Dalit Village 'Pradhan' Shot Dead by Upper Castes in UP's Azamgarh, Upper Castes Leave The Village Due To Fear Of Reprisals
Arshad Afzaal Khan | India Tomorrow LUCKNOW, AUGUST 16— In increasing incidents of attack on Dalits and OBCs in East UP’s Azamgarh district, a Dalit village ‘Pradhan’ of Bansgaon was shot dead by members of the upper castes involving Thakurs and Brahmins.   The incident happened on August 14 evening. The deceased has been identified as Satyamev Jayate alias    Following the incident, the Dalit villagers, who are in majority, not only attacked the house of one of the suspects who happens to belong to the Thakur caste but also attacked the nearby police outpost and damaged several police vehicles as an eight year old Dalit boy-Sooraj-was crushed allegedly under the wheels of a police jeep that came to control the situation and opened several rounds of fire in which no one was injured.    Heavy police deployment has been made in the village to control the situation and maintain law and order. According to another account, the boy w...

"Police Treated Us Like Animals", Allege Foreign Tablighi Jamaat Activists Facing Trial For Visa Norm Violation
Syed Ali Ahmed | India Tomorrow   NEW DELHI, AUGUST 13—Several foreign activists of Tablighi Jamaat, who are stranded in India owing to police cases registered against them on ground of violation of visa norms, allege that they were treated like animals by the police at quarantine centres.   Narrating their experiences with the police and administration with this scribe, some of them currently staying in Jamia Nagar, said that they were pushed into rooms like hordes of animals. “They behaved with us as if we are animals and spreader of coronavirus”, several citizens of US, Australia, UK and other countries said.   Many of them also took objections to the headlines in newspapers describing Jamaat activists as carriers of coronavirus.   All of them have willingly chosen to face the trial instead of accepting offence, paying penalty and leaving for their countries, an option that was given to them by the government. Some of them had come to In...

Three Killed In Bengaluru Violence, Over 100 Arrested, Violence-Hit Areas Under Curfew
Syed Sujeel Ahmed | India Tomorrow   BENGALURU, AUGUST 12—Three persons were killed in police firing and over 100, including an SDPI leader Muzammil Pasha, arrested in the violence in northeastern Bengaluru that took place on Tuesday night after the relative of a Congress MLA posted derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammed along with questioning Muslims on Babri Masjid on his Facebook page.   According to police reports, 60 others were injured, three of them in serious condition. Curfew has been clamped on violence-hit areas under Banaswadi Police Sub-Division.   The one who posted derogatory materials has been identified as P Naveen, a nephew of Akhand Srinivas Murthy, a Congress MLA from Pulikeshinagar constituency. Navin as well as the MLA are Dalits.   On Tuesday evening, protesters reached the MLA’s house located at Kaval Byrasandra to lodge their protest with the MLA, when they came to know that the MLA was not available at his house, th...

Delhi Police Sexually Assaulted Jamia Students During Anti-CAA Protest on February 10: Fact-Finding Report
Syed Khalique Ahmed | India Tomorrow   NEW DELHI, AUGUST 11—A prominent women organization, National Federation of India Women(NFIW) led by social activists Aruna Roy and Annie Raja, have alleged that the Delhi police used chemical gas and molested women students of the Jamia Millia Islamia on February 10 when they were protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and making a bid to march to Parliament building.   The allegations have been made in a seven-page report released to media. However, the police have denied the use of any gas or molestation of girls or attacks on private parts of men and women.   Called the fact-finding report, it was compiled by the organisation’s women activists after talking to victims, other students, teachers, activists, medical professionals, administrative staff and legal professional reports on the gruesome violence.   The report said that the chemical attack made the students immobile, caused drowsiness ...

SC Asks Allahabad HC to Decide In 15 Days If Dr. Kafeel Khan Can Be Released
 India Tomorrow   NEW DELHI, AUGUST 11—The Supreme Court has given 15 days time to the Allahabad High Court to decide on the release of Dr. Kafeel Khan, who was arrested on January 29 in connection with delivering a speech in Aligarh in December 2019 in connection with anti-Citizenship Amendment Act(CAA) protests and is currently imprisoned in Mathural Central Jail.   The order was passed by a bench comprising Justices manoj Mishra and Deepak Verma on a petition filed by Dr. Khan’s mother Nuzahat Parween.   The next date of hearing in the case is August 19.   In its order, the apex court said, “Hear and expeditiously consider the matter on merits and consider in 15 days time, whether Dr Kafeel Khan can be released or not”.   Khan, who was earlier suspended from the Gorakhpur’s BRD Medical College and Hospital, has been in detention since January 29 for allegedly making an inflammatory speech on the Aligarh Muslim Uni...

Muslim Women Accuse Delhi Police Of Beating and Sexually Assaulting them, Police Deny The Charge
Syed Khalique Ahmed | India Tomorrow  NEW DELHI, AUGUST 10—Three women, including a teenager, have alleged that police beat them up and sexually assaulted as well in the Bhajanpura police station of Northeast Delhi on the night of August 8.   The incident happened when 10 women, including Shaheen Khan, Shanno and the latter’s 17-year-old daughter went to the police to seek registration of an FIR in a case that happened two days earlier.   While the other women waited in the police station compound, the three went inside the police station. They are all residents of Subhash Mohalla of Ghonda, a locality in the northeast Delhi that witnessed India’s worst anti-Muslim violence in February this year.   In an interview to the Caravan magazine, they said the policemen not only refused to register the FIR, they severely attacked the women, including the teenager.   They also alleged that the policemen also sexually assaulted them. However, t...

NSUI Seeks Action Against ABVP National President For Harassing Old Woman
  Syed Sujeel Ahmed | India Tomorrow   BENGALURU, AUGUST 9—The demand seeking action against the national president of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) Dr. Subbiah Shanmugam has reached Delhi, with leaders of the National Students Union of India (NSUI) affiliated to the Congress, submitting memorandum to Union Textile Minister Smriti Irani and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.   ABVP is the students wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS), the political mentor of the BJP.   Subbiah is a professor and Head of the Department of Surgical Oncology at Kilpauk Medical College and Government Royapettah Hospital in Chennai and is accused of harassing an elderly woman in Chennai.   NSUI members took out a cycle rally led by its general secretary Nagesh Kariyappa in New Delhi and marched to the offices of the two ministers. They submitted a memorandum seeking speedy justice to the 62-year-old woman.   Earlier, the stat...

UP Cops Ransack House of A Soldier’s Family, Victims Demand Action Against Cops
 Masihuzzama Ansari | India Tomorrow   LUCKNOW, AUGUST 8—A shocking incident of Uttar Pradesh Police allegedly involved in attacking the family members of a former soldier and ransacking the house located in Kushinagar in Eastern UP regarding CCA-NRC protest held during December 2019 has come to light. The alleged incident, according to civil society, has further confirmed their belief that UP have become a ‘police state’ where rights of minorities are trampled upon with impunity with no end to the atrocities in sight.   There are also allegations of police having misbehaved with the women present in the house at the time of their attack. The family members, despite their complaints to the police higher ups, claimed that their pleas have fallen on deaf ears and inaction against the culprits taking law into their hands. Cops misbehaved with women The family members alleged that policemen misbehaved with them, systematically vandalised their house a...

Eight Mosques, Two Dargahs Surrounding Ram Janmabhoomi Echo Harmony
Arshad Afzal Khan  AYODHYA, AUGUST 4—Eight mosques and two 'Dargaahs' surrounding the Ram Janmabhoomi have been conveying a message of peaceful coexistence of the two communities in the temple town of Ayodhya where the Ram temple is to be built.   These Muslim places of worship are located within 100-200 metres of the fortified area, where Azaan and Ramayana chants seamless blend to cement the syncretic culture of Ayodhya.   Unlike the Babri Masjid, where Namaz stopped after December 23, 1949, regular five-time prayers are offered at these centuries-old Islamic structures adjacent to Ram Janmabhoomi, which also includes a Shia mosque and Imambara and the Tehribazar Jogiyon ki Masjid, which as the name suggests was built by Hindu salvation seekers ('Jogis') more than 200 years ago.   There are about eight mosques and two mausoleums adjacent to the 70-acre premises of Ram Janmabhoomi mandated by the Supreme Court for Ram temple. Proper Azaan and Namaz are...

Gujarat Police Issues Externment Notice To Kalim Siddiqui, Activist Threatens to Challenge It In The High Court
Syed Khalique Ahmed | India Tomorrow   NEW DELHI, JULY 30—While Gujarat Police have issued an externment notice to journalist-activist Kalim Siddiqui on allegations of his involvement in 10 incidents of criminial intimidation and violence, and police FIRs registered in two other cases, the activist has declared to challenge the notice in the Gujarat High Court.   Siddiqui has been issued a showcause notice asking him as to why he should not be externed for a period of two years from Ahmedabad city, Ahmedabad district, Gandhinagar, Kheda and Mehsana districts.   In his reply submitted to Assistant Commissioner of Police (A Division) A M Patel on Thursday, Siddiqui said the allegations levelled by the police are false and not tenable in a court of law.   In the showcause notice, police accused that Siddiqui was involved in a case of rioting in Ramol area of Ahmedabad in August 2018 and participated in an unlawful assembly during anti-CAA protest in Rakhi...

When Government, Media Hounded Out Tablighis; Bengaluru Hospital, Muslims Served Humanity
By Gurmehar Bhalla (Special to India Tomorrow)  BENGALURU, JULY 23—At a time when the Narendra Modi-led regime was hounding Tablighi Jamaat and spreading canards about the pan-international Muslim religious movement, a unique work for humanity by constructing a hospital was being silently done for the people of the country by Muslims in Bengaluru.   This everlasting and eternal contribution to mankind makes me and every conscious human being to prostrate before Islam and the ideals cherished by its everlasting principles for humanity. During the coronavirus outbreak, instead of understanding the main reasons behind the spread of the outbreak in all its seriousness, the government was busy spreading poisonous lies about Tablighi Jamaat through fake propaganda and witch-hunting of its followers.  It was a depressing time when the community was being repressed by goons with saffron flags trying to foist them on the handcarts, demanding Aadhar from the Muslims, ba...

Northeast Delhi Riots: Minorities Commission Report Holds Kapil Mishra's Provocative Speech Responsible For Anti-Muslim Violence, Seeks Probe Into Complicity Of Police Into The Riots
Syed Khalique Ahmed | India Tomorrow   NEW DELHI, JULY 16—Contrary to police findings that the provocative speeches delivered by BJP leaders including Kapil Mishra had no role in instigating the Northeast Delhi riots between February 23-27, Delhi Minorities Commission’s Fact-Finding report on Delhi Riots fact-finding report released on Thursday claims that “the violence in different parts of Northeast Delhi broke out almost immediately after the instigating speech of Shri Kapil Mishra on February 23 at Maujpur”.   The report also sought a “probe into the complicity and abdication of duty by the Delhi police in allowing violence to take place, including culpability for engaging in direct acts of violence”.   The nine-member committee comprised of representatives from all religious groups including Hindus and Muslims. The committee was headed by Supreme Court advocate M R Shamshad.   While police made its claims exonerating...

Kerala Nun Rape Case: Court Cancels Bail To Accused Bishop, Issues Non-Bailable Arrest Warrant
India Tomorrow  KOZHIKODE, JULY 16—After cancelling the bail granted to rape-accused Catholic Bishop Franco Mulakkal, the Kottayam addition district and sessions court on July 14 issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against him.  The arrest warrant was issued as the accused failed to appear before the court on July 13.  He was earlier asked to appear on July 1 but failed to do so saying that he was living in a Covid-19 containment zone and would not be able to travel.  The next hearing in the case has been scheduled for August 13.  The Bishop informed the court through his advocate that he would not be able to appear in court physically because he had come in contact with a person tested Covid-19 positive in Jalandhar in Punjab where he is currently living.  Stating that the bishop has failed to appear on more than 12 similar occasions in the court, the public prosecutor told the court that the accused was simply trying to delay the proceedings...

Delhi Police Bias To The Fore: Restraint On Arrest of Hindus Reinforces A Practice In Vogue
  Rasheeduddin Khaja | India Tomorrow   NEW DELHI, JULY 15- While Delhi Police order for restraint on the arrest of Hindus in connection with northeast Delhi violence of April came in for wide criticism, Muslim leaders, discerning its dangerous implications, are especially livid over the move. Advocate Mehmood Pracha, a well known social activist and a prominent voice of the community, called it formalisation of an informal directive given to the lower brass of the Delhi Police.   In a candid reaction to the unlawful move, Pracha said the official order not only reinforces the illegal practice “to conduct one-sided police action against Muslims but also help Manuwadi (fascist) elements in orchestrating attacks on Muslims while simultaneously falsely implicate them in trumped up charges”.   He, however, asserted that he was not wee bit disheartened by the order. “We are working hard to bring all Manuwadis to book for their inhuman acts o...

Haryana Court Allows 58 Foreign Tablighis To Return To Their Countries
Syed Ali Ahmed | India Tomorrow   NEW DELHI, JULY 13—Dismissing the Haryana government appeal against the judgment of lower court, the Nuh Sessions Court has allowed 58 foreign Tablighi Jamaat activists, including a few women, to leave for their respective countries after depositing a fine of Rs 1000 each.   Senior advocate Shaukat Ali, who represented the foreign Tablighi activists in the court, said that the Haryana police had registered a case on April 2 against 58 foreign Tablighi Jamaat activists and an Indian for not informing the local administration about their presence in Nuh district during the lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus.   There were two delegations of Tablighi Jamaat in Nuh – one was of men while the other was of women. They were in separate groups.   Shaukat said that Chief Judicial Magistrate, Nuh district court, in his historical judgment on May 23 had freed all the accused free of all charges levelled by the Har...

Northeast Delhi Riot: Court Seeks Police Response On Complaints Seeking Registration of FIR Against BJP's Kapil Mishra
Syed Ali Ahmed | India Tomorrow  NEW DELHI, JULY 12—The Karkardooma court has sought status report from police in connection with two complaints seeking registration of FIR against BJP leader Kapil Mishra and others for their alleged complicity in Northeast Delhi riots.   A total of 53 persons were killed, mostly Muslims, hundreds of others injured and several hundreds were displaced and properties worth hundreds of crores of rupees were destroyed in the riots.   The court sought the status report on complaints by two persons: Zakir Malik of Yamuna Vihar and Jami Rizvi and Nehru Vihar.   While the hearing on Malik’s complaint is scheduled on July 20, it will be held on August 13 in case of Rizvi.   Senior Advocate Mehmood Pracha representing the two complainants said the complainants were forced to move the court after Delhi police refused to file FIR against the accused persons named in their complaints.     Kapil Mishra, whos...

Dr. Anwar Named In Another Riot Chargesheet, His Counsel Says It Is Just To Harass The Doctor
Senior Adv Mehmood Pracha, representing Dr. Anwar in courts said, “There is nothing serious in the second chargesheet. This has been done just to harass him. It is Dr. Anwar who talked to the Delhi High Court Judge S. Murlidhar for getting ambulance to admit the serious riot victims to government hospitals. Judge has been transferred. But doctor is still there. This is being done to harass him and nothing else”.  Syed Ali Ahmed | India Tomorrow   NEW DELHI, JULY 3— The owner of Al Hind Hospital in Mustafabad, Dr. Mohammed Ehtesham Anwar, who treated a large number of persons injured during February 24-26 riots in Northeast Delhi, has been named in another chargesheet filed by the police.   Earlier, his name found mention in the chargesheet pertaining to the murder of one Dilbag Negi.   The second chargesheet filed on June 2 in Karkardooma court says that AAP councillor Tahir Hussain, who is named as an accused in the murder of ...

Northeast Delhi Riots: Doctor Who Saved Lives, Named In Riots Case; Alleges Threat From Police, Rowdies
 Syed Ali Ahmed | India Tomorrow   NEW DELHI, JULY 2—Dr. Mohammed Ehtesham Anwar of Al-Hind Hospital in Mustafabad, who did a yeoman’s service in treating those injured during February 24-26 riots in Northeast Delhi, is now being accused of having organised the protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act from February 15 and engineering violence from February 23. He has also been named in the police chargesheet in the murder of a 20-year-old Dilbag Negi.   Two of his mobile phones have been seized by the police. He was questioned thrice by the Crime Branch and Special of the Delhi Police. He says he was questioned about protests against CAA and NRC, not about riots. He alleges that he was also threatened not only by rowdies on Whatsapp of his new phone, but by the police as well.   "I am very muich disturbed from inclusion of my name in the chargesheet. An attempt is being made to defame the fair profession of a doctor", he says. &nb...

'Was It Mob lynching' or Murder? Police Arrest Two, Looking For 9 Others In Brutal Killing of Youth In Saharanpur District
  Masihuzzama Ansari | India Tomorrow  SAHARANPUR(Western UP), JULY 1—While both the police as well as relatives of 32-year-old Israr killed by brutal beating by a crowd are avoiding to call it ‘mob lynching’ for reasons best known to them, Saharanpur police have arrested two of the accused allegedly involved in the killing and are looking for the remaining 9 others.   Israr, who was a resident of Imaliya village and was badly beaten with baton and sharp-edged weapons on June 18 when he was on his way to Kotesar village for his business.  Israr was a carpenter by profession.   He was, however, rescued by his family members and the police, and rushed to a hospital in Saharanpur where he expired.   Israr got married eight years ago. He is survived by two sons, one daughter and his wife.   His elder brother Gulfam told India Tomorrow, “I received a call around 6.30 pm on June 18 that Israr was being beaten up by som...

Tablighi Jamaat: SC Asks Govt Why Foreign Tablighis Were Not Deported When Their Visas Were Cancelled
Syed Ali Ahmed | India Tomorrow   NEW DELHI, JUNE 29—The Supreme Court on Monday sought a reply from the Central government for not deporting foreign Tablighis to their respective countries if their visas had been cancelled.   The apex court has given two days time to the Central government to reply in the matter. The next date of hearing is scheduled on July 2.   The Supreme court issued the order to the Central government on a petition filed by 34 foreign Tablighis from 33 countries who were arrested from different parts of the country on grounds of violating visa rules as they were indulging in missionary activities while on tourist visas.   According to advocate Fuzzail Ayyubi, among those having filed the petition includes an 8 month pregnant woman from Thailand.   Senior advocate Chander Udai Singh, who represents the foreign Tablighi activists in the court-told a three-judge bench comprising justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheswari and Sa...