Mangalurean Dr Soofi Anwar achieves professional recognition of Senior Fellow of HEA, UK

Bengaluru, Feb 19: Pointing out that there was a deliberate attempt to cover up police excesses by implicating innocent persons at whim, the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday granted conditional bail to 21 people who were accused by police of involving in violence during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in Mangaluru.

Allowing the bail petitions of Ashik and 20 others from Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts, Justice John Michael Cunha said the overzealousness of the police is also evident from the fact that FIRs were registered under Section 307 of IPC against the persons killed by the police themselves.

“In an offence involving a large number of people, the identity and participation of each accused must be fixed with reasonable certainty. In the present cases, the identity appears to have been fixed on the basis of their affiliation to PFI and they being members of the Muslim community. Though it is stated that the involvement of the petitioners is captured in CCTV footage and photographs, no such material is produced before the court showing the presence of any of the petitioners at the spot, armed with deadly weapons,” the judge noted.

In the statement of objections filed by the State Public Prosecutor-I, it was stated that there was a hint of Muslim youths holding protest on December 19, 2019, opposing the implementation of CAA. Prohibitory orders were clamped in that connection. This assertion indicated that the common object of the assembly was to oppose the implementation of CAA and National Register for Citizens (NRC) which, by itself, was not an “unlawful object”, the judge pointed out.

‘Pics show cops throwing stones at crowd’

Justice Cunha also said the material collected by the investigators did not contain any specific evidence regarding the presence of any of the petitioners at the spot. On the other hand, omnibus allegations were made against the Muslim crowd of 1,500-2,000, alleging that they were armed with weapons like stones, soda bottles and glass pieces. The photographs produced by the SPP depicted that hardly any member of the crowd were armed with weapons, except one of them holding a bottle. In none of these photographs, police station or policemen were seen in the vicinity, the judge noted.

“On the other hand, photographs produced by the petitioners show that the policemen themselves were pelting stones at the crowd. The petitioners have produced copies of the complaints lodged by the dependants of the deceased who died due to police firing and the endorsement made thereon reveals that even though the law required the police to register independent FIRs in view of the specific complaint made against the police officers making out cognizable offences, the police have failed to register FIRs. This goes to show that a deliberate attempt is underway to cover up police excesses by implicating innocent persons at the whims and caprice of the police,” the judge observed.

In the wake of counter-allegations against the police and in the backdrop of their failure to register FIRs based on complaints lodged by the families of victims, the possibility of false and mistaken implication could not be ruled out, the judge said. In these circumstances, it would be a travesty of justice to deny bail to the petitioners and sacrifice their liberties to the mercy of the district administration and police. The records indicate that a deliberate attempt has been made to trump up evidence and to deprive the liberties of the petitioners by fabricating evidence. None of the petitioners have any criminal antecedents, the court said.

“The allegations levelled against the petitioners are not punishable with death or imprisonment for life. There is no direct evidence to connect them with the alleged offence. The investigation appears to be malafide and partisan. In the circumstances, in order to protect the rights and liberties of the petitioners, it is necessary to admit them to bail,” the judge said.

The petitioners were arrested and remanded in judicial custody after the anti-CAA protests on charges of being members of an unlawful assembly, armed with lethal weapons, attempting to set fire to the North Police Station in Mangaluru, obstructing the police from discharging their duties and causing damage to public property, etc., on December 19 in violation of the prohibitory orders. They moved the High Court as their bail pleas had been rejected by a sessions court in Dakshina Kannada.

Global Toastmasters Club conducted Youth Leadership Program (GTC YLP– 2020), which  culminated with an extraordinary show at the Grand Finale in Puli Restaurant, Jubail, Saudi Arabia on Friday, January 31, 2020.

Toastmaster Mohammed Abul Khasim, who hails from Karnataka, Gulbarga was the Chief Coordinator for this Youth leadership program YLP, In this 10 weeks intensively focused program, the young future Leaders in the age group 13 to 15 were given quality coaching on Public Speaking, Listening, Writing, Evaluating and Life Skills, under the able guidance of Chief Coordinator.

The keynote speaker at the event was well-known veteran distinguish Toastmaster Dr R J George who motivated everyone to speak the language of love, removing all boundaries and barriers and invest on spending quality time together.

The performances of Youth Leaders were extraordinary and flawless and it was witness by top prominent figures of Jubail toastmaster fraternity likes of DTM Jamil Akhter,TM Nasiruddin Ansari, DTM Oomen Thomas, MTM Sair Oomen, DTM Hareesh, TM Amitab Serna, DTM Kotesh, MTM Shanti Rekha, DTM Suresh Kumar, TM Imtiyaz Khan, TM Asif Ali khan, MTM Farha Naved,TM Naved Hussain, Madam Sheeba, Dr Saleem Khan,TM Ashik Nazeer and TM Suhail Rais Khan. GTC YLP team thanks the Guest of Honor Mr. Abdul Majeed the Managing Director of Universal Inspection Company for sparing the valuable time as one of the sponsor of the event.

The Chief Guest at the Finale was Toastmasters District 79 Club Growth Director DTM Rami Jawad, laud the efforts of GTC for community service and urged all students to take full advantage of such chances as they present life changing opportunities, Division Direct ‘L” DTM Sadagopan address the audience and District PQD DTM Madhusha Grace the occasion. 

During the span of 10 weeks, more than 40 senior member of Jubail Toastmasters fraternity contributed to the success of this program as one to one mentors, Workshop Presenters and Assistant Coordinators. DTM Uzma Siddiqui, DTM Aziz Ahmed Siddiqui, DTM Safare Mohammed, DTM N V Arasu and DTM Jeyasankar and DTM Asif Ali Siddiqui, led the team of Toastmasters as overall Program Advisors, MTM Samina Mazher was chief judge for the event.

The grand finale saw four absorbing contests in Table Topics, Evaluation Speech, International Speech and Debate conducted by YL Ayesha Safare, YL Sai Pranav, YL Mohammed Saad and YL Fawaz Kannan respectively and YL Jaweriya conducted the banner parade.
Maliaka Maryam won the first prize in International Speech, while the second and third were earned by Mohammed Saad and Mohammed Umair. The Table topic contest was won by Ahmed Khan, where Jayveer Prajapati and Fawaz Kannan stood second and third respectively.

Sreena Nanda Kumar won evaluation Speech Contest, while Mohammed Sufyan and Sai Pranav stood second and third respectively. In Debate contest the team speaking against the topic represented by Hasib Javid, Muzaffer Shaik and Nabil Bin Tasnim stood first and runner team was represented by Sarah Nasir, Fathima Badruddin and Shanum Rabia . Hasib Javid was declared the best debate speaker.

The first term President Sarah Nasir and second term President Mohammed Ahmed Khan started the program with their presidential addresses after the Surah recitation by Nabil BinTasnim. YL Jumana Jaffer & YL Arman Raiq Siraj hosted the finale as Master of ceremonies. Immedate past Youth leaders and assistance Coordinators and workshop presenters Jaweriya Mariyam and Ayesha Safare conducted the award ceremony, while DTM Safare Mohammed handled contest operations.

Global Toastmasters President DTM Khalid Siddiqui and YLP Chief Coordinator TM Mohammed Abul Khasim thanked all Youth Leaders, Parents Sponsors and Toastmasters for their contribution in making the program successful. 

Past President of Global TMC, past Area63 Governor and first ever Joint Division E & L conference chairman Mangalorean DTM Shameer Ahmed Kudroli congratulated the Chief Coordinator Mohammed Abul Khasim for the effort and dedication to make the event a grand success and his journey to accomplish the DTM title soon.