by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Lucknow : The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Thursday issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government over reports of a Muslim youth being killed by the state police in a ‘fake encounter’.
The NHRC took suo motu cognizance of media reports which mentioned that Irshad Ahmad, 20, was killed in a ‘fake encounter’ in Muzaffarnagar.
Ahmad was shot dead in an alleged fake encounter by the Uttar Pradesh Police on Tuesday.
His father has said that Irshad had no criminal history and was killed in cold blood in a fake encounter.
The Commission has observed that the contents of the news reports, if true, raise the serious issue of the violation of human rights of the victim and his family.
Accordingly, it has issued notice to the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police, calling for a detailed report within four weeks.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News
Lucknow : A man was beaten to death by a mob in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, early on Thursday on suspicion of stealing their cattle, police said.
Superintendent of Police Abhinandan Singh said three persons have been arrested.
The victim was identified as Shahrukh Khan (20), who worked as a tailor in Dubai and had come home for Eid.
The incident happened in Bholapur Hindoliya village where more than 50 persons attacked four young men when they found them in their cattle yard. The youths were thrashed by the mob and handed over to the police later.
The villagers have filed an FIR against Shahrukh and two others, alleging cattle theft.
Police say there were three persons in all who were involved in the theft of buffaloes from the cattle yard of a local Gajendra Pal. When they along with other neighbours Virendra, Khempal and Mukesh Kumar started a hunt for the missing buffaloes, they spotted these four young men trying to cross the Nakatiya river.
The other two alleged thieves Pappu and Abid of the Thiriya Nijawat Khan village knew how to swim and fled while Shahrukh was stranded on the banks.
Villagers attacked him and beat before handing him over to the police.
He was admitted to the district hospital around 7:30 am where he died in front of his family members and relatives. The post-mortem report has revealed that the 20-year-old died of internal injuries inflicted primarily to the liver and kidneys.
The victim’s family members have refuted charges of theft and informed the police that Shahrukh had gone out late night after receiving a phone call rom one of his local friends.
“The police informed us later about the incident. We found him in the district hospital,” a family member said.
There have since been two FIRs: one from Gajendra Pal, who alleged that his buffaloes were being stolen; and the other by family members against two dozen persons accusing them of mob lynching.
Western and central UP have witnessed a few similar cases of mob lynching sparked by cattle theft.
Anand Kumar, Additional Director General of Police (ADG, Law and Order) told IANS that he had sought a report on the incident. “I am awaiting details” he added.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : JNU scholar Umar Khalid, accused of raising anti-national slogans in 2016, on Monday survived an attempt to kill him in the heart of the capital, saying he escaped only because of his friends.
Police, however, said it was not clear whether the gunshot fired by the attacker was aimed at him or not.
A shaken Khalid told the media that a man approached him with a gun when he was outside the Constitution Hall, tried to overpower him and shoot him down.
“Thankfully, my friends were there with me. They tried to overpower him but he ran away and he fired from across the road.
“I was very scared at that moment when he pointed a gun at me. At that moment, I was reminded of what happened to (writer activist) Gauri Lankesh. I thought that moment has arrived,” Khalid said.
Joint Commissioner of Police Ajay Chaudhary said preliminary investigation showed that an unknown man dragged Khalid when he was with five friends at a tea stall outside the Constitution Club, not far from Parliament.
“A scuffle took place between them,” the officer said. “The accused managed to escape. It is not clear yet whether the attacker fired or not with his weapon.”
He said the case was being probed from all possible angles. A weapon found at the spot was being examined. “We have deployed the best officers to nab the attacker.”
Khalid went to the Constitution Club to attend a “United Against Hate” programme where the listed speakers included noted lawyer Prashant Bhushan, MP Manoj Jha and journalist Amit Sen Gupta.
Arif, a witness to the crime, said Khalid was with him when they were targeted. He said there were at least two attackers. But police spoke about only one attacker.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Madhur Verma earlier quoted Khalid as saying that someone pounced on him and pushed him around 2.30 p.m.
“Thereafter he tried to fire at Khalid. But the person couldn’t fire immediately,” Verma said.
The officer said the local police were not informed about the programme at the Constitution Club, a popular venue for seminars, meetings and press conferences.
The incident took place about half-a-kilometre from Parliament and behind the high-security Reserve Bank of India. The Constitution Club is itself located in a block of apartments, many of which are allocated to MPs.
Khalid was rusticated and fined by the Jawaharlal Nehru University last month after he along with two others — Kanhaiya Kumar and Anirban Bhattacharya — were found guilty of raising anti-national slogans at a poetry-reading event in the campus on February 9, 2016.
Khalid said he felt that Monday’s incident was an attempt to silence anyone who raise their voice against the Modi government.
He said that in the last two years, since the JNU episode which led to his jailing, “there has been misinformation everywhere” about him and his politics. He accused a section of the media of spreading propaganda against him.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : The Delhi High Court on Thursday restrained the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) from taking any coercive steps against the student-activist Umar Khalid till Friday.
“JNU shall not take any coercive action against the petitioner (Khalid),” Justice Siddharth Mridul said and listed the matter for Friday for further hearing.
Khalid was rusticated and fined by a university panel in connection with a 2016 incident when anti-India slogans were allegedly raised at an event.
Justice Siddharth Mridul’s order came while hearing Khalid’s plea challenging the university’s order which has imposed a fine against him.
The court also issued notice to JNU and others and sought the response on the student’s plea.
Khalid’s advocate told the court that former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union leader Kanhaiya Kumar has also approached the court and his matter is listed for Friday for further hearing.
Kumar in his plea has sought quashing of the order passed by JNU through its Chief Proctor on July 4.
JNU on July 4’s order held Kumar and others guilty under clause of Discipline and Proper Conduct of Students of JNU and fined them.
The order has been issued based on the report by a high-level enquiry committee that was set up on February 11, 2016.
An enquiry found student-activist Umar Khalid, along with Kumar and Anirban Bhattacharya, guilty in the February 2016 episode in which a group of young men allegedly raised “anti-national” slogans.
It had also recommended rustication of Umar Khalid apart from imposing financial penalty on 13 other students for violation of disciplinary norms.
Kumar, a member of the Communist Party of India’s student wing, was the President of the varsity’s student union that year.
The three were accused — though none yet chargesheeted by police — of raising slogans against the integrity of India during a poetry-reading gathering of students at Sabarmati Dhaba inside the JNU campus on February 9, 2016.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News
Patna : In another such case within a week or so, a young Muslim man in Bihar broke his Ramadan fast to donate blood to save the life of a newborn, officials said on Monday.
“I broke my fast to save a child because human life is more important than fast. I will keep the fast later to compensate but human life can’t be compensated,” remarked Mohammad Ashfaque who donated blood on Sunday to save the two-day-old child of Ramesh Kumar Singh and Aarti Devi in Darbhanga district.
Aarti had given birth to a boy after a caesarean operation at a private clinic in Darbhanga but the condition of the child deteriorated soon after birth.
After doctors asked Ramesh to procure O Negative group blood for the child, he posted an SOS message on social media, following which Ashfaque contacted them.
“When I came across the message for help, I simply approached the family and rushed to the hospital to donate blood. But doctors refused my offer since I was fasting. So, I broke my fast and consumed fruit juice and some solids,” said Ashfaque, who is in his late 20s.
Last week, Jawed Alam donated blood to an eight-year-old thalassemic boy Rajesh to save his life in Gopalganj district.
—IANS
