singh Yadav (file pic) injured, after a bomb was hurled at police while they were trying to disperse the protesters in Sankrail Manikpur area, today. He has been admitted to a hospital. #CitizenshipAmendmentActpic.twitter.com/nJmGmaQEdu
Nobody has been arrested so far in connection with the matter, a senior police officer confirmed.
Howrah City Police Deputy Commissioner of Police (Headquarters) Ajeet Singh Yadav was injured in both his legs after a bomb was hurled at his team by the violent rioters in the area.
As per reports, Yadav was leading a team to arrest those involved in the vandalisation of the Sankrail station on Sunday when the police personnel were attacked by mobsters. The police team was reportedly beaten up. Yadav has also reportedly suffered injuries on his head. He was rushed to a private hospital.
Roads and rail blockades continued unabated in various parts of West Bengal as anti-CAA riots refuse to die down in the city. The rioters have been resorting to endless vandalism and arson attacks. Train services have been disrupted as rioters laid siege of tracks at various locations in the Howrah and Sealdah routes.
In Howrah, a two-km stretch connecting Sheikhpara with Moukhali in Sankrail resembled a war zone with protesters clashing with cops on December 15. A ticket counter in Bengal’s Sankrail railway station was also set on fire by the violent mobs.
Though numerous railway stations and ticket counters in the state have been ransacked, various trains pelted with stones at and set on fire in the name of protests against the parliament’s decision to amend the citizenship laws, causing immense loss of revenues and badly affecting rail services through the state, it’s Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee has asserted that protecting the Indian Railways and its properties in the state are not the responsibility of her Government.
#Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee terms the vandalism / arson of railway stations in the state a ‘small incident’, blames the @ErRpf for failing it’s duty, accuses the central govt of cancelling trains due to such incidents during the anti #CitizenshipAct protests pic.twitter.com/z6RL10DnYD
The situation has escalated to such an extent that as many as 700 trains passing through the state have been cancelled since the protests picked up on Friday (December 13). However, CM Banerjee played down the escalations and attacks on assets of the Indian Railways, rendering them to be “small incidents”.
Attacking the centre over the cancellation of trains, CM Banerjee said: “Just because some trains were set on fire, the centre has stopped railway services in most parts of Bengal. That is not right.”
On Monday, Former Karnataka minister and senior Karnataka Congress leader UT Khader warned that the state will be blown up into cinders if the BJP government tries to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act in the state.
According to ANI, former Congress Minister Khader threatened to indulge in violent protests if the BJP government in Karnataka tries to implement CAA in Karnataka.
UT Khader, Congress: Country is in flames but Karnataka is an island of peace. I read on social media that they’ve given instructions to implement this law in K’taka. I’m warning the CM that if you implement it (CAA) here then I swear K’taka will be blown up into cinders. (17.12) pic.twitter.com/SoAzB2rEXJ
“Country is in flames but Karnataka is an island of peace. I read on social media that they have given instructions to implement this law in Karnataka. I am warning the CM that if you implement it (CAA) here then I swear Karnataka will be blown up into cinders,” UT Khader, who is also an MLA from Mangaluru.
Khader claimed that PM Modi and Amit Shah are trying to divide the country in the name of religion after returning to power. Calling the CAA unconstitutional, Khader said that they will never submit the documents to prove that their citizenship. It is notable here that CAA has nothing to do with existing Indian citizens.
“If anyone needs to prove that they are Indians and true patriots it is Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. Because after Modi came to power he is implementing laws similar to those during the British rule”, said former Minister UT Khader addressing the protesters in front of the DC office here on December 16.
Khader’s provocative statements came after Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Wednesday said that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will be implemented in Karnataka. “We will implement the Citizenship Amendment Act in Karnataka,” Yediyurappa told reporters in Bengaluru.
Following the passing of the historic Citizenship Amendment Act in the parliament, the Muslim mobs in the country have gone on a rampage with vandalising of public infrastructure like Railways, buses, buildings in West Bengal, and Delhi. Apart from states like West Bengal, where law and order situation has gone completely out of control, the universities like Jamila Millia Islamia, Aligarh Muslim University have also seen violent protests.
The Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 seeks to grant Indian citizenship to refugees from Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Parsi communities fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, and who entered India on or before December 31, 2014.
In a shocking incident, a resident of Jui-Kamothe village in Mumbai had set his wife on fire after she allegedly served him less mutton during dinner. The woman died of her injuries on December 9 at Mumbai’s Sion hospital.
The accused identified as Maruti Sarode (38) is a daily wage labourer from Nanded. According to a report in Times of India, Pallavi Sarode was set on fire by her husband after he got annoyed as she served him less quantity of meat.
“The man got angry after his wife served less mutton in his plate while having dinner on the night of December 4. Maruti was in an inebriated condition when he set Pallavi on fire after pouring kerosene on her. The neighbours rushed the woman to DY Patil Hospital in Nerul,” Senior Inspector Balasaheb Tupe was quoted as saying.
The woman was later shifted to Sion Hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries. The woman who has been survived by her four minor children had in her statement to the police, reportedly said that her husband set her ablaze in anger.
In a similar case last year, a 22-year-old woman, Shabana Begum, working in a beauty parlour, was set ablaze in her house in Kumarwadi, Tappachabutra in Hyderabad, by her jilted lover, Ibrahim, for refusing to marry him. While Shabana succumbed to her injuries later in the day, Ibrahim, the accused had suffered 85 per cent burns in the incident.
Dr Kafeel Khan, the Gorakhpur doctor who was suspended from the department of paediatrics after the death of 60 children at the BRD hospital in 2017, has been booked for an alleged provocative speech during a talk at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) on the Citizenship Amendment Act.
AMU was the site of violent protests on December 15 which had led to clashes with police and the subsequent evacuation of the premises.
The FIR asserts that Kafeel made an attempt to vitiate the peaceful atmosphere and disturb communal harmony. Superintendent of Police (SP) Abhishek, Aligarh stated that the FIR was registered under section 153-A (Promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion) of IPC on the 13th of December.
Kafeel said during the speech, according to the FIR, “Mota Bhai’ is teaching everyone to become Hindu or Muslim but not a human being. He does not believe in the constitution since the RSS came into existence. The CAB makes Muslims a second category citizen and subsequently, they will be harassed with the implementation of the NRC.”
Kafeel is further alleged to have said, “This is a fight is for our existence. We have to fight”. He also said that students in RSS schools are being taught that those who have beards are terrorists. He reportedly added, “through the CAB, the government has told us that India is not ‘our’ country.”
Violent protests have erupted across the country. It was reported that AMU students had clashed with the Police on the night of 15th December. DGP Singh informed that 16-17 policemen have received injuries in the violent clashes with students. The police had to fire tear gas shells. Following the spate of violence, the campus was evacuated by the administration.
Kafeel Khan is one of the accused in the BRD Medical College and Hospital children’s death case in Gorakhpur. He had taken to social media to spread false news that he had been given a ‘clean chit’ in the 2017 case in a departmental inquiry. The Uttar Pradesh government had in October initiated a fresh inquiry against him for spreading misinformation in the media and forcibly entering a hospital and trying to treat patients during his suspension period.
The top court of the country has rejected the review petition filed by one of the death-row convicts, Akshay Kumar Singh, in the Nirbhaya gang-rape case.
Supreme Court rejects review petition of Akshay Kumar Singh, one of the convicts in the 2012 Delhi gang-rape case. pic.twitter.com/5fhmZI94bW
On Tuesday, the CJI SA Bobde had recused himself from hearing the matter and adjourned the matter for Wednesday. Today, the bench headed by Justice R Banumathi and comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan and AS Bopanna took up the matter this morning and dismissed the review petition saying ”We do not find any error on the face of the record.”
Convict Akshay, through his advocate AP Singh, had sought clemency arguing life in Delhi is anyway becoming short due to rising air and water pollution and therefore there was no need to award death penalty to him.
Casting aspersions on the investigations carried out by the law enforcement agencies, Singh alleged that the police had wrongfully incriminated wrong people as they were unable to catch the real culprits.
Singh also alleged that there has been an undue haste for hanging of the convicts in this case and submitted the list of death-row convicts in other cases who were yet to be hanged.
However, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the state, argued that the petitioners were simply trying to delay the inevitable by filing various petitions. In his closing arguments, Mehta said that there are some crimes when humanity cries and this is one of them. Asking the bench to dismiss the review plea, Mehta asserted that death penalty should not be set aside for crimes of such nature.
However, the Delhi High Court, where Nirbhaya’s parents had sought immediate execution to the convicts on death row, has said that the fact that convicts want to file mercy petition does not preclude the court from issuing death warrant. The court ordered Tihar Jail authorities to issue fresh notice for one week to the convicts and scheduled next date of hearing for 7th January. “Have full sympathy with you. We know someone has died but there are their(convicts) rights too. We are here to listen to you but are also bound by the law,” the court told the mother of the victim, who broke down in court.
A 23-year-old paramedic student was brutally gang raped and cruelly assaulted on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012 inside a moving bus in Delhi by six people before being thrown out on the road. After battling for her life for 13 days, the victim succumbed to her injuries on 29 December 2012.
Six persons were arrested in the case and following their trial, they were sentenced to death penalty by the trial abd High Court. The apex court in its 2017 verdict had upheld the capital punishment awarded to them by the Delhi High Court and the trial court in the case.
Last year on July 9, the Supreme Court had dismissed the review pleas filed by the other three convicts — Mukesh (30), Pawan Gupta (23) and Vinay Sharma (24) — in the case, saying no grounds have been made out by them for review of the 2017 verdict.
Bollywood entertainer Farhan Akhtar took to Twitter to urge social media users to join him in a protest on 19th November, 2019 in Mumbai’s Azad Maidan against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register for Citizens (NRC). While making this appeal, Akhtar, very confidently, shared an infographic saying how these are the facts about the CAA and NRC and how this is why everyone must join him in the protests.
Here’s what you need to know about why these protests are important. See you on the 19th at August Kranti Maidan, Mumbai. The time to protest on social media alone is over. pic.twitter.com/lwkyMCHk2v
However, he could not be far from truth. Not only the map of India he used gives away parts of Ladakh and Jammu & Kashmir to China and Pakistan respectively, the reasons he gives for protesting are flawed too. A point by point rejoinder is blow:
The non-Muslims who are persecuted because of their religious identities in Islamic countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, will get citizenship under this act. The Muslims fleeing these countries can also apply for citizenship which may or may not be granted as per the due process set by the government. Hence, it is factually incorrect to say ‘the law excludes Muslim’. Only this particular act does. Moreover, Muslims aren’t persecuted minorities in these countries.
Akhtar says when combined with NRC, the Indian Muslims will be stateless. NRC, when it comes into force, will be applicable to all citizens of India, including non-Muslims. Moreover, the CAA is applicable to non-Muslims from these three countries who have entered India before 31st December, 2014. If they have entered India after the cut-off date, same laws will be applicable. Hence, even non-Muslims will be continued to be treated as illegal immigrants and can be jailed or deported back to the Islamic countries.
Akhtar says “Many people will be inhumanly excluded due to being Muslims, transgender, atheists, adivasis, dalits, women, landless and/or without document. They could be jailed or deported or placed in camps”. This is fear-mongering and confuses NRC (which is not even here yet) with CAA. One has to submit documents of citizenship under NRC. Non-Muslims who come to India after 31st December 2014 don’t automatically become Indian citizens and get all benefits of being an India. They can, however, continue to apply for citizenship under normal procedure. Wonder why is it so hard to understand.
He then speaks about NRC. He says how every person in India needs to prove through documentary evidence that they have a right to live in this country. This is a fair thing. To live in a country, one must be able to provide some evidence.
Except, in next point, he mentions how “ID card and tax slips are not enough”. Please note, the NRC is not yet implemented and there is no official information available on which documents will be considered and which will not be. This is fearmongering. Akhtar then goes on to question how many have their proof of ancestry dating as back as 1971. This date was specifically for Assam as that is the date mentioned in the Assam Accord signed by Congress government. It does not apply to any other place. The NRC in Assam was also monitored by Supreme Court.
He himself mentions it that the date was specific to Assam but then indulges in fear-mongering. The cut-off date the proposed nationwide NRC is yet to be decided by the government of India. Concrete information on the technicalities and procedures of the proposed nationwide NRC is yet to come out.
Next he goes on to create panic about NRC and CAA. He says non-Muslims under the CAA will be automatically granted citizenship without documents and it will leave Indian Muslims without documentation in a lurch. However, that is also untrue. CAA only ‘fast-tracks’ citizenship of non-Muslims from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Any Indian Hindu without documents under the NRC will face same procedure as any Muslim under the NRC. Non-Muslims will not be getting any free pass in the proposed NRC exercise.
The Bollywood entertainers like Farhan Akhtar and other intelligentsia in the country, who considers themselves to ‘elite’ should be responsible and spread messages of communal harmony and peace instead of inciting Muslim masses who are already on rampage across the country after a similar disinformation campaign against the Citizenship Amendment Act was pushed by the opposition parties and their media ecosystem.
Amusingly, IPS Sandeep Mittal, who had earlier schooled Akhtar’s father, lyricist Javed Akhtar, also took time off to teach a thing or two about consequences of waging a war against India to Farhan.
You also need to know that you ‘ ve committed an Offence u/s 121 of Indian Penal Code & it is not unintentional. @MumbaiPolice & @NIA_India are you listening.Please think of the Nation that is giving you everything in your Life.
Understand the Law?( https://t.co/DK3hDYe9e2 )
PS: In a subsequent tweet, Akhtar apologised for the wrong Indian map used in the infographic but has not apologised for the misinformation he has peddled.
Two Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) workers were brutally attacked by a group of alleged SFI students during a seminar in Kerala Varma College, Thrissur, on Tuesday.
The ABVP workers had reportedly organised a seminar for clarifying the myths surrounding the Citizenship Amendment Act and explaining the details to the college students when they were allegedly thrashed. The two ABVP workers were seriously injured in the attack and taken to a nearby private hospital.
In a video shared by ABVP, it can be seen how a group of people, allegedly belonging to the Students’ Federation of India, which is an Indian student organisation affiliated to the Communist Party, are blowing punches, kicks and brutally thrashing a man, who unavailingly tries to protect himself from the enraged group of assaulters.
ABVP karyakarta was brutally attacked by SFI goons in Varma College in Kerala for clarifying the myths surrounding the Citizenship Amendment Act and explaining the details to the students. So much for sermonising about ‘peaceful’ protests! @KeralaABVPpic.twitter.com/6eiAfVVFc1
The ABVP students, who were heading the seminar said that they were dragged ruthlessly out of the class and assaulted. Later, the teachers came in for the rescue of ABVP workers.
According to reports, the SFI goons who have been protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act had threatened the ABVP students to not conduct the seminar. SFI had also stopped the Chief Guest TR Ramesh who arrived to attend the seminar. Later with the intervention of the police, the SFI activists were removed from the premises.
The two sides allegedly had a heated argument over the seminar today morning, which concluded in the brutal assault of ABVP workers by SFI goons.
Following the enactment of the Citizenship Amendment Act, anti-CAA protests have been turning more and more violent with rioters taking to the street to set buses on fire and damage public property.
Recently, parts of Delhi turned into a war zone as anti-CAA rioters attacked school buses, pelted stones and threw bottles at the Delhi police who tried to take control of the situation. With every passing day, it is getting clearer that what is being referred to as ‘student movement’ is actually a very well planned and coordinated effort to create law and order situation in the country and fan communal violence.
