The Hyderabad police have launched a manhunt for four persons belonging to the Hindutva group who they suspect triggered the communal disturbances in Old City on Apr 7 by hurling a piece of beef on the walls of the Hanuman Temple at Kurmaguda in Madannapet. All the four are residents of Kurmaguda, police said. Reaping political benefits by intensifying communal polarisation in the city is said to be the motive behind the attack. “We have reliable information confirming the role of four ...

Of the 23 persons convicted in the case, the court has given life imprisonment to 18, while five others have been awarded seven years of rigorous imprisonment. Twenty-three people of minority community were killed in Ode on Mar 1, 2002, mainly women and children. Special prosecutor P N Parmar had sought death penalty for the convicts, arguing that this should be considered the rarest of the rare incident. All the 23 persons, who belong to a community of Patels from Charotar, had been held gui...

The Waqf Board in Kolkata wants a dedicated police force to reclaim its 1,43,361 acres of land, spread across the state. “I had put in a requisition for at least 15 police personnel headed by an IPS officer to help us take possession of the 1,43,361 acre property across West Bengal,” said Md Abdul Ghani, the newly appointed chairman, Board of Waqfs, who added that in Malda itself there were 22,000 estates belonging to the Board. The Board of Waqfs has so far failed to evict encroa...

On Dec 25, 2002, weeks after an explosion in Ghatkopar, a software engineer was arrested in circumstances his brother describes as “bizarre”. The police had come looking for him without knowing his name or what he looked like. Syed Khwaja Yunus Sayed Ayub, then 27, was allegedly beaten up in custody and died of injuries. Nearly a decade on, his family’s sustained battle for justice has led to the Bombay High Court ordering the government to pay Rs 20 lakh as compensation. Al...

The illegal picking up of Muslim youths has become the order of the day and till now Muslims remained silent of the open atrocities and injustices meted out to them. However with the beginning of the acquittals of innocent Muslim youths by courts, it seems that the community has got into its grooves as in the last 10 days three programmes have been organised in different parts of the country condemning the illegal arrest of Muslim youths. The first such convention was organised on Mar 31 by A...

Religious leaders belonging to different faiths have resolved to clean up the desecrated places of worship in Hyderabad in a bid to send out a strong message of love and brotherhood. They have come together under the banner of Inter Faith Forum, a COVA affiliate, to educate the people about peace, harmony and justice. Speaking to presspersons, Ramchandra Kumar (Arya Samaj), Bro. Varghese Theckanath (Montfort Brothers of St. Gabriel), Shah Hamed Shuttari (All India Sunni Ulema Board), Swami Ra...

The Rajasthan High Court came down heavily on CBI for giving ‘differential’ treatment to the accused in Dara Singh fake encounter case in which a DIG and a BJP MLA were among those arrested, saying the agency’s objectives have been compromised and it was high time it was ‘shut down’. “It appears that accused in the same case are being given differential treatment by CBI. You people salute an accused, offer him tea and coffee and land him behind the bars fac...

The Banaras Hindu University (BHU) was one of the participants at the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations between India and Israel. BHU vice chancellor Dr. Lalji Singh was one of the members of the delegation led by HRD minister Kapil Sibal. The delegation made a visit to Israel from Apr 3 to 6. According to BHU spokesperson, the President of India approved a 7-member delegation led by HRD minister to commemorate the 20th anniversary of full diplomatic relations betw...