Mohali, Sept 23: Senior journalist K J Singh and his nonagenarian mother were found dead at their residence here, police said today.
“There were injury marks on their necks,” Mohali Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Alam Vijay Singh said.
Singh was in his sixties while his mother Gurcharan Kaur was 92 years old.
Police said they were investigating the matter. Senior police officials have reached the spot.
Singh had worked with The Tribune and some other publications.
Washington, Jun 11: Observing that historically India has been a tolerant, respectful country for all religions, a top Trump administration official has said the US is "very concerned" about what is happening in India over religious freedom.
The comments by Samuel Brownback, Ambassador-At-Large for International Religious Freedom, came hours after the release of the "2019 International Religious Freedom Report" on Wednesday.
Mandated by the US Congress, the report documenting major instances of violation of religious freedom across the world was released by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the State Department.
India has previously rejected the US religious freedom report, saying it sees no locus standi for a foreign government to pronounce on the state of its citizens' constitutionally protected rights.
"We do remain very concerned about what's taking place in India. It's historically just been a very tolerant, respectful country of religions, of all religions," Mr Brownback said during a phone call with foreign journalists on Wednesday.
The trend lines have been troubling in India because it is such a religious subcontinent and seeing a lot more communal violence, Mr Brownback said. "We're seeing a lot more difficulty. I think really they need to have a - I would hope they would have an - interfaith dialogue starting to get developed at a very high level in India, and then also deal with the specific issues that we identified as well," he said.
"It really needs a lot more effort on this topic in India, and my concern is, too, that if those efforts are not put forward, you're going to see a growth in violence and increased difficulty within the society writ large," said the top American diplomat.
Responding to a question, Mr Brownback said he hoped minority faiths are not blamed for the COVID-19 spread and that they would have access to healthcare amid the crisis.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has criticised any form of discrimination, saying the COVID-19 pandemic affects everyone equally. "COVID-19 does not see race, religion, colour, caste, creed, language or border before striking. Our response and conduct thereafter should attach primacy to unity and brotherhood," PM Modi said in a post on LinkedIn in February.
The government, while previously rejecting the US religious freedom report, had said: "India is proud of its secular credentials, its status as the largest democracy and a pluralistic society with a longstanding commitment to tolerance and inclusion".
"The Indian Constitution guarantees fundamental rights to all its citizens, including its minority communities… We see no locus standi for a foreign entity/government to pronounce on the state of our citizens' constitutionally protected rights," the Foreign Ministry said in June last year.
According to the Home Ministry, 7,484 incidents of communal violence took place between 2008 and 2017, in which more than 1,100 people were killed.
New Delhi, Jun 8: India on Monday reported the highest single-day spike of 9,983 more COVID-19 cases and 206 deaths in the last 24 hours.
With this, the country's coronavirus count has reached 2,56,611, including 1,25,381 active cases, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
1,24,094 patients have been cured/discharged so far and 7,135 succumbed to the deadly virus. While one patient has migrated.
With 85,975 cases, Maharashtra is the worst-affected state in the country followed by Tamil Nadu at 31,667 cases.
A total of 1,08,048 samples were tested for coronavirus in the last 24 hours and overall 47,74,434 samples have been tested till now.
New Delhi, Jun 18: Republican Party of India (RPI-A) leader Ramdas Athawale on Thursday urged Indians to boycott Chinese food and asked for a ban on all restaurants which serve the cuisine.
"Restaurants selling Chinese food should be banned. Restaurants should be closed by the order of the state government. I appeal to people who consume Chinese food to boycott it," Athawale told ANI here.
The Union Minister also said that both the products which come from China and its literature should also be banned in the country.
"The Chinese literature should also be banned, its products too should be banned and its companies too should not be given business here. We should develop such companies in the country which can manufacture the same products here," he added.
Athawale also warned China to reconsider its actions and stop its nefarious activities on the border by saying, "You took Buddha from us but we don't want yuddha (war) with you. A war will prove to be costly for both countries, economically and loss of lives will also occur. If we (Indians) are not crossing the border then why are you doing so?"
Athawale's statements came after at least 20 Indian Army personnel, including a Colonel rank officer, lost their lives in the violent face-off in the Galwan valley area of Ladakh on June 15.
The clash happened as a result of an attempt by the Chinese troops to "unilaterally change" the status quo during de-escalation in eastern Ladakh and the situation could have been avoided if the agreement at the higher level been scrupulously followed by the Chinese side, India said on June 16.
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