R-Day riots in Kasganj were pre-planned: Fact finding team

Agencies
February 6, 2018

Lucknow, Feb 6: A fact-finding team of 13 activists and journalists claimed on Monday that the violence in Kasganj on Republic Day was not a spontaneous incident but a “planned move to create polarization and violent confrontation”.

Releasing a report here under the banner of ‘United Against Hate’, the team — which visited Kasganj on February 2 — also accused the Uttar Pradesh police of partisan action targeting the minority community.

“After talking extensively to local people of both the communities, it became clear that the situation in Kasganj was not any spontaneous clash between two communities but was a carefully planned attack,” said the report, released here by retired IPS officer S.R. Darapuri, who was part of the team.

One person, Chandan Gupta, died of bullet injuries, while several others were injured on January 26 after violence broke out during a bike rally taken out by some youth through ‘sensitive’ localities.

“The police and administration, as testified by locals and ground evidence, played a partisan role, and allowed the mob led by Sankalp Foundation and ABVP to run amok and indulge in organized violence, specially targeting Muslim-owned shops and property, including two mosques,” said the fact-finding report.

The activists also accused the police of omitting from its FIR the attack on two mosques as well as the sealing of only Muslim-populated localities during the tension.

On January 27, the delegation said, the police did not stop the looting and arson of Muslim-owned shops even though it accompanied the funeral procession [of Chandan].

The fact-finding team also said that despite the videos of the clashes already having gone viral, the police report refrained from naming the hooligans who were at the bike rally and were seen firing with countrymade guns.

While a Special Investigation Team probes the incident, the police have so far arrested 126 people and registered 13 FIRs in the matter. Out of these 45 were named as accused, while 81 arrests were made as a preventive measure, a police spokesperson said.

On Monday, two constables were suspended after the door of a mosque was set ablaze in the Ganjgundwara area of Kasganj.

The fact-finding team included former JNUSU president Mohit Pandey, social activists Rakhi Sehgal, Shariq Hussain and Nadeem Khan, advocate Asad Hayat and journalist Aleemullah Khan.

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Agencies
July 7,2020

India's COVID-19 tally raced past the seven lakh-mark with 22,252 fresh infections on Tuesday, five days after crossing the six lakh post, while the death toll climbed to 20,160 as 467 more people succumbed to the disease, according to the Union health ministry.

With this, the country has recorded over 20,000 cases of the infection for the fifth consecutive day.

India's coronavirus infection caseload stands at 7,19,665, the ministry's data updated at 8 am showed.

With a steady rise, the number of recoveries stands at 4,39,947, while there are 2,59,557 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country.

"Thus, around 61.13 % of patients have recovered so far," an official said.

The total number of confirmed cases also includes foreigners.

Of the 467 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, 204 are from Maharashtra, 61 from Tamil Nadu, 48 from Delhi, 29 from Karnataka, 24 from Uttar Pradesh, 22 from West Bengal, 17 from Gujarat.

Telangana and Haryana reported 11 deaths each; Madhya Pradesh nine; Andhra Pradesh seven; Jammu and Kashmir six; Rajasthan and Punjab five each; Bihar, Kerala and Odisha two each; and Arunachal Pradesh and Jharkhand one each.

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Agencies
July 1,2020

Sopore, Jammu And Kashmir: A three-year-old boy survived as his grandfather was killed in a terror attack on the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Jammu and Kashmir's Sopore town this morning. A CRPF jawan was also killed in the line of duty as terrorists opened fire on a patrol team.

In heart-wrenching images, the child is seen sitting on the blood-splattered body of his grandfather, a civilian caught in the crossfire. The boy was numb with fear when he was picked up by policemen, according to the police.

The Kashmir police also tweeted a photo of the child being carried to safety by a policeman.

"Jammu and Kashmir police rescued a three-year-old boy from getting hit by bullets during the terrorist attack in Sopore," said the tweet by the Kashmir Zone Police.

The child was travelling in a Maruti car with his grandfather from Srinagar to Handwara when it was hit by a spray of bullets in Sopore town, which is in Baramulla district about 50 km from Srinagar.

The police said terrorists hiding in a mosque fired indiscriminately at the patrol team as it was getting off a bus. The CRPF troops retaliated but the terrorists managed to escape.

According to the CRPF, the grandfather stopped the car and got out to run to a safe spot but was shot dead in the firing by terrorists. The boy was later rescued by a policeman standing nearby.

Last week, a six-year-old boy was killed during a terror attack on the CRPF in Anantnag.

Little Nihaan Bhat was sleeping in a parked car when he was hit by a bullet. Police say the terrorist was on a bike and opened fire from a pistol on a CRPF patrol. One jawan was killed. The child's killing drew widespread anger and condemnation.

The terrorist believed to be involved in the Anantnag attack escaped yesterday after an encounter with security forces. Police said two other terrorists who were hiding with him at a village were killed.

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Agencies
February 11,2020

New Delhi, Feb 11: Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari on Tuesday said the party will review why it failed to meet its own expectations in the Assembly polls and saw a moral victory in the fact that the party's vote share has increased since 2015.

"Delhi must have given mandate after careful thinking. Our vote percentage has increased from 32 per cent to around 38 per cent. Delhi did not reject us and the increase (in vote share) is a good sign for us," he told reporters.

He said the BJP hopes that there would be less blame game and more work in the national capital and congratulated Arvind Kejriwal on his party's victory in the polls.

After winning the Patparganj seat, AAP senior leader Manish Sisodia accused the BJP of indulging in the politics of hate.

"We indulge in politics of development not politics of hate. We're against the roadblock in Shaheen Bagh as we were earlier," he said.

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