Archives for 2017

London: Amnesty International today criticised the Indian government for using the “crude, colonial-era” sedition law to “silence” its critics.

In its annual human rights report, the UK-based NGO said, “Human rights activists and journalists (in India) faced intimidation and attacks from both state and non-state actors.”

The report mentioned a crackdown on civil society organisations with the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act or FCRA being repeatedly invoked to “harass organisations that receive foreign funding”.

“The crude, colonial-era sedition law was unleashed to silence government critics,” it added.

“Caste-based violence and vigilante cow protection groups harassing and attacking people in states including Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka in the name of upholding laws prohibiting the killing of cows were also highlighted as areas of concern,” it said.

“Tensions between India and Pakistan intensified following an attack by gunmen on an army base in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir.

Jammu and Kashmir state witnessed months of curfew and a range of human rights violations by authorities,” the report claimed.

The report also highlighted the consequences of the Indian  government’s move to ban large currency notes.

“A ban on India’s largest currency bills, intended as a crackdown on the country’s black market, severely affected the livelihoods of millions,” the report notes.

On a global level, the report covering 159 countries condemns the growth of “politics of demonisation” which was breeding division and fear around the world.

Salil Shetty, Secretary-General of Amnesty International, said: “Today’s politics of demonisation shamelessly peddles a dangerous idea that some people are less human than others…

Divisive fear-mongering has become a dangerous force in world affairs.

 “2016 was the year when the cynical use of ‘us vs them’ narratives of blame, hate and fear took on a global prominence to a level not seen since the 1930s.”

At a regional level in South Asia, the rights group claimed a worrying rollback of human rights as various governments invoked sovereignty and security to threaten freedoms.

Amnesty International has warned that 2017 will see the ongoing global crises exacerbated by a debilitating absence of human rights leadership on a chaotic world stage.

Syria, Yemen, Libya, Afghanistan, Central America, Central African Republic, Burundi, Iraq, South Sudan and Sudan as among the crises areas and its annual report documents war crimes committed in at least 23 countries in 2016.

((PTI))

Bengaluru: Convicted serial killer and Jayalalithaa fan KD Kempamma, also known as Cyanide Mallika, was shifted to Hindalga prison in Belagavi, north Karnataka, earlier this week.

Cyanide Mallika had last week made headlines because she was lodged in Parapanna Agrahara prison, where AIADMK chief VK Sasikala Natarajan is currently put up. What’s more, Mallika was held in the cell next to Sasikala’s.

According to reports, Mallika was shifted out of Parapanna Agrahara because her presence there was considered by some as a threat to Sasikala’s life.

‘Cyanide’ Mallika, possibly the country’s first woman serial killer, is in jail for killing six women. She allegedly identified rich women frequenting temples in and around Bengaluru, befriended them and killed them using cyanide before making off with their jewellery. She was arrested in 2008 and convicted in many cases.

While security officials felt that Mallika posed a threat to Sasikala in the Agrahara jail, media reports suggested the two had formed a cordial relationship.

“In fact, she would not allow Sasikala to stand in queue during meal time. She used to bring the food for her,” a report said quoting sources.

The jail officials were uneasy at this development, and Mallika was shifted one day without informing her.

Incidentally, Sasikala is housed in the same cell where another high-profile murderer, advocate Shubha Shankarnarayan, had been lodged for years. Shubha was convicted of murdering her techie-fiance in collusion with her boyfriend and his aides in 2003, said reports.

The shifting of Cyanide Mallika from the Bengaluru jail comes even as the AIADMK government in Tamil Nadu, under new CM Edappadi Palanisamy, is said to be making efforts to get Sasikala shifted to a prison in Tamil Nadu.

(Agencies)

New Delhi: Delhi University’s Ramjas college today saw clashes between RSS-backed ABVP and Left-affiliated AISA over cancellation of a seminar invite to JNU students Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid terming them “anti-nationals”.

RSS’ student-wing Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) had yesterday locked down the Ramjas college seminar room and pelted stones in protest against an invitation to JNU students to address a seminar saying they are “anti-nationals”.

The college authorities had to withdraw the invitation to Khalid, who was charged with sedition last year, and Shehla who was face of the movement demanding release of the students arrested in that case.

A section of teachers, students and members of left- affiliated All India Students’ Association (AISA), who were agitated over the college’s decision to “bow down” to “threat to freedom of speech” had decided to march to Maurice Nagar police station demanding action against ABVP members for alleged vandalism.

The ABVP members, however, did not allow the march to proceed and allegedly locked the students and teachers inside Ramjas college while AISA members tried to barge inside the premises to “rescue the captives”.

“The students have been locked inside and those trying to come out were beaten up by ABVP goons. We tried to barge in inside the college to rescue the students but they are attacking us as well. They have come prepared with hockey sticks,” an AISA member said.

College Principal Rajender Prasad said he is in discussion with the teachers who were organisers of the event and requested both the groups to not disrupt the peace and harmony in the college.

Prasad had yesterday claimed that though the college advocates freedom of speech, the decision was taken keeping the situation in mind.

The two JNU students were earlier invited to take part in a session during a two-day seminar on ‘Culture of Protest’ organised by Wordcraft, Ramjas college’s Literary Society.

(PTI)

New Delhi: The CPI(M) today attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his “graveyard, cremation ground” remarks, alleging it was a “straightforward” appeal aimed at “communal polarisation” of voters in Uttar Pradesh.

“It is a straightforward appeal, an effort for communal polarisation. The talk about kabristan (graveyard) and cremation, Holi and Eid, Diwali and Ramzan…the counter- posing (of these words) itself is an appeal to communal sentiments,” CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said in an interaction with PTI journalists here.

Addressing a poll rally in Fatehpur in UP yesterday, Modi had stressed that there should be “no discrimination on the basis of caste and religion” and asserted that inclusive growth was his government’s mantra.

“Agar kabristan me bijli hai to shamshaan me bhi honi chahiye. Agar Ramzan mein bijli aati hai, to Diwali me bhi aani chahiye, bhedbhav nahi hona chahiye (If there is electricity in the graveyard and during Ramzan, it must also be available in a crematorium and during Diwali. There should be no discrimination),” Modi had said.

Yechury also drew a comparison between Modi and former prime minister and BJP veteran Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

He said Vajpayee was “more of a democrat” while Modi was “more of an autocrat”.

Yechury alleged that the prime minister was leading BJP’s “fork-tongued” campaign for the UP assembly polls, in which, while Modi was talking about farmers’ debt waivers, other BJP leaders at the same time harped on Ram temple issue.

“You now have these fork-tongued speeches … there is this one angle of economy and debt waiver and, on the other, straightforward appeal for communal polarisation. The BJP has perfected the tactic,” he alleged.

To a question whether such a tactic will backfire on BJP, he said “I hope so.”

Targeting Modi further, Yechury observed that Vajpayee, who led the first NDA government between 1998 and 2004, was “very different” from Modi at “various levels”.

Unlike Modi, Vajpayee “never shied away from being accountable to Parliament” and kept the hardcore Hindutva agenda of right wing organisations on the backburner.

Under the current regime, the Hindutva agenda of RSS is being reflected at various levels, Yechury said, citing issues like triple talaq, Uniform Civil Code and Article 370.

Vajpayee also came in for praise from Yechury for the way he handled the Kashmir issue when he was at the helm of the country’s affairs.

“The slogan of ‘Insaniyat (humanity), Kashmiriyat and Jamhooriyat (democracy)’ Vajpayee gave …even today Kashmiris talk about it,” he said.

Accusing the Modi government of not taking confidence building measures, despite announcing so, in Kashmir to tackle the alienation of people there, Yechury expressed apprehension that lack of such steps will lead to Kashmiris losing faith in the government’s commitment towards their welfare.

In this context, Yechury said, “Vajpayee in comparison was more of a democrat and Mr Modi in comparison is more of an autocrat.

(Agencies)

Guwahati: No toilet, no nikah. Maulvis and muftis in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab have decided not to solemnise marriage in a house where there is no toilet.

Maulana Mahmood A Madani, Secretary General of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind said having a toilet has been made a mandatory condition for Muslim marriage in the three states and will be soon be applied in all other states in the country.

“Maulvis and muftis in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana have decided that they will not solemnise the ‘nikah’ or Muslim marriage in a house where there are no toilets,” he said.

Madani, who is also a former Rajya Sabha MP, stated this during the inauguration of Assam Conference on Sanitation (ASCOSAN) 2017 conducted here in Khanapara last week.

“I feel that all religious leaders from all the religion throughout the country should decide that they will not conduct any rituals in houses where there are no toilets,” he said.

Emphasising on cleanliness and sanitation, he asked people to use toilets and also to make not only Assam, but the country as a whole clean.

“There are two types of cleaning – one is external and the other internal. Both are interconnected, we will only be able to achieve the internal cleaning if our body is clean,” he said.

(Agencies)