NEWS
DIGEST, MID-DAY
01 Aug 2018:17 Ziqada 1439:
Vol:10, No:78
INDIA
After 2-yr consultation, Law Commission to
finalise report on ‘Family Law Reform’
New Delhi: What started off as an exercise to
examine the possibility of a common civil code, as was evident in the release
of Law Commission’s ‘Questionnaire on Uniform Civil Code’ in Oct.2016, is soon
set to culminate in the submission of a report on ‘Family Law Reform’ that will
suggest ways to codify and reform personal laws of all religions. With the
2-year-long consultation process drawing to a close on July 31, the Law
Commission is expected to finalise its report before the end of its term under
Justice BS Chauhan on Aug.30, 2019.The process was initiated following a
directive from the Law Ministry in June 2016 asking Law Commission to examine
the matter of Uniform Civil Code.“The aim is not to identify an identical
procedure for all but to correct the gender discriminatory nature of family
laws across religions.This would be done with reference to the precedents
already available in the law,”said Law Commission sources.For instance, with
reference to child custody laws among Shias which, in case of a divorce, allows
the father the custody of the son above the age of 2 years, the Commission will
refer to the Githa Hariharan vs RBI Supreme Court order of 1999 where it ruled
that women were as much the natural guardians of their children as men.
Similarly, with adoption being disallowed or restricted under Muslim and
Christian personal laws,the Commission will refer to the Shabnam Hashmi vs
Union Of India 2014 SC order that gives prospective parents the right to adopt
children irrespective of their religious background. According to sources, this
has been the most widespread consultative process of Law Commission involving
70,000 responses, 50-odd face-to-face consultations with women’s rights groups,
advocates, sexual minorities, religious groups and experts in Muslim personal
law.With the Supreme Court already declaring instant triple talaq
unconstitutional, the Law Commission is also expected to look at how to bring
men under the purview of Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939, under which
currently women have to approach the court of law if they want a divorce. “In
all other kinds of talaq, the problem is not speed. 3 months period in fact
means far less agony for the women as opposed to personal laws of Hindu or
Christian or even the Special Marriage Act, wherein it takes anywhere from one
year to 3 years. The issue in talaq is its arbitrary nature. Even if the man chooses
to approach an extra-judicial authority like a Qazi for talaq, he has to
qualify the reasons for the divorce. Likewise, the Hindu personal law doesn’t
allow for unilateral filing of no fault divorce, which also needs to be looked
at,” said sources at the Law Commission.In terms of property rights, the Muslim
personal law which allows daughters only half the share of sons will be
examined as will be the Hindu personal law which, while it allows for an equal
share, has a very low claim rate for women, and the Parsi law wherein a girl
marrying outside the community is disinherited. Sources said that the report,
however, will exclude 26 % of the
country’s area ie Northeastern regions, J&K and tribal areas. These are areas that are
allowed to have their own local or tribal laws under the 5th and 6th Schedule
of the Constitution as well as sub-sections of Article 371.Meabwhile, All India
Muslim Personal Law Board has told Law Commission that besides opposing Uniform
Civil Code, it is against any proposal “to reform civil laws”.indianexpress
Triple Talaq Bill: Govt wants to fill jails
with Muslim men, says AIMPLB
All India Muslim Personal Law Board today
condemned the proposed triple talaq legislation, calling it a ploy by the
ruling dispensation to give the Muslim community a bad name and fill the
country's jails with Muslim men. In an angry reaction to the govt's efforts to
pass Triple Talaq Bill in Parliament, AIMPLB criticised the Modi regime for not
consulting the community on the proposed legislation.“Govt says that the bill is
in the interest of women. However, the board believes that it is against women,
against couples. We condemn it strongly,” said Fazlur Rahman Mujaddidi,
secretary, AIMPLB.“Why do they want to make triple talaq a cognisable offence?
This is a ploy to give Muslims a bad name and fill the jails with Muslim men,” he
said.Board member Kamal Farooqui questioned the need for a law criminalising
triple talaq as the Supreme Court has already declared it unconstitutional and
hence illegal. “As of today, under the law of the land, triple talaq is not
valid. How can you make an action that is not valid a cognisable offence? Only
this Govt could have done something like
this,”he said.Farooqui further claimed that the Govt 's agenda is to project
the Muslim community as the 'bad boy' and give the religion a bad name. “In
such a situation, it becomes important for us to give our point of view,”he
said.Board members claimed that panel Chairman Justice B.S. Chauhan reportedly
told them that even he had not been consulted on it.theweek
AIMPLB says no to UCC
SC begins hearing petitions seeking
decriminalization of adultery, section 497 of IPC
After reserving its judgment in the Sabarimala
Temple entry case, the Supreme Court 5 judge bench on Wednesday commenced
hearing in PIL seeking decriminalisation of the act of Adultery. In the brief hearing on Wednesday, the bench
noted the impropriety of the said section 497 in so far as it exempts from
criminal prosecution a man who has engaged in sexual intercourse with a married
woman even if the same transpires with consent. Further, section 198(2) of CrPC
permits only the husband of the adulteress, and not the wife of the man with
whom the adultery is committed, to file a complaint. The bench observed that if
section 497 fails the test of Article 14, it would be declared
unconstitutional. The rationale for criminalising consensual sex between two
adults was also doubted, considering that adultery is already prescribed as a
ground for divorce in most personal laws, in addition to other civil law
remedies. The hearing shall resume on Thursday.livelaw
All Live-in relationships are not covered
under provisions of domestic violence act:Bombay HC
Bombay High Court has held that in order to
claim any relief under the provisions of the Domestic Violence Act, relations
between the woman and her partner must be in the nature of marriage. Justice
Mangesh Patil of the Aurangabad bench dismissed a criminal revision application
filed by a 30-year-old woman who sought the correct interpretation of Section
2(f) of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (DV Act) after an
Additional Sessions Judge set aside an order of a Judicial Magistrate First
Class who had held the relationship between the petitioner and the respondent
“in the nature of marriage.” The petitioner belongs to Jain Hindu community and
has a child from her marriage with one Shantaram Ughade. The petitioner averred
in her application that her marriage with Ughade came to an end through a customary
divorce on Oct.15, 2011. Thereafter, the petitioner met the respondent who was
married and already had a child at the time. As the respondent is a Muslim, the
petitioner got converted to Islam and the couple got married in presence of a
Qazi on July 21, 2012. In April 2013, the couple had a child. However, the
couple separated after disputes arose. livelaw
FGM essential part of Islam, can’t be
subjected to judicial scrutiny, SC told
New Delhi:Senior counsel Abhishek Manu
Singhvi, who appeared for Dawoodi Bohra community, justified in the Supreme
Court, female 'Khatna' (FGM) and called it an integral aspect of religious
practice.Making this submission before a 3-judge bench comprising CJI Dipak
Misra and justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud hearing petitions from
advocate Sunita Tihar and others challenging the practice of FGM, Dr Singhvi
contended that it has the sanction of religious texts.He said, “It is an
essential aspect of Islam and cannot be subjected to judicial scrutiny. Quoting
from religious texts, he demonstrated that this practice has been followed for
centuries. Arguments will continue on August 9.asianage
India’s population growth rate highly
overestimated:study
London : India’s population growth rate is
highly overestimated by existing models, say scientists who suggest that
accounting for the diversity and differences in the levels of education among
people can help arrive at more accurate projections. Accurate population
projections could help India and its workforce catch up to more developed Asian
countries with higher GDP per capita, researchers suggest.“India is an
extremely heterogeneous sub-continent. Simply because it is one nation, unlike
composite Europe, it should not be treated as a uniform entity,” said Wolfgang
Lutz, the World Population programme director at International Institute for
Applied Systems Analysis in Austria.“The forecasts for India over the coming
decades strongly depend on which sources of heterogeneity are explicitly
included in the model,” said Lutz.By 2025, India is expected to surpass China
as the world’s most populous country due to higher fertility rates and a
younger population. However, India’s population outlook depends heavily on the
degree to which differences between regions within its population, or
heterogeneity, are incorporated into population projection models.To account
for the diversity between different areas of India, researchers designed a
study that pioneered a 5-dimensional model of India’s population differences
that include rural or urban place of residence, state, age, sex, and level of
education. The model was then used to show the population projection changes
within scenarios that combine different levels of these factors.For example, a
much higher population projection results from a model that combines data from
individual states as compared to the overall national projection, since states
with higher fertility rates eventually add up to a higher national population
projection.If the projection is carried out while only explicitly accounting
for age and sex, influential factors like higher education, associated with
decreased fertility, are left out.Thus, a projection based on today’s much
higher fertility rate of uneducated and rural women predicts a drastically
larger population in the future.PTI
NRC ASSAM
Jamaat expresses concern over exclusion of 4
mn people from citizenship
New Delhi:Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) has
expressed deep concern over the draft NRC that excluded over four million
people from the citizenship of India.In a statement, JIH President Maulana Syed
Jalaluddin Umari said:“we are deeply concerned with the publication of the
draft NRC in Assam. Thus far the NRC has held about 40 lakh people (more than
10% of the state population) of the 3.3 crore applications to be invalid and
hence disqualified to be bonafide citizens of India. According to the Assam
Accord signed in 1985, anyone who entered the state after 24 March 1971 is
considered an illegal resident. For acceptance into NRC the onus of proof (to
prove citizenship) was the responsibility of the applicant. But genuine
citizens, who are impoverished and could not maintain proper records because of
their homes being exposed to the vagaries of nature, are impacted and now face
the brunt of being branded as foreigners. Most of those who could not make it
into NRC were due to minor inaccuracies in their documents. The Govt must look into complaints regarding NRC
officials who exhibited bias and discrimination against a particular linguistic
community and did not accept their application despite possessing all legal
papers’’.theindianawaaz
Groups plan help for Bengali speakers left out
of NRC in Assam
Kolkata:Hindu and Muslim groups have begun
preparations to help Bengali speakers who have been left out of the NRC
process. A breakaway faction of Hindu Samhatihas started an online fundraising
effort to help the Bengali speaking Hindus in Assam who have been left out of
the “complete draft” of NRC released Monday in Guwahati.Muslim organisations,
too, are planning campaigns to provide legal help to those who have been left
out of list.“PM Narendra Modi, while
campaigning in 2014, said that those who have sought refuge in the country from
religious persecution in the neighbouring countries like Bangladesh will get
citizenship in India. The central Govt is also trying to bring a law in this
connection. However, now lakhs of Hindus in Assam are losing their citizenship
because of NRC. Fate of many families is now at the mercy of the Govt ,” said
Prasun Maitra, advocate with Calcutta High Court, who along with others have
initiated the fund-raising initiative.The online effort plans to pool in Rs 25
lakh. It was initiated on July 24 and already Rs 1.5 lakh has been raised, an
official said. Meanwhile, Muslim organisations in Bengal are also planning a
nationwide stir to protect the rights of Bengali speaking people in Assam. “BJP
is trying to make lakhs of Bengali-speaking people homeless. We have planned to
form a national legal aid forum to help the victims. We will also hold seminars
to raise the issue,” said Md Kamaruzzaman, head of All India Minority Youth
Federation. He claimed that the organisation is in regular touch with families
in Assam.“We will also hit the streets. India shares good relationship with
Bangladesh. Why didn’t our PM speak with Sheikh Hasina before NRC list was out?Papers
from local elected representatives, panchayats and other documents should be
acceptable. For instance many of those living along the embankments of
Brahmaputra have lost papers due to recurrent floods. These are not being kept
in mind while drawing up the list,”said Kamaruzzaman.“We have already formed
groups comprising legal experts and social workers. Some of them are in Assam
helping out the people to submit papers to the administration. This is a
politically motivated move and lakhs are being harassed. We are also keeping a
watch on what political parties are doing over this issue,” said Muhammed
Nooruddin, president of the West Bengal chapter of Jamaat-e-Islami-Hind. Indianexpress
West Bengal: Rail blockade by Matua Mahasangha
in protest against NRC draft
Kolkata:All India Matua Mahasangha, an
organisation of backward classes, on Wednesday resorted to rail blockade at
different railway stations in Eastern Railway’s Sealdah section claiming that
the complete draft of NRC will leave many people homeless.Protesting the
exclusion of 40 lakh people from the complete draft of NRC in Assam, All India
Matua Mahasangha blocked train movement at different stations during peak
office hours.An Eastern Railway spokesperson said train movement in the Sealdah
north section has been blocked by the agitators at different stations since
8.30 am, hampering services in Sealdah-Hasnabad, Sealdah-Naihati
lines.indianexpress
Assam NRC: FIR
against Mamata over ‘civil war’ remark
New
Delhi:Accusing her of inciting “hatred and tension”, BJP’s youth wing filed a
complaint against West Bengal CM Mamata
Banerjee for her remarks against NRC.On Tuesday, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha
approached Naharkatia police station in Upper Assam’s Dibrugarh district after
Banerjee warned the that the exclusion of 40 lakh people from NRC would lead to
a “civil war”.Banerjee said:“You cannot just drive away people who have been
staying here for 100, 200, 30 years…I am shocked to see how Indians became
foreigners… shocked to see that even relatives of former President Fakhruddin
Ali Ahmed have not made it to NRC.” indianexpress
Mamata says NRC draft is an attempt to drive
out Bengalis from Assam
Assam NRC: Names Of BJP MLA's Wife, Congress
Leader Among Many Missing From Final Draft
Exclusion of names of family members in the
final NRC draft in Assam has emerged as a major concern for many among the over
40 lakh applicants whose names did not figure in the list. Several people whose
names were not in the draft have claimed that they had submitted the same set
of documents as their family members to establish their legacy date, but were
left out. Prominent personalities from the Barak Valley whose names are missing
from the draft include Archana Paul, the wife of BJP MLA from Cachar Dilip
Paul, and former Congress legislator Ataur Rahman Mazarbhuiya.The names of
AIUDF's Cachar unit president Samimul Islam and his family members also do not
figure in the draft NRC.Congress MLA from Karimganj (N), Kamalakhya De
Purkayastha said while it is true that claims, objections and corrections can
be made, exclusion of the names of some family members is "very
unfair" and the NRC process has caused "immense harassment" to
the poor."The draft is full of errors and is aimed at harassing people,
particularly the poor who mostly work as daily wage earners and lack the
necessary resources to travel to NRC Seva Kendras," Purkayastha
said.outlookindia
Uncounted in Assam NRC final draft: Teacher,
one of twins, MLA, BEd student, social worker in Delhi
Mander over NRC: ‘Are we thinking of another
Partition?’
New Delhi:Social activist Harsh Mander has
asked what would happen to the 40 lakh people whose names were excluded from
the draft NRC, and questioned PM Narendra Modi’s silence on the matter.Mander
was speaking at a symposium. Also speaking on the occasion were senior advocate
Indira Jaising, Ashoka University V-C Pratap Bhanu Mehta and political theorist
Kancha Ilaiah, among others. Speaking about those excluded from the draft NRC,
Mander said, “Neither the PM nor anyone else is ready to give them 25 days to
be able to prove that they are also citizens. What will happen to these 40 lakh
people? Are we thinking of another Partition or detention centres?” he
said.Mehta questioned the concept of nationalism.“There can be no nationalism
without constructing an enemy. Also, the individual becomes secondary and you
have to surrender to the identity of the group (nation). But for the same
reasons, if we are scared of nationalism, we must also be scared of other kinds
of groupism.”indianexpress
Those not in NRC list can vote if they are in
voters’ list, no change in rule: Election Commission
New Delhi: In a big setback to ‘political
conspiracy’ behind exclusion of 40 lakh people from the final draft of Assam’s
NRC, the Election Commission of India on Wednesday categorically said that
those not in NRC list can vote if they are in voters’ list. There is no change
in the policy and rules for voting after the NRC, the commission
said.caravandaily
NRC is India’s ‘local internal matter’ with
‘ethnic undertones’: Bangladesh
Bangladesh has called the exclusion of over 40
lakh people in Assam from the draft NRC India’s “local internal matter” with
“ethnic undertones”. It said New Delhi has not even once in the 48 years of
Bangladesh’s existence ever raised the issue of illegal immigrants with
Dhaka.“Firstly, we see this as an internal, local political issue with Indian
state of Assam. It has nothing to do with Bangladesh. Indian Govt has not discussed this issue with us, nor do
we have any intention to take it up with India as it is an internal matter of
India, our friendly neighbour,” Bangladesh information minister Hasanul-Haque
Inu said. “No. As I said, it is a local political issue,’’ he said when asked
for his view about references to Bangladesh vis-Ã -vis illegal migrants despite
enjoying good ties with India. “So the local leaders would talk about it. At
the same time, it is an age-old ethnic issue that needs to be addressed.”HT
BSF, Assam Rifles sensitised to prevent entry
of Rohingya Muslims: Rajnath
New Delhi:Centre has said that BSF and Assam
Rifles have been sensitised to ensure that members of the Rohingya Muslim
minority do not enter the country, and that states have been asked to enumerate
and confine those who have immigrated illegally.Home Minister Rajnath Singh
told Lok Sabha during Question Hour that his ministry had issued an advisory to
the states in February concerning the Rohingya. "BSF and Assam Rifles have
been fully sensitised to ensure that Rohingyas are not able to enter,"
Rajnath replied to a query posed by a Shiv Sena member.He said Rohingyas have,
however, entered the country in "large numbers"."It should not
happen that the Rohingyas spread out and stay wherever they want," he
said, adding that the states have been advised to prepare their "biography"
(profiles) and take biometrics. "The advisory also says that their
movement should also be monitored and the states should be fully
alert."IANS
OTHERS
Malegaon blast : 3 ATS officials file
affidavit over ‘loss’ of accused Dhawade’s manuscript
Mumbai : Nearly 9 years after a manuscript
written by one of the accused, Rakesh Dhawade, in Malegaon 2008 blast case went
missing, officials of the Maharashtra ATS are facing an inquiry. On Tuesday, 5
of ATS officials were present before the special court. 3 of them filed
affidavits before the court, stating their roles in the events leading up to
the “loss” of the book. According to an application filed by Dhawade last year,
he wrote a book on traditional arms in 2009 while he was in judicial custody.
He had sought court permission to publish it. ATS had said that it will check
the book for any objectionable content before giving it a go-ahead for
publishing. The book was handed over to the then ACP of ATS,Mohan Kulkarni. According
to the affidavit filed by ATS officials in court, Kulkarni had perused the book
and cleared it for publishing. 3, however, contradict each other on the turn of
the events thereafter. According to the officials, during the interim period in
2009, the case was shifted to a local court in Nashik as the charges under
MCOCA against the accused were dropped by then. The manuscript was then sent to
Nashik court with a correspondence to assistant Govt pleader (AGP) there.The court, however, said
that the go-ahead for the book did not relate to the case before it, it would
not decide about it. The location of the book since then, however, is not
known.2 of the 3 officials blamed the third official, claiming that he was
in-charge of the depositing the book. The third official, however, also denied
responsibility. The special court in Mumbai had earlier directed an inquiry
into this. The official conducting the inquiry was asked by the court on the
investigation so far.The court asked him if he had taken Kulkarni’s statement
and submitted the station diary entry, inward and outward registry entry of concerned
police station and AGP office.indianexpress
Kathua rape-murder case: Call records, bank
account details expose police cover-up
J&K Police's Crime Branch has almost
completed its probe into the rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl from a minority
nomadic community in Kathua, establishing how cops accused in the crime allowed
a cover-up of the gruesome incident in lieu of money. Crime Branch filed a
supplementary charge sheet in the Pathankot court on Monday. Girl went missing
on Jan.10 and over next week, she was drugged, starved, gangraped and then
brutally murdered, according to chilling details in chargesheet.Her battered
body was spotted by villagers on Jan.17. The incident not only created fissures
in PDP-BJP state coalition Govt but also brought to the fore fault lines in
state’s polity. The Supreme Court had transferred the trial of the case outside
J&K to Pathankot in Punjab in May. National Herald has accessed supplementary
charge sheet which includes medical opinion about the effect of sedatives on
the victim, asserting that that child was continuously administered overdose of
Clonazepam rendering her incapacitated to resist rape and murder. It also
reveals the location of Vishal, son of Sanji Ram, alleged to be the mastermind
behind the abduction and killing in Jan. this year. Vishal had earlier claimed
he had never visited Kathua.nationalheraldindia
J&K amends Public Safety Act, detainees
can now be jailed outside state
Srinagar:J&K Govt has removed a legal provision that barred it
from sending prisoners detained under Public Safety Act to jails outside the
state, sources said. While National Conference said the move would lead to
further alienation in Kashmir, separatists called the amendment
‘’despotic’’.With amendment, the state Govt can now send prisoners booked under the Act to
other states as well.The decision to amend the Act was taken on July 11 by State
Advisory Council (SAC) chaired by Governor NN Vohra.When contacted over the
issue, J&K Home Secretary R K Goyal said, “I am in a meeting and cannot
respond.”The amendment could cause anxiety in the Valley, especially in
families whose members have been booked under the Act. NC said the amendment
would “add to the sense of isolation”, and called for its reconsideration.
“This is an unfortunate decision that NC opposes unequivocally and
unambiguously,” NC general secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar said. Hurriyat
Conference termed the amendment despotic, saying it was aimed at pressuring the
people.indianexpress
No presence of ISIS in J&K , only cases of
flag waving: Hansraj Gangaram Ahir
New Delhi: No terrorist of Islamic State of J&K
(ISJK) an outfit influenced by ISIS
ideology, is active in J&K and the
extent of ISIS presence in the state was till recently limited to waving flags
of the global terror group and Pakistan, Union Minister Hansraj Gangaram Ahir
said Wednesday. Appropriate action under the law has been taken against those
who were involved in cases of waving ISIS and Pakistani flags in J&K, minister
said. There were eight such cases in 2015, 31 cases in 2016 and five cases in
2017.“Till recently the extent of ISIS presence in J&K was limited to waving of ISIS and Pakistani
flags by some miscreants. However, on June 22, 2018, four terrorists belonging
to the ISJK, an outfit influenced by ISIS ideology, were neutralised in
Anantnag district. At present no terrorist of ISJK is reportedly active in the
state,” he said in response to a written question. Since the imposition of
Governor’s rule in J&K on June 20,
176 people have been arrested for pelting stones, Ahir said in reply to another
question.PTI
We are in fear, say Muslim traders in
Uttarakhand’s Ghansali after mob violence
Dehradun:Muslim traders in Ghansali town of
Uttarakhand’s Tehri Garhwal district said on Wednesday they are wary of opening
their shops, two days after a man from their community was beaten up by a mob
when he was found with a minor Hindu girl, sparking calls for their
ouster.18-year-old Azad Alvi, who has now been booked on rape charges, was
thrashed by nearly 250 people on Monday after he was caught with the girl
inside a hotel in Ghansali town market. He was paraded with a garland of shoes
around his neck before being rescued by the police.The mob also ransacked 13
shops belonging to Muslim traders in the market, police said. “We are not going
to open our shops until we are fully sure that such incidents won’t happen
again, but it seems unlikely. We are definitely in fear,” Ehsan Mansuri, who
belongs to Bijnor in UP and runs four
shops in the area since the last 20 years.“We are also not speaking to anyone
in the market except a couple of fellow Hindu traders who are our friends. They
are the ones who are informing us about the situation while we are at our home
in Bijnor,” Mansuri added.Ghansali, a town of about 7,000 people, has not
witnessed communal tension in the past. The market where the incident happened
has about 300 shops and 30 of them are owned by Muslim traders, mostly from UP .
About 80 Muslims live in the market. hindustantimes
Goa: Meat complex gets provisional NOC ahead
of Eid
Panaji (Goa):Factories and Boilers Minister
Vijai Sardesai on Tuesday met a group of Muslims and assured them that the Goa
Meat Complex will be operational before Eid al-Adha for carrying out religious
slaughtering of animals.The members of the Muslim community had met Sardesai to
request him to expedite issuance of permission to the meat complex in order to
make it functional before Eid on Aug.21."There is a demand of the Muslim
community that there 'Qurbani' is beginning, so before that all legal
arrangements should be in place. For that you require a functional goat meat
complex. For the same we have given a provisional no-objection certificate to
them. Their religious custom should not be disturbed by any external
force," Sardesai told ANI.However, on the other hand, Bashir Sheikh,
Chairman of All Goa Muslim Committee, said that the community feels harassed by
taking permission from the concerned authorities every year before Eid.ANI
Netaji’s grandnephew lock horns with Tripura
governor over Hindus eating mutton, says goat is also ‘mother’
New Delhi:Amidst the ongoing debate over
lynching over cow and consumption of beef in the country, Netaji’s grandnephew
Chandra Kumar Bose stirred a hornet’s nest with his controversial tweet.Bose
engaged in a war of words with Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy on whether the
goats, like cows, should be considered as “mothers” by the Hindus. The vice
president of BJP’s West Bengal unit cited Mahatma Gandhi and his food habits to
drive home his point, that Hindus should stop eating goat meat since the father
of the nation considered it as “mother”.Bose said that Mahatma Gandhi used to
consume goat’s milk when he was staying at his grandfather– Sarat Chandra
Bose’s house in Kolkata.“Gandhi ji used to stay in my grandfather-Sarat Chandra
Bose’s house at 1 Woodburn Park in Kolkata. He demanded goat’s milk! Two goats
brought to house for this purpose. Gandhi protector of Hindus treated goats as
Mata by consuming goats milk. Hindus stop eating goat’s meat (sic),” Bose
tweeted.Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy responded in negative, saying that
neither Gandhiji nor Netaji revered goats as mothers.indianexpress
Shiv Sena backs 5% quota for Muslims in
education, MIM hails ‘positive’ move
Pune: AIMIM has welcomed Shiv Sena’s support
to reservation for Muslims in education. The party criticised the Devendra
Fadnavis-led Govt , which, it said, was defying the Bombay High Court’s order
by not implementing the 5% quota for Muslims.At a press conference on
Monday,Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had said: “Apart from Marathas,
reservation demands of Dhangars, Muslims and other communities should also be
taken into account.” Thackeray added that his party would support the state and
the Union Govt on the issue.About
reservation for Muslims, Uddhav said if there were reasonable demands from
Muslim community, they should also be considered. Welcoming the Sena’s stand,
AIMIM MLA Imtiaz Jaleel said: “It is a positive development. BJP should take a
cue… Some BJP leaders, through their acts and utterances, are targeting
Muslims,” he said.Jaleel said 5 % reservation demand for the Muslim community
has received the Bombay High Court’s support.indianexpress
Amid Maratha quota stir, NCP demands 5 percent quota
for Muslims
Mumbai:NCP MP Majeed Memon wrote a letter to
CM Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday demanding 5% quota for Muslims in education. The state is
already witnessing protests by the Maratha community for reservation in jobs
and education.“…along with the reservation of the Marathas, 5 % reservation to Muslims in the field of
education should also be considered,” Memon said in the letter.On the basis of
findings by the Sachar Committee, the Bombay HC in a writ petition had
supported and justified reservation to the Muslim community to the extent of 5%,
he said, adding it was important to eliminate the educational and economic
backwardness of the society.freepressjournal
In UP's Meerut, Dalits threaten to embrace
Islam after being denied entry into temple
Days after Hamirpur temple purification
incident, a large number of Dalits in UP ’s Meerut district have threatened to
embrace Islam after being denied entry into a Hindu temple to offer prayers.The
incident was reported from Panchgaon Patti village in Meerut. A few Dalit
women, belonging to Valmiki Samaj, had gone to a 50-year-old temple to offer
prayers on Sunday but they were denied entry by the priest on the ground that
Dalits were not allowed to pray in the temple.“Women were told that they are
Dalits not Hindus and will not be allowed to offer prayers at a Hindu temple.
They may go to their own Valmiki temples,” alleged Deepak Valmiki. Another
villager Satish Valmiki said that the order to deny entry to Dalits in the
temple was enforced when a new priest joined a few months ago. “We were going
to the temple earlier but now the new priest does not allow us to offer prayers
there,” alleged Valmiki.When a Dalits in the village tried to reason out with
the priest, he abused and threatened them with dire consequences if anyone of
them tried to come near the temple. The priest also lodged a fake complaint at
the Bhawanpur Police Station against few dalits of the village, having a
population of over 100 dait families. Agitated Valmiki Samaj members met SSP
Meerut Rajesh Kumar Pandey and threatened to embrace Islam if they were not
allowed to offer prayers in the temple. SSP assured dalits to initiate action
against the priest or anyone who tried to stop them entering temple.dnaindia
SC/ST Act: Cabinet approves bill to restore
original provisions of Dalit atrocity law
New Delhi :In an attempt to placate Dalit
groups and allies, the Govt has decided
to introduce in Parliament a bill restoring the original provisions of the
anti-discrimination law in which the Supreme Court had ordered changes, a
source told The Indian Express on Wednesday.Union Cabinet has already given its
approval for the bill, which seeks to restore provisions that are meant to
prevent discrimination against Dalits, scheduled castes and tribes. The
clearing of the provisions comes a week ahead of a nationwide protest that
Dalit groups have called for on August 9.“The Govt is trying to bring the SC/ST bill in this
session itself. The Govt has undone the
wrong done by the Supreme Court,” a Govt source told The Indian Express on condition of
anonymity.indianexpress
ThePrint analyses 1,000 BJP leaders, finds
party remains a Brahmin-Baniya club
New Delhi: BJP under Narendra Modi and Amit
Shah has been working hard to expand its footprint across the country, using
social engineering to woo the so-called lower castes and capture voters who
traditionally shunned the party. But when it comes to its own organisational
structure, the 38-year-old party continues to remain predominantly upper-caste,
with a far less proportion of backward castes and negligible representation of
scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other minority communities. An in-depth
analysis of the caste profile of BJP’s organisational structure by ThePrint has
found that over 3-fourths of the party’s office bearers at the national level
are upper caste and over 60 % of its
national executive is drawn from the general category.General category members
also account for 65 % of its state unit
presidents.Even in its lower rungs, most leadership roles are with the upper
castes — 65 % of the BJP’s district
presidents across the country are from the general category.Over the last few
years, BJP’s Dalit outreach has stood out as it tries to shed the perception
that it is a Brahmin-Baniya party. That, however, isn’t reflected in the
party’s hierarchy either.Dalits, along with Muslims and tribals, are among the
least represented in the party. ThePrint studied the list of BJP’s 50 national
office-bearers, 97 national executive members, 36 presidents of 29 states and
seven Union Territories, as well as 752 of the party’s district presidents
across 24 states. ThePrint
75% out-of-school children from SC, ST,
minority groups
New Delhi: Of over 60 lakh children aged 6-13
who were reckoned as 'out of school' in 2014, more than 75 % belonged SC, ST and other minority groups, the
Lok Sabha was told on Monday. Quoting a 2014 survey done by International
Market Research Bureau (IMRB), Minister of State for HRD, Upendra Kushwaha said
in Lok Sabha that there were 20.41 crore children in the age group of 6-13
years in the country and, of which 60.64 lakh or 2.97 % were out of school.Another set of data given
in Parliament by the Minister revealed of these 60.64 lakh, 19,66,029 came from
Scheduled Caste, 10,07,563 from Scheduled Tribe and 16,61,813 from minority
groups, across the country, totaling 46,35,405.IANS
UP Minority Commission asks authorities to
seize properties of those who issued fatwa to triple talaq victim
KANPUR: UP Minority Commission chairman Tanveer Haidar
Usmani asked today the Bareilly district magistrate and SSP to seize properties
of people who issued 'fatwa' against Nida Khan if they are not arrested.On July
16, a cleric in Bareilly had issued a fatwa against Nida Khan, who had
allegedly taken up issues like triple talaq and Nikah Halala.Usmani here said,
"I have asked DM and SSP (of Bareilly) to make seize the property of
guilty persons in case their arrests could not be made.Officials have been
instructed to submit the detailed report before the commission.He also said,
"The country runs in accordance with the Constitution and not by the
dictatorship of the clerics and so called 'thekedar'. "PTI
Gujarat lynching: No arrest yet, police scan
social media for leads in lynching case
Vadodara; 3 days after a mob of over 100
people lynched a tribal man over suspicion of theft and grievously injured
another at Kali Mahudi village in Dahod district, police are yet to make any
arrest.With residents in the area not sharing the account of the incident,
Limdi police, which is probing the case, is now tracking social media platforms
to find out if anyone has posted any video or photograph of the incident that
would help in identifying the culprits.After 22-year-old Ajmal Vahoniya was
killed and his friend Bharu Mathur (24) was seriously injured by the mob,
villagers had claimed that the duo was a part of a group of more than 20 people
who had attacked their village that night with the intention of
robbery.indianexpress
Crime branch to probe Pandharwada grave
digging case against Teesta Setalvad
Ahmedabad: Special operations group (SOG) of
city crime branch will probe case against social activist Teesta Setalvad for
allegedly digging up graves and exhuming bodies at Pandharwada village in
Khanpur taluka of Mahisagar district in 2005. Gujarat DGP Shivanand Jha ordered
crime branch to take over the probe a fortnight ago. Jha said, “The probe till
now was handled by the local police and the investigation was stuck. To speed
up the investigation, it has been handed over to Ahmedabad crime branch.” DCP
Deepan Bhadran of crime branch said the case will be probed by DySP B C
Solanki. The agency has got the case papers and will soon start its
investigation, Bhadran added.This case dates back to 2005, when 28 bodies were
exhumed from graveyards in Pandharwada and adjacent villages on the banks of
the river Panam. This came after relatives of more than 40 persons killed in 2
separate incidents during the riots at Pandharwada demanded for the bodies of
their kin. Setalvad had approached the high court seeking probe in the case. TOI
Bihar rage erupts:Protests over Muzaffarpur
shelter horror
New Delhi:Several organisations and political
parties attempted to lay siege to Bihar Bhawan here on Monday in protest
against 34 girls being raped at a Govt-funded shelter home for girls in Muzaffarpur.
The protesters from the women's and students' wing of CPI, CPIML-Liberation, JAP
as well as cadres of RJD, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind and a few civil society
organisations demanded the resignation of CM Nitish Kumar and a court-monitored probe
covering all such homes in Bihar."The culprits are many, the victims are
many and the scenes of crime are many, yet there is only one FIR. The result is
zero - there is no action on the high and mighty who were involved," said
Ali Anwar Ansari, who used to be an MP from Nitish's JDU.JAP cadres and
activists of an NGO, United Against Hate, attempted to break the barricades and
got into scuffles with cops.CPI national council member Kanhaiya Kumar said:
"It is a clear case of collusion of the persons in Govt under whose nose these crimes happened. It
exposes the false claims of CM Nitish Kumar that he is a supporter of
women."telegraph
Mumbai NIA frames charges against Zakir Naik’s
employee
Mumbai: The special court of NIA, Mumbai, has
framed charges against accused Arshi Qureshi, who was a guest relations manager
at IRF headed by Zakir Naik, on Tuesday. As per the charges, Qureshi provided
support to ISIS by way of furthering its activities to Ashfak Majid and a group
of missing youths from Kerala, motivating and radicalising them to join ISIS.
Qureshi allegedly conducted ‘training’ sessions at IRF’s Dongri office to
radicalise Muslim youths.Qureshi was arrested for the indoctrination of Ashfak
Majid, son of the complainant, and his associates into extreme jihadi ideology.freepressjournal
Even after 17 yrs of Formation, Jharkhand yet
to Set up Waqf Board, Urdu Academy, Madrasa Board
Ranchi: This coming November, Jharkhand will
become major as it will turn 18. In the last 17 years, successive Govt s have
done precious little to set up minority-related Govt institutions like Waqf Board, Madrasa Board
and Urdu Academy. While Minority Commission was formed in March last year, Haj
Committee was formed just couple of weeks ago.The indifferent attitude of the Govt
s – most of them were ruled by BJP either as majority party or coalition
partner – has created disappointment among the minorities, especially the
Muslim community of the state.It is not that the community did not raise the
issue. During this long period, members of the community wrote to the Govt and even Governors in this regard but they
were not heeded.“We gave memorandums to governors several times and also wrote
to CM s but no one has listened to us. There is no Urdu Academy. Waqf Board is
still defunct. Neither Syed Sibtey Razi nor Syed Ahmed (as governors) did
anything during their tenure,” Prof. Ahmad Sajjad, former Head of Dept. of Urdu
and Dean of Humanities, Ranchi University told Caravan Daily.Caravan Daily
RSS leader’s assault in custody: MP govt
demotes 3 cops, withholds hike of another
Bhopal:Nearly 2 years after an RSS pracharak
was allegedly beaten up in police custody in Baihar town of Madhya Pradesh’s
Balaghat district, the state Govt has
demoted three police officers and withheld one pay increment of an Additional
SP-rank officer.RSS Zila pracharak Suresh Yadav was arrested from the
organisation’s office in Baihar town on Sept. 25, 2016, after a group of
Muslims lodged a complaint against him, accusing him of making a remark that
hurt their religious sentiments. In a complaint lodged later, Yadav had alleged
that he was beaten up and tortured in police custody.On the night of Yadav’s
arrest, RSS activists had gheraoed Baihar Police Station, demanding action
against policemen who took him into custody. Thereafter, a case under several
charges, including attempt to murder and trespass, was filed against the police
officers, including Addl SP Rajesh Sharma and Inspector Ziaul Haq.A day after incident,
RSS gave an ultimatum to the Govt to
arrest the police officers or face protests. indianexpress
Old-age pension stopped in 2013, Urdu poet in
miserable condition after recent road accident
New Delhi: As if his miseries were not enough
after the Delhi Govt declared him ‘dead’
and stopped his meager old-age pension 5 years ago, noted Urdu poet of humor
Asrar Jamayee was recently hit by a car. After the right hand got fractured,
with which he would write poems and move around the city reciting them to individuals
and at poetry events, the octogenarian poet is now confined to his room at his
friend’s house in Jamia Nagar, and living a very miserable life, almost
quietly.He has been living an unnoticeable and miserable life since 2013 when
the Social Work department of Delhi Govt
declared him ‘dead’ and stopped his monthly old-age pension of Rs 1500.
Over a year ago when the misdeed of the Govt
department was reported in media, Kejriwal Govt had ordered an enquiry
and assured restoration of Asrar’s pension. At the orders of Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, Social Welfare Minister
Rajendra Pal Gautam had visited Asrar on 19th June. More than a year have
passed, his pension has not yet been restored.caravandaily
WORLD
Russia says Iranian forces pulled back from
Golan in Syria; Israel unsatisfied
Iranian forces have withdrawn their heavy
weapons in Syria to a distance of 85 km from the Israeli-occupied Golan
Heights, TASS quoted a Russian envoy as saying on Wednesday, but Israel deemed
the pullback inadequate. Backed by Russia, Iran, and Lebanon’s Hezbollah
Shi’ite militia, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has retaken territory in
southern-western Syria from rebels, closing in on the Golan.Moscow has sought
to reassure Israel by saying it wants only Syrian forces to deploy on or near
the Syrian-held Golan. Israel, however, insists that forces controlled by Iran,
its arch-foe, exit Syria entirely now the civil war there is ending. “The
Iranians withdrew and the Shi’ite formations are not there,” TASS news agency
quoted Alexander Lavrentiev, President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy to Syria,
as saying.Lavrentiev said Iranian service personnel whom he described as
advisors could be among Syrian army forces who remain closer to the Israeli
border. “But there are no units of heavy equipment and weapons that could pose
a threat to Israel at a distance of 85 km from the line of demarcation”,
Lavrentiev said. An Israeli official deemed such a pullback
insufficient.Reuters
Amnesty International staff targeted by
Israeli-made spyware
Amnesty International says one of its
employees was targeted with Israeli-made surveillance software as part of a
deliberate attempt to spy on the human rights group by a "Govt hostile to its work". In a 20-page report
released on Wednesday, Amnesty said one of its staff members was baited with a
suspicious WhatsApp message in early June about a protest in front of the Saudi
Embassy in Washington.Arabic message read: "Can you please cover [protest]
for your brothers detained in Saudi Arabia in front of the Saudi embassy in
Washington. My brother was detained in Ramadan and I am on a scholarship here
so please do not link me to this. [LINK]. Cover the protest now it will start
in less than an hour. We need your support please."The link, if clicked,
would have installed "Pegasus", a sophisticated surveillance tool
developed by the Israel-based company NSO Group, which infects the user's
smartphone and steals all the phone's information, including: every contact
name and phone number, text message, email, Facebook message, everything from
Skype, WhatsApp, Viber, WeChat and Telegram.aljazeera
Saudi backs away from ‘Deal of the Century’
Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, revealed a letter
sent by Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz to the White House in which Saudi
Arabia expressed its rejection of US President Donald Trump’s peace
plan.Haaretz said that: “Saudi Arabia has informed US President Donald Trump’s
administration that it will not be able to support its peace plan between
Israel and Palestine, known in the media as the ‘Deal of the Century’, if it
does not state that East Jerusalem would be the capital of the Palestinian
state.”Haaretz quoted 2 diplomats who participated in the peace plan talks as
saying: “Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz expressed his support for the
Palestinian position and assured Arab leaders that the kingdom is still
committed to 2002 Arab peace initiative, which stipulates the establishment of
a Palestinian state on the borders of 1967, with East Jerusalem as its
capital.”The paper explained that Saudi king expressed this position in a
series of telephone conversations he had recently held with senior US
officials, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and other Arab
leaders.MEMO
Israel Prez to protest nation-state law by
signing in Arabic
Israel’s President, Reuven Rivlin, has
allegedly said that he will sign the nation-state law in Arabic to protest
against the divisive bill.Rivlin reportedly made the comment to Dr. Thabet Abu
Rass, an activist who works for the Abraham Fund, a group dedicated to
supporting Jewish-Bedouin coexistence. Rivlin had been attending a conference
in the Bedouin village of Kuseife, east of Be’er Sheva in the south of Israel,
when Abu Rass asked him to speak out against the law. Rivlin responded “I can’t
refuse to sign the law, because then I will have to resign. But if I sign it –
I will sign in the Arabic language,” the Times of Israel reported.Times of
Israel added that Rivlin’s spokesperson has since refused to confirm or deny
the comment.In response, Israeli MK Avi Dichter, a member of the ruling Likud
party, called out president’s alleged comment.
Former Trump aide to participate in West Bank
settlement construction ceremony
Former White House director of communications
Anthony Scaramucci will “symbolically participate in the construction of a home
in the West Bank settlement of Efrat”, reported the Jerusalem Post.Former
Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, whose daughter, Sarah Sanders, is the White House
press secretary, will also participate, the paper said.The pair are in Israel
“on a trip sponsored by Joseph Frager of the National Council of Young Israel”,
the Jerusalem Post reported, adding that they visited illegal Israeli
settlements in the occupied West Bank on both Monday and
Tuesday.middleeastmonitor
Muslim-majority areas elect 3 Hindu candidates
in Pakistan’s Sindh
Karachi: 3 Hindu candidates of PPP were
elected from Muslim-majority areas in Pakistan’s Sindh province in July 25
general elections, a media report said today. Mahesh Malani won a National
Assembly seat from Tharparkar, while Hari Ram Kishwari Lal and Jamshoro’s Giyanoo
Mal alias Giyan Chand Essrani were elected from the provincial assembly seats
PS-147 and PS-81, respectively, the Daily Times reported today.All the three
candidates won from the general seats for the first time ever in the history of
the country. Malani won his seat from Tharparkar district by bagging 106,630
votes against his opponent, Arbab Zakaullah who secured only 87,261 votes. The
Hindu population makes up 49 % of the
total population of Thar desert.Kirshwari Lal, who is considered a close friend
of PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, won his seat from Mirpurkhas district,
which has total population of around 15 lakh out of which 23 % are Hindus, the paper said.He secured 33,201
votes against his competitor from Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Mujeeb-ul-Haque
who got 23,506 votes.Essrani belongs to Thano Bola Khan of Sindh’s Kohistan
region in Jamshoro district, which has a substantial Hindu population. He
secured 34,927 votes against Malik Changez Khan who got 26,975 votes.Hindu
outfits in Pakistan welcomed the election results of Hindu candidates on
general seats.Pakistan Hindu Sabha Chairman Dr Govind Ram said that nomination
of Hindu candidates on general seats was a wonderful idea.According to official
estimates, 75 lakh Hindus live in Pakistan.PTI
Egypt sentences 4 Brotherhood members to life
in jail in church burning case
Cairo: An Egyptian court on Tuesday sentenced
4 members of the Muslim Brotherhood to life in jail over accusation of burning
a church in southwest Cairo, official news agency MENA reported.Life sentence
in Egypt is 25 years in jail.The case dates back to August 2013 when the defendants
set a church in Kerdasa area,
ablaze.They were charged of joining banned group, possessing weapons,
blocking the road and disturbing the public order, according to the prosecutor.
Thousands of Islamists were detained and hundreds were facing trials. Morsi and
prominent figures of his group have received final verdicts that varied from
death to life sentences over accusations of murder, violence and spying.Xinhua
Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF wins majority in
parliament: Electoral body
Harare: Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party has
won the most seats in parliament, official results showed on Wednesday, as vote
count continued in the presidential race.The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission
(ZEC) results showed President Emmerson Mnangagwa's ZANU-PF cruising to a big
majority after picking up 145 seats in a 210-seat parliament.The opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) alliance won 60 seats with results for 2
seats still to be announced, the election body said today.aljazeera
Iran rejects Trump offer of talks as
'humiliation', without value
Senior Iranian officials rejected US President
Donald Trump's offer of talks without preconditions as worthless and "a
humiliation" after he acted to reimpose sanctions on Tehran following his
withdrawal from a landmark nuclear deal. Separately, Iranian President Hassan
Rouhani said Trump's repudiation of the accord reached in 2015 was
"illegal" and Iran would not easily yield to Washington's renewed
campaign to strangle Iran's vital oil exports.The head of Iran's Strategic
Council on Foreign Relations said on Tuesday Tehran saw no worth in Trump's
offer, made only a week after he warned Iran it risked dire consequences few
had ever suffered in history if it made threats against Washington.Ali Motahari,
deputy speaker of Iran's parliament who is seen as part of Iran's moderate
camp, said that to negotiate with Trump now "would be a
humiliation".Reuters
FLASH VIEWS & NEWS
Darul Qaza row: Despite this, judgment is
quoted totally out of contest to buttress the arguments of those opposing the
Darul Qaza:Flavia Agnes
Book Excerpt:Muzaffarnagar riots: This graphic
narrative tells the story of the courage of seven rape survivors:
Mathura’s Daoji temple, where Aurangzeb
donated revenues of 5 villages:Aas Mohd Kaif
Modi govt sitting on CJI’s move to impeach
Allahabad HC judge over MCI scam since January:Maneesh Chhibber
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