Azam Khan unhappy about Akhilesh Yadav donning skull cap during flag-off ceremony of Haj pilgrims

September 11, 2013

akhileshLucknow, Sep 11: Uttar Pradesh Urban Development Minister Azam Khan, who is being blamed for UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav wearing a skull cap at a ceremony to flag off Haj pilgrims in Lucknow on September 9, is clearly unhappy about the incident.

"There was no plan for the chief minister to wear a skull cap while flagging off the first batch of Haj pilgrims from the state," said Khan. According to Khan, a young man from the crowd made Akhilesh put on the skull cap and Akhilesh didn't resist. Both Akhilesh and Azam have been attacked in social media over the UP CM donning a skull cap.

But Khan made it clear he was not happy. After the event, he called the young boy and took him to task for doing this. "I don't believe that you need to wear a cap to show your concern for minorities," he said and posed a question to the Muslim community: "What if someone puts a tilak on your forehead? Will you accept it? You can't force your religious culture and beliefs on someone, everyone should respect the religious beliefs of different sections of society."

Khan is not happy with the recent communal flare-up in UP and blames both Hindus and Muslims for not having enough tolerance. "Society as a whole needs to be more tolerant, be it Hindu or Muslim. And if you can't do that, you have no right to live. There has to be some level of humanity," he lamented.

Recent reports have portrayed Khan as having a poor relationship with Akhilesh Yadav. Four state Cabinet meetings have taken place in the last two months but Azam, a senior minister in the state government, has not participated in them. On Tuesday, too, there was a Cabinet meeting but Azam preferred to stay put at his official residence at 3, Vikramditya Marg. Khan accepts there is a distance in their relationship but argues that it is of his own creation. "There are lots of reports in the media about our relationship. Earlier the same media was saying that I am present everywhere and am virtually running the government," he said. To counter that allegation, Azam has now decided to stay away from these meetings as much as possible. However, he denies any rift between him and Akhilesh Yadav. "These are all rumours. As a chief minister, Akhilesh has got all the qualities of an administrator and leader and is doing his best." Azam Khan's praise for the CM comes at a time when he is drawing flak from the Opposition, and from his father Mulayam Singh Yadav, for not being able to manage the law and order situation in the state.

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News Network
January 7,2020

New Delhi, Jan 7: When a reign of terror was unleashed by "masked goons" in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Sunday, Delhi Police registered two cases against varsity students union president Aishe Ghosh, who was badly injured in the attack, within a span of five minutes.

The registration of cases on two separate complaints against Ghosh and other students filed by JNU security department on January 3 and January 4 were registered on Sunday night when the violence was on, triggering questions about the motive behind the timing.

While the FIRs against Ghosh and others were registered between 8.44 pm and 8.49 pm after the JNUSU president was admitted to AIIMS, an FIR on the Sunday violence was registered on Monday at 5.36 am against unknown persons. The Sunday violence case has been transferred to Crime Branch for further investigations.

Questions are being raised over the registration of FIRs on Sunday while the complaints were filed on the previous days. Students allege that it was an afterthought from the police and authorities, as a nationwide outrage erupted as soon as the violence was reported.

Delhi Police is under attack for not coming to the aid of students targeted by the mob of ABVP activists armed with iron rods and sticks who went on a rampage on the campus. While no single person in the Sunday violence was arrested, the police are also accused of being a "mute spectator" by allowing the rioters to leave the campus without being arrested.

In its complaints, the JNU Security Department has alleged that Ghosh and others entered into a verbal and physical scuffle with security guards, including women, when officials tried to open the Centre for Information System (CIS) that was blocked by students protesting against the fee hike and registration process.

While the January 3 complaint claims that the students switched off the power supply to the CIS and evicted staff forcefully, the January 4 complaint alleged that they damaged the information system.

They also claimed the students damaged the servers, made it dysfunctional, severely damaged optic fibre cables and broke the biometric system in the CIS. The complaint also cited a Supreme Court order that prevented any protest within 100 metres of Administration Block and claimed the students violated the direction.

The FIR filed on Sunday violence on the basis of the statement of Inspector Anand Yadav said that the first phase of violence was reported at 3.45 pm when "40-50 unidentified" people who had "covered their faces" attacked students in Periyar Hostel and the situation was brought under control.

However at around 7 pm, "50-60 people with rods in their hands" targeted students in Sabarmati Hostel in which students were attacked and public property destroyed.

The FIR said that students were injured but skipped the mention of the attack on teachers, who were injured. At least two faculty members Sucharita Sen and Ameet Parameswaran were taken to AIIMS while several other teachers suffered minor injuries.

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News Network
April 15,2020

New Delhi, Apr 15: Tablighi Jamaat leader Maulana Saad Kandhalvi has been booked for culpable homicide after some of the attendees of the religious congregation died due to coronavirus, police said on Wednesday.

Kandhalvi had organised the religious gathering at Nizamuddin Markaz last month against the social distancing protocol imposed by the Centre to curb the spread of the deadly disease.

An FIR was registered against the cleric on March 31 at Crime Branch police station on a complaint of the Station House Officer of Nizamuddin.

He was earlier booked for holding the event, police said.

“After several attendees of the Tablighi Jamaat event succumbed to coronavirus, we added IPC section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) in the FIR against the leader, a police official said.

Some foreigners who attended the event have also been booked for violation of visa norms.

In an audio message, Kandhalvi had said that he was exercising self-quarantine after several hundreds who visited the Tablighi Jamaat congregation at Nizamudddin Markaz tested positive for coronavirus.

The FIR registered against the Tablighi Jamaat event says that the Delhi Police contacted the authorities of Nizamuddin Markaz on March 21 and reminded them of the government order which prohibited any political or religious gathering of more than 50 people.

It says that despite repeated efforts, the event organisers failed to inform the health department or any other government agency about the huge gathering inside the Markaz and deliberately disobeyed government orders.

“The sub district magistrate of Defence Colony inspected the premises several times and found that around 1,300 people, including foreign nationals, were residing there without maintaining social distance. It was also found that there were no arrangements of hand sanitizers and face masks,” the FIR adds.

The Nizamudddin centre, attended by thousands, turned out to be a hotspot for spread of coronavirus not only in the national capital, but the entire country.

More than 25,500 Tablighi members and their contacts have been quarantined in the country after the Centre and the state governments conducted a "mega operation" to identify them.

At least 9,000 people participated in the religious congregation in Nizamuddin. Later, many of the attendees travelled to various parts of the country.

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News Network
February 4,2020

New Delhi, Feb 4: The investigation into the incident of violence at Jamia Millia Islamia during an anti-citizenship law protest was at a crucial stage, the Centre told the Delhi High Court on Tuesday.

The submission before a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar was made by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta while seeking more time to file a report regarding the probe.

Taking note of the submission, the bench granted the Centre time till April 29 to file a reply.

During the hearing, senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for some students of Jamia, said 93 students and teachers filed complaints about alleged attacks on them by police but no FIR has been filed against the agency till date.

The other lawyers for the petitioners alleged that the government has not complied with the court order to file a response within four weeks of the last date of hearing on December 19.

The bench, however, declined to pass any interim order and granted time till April 29 to the government to file a reply.

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