JIH VOICES CONCERN OVER 2008 MALEGAON BLAST INVESTIGATION
The Secretary General of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Muhammad Salim Engineer on 15 May voiced serious concern over the U-turn taken by the NIA, while probing the 2008 Malegaon blasts. He criticised the Central government for damaging the neutrality and independence of the NIA which has suddenly dropped MCOCA charges in the 2008 Malegaon blasts against the prime accused Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, Col. Purohit and others.
The JIH leader said, “The dual standard of the government and investigating agencies has been exposed. It is surprising that the NIA has given clean chit to Sadhvi Pragya and team while a large number of Muslim youth, who have been acquitted by various courts after years of trial, could not get that benefit from the NIA…. If Sadhvi Pragya and team are not involved in the 2008 Malegaon blasts then who are the real terrorists who still remain elusive and roam about scot-free?” questioned the JIH leader.
ARREST COPS WHO ‘PINNED BLASTS ON MUSLIMS’: SAYS AIMIM
The Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad unit of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen on 20 May staged protests at the district collectorate, demanding action against the police officers responsible for the arrests of Muslims who were later cleared of any connection with the Malegaon bomb blasts of 2006. The party also demanded compensation and rehabilitation for the Muslims who were arrested in this case and recently discharged by the NIA.
AIMIM leaders claimed that nine Muslims were falsely implicated in the bomb blasts case by the ATS. “These people were discharged after 10 years. So we demand that the police officials involved in the malicious investigation against innocent Muslims should be arrested. A first information report should be filed against Raghuvanshi and Rajwardhan,” said Anjum Inamdar, AIMIM president for West Maharashtra. “All nine innocent Muslims and their families suffered a lot. They were behind bars for nearly five years. The government should give them compensation in the form of a job, a house and Rs 1 crore each,” said Inamdar.
JOURNALIST ARRESTED IN AYUSH MINISTRY NO YOGA JOBS TO MUSLIMS RTI CASE
Senior investigative journalist, Pushp Sharma, was arrested by the Delhi Police on 14 May. Sharma is accused of “fabricating” an RTI reply in which the Ayush Ministry says it does not recruit Muslims for jobs. The journalist has stood his ground that that was the reply he received from the said ministry in reply to an RTI application. The said report was published in the Milli Gazette issue of 16-31 March this year and had created a worldwide sensation. Subsequently Pushp Sharma was interrogated for days by the Kotla Mubarakpur police station in New Delhi. Later, Kotla Mubarakpur police also questioned the chief editor of the newsmagazine, Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan, on 11 April under Section 161 (i.e., as a witness).
The Press Council of India (PCI) too has taken suo moto notice of the reports published in the media and has initiated a case against the news magazine for publishing a “fabricated” news item. Meanwhile, the Ayush Ministry has failed to send any rebuttal to the newsmagazine which asserted in its next issue that it is ready to publish the Ministry’s version when and if received. Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan, chief editor of the Milli Gazette said the Ayush Ministry FIR against the journalist and the Press Council of India’s suo moto action are clear attempts to stifle the freedom of the press.
‘80% PRISONERS TORTURED IN POLICE CUSTODY’, SAYS STUDY
A report titled ‘Death Penalty India Report’ has revealed, “80 per cent of the prisoners are tortured in police custody.” The two-volume report, based on a study conducted from July 2013-January 2015, was released on 6 May by the National Law University at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library.
The first-of-its-kind study published by the National Law University reveals that the administration of the death penalty in India is carried out by an extremely weak and crisis-ridden criminal justice system.
The report, which is based on personal interviews with all prisoners under the sentence of death in India between June 2013 and January 2015, also establishes that it is mostly the economically vulnerable and the socially marginalised with extremely low levels of educational attainment that are at the receiving end of capital punishment in India.
SC TO EXAMINE IF ABUSING GOVT OR PUBLIC FIGURES AMOUNTS TO SEDITION
The Supreme Court is set to examine if abusive language against public figures on social media can constitute sedition leading to a person being booked under the law as it admitted a plea by a local Madhya Pradesh politician who had lashed out at Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan on Facebook, a report said on 8 May. A bench of Justices J S Khehar and C Nagappan admitted a plea filed by a former chairman of the municipal corporation of Shivpuri who had in a post allegedly abused the CM for not taking steps to provide water in the drought-hit district.
In the course of hearing the case, the SC could consider arguments for making the sedition law less open-ended than it is at present which encourages its indiscriminate use.
INDIAN MUSLIMS ANGRY OVER YOGA DAY ‘OM’ CHANT PROPOSAL
Muslim groups on 18 May slammed a directive from India’s Hindu nationalist government for participants in International Yoga Day to chant “Om”, citing religious bias. The mass outdoor yoga session, to be held in June for its second year, is an initiative spearheaded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is seeking to reclaim the practice as a historic part of Indian culture.
The Ayush Ministry said participants should chant the sacred sound “Om” and Hindu vedic hymns at the start and end of the 45-minute event on June 21. Muslim groups reacted with anger, saying such chants were against their faith and accusing the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of seeking to impose a hardline Hindu agenda.
MADRASSAS PRODUCE BELIEVERS IN ALLAH AND NOT TERRORISTS: AZAM KHAN
Uttar Pradesh Minister Azam Khan has defended functioning of madrassas, saying they produce “believers and not terrorists”. Addressing the inaugural function of Madrassa Faize Hidayat in Rampur on 15 May, the Minister attacked certain “elements” that are “undesirably criticising” institutions imparting religious education. “Madrassas produce believers in Allah and not terrorists. Why and for what reason certain elements have been hurling undesirable criticism against the institutions imparting ‘deeni taleem’ (religious education),” he said.
TEACH EQUALITY IN INDIA’S CLASSROOMS TO END DISCRIMINATION
Efforts to combat discrimination against India’s lower castes, religious minorities and women must begin in the classroom, with children holding the key to ending deep-rooted prejudices, a report citing a human rights campaigner said on 16 May. According to the Amnesty International’s annual report for 2015-16, gender and caste based discrimination and violence has “remained pervasive” in India, with increasing censorship and attacks on freedom of expression over the last year.
“Equality has to be taught in classrooms. We have to invest in fostering values of human rights,” lawyer and human rights activist Henri Tiphagne told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
U.P. CHALLENGES ACQUITTAL OF MUSLIM MEN
The Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh has challenged the acquittal of six Muslim men who were absolved of terror charges last October after they spent almost nine years in jail, a report said on 15 May. The State filed a petition in the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court on February 25 for leave to appeal from the acquittal order of the six Muslim youth. On February 29, the HC summoned the lower court’s records and listed the matter after six weeks for consideration of prayer for grant of leave to appeal from the acquittal.
The matter last came up for hearing on May 10 but the State sought an adjournment. The matter is likely to come up on August 1.