STOP LYNCHING OF MUSLIMS!
There were 63 Cases recorded during last five years.
62 cases were registered after Narendra Modi assumed the post of Prime Minister.
28 Murders Recorded.
24 Muslims - 4 Dalits. Muslim boy stabbed to death on train after argument turns into religious slurs
The incident took place on Thursday evening between Okhla and Asoti in Haryana.
INDIA Updated: Jun 27, 2017 17:51 IST
Ananya Bhardwaj
Ananya Bhardwaj
Hindustan Times, New Delhi
Beef
Police said one person was arrested on Friday and he has confessed to his involvement in the killing of Hafiz Junaid (16), which came amid several incidents of assaults on Muslims across the country over beef and cow slaughter.(Sonu Mehta/HT Photo)
One minor Muslim boy was allegedly stabbed to death and four others were injured on board a Mathura-bound train, police said on Friday, when an argument over a seat turned into religious slurs and triggered a mob attack on family members returning home from Eid shopping.
The incident took place on Thursday evening between Okhla and Asoti in Haryana, a distance of about 60 km.
Police said one person was arrested on Friday and he has confessed to his involvement in the killing of Hafiz Junaid (16), which came amid several incidents of assaults on Muslims across the country over beef and cow slaughter.
Opposition parties accuse the BJP-led government at the Centre of not reigning in fringe groups that are allegedly targeting the minority community over issues considered sacrosanct by the Hindus.
The four injured told Hindustan Times at Khaddawli, a small village in Haryana’s Faridabad district, the attackers repeatedly called them “anti-nationals” and “beef eaters”, threw their skull caps on the floor, caught their beards and taunted them with terms such as “mulla”.
Junaid was a student of Islamic studies in Surat, Gujarat along with his brother Hashim (20). The other injured are Md Mausin (16) and Md Moin (18).
Junaid’s elder brother Md Sakir, who boarded the train at Ballabgarh after being informed over phone by one of them, was also allegedly stabbed and is admitted to AIIMS.
Hashim said trouble started when a group of 15-20 people boarded the train at Okhla and asked the four to vacate the seat, which led to an argument.
Read more
Jharkhand: Principal jailed for cooking ‘beef’ in school kitchen
Food a personal choice, nobody tells me what to eat: Venkaiah Naidu
“One of them pushed my brother Junaid. He initially thought that it was unintentional as the bogie was crowded. But when he did it again, my brother asked them to behave. The man got angry and threw Junaid’s skull cap on the floor. The man started calling him an anti-national and asked us all to vacate the seat,” Hashim said.
He alleged that others in the group joined in and attacked them.
The youth said they deboarded the train at Tughlaquabad station and got up in the adjoining bogie. Meanwhile, Hashim called his brother, Sakir, and narrated the episode, asking him to pick them up from Ballabgarh station.
The men, however, allegedly cornered them again before they could get down at Ballabgarh.
“We thought it was over, but they came looking for us again. The train stopped at Ballabgarh and as we were about to get down, a man with a knife blocked the gate,” Hashim said.
“While Mausin managed to jump down, Junaid, Moin and me got stuck inside. Meanwhile, Sakir, whom I had called also boarded the train to rescue us and got stuck. The men then locked the gate and the train started again,” Hashim added.
He alleged that four men then held Junaid by his arms and one of them stabbed him multiple times in his chest.
“Three men held me when I tried to intervene and stabbed me thrice in the back and shoulder. One of us even tried to pull the chain to stop the train but it was not working,” he added.
He alleged that none of the passengers came to their help. “Instead, they asked those men to finish us all,” he said.
The attackers then threw them out of the train at the next station, Asoti.
Kamaldeep Goyal, a superintendent of the Government Railway Police (GRP) said they are also probing allegations that one their officers was present at Ballabgarh when the train stopped but did nothing to save the youth.
Junaid’s last rites were performed on Friday.
(With inputs from Prabhu Razdan)
Jharkhand lynching : Muslim women threaten to take up arms against cow vigilantes
The women say they are disillusioned with the police and believe the government is in cahoots with cow vigilantes.
INDIA Updated: Jul 01, 2017 18:46 IST
Sanjoy Dey
Sanjoy Dey
Hindustan Times, Manuwa (Ramgarh)
Jharkhand lynching
“Mob justice would be meted with mob-justice,” said Mariam Khatun (centre in green), the wife of the dead trader, as scores of people flooded her modest home to console her. (Parwaz Khan/ Hindustan Times)
The mob lynching of a Muslim trader in Jharkhand’s Ramgarh two days ago has sent ripples of anger through the local population with women of the community saying they would pick up arms against self-styled cow protectors.
The women say they are disillusioned with the police and believe the government is in cahoots with cow vigilantes. A mob of 100 people on Thursday thrashed trader Alimuddin, also known as Asgar Ali, and set his car on fire on the suspicion that he was transporting beef – the latest in a string of similar incidents of cow-related violence.
“Mob justice would be meted with mob-justice,” said Mariam Khatun, the wife of the dead trader, as scores of people flooded her modest home to console her. Around her, 70-odd women, many of them associated with local organisations, nodded in agreement.
The village has erupted in anger and grief as many say Muslim men are becoming soft targets in the name of beef trade. Earlier in June, a 200-strong mob thrashed a 55-year-old Muslim dairy owner and set his house ablaze after a cow carcass was found near his home in Giridih.
Read more
Bajrang Dal activists killed my husband: Widow of man lynched in Jharkhand
The string of lynchings point to a national dysfunction
“We are scared of rising incidents of lynching targeting only Muslim men in the state. These are not accidents but a deliberate act of few groups supported by the administration,” said Mamina Khatun. She said that women were living in fear every day, worried that the male members of the family might not return home.
“If government can’t act, we will pick up arms against them to save our men,” she said.
There is also anger against the administration that is seen as complicit in the violence.
“Why do people of a particular community have so much interest in our eating habit, when we do not peep into their kitchen? Asked Abida Khatun, another resident of the village.
But others advise calm and don’t want communal tensions flaring in the Muslim-majority village of 350 households. Whenever younger men appeared restless, the elders were seen convincing them out to understand the situation. “We are peace-loving people. A mere incident cannot instigate us to take law in hands,” said Bhola Khan, who played a role of mediator between the villagers and the administration.
Sahjad Ahmad, a student of Jamia Millia Islamia, of a neighbouring village said, “Our anger is that police did not take action against the culprit even after passing more than 30 hours. The villagers have simple demand to nab the culprits and punish them.”
Muslim boy MURDERED after being accused of transporting banned beef
Junaid Khan, 15, was stabbed to death by an angry mob while travelling from New Delhi with members of his family
His brother Shakir sustained injuries to his throat, chest and hands
Between 15 and 20 men pulled out knives and set upon the brothers while making anti-Muslim comments
See more news from India at www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome
By Mailonline India and Afp
PUBLISHED: 07:34 BST, 24 June 2017 | UPDATED: 22:29 BST, 24 June 2017
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A Muslim teenager has been stabbed to death by an angry mob, who suspected he was carrying beef - an offence in many parts of the Hindu-majority country.
Indian police on Saturday said they arrested a person after the stabbing.
Junaid Khan, 15, was travelling from New Delhi on Friday with three of his brothers when a fight erupted over seats.
Cows are revered by Hindus and slaughtering them as well as possession or consumption of beef is banned in most Indian states, with some imposing life sentences for breaking the law +3
Cows are revered by Hindus and slaughtering them as well as possession or consumption of beef is banned in most Indian states, with some imposing life sentences for breaking the law
Two-year-old boy 'beaten to death over potty training'
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Between 15 and 20 men pulled out knives and set upon the brothers while making anti-Muslim comments and insisting one of the packets they were carrying contained beef.
While Khan was stabbed to death, his brother Shakir sustained injuries to his throat, chest and hands, police said.
'The fight started over seats. We are looking into the matter and we have arrested one of the accused who is a 35-year-old old man from (northern state of) Haryana,' Ajay Kumar, a government railway police official told AFP.
At animal markets across India you can no longer buy or sell cattle, including cows, for slaughter +3
At animal markets across India you can no longer buy or sell cattle, including cows, for slaughter
Khan's brother Hassem told reporters the mob ignored their repeated pleas that they were not carrying any beef.
'They were pointing at a packet which had food and saying we should not be allowed to sit since we were carrying beef,' Haseem said.
The incident is the latest such attack by Hindu vigilantes in India, where there have been a spate of assaults against Muslims and low-caste Dalits.
Pehlu Khan was beaten to death last week after allegedly being suspected of transporting cattle for slaughter +3
Pehlu Khan was beaten to death last week after allegedly being suspected of transporting cattle for slaughter
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In the last two years, nearly a dozen Muslim men have been killed across the country on suspicion of eating beef or smuggling cows.
Critics say vigilantes have been emboldened by the election in 2014 of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party.
Last year Modi criticised the cow protection vigilantes and urged a crackdown against groups using religion as a cover for committing crimes.
Cows are revered by Hindus and slaughtering them as well as possession or consumption of beef is banned in most Indian states, with some imposing life sentences for breaking the law.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-4634900/India-mob-kills-Muslim-teen-beef-row-one-arrested.html#ixzz4ll8cndEy
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BJP leader arrested in Muslim trader’s lynching case; prime accused surrenders
Mahto, who is the BJP’s Ramgarh district media in-charge, claimed innocence, saying he had visited the spot after the police arrived to take stock of the incident.
INDIA Updated: Jul 01, 2017 23:51 IST
Bedanti Saran & Sanjoy Dey
Bedanti Saran & Sanjoy Dey
Hindustan Times, Manuwa (Ramgarh)/Ranchi
ramgarh
Police detain local leaders after communal tension erupted at Manuwa village following the lynching of Alimuddin by a mob allegedly for carrying beef in his van on Thursday.(HT FILE PHOTO)
Ramgarh police have arrested a BJP leader, Nityanand Mahto on Saturday in connection with the lynching of a Muslim trader Alimuddin by a mob in Jharkhand’s Ramgarh two days back.
The main accused Chottu Rana, who was seen beating Alimuddin with a stick repeatedly in a video, surrendered before the court, Ramgarh superintendent of police, Kaushal Kishore said.
55-year-old Alimuddin alias Asgar Ali was lynched by a frenzied mob of about 100 people for allegedly carrying beef in his car. The incident happened at the Bazartand market of the district on Thursday, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that he disapproved killing people in the name of protecting cows.
A video of the brutal incident also went viral following which police have arrested eight of the 13 people named in the FIR. The other five have been identified and would be arrested soon, officials said.
Mahto, who is the BJP’s Ramgarh district media- in-charge, claimed innocence, saying he had visited the spot after the police arrived to take stock of the incident, and demanded a fair investigation into the matter.
The police had also detained a member of Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) of Ramgarh district for interrogation but released him later due to lack of evidence, police sources said.
On the arrest of saffron activists, state BJP’s media in-charge Shivpujan Pathak said the party will not defend anybody, but added that all the accused had the right to a fair trial.
He also reiterated chief minister Raghubar Das’s assurance to not spare anyone involved in the case, whatever his/her socio-political stature was. “He (CM) has also instructed the police in this regard.”
Read more
Jharkhand lynching: Muslim women threaten to take up arms against cow vigilantes
‘It’s barbaric’: Venkaiah Naidu condemns Jharkhand lynching but says no religious angle
On Friday, police had formed a special investigation team (SIT) under deputy superintendent of police (DSP) and constituted four teams to nab the accused.
The criminal investigation department (CID), headquarters, also formed a special team to assist the SIT in Ramgarh.
“We have sought arrest warrants against seven other accused named in the FIR,” said Ramgarh deputy development commissioner (DDC) Sunil Kumar.
Inspector General (IG) ML Meena, also in-charge of law and order in north Chhotanagpur region, took stock of the situation in Ramgarh district along with other officials on Friday.
Meena had said that the prohibitory orders in Ramgarh will not be withdrawn until the situation returns to normal.
Thursday’s lynching was the second attack in June by cow vigilantes in Jharkhand as a 200-strong mob thrashed a 55-year-old Muslim dairy owner and set his house ablaze after a cow carcass was found near his home in Giridih district on Tuesday.
In May, a mob lynched four Muslim cattle traders at a village in Saraikelka Kharswan district after accusing them of being child traffickers.
Global Opinions
As India’s Muslims are lynched, Modi keeps silent
By Nilanjana Bhowmick June 28
A protest on Wednesday in Hyderabad, India, against a spate of violent attacks across the country targeting its Muslim minority. (Mahesh Kumar A./Associated Press)
Nilanjana Bhowmick is a journalist and writer in India.
NEW DELHI — On June 23, three days before India celebrated Eid, 15-year-old Junaid Khan was stabbed to death by a group of men aboard a train. He was going home to Khandawli, a village in the north Indian state of Haryana, after shopping for new clothes in New Delhi, accompanied by his brother and a couple of friends. The mob mocked their skullcaps and taunted them for eating beef, before stabbing them.
Eid was somber in Khandawli on Monday, as it was across the country. In a national first, scores of Muslims across the country offered their Eid prayers while wearing a black band, a symbol of protest against the killing of the teen as well as growing atrocities against Muslims in the country, which have been increasing since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office three years ago. In September 2015, a Muslim man, Mohammad Akhlaq, was lynched in Dadri near the Indian capital, over rumors that he had killed a local cow and stored its meat in his refrigerator. The month after that, 16-year-old Zahid Rasool Bhatt died when vigilante groups attacked his truck with a bomb in Udhampur. In March 2017, suspected cattle traders Muhammed Majloom and Azad Khan were hanged in Latehar. In May, traders were thrashed in Malegaon, Maharashtra for allegedly storing beef. In Jharkhand in May, 19-year-old Mohammed Shalik was tied to a pole and beaten to death, reportedly over a romantic relationship with a Hindu girl. In May, two more Muslim men, Abu Hanifa and Riazuddin Ali, were killed for allegedly stealing cattle in Assam. More recently, on June 7, a Muslim man was attacked in Dhanbad, Jharkhand, on suspicion of transporting beef to an Iftar gathering. Two more cases of lynching over cow slaughter rumors were reported earlier this week in eastern India.
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On Sunday, before his first visit with President Trump, Modi addressed India through his radio program Mann Ki Baat (Heart-to-heart-talk). And while his monologue touched upon various topics, including yoga, toilets, sports, a meeting with the Queen, books as gifts and the … er … weather, Junaid Khan’s murder didn’t find a nano-second of air time.
Modi did not mention the more than a dozen cases of lynchings, mostly against Muslims, recorded in India since September last year, especially in states ruled by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Modi also did not address the violence of the cow-vigilante groups, who often owe allegiance to the BJP or its ideological parent the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
And while the list grows longer every day, the violence against Muslims and cow-vigilante groups have not elicited a single tweet of condemnation from India’s social media savvy prime minister, who is quick to condemn atrocities all over the world. Modi’s silence, in fact, is beginning to feel like a redux of the Gujarat riots in 2002 which killed more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims. For years he stayed silent, and when he spoke finally, he had compared the riots to a puppy being run over.
Amnesty International released a statement Wednesday evening, calling the situation “deeply worrying” and accused Modi and other BJP leaders of not condemning the attacks and in fact to have “even justified the attacks at times.” Aakar Patel, executive director of Amnesty International India, said in a statement, “The Indian Prime Minister, senior BJP leaders and Chief Ministers must break their silence and unequivocally condemn the attacks.”
A soon-to-be-published report by the Mumbai-based Centre for Study of Society and Secularism and the U.K.-based Minority Rights Group International notes there has been a notable increase in hostility towards India’s religious minorities since the BJP government, led by Modi, came to power in May 2014 and began to actively promote Hindu nationalism.
According to the report, the volatile state of Uttar Pradesh in north India, site of the disputed Ayodhya Ram temple and where India witnessed one of its worst communal riots in 1992, saw a spike in communal violence since the BJP came to power in the state this year. The appointment of Yogi Adityanath, a Hindu hard-liner known for his controversial anti-Muslim views, as the chief minister of the state dismayed many at the time.
Modi’s silence over these attacks, the report says, has emboldened extremist right-wing groups. Recently, in another first, no BJP ministers attended the traditional Iftar gathering that the president of India hosts every year.
There is a silent but systematic slaughter against Muslims in progress in India. It’s not too late to call it out.
Pro-Modi Muslim Group’s Appeal to Modi: Please Stop the Lynching of Muslims in India
BY THE WIRE STAFF ON 25/06/2017 • LEAVE A COMMENT
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What makes the call especially significant is that FMSA head Jasim Mohammad was one of the first Muslim activists to welcome Modi after he won the 2014 elections.
Jasim Mohammad (right) presents some of his books to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Credit: Special Arrangement
New Delhi: Days after a Muslim youth from Haryana was murdered by passengers on a train a short distance from the national capital, the Forum for Muslim Studies and Analysis (FMSA), a pro-Modi Muslim group in Aligarh, has appealed to the prime minister to “do something to stop the open lynching of Muslims who are Indian citizens”.
What makes the call especially significant is that FMSA head Jasim Mohammad was one of the first Muslim activists in the country to welcome Modi after he won a decisive mandate on behalf of the Bharatiya Janata Party in May 2014 and to have, in his own words, “expressed faith in Modi’s vision of sabka saath, sabka vikas”.
Jasim who has been receiving flak from other Muslims the past three years for supporting Modi has, in his letter, finally sought to alert the prime minister to the “rising tide of anarchy against Muslims in the country”.
“Since a long time, some incidents are taking place in [the] country, particularly in north India wherein the Muslims are being lynched on one pretext or the other, which is sending a wrong message among society not only among Muslims but also in other communities,” said Jasim in his letter, a copy of which is with The Wire.
“Such incidents like [the one in which] Junaid, a Hafiz-e-Qur’an, has been lynched on a Mathura-bound train between Okhla and Asoti villages (Haryana) have increased concern for the security of Indian citizens who happen to be Muslims. Though the incident concerns the state government, people look towards the Central government and say why [it] is not taking any action,” the letter further said.
“There is dire need to control and contain such incidents otherwise I am afraid that we are entering a dangerous phase which will indicate that the government has lost control. I am associating with thousands of people socially and carrying on your agenda, so please pay attention and do something to stop the open lynching of Muslims who are Indian citizens,” said Jasim, who has written six books in Urdu praising Modi’s idea of governance and has met the prime minister several times in the past two years.
The titles of Jasim Mohammad’s books make his leanings amply clear: Narendra Bhai Modi “Farsh se Arsh Tak”,
Statesman Narendra Modi, Mann se Jan tak – Narendra Modi, Aalami Qaid – Narendra Bhai Modi, Narendra Modi Calling, Mann Ki Baat’ I & II and The Message Narendra Modi.
Mohammad told Modi in his letter that though he was proud of being called a “Modi bhakt”, he did not have any answer to questions posed to him by fellow Muslims about the perceived silence of the Modi government and its inaction in preventing the lynching of Muslims in the country.
“I feel proud and honoured to be called a ‘Modi bhakt’. I am associated with you and publicly favour you without any hitch. But now thousands of people are asking me questions about this rise of lynching trend, but I am at loss to reply them,” wrote Jasim who last year announced the establishment of ‘Narendra Modi scholarships’ for poor and bright Muslim students.
He said that the call among Muslims to observe Eid while wearing a black ribbon as a protest against the trend of lynching would hurt the country in the eyes of people the world over. “You will be aware that now Muslims are appealing on social media and in public to celebrate this Eid wearing black badges as [a] protest. I believe that this will not only send a wrong message within country but it will certainly make impact internationally,” he said.
Jasim Mohammad said in his letter to Modi that the failure to take action against the rising trend of anarchy against Muslims, would eventually be bad for Modi’s image of running a strong government.
Finally, apprehensive that his letter should not be taken as criticism of Modi’s governance, he ends his letter saying, “Believe me, I am with you but I am sending you this letter in good faith to save your dignity and prestige apart [from] saving national unity.”
Narendra Modi warns cow vigilantes: Killing in the name of gau bhakti is unacceptable
PM Modi was speaking at the centenary celebrations of the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad in Gujarat.
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By: Express Web Desk | New Delhi | Updated: June 29, 2017 3:53 pm
narendra modi, modi cow vigilantes, sabarmati ashram, cow attacks, lynching, junaid khan PM Narendra Modi at the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad (ANI photo)
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent a stern message to cow vigilantes in the country saying that killing in the name of cow is unacceptable. He was speaking at the centenary celebrations of the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad in Gujarat.
“Killing people in the name of cow is unacceptable. No one has the right to take law into his/her hands. We belong to a land of non-violence. Violence is not the solution to any problem,” said the Prime Minister. He added that Mahatma Gandhi, Father of the Nation, would not approve of such incidents.
“Vinoba Bhave and Mahatma Gandhi have shown the path to practice gau-bhakti,” PM Modi said.
Narendra Modi Warns Cow Vigilantes: Killing In The Name Of Cow Is Unacceptable
The remarks come in the backdrop of several incidents of lynching and murder of people by self-styled cow vigilante groups over rumours of cow slaughter. The most recent incident was the murder of 15-year-old Junaid Khan by a group of people on a Mathura-bound train in Ballabhgarh in Haryana after an argument escalated over seats. Junaid, who was accompanied by his two brothers, was going back home after Eid shopping when he was mocked over his skull cap and referred to as a ‘beef-eater.’ Five people have been held so far in the incident.
In August last year, the Prime Minister had similarly criticised the actions of self-styled cow vigilantes and asked the States to prepare dossiers on them.
“It makes me angry that people are running shops in the name of cow protection… Some people indulge in anti-social activities at night, and in the day masquerade as cow protectors,” PM Modi said. He added that people who wanted to serve cows should ensure that the animals do not eat plastic.
On Wednesday, demonstrations were carried out by citizens under the banner of ‘Not In My Name’ at Jantar Mantar in Delhi and several other cities across the country protesting the government’s silence over such attacks on Dalits and minorities. People held banners saying ‘All lives matter’ and ‘Muslim lives matter.’
“Unless we speak up, the people who are behind it are by default going to think that they have the majority’s support — which is not true”, Monami Basu, Professor of Economics at Delhi University told indianexpress.com at the protest.
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Cow vigilantes ‘anti-social’: Modi breaks his silence
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT NEW DELHI, AUGUST 06, 2016 23:54 IST
UPDATED: SEPTEMBER 20, 2016 13:39 IST
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MyGau1
In first townhall address, Prime Minister asks States to prepare dossiers on such “cow protectors”.
Breaking his silence on cow vigilantes in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday strongly condemned their actions, saying most of them were anti-social elements masquerading as gau rakshaks (cow protectors).
Mr. Modi asked the State governments to prepare a dossier on such “cow protectors”, while asserting that about 80 per cent of them would be found to be involved in illegal activities.
“It makes me angry that people are running shops in the name of cow protection… Some people indulge in anti-social activities at night, and in the day masquerade as cow protectors,” the Prime Minister said.
Need for compassion
Mr. Modi, speaking at his first townhall-style address to mark the second anniversary of his government’s MyGov initiative, said such volunteer groups were not meant to harass and oppress others. There is a need for compassion and an ability to sacrifice to do social service, he said.
Mr. Modi’s comments come at a time when questions are being raised on his silence amid the spate of attacks, particularly in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, on Dalits, allegedly in the name of cow protection.
There have been a series of violent protests in his home State demanding stern action against members of the vigilante group who brutally assaulted four Dalit men.
He pointed out that more cows were dying after consuming plastics than being slaughtered, adding that those wanting to serve them should work towards stopping the animals from eating plastics.
He also said that while holding the Prime Minister responsible for everything that happens at the panchayat, gram panchayat, district and State level in the nation is good for politics and TRPs, it affects governance.
“For good governance it is important that people responsible for tasks be held accountable… then there will be improvement.” he said.
Growth vital
Economic growth of more than 8 per cent for 30 years will bring everything that is good in the world to India, Mr Modi said answering pre-recorded video questions posted on the MyGov portal.
Talking about the National Rurban Mission, Mr Modi spoke about the plan to develop 300 villages across the country with infrastructure at par with cities and launched the slogan, “Aatma gaaon ki, suvidha sheher ki” (Soul of the villages, facilities of the city).
India first
To a question on his foreign policy, Mr Modi said “India First” was his focus point, alongside protecting the country’s economic and strategic interests.
Mr Modi also launched the PMO Mobile Application and interacted with the youngsters who had developed it.
(With Samarth Bansal)
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Cow vigilantism: Retired IAS, IPS officers slam Modi govt in an open letter
A group of retired bureaucrats have written an open letter condemning the recent incidents of attacks and mob lynching in the name of cow protection. They have alleged that this is happening with tacit complicity of state machinery.
IndiaToday.in | Edited by Prabhash K Dutta
New Delhi, July 1, 2017 | UPDATED 13:24 IST
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Narendra Modi offering food to a cow at the Krishi Mela Agricultural Fair at Limkheda in Dohad in May 2013
HIGHLIGHTS
1Retired IAS, IPS officers write open letter against cow vigilantism.
2Ex-bureaucrats slam Modi government for not acting tough.
3Retired officers appeal to government to check vigilantism.
Over 60 retired IAS and IPS officers have written an open letter to the Narendra Modi government asking it to enforce the rule of law and not allow vigilantism to grow.
The open letter has been signed by 65 officers including noted former bureaucrats Bhaskar Ghose, Harsh Mandar and Wajahat Habibullah.
The former administrators are particularly unhappy with the way self-appointed cow vigilantes are going around, attacking and lynching people in the name of protecting the animal. Majority of such attacks in recent past have had communal overtones.
They ex-bureaucrats said, "Gau-rakshaks function with impunity and seem to be doing so with the tacit complicity or active encouragement of state machinery."
The letter was written on June 24. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed his 'anger' against cow vigilantism since then at public meeting in Gujarat.
Speaking at Sabaramati Ashram on Thursday, Prime Minister Modi warned those "taking law in their hands in the name of protection of cows."
'INTOLERANCE EVERYWHERE'
They also expressed deep concern over growing intolerance in the universities across the country. They said, "Student groups and faculty members on campuses like Hyderabad and JNU, who raise troubling questions about equality, social justice and freedom, are subject to attack by the administration, with a supportive government to back them."
The retired top officials are also critical of the Centre's action against the NGOs for violating foreign contribution laws. "Several reputed NGOs and civil society organisations are being charged with violating the provisions of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act and the Income Tax Act," they said.
They further said, "While we agree that genuine violators should be identified we note with dismay that several of the targeted groups are those who have taken stands against government policies, expressed dissent or supported communities in cases against the state."
"There is a growing hyper-nationalism that reduces any critique to a binary: if you are not with the government, you are anti-national," the retired IAS and IPS officers said, adding, "These actions undermine the rule of law and the Indian Constitution since only the state - through its various organs and institutions - has the power to enforce the law."
Following is the full text:
Open Letter by Retired Officials on the Growing Religious Intolerance
Saturday 24 June 2017
The following is an open letter of sixtyfive retired officials released on June 12, 2017.
We are a group of retired officers of All India and Central services of different batches, who have worked with the Central and State governments in the course of our careers. We should make it clear that as a group, we have no affiliation with any political party but believe in the credo of impartiality, neutrality and commitment to the Indian constitution. A sense of deep disquiet at what has been happening in India has prompted us to write this open letter to chronicle our reservations and misgivings about recent developments in the body politic. What has gone wrong?
It appears as if there is a growing climate of religious intolerance that is aimed primarily at Muslims. In Uttar Pradesh, in the run-up to the elections, an odious and frankly communal comparison was made between the relative number of burial grounds and cremation grounds. The question was also asked as to whether electricity was being supplied equally to different communities during their religious festivals. All this without any basis in fact or evidence. The banning of slaughter-houses targets the minorities and affects their livelihoods as well. Such intolerance breeds violence in a communally charged atmosphere-even to the extent of a local leader in UP provoking an attack upon the residence of a Superintendent of Police, whose family was terrorised.
Vigilantism has become widespread. An Akhlaq is killed on the basis of a suspicion that the meat he has is beef and a Pehlu Khan is lynched while transporting to his place two cows he had bought and for which he had the necessary papers. Nomadic shepherds are attacked in Jammu and Kashmir on some suspicion as they practice their age-old occu-pation of moving from one place to another along with their cattle and belongings.
Punitive action against the perpetrators of violence does not take place promptly but cruelly, the victims have FIRs registered against them. The behaviour of vigilantes-who act as if they are prosecutor, judge and executioner rolled into one-flies in the face of law and juris-prudence. These actions undermine the rule of law and the Indian Constitution since only the state-through its various organs and insti-tutions-has the power to enforce the law.
Vigilantism has become popular as 'anti-Romeo' squads threaten young couples who go out together, hold hands and are perhaps in love with each other. A thinly-veiled effort to prevent a Hindu-Muslim relationship or marriage, there is no justification in law to harass these couples, particularly when there is no complaint from the woman of being ill-treated.
Student groups and faculty members on campuses like Hyderabad and JNU, who raise troubling questions about equality, social justice and freedom, are subject to attack by the administration, with a supportive government to back them. In Jodhpur, a planned lecture by a renowned academic was cancelled under pressure and the faculty that organised the event subjected to disciplinary action. What happened in Jodhpur has happened at other institutions as well. Argumentation and discussion about different perspectives-the life-blood not only of institutions of learning but of democracy itself-are being throttled. Disagree-ment and dissent are considered seditious and anti-national. Such attitudes have a chilling impact on free speech and thought.
Several reputed NGOs and civil society organisations are being charged with violating the provisions of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act and the Income Tax Act. While we agree that genuine violators should be identified and penalised, we note with dismay that several of the targeted groups are those who have taken stands against government policies, expressed dissent or supported communities in cases against the state.
We are also seeing an ugly trend of trolling, threats and online intimidation of activists, journalists, writers and intellectuals who disagree with the dominant ideology. How does this square with free speech?
There is a growing hyper-nationalism that reduces any critique to a binary: if you are not with the government, you are anti-national. Those in authority should not be questioned- that is the clear message.
In the face of a rising authoritarianism and majoritarianism, which do not allow for reasoned debate, discussion and dissent, we appeal to all public authorities, public institutions and constitutional bodies to take heed of these disturbing trends and take corrective action. We have to reclaim and defend the spirit of the Constitution of India, as envisaged by the founding fathers.
(Inputs from Seemi Pasha in New Delhi)
Walk the talk: Modi’s remarks on cow vigilantism need to be backed by action
JULY 01, 2017 00:02 IST
UPDATED: JULY 02, 2017 20:24 IST
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Narendra Modi’s remarks on cow vigilantism are pointless, unless backed by action
While it is impossible to fault Prime Minister Narendra Modi for speaking up against killing in the name of cow protection, it is equally impossible to be convinced about its earnestness and efficacy. His remarks at an event in Mahatma Gandhi’s Sabarmati ashram have come at a time when there is a groundswell of popular revulsion about violent, even murderous, cow vigilantism, leaving the unfortunate impression that it was but a response to public pressure. The #NotInMyName movement, which began with a Facebook invitation to participate in a protest in Delhi, had assumed viral dimensions, with other cities in India and elsewhere in the world organising or planning to organise similar events. What began as a somewhat limited mobilisation to campaign against lynching morphed into a broader movement involving all communities against state apathy to the phenomenon. The timing is not the only thing that gives rise to scepticism about Mr. Modi’s observations about cow vigilantism. Frequency is the other issue. A phenomenon that has wreaked violence, affected livelihoods, and created insecurities over the last couple of years — all of which have been compounded by a mischievous and hugely flawed order to regulate cattle sale — is deserving of a more muscular and frequent response. More importantly, it needs to be coupled with tangible action on the ground.
One of the contradictions that Mr. Modi must square up to as well as grapple with is that, by and large, aggressive cow vigilantes who take the law into their own hands are members or sympathisers of one or the other organisations of the Sangh Parivar, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s extended family. Given this, words are simply not enough — unaccompanied by strong corroborative action, they only serve to perpetuate the lie that the top is either totally divorced from the distasteful happenings at the bottom or that it doesn’t have the means to control it. It is true that as Prime Minister, Mr. Modi has no direct control over law and order, which is a State subject. But as the BJP’s most popular leader, one who has no real rivals in the party, he must wield his influence and power to crack down on those who indulge in violence in the name of cow protection. In the absence of this, Mr Modi’s remarks may constitute nothing more than a mild reprimand. There is no denying that speech is better than silence and his remarks may help sharpen the focus on how determined governments are to uphold the rule of law — firmly, decisively, and in a manner that deters cow vigilantism. Any politician worth his salt knows there is Condemnation and there is condemnation. Mr. Modi should show us that he hasn’t used the small c.
Cow vigilantes defy PM Modi yet again, attack drivers transporting cattle in Assam
A group of cow vigilantes stopped three vehicles transporting cows and beat up the drivers on the outskirts of Guwahati while accusing them of cattle smuggling.
IndiaToday.in | Edited by Shashank Shantanu
New Delhi, July 3, 2017 | UPDATED 15:15 IST
A +A -
Cow vigilantes attack driver in Guwahati
HIGHLIGHTS
1A group of men attack drivers transporting cows in Guwahati.
2Drivers beaten up, accused of smuggling cows.
3Attackers claimed they belong to Hindu Yuva Chhatra Parishad.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's stern warning to self-proclaimed cow vigilantes seems to have fallen to deaf ears as a group of men attacked a truck drivers transporting cows in Guwahati. The incident took place on Sunday (July 2).
According to reports, a group of cow vigilantes stopped three vehicles transporting cows and beat up the drivers on the outskirts of Guwahati. The incident took place near Sonapur some 30 km from capital Guwahati.
The vehicles were coming from Tinsukia in Upper Assam when the members of the Hindu Yuva Chhatra Parishad's unit stopped them and asked the drivers to step out. The men then brutally thrashed the drivers accusing them of cow smuggling.
'NOT ACCEPTABLE'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had last week said that killing of people in the name of cow protection is not acceptable. PM Modi's remarks came amid a spurt of attacks by cow vigilantes and a wave of protests.
Delivering a speech to mark the centenary of the Sabarmati ashram in Ahmedabad and 150th birth anniversary of Shrimad Rajchandraji, a guru to Mahatma Gandhi, Modi said unleashing violence against others went against the ideals of the Father of the Nation.
"Killing people in the name of 'gau bhakti' is not acceptable. This is not something Mahatma Gandhi would approve," he said.
"Let's all work together. Let's create the India of Mahatma Gandhi's dreams. Let's create an India our freedom fighters would be proud of," the prime minister said.
"No person in this nation has the right to take the law in his or her own hands," he said.
The Prime Minister's remarks came against the backdrop of growing incidents of cow vigilantism.
A Muslim youth was last week killed on board a Mathura-bound train by people who taunted his family and repeatedly called them "anti-nationals" and "beef eaters".
"Violence never has and never will solve any problem. As a society, there is no place for violence," Modi said.
Last week, thousands of people across the country took to the streets in a citizens' protest named 'Not in My Name' against the recent incidents of mob killings.
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Muslim man dons burqa to escape lynching, cops baffled
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/agra/muslim-man-dons-burqa-to-escape-lynching-cops-baffled/articleshow/59449360.cms
Muslim man dons burqa to escape lynching, cops baffled
Anuja Jaiswal | TNN | Updated: Jul 5, 2017, 06.01 AM IST
Nazmul Hassan, an assistant engineer in Kasimpur power station, was caught wearing a burqa at Aligarh railway station
Nazmul Hassan, an assistant engineer in Kasimpur power station, was caught wearing a burqa at Aligarh railway station
AGRA: Paranoid over the recent lynching of Muslims, a 42-year-old assistant engineer in Aligarh's Kasimpur power station was caught at the railway station on Sunday afternoon wearing a burqa. Alerted by other travellers, GRP men observed his suspicious movements for some time before they detained him. When questioned by police and intelligence officials, Nazmul Hassan told them that he wanted to conceal his identity as he was scared of being lynched for being a Muslim man.
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Hassan told police officials that he had to frequent Delhi to take care of an ailing cousin and had accidentally pushed a man while alighting at the Aligarh railway station last week. According to Hassan, the man insulted him and his religion in full public view and threatened him openly, as others joined in, that they would not allow him to live in the city. "I had read about Junaid's killing in a train in Ballabhgarh a few days ago. I was scared for my life after the threat, but couldn't avoid travelling. So I thought of wearing a burqa," Hassan told cops.
Though he was released by police after questioning, his act left senior police officials wondering about the extent of insecurity among minorities.
Top Comment
This is really sad... People should feel safe and free in our country... While Muslim terrorism all across the world is unacceptable, equally undesirable is Hindu extremism growing these days in our country.
Pras
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Senior superintendent of police Rajesh Pandey said they had verified Hassan's claims and have so far found nothing amiss in them. He said, "When Hassan was handed over to the GRP, he was crying and shaking and kept repeating that he is a simple man who has never done anything wrong." Pandey said Hassan was released after questioning and they are in touch with him.
Hassan said as he had to go to Delhi on Sunday to visit his ailing cousin. He was scared to travel alone but he could not find anyone to accompany him. Senior sub-inspector (GRP), who is also the investigating officer in Hassan's case, said, "We found nothing suspicious in his statement to police. Different agencies verified that his act of wearing burqa was born out of his fear following the incident that occurred with him at the railway station last week."
Attacks against Muslims, Dalits grew sharply in India under Modi: US report
According to the report, religious tolerance has deteriorated and religious freedom violations have escalated dramatically since 2014.
IANS | Posted by Sonalee Borgohain
Washington, February 10, 2017 | UPDATED 06:56 IST
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PM Narendra Modi
PM Narendra Modi
HIGHLIGHTS
1As per the report, hate crimes, social boycotts and forced conversion have escalated.
2It stated that India faces serious challenges to its pluralistic traditions.
3It said India should adopt the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
Religious tolerance has deteriorated and religious freedom violations have increased in India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's regime, a report by an independent bipartisan American body has claimed.
The report, titled 'Constitutional and Legal Challenges Faced by Religious Minorities in India' and sponsored by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), said the religious minority communities and Dalits face discrimination and persecution in India where hate crimes, social boycotts and forced conversion have escalated dramatically since 2014.
"Under Congress Party and BJP-led governments, religious minority communities and Dalits, both have faced discrimination and persecution due to a combination of overly broad or ill-defined laws, an inefficient criminal justice system, and a lack of jurisprudential consistency. In particular, since 2014, hate crimes, social boycotts, assaults, and forced conversion have escalated dramatically," said the report.
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"Since the BJP assumed power, religious minority communities have been subject to derogatory comments by BJP politicians and numerous violent attacks and forced conversions by affiliated Hindu nationalist groups such as Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Sangh Parivar, and Vishva Hindu Parishad," it said.
WHAT THE USCIRF-SPONSORED REPORT STATES
The USCIRF-sponsored report is written by Iqtidat Karamat Cheema, who is director for UK-based Institute for Leadership and Community Development. The report further says there are constitutional provisions and state and national laws in India that do not comply with international standards of freedom of religion or belief, including Article 18 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights and Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The report suggested that the US government should put religious freedom and human rights at the heart of all trade, aid and diplomatic interactions with India.
"India is a religiously diverse and democratic society with a Constitution that provides legal equality for its citizens irrespective of their religion and prohibits religion-based discrimination," said USCIRF chair Thomas J. Reese.
ALSO READ| Religious tolerance in India deteriorating, says US rights expert
"However, the reality is far different... India's pluralistic tradition faces serious challenges in a number of its states."
"During the past few years, religious tolerance has deteriorated and religious freedom violations have increased in some areas of India. To reverse this negative trajectory, the Indian and state governments must align theirs laws with both the country's constitutional commitments and international human rights standards," he said.
The report stated that India faces serious challenges to both its pluralistic traditions and its religious minorities. "Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, and Jains generally are fearful of what the future portends. Dalits also are increasingly being attacked and harassed".
"The Indian government-at both the national and state levels-often ignores its constitutional commitments to protect the rights of religious minorities. National and state laws are used to violate the religious freedom of minority communities; however, very little is known about the laws," it said.
STATES WITH MOST INCIDENTS OF RELIGIOUSLY-MOTIVATED ATTACKS
It stated that the states of Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Odisha, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan tend to have the greatest number of incidents of religiously-motivated attacks and communal violence, as well as the largest religious minority populations.
Quoting India's Home Ministry figures, it said that in 2015, India experienced a 17 per cent increase in communal violence, when compared to the previous year. In 2015, there were 751 reported incidents of communal violence, up from 644 in 2014.
The report recommended the US government to urge the Indian government to push its states that have adopted anti-conversion laws to repeal or amend them to conform to international norms.
It further urged the Indian government to immediately lift its sanctions against non-governmental organisations working for the welfare of the minorities in India.
"Identify Hindutva groups that raise funds from US citizens and support hate campaigns in India. Such groups should be banned from operating in the United States if they are found to spread hatred against religious minorities in India," it said.
INDIAN GOVERNMENT SHOULD REFORM ANTI-CONVERSION LAWS
The report further stated that Indian government should reform the anti-conversion laws and appreciate that "both conversion and reconversion by use of force, fraud, or allurement are equally bad and infringe upon a person's freedom of conscience".
It said that India should not impose Hindu personal status laws on Sikh, Buddhist, and Jain communities, but instead provide them with a provision of personal status laws as per their distinct religious beliefs and practices.
It recommended that India adopt the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
"Operationalise the term 'minority' in its federal laws and comply with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious, and Linguistic Minorities.
"Drop Explanation II in Article 25 of its constitution and recognize Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism as distinct religions with their own separate religious identities.
Lastly, it said that India should also not impose Hindu personal status laws on Sikh, Buddhist, and Jain communities, but instead provide them with a provision of personal status laws as per their distinct religious beliefs and practices.
Global Opinions
As India’s Muslims are lynched, Modi keeps silent
By Nilanjana Bhowmick June 28
A protest on Wednesday in Hyderabad, India, against a spate of violent attacks across the country targeting its Muslim minority. (Mahesh Kumar A./Associated Press)
Nilanjana Bhowmick is a journalist and writer in India.
NEW DELHI — On June 23, three days before India celebrated Eid, 15-year-old Junaid Khan was stabbed to death by a group of men aboard a train. He was going home to Khandawli, a village in the north Indian state of Haryana, after shopping for new clothes in New Delhi, accompanied by his brother and a couple of friends. The mob mocked their skullcaps and taunted them for eating beef, before stabbing them.
Eid was somber in Khandawli on Monday, as it was across the country. In a national first, scores of Muslims across the country offered their Eid prayers while wearing a black band, a symbol of protest against the killing of the teen as well as growing atrocities against Muslims in the country, which have been increasing since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office three years ago. In September 2015, a Muslim man, Mohammad Akhlaq, was lynched in Dadri near the Indian capital, over rumors that he had killed a local cow and stored its meat in his refrigerator. The month after that, 16-year-old Zahid Rasool Bhatt died when vigilante groups attacked his truck with a bomb in Udhampur. In March 2017, suspected cattle traders Muhammed Majloom and Azad Khan were hanged in Latehar. In May, traders were thrashed in Malegaon, Maharashtra for allegedly storing beef. In Jharkhand in May, 19-year-old Mohammed Shalik was tied to a pole and beaten to death, reportedly over a romantic relationship with a Hindu girl. In May, two more Muslim men, Abu Hanifa and Riazuddin Ali, were killed for allegedly stealing cattle in Assam. More recently, on June 7, a Muslim man was attacked in Dhanbad, Jharkhand, on suspicion of transporting beef to an Iftar gathering. Two more cases of lynching over cow slaughter rumors were reported earlier this week in eastern India.
Suspended from Aam Aadmi Party, Amanatullah Khan made Delhi assembly panel chief
The members to these committee are appointed with tacit approval of the ruling party.
DELHI Updated: May 07, 2017 18:23 IST
Press Trust of India, New Delhi
Amanatullah Khan
Suspended AAP leader and now chairman of a panel of the Delhi assembly, Amanatullah Khan.(HT File)
A fresh round of tussle is likely to erupt in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as its MLA Amanatullah Khan, who was recently suspended from the party for attacking senior leader Kumar Vishwas, has been appointed as the chairman of a panel of the Delhi assembly.
Khan, the MLA from Okhla, has also been appointed as a member in seven newly-constituted committees, including the Special Inquiry Committee of the House by the speaker.
The move is seemed to have been taken to placate Khan, considered as a prominent Muslim face in the party.
An MLA, who had spoken in favour of Vishwas, termed Khan’s appointment as a “promotion”.
Read more
AAP highlights: Vishwas pacified, Kejriwal tweets photo to show all is well
Kejriwal may have ended crisis with temporary truce but AAP turmoil not over
The members to these committee are appointed with tacit approval of the ruling party. The party said the appointment of members to these committees was the “prerogative” of the speaker.
Khan had accused Vishwas of being an “RSS-BJP agent” and plotting a coup in the party.
Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia had to convince Vishwas who had insisted on stern action against Khan. He had also threatened to quit the party.
By suspending Khan, a “mask”, Vishwas had tried attacking the “coterie” who was hatching “conspiracy” against him.
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By suspending Khan, the party also averted a major crisis.
Sisodia had visited Khan at this residence, just hours after his suspension from the party.
However, with the appointment of Khan to these committees, the party could face a fresh crisis as many MLAs were believed to be backing Vishwas.
Sources in the party said all AAP legislators including Somnath Bharti, Alka Lamba and Bhavna Gaur, who had backed Vishwas, have been accommodated in the library committee.
It is, however, not considered as prestigious with the panel having little work to do.
Bharti, who had openly advocated a greater role for Vishwas in the party, was removed as the chairman of the Privileges Committee and Kailash Gehlot appointed in his place.
Sources close to Vishwas declined to react to this development, but indicated that the leader, who was pacified just two days ago, is unhappy over the development.
“With this development the leadership has sought to send a message that it backs Amanatullah and has given him a promotion. Whoever gave statements in favour of Vishwas have been cut to size,” an MLA who had backed Vishwas said.
Woman and girl ‘gang-raped as punishment for eating beef’
Women worship a cow, an animal held sacred by Hindu beliefs, during Bach Baras festival in Ajmer, India.
Women worship a cow, an animal held sacred by Hindu beliefs, during Bach Baras festival in Ajmer, India. CREDIT: REUTERS/HIMANSHU SHARMA
Adam Boult
12 SEPTEMBER 2016 • 8:01PM
Four suspects have been charged with rape and murder after a Muslim woman and her 14-year-old cousin were gang-raped and two of their relations murdered in India’s Haryana province last month.
The group of men in their 30s allegedly entered the victims’ home in the Mewat district on August 24, assaulting the 20-year-old woman and teenager. An older man and woman were tied up and beaten to death.
The woman told the BBC: "They [the accused men] said that we ate cow meat and that is why we were being disgraced [raped]. They even threatened to kill me and my family if we ever told anybody what happened to us."
Abid Khan, a member of the Mewat Bar Association, said: “We have never had any religious tensions here since independence. People [Hindus and Muslims] have always lived in peace in this area. It’s possible that this incident was planned to create religious tensions in the area.”
Killing cows is banned in many states of India, a majority-Hindu country that also has sizeable Muslim, Christian and Buddhist minorities.
“Cow protection” groups have recently proliferated across the country, buoyed by a ruling Hindu nationalist government which has encouraged stronger anti-cow slaughter laws.
In July this year violent protests broke out across the state of Gujarat after a Hindu gang beat and publicly humiliated four low-caste youths accused of killing a cow.
The youths were spotted stripping the dead cow’s hide near the town of Una. They were subsequently stripped, tied to a car and beaten with belts and iron rods by the vigilantes, as a large crowd looked on. A video of the attack was widely circulated online.
In 2015, a 50-year-old Muslim man, Mohammad Akhlaq, was beaten to death over rumours he had eaten beef.
Police told reporters Mr Akhlaq was dragged from his house on the outskirts of New Delhi and attacked by around 100 people.
Mr Akhlaq's daughter, Sajida, told the Indian Express: "They accused us of keeping cow meat, broke down our doors and started beating my father and brother. My father was dragged outside and beaten with bricks."
‘How could they hate us so much’: Family in shock after 16-year-old Muslim boy stabbed to death on train
Police said one person was arrested for his involvement in Hafiz Junaid’s killing, which came amid several incidents of assaults on Muslims across the country over beef and cow slaughter.
DELHI Updated: Jun 27, 2017 17:51 IST
Ananya Bhardwaj
Ananya Bhardwaj
New Delhi, Hindustan Times
Beef lynching
Junaid was a student of Islamic studies in Surat, Gujarat.(HT PHOTO)
It was on Wednesday evening that Junaid and Hashim attained the title of a “Hafiz” after investing over three years to memorize the Quran by heart and got Rs 1500 as a reward from their mother.
It was their first Eid after becoming a Hafiz and they wanted to look their best. To celebrate and shop, they planned a visit to Delhi’s Jama Masjid and promised to return before sundown. One of the two could not.
Junaid was allegedly stabbed to death and four others were injured on board a Mathura-bound train when an argument over a seat turned into religious slurs and triggered a mob attack on family members returning home from Eid shopping.
The incident took place on Thursday evening between Okhla and Asoti in Haryana, a distance of about 60 km. The four injured told Hindustan Times at Khaddawli, a small village in Haryana’s Faridabad district, the attackers repeatedly called them “anti-nationals” and “beef eaters”, threw their skull caps on the floor, caught their beards and taunted them with terms such as “mulla”.
Junaid’s brother, Hashim , and father, Jalaluddin, are in a state of shock. (Ravi Choudhary/HT PHOTO)
“Junaid was so happy that he will be formally felicitated for their achievement on Eid. Since Ramzan started, he and Hashim had been reciting the Quran everyday at the mosque. They wanted to look good, so they specially went to purchase a new set of clothes to Jama Masjid. Their mother asked them to fetch the best sewaiyan and sweets to be served on the festival. He promised to reach home early, but what reached home was his dead body. How could those men be so cruel to have pierced my son’s body like that,” Jallaluddin, Junaid’s father, said.
“He was a child. He was just 16. How could they hate us so much to have killed him so brutally? When I reached the spot, my son Hashim was sitting on the station with Junaid’s body soaked in blood in his lap,” he added, even as he was being consoled intermittently by fellow villagers in Khadwali, Haryana.
Jallaluddin had reached Ballabgarh station to pick up his sons so that they could go to open the fast together, but when he reached the train had already left.
Family members lament Junaid’s death. (Ravi Choudhary/HT PHOTO)
“Sakir (Junaid’s elder brother who boarded the train at Ballabgarh after being informed about the attack) called me saying that he was going to the station to pick up the boys. He asked me to come to the station as well. He never told me that there was a problem. When I reached the station, the train had already left. When I could not locate the boys I called Sakir, he also did not take the call. Junaid and Hashim too did not pick. I thought the boys must have left. What did I know that they were fighting for their life,” he said.
Saira, Junaid’s mother, was oblivious to the news of her son’s death. Till Friday morning she was not informed about it. When the women from the village started visiting her to console her, she wondered why they were there.
“Women kept coming and asking me about Junaid. I wondered why they were referring to him in the past tense. No one ever told me that he was no more. How could they hide it from me,” she said, fighting back her tears.
“I got to know only when his body returned home this morning. When he did not reach home last night, I kept asking his father about his whereabouts but no one answered me,” she said.
Saira said she will never be able to celebrate the festival of Eid. “This time it was special. My sons became the Hafiz. The preservers. And a day later I lost him. How can this be justified. How am I to cope up with this loss?”
Stop Lynching Muslims in the name of Cow.
DAUD HOSSAIN Kolkata, India
Being a Muslim I am frightened after the dreadful incident as many Muslims whether young or old has been lynched by Hindu Cow-vigilants over the last two years in the name of Cow though our Constitution of India clearly says that India is a secular country and People of India can eat according to their choice but this cow-vigilants are not stopping by the govt as didn't take any severe action against them or even silenced over this serious issue seems that Govt is supporting by muming over the issues .So if the Supreme Court of India and President of India (Head of the state) can take necessary actions agaist them then Minority people of India like Muslims will get rid of from lynching by the goons.
There were 63 Cases recorded during last five years.
62 cases were registered after Narendra Modi assumed the post of Prime Minister.
28 Murders Recorded.
24 Muslims - 4 Dalits. Muslim boy stabbed to death on train after argument turns into religious slurs
The incident took place on Thursday evening between Okhla and Asoti in Haryana.
INDIA Updated: Jun 27, 2017 17:51 IST
Ananya Bhardwaj
Ananya Bhardwaj
Hindustan Times, New Delhi
Beef
Police said one person was arrested on Friday and he has confessed to his involvement in the killing of Hafiz Junaid (16), which came amid several incidents of assaults on Muslims across the country over beef and cow slaughter.(Sonu Mehta/HT Photo)
One minor Muslim boy was allegedly stabbed to death and four others were injured on board a Mathura-bound train, police said on Friday, when an argument over a seat turned into religious slurs and triggered a mob attack on family members returning home from Eid shopping.
The incident took place on Thursday evening between Okhla and Asoti in Haryana, a distance of about 60 km.
Police said one person was arrested on Friday and he has confessed to his involvement in the killing of Hafiz Junaid (16), which came amid several incidents of assaults on Muslims across the country over beef and cow slaughter.
Opposition parties accuse the BJP-led government at the Centre of not reigning in fringe groups that are allegedly targeting the minority community over issues considered sacrosanct by the Hindus.
The four injured told Hindustan Times at Khaddawli, a small village in Haryana’s Faridabad district, the attackers repeatedly called them “anti-nationals” and “beef eaters”, threw their skull caps on the floor, caught their beards and taunted them with terms such as “mulla”.
Junaid was a student of Islamic studies in Surat, Gujarat along with his brother Hashim (20). The other injured are Md Mausin (16) and Md Moin (18).
Junaid’s elder brother Md Sakir, who boarded the train at Ballabgarh after being informed over phone by one of them, was also allegedly stabbed and is admitted to AIIMS.
Hashim said trouble started when a group of 15-20 people boarded the train at Okhla and asked the four to vacate the seat, which led to an argument.
Read more
Jharkhand: Principal jailed for cooking ‘beef’ in school kitchen
Food a personal choice, nobody tells me what to eat: Venkaiah Naidu
“One of them pushed my brother Junaid. He initially thought that it was unintentional as the bogie was crowded. But when he did it again, my brother asked them to behave. The man got angry and threw Junaid’s skull cap on the floor. The man started calling him an anti-national and asked us all to vacate the seat,” Hashim said.
He alleged that others in the group joined in and attacked them.
The youth said they deboarded the train at Tughlaquabad station and got up in the adjoining bogie. Meanwhile, Hashim called his brother, Sakir, and narrated the episode, asking him to pick them up from Ballabgarh station.
The men, however, allegedly cornered them again before they could get down at Ballabgarh.
“We thought it was over, but they came looking for us again. The train stopped at Ballabgarh and as we were about to get down, a man with a knife blocked the gate,” Hashim said.
“While Mausin managed to jump down, Junaid, Moin and me got stuck inside. Meanwhile, Sakir, whom I had called also boarded the train to rescue us and got stuck. The men then locked the gate and the train started again,” Hashim added.
He alleged that four men then held Junaid by his arms and one of them stabbed him multiple times in his chest.
“Three men held me when I tried to intervene and stabbed me thrice in the back and shoulder. One of us even tried to pull the chain to stop the train but it was not working,” he added.
He alleged that none of the passengers came to their help. “Instead, they asked those men to finish us all,” he said.
The attackers then threw them out of the train at the next station, Asoti.
Kamaldeep Goyal, a superintendent of the Government Railway Police (GRP) said they are also probing allegations that one their officers was present at Ballabgarh when the train stopped but did nothing to save the youth.
Junaid’s last rites were performed on Friday.
(With inputs from Prabhu Razdan)
Jharkhand lynching : Muslim women threaten to take up arms against cow vigilantes
The women say they are disillusioned with the police and believe the government is in cahoots with cow vigilantes.
INDIA Updated: Jul 01, 2017 18:46 IST
Sanjoy Dey
Sanjoy Dey
Hindustan Times, Manuwa (Ramgarh)
Jharkhand lynching
“Mob justice would be meted with mob-justice,” said Mariam Khatun (centre in green), the wife of the dead trader, as scores of people flooded her modest home to console her. (Parwaz Khan/ Hindustan Times)
The mob lynching of a Muslim trader in Jharkhand’s Ramgarh two days ago has sent ripples of anger through the local population with women of the community saying they would pick up arms against self-styled cow protectors.
The women say they are disillusioned with the police and believe the government is in cahoots with cow vigilantes. A mob of 100 people on Thursday thrashed trader Alimuddin, also known as Asgar Ali, and set his car on fire on the suspicion that he was transporting beef – the latest in a string of similar incidents of cow-related violence.
“Mob justice would be meted with mob-justice,” said Mariam Khatun, the wife of the dead trader, as scores of people flooded her modest home to console her. Around her, 70-odd women, many of them associated with local organisations, nodded in agreement.
The village has erupted in anger and grief as many say Muslim men are becoming soft targets in the name of beef trade. Earlier in June, a 200-strong mob thrashed a 55-year-old Muslim dairy owner and set his house ablaze after a cow carcass was found near his home in Giridih.
Read more
Bajrang Dal activists killed my husband: Widow of man lynched in Jharkhand
The string of lynchings point to a national dysfunction
“We are scared of rising incidents of lynching targeting only Muslim men in the state. These are not accidents but a deliberate act of few groups supported by the administration,” said Mamina Khatun. She said that women were living in fear every day, worried that the male members of the family might not return home.
“If government can’t act, we will pick up arms against them to save our men,” she said.
There is also anger against the administration that is seen as complicit in the violence.
“Why do people of a particular community have so much interest in our eating habit, when we do not peep into their kitchen? Asked Abida Khatun, another resident of the village.
But others advise calm and don’t want communal tensions flaring in the Muslim-majority village of 350 households. Whenever younger men appeared restless, the elders were seen convincing them out to understand the situation. “We are peace-loving people. A mere incident cannot instigate us to take law in hands,” said Bhola Khan, who played a role of mediator between the villagers and the administration.
Sahjad Ahmad, a student of Jamia Millia Islamia, of a neighbouring village said, “Our anger is that police did not take action against the culprit even after passing more than 30 hours. The villagers have simple demand to nab the culprits and punish them.”
Muslim boy MURDERED after being accused of transporting banned beef
Junaid Khan, 15, was stabbed to death by an angry mob while travelling from New Delhi with members of his family
His brother Shakir sustained injuries to his throat, chest and hands
Between 15 and 20 men pulled out knives and set upon the brothers while making anti-Muslim comments
See more news from India at www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome
By Mailonline India and Afp
PUBLISHED: 07:34 BST, 24 June 2017 | UPDATED: 22:29 BST, 24 June 2017
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A Muslim teenager has been stabbed to death by an angry mob, who suspected he was carrying beef - an offence in many parts of the Hindu-majority country.
Indian police on Saturday said they arrested a person after the stabbing.
Junaid Khan, 15, was travelling from New Delhi on Friday with three of his brothers when a fight erupted over seats.
Cows are revered by Hindus and slaughtering them as well as possession or consumption of beef is banned in most Indian states, with some imposing life sentences for breaking the law +3
Cows are revered by Hindus and slaughtering them as well as possession or consumption of beef is banned in most Indian states, with some imposing life sentences for breaking the law
Two-year-old boy 'beaten to death over potty training'
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Between 15 and 20 men pulled out knives and set upon the brothers while making anti-Muslim comments and insisting one of the packets they were carrying contained beef.
While Khan was stabbed to death, his brother Shakir sustained injuries to his throat, chest and hands, police said.
'The fight started over seats. We are looking into the matter and we have arrested one of the accused who is a 35-year-old old man from (northern state of) Haryana,' Ajay Kumar, a government railway police official told AFP.
At animal markets across India you can no longer buy or sell cattle, including cows, for slaughter +3
At animal markets across India you can no longer buy or sell cattle, including cows, for slaughter
Khan's brother Hassem told reporters the mob ignored their repeated pleas that they were not carrying any beef.
'They were pointing at a packet which had food and saying we should not be allowed to sit since we were carrying beef,' Haseem said.
The incident is the latest such attack by Hindu vigilantes in India, where there have been a spate of assaults against Muslims and low-caste Dalits.
Pehlu Khan was beaten to death last week after allegedly being suspected of transporting cattle for slaughter +3
Pehlu Khan was beaten to death last week after allegedly being suspected of transporting cattle for slaughter
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In the last two years, nearly a dozen Muslim men have been killed across the country on suspicion of eating beef or smuggling cows.
Critics say vigilantes have been emboldened by the election in 2014 of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party.
Last year Modi criticised the cow protection vigilantes and urged a crackdown against groups using religion as a cover for committing crimes.
Cows are revered by Hindus and slaughtering them as well as possession or consumption of beef is banned in most Indian states, with some imposing life sentences for breaking the law.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-4634900/India-mob-kills-Muslim-teen-beef-row-one-arrested.html#ixzz4ll8cndEy
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BJP leader arrested in Muslim trader’s lynching case; prime accused surrenders
Mahto, who is the BJP’s Ramgarh district media in-charge, claimed innocence, saying he had visited the spot after the police arrived to take stock of the incident.
INDIA Updated: Jul 01, 2017 23:51 IST
Bedanti Saran & Sanjoy Dey
Bedanti Saran & Sanjoy Dey
Hindustan Times, Manuwa (Ramgarh)/Ranchi
ramgarh
Police detain local leaders after communal tension erupted at Manuwa village following the lynching of Alimuddin by a mob allegedly for carrying beef in his van on Thursday.(HT FILE PHOTO)
Ramgarh police have arrested a BJP leader, Nityanand Mahto on Saturday in connection with the lynching of a Muslim trader Alimuddin by a mob in Jharkhand’s Ramgarh two days back.
The main accused Chottu Rana, who was seen beating Alimuddin with a stick repeatedly in a video, surrendered before the court, Ramgarh superintendent of police, Kaushal Kishore said.
55-year-old Alimuddin alias Asgar Ali was lynched by a frenzied mob of about 100 people for allegedly carrying beef in his car. The incident happened at the Bazartand market of the district on Thursday, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that he disapproved killing people in the name of protecting cows.
A video of the brutal incident also went viral following which police have arrested eight of the 13 people named in the FIR. The other five have been identified and would be arrested soon, officials said.
Mahto, who is the BJP’s Ramgarh district media- in-charge, claimed innocence, saying he had visited the spot after the police arrived to take stock of the incident, and demanded a fair investigation into the matter.
The police had also detained a member of Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) of Ramgarh district for interrogation but released him later due to lack of evidence, police sources said.
On the arrest of saffron activists, state BJP’s media in-charge Shivpujan Pathak said the party will not defend anybody, but added that all the accused had the right to a fair trial.
He also reiterated chief minister Raghubar Das’s assurance to not spare anyone involved in the case, whatever his/her socio-political stature was. “He (CM) has also instructed the police in this regard.”
Read more
Jharkhand lynching: Muslim women threaten to take up arms against cow vigilantes
‘It’s barbaric’: Venkaiah Naidu condemns Jharkhand lynching but says no religious angle
On Friday, police had formed a special investigation team (SIT) under deputy superintendent of police (DSP) and constituted four teams to nab the accused.
The criminal investigation department (CID), headquarters, also formed a special team to assist the SIT in Ramgarh.
“We have sought arrest warrants against seven other accused named in the FIR,” said Ramgarh deputy development commissioner (DDC) Sunil Kumar.
Inspector General (IG) ML Meena, also in-charge of law and order in north Chhotanagpur region, took stock of the situation in Ramgarh district along with other officials on Friday.
Meena had said that the prohibitory orders in Ramgarh will not be withdrawn until the situation returns to normal.
Thursday’s lynching was the second attack in June by cow vigilantes in Jharkhand as a 200-strong mob thrashed a 55-year-old Muslim dairy owner and set his house ablaze after a cow carcass was found near his home in Giridih district on Tuesday.
In May, a mob lynched four Muslim cattle traders at a village in Saraikelka Kharswan district after accusing them of being child traffickers.
Global Opinions
As India’s Muslims are lynched, Modi keeps silent
By Nilanjana Bhowmick June 28
A protest on Wednesday in Hyderabad, India, against a spate of violent attacks across the country targeting its Muslim minority. (Mahesh Kumar A./Associated Press)
Nilanjana Bhowmick is a journalist and writer in India.
NEW DELHI — On June 23, three days before India celebrated Eid, 15-year-old Junaid Khan was stabbed to death by a group of men aboard a train. He was going home to Khandawli, a village in the north Indian state of Haryana, after shopping for new clothes in New Delhi, accompanied by his brother and a couple of friends. The mob mocked their skullcaps and taunted them for eating beef, before stabbing them.
Eid was somber in Khandawli on Monday, as it was across the country. In a national first, scores of Muslims across the country offered their Eid prayers while wearing a black band, a symbol of protest against the killing of the teen as well as growing atrocities against Muslims in the country, which have been increasing since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office three years ago. In September 2015, a Muslim man, Mohammad Akhlaq, was lynched in Dadri near the Indian capital, over rumors that he had killed a local cow and stored its meat in his refrigerator. The month after that, 16-year-old Zahid Rasool Bhatt died when vigilante groups attacked his truck with a bomb in Udhampur. In March 2017, suspected cattle traders Muhammed Majloom and Azad Khan were hanged in Latehar. In May, traders were thrashed in Malegaon, Maharashtra for allegedly storing beef. In Jharkhand in May, 19-year-old Mohammed Shalik was tied to a pole and beaten to death, reportedly over a romantic relationship with a Hindu girl. In May, two more Muslim men, Abu Hanifa and Riazuddin Ali, were killed for allegedly stealing cattle in Assam. More recently, on June 7, a Muslim man was attacked in Dhanbad, Jharkhand, on suspicion of transporting beef to an Iftar gathering. Two more cases of lynching over cow slaughter rumors were reported earlier this week in eastern India.
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On Sunday, before his first visit with President Trump, Modi addressed India through his radio program Mann Ki Baat (Heart-to-heart-talk). And while his monologue touched upon various topics, including yoga, toilets, sports, a meeting with the Queen, books as gifts and the … er … weather, Junaid Khan’s murder didn’t find a nano-second of air time.
Modi did not mention the more than a dozen cases of lynchings, mostly against Muslims, recorded in India since September last year, especially in states ruled by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Modi also did not address the violence of the cow-vigilante groups, who often owe allegiance to the BJP or its ideological parent the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
And while the list grows longer every day, the violence against Muslims and cow-vigilante groups have not elicited a single tweet of condemnation from India’s social media savvy prime minister, who is quick to condemn atrocities all over the world. Modi’s silence, in fact, is beginning to feel like a redux of the Gujarat riots in 2002 which killed more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims. For years he stayed silent, and when he spoke finally, he had compared the riots to a puppy being run over.
Amnesty International released a statement Wednesday evening, calling the situation “deeply worrying” and accused Modi and other BJP leaders of not condemning the attacks and in fact to have “even justified the attacks at times.” Aakar Patel, executive director of Amnesty International India, said in a statement, “The Indian Prime Minister, senior BJP leaders and Chief Ministers must break their silence and unequivocally condemn the attacks.”
A soon-to-be-published report by the Mumbai-based Centre for Study of Society and Secularism and the U.K.-based Minority Rights Group International notes there has been a notable increase in hostility towards India’s religious minorities since the BJP government, led by Modi, came to power in May 2014 and began to actively promote Hindu nationalism.
According to the report, the volatile state of Uttar Pradesh in north India, site of the disputed Ayodhya Ram temple and where India witnessed one of its worst communal riots in 1992, saw a spike in communal violence since the BJP came to power in the state this year. The appointment of Yogi Adityanath, a Hindu hard-liner known for his controversial anti-Muslim views, as the chief minister of the state dismayed many at the time.
Modi’s silence over these attacks, the report says, has emboldened extremist right-wing groups. Recently, in another first, no BJP ministers attended the traditional Iftar gathering that the president of India hosts every year.
There is a silent but systematic slaughter against Muslims in progress in India. It’s not too late to call it out.
Pro-Modi Muslim Group’s Appeal to Modi: Please Stop the Lynching of Muslims in India
BY THE WIRE STAFF ON 25/06/2017 • LEAVE A COMMENT
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What makes the call especially significant is that FMSA head Jasim Mohammad was one of the first Muslim activists to welcome Modi after he won the 2014 elections.
Jasim Mohammad (right) presents some of his books to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Credit: Special Arrangement
New Delhi: Days after a Muslim youth from Haryana was murdered by passengers on a train a short distance from the national capital, the Forum for Muslim Studies and Analysis (FMSA), a pro-Modi Muslim group in Aligarh, has appealed to the prime minister to “do something to stop the open lynching of Muslims who are Indian citizens”.
What makes the call especially significant is that FMSA head Jasim Mohammad was one of the first Muslim activists in the country to welcome Modi after he won a decisive mandate on behalf of the Bharatiya Janata Party in May 2014 and to have, in his own words, “expressed faith in Modi’s vision of sabka saath, sabka vikas”.
Jasim who has been receiving flak from other Muslims the past three years for supporting Modi has, in his letter, finally sought to alert the prime minister to the “rising tide of anarchy against Muslims in the country”.
“Since a long time, some incidents are taking place in [the] country, particularly in north India wherein the Muslims are being lynched on one pretext or the other, which is sending a wrong message among society not only among Muslims but also in other communities,” said Jasim in his letter, a copy of which is with The Wire.
“Such incidents like [the one in which] Junaid, a Hafiz-e-Qur’an, has been lynched on a Mathura-bound train between Okhla and Asoti villages (Haryana) have increased concern for the security of Indian citizens who happen to be Muslims. Though the incident concerns the state government, people look towards the Central government and say why [it] is not taking any action,” the letter further said.
“There is dire need to control and contain such incidents otherwise I am afraid that we are entering a dangerous phase which will indicate that the government has lost control. I am associating with thousands of people socially and carrying on your agenda, so please pay attention and do something to stop the open lynching of Muslims who are Indian citizens,” said Jasim, who has written six books in Urdu praising Modi’s idea of governance and has met the prime minister several times in the past two years.
The titles of Jasim Mohammad’s books make his leanings amply clear: Narendra Bhai Modi “Farsh se Arsh Tak”,
Statesman Narendra Modi, Mann se Jan tak – Narendra Modi, Aalami Qaid – Narendra Bhai Modi, Narendra Modi Calling, Mann Ki Baat’ I & II and The Message Narendra Modi.
Mohammad told Modi in his letter that though he was proud of being called a “Modi bhakt”, he did not have any answer to questions posed to him by fellow Muslims about the perceived silence of the Modi government and its inaction in preventing the lynching of Muslims in the country.
“I feel proud and honoured to be called a ‘Modi bhakt’. I am associated with you and publicly favour you without any hitch. But now thousands of people are asking me questions about this rise of lynching trend, but I am at loss to reply them,” wrote Jasim who last year announced the establishment of ‘Narendra Modi scholarships’ for poor and bright Muslim students.
He said that the call among Muslims to observe Eid while wearing a black ribbon as a protest against the trend of lynching would hurt the country in the eyes of people the world over. “You will be aware that now Muslims are appealing on social media and in public to celebrate this Eid wearing black badges as [a] protest. I believe that this will not only send a wrong message within country but it will certainly make impact internationally,” he said.
Jasim Mohammad said in his letter to Modi that the failure to take action against the rising trend of anarchy against Muslims, would eventually be bad for Modi’s image of running a strong government.
Finally, apprehensive that his letter should not be taken as criticism of Modi’s governance, he ends his letter saying, “Believe me, I am with you but I am sending you this letter in good faith to save your dignity and prestige apart [from] saving national unity.”
Narendra Modi warns cow vigilantes: Killing in the name of gau bhakti is unacceptable
PM Modi was speaking at the centenary celebrations of the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad in Gujarat.
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By: Express Web Desk | New Delhi | Updated: June 29, 2017 3:53 pm
narendra modi, modi cow vigilantes, sabarmati ashram, cow attacks, lynching, junaid khan PM Narendra Modi at the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad (ANI photo)
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent a stern message to cow vigilantes in the country saying that killing in the name of cow is unacceptable. He was speaking at the centenary celebrations of the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad in Gujarat.
“Killing people in the name of cow is unacceptable. No one has the right to take law into his/her hands. We belong to a land of non-violence. Violence is not the solution to any problem,” said the Prime Minister. He added that Mahatma Gandhi, Father of the Nation, would not approve of such incidents.
“Vinoba Bhave and Mahatma Gandhi have shown the path to practice gau-bhakti,” PM Modi said.
Narendra Modi Warns Cow Vigilantes: Killing In The Name Of Cow Is Unacceptable
The remarks come in the backdrop of several incidents of lynching and murder of people by self-styled cow vigilante groups over rumours of cow slaughter. The most recent incident was the murder of 15-year-old Junaid Khan by a group of people on a Mathura-bound train in Ballabhgarh in Haryana after an argument escalated over seats. Junaid, who was accompanied by his two brothers, was going back home after Eid shopping when he was mocked over his skull cap and referred to as a ‘beef-eater.’ Five people have been held so far in the incident.
In August last year, the Prime Minister had similarly criticised the actions of self-styled cow vigilantes and asked the States to prepare dossiers on them.
“It makes me angry that people are running shops in the name of cow protection… Some people indulge in anti-social activities at night, and in the day masquerade as cow protectors,” PM Modi said. He added that people who wanted to serve cows should ensure that the animals do not eat plastic.
On Wednesday, demonstrations were carried out by citizens under the banner of ‘Not In My Name’ at Jantar Mantar in Delhi and several other cities across the country protesting the government’s silence over such attacks on Dalits and minorities. People held banners saying ‘All lives matter’ and ‘Muslim lives matter.’
“Unless we speak up, the people who are behind it are by default going to think that they have the majority’s support — which is not true”, Monami Basu, Professor of Economics at Delhi University told indianexpress.com at the protest.
For all the latest India News, download Indian Express App
Cow vigilantes ‘anti-social’: Modi breaks his silence
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT NEW DELHI, AUGUST 06, 2016 23:54 IST
UPDATED: SEPTEMBER 20, 2016 13:39 IST
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In first townhall address, Prime Minister asks States to prepare dossiers on such “cow protectors”.
Breaking his silence on cow vigilantes in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday strongly condemned their actions, saying most of them were anti-social elements masquerading as gau rakshaks (cow protectors).
Mr. Modi asked the State governments to prepare a dossier on such “cow protectors”, while asserting that about 80 per cent of them would be found to be involved in illegal activities.
“It makes me angry that people are running shops in the name of cow protection… Some people indulge in anti-social activities at night, and in the day masquerade as cow protectors,” the Prime Minister said.
Need for compassion
Mr. Modi, speaking at his first townhall-style address to mark the second anniversary of his government’s MyGov initiative, said such volunteer groups were not meant to harass and oppress others. There is a need for compassion and an ability to sacrifice to do social service, he said.
Mr. Modi’s comments come at a time when questions are being raised on his silence amid the spate of attacks, particularly in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, on Dalits, allegedly in the name of cow protection.
There have been a series of violent protests in his home State demanding stern action against members of the vigilante group who brutally assaulted four Dalit men.
He pointed out that more cows were dying after consuming plastics than being slaughtered, adding that those wanting to serve them should work towards stopping the animals from eating plastics.
He also said that while holding the Prime Minister responsible for everything that happens at the panchayat, gram panchayat, district and State level in the nation is good for politics and TRPs, it affects governance.
“For good governance it is important that people responsible for tasks be held accountable… then there will be improvement.” he said.
Growth vital
Economic growth of more than 8 per cent for 30 years will bring everything that is good in the world to India, Mr Modi said answering pre-recorded video questions posted on the MyGov portal.
Talking about the National Rurban Mission, Mr Modi spoke about the plan to develop 300 villages across the country with infrastructure at par with cities and launched the slogan, “Aatma gaaon ki, suvidha sheher ki” (Soul of the villages, facilities of the city).
India first
To a question on his foreign policy, Mr Modi said “India First” was his focus point, alongside protecting the country’s economic and strategic interests.
Mr Modi also launched the PMO Mobile Application and interacted with the youngsters who had developed it.
(With Samarth Bansal)
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Cow vigilantism: Retired IAS, IPS officers slam Modi govt in an open letter
A group of retired bureaucrats have written an open letter condemning the recent incidents of attacks and mob lynching in the name of cow protection. They have alleged that this is happening with tacit complicity of state machinery.
IndiaToday.in | Edited by Prabhash K Dutta
New Delhi, July 1, 2017 | UPDATED 13:24 IST
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Narendra Modi offering food to a cow at the Krishi Mela Agricultural Fair at Limkheda in Dohad in May 2013
HIGHLIGHTS
1Retired IAS, IPS officers write open letter against cow vigilantism.
2Ex-bureaucrats slam Modi government for not acting tough.
3Retired officers appeal to government to check vigilantism.
Over 60 retired IAS and IPS officers have written an open letter to the Narendra Modi government asking it to enforce the rule of law and not allow vigilantism to grow.
The open letter has been signed by 65 officers including noted former bureaucrats Bhaskar Ghose, Harsh Mandar and Wajahat Habibullah.
The former administrators are particularly unhappy with the way self-appointed cow vigilantes are going around, attacking and lynching people in the name of protecting the animal. Majority of such attacks in recent past have had communal overtones.
They ex-bureaucrats said, "Gau-rakshaks function with impunity and seem to be doing so with the tacit complicity or active encouragement of state machinery."
The letter was written on June 24. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed his 'anger' against cow vigilantism since then at public meeting in Gujarat.
Speaking at Sabaramati Ashram on Thursday, Prime Minister Modi warned those "taking law in their hands in the name of protection of cows."
'INTOLERANCE EVERYWHERE'
They also expressed deep concern over growing intolerance in the universities across the country. They said, "Student groups and faculty members on campuses like Hyderabad and JNU, who raise troubling questions about equality, social justice and freedom, are subject to attack by the administration, with a supportive government to back them."
The retired top officials are also critical of the Centre's action against the NGOs for violating foreign contribution laws. "Several reputed NGOs and civil society organisations are being charged with violating the provisions of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act and the Income Tax Act," they said.
They further said, "While we agree that genuine violators should be identified we note with dismay that several of the targeted groups are those who have taken stands against government policies, expressed dissent or supported communities in cases against the state."
"There is a growing hyper-nationalism that reduces any critique to a binary: if you are not with the government, you are anti-national," the retired IAS and IPS officers said, adding, "These actions undermine the rule of law and the Indian Constitution since only the state - through its various organs and institutions - has the power to enforce the law."
Following is the full text:
Open Letter by Retired Officials on the Growing Religious Intolerance
Saturday 24 June 2017
The following is an open letter of sixtyfive retired officials released on June 12, 2017.
We are a group of retired officers of All India and Central services of different batches, who have worked with the Central and State governments in the course of our careers. We should make it clear that as a group, we have no affiliation with any political party but believe in the credo of impartiality, neutrality and commitment to the Indian constitution. A sense of deep disquiet at what has been happening in India has prompted us to write this open letter to chronicle our reservations and misgivings about recent developments in the body politic. What has gone wrong?
It appears as if there is a growing climate of religious intolerance that is aimed primarily at Muslims. In Uttar Pradesh, in the run-up to the elections, an odious and frankly communal comparison was made between the relative number of burial grounds and cremation grounds. The question was also asked as to whether electricity was being supplied equally to different communities during their religious festivals. All this without any basis in fact or evidence. The banning of slaughter-houses targets the minorities and affects their livelihoods as well. Such intolerance breeds violence in a communally charged atmosphere-even to the extent of a local leader in UP provoking an attack upon the residence of a Superintendent of Police, whose family was terrorised.
Vigilantism has become widespread. An Akhlaq is killed on the basis of a suspicion that the meat he has is beef and a Pehlu Khan is lynched while transporting to his place two cows he had bought and for which he had the necessary papers. Nomadic shepherds are attacked in Jammu and Kashmir on some suspicion as they practice their age-old occu-pation of moving from one place to another along with their cattle and belongings.
Punitive action against the perpetrators of violence does not take place promptly but cruelly, the victims have FIRs registered against them. The behaviour of vigilantes-who act as if they are prosecutor, judge and executioner rolled into one-flies in the face of law and juris-prudence. These actions undermine the rule of law and the Indian Constitution since only the state-through its various organs and insti-tutions-has the power to enforce the law.
Vigilantism has become popular as 'anti-Romeo' squads threaten young couples who go out together, hold hands and are perhaps in love with each other. A thinly-veiled effort to prevent a Hindu-Muslim relationship or marriage, there is no justification in law to harass these couples, particularly when there is no complaint from the woman of being ill-treated.
Student groups and faculty members on campuses like Hyderabad and JNU, who raise troubling questions about equality, social justice and freedom, are subject to attack by the administration, with a supportive government to back them. In Jodhpur, a planned lecture by a renowned academic was cancelled under pressure and the faculty that organised the event subjected to disciplinary action. What happened in Jodhpur has happened at other institutions as well. Argumentation and discussion about different perspectives-the life-blood not only of institutions of learning but of democracy itself-are being throttled. Disagree-ment and dissent are considered seditious and anti-national. Such attitudes have a chilling impact on free speech and thought.
Several reputed NGOs and civil society organisations are being charged with violating the provisions of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act and the Income Tax Act. While we agree that genuine violators should be identified and penalised, we note with dismay that several of the targeted groups are those who have taken stands against government policies, expressed dissent or supported communities in cases against the state.
We are also seeing an ugly trend of trolling, threats and online intimidation of activists, journalists, writers and intellectuals who disagree with the dominant ideology. How does this square with free speech?
There is a growing hyper-nationalism that reduces any critique to a binary: if you are not with the government, you are anti-national. Those in authority should not be questioned- that is the clear message.
In the face of a rising authoritarianism and majoritarianism, which do not allow for reasoned debate, discussion and dissent, we appeal to all public authorities, public institutions and constitutional bodies to take heed of these disturbing trends and take corrective action. We have to reclaim and defend the spirit of the Constitution of India, as envisaged by the founding fathers.
(Inputs from Seemi Pasha in New Delhi)
Walk the talk: Modi’s remarks on cow vigilantism need to be backed by action
JULY 01, 2017 00:02 IST
UPDATED: JULY 02, 2017 20:24 IST
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Narendra Modi’s remarks on cow vigilantism are pointless, unless backed by action
While it is impossible to fault Prime Minister Narendra Modi for speaking up against killing in the name of cow protection, it is equally impossible to be convinced about its earnestness and efficacy. His remarks at an event in Mahatma Gandhi’s Sabarmati ashram have come at a time when there is a groundswell of popular revulsion about violent, even murderous, cow vigilantism, leaving the unfortunate impression that it was but a response to public pressure. The #NotInMyName movement, which began with a Facebook invitation to participate in a protest in Delhi, had assumed viral dimensions, with other cities in India and elsewhere in the world organising or planning to organise similar events. What began as a somewhat limited mobilisation to campaign against lynching morphed into a broader movement involving all communities against state apathy to the phenomenon. The timing is not the only thing that gives rise to scepticism about Mr. Modi’s observations about cow vigilantism. Frequency is the other issue. A phenomenon that has wreaked violence, affected livelihoods, and created insecurities over the last couple of years — all of which have been compounded by a mischievous and hugely flawed order to regulate cattle sale — is deserving of a more muscular and frequent response. More importantly, it needs to be coupled with tangible action on the ground.
One of the contradictions that Mr. Modi must square up to as well as grapple with is that, by and large, aggressive cow vigilantes who take the law into their own hands are members or sympathisers of one or the other organisations of the Sangh Parivar, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s extended family. Given this, words are simply not enough — unaccompanied by strong corroborative action, they only serve to perpetuate the lie that the top is either totally divorced from the distasteful happenings at the bottom or that it doesn’t have the means to control it. It is true that as Prime Minister, Mr. Modi has no direct control over law and order, which is a State subject. But as the BJP’s most popular leader, one who has no real rivals in the party, he must wield his influence and power to crack down on those who indulge in violence in the name of cow protection. In the absence of this, Mr Modi’s remarks may constitute nothing more than a mild reprimand. There is no denying that speech is better than silence and his remarks may help sharpen the focus on how determined governments are to uphold the rule of law — firmly, decisively, and in a manner that deters cow vigilantism. Any politician worth his salt knows there is Condemnation and there is condemnation. Mr. Modi should show us that he hasn’t used the small c.
Cow vigilantes defy PM Modi yet again, attack drivers transporting cattle in Assam
A group of cow vigilantes stopped three vehicles transporting cows and beat up the drivers on the outskirts of Guwahati while accusing them of cattle smuggling.
IndiaToday.in | Edited by Shashank Shantanu
New Delhi, July 3, 2017 | UPDATED 15:15 IST
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Cow vigilantes attack driver in Guwahati
HIGHLIGHTS
1A group of men attack drivers transporting cows in Guwahati.
2Drivers beaten up, accused of smuggling cows.
3Attackers claimed they belong to Hindu Yuva Chhatra Parishad.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's stern warning to self-proclaimed cow vigilantes seems to have fallen to deaf ears as a group of men attacked a truck drivers transporting cows in Guwahati. The incident took place on Sunday (July 2).
According to reports, a group of cow vigilantes stopped three vehicles transporting cows and beat up the drivers on the outskirts of Guwahati. The incident took place near Sonapur some 30 km from capital Guwahati.
The vehicles were coming from Tinsukia in Upper Assam when the members of the Hindu Yuva Chhatra Parishad's unit stopped them and asked the drivers to step out. The men then brutally thrashed the drivers accusing them of cow smuggling.
'NOT ACCEPTABLE'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had last week said that killing of people in the name of cow protection is not acceptable. PM Modi's remarks came amid a spurt of attacks by cow vigilantes and a wave of protests.
Delivering a speech to mark the centenary of the Sabarmati ashram in Ahmedabad and 150th birth anniversary of Shrimad Rajchandraji, a guru to Mahatma Gandhi, Modi said unleashing violence against others went against the ideals of the Father of the Nation.
"Killing people in the name of 'gau bhakti' is not acceptable. This is not something Mahatma Gandhi would approve," he said.
"Let's all work together. Let's create the India of Mahatma Gandhi's dreams. Let's create an India our freedom fighters would be proud of," the prime minister said.
"No person in this nation has the right to take the law in his or her own hands," he said.
The Prime Minister's remarks came against the backdrop of growing incidents of cow vigilantism.
A Muslim youth was last week killed on board a Mathura-bound train by people who taunted his family and repeatedly called them "anti-nationals" and "beef eaters".
"Violence never has and never will solve any problem. As a society, there is no place for violence," Modi said.
Last week, thousands of people across the country took to the streets in a citizens' protest named 'Not in My Name' against the recent incidents of mob killings.
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Muslim man dons burqa to escape lynching, cops baffled
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/agra/muslim-man-dons-burqa-to-escape-lynching-cops-baffled/articleshow/59449360.cms
Muslim man dons burqa to escape lynching, cops baffled
Anuja Jaiswal | TNN | Updated: Jul 5, 2017, 06.01 AM IST
Nazmul Hassan, an assistant engineer in Kasimpur power station, was caught wearing a burqa at Aligarh railway station
Nazmul Hassan, an assistant engineer in Kasimpur power station, was caught wearing a burqa at Aligarh railway station
AGRA: Paranoid over the recent lynching of Muslims, a 42-year-old assistant engineer in Aligarh's Kasimpur power station was caught at the railway station on Sunday afternoon wearing a burqa. Alerted by other travellers, GRP men observed his suspicious movements for some time before they detained him. When questioned by police and intelligence officials, Nazmul Hassan told them that he wanted to conceal his identity as he was scared of being lynched for being a Muslim man.
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Hassan told police officials that he had to frequent Delhi to take care of an ailing cousin and had accidentally pushed a man while alighting at the Aligarh railway station last week. According to Hassan, the man insulted him and his religion in full public view and threatened him openly, as others joined in, that they would not allow him to live in the city. "I had read about Junaid's killing in a train in Ballabhgarh a few days ago. I was scared for my life after the threat, but couldn't avoid travelling. So I thought of wearing a burqa," Hassan told cops.
Though he was released by police after questioning, his act left senior police officials wondering about the extent of insecurity among minorities.
Top Comment
This is really sad... People should feel safe and free in our country... While Muslim terrorism all across the world is unacceptable, equally undesirable is Hindu extremism growing these days in our country.
Pras
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Senior superintendent of police Rajesh Pandey said they had verified Hassan's claims and have so far found nothing amiss in them. He said, "When Hassan was handed over to the GRP, he was crying and shaking and kept repeating that he is a simple man who has never done anything wrong." Pandey said Hassan was released after questioning and they are in touch with him.
Hassan said as he had to go to Delhi on Sunday to visit his ailing cousin. He was scared to travel alone but he could not find anyone to accompany him. Senior sub-inspector (GRP), who is also the investigating officer in Hassan's case, said, "We found nothing suspicious in his statement to police. Different agencies verified that his act of wearing burqa was born out of his fear following the incident that occurred with him at the railway station last week."
Attacks against Muslims, Dalits grew sharply in India under Modi: US report
According to the report, religious tolerance has deteriorated and religious freedom violations have escalated dramatically since 2014.
IANS | Posted by Sonalee Borgohain
Washington, February 10, 2017 | UPDATED 06:56 IST
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PM Narendra Modi
PM Narendra Modi
HIGHLIGHTS
1As per the report, hate crimes, social boycotts and forced conversion have escalated.
2It stated that India faces serious challenges to its pluralistic traditions.
3It said India should adopt the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
Religious tolerance has deteriorated and religious freedom violations have increased in India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's regime, a report by an independent bipartisan American body has claimed.
The report, titled 'Constitutional and Legal Challenges Faced by Religious Minorities in India' and sponsored by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), said the religious minority communities and Dalits face discrimination and persecution in India where hate crimes, social boycotts and forced conversion have escalated dramatically since 2014.
"Under Congress Party and BJP-led governments, religious minority communities and Dalits, both have faced discrimination and persecution due to a combination of overly broad or ill-defined laws, an inefficient criminal justice system, and a lack of jurisprudential consistency. In particular, since 2014, hate crimes, social boycotts, assaults, and forced conversion have escalated dramatically," said the report.
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"Since the BJP assumed power, religious minority communities have been subject to derogatory comments by BJP politicians and numerous violent attacks and forced conversions by affiliated Hindu nationalist groups such as Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Sangh Parivar, and Vishva Hindu Parishad," it said.
WHAT THE USCIRF-SPONSORED REPORT STATES
The USCIRF-sponsored report is written by Iqtidat Karamat Cheema, who is director for UK-based Institute for Leadership and Community Development. The report further says there are constitutional provisions and state and national laws in India that do not comply with international standards of freedom of religion or belief, including Article 18 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights and Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The report suggested that the US government should put religious freedom and human rights at the heart of all trade, aid and diplomatic interactions with India.
"India is a religiously diverse and democratic society with a Constitution that provides legal equality for its citizens irrespective of their religion and prohibits religion-based discrimination," said USCIRF chair Thomas J. Reese.
ALSO READ| Religious tolerance in India deteriorating, says US rights expert
"However, the reality is far different... India's pluralistic tradition faces serious challenges in a number of its states."
"During the past few years, religious tolerance has deteriorated and religious freedom violations have increased in some areas of India. To reverse this negative trajectory, the Indian and state governments must align theirs laws with both the country's constitutional commitments and international human rights standards," he said.
The report stated that India faces serious challenges to both its pluralistic traditions and its religious minorities. "Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, and Jains generally are fearful of what the future portends. Dalits also are increasingly being attacked and harassed".
"The Indian government-at both the national and state levels-often ignores its constitutional commitments to protect the rights of religious minorities. National and state laws are used to violate the religious freedom of minority communities; however, very little is known about the laws," it said.
STATES WITH MOST INCIDENTS OF RELIGIOUSLY-MOTIVATED ATTACKS
It stated that the states of Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Odisha, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan tend to have the greatest number of incidents of religiously-motivated attacks and communal violence, as well as the largest religious minority populations.
Quoting India's Home Ministry figures, it said that in 2015, India experienced a 17 per cent increase in communal violence, when compared to the previous year. In 2015, there were 751 reported incidents of communal violence, up from 644 in 2014.
The report recommended the US government to urge the Indian government to push its states that have adopted anti-conversion laws to repeal or amend them to conform to international norms.
It further urged the Indian government to immediately lift its sanctions against non-governmental organisations working for the welfare of the minorities in India.
"Identify Hindutva groups that raise funds from US citizens and support hate campaigns in India. Such groups should be banned from operating in the United States if they are found to spread hatred against religious minorities in India," it said.
INDIAN GOVERNMENT SHOULD REFORM ANTI-CONVERSION LAWS
The report further stated that Indian government should reform the anti-conversion laws and appreciate that "both conversion and reconversion by use of force, fraud, or allurement are equally bad and infringe upon a person's freedom of conscience".
It said that India should not impose Hindu personal status laws on Sikh, Buddhist, and Jain communities, but instead provide them with a provision of personal status laws as per their distinct religious beliefs and practices.
It recommended that India adopt the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
"Operationalise the term 'minority' in its federal laws and comply with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious, and Linguistic Minorities.
"Drop Explanation II in Article 25 of its constitution and recognize Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism as distinct religions with their own separate religious identities.
Lastly, it said that India should also not impose Hindu personal status laws on Sikh, Buddhist, and Jain communities, but instead provide them with a provision of personal status laws as per their distinct religious beliefs and practices.
Global Opinions
As India’s Muslims are lynched, Modi keeps silent
By Nilanjana Bhowmick June 28
A protest on Wednesday in Hyderabad, India, against a spate of violent attacks across the country targeting its Muslim minority. (Mahesh Kumar A./Associated Press)
Nilanjana Bhowmick is a journalist and writer in India.
NEW DELHI — On June 23, three days before India celebrated Eid, 15-year-old Junaid Khan was stabbed to death by a group of men aboard a train. He was going home to Khandawli, a village in the north Indian state of Haryana, after shopping for new clothes in New Delhi, accompanied by his brother and a couple of friends. The mob mocked their skullcaps and taunted them for eating beef, before stabbing them.
Eid was somber in Khandawli on Monday, as it was across the country. In a national first, scores of Muslims across the country offered their Eid prayers while wearing a black band, a symbol of protest against the killing of the teen as well as growing atrocities against Muslims in the country, which have been increasing since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office three years ago. In September 2015, a Muslim man, Mohammad Akhlaq, was lynched in Dadri near the Indian capital, over rumors that he had killed a local cow and stored its meat in his refrigerator. The month after that, 16-year-old Zahid Rasool Bhatt died when vigilante groups attacked his truck with a bomb in Udhampur. In March 2017, suspected cattle traders Muhammed Majloom and Azad Khan were hanged in Latehar. In May, traders were thrashed in Malegaon, Maharashtra for allegedly storing beef. In Jharkhand in May, 19-year-old Mohammed Shalik was tied to a pole and beaten to death, reportedly over a romantic relationship with a Hindu girl. In May, two more Muslim men, Abu Hanifa and Riazuddin Ali, were killed for allegedly stealing cattle in Assam. More recently, on June 7, a Muslim man was attacked in Dhanbad, Jharkhand, on suspicion of transporting beef to an Iftar gathering. Two more cases of lynching over cow slaughter rumors were reported earlier this week in eastern India.
Suspended from Aam Aadmi Party, Amanatullah Khan made Delhi assembly panel chief
The members to these committee are appointed with tacit approval of the ruling party.
DELHI Updated: May 07, 2017 18:23 IST
Press Trust of India, New Delhi
Amanatullah Khan
Suspended AAP leader and now chairman of a panel of the Delhi assembly, Amanatullah Khan.(HT File)
A fresh round of tussle is likely to erupt in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as its MLA Amanatullah Khan, who was recently suspended from the party for attacking senior leader Kumar Vishwas, has been appointed as the chairman of a panel of the Delhi assembly.
Khan, the MLA from Okhla, has also been appointed as a member in seven newly-constituted committees, including the Special Inquiry Committee of the House by the speaker.
The move is seemed to have been taken to placate Khan, considered as a prominent Muslim face in the party.
An MLA, who had spoken in favour of Vishwas, termed Khan’s appointment as a “promotion”.
Read more
AAP highlights: Vishwas pacified, Kejriwal tweets photo to show all is well
Kejriwal may have ended crisis with temporary truce but AAP turmoil not over
The members to these committee are appointed with tacit approval of the ruling party. The party said the appointment of members to these committees was the “prerogative” of the speaker.
Khan had accused Vishwas of being an “RSS-BJP agent” and plotting a coup in the party.
Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia had to convince Vishwas who had insisted on stern action against Khan. He had also threatened to quit the party.
By suspending Khan, a “mask”, Vishwas had tried attacking the “coterie” who was hatching “conspiracy” against him.
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By suspending Khan, the party also averted a major crisis.
Sisodia had visited Khan at this residence, just hours after his suspension from the party.
However, with the appointment of Khan to these committees, the party could face a fresh crisis as many MLAs were believed to be backing Vishwas.
Sources in the party said all AAP legislators including Somnath Bharti, Alka Lamba and Bhavna Gaur, who had backed Vishwas, have been accommodated in the library committee.
It is, however, not considered as prestigious with the panel having little work to do.
Bharti, who had openly advocated a greater role for Vishwas in the party, was removed as the chairman of the Privileges Committee and Kailash Gehlot appointed in his place.
Sources close to Vishwas declined to react to this development, but indicated that the leader, who was pacified just two days ago, is unhappy over the development.
“With this development the leadership has sought to send a message that it backs Amanatullah and has given him a promotion. Whoever gave statements in favour of Vishwas have been cut to size,” an MLA who had backed Vishwas said.
Woman and girl ‘gang-raped as punishment for eating beef’
Women worship a cow, an animal held sacred by Hindu beliefs, during Bach Baras festival in Ajmer, India.
Women worship a cow, an animal held sacred by Hindu beliefs, during Bach Baras festival in Ajmer, India. CREDIT: REUTERS/HIMANSHU SHARMA
Adam Boult
12 SEPTEMBER 2016 • 8:01PM
Four suspects have been charged with rape and murder after a Muslim woman and her 14-year-old cousin were gang-raped and two of their relations murdered in India’s Haryana province last month.
The group of men in their 30s allegedly entered the victims’ home in the Mewat district on August 24, assaulting the 20-year-old woman and teenager. An older man and woman were tied up and beaten to death.
The woman told the BBC: "They [the accused men] said that we ate cow meat and that is why we were being disgraced [raped]. They even threatened to kill me and my family if we ever told anybody what happened to us."
Abid Khan, a member of the Mewat Bar Association, said: “We have never had any religious tensions here since independence. People [Hindus and Muslims] have always lived in peace in this area. It’s possible that this incident was planned to create religious tensions in the area.”
Killing cows is banned in many states of India, a majority-Hindu country that also has sizeable Muslim, Christian and Buddhist minorities.
“Cow protection” groups have recently proliferated across the country, buoyed by a ruling Hindu nationalist government which has encouraged stronger anti-cow slaughter laws.
In July this year violent protests broke out across the state of Gujarat after a Hindu gang beat and publicly humiliated four low-caste youths accused of killing a cow.
The youths were spotted stripping the dead cow’s hide near the town of Una. They were subsequently stripped, tied to a car and beaten with belts and iron rods by the vigilantes, as a large crowd looked on. A video of the attack was widely circulated online.
In 2015, a 50-year-old Muslim man, Mohammad Akhlaq, was beaten to death over rumours he had eaten beef.
Police told reporters Mr Akhlaq was dragged from his house on the outskirts of New Delhi and attacked by around 100 people.
Mr Akhlaq's daughter, Sajida, told the Indian Express: "They accused us of keeping cow meat, broke down our doors and started beating my father and brother. My father was dragged outside and beaten with bricks."
‘How could they hate us so much’: Family in shock after 16-year-old Muslim boy stabbed to death on train
Police said one person was arrested for his involvement in Hafiz Junaid’s killing, which came amid several incidents of assaults on Muslims across the country over beef and cow slaughter.
DELHI Updated: Jun 27, 2017 17:51 IST
Ananya Bhardwaj
Ananya Bhardwaj
New Delhi, Hindustan Times
Beef lynching
Junaid was a student of Islamic studies in Surat, Gujarat.(HT PHOTO)
It was on Wednesday evening that Junaid and Hashim attained the title of a “Hafiz” after investing over three years to memorize the Quran by heart and got Rs 1500 as a reward from their mother.
It was their first Eid after becoming a Hafiz and they wanted to look their best. To celebrate and shop, they planned a visit to Delhi’s Jama Masjid and promised to return before sundown. One of the two could not.
Junaid was allegedly stabbed to death and four others were injured on board a Mathura-bound train when an argument over a seat turned into religious slurs and triggered a mob attack on family members returning home from Eid shopping.
The incident took place on Thursday evening between Okhla and Asoti in Haryana, a distance of about 60 km. The four injured told Hindustan Times at Khaddawli, a small village in Haryana’s Faridabad district, the attackers repeatedly called them “anti-nationals” and “beef eaters”, threw their skull caps on the floor, caught their beards and taunted them with terms such as “mulla”.
Junaid’s brother, Hashim , and father, Jalaluddin, are in a state of shock. (Ravi Choudhary/HT PHOTO)
“Junaid was so happy that he will be formally felicitated for their achievement on Eid. Since Ramzan started, he and Hashim had been reciting the Quran everyday at the mosque. They wanted to look good, so they specially went to purchase a new set of clothes to Jama Masjid. Their mother asked them to fetch the best sewaiyan and sweets to be served on the festival. He promised to reach home early, but what reached home was his dead body. How could those men be so cruel to have pierced my son’s body like that,” Jallaluddin, Junaid’s father, said.
“He was a child. He was just 16. How could they hate us so much to have killed him so brutally? When I reached the spot, my son Hashim was sitting on the station with Junaid’s body soaked in blood in his lap,” he added, even as he was being consoled intermittently by fellow villagers in Khadwali, Haryana.
Jallaluddin had reached Ballabgarh station to pick up his sons so that they could go to open the fast together, but when he reached the train had already left.
Family members lament Junaid’s death. (Ravi Choudhary/HT PHOTO)
“Sakir (Junaid’s elder brother who boarded the train at Ballabgarh after being informed about the attack) called me saying that he was going to the station to pick up the boys. He asked me to come to the station as well. He never told me that there was a problem. When I reached the station, the train had already left. When I could not locate the boys I called Sakir, he also did not take the call. Junaid and Hashim too did not pick. I thought the boys must have left. What did I know that they were fighting for their life,” he said.
Saira, Junaid’s mother, was oblivious to the news of her son’s death. Till Friday morning she was not informed about it. When the women from the village started visiting her to console her, she wondered why they were there.
“Women kept coming and asking me about Junaid. I wondered why they were referring to him in the past tense. No one ever told me that he was no more. How could they hide it from me,” she said, fighting back her tears.
“I got to know only when his body returned home this morning. When he did not reach home last night, I kept asking his father about his whereabouts but no one answered me,” she said.
Saira said she will never be able to celebrate the festival of Eid. “This time it was special. My sons became the Hafiz. The preservers. And a day later I lost him. How can this be justified. How am I to cope up with this loss?”
Stop Lynching Muslims in the name of Cow.
DAUD HOSSAIN Kolkata, India
Being a Muslim I am frightened after the dreadful incident as many Muslims whether young or old has been lynched by Hindu Cow-vigilants over the last two years in the name of Cow though our Constitution of India clearly says that India is a secular country and People of India can eat according to their choice but this cow-vigilants are not stopping by the govt as didn't take any severe action against them or even silenced over this serious issue seems that Govt is supporting by muming over the issues .So if the Supreme Court of India and President of India (Head of the state) can take necessary actions agaist them then Minority people of India like Muslims will get rid of from lynching by the goons.
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