Syed Ahmed Bukhari, Shahi Imam Jama Masjid Delhi, has appealed to the Muslims of India to opt ‘Muslim’ in the column of religion when he/she fills up the census form. The census is to commence from February 9, 2011. The Muslims should not be confused that their religion is Islam and there is no option for Islam in the religion column printed in the form. It is a ‘deliberate mistake of biased officials’ to give the option of ‘Muslim’ instead of ‘Isla...

A student of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Mr Khalid Abbasi has blamed that Mr Mahesh Chand Sharma, Manager Syndicate Bank of Yamuna Vihar in Delhi, has passed bad remarks against Muslims and that he blocked his bank account only because he was Muslim. Mr Abbasi said the remark was very harsh to humiliate a Muslim while dealing with his query about ATM card, which was not functioning properly. The bank manager remarked, as Mr Abbasi claimed, “You Muslims don’t know anythin...

The Supreme Court on February 5 held that confession before a police officer under special laws, such as Tada, Pota or MCOCA, is a weak evidence against the person who gives it despite the fact that such a statement is an admissible proof before a trial court. A bench comprising Justice Markandeya Katju and Justice Gyan Sudha Misra acquitted a man who was convicted by the Guwahati High Court for being a member of the Ulfa. It said confessions in custody are extracted and, therefore, courts ...

Passive membership in a banned organisation will not make a person a criminal, the Supreme Court ruled on February 5. The Supreme Court reached the conclusion while interpreting Section 3(5) of the Terrorism and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act. The Apex Court said a person will not be considered a criminal member of a banned organisation unless “he resorts to violence or incites people to violence or creates public disorder by violence or incitement to violence”. A bench ...

Buckling under pressure from the Bajrang Dal and VHP, the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh on February 5 ordered the re-arrest of five activists of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) who had been released under an amnesty scheme on January 26. The police in Ujjain took the SIMI activists into custody from Unhel to hand them over to authorities of Khachrod sub-jail to serve the remainder of their jail sentence. They will have to remain in jail until March 2013 when the maximum pun...

With four States and one Union Territory preparing for the Assembly polls coming up in the next three months, Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi said some of the major areas of concern for the Commission were paid news, opinion polls and educating voters about the election process.“Paid news is a complex issue. All political parties unanimously agree that it needs to be tackled. The bigger issue here is the voters [being deceived] and their opinion [being affected],” said...

In order to keep a proper record of the Waqf properties in the state and keep them free from encroachments, Rajasthan government is going to carry out a videography of all these properties to ensure their physical verification and condition. In the first phase, there will be videography of 3945 such properties located in district headquarters. The subsequent phases will include properties at the panchayat level, Waqf, Rural and Panchayati Minister of State Amin Khan said. There are 22,100 w...