200 madrasa students detained at rail station for 8 hrs as officials believe WhatsApp rumour

News Network
July 12, 2017

Bengaluru, Jul 12: In a bizarre incident, around 200 madrasa students between the age of 8 and 14, along with a few adults accompanying them, were detained for eight hours at Cantonment railway station on Tuesday after they got off an inbound train on Tuesday.

The railway police showed the unusual zeal on the basis of a dubious WhatsApp audio message that claimed the boys had been trafficked for religious conversion. The poor boys were travelling in S6, S7 and S8 compartments of Guwahati-Bengaluru Cantonment Express, and were accompanied by 17 instructors, including six women.

The WhatsApp message in Kannada claimed that “100 boys from Bangladesh were being taken to Kerala for religious conversion”.

The man in the audio said he received the information from “a friend travelling in that train” and asked for widely sharing the message so that it reached the police, the child helpline and the media. He didn’t stipulate why “Muslim children from Bangladesh” would be taken to Kerala for religious conversion.

But railway police and CWC officials did not take any chances, and their teams lay waiting for the boys at KR Puram and Bengaluru Cantonment railway stations. When the train arrived, the boys and their instructors were stopped for questioning. Senior police officers were seen asking the children where were they from and where were they going.

The instructors told the police that the boys belonged to poor families from Assam, Bihar and West Bengal, and were headed to madrasas in Electronics City, RT Nagar, Bommanahalli and Siddapura in Bengaluru, besides Shivamogga, Tumakuru and Madikeri.

But police didn’t believe them and asked for the boys’ IDs. By noon, the boys were taken to the waiting room where the police and CWC officials got busy verifying their antecedents and checking their IDs. A few boys told the police they had boarded the train at Kishanganj, Bihar.

While the police quickly ruled out the possibility of the children having been trafficked, doubts arose when 35 children of the same batch, who had got off at KR Puram, were brought to the Cantonment railway station for verification, and one of them said he had been hit.

Railway police officials also grew suspicious when 23 children were unable to show their IDs. To ensure that all the cases were genuine, CWC officials requested the police to send the children to the state-run home for boys. The police agreed initially but changed their mind later and decided to let the children proceed to the madrasas.

Sadiq Sharief, a guardian from Kishanganj who was taking the children to a madrasa in Madikeri, said the police asked all the details. “They asked me where I was from, my parents’ name, where I studied, my ID. Ditto with the children. We were questioned at Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada, too, but were not detained,” he said. “It was only in Bengaluru that things took so long.”

Fairoz Pasha, a teacher at Madrasa-e-Arabia Misbahul Uloom in Jayanagar 1st Block, said the children had gone for Ramzan vacation that lasted from May 28 to July 7. Madrasas usually have their annual vacation during Ramzan.

MLA, MLC intervene

As the news about the children spread, their instructors informed local Muslim leaders who rushed to the railway station and explained to the CWC and police that it was not a case of child trafficking. But CWC and police officers were in no mood to relent until they checked the IDs of all the children and their instructors.

Muslim organisations protested outside the Cantonment railway station, accusing the police of harassing the boys just because they were Muslims. Chamarajpet MLA, B Z Zameer Ahmed, and Congress MLC Rizwan Arshad arrived at the spot and convinced the police and CWC officials that it was not a case of child trafficking. They also pacified the children. The boys were released only around 7.30 pm.

N Chaitra, Superintendent of Police, Railways, said: “We detained around 200 children and 17 instructors at KR Puram and Cantonment railway stations as we received a tip-off about possible child trafficking. We checked all of them and later released all of them.”

A senior railway police officer denied that the boys were detained because they were Muslims. “We are just doing our job by checking the children’s details. Only we spoke to them and no one else,” the officer said.

Comments

Abdul
 - 
Friday, 14 Jul 2017

Madam stop investing to UP, gujrat, Rajasthan, Jarkand and other Bjp ruled stated, ther are more violence than Karnataka and remember centre is not your inheritance property.

muhammed rafique
 - 
Friday, 14 Jul 2017

So what if he was indeed carrying beef? who has given authority to beat him?

Cow and the politics
 - 
Friday, 14 Jul 2017

If police doesn't act now, public Will be forced to act. Arrest that gandu rashtra terrorist bhat

Cow and the politics
 - 
Friday, 14 Jul 2017

these RSS HJV HIV all are viruses for peace loving states.

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
March 30,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 30: Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd (CDEL) has received the first tranche of Rs 2,000 crore following disinvestment of Global Village Techparks to repay debts following the death of its founder V G Siddhartha.
In August last year, CDEL executed definitive agreements with entities belonging to Blackstone Group and Salarpuria Sattva Group for investment in GV Techparks, a wholly-owned subsidiary of group company Tanglin Development Ltd (TDL), at an enterprise value of Rs 2,700 crore.
The balance amount is expected to be received after the receipt of few statutory approvals, CDEL said in a statement.
"Out of the money received in first tranche, the company has paid off its debts in full including principal and interest amounting to Rs 1,644 crore to the lenders despite difficult economic conditions," it said.
Post this payment, the consolidated debt of the company and its subsidiaries stands at Rs 3,200 crore as on March 27. This includes debt of Rs 1,400 crore of its subsidiary Sical Logistics Ltd where disinvestment process is in progress.
"The company and subsidiaries have repaid around Rs 4,000 crore to the lenders since the beginning of this financial year," CDEL said.
"With the continuous support of stakeholders of the company, the current management is working to ensure better liquidity and operational efficiency. The company is confident of the future ahead despite various challenges," it added.
The company has been in rough waters after its founder V G Siddhartha took his own life as debt strains began to emerge in his company. Since his death in July last year, CDEL has been trying to divest its assets to pare debts.
On July 30, 2019, CDEL informed stock exchanges about Siddhartha's disappearance. In a letter that was purportedly written by him, the Cafe Coffee Day founder said: "I could not take any more pressure from one of the private equity partners forcing me to buy back shares."

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
June 15,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 15: Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Monday said those coming to the state from Chennai and Delhi will have to undergo three days of institutional quarantine followed by 11 days of home isolation.

Up till now a seven-day institutional quarantine was prescribed for those returning from Maharashtra, while there was no mandatory institutional quarantine for asymptomatic people returning to Karnataka from other states.

Those returning from states other than Maharashtra were asked to quarantine themselves at home.

"Those coming from Maharashtra are subjected to seven days of institutional quarantine followed by seven days of home quarantine, while those coming from Chennai and Delhi will have to go for three days of institutional quarantine and eleven days of home quarantine," Yediyurappa said.

Speaking to reporters here, he said the decision has been taken following the increase in the number of coronavirus cases from these states.

"It is because of returnees from other states the cases have increased, not because of the local (intra-state) movement, so we have to control people coming from outside, we have to quarantine them and have to tighten measures.

We are making honest efforts in this regard," he added.

Yediyurappa was speaking to reporters after chairing a meeting with top ministers and officials to discuss about the surge in COVID cases in the state.

"There are no plans for any lockdown, and we will request the Prime Minister for more relaxations," the Chief Minister said in response to a question.

Out of total 7,000 cases in the state 4,386 are returnees from Maharashtra and their contacts are 1,340.

Those who returned from abroad comprise 216.

Returnees from other states constitute- Delhi 87, Tamil Nadu 67, Gujarat 62.

Noting that there are indications that the coronavirus infections are expected to increase in the days to come, Yediyurappa assured people that the government will take all precautionary measures required, and appealed to people to cooperate, follow social distancing, and wear masks.

He said it has been decided to observe the coming Thursday as "mask days" by organising a walk across the state and the main event will be held at Vidhana Soudha, the state secretariat.

"Strict measures will be taken against those not wearing masks and not maintaining social distancing here on.

Initially Rs 200 fine will be imposed, this will be throughout the state," he said.

Further stating that the government has made special efforts to control the spread of COVID, he said a special COVID-19 taskforce has been constituted for Bengaluru and surrounding areas, BBMP (city civic body) commissioner and Deputy Commissioners of neighbouring districts have been asked to pay special attention.

As of June 14 evening, cumulatively 7,000 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 86 deaths and 3,955 discharges.

Out of 2,956 active cases in the state till last evening, 2,940 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable, while 16 are in ICU.

Yediyurappa said the state's mortality rate is 1.2 per cent while the national average is 2.8 per cent.

The state's recovery rate is 56.6 per cent and the national average is 51 per cent, he said, adding that 93 per cent of the total cases are asymptomatic while the remaining seven per cent are symptomatic.

In Bengaluru, there are 697 cases and out of them 330 are active. The city has reported 36 deaths.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
April 1,2020

Bengaluru, Apr 1: Karnataka government along with BBMP has asked project contractors, builders and developers in the city not to send their labourers to their native place and instead provide them with amenities like food and shelter in this lockdown period.

It was also warned with legal action would be taken against them if they violating the instructions from the government .

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.