MOB OF 200 ATTACKS MOSQUE IN GURUGRAM
A mob of more than 200 people ransacked a mosque in a village in Gurugram, assaulting people who were praying inside and threatened to expel them from the village. Police have registered an FIR in the incident that happened in Bhora Kalan village on October 12. According to a complaint filed by Subedar Najar Mohammad, Bhora Kalan village has only four houses of Muslim families. He said that the ruckus began in the morning, when a mob comprising about 200 people reportedly led by Rajesh Chauhan alias Babu, Anil Bhadoria, and Sanjay Vyas surrounded the mosque and entered the prayer hall where they threatened the namazis with expulsion from the village. “In the night again, when we were praying inside the prayer hall in the mosque, the mob came and assaulted the namazis and even locked the prayer hall. They also threatened to kill us,” the Subedar said in his complaint, according to police. By the time police reached, the accused had fled.
COURT REJECTS PLEA SEEKING CARBON DATING OF ‘SHIVLING’
The Varanasi District Court on October 14 rejected the plea seeking carbon dating and scientific investigation of the purported ‘Shivling’ claimed to be found in the Gyanvapi mosque complex. The Hindu side had claimed that a ‘Shivling’ was found in the premises near the ‘wazukhana’ during the videography survey of the mosque premises, which was ordered by the court. However, the Muslim side said that the structure found was a ‘fountain’. The Hindu side had then submitted an application on September 22 that sought carbon dating of the structure they claim to be a ‘Shivling’. On May 20, the Supreme Court had ordered the transfer of the case related to worship at Gyanvapi mosque from the civil judge to the District Judge, Varanasi.
MAN LYNCHED IN MOB ATTACK IN UP’S KHULDABAD AREA
A 32-year-old man was lynched while another person was seriously injured after a mob allegedly attacked them suspecting them to be robbers in Prayagraj district’s Khuldabad area on October 10. Police said the two men – identified as Gappu Khan (32) and Munna Khan (30) – were residents of Kareli area in Prayagraj. Assistant Superintendent of Police, Prayagraj, Santosh Kumar Meena said, “Early Monday morning, local residents informed us that two men were lying injured at Baba Market lane in Khuldabad area.” Meena said that doctors at the hospital declared Gappu Khan dead on arrival. Munna Khan sustained serious injuries on his legs and hands. He is undergoing treatment at the hospital and doctors said that his condition is critical. Last month, on September 2, Dawood Ali Tyagi, a resident of Vinaypur village in the Baghpat district of Uttar Pradesh, was lynched; witnesses claimed that the “assailants fled while firing and shouting Jai Shri Ram.”
HARYANA ORDERS MAIDEN TO STOP PRODUCTION
After Indian-made cough syrups killed 66 children in the West African nation of Gambia last week, the Haryana government has ordered the Sonipat-based manufacturer of the medicines, Maiden Pharmaceuticals Limited, to stop production, a report said on October 12. World Health Organisation (WHO) issued a medical product alert and advised all countries to remove the products – Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup and Magrip N Cold Syrup – from their markets, pitching for increased surveillance within the supply chains of countries and regions likely to be affected by these products. According to the report, Haryana health minister Anil Vij said that a joint inspection by Haryana’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Union government’s drug regulator, the Central Drug Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), found 12 violations at Maiden Pharmaceuticals’s manufacturing facility and as such, issued a notice to the company to shut down operations.
MAN BOOKED FOR ASSAULTING DALIT WORKERS, LOCKING THEM UP
The Karnataka Police on October 11 filed a case against a coffee estate owner and his son in Chikkamagaluru district for allegedly assaulting a group of Dalit women labourers and locking them up for several days. “Some men who borrowed money had left (their) home, and so the owner kept the rest (of the labourers) locked up, according to the complaint,” Uma Prashanth, Chikkamagaluru Superintendent of Police said. The first information report was registered after Arpitha, one of the labourers, filed a complaint. Officials at the Balehonnur police station said that the estate owner, Jagadish Gowda, and his son Tilak have been booked under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, and various sections of the Indian Penal Code. The accused persons allegedly kept 16 labourers locked up for several days at the coffee plantation. The police also said that the complainant, Arpitha, was pregnant and lost her baby after she was assaulted. The BJP has distanced itself from the man. The party’s district spokesperson dismissed claims that Gowda is a party leader.
G.N. SAIBABA, 5 OTHERS ACQUITTED IN ‘MAOIST LINK’ CASE
Former Delhi University professor G.N. Saibaba and five others were acquitted in the Maoist links case by the Bombay High Court on October 14, allowing their appeal against conviction and life sentence. A division bench of Justices Rohit Deo and Anil Pansare of the Nagpur bench acquitted accused G.N. Saibaba, Mahesh Tirki, Pandu Pora Narote, Hem Keshwdatta Mishra, Prashant Rahi and Vijay Nan Tirki. The former university professor and the others were convicted in March 2017 and are lodged at the Nagpur Central Jail. Acquitting the six people, the high court said that due process of law cannot be sacrificed at the altar of “perceived peril to national security”. The bench directed the convicts to be released forthwith from jail unless they are accused in any other case. The judges also said the sanction order issued to prosecute the accused in the case under the stringent provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) was “bad in law and invalid”.
MINOR GIRL ALLEGES SEXUAL ASSAULT BY MURUGHA MUTT HEAD
A minor has registered a complaint against Lingayat seer Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru for allegedly sexually assaulting her. This is the third such complaint against Sharanaru, who heads the Murugha Mutt in Karnataka’s Chitradurga. The Karnataka police have registered a first information report (FIR) against him based on the minor’s complaint. This is the second FIR against the religious leader. Shivamurthy is already under judicial custody till October 21, after he was arrested for allegedly raping two minor girls. Sharanaru has denied the allegations and called them a conspiracy. The fresh complaint was filed by a 12-year-old girl who approached the Mysuru police along with her mother. She alleged that Shivamurthy sexually assaulted her for two years at the residential hostel managed by the Murugha math. The news report said that the girl alleged that two other girls were also sexually assaulted by the seer.
J-K ALLOWS DEPARTMENTAL STORES TO SELL BEER
Beer lovers can now rock in Jammu and Kashmir as authorities have permitted departmental stores to sell the beverage under its liberalised liquor licensing and sale policy. The Administrative Council (AC) meeting chaired by Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha has approved the proposal authorising departmental stores to sell beer and other Ready to Drink (RTD) beverages in urban areas. An official statement on October 11 said, “The Administrative Council approved incorporation of liberal provisions in Jammu and Kashmir Liquor License and Sale Rules, 1984 and Excise Policy, 2023-24 for grant of License JKEL-2A for retail sale of Beer and Ready to Drink (RTD) beverages in departmental stores in urban areas of UT.”