Togadia escapes unhurt as truck hits SUV in Surat, blames weakened security

Agencies
March 7, 2018

Surat, Mar 7: Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) international working president Pravin Togadia escaped unhurt on Wednesday when a truck hit his vehicle from behind near Kamrej in Surat district, police said.

“A truck hit the vehicle carrying Togadia and another person, about a kilometre away from the Kamrej town, when he was on his way to Surat to attend a function. Togadia escaped unhurt and we have seized the truck and arrested its driver,” Surat rural superintendent of police MK Nayak said.

Togadia claimed he could have been killed had his SUV not been bullet-proof, and alleged that his Z-plus security was “weakened deliberately” by the Gujarat government.

“Had the vehicle in which I was travelling not been bullet-proof, not a single person travelling in it could have survived,” he said.

Togadia said that as per the Z-plus security protocol, he was earlier provided a pilot vehicle to move ahead of his car, an escort vehicle and an ambulance behind it, and a vehicle on one side.

“This was the first time that while there was a police vehicle piloting our vehicle, no escort vehicle was provided behind our vehicle, as per directions from Gandhinagar,” he alleged.

“No information regarding this was given deliberately to the police. I would like to ask why this was so? In this situation, a truck hit my vehicle. After the truck hit our vehicle, it hit a divider. Despite that, the truck driver did not apply brakes,” Togadia claimed.

“My Z-plus security was weakened deliberately. If in such a situation my vehicle was hit and no brakes were applied, this is a matter of concern,” he said.

Comments

Narayan
 - 
Thursday, 8 Mar 2018

This guy he himself made to hit by truck to  ask government to provide more security... Dont belive him... Provide zero security for this kind of joker..

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News Network
August 8,2020

Kozhikode, Aug 8: A family of five, returning to their hometown at Koducalli in Kozhikode from Dubai, were aboard the fateful Air India Express flight that crash-landed at the Kozhikode airport claiming at least 18 lives on Friday.

Saifudheen, 40, is a businessman in Dubai. During the vacation when schools were closed here, his wife Fasalunnisa travelled, along with their children Muhammad Shahil, Fathima Sana and Aysha Shanza, to meet her husband.

On Friday, they were all travelling in the Air India aircraft to Kozhikode.

All five have received injuries and have been admitted to Baby Memorial Hospital Kozhikode except Sana, who is admitted to Al Shifa Hospital at Perinthalmanna in Malappuram.

"Saifudheen is my uncle. He and his family members were returning from Dubai when this unfortunate incident occurred. We were informed about the mishap at 8 pm. Now the family members have been shifted to Baby Memorial Hospital and everyone is fine now," Muhammad Salih, nephew of Saifudheen said.

The death toll in the flight crash landing incident at Kozhikode International Airport in Kerala rose to 18, including two pilots, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Saturday.

The minister said that he will visit the Kozhikode airport to take stock of the situation.

Two special relief flights have been arranged from Delhi and one from Mumbai for rendering humanitarian assistance to all the passengers and the family members.

Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Flight Safety Departments have reached to investigate the incident, the Air India Express stated.

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News Network
January 29,2020

Jan 29: Multiple organisations have called for a Bharat Bandh today in order to protest against the recently passed Citizenship Amendment Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC). The Bharat  Bandh today has been organised in Surat in Gujarat, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh. Increased security measures have been put in place in the three states keeping in view the call for shutdown.

According to media reports, the call for Bharat Bandh was given by Maulana Sajjad Nomani of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB). This was to protest against the controversial CAA-NRC. This call is supported by an NGO based in Surat, Versatile Minorities Forum (VMF). Apart from the VMF, the call for strikes has been supported by organizations such as Bahujan Kranti Morcha, National Association of Street Vendors of India Surat chapter and the Textile Market Workers' Union.

The workers of the VMF were also spotted distributing pamphlets and urging people to support the strike. Several shopkeepers have also put up notices stating that their shops will be shut for the day.

Earlier, Bharat Bandh was called by 10 trade unions and several bank employees in order to protest against the "anti-people policies of the government" on January 8 and 9. A few violent incidents during this Bharat Bandh were reported in West Bengal.

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News Network
June 11,2020

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.

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