India News Roundup: Dalit lynched for plucking mangoes and his body hung in Panchayat office

bikki srinivas

In Singampalli village panchayat of Rangampeta mandal in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday a Dalit was lynched for allegedly plucking mangoes from an orchard belonging to an upper caste man. Bikki Srinivas (30) allegedly stole mangoes from an orchard in the village.

The orchard owner and others chased and caught him. They thrashed him with sticks leading to his death. Srinivas body was later taken to the panchayat office and hanged from the ceiling. It was alleged that the upper caste people tried to project that he committed suicide by hanging himself as he felt humiliated after being caught while stealing mangoes from the orchard.

Having learnt about his death, Srinivas family members rushed to the panchayat office and brought the body down. They found injuries on his body and suspected foul play behind the death of Srinivas.As the news spread, about 1,000 people from nearby villages reached Singampalli and staged a protest demanding action against the culprits.

They demanded that a case be registered against the culprits under the SC, ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Former MP GV Harsha Kumar also visited the village and joined the protest. Peddapuram DSP Rama Rao and other senior police officials rushed to the village.

14-year-old Dalit girl gangraped, burnt to death in Muzaffarnagar

14-year-old Dalit girl was raped and burnt to death in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar last Friday. While her family say the administration is trying to hush up the matter, police is yet to make any arrests although seven accused have been booked in the case.

According to an Indian Express report, the girl’s charred body was found at a makeshift room next to the brick kiln she used to work at.

The girl and her family lived in the room next to the brick kiln and worked there. Last week, after her mother fell ill, her father left her along with her 12-year-old brother at the brick kiln to go back to their village.

This is when she was gang-raped by the group of men. While they were away, the parents were informed that their daughter was found charred.

Six men and the brick kiln owner have been booked on charges of murder, rape and sections of SC/ST Atrocities Act.

According to the report, the father has alleged that the girl was raped and murdered but the police is trying to make it look like an accidental death.

“She was taken by two men who work in the area. She was raped and murdered,” the report quoted the victim’s father as saying.

He also argued that the room had no electronic items or anything inflammable, how could there be an accidental fire.

Meanwhile, the Bhim Army has come out to protest and say that police is trying to bury the incident. However, the outfit has threatened to launch a bandh if action is not taken against the perpetrators.

The family, on the other hand, says they do not know if their daughter was targeted because of her caste, but all that they pray for is justice.

Muslim man and daughter tied to a tree for opposing land capture in Bihar

rahim miyan

An old man and her daughter were captured and tied to a tree for opposing land capture by influential villagers. The incident took place in the Bhuswar village in Samastipur district of Bihar. Vibhutipur police said an influential villager was fencing off the land belonging to a Muslim man Rahim Miyan. He and his daughter Ruksana protested. The musclemen of the of the accused caught both of them, tied to a tree and assaulted badly.

Burqa-clad women stopped from boarding Lucknow Metro

Five Muslim women, belonging to one family, were stopped from travelling on the Lucknow Metro after they refused to remove their veils

The women, who wanted to board the metro at Maiwaiya station on Tuesday had no reservations about being frisked and checked by women security personnel.

However, since there were no women security personnel, male security guards refused to allow the group to board the Metro.

The family later asked the officials for a refund and gave up their plans to travel.

The head of the family, Maaz Ahmad, has now sent a complaint to the Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation (LMRC).

LMRC Public Relations Officer Pushpa Belani said the complaint had been received and the matter will be probed to verify the allegations.

Pellet horror returns in Kashmir, 90 injured in Shopian, Kulgam

pellets

At least ninety persons sustained fire arm injuries, sixty of them from pellets, after they clashed with the government forces in South Kashmir’s Kulgam and Shopian districts

One of the injured includes, Yawar Ahmad, who received bullet in his abdomen at Kulgam and is reported to be in critical condition.

In Kulgam clashes erupted after youth tried to break the cordon laid down by the forces to save the trapped militants after the pre-dawn Ramzan meals were over.

Thousands of people thronged the gunfight site at Mohamadpura, Kulgam and clashed with government forces.

In the meanwhile, people took to streets and clashed with government forces following which the police and paramilitary forces resorted to teargas shelling, pellets and live ammunition in which 60 persons suffered injuries.

Seven of them sustained serious wounds.

Forces comprising of Army, CRPF and Police blasted the house, where the militants were hiding, and left the spot.

Soon after the forces left the spot, the protesters dug out two militants alive from the rubble.

The injured protesters were shifted to health center Mahmoodpora and eight of them were taken to district hospital Kulgam for treatment.

Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Kulgam, Dr Fazil Kochak said that 60 injured persons were received at health centre Mohammedpora and conditions of 51 of them was stable and are being treated at the health facility itself.

Nine other injured person, he said, have been shifted to district hospital Kulgam.

The nine injured have been identified as Nadeem Ahmad (pellet injury in left eye), Nawaz Ahmad (pellet injury in right eye), Adnan (pellet injury in left eye), Yawar Ahmad (bullet injury in abdomen), Mohsin Ahmad (pellet injury on body), Basit Ahmad (pellet injury on both arms), Aqib Nazir (pellet injury in left eye), Mudasir Bhat (Pellet injury in left eye) and Tawseef Ahmad (pellet injury in right eye).

He said that seven among the nine youth have been referred to SMHS Srinagar for advanced treatment. Those referred include Nadeem, Nawaz, Adnan, Aqib, Mudasir, Tawseef and Yawar. Two others namely Mohsin and Basit are being treated in the hospital.

In the evening, twenty eight civilians suffered when they clashes erupted between government forces in Pinjoora village of south Kashmir’s Shopian district.

Reports said as the gunfight ensued following a cordon and search operation in the village, local youths hit streets and pelted government forces with stones.

The government forces fired pellets and tear smoke shells to disperse the violent protesters.

They said that more than two dozen protesters suffered injuries in the clashes.

According to doctors at district hospital Shopian 28 persons with pellet injuries were received at the hospital among whom three were referred to SMHS in Srinagar for specialized treatment.

Medical Superintendent SMHS, Dr Nazir said that they have received 11 patients from Shopian and Kulgam.

“Yawar from Kulgam has received a bullet injury. He is in critical condition,” Nazir said.

“10 people have received eye injuries which include seven from Kulgam and three from Shopian”.

He said that the patients were being treated in the hospital.

Assam: Retired Army captain declared ‘foreigner’, sent to detention camp

Mohammed Sanaullah

In yet another case of harassment of genuine Indian citizens in the name of the D Voters, a retired Army official was arrested and sent to detention camp after a Foreigners’ Tribunal in Assam declared him a foreigner.

52-year-old Mohammed Sanaullah from Kolohikas village in Assam’s Kamrup district was declared a ‘foreigner’ by the Boko Foreigners’ Tribunal on May 23.

The Assam police have detained Sana Ullah from his residence on May 28 following the order of the Foreigners’ Tribunal at Boko.

Born in 1967 to one Mohammed Ali of Kalahikash village under Boko in Kamrup district, Sonaullah had joined the Indian Army in 1987 and served for 30 years before he was retired as a Honourary Captain in 2017.

In 2014, Sonaullah was also conferred upon a Presidents’ Certificate for his promotion to the rank of Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO).

During his military career, he had taken part in three Counter Insurgency operations while being posted with 26 Rashtriya Rifles in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir and 33 Field Workshop in Kupwara near Line of Control (LoC) from 2015 to 2017. He was also part of CI operations in Imphal West district of Manipur from 2007-2010.

After his retirement from the Army, Sonaullah had joined the Assam Police Border Branch as a sub inspector.

“There is a Foreigners’ Tribunal case against him since 2008. The Foreigners’ Tribunal at Boko mentioned some mismatch between the documents submitted by Sona Ullah regarding his date of birth and the date of joining the Army as reasons for the court’s order terming him a foreigner,” said advocate Sahidul Islam, counsel of Sonaullah.

“However, we have enough documentary evidence to prove that he is a genuine Indian citizen and we are going to appeal in the court soon,” Islam said on Wednesday.

Children Given Knives To Commemorate Veer Savarkar’s Birth Anniversary

hindu maha sabha

The Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha (ABHM) distributed knives among students of class 10 to 12, to commemorate the birth anniversary of Hindu Mahasabha leader, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar on Tuesday, its spokesperson said.

Mahasabha spokesperson Ashok Pandey said that Savarkar’s dream was “Rajniti ka Hindukaran and Hinduon ka sanikikaran” (Hinduisation of politics and militarisation of Hindus).

He further said: “Modiji has fulfilled the first part of his dream with his landslide victory in Lok Sabha polls. We are now fulfilling the other part by distributing knives and creating Hindu soldiers. If Hindus want to protect themselves and their nation, they should learn how to use weapons.”

Mahasabha’s National Secretary, Puja Shakun Pandey said that this was a step to motivate Hindus and empower them, especially the younger generation, with knives to protect themselves.

Puja Shakun Pandey made headlines earlier this year, when she posed for photographs with a pistol in hand shooting at an effigy of Mahatma Gandhi.

She told reporters, that she had distributed the knives, along with a copy of the Bhagwad Geeta, to minor children, who have achieved good results in their exams, because she wanted them to know when and why the weapon should be used.

“I want them to feel strong and independent, and to protect to their sisters and family members,” she said.

She said that there were lots of cases of crime against women and girls, and they should also be trained to use knives for their protection.

After Pragya Thakur, BJP MLA Calls Mahatma Gandhi’s Assassin a Patriot; Congress Demands Action

After BJP’s Pragya Thakur kicked up a massive row for calling Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin a patriot, her party-mate from Indore on Wednesday called Nathuram Godse a nationalist.

Usha Thakur, the Mhow MLA who is known for her extremist views, revived the debate on Godse on Wednesday saying that Godse was a nationalist and that he was concerned for the country.

“Godse ek rashtrawadi thay. Unhone jeevanbhar desh ki chinta ki. Us samay kya kaal paristhiti rahi hogi jo unhone aisa faisla kiya, ye toh wahi jaante honge (Godse was a nationalist who was concerned about the nation all his life. The circumstances under which he decided to assassinate Gandhiji were known to him only),” Thakur said.

Jharkhand Dalit rights activist arrested for “opposing” Mandal dam

The civil rights organization Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha (JJM), describing the recent arrest of Naresh Bhuiyan, an active member of the Bhartiya Bhuiyan Vikas Parishad and currently involved in protests against the Mandal Dam, as “unlawful”, has demanded that the state government should “immediately” initiate an independent enquiry into efforts to brand him as a Maoist.

JJM, in a statement, has said, “The psychological and physical integrity of Naresh Bhuiyan and his family members should be ensured. The government should also immediately release under-trial prisoners languishing in Jharkhand’s jails since a long time. And it should put an end to its practice of using false cases to harass human rights activists.”

Text of the statement:

On May 14, 2019, the local police arrested Jharkhand’s Dalit activist Naresh Bhuiyan from his home in Bhandar village (Dhurki block, Garhwa district). The police told Bhuiyan’s family members that he was being taken to the local thana for certain enquiries and would be released immediately. But when he did not return by 15 May, the family members went to the thana to inquire. They were not allowed to meet Bhuiyan. He was illegally kept in the thana and was not produced in the court for several days.

Even though copy of FIR has not been made available so far, information collected from sources indicate that Naresh Ram has been implicated on charges of links with Maoists. The charges are gross manipulation and far from truth. There are also reports of physical torture by the police.

Naresh Bhuiyan is an active member of the Bhartiya Bhuiyan Vikas Parishad and has been working for the rights of Dalits and Adivasis since decades. He is associated with several peoples’ movements like the Adim Janjati Parishad and the Visthapan Virodhi Jan Vikas Manch. Naresh Ram has actively participated in agitations against irregularities in grain distribution to particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs), Birsa Housing scam, cases related to human trafficking, issues related to direct appointment of eighth and tenth pass PVTG candidates to mention a few.

It is worth mentioning that Naresh Bhuiyan’s is involved in protests against the Mandal Dam that is to be constructed on the North Koel river. Despite protests by people of villages that will be submerged, the Prime Minister laid the foundation stone of the Dam on January 5, 2019. This project will submerge 46 villages that will lead to displacement and loss of livelihood to thousands of Dalit and PVTG families. Lakhs of trees will be felled and the project will have huge adverse impact on the environment affecting the locals for all times to come. Having realised the harm caused by the proposed dam, the residents of the affected 46 villages have started agitating.

The illegal arrest of Naresh Bhuiyan on false charges is an attempt to weaken the protests against the construction of the Mandal Dam. It is also one more example of the anti-people attitude of Jharkhand’s BJP government. More than 6,000 Dalits and Adivasis of the state are languishing as under-trials in jails since years. Many have been booked falsely on charges of Naxalism. The police has been unable to produce any evidence against most of them. It also must be mentioned that in the last five years, the state government has even booked many human rights activists on false charges of sedition.

The Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha strongly condemns the unlawful arrest and detention of Naresh Bhuiyan. The Mahasabha demands that the state government immediately initiates an independent enquiry in this incidence. The psychological and physical integrity of Naresh Bhuiyan and his family members should be ensured. The government should also immediately release under-trial prisoners languishing in Jharkhand’s jails since a long time. And it should put an end to its practice of using false cases to harass human rights activists.


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