INDIA

Over one lakh students studying in 558 government-aided madrasas will soon get uniforms. "Efforts are on to provide them the uniform in July this year,” said chairman UP state Madrasa Education Board, Dr Iftikhar Ahmed Javed. He said, in January this year, two important decisions were taken during the board meeting. The first was to implement NCERT syllabus in a phased manner in madrasas and second was to remove obstacles coming in the way of distributing dresses to madrasa students. At present, each student of state-run schools is getting Rs 1,200 for uniform in the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) account. "Efforts are being made to provide the madrasa students Rs 1,200 in their accounts for the uniform as soon as the proposal sent to the government is accepted. However, no d...

Affan Abdul Ansari, a 32-year-old was beaten to death by a brutal Hindu extremist mob in Maharashtra over suspicions of carrying cow meat. In another incident in the same state, a 23-year-old Muslim man named Lukman Suleman Ansari was lynched to death by a Hindu extremist mob in Maharshtra's Nashik area. Earlier, a Muslim couple was attacked by Hindu extremists for bringing home goats for Eid ul Adha. The Muslim couple was called “terrorists” and attacked by a mob of Hindu extremists in Mumbai city after they brought goats meant for sacrifice into their housing complex. The couple Mohsin Khan and Yasmin Khan told the media that “If bringing the goats inside the housing colony was against the law, then they should have filed a police complaint against us. “We were assaulted, molest...

On June 17th, a distressing incident occurred where a Hindu mob engaged in a violent attack against two Muslim young men. The victims were subjected to a savage assault, and shockingly, they were cruelly restrained using ropes. The attack on the Muslim youths also involved a deeply disturbing act where they were forcibly made to chant the phrase “Jai Shri Ram,” a religious slogan, and were further humiliated by being compelled to walk through piles of garbage. Following the incident, the local police took action by registering a case and apprehending three individuals believed to be responsible for the attack.

The Kanpur Police registered FIRs against 40 unidentified persons for offering namaz on the streets on the occasion of Eid ul Adha despite a government direction against doing so, officials informed on Saturday. As per the police, they are trying to identify those involved with the help of photographs, videos and an investigation in underway in the matter. Reportedly, the police have registered against those who reached the Eidgah Masjid in the Jajmau area of Kanpur late and decided to sit on the road and offer namaz. This incident happened despite government direction against this was conveyed to people many times, police claimed. "An FIR was registered against 40 unidentified persons under IPC 186 (obstructing a public servant in discharge of public functions), 188 (disobedie...

A truck driver was lynched by a mob in Bihar’s Saran district late on Wednesday night after they found the vehicle was carrying bones of animals to a factory, police said. Truck driver Jaharuddin, 55, of Majhwalia village under Gaura outpost was on the way to Nagara bone dust factory in the district. While on the way to the factory, the vehicle developed a technical problem at Khori Pakad village under Jalalpur police station, and Jaharuddin and his helper and some labourers were trying to fix them. “At the same time, some local residents assembled there and asked them about the materials laden on the truck. When they replied that the bones of animals are in the truck and it is going to the factory in Nagara, they started beating them,” said Haider, the owner of the bone factory. ...

A group of residents living in a housing complex in Maharashtra’s Thane district expressed their disapproval of a man who intended to bring a goat to his residence in preparation for Eid ul Adha. A few members of the housing colony and some members of a Hindu organisation held a protest against the couple for bringing livestock into the colony, ANI reported. On Tuesday evening, the police responded to the incident at the housing society situated in the Bhayander area and arrived at the scene. They held discussions with the residents and pacified them, a station house officer (SHO) at Mira Road police station told PTI. The incident was captured on video and quickly gained attention on various social media platforms. The viral video depicted individuals shouting and obstructing t...

The Bombay High Court has suspended the life sentence awarded to Afroz Khan Pathan, a convict in the sensational 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case, and granted him conditional bail. A division bench comprising Justice Revati Mohite-Dere and Justice Gauri Godse also observed that there was no prima facie evidence to prove that Pathan had visited Bangladesh to collect funds for terror activities in India – as claimed by two co-accused in their confessionals. The judges said in their order that neither of the confessions referring to Pathan prima facie show that he had in fact gone to Bangladesh and got funds, or that he had knowledge or reason to believe the purpose for which he was sent there or the larger conspiracy. Allowing Pathan’s bail plea filed in 2017, the court also considere...

On Sunday, a group of 40 organisations staged a demonstration at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar to call for the restoration of peace in Manipur. The call for this demonstration was given by like-minded groups and civil rights activists. The Manipur conflict in the northeastern state of India is now leading to a humanitarian crisis with thousands of people displaced from their homes. The speakers from various civil society organisations expressed their deepest regrets and sorrow for the ethnic violence that has so far resulted in around 100 fatalities, over 300 injuries, and about 60,000 displacements since it started on May 3. It is imperative to stress that persons looking for shelter in relief camps are dealing with incredibly difficult situations and lack necessities like food, clothing...

The decadal census, which was postponed for an indefinite period due to the pandemic, is unlikely to be held before the next Lok Sabha elections that are due in April-May 2024, officials said. Access to smartphones, Internet, laptops, computers, cars, two-wheelers, main cereal consumed are some of the 31 questions to be asked in the Census, whenever it is held. The house listing phase of the Census and the exercise to update the National Population Register (NPR) were scheduled to be carried out across the country from April 1 to September 30, 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The Census operation continues to be on hold and the government has not yet announced a new schedule. In January, the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India c...

The students of Classes 9 to 12 in UP Board will study the biography of V. Savarkar. Apart from Savarkar, the chapters on the life of 50 other great men have been included in the syllabus. They include Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, Mahavir Jain, Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya, Arvind Ghosh, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Sarojini Naidu, Nana Saheb, Chandra Shekhar, Ramkrishna Paramhans among others. UP education minister Gulab Devi said that the inclusion of these chapters was aimed at strengthening the moral and cultural values of children who will grow up and take part in nation building. She said that the opposition parties were getting frustrated and were criticizing the move. Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party (SP) has asked the UP government to reconsider its decision to include the chapter on Sava...