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Irish singer, who raised voice against child abuse in Church, embraces Islam

coastaldigest.com web desk
October 26, 2018

Newsroom, Oct 26: Popular Irish singer Sinead O’Connor, who is best known for her 1990 hit version of the song Nothing Compares 2 U, has announced her conversion to Islam and said she has changed her name to Shuhada’ Davitt.

The 51-year-old has been posting selfies of herself wearing hijabs on Twitter in recent days, as well as a video in which she gave the Azan, or call to prayer.

She tweeted on October 19: "This is to announce that I am proud to have become a Muslim. This is the natural conclusion of any intelligent theologian's journey. All scripture study leads to Islam. Which makes all other scriptures redundant."

She again tweeted that she is "very, very happy," and apologized for mispronouncing some Arabic words during her recitation of the Azan.

She replaced her Twitter profile picture with a photo that reads "Wear a hijab just do it" alongside the Nike logo.

Controversy has followed her career. The singer ripped up a picture of Pope John Paul II during a Saturday Night Live appearance in 1992 as a protest against the Catholic Church. Later she said in an interview with TIME that she was prompted to do so by the Catholic Church's record of child abuse.

In the late 1990s, she was ordained a priest by the Irish Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Church, which is an independent Catholic group not in communion with the mainstream Catholic Church. The Catholic Church dismissed the ordination of the singer at the time as "bizarre and absurd."

In 2011, she again criticized the Catholic Church over the child sex abuse scandal, in an article for the Sunday Independent.

She dubbed the Vatican "a nest of devils," calling for the creation of an "alternative church'," and lamenting that "Christ is being murdered by liars" in the Vatican.

Pope Francis spoke during his visit to Ireland earlier this year of his shame over the "appalling crimes" of historic child abuse in the Catholic Church and said outrage was justified.

In 2015, the mother of four posted on her Facebook page that she had overdosed in the wake of a custody battle involving her youngest son and his father, Irish musician Donal Lunny. Police later said they had located O'Connor and she was "safe and sound."

The following year, O'Connor was reported missing in Chicago when she did not return from a bike ride, but police found her a day later.

Originally from Ireland, the singer has been a firm supporter of a united Ireland, under which the United Kingdom would relinquish control of Northern Ireland.

Although her embrace of Islam attracted criticism and anti-Islamic remarks, it was broadly welcomed by fellow Muslims online.

"Salaam (a greeting that means "peace") and keep up the good work," said Immy Khan. "You have 1.7 billion brothers and sisters now."

On October 25 Davitt tweeted: "Thank you so much to all my Muslim brothers and sisters who have been so kind as to welcome me to Ummah (the Muslim community) today on this page. You can't begin to imagine how much your tenderness means to me."

Comments

ABDUL AZIZ
 - 
Saturday, 27 Oct 2018

ALHAMDULILLAH,    welcome to a peacefull religion Islam,  Allah Amighty guides whoever he wishes .

zahoor ahmed
 - 
Saturday, 27 Oct 2018

All praises be to Allah, Who guides you to Islam.

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coastaldigest.com news network
June 23,2020

Bengaluru, June 23: A senior IAS officer allegedly, who had faced arrest in connection with I Monetary Advice (IMA) scam, today allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself at his residence in the city. 

The deceased is BM Vijay Shankar. He had been arrested by special investigation team (SIT) in the I Monetary Advice (IMA) case when he was deputy commissioner (DC) Urban Bengaluru. 

He had spent few days in the jail over his alleged involvement in the IMA scam and was released on bail. The IMA case is currently being probed by Central Bureau of Investigation.

Shankar was staying in Jayanagar near Ashoka Pillar along with his family members.

Shankar was accused of taking Rs 1.5 crore to approve a report on financial irregularities, and was accused of giving a clean chit to the main accused of IMA scam, Mohammed Mansoor Khan.

The incident came to light around 8 pm. It is alleged that Shankar ended his life around 7.00 pm, when he was alone in the house. Shankar was said to be under severe depression after his name surfaced in the scam, and his subsequent arrest.

However, the exact reason for his extreme step is yet to be identified. Tilak Nagar police have taken up the case of mysterious death under CrPc and are probing further. As of now the police officials have not found any death note. A senior officer said: "once we finish the procedures of investigating the spot his body will be shifted to Victoria hospital for post mortem. The report will find out exact cause of his death".

Police commissioner Bhaskar Rao said: "We have taken up the case of unnatural death with regard to Vijay Shankar's death. Further probe will reveal more details about it".
 

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News Network
February 6,2020

Mangalore, Feb 6: The first Rashtriya Lok Adalat of 2020 will get started from Feb 8, A district judge has announced, adding that it is being organised by Karnataka Law Services Authority and Dakshina Kannada Law Services Authority.

Speaking to media on Wednesday evening, Justice Sathyanarayana Acharya Kandlur said, "4,820 cases were resolved through Lok Adalat last year. 618 cases have been registered so far to be decided under the Lok Adalat."

Familial, civil and revenue cases of cheque dishonour, financial extortion, cases related to telephone, electricity, water, land encroachment and acquisition, motor vehicle cases, labour issues and maintenance expenses will be decided in the Lok Adalat.

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News Network
July 29,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 29: The Karnataka High Court’s division bench of Chief Justice Abhay Oka and Justice H P Sandesh today rejected an application that wanted Amulya Leona’s case to be transferred from Karnataka Police to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

The bench, while observing that extraordinary jurisdiction can’t be exercised for transferring the case to the NIA, asked “What is so special that investigation should be transferred to NIA?”

The court, in its previous hearing, had questioned the maintainability of the petition seeking transfer of the sedition case against Leona to the NIA.

According to the petitioner, advocate Pavana Chandra Shetty, the case is a serious matter against national integration and unity and has not been investigated properly by the police. The state police also failed to file the chargesheet within 90 days, he said, and also asked for cancellation of her bail.

The bench asked the petitioner as to how a bail, already granted to a person, can be cancelled. “Is it not the indefeasible right of the accused to be released on bail if chargesheet is not filed within stipulated time? How can you make a prayer for cancellation of bail?”  the Court asked.

The counsel for the petitioner also stated that in cases of a cognizable offence, when the chargesheet is purposely not filed within the stipulated time, the matter will have to transferred to the appropriate authority.

The court responded to his contention by asking him how could the court override law and cancel the bail. “Where is the question of cancellation of bail? Can we override the law and say that bail should be cancelled?” said the bench.

Advocate Vishal Raghu had filed the petition for transfer of Leona’s case, who was accused of raising pro-Pakistan slogans at an anti-CAA rally on February 20 at Freedom Park. The advocate had blamed the probe team for not filing a chargesheet on time and has asked the state government to approach the higher court against bail granted to Leona.

Bengaluru student Amulya Leona was charged with sedition for her actions in the presence of All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi. She was arrested by the Bengaluru police for allegedly shouting ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans at an anti- CAA Protest in Bengaluru in February this year. On June 11, she was granted conditional bail by the Bengaluru civil court.

Her bail plea was earlier rejected by a Bengaluru court, after she had spent a three-month period in jail, stating that she may abscond if she is released. The sessions judge Vidhyadhar Shirahatti had also stated that if the petitioner is granted bail, she may abscond and may involve in similar offence which affects peace at large and hence her petition is liable to be rejected. The court had also noted that Amulya Leona is an influential person who may threaten and influence the witness and hamper the case in case of the prosecution and will abscond if released on bail.

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