The army has agreed to court-martial five soldiers, including a brigadier, accused of killing five civilians in Pathribal village of Kashmir 12 years ago and passing them off as militants. On May 1, the Supreme Court had given the army eight weeks to decide whether the accused should be tried by a regular criminal court or face a court-martial. The ruling had disappointed rights groups fighting to have the soldiers tried in a criminal court. This week, the army applied to the court of Srinaga...

Two weeks after Mohd Qateel Siddiqui was killed in a Pune jail, a Delhi court seeks explanation from Maharashtra police as to why he was not produced before it after expiry of his police custody. The court’s order came on an application by Siddiqui’s counsel M S Khan seeking to know as to why his client was not produced before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) by the Pune ATS despite lapse of four weeks since his custody was handed over to them on May 1.

When his cas...

A locally-published kindergarten book used across private schools in Manipur shows the Prophet with flowing beard and turban and holding a book-like object. He features on page 51 with five other ‘Indian deities’ - Ganesh, Vishnu, Saraswati, Jesus and Mary. “Mohammed was against portraits of himself and not creating his picture has become kind of a rule since then. According to Islam, there is no picture or photo of the Prophet. How can he be depicted when no one in the worl...

The NationalHuman Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued notice to the Gujarat government seeking reply on the alleged police atrocities towards Muslims even after the 2002 riots. The commission has sought explanation within four weeks from the chief secretary and ...

The NationalHuman Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued notice to the Gujarat government seeking reply on the alleged police atrocities towards Muslims even after the 2002 riots. The commission has sought explanation within four weeks from the chief secretary and ...

On Meerut road exists a waqf property sprawling over 22 acres of land, currently inhabited by the district magistrate, whose rent is a mere Rs 240 a month and that too has not been paid by the magistrate from the past 5 years. When the district-President Azam Khan directed the authorities to take stern actions against the violation of the waqf lands, the officials, in order to evade the government proceedings, went into the Assistant Survey Commission in Vikas Bhawan and ceased all the docume...

Rithala, a village in the north-west of Rohini was a Muslim-dominated area pre-1947 and has an old mosque. However from the past 10 years a non-Muslim, Chandra Bhan, has illegally occupied it and is living inside the mosque. The waqf board was intimidated by Husainia Education and Welfare Society and demanded that Chandra Bhan should immediately be taken out from the mosque so that it can again be used for daily prayers and worship of Allah. The members of the waqf board visited the area and ...

A delegation of All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat met with the chief minister Ashok Gehlot in Jodhpur Bhawan to discuss the issues related to Muslims and their solutions. Chairman of Delhi State Minority Commission Mr. Safdar H. Khan asked for 15 per cent reservation of Muslims in state administration, police and other security forces. He argued that such representation of Muslims would increase the credibility of the government agencies for the Muslims. Khwaja Shahid called for the better...

After Delhi and Lucknow, Rampur is said to be the third school of Urdu, however, with the diminishing enthusiasm of Urdu experts in the region, it seems that Urdu is breathing its last. Though Rampur comes under those 14 districts in UP where Urdu is the second official language and even the election commission has given directives that voter list and ballot paper should be printed in Urdu along with Hindi, yet Urdu ballot paper and voter list remained out of sight. This is the second time wh...