80% of Hindus and Muslims have fallen prey to communalism: Justice Katju

December 13, 2012

Markandey_Katju

Aligarh, December 13: Chairman of Press Council of India Justice Markanday Katju today alleged politicians in independent India "have played a major role in spreading deeper the poison of Hindu-Muslim divide, whose seeds were sown by the British, for serving their own votebank politics".

Addressing a programme in Aligarh Muslim Univeristy (AMU), he said Pakistan was an "artificially-created state" by Britishers using the Hindu-Muslim divide.

"It is only a matter of time when the people of both the countries (India and Pakistan) will realise that their erstwhile Western rulers had poisoned their minds and hearts against each other for serving their own interest. They created the Hindu-Muslim divide and then concretised this legacy by the creation of Pakistan", Katju said.

"The real tragedy", he said "was that while the British sowed the seeds of discords in the hearts and minds of people, after independence agent provocateurs are continuing this nefarious policy".

"I have no hesitation to state that politicians have played a major role in spreading this poison deeper for serving their own vote bank politics", he charged.

According to Justice Katju, "in 1857, there was almost zero percent communalism in the country and today I have no hesitation to accept that 80% of both Hindus and Muslims have fallen prey to this dreadful malaise", he said.

"I am aware that my comments on this issue had earlier this week stirred a hornet's nest. Some newspersons in Pakistan have dismissed my views as the ranting of a lunatic", he said adding "Hindu-Muslim conflict was engineered by the British as a deliberate state policy for maintaining the British hold over India".

Claiming that history books were deliberately doctored by the British rulers, he said it was done to spawn communalism in India.

Referring to terror activities in the country, Katju said evidence was now mounting to suggest that whenever incidents of terror take place in India, "very frequently innocent Muslim youth are randomly picked up by security forces".

"This is not only unjust but also helps the actual perpetrators of such heinous crimes escape the clutches of the law. The main reason behind this is that our police force are not suitably equipped with all the modern technology and state-of-art investigative techniques for nabbing the actual culprits", he said.

Whenever an incident of terror takes place, the police are under pressure to nab the culprits at the earliest and "the easiest way out is to implicate innocent persons to ease the pressure of public opinion", he said.

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News Network
July 1,2020

Mumbai, Jul 1: Mumbai police on Wednesday imposed section 144 of CrPC prohibiting the movement of people in public places and gatherings, to prevent the spread of Covid-19, an official said.

The prohibitory order, issued by a senior police official, says restrictions on the movement of residents for non- essential work will remain in force till July 15.

The order prohibits "presence or movement of one or more persons in public places or gathering of any sort", the official said.

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News Network
June 27,2020

New Delhi, Jun 27: Fuel prices were hiked by the oil marketing companies for the 21st day in a row on Saturday. Petrol and diesel will now cost Rs 80.38/litre and Rs 80.40/litre respectively in the national capital.

The price of petrol is increased by Rs 0.25 per litre while that of diesel by Rs 0.21 per litre.
Rates differ from state to state depending on the incidence of value-added tax (VAT).

Notably, oil marketing companies have been adjusting retail rates in line with costs after an 82-day break from rate revision amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. These firms on June 7 restarted revising prices in line with costs.

The Congress party had called the increase in the price of petrol and diesel 'unjust', 'thoughtless' and demanded from the Central government to roll back increase with immediate effect and pass on the benefit of low oil prices directly to the citizens of this country.
In an official statement, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) had said that no government should levy and impose such unacceptable strain on its people.

Before the nation entered the lockdown, the average price of petrol and diesel in Delhi was Rs 69.60 per litre and Rs 62.30 per litre respectively.

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News Network
March 3,2020

New Delhi, Mar 3: A day after two new cases of novel coronavirus that included one from Delhi were reported, the Health Ministry on Tuesday said six cases with "high-viral load" were detected during sample testing in Agra and these people have been kept in isolation. The six people had come in contact with a 45-year-old patient from Delhi, whose case came to light on Monday, and they include his family members.

According to government sources, the man, who is a resident of Mayur Vihar, had visited them in Agra.

The six have been kept in isolation at Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi and their samples are being sent to NIV, Pune for confirmation.

Contact tracing of the people who came in contact with the six is simultaneously being done through the Integrated Disease Surveillance Program (IDSP) network, the ministry said in a statement.

Sources said the patient from Mayur Vihar was shifted to a quarantine ward at Safdarjung Hospital on Sunday night.

His other family members have been asked to stay alert and look out for symptoms. One accountant, who came in contact with the man and some of his family members, was also quarantined, they said.

India on Monday reported two new cases of the novel coronavirus, one from Delhi and another one from Hyderabad. The government has stepped up its efforts to detect and check the infection which has killed 2,912 people in China.

On Monday, Rajasthan Health Minister Raghu Sharma had said that an Italian tourist tested positive for coronavirus in Jaipur.

The first sample collected from him on February 29 tested negative but his condition deteriorated, so a second sample was collected which tested positive on Monday, the minister said, adding, "Since there is a variation in the reports, the samples have been sent to the NIV, Pune for testing".

India had earlier reported three cases from Kerala, including two medical students from Wuhan in China, the epicentre of the deadly novel coronavirus. They had self-reported on their return to the country and tested positive for the infection. They were discharged from hospitals last month following recovery.

The infected person from Delhi had travelled to Italy, while the other patient who tested positive for the COVID-19 infection is from Telangana and had recently travelled to Dubai.

Both the patients had self-reported after they developed symptoms.

"They tested positive. They are stable and being closely monitored," ministry said on Monday.

The government has asked people to avoid non-essential travel to Iran, Italy, South Korea and Singapore and said India was in discussions with authorities in Iran and Italy, two countries badly affected by the infection, to evacuate Indians there.

The novel coronavirus or COVID-19, which originated in China, has spread to over 60 countries.

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