INDIA

In Maharashtra’s Erandol town, a centuries-old mosque has been temporarily sealed by the district administration following claims made by a Hindutva group Muslim Mirror reported. The group alleges that the mosque was constructed by demolishing a Hindu religious structure. The Mosque Committee Trust, responsible for the upkeep of the mosque, promptly approached the Aurangabad High Court to challenge the district administration’s order. The trust sought permission to continue offering prayers at the mosque, emphasizing the urgency of the matter. However, the court has yet to list the case for a hearing. Advocate Shahid Nadeem, representing the trust, argued that the collector’s decision to seal the mosque was unlawful since it stands on a registered waqf property. He further c...

In a latest revelation, the Congress has accused the Modi government of utilizing an exorbitant amount of public funds for propagandistic advertisements over the past nine years. Under the leadership of Youth Congress President Srinivas BV, the party’s Vice Chairman of the RTI Department, Advocate Anand Mishra, obtained this information through the Right to Information (RTI) Act. According to the RTI data accessed by Mishra, an alarming sum of Rs 2,330 crore has allegedly been spent by the Modi government on advertisements in both print and electronic media. These figures include over Rs 1,000 crore spent on print media alone, with more than Rs 103 crore expended during the financial year 2022-23. The Modi government’s expenditure on electronic media ads amounted to over Rs 1,330 ...

Narem Rajasekhar Reddy, a tomato farmer from Andhra Pradesh's Annamayya district, had recently sold his tomato crop and was allegedly killed to rob him. The 62-year-old was found murdered on Wednesday in Bodimalladinne village of Madanapalle mandal in Andhra Pradesh. The farmer, who was staying in an agriculture field away from the village, was on his way to the village to deliver the milk when he was killed. His wife told police that some unidentified men had come to the farm on the pretext of buying tomatoes. They left the place after she told them that her husband had gone to the village. His body was found with his hands and legs tied with silk thread and strangled to death with a towel. According to the family, Reddy had recently earned Rs 30 lakh by selling tomatoes in...

In the first half of 2023, 400 acts of violence targeting Christians occurred across 23 states in India, according to a report released by the United Christian Forum (UCF). This marks a significant increase from the previous year, when 274 incidents were reported during the same period Muslim Mirror reported. The UCF’s findings shed light on the growing hostility the Christian community faces, with Uttar Pradesh emerging as the state with the highest number of cases, followed by Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. The report reveals that Uttar Pradesh alone witnessed 155 incidents, spread across six districts. Jaunpur, Rae Bareilly, and Sitapur were among the districts most affected, with 13, 11, and 11 incidents respectively. Additionally, Bastar in Chhattisgarh recorded the highest numb...

Days after the registration of an FIR by Manipur police against the fact-finding team of People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), the human rights network has called for the withdrawal of the F.I.R. In a statement, PUCL said that the Fact-Finding team addressed a press meeting in Imphal at the conclusion of a Fact-Finding tour in Manipur, in which they expressed their views that the 3rd May, 2003 riots which broke out in Imphal, and surrounding areas was `state sponsored violence’. Addressing the press conference, National Women’s movement, Ms. Annie Raja and Nisha Siddhu, General Secretary and National Secretary of National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) and advocate Deeksha Dwivedi had also been prosecuted for describing the protest of the Meira Paibis (women belonging to the ...

Kashmiri Haj pilgrims who have proceeded through the State Haj Committees are having a tough time in the holy city of Madina. They have been accusing Haj Committee of India of cheat and fraud claiming that they have been huddled in those dinghy hotels rejected by Saudi Government. Some of the pilgrims informed the news agency Kashmir News Trust that Haj Committee of India has provided them worst kind of accommodation in Madina. They said over 600 pilgrims have been huddled in a building, lacking lavatory facilities. In most buildings, pilgrims are seen queuing up before toilets. Worse, the toilet doors don’t close properly and taps run dry most of the time. Women pilgrims are having a miserable time on account of this situation. Facilities in the kitchen are no better. Many kitchens ...

The Kerala High Court on Monday said that the phone of a journalist cannot be seized by the police in connection with a case, without following the procedure laid down by law, PTI reported. Justice P V Kunhikrishnan said that journalists are “part of the fourth estate" and if their mobile phone is necessary in connection with a case, then the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) have to be followed before seizing it. The court’s order came on a plea moved by G Vishakan, a journalist of a Malayalam daily, alleging harassment by the police in connection with a case under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against Shajan Skaria, editor of YouTube ‘news’ channel Marunadan Malayali. Skaria, meanwhile, was granted interim protection from arrest in the case by the Supre...

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), a leading representative body of the Sikh community, has expressed strong opposition to the proposed Uniform Civil Code (UCC). During a high-level meeting chaired by SGPC President Harjinder Singh Dhami on Saturday, July 8, the committee declared that the UCC suggested by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Central government is unnecessary for the country. In their statement, the SGPC emphasized that the Constitution already acknowledges and upholds the principle of ‘unity in diversity.’ The SGPC believes that the UCC, which aims to establish a standardized set of laws applicable to all citizens regardless of their religious beliefs, undermines this principle and disregards the unique customs and traditions of different religious commun...

: An organisation of Pasmanda Muslims on Monday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not taken any concrete step to resolve the issues of their community, after he yet again reached out to its members and expressed concern over their plight. National president of Pasmanda Muslim Samaj Anees Mansoori also questioned the need for bringing Uniform Civil Code when people of different religions, sects and castes in the country have been living for centuries with their own religious and social rules and regulations in the country without any conflict. He asked the prime minister to implement a concrete action plan to integrate the people from Pasmanda community into the mainstream before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections so that they could trust his promises. Last week, Prime Minist...

Economic Times has felicitated a prominent Chest Physican from Kashmir, Dr Javaid Malik, with the 'Inspiring Pulmonologists of India Award' at an impressive ceremony in New Delhi. The award was presented by former Indian cricketer Javagal Srinath at the 6th Edition of The Economic Times Doctor’s Day Conclave at Hyatt Regency, New Delhi. “This is to recognise Dr Javaid Malik as one of the inspiring pulmonologists of India on the occasion of Doctor’s Day,” the award citation read. Dr Javaid Malik is Professor and Head, Pulmonary Medicine, at SKIMS Medical College, Srinagar. He is the first DM in J & K in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine from PGI Chandigarh. His research papers have been published in prominent medical journals including the American Journal of Chest and th...