Archives for May 2022

Sharjeel Imam

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday said it will hear on May 26 a plea by JNU student Sharjeel Imam, who has been arreted in a case related to alleged inflammatory speeches made by him during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens in 2019, seeking interim bail.

Imam has sought bail citing the Supreme Court’s order to keep in abeyance proceedings in all sedition cases in the country.

As a bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Rajnish Bhatnagar did not assemble on Tuesday, the application has been listed for hearing next week.

Imam has filed an application seeking interim bail in his already pending bail plea.

The application, filed through advocates Talib Mustafa, Ahmad Ibrahim, and Kartik Venu, said the trial court’s order rejecting his bail is primarily based on the premise that the special court had no power to grant bail under Section 437 of the CrPC in view of the limitations imposed therein, once the court had by a separate order, sought it fit to frame sedition charges against Imam.

In view of the Supreme Court’s directions, the hindrance raised by the special court in the impugned order stands obviated, and observations surrounding the offence under section 124A (punishment for sedition) IPC cannot be taken into consideration in the proceedings against the appellant (Imam) pending the final outcome of the constitutional challenges to the section. Dehors the issue of Section 124-A IPC, the case against the appellant stands significantly diluted and improves his case for securing bail, the plea said.

It said Imam has been incarcerated for nearly 28 months whereas the maximum punishment for the offences, not including 124A IPC, is punishable up to a maximum of seven years of imprisonment.

It added that the continued incarceration of Imam is unsustainable and warrants the interference of this court.

On May 11, the Supreme Court had stayed till further orders on the registration of FIRs, probes, and the coercive measures for the offence of sedition across the country by the Centre and the states until an appropriate forum of the government re-examines the colonial-era penal law.

The top court had taken note of the concerns of the Centre and said the rigours of Section 124A (sedition) of the IPC is not in tune with the current social milieu and permitted reconsideration of the provision.

It had extended the interim orders, granting relief to the accused of the offence of sedition.

Any affected party was at liberty to approach courts concerned which are requested to examine reliefs sought taking into consideration the present order, the apex court had said.

All pending cases, appeals, and proceedings concerning the provision of sedition would be kept at abeyance and the adjudication of other offences, if any, could proceed, it had said.

According to the prosecution, Imam had allegedly made speeches at Jamia Millia Islamia on December 13, 2019, and at the Aligarh Muslim University on December 16, 2019, where he threatened to cut off Assam and the rest of the Northeast from India.

Imam, who has been charged with section 124A of the IPC which entails life imprisonment, has approached the high court challenging a trial court’s January 24 order denying him bail in the case.

Imam’s counsel has said he has been in custody for the last over two years and there was no likelihood of the trial getting over in the near future as there were more than 170 witnesses to be examined and the trial has not even started yet.

The bail plea said the instant FIR was registered against Imam on January 25, 2020, simultaneously with four other FIRs across multiple states for the same speeches attributed to him.

The instant FIR was originally registered for the offences punishable under sections 124A (punishment for sedition, 153A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence), 153B (Imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) and 505(2) (Statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes) of the IPC and later section 13 (punishment for unlawful activities) of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) was added.

Subsequently, Imam was arrested in this case from Bihar on January 28, 2020, and was remanded to police custody for eight days and has been in continuous judicial custody since then.

He is also one of the accused in the 2020 Delhi riots conspiracy case.

The prosecution has claimed that his speeches incited hatred, contempt, and disaffection towards the Central Government and instigated the people which led to the violence in December 2019.

In the garb of CAA, he (Imam) exhorted people of a particular community to block highways leading to major cities and resort to ‘chakka jaam’. Also, in the name of opposing CAA, he openly threatened to cut off Assam and other Northeastern states from the rest of the country, the Delhi Police’s charge sheet has stated.

In his defence, Imam had earlier told the court that he is not a terrorist and his prosecution is a whip of a monarch rather than a government established by law .

The prosecution claimed that violent riots took place pursuant to Imam’s speech.

Varanasi: The commission tasked with the videography survey of the Gyanvapi Masjid complex here will on Tuesday seek additional time from a local court to submit its report as it is yet to be prepared, an official said.

The court had earlier asked the commission to submit the report by Tuesday.

Assistant Advocate Commissioner, Ajay Pratap Singh, said, “As per the orders of the court, the videography survey of the Gyanvapi Masjid complex took place from May 14 to May 16 from 8 am to 12 noon, and its report was to be submitted to the court.”

“However, we are not submitting the report in the court today (Tuesday) since it is not prepared. We will seek additional time from the court, and whatever time the court gives, we will submit the report then,” Singh said.

The mosque is located close to the iconic Kashi Vishwanath temple and the local court is hearing a plea by a group of women seeking permission for daily prayers before the idols on its outer walls.

A local court on Monday had ordered the sealing of a pond in the Gyanvapi Masjid complex after lawyers representing the Hindu petitioners said a Shivling was found there during the court-mandated videography survey.

However, a mosque management committee member disputed the claim, saying the object was part of the water fountain mechanism at the wazookhana reservoir where devotees carry out ablutions before offering namaz.

Anjuman Intezamiya Masjid Committee joint secretary Syed Mohammad Yasin had claimed that the mosque management was not heard before Civil Judge (Senior Division) Ravi Kumar Diwakar issued the order.

In his order on Thursday last, District Civil Judge Diwakar had turned down a plea by the mosque committee to replace Ajay Kumar Mishra, who was appointed advocate commissioner by the court to survey the Gyanvapi-Gauri Shringar complex.

The judge also appointed two more advocates to help the court commissioner with the survey and said it should be completed by Tuesday.

The Supreme Court had on Friday last refused to grant an interim order of status quo on the survey. The top court, however, agreed to consider listing the plea of a Muslim party against the survey.

Three court-appointed advocate commissioners, five lawyers each from the two sides and an assistant besides a videography team carried out the survey.

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New Delhi: The CBI has registered a new case against Lok Sabha MP Karti Chidambaram, son of former finance minister P Chidambaram, for allegedly receiving illegal gratification, officials said on Tuesday.

Following the registration of the FIR, the CBI on Tuesday morning started searches at nine premises of Chidambaram in Chennai and other cities in the country, they said.

New Delhi: Delhi Parents Association (DPA) on Monday wrote to Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) demanding that the summer vacation be declared in city’s schools immediately in view of the deadly scorching heat.

A tormenting heatwave swept through the national capital and its neighbouring areas on Sunday with the mercury leaping to 49.2 degrees Celsius at Mungeshpur in northwest Delhi and 49.1 degrees Celsius at Najafgarh in the southwest parts of the city.

Maximum temperatures reached unbearable highs of 48.4 degrees Celsius at Sports Complex, 47.5 degrees Celsius at Jafarpur, 47.3 degrees Celsius at Pitampura and 47.2 degrees Celsius at Ridge.

“We call upon you to immediately declare summer vacations in schools without delay in view of the deadly heat scorching in Delhi. Many children are falling ill due to extreme heat. And the attendance of children in schools is decreasing,” DPA president Aparajita Gautam said in the letter.

“It is getting so hot in Delhi after 72 years. Yesterday, on 15 May 2022, the temperature in many areas of Delhi reached almost 50 degree Celsius. While some safety rules and suggestions were also issued by the Union Ministry of Education to protect the children, even the neighboring states changed the school timings.

But no such step was taken by the Delhi government. In the guidelines issued by the central government, it has been made clear that it is not safe for children to come out between 12-3 pm,” she added.

Gautam noted that the main purpose of summer holidays is to save the children from the wrath of the heatwave.

“We have been seeing for so many days that children are getting sick due to the ever-increasing heat and the attendance rate in schools is falling continuously. Therefore, in this view the schools should be closed immediately without delay and holidays are to be declared,” she said.

Ahmedabad: Gujarat police have booked filmmaker Avinash Das for sharing a photo of Union Home Minister Amit Shah with Jharkhand cadre IAS officer Pooja Singhal, who was recently arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case, an official said.

Police Inspector H M Vyas of Ahmedabad Police’s Detection of Crime Branch said Das (46) shared the photo on his Twitter handle on May 8.

The photo shows Shah and Singhal at a public event five years ago, but Das tweeted it to mislead people and defame the minister’s reputation, the official said.

Das has also been booked for allegedly insulting the national flag by posting on March 17 a morphed picture of a woman wearing a tricolour on his Facebook account, the official said.

A case has been registered against Das under IPC 469 (forgery) and section 67 of IT Act for the May 8 Twitter post, he said. Das has also been booked under sections of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act and IT Act for the March 17 Facebook post, the official added.

The ED on Wednesday arrested Jharkhand mining secretary Singhal in a case of money laundering involving alleged diversion of MGNREGA funds, and also seized over Rs 18 crore in cash from the house of a chartered accountant, allegedly linked to Singhal.

Das has directed the 2017 film Anaarkali of Aarah’, starring Swara Bhaskar, Sanjay Mishra and Pankaj Tripathi.

Ahmedabad: AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday asserted he will not let the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, where a court-mandated videography survey has been completed, meet the fate of the Babri masjid that was demolished in December 1992.

The Lok Sabha MP from Hyderabad said he will continue to speak on the Gyanvapi masjid issue, which he termed as an attempt to weaken the Constitution, as he was not scared of either Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath.

Addressing a rally at Vadgam in Gujarat, where Assembly polls are due by the year-end, Owaisi said the accusation that the AIMIM by fielding its candidates will hurt the chances of the opposition Congress to win the elections in the BJP-ruled state was misplaced.

The president of the Hyderabad-based All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) said people question him for speaking on the issue of Gyanvapi mosque.

“I will speak because I have not sold my ‘jameer’ (conscience), nor will I ever do so. I speak because I am only scared of Allah and not any Modi or Yogi. I speak because the Constitution that was framed by Babasaheb Ambedkar gives me the freedom of expression,” he said.

The AIMIM leader said he will not let the Gyanvapi mosque meet the fate of the Babri masjid in Ayodhya that was demolished nearly three decades ago.

Owaisi said he will not be deterred by criticism directed at him for protesting against the court order directing a survey of the medieval-era mosque in Varanasi.

“I am pained (by the survey) because the Indian Constitution is being weakened, the judgement of the Supreme Court is being ignored, and those who question me should read section 4(2) of the 1991 law (the Places of Worship Act),” he said.

The Act prohibits filing of any suit or initiating any other legal proceeding for a conversion of the religious character of any place of worship, as existing on August 15, 1947.

A court on Monday directed the Varanasi district administration to seal the spot in the Gyanvapi masjid complex where a Shivling was reportedly found during a court-mandated videography survey, which concluded after three days. The mosque is located close to the iconic Kashi Vishwanath temple and the Varanasi court is hearing a plea by a group of women seeking permission for daily prayers before the idols on its outer walls.

Owaisi said “bhakts of Godse (Nathuram Godse, the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi)” are spreading hatred in the country against Muslims by invoking issues like hijab, job jihad and others.

The AIMIM leader sought people’s support for his party for the upcoming elections and said the Congress, which is out of power in the state for nearly three decades now, was not in a position to speak on behalf of Muslims of Gujarat.

“People say Owaisi and the AIMIM (by contesting polls) will benefit the BJP. I would like to ask the Congress party as to when you last formed a government in Gujarat? …Owaisi and the AIMIM were not there all these years, so why were you defeated?” he asked.

The Lok Sabha MP questioned the Congress over defection of its MLAs to the ruling BJP and having only three Muslim legislators in its fold in a House of 182.

“Remember, you (Muslims) cannot change the government, but using your votes, you can help our representatives win and go to the Gujarat Vidhan Sabha to become your voice,” he said.

Owaisi is in Gujarat to make preparations for the Assembly elections. He has said the AIMIM intends to contest the upcoming polls and the party is in the process of figuring out the seats on which it will field its candidates.

His visit comes at a time when several office-bearers of the Gujarat AIMIM have quit their posts accusing the state unit of working for the benefit of the BJP.

Bengaluru, May 16: Congress is facing a phobia of regional parties, JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy said on Monday while taking a swipe at the grand old party leader Rahul Gandhi for his critical comments on those parties.

In an apparent sarcastic note, he asked the former Congress president to elaborate to regional parties about ideological commitment, while saying that the national party has no presence in most parts of the country.

He said the Congress toppled the I K Gujral-led United Front government, demanding that DMK be kept out of the Cabinet by citing the links of the Dravidian party with the LTTE in the backdrop of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination. But, the same Congress in the later years shared a cordial, political relationship with that party.

“Is sharing power with the same DMK for 10 years in UPA-1 and -2 governments, led by Manmohan Singh, an ideological commitment?” he questioned in a tweet.

In his address at his party’s “Chintan Shivir” (brainstorming camp) in Udaipur, Gandhi had claimed that regional parties cannot fight the BJP and the RSS as they lack ideology. The Congress can fight them, he had said.

Noting that Rahul Gandhi claims that Congress alone has the strength to defeat the BJP, the former Chief Minister said he (Rahul) should not forget that his party enjoyed power for 10 years on the strength of regional parties.

“Is joining hands (with BJP) for the immoral operation ‘Lotus’ through the back door, after coming to our (JD-S) door with an alliance proposal and forming a coalition government with us, an ideological commitment? Is destroying alliance partners ideology-based politics?” he further questioned the Congress.

As 2018 polls threw up a hung verdict, Congress and JD(S), which fought elections separately, joined hands to form a coalition government in Karnataka under the leadership of Kumaraswamy.

However, the government fell after 14 months due to dissidence within, and with MLAs from both parties resigning and joining the BJP.

Stating that Congress is facing a phobia of regional parties, Kumaraswamy said, “It has no presence in most of the States like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha. Congress is in its last days in Karnataka. It will be better if Rahul Gandhi understands that.