Muthalik banned from entering Goa for 60 days

Mangaluru, Feb 6: Over 1500 students and teachers are expected to take part in a three-day State-level conference of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishat (ABVP) starting on Friday here.

Reception Committee chairman K.C. Nayak and secretary Shantharama Shetty told reporters here today that Deputy Chief Minister C.N. Ashwath Narayana would inaugurate the conference at the Kudmul Ranga Rao Town Hall.

The former ABVP national president and former Nagaland Governor P.B. Acharya would preside over the programme that would be attended by Mangalore University Vice-Chancellor P.S. Yadapadithaya, ABVP national organising secretary Ashish Chauhan and others.

Dubai, Apr 11: An Indian expat in the UAE is facing police action for allegedly insulting Islam on social media in response to a Facebook post on the coronavirus, according to a media report.

Rakesh B Kitturmath, who worked as a team leader at Emrill Services, an integrated facilities management (FM) headquartered in Dubai, was sacked on Thursday after his post sparked outrage on social media, the Gulf News reported.

“Kitturmath’s employment stands terminated with immediate effect. He will be handed over to Dubai Police. We have a zero-tolerance policy towards such hate crimes,” said Stuart Harrison, CEO of Emrill Services.

"As an organisation, we have worked hard over the years to embrace diversity and create a culture of inclusion, where every nationality, religion and background is welcomed and celebrated. We have a strict social media policy for our employees to ensure they respect our values, both inside and outside of work," the newspaper quoted Harrison as saying.

Harrison said they are trying to find out if Kitturmath was still in the UAE, according to the report.

“We have over 8,500 employees so this may take a while. That said, we have fired him. If he’s still in the country, he will be handed over to Dubai Police,” he said.

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Originally from Ranebennuri, Karnataka, Kitturmath joins an ever-growing list of Indian ex-pats who have landed in trouble for alleged Islamophobic messages in recent days.

Earlier this week, Abu Dhabi resident Mitesh Udeshi was sacked for posting a cartoon mocking Islam on his Facebook page while a police complaint was filed against Sameer Bhandari of Future Vision Events & Weddings’ in Dubai after he asked a Muslim job seeker from India to go back to Pakistan.

The UAE outlaws all religious or racial discrimination under a legislation passed in 2015.

The anti-discrimination/anti-hatred law prohibits all acts “that stoke religious hatred and/or which insult religion through any form of expression, be it speech or the written word, books, pamphlets or via online media.”

Bagalkot, April 7: A group of villagers on Monday attacked three Muslim men at Bidari village in Bagalkot district accusing them of being responsible for the spread of coronavirus in the country.

The three men belonging to Mahalingapura village were walking on the road when they were attacked with sticks by people even when they said that they were nowhere connected to Tablighi Jamaat.

This incident happened within the limits of Mudhol Police Station.

Meanwhile, Superintendent of Police Lokesh Jagasalar said that the police is investigating the matter and no one will be spared who all are involved in this act.

"No one will be spared and we have taken the incident seriously and finding whoever harassed three Muslim men, at no cost the incident be defended by anyone, it was unexpected and case will be booked and stringent action will be taken against those who are involved in the incident," Lokesh told news agency.