Archives for 2023

Muzaffarnagar (UP): An imam has been arrested for allegedly offering ‘namaz’ (prayers) on the road outside a mosque here, police said on Sunday.

They said an FIR has also been registered against 25 others after a video of them offering the Friday prayers on the road went viral.

“Maulana Naseem, imam of Rehman mosque, has been arrested under IPC section 341 (wrongful restraint),” Additional SP Ayush Vikram Singh said.

He said the police is trying to identify the others with the help of the viral video.

Dehradun: Devotees have been banned from taking photographs and making videos inside the premises of the Kedarnath Temple here.

The move comes after a recent video of a woman blogger proposing to her boyfriend in front of the temple went viral.

Shri Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee has put up boards at various places in the temple premises which read, ‘Do not enter the temple premises with mobile phones; any kind of photography and videography is completely prohibited inside the temple; and you are under the surveillance of CCTV cameras’.

The temple has also asked the people to wear “decent clothes” and desist from setting up tents or camps in the temple precincts.

The boards, written in Hindi and English, also state that legal action will be taken against those not following the orders.

Shri Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee president Ajendra Ajay said a religious space follows a set of belief system and the devotees should respect the same.

He said although no complaints have come from the Badrinath Dham yet, such boards will also be installed there.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee

Kolkata: Stepping up the attack on the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, the BJP on Sunday said the collapse of the Mamata Banerjee government was just a matter of time.

Speaking at a party programme in his Bongaon Lok Sabha constituency in North 24 Parganas district, BJP MP Shantanu Thakur said the TMC government will not last beyond five months.

“The Mamata Banerjee government has outlived its utility. Had the TMC not resorted to widespread rigging in the recently concluded panchayat polls, the BJP would have bagged thousands of more seats. But this is going to be the last election under the supervision of TMC government where all the state machineries including the State Election Commission (SEC) have failed to play a neutral and impartial role,” Thakur, the Union Minister of State for Shipping, said.

“I have a hunch that this government will not last beyond five months,” he added.

Talking to reporters after attending an organisational meeting to take stock of the party’s panchayat poll performance, BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said, “Anything can happen any time. Let’s see what happens.”

He added, “Who knows if there’s a people’s uprising against TMC’s misrule and terror. Who knows if TMC MLAs suddenly refuse to follow Mamata Banerjee’s way of functioning. I am not saying it will happen, it may not. But anything is possible in politics.”

About his meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi on July 14, Majumdar said, “The Centre will do everything possible to protect the lives of innocent people in West Bengal.”

Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari had earlier demanded imposition of Article 355 in West Bengal saying central intervention has become imperative in the state which had witnessed violence during panchayat polls.

He said, “Though a democratically elected government cannot be toppled, if it fails to perform its duty as envisaged in the Constitution, the Centre has to intervene to save it from slipping into lawlessness.”

Reacting to the comments of BJP leaders, TMC Rajya Sabha MP and party spokesperson Santanu Sen said, “All these BJP leaders, including Adhikari, are desperate to raise their ratings in Delhi by issuing threats to a government which came to power for the third time through a huge mandate two years ago and enjoys mass support.”

He added, “If out of desperation the BJP tries any misadventure” after the drubbing in panchayat polls, the people of state will thwart it.

Sen said BJP leaders like Adhikari and Ghosh had made similar predictions about the collapse of TMC government in December and January and “even spelt out specific dates,” but nothing happened.

TMC state general secretary and spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said BJP leaders are making such claims “to boost the morale of their rank and file,” who had been demoralised after the panchayat poll results.

“They (BJP leaders) are themselves aware about the absurdity of their claims,” he added.

Bhopal: A fire broke out in the battery box of a coach of the Vande Bharat train heading from Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal to New Delhi on Monday morning, a senior railway official said.

There were 37 passengers in the coach and they were shifted to other coaches immediately. No injury was reported to anyone in the incident, the official said.

The fire was later doused and repairs were conducted. The train resumed its onward journey after remaining halted for more than three hours, the official said.

The Rani Kamalapati-Hazrat Nizamuddin Vande Bharat Express train started at 5.40 am from Bhopal, West Central Railway’s chief public relations officer Rahul Shrivastava said.

“When it was passing through Kalhar station, the station manager noticed smoke billowing out from the battery box of the C-14 coach following which he alerted senior officials and the train was stopped at Kurwai-Kaithora station, the official said in a statement.

Fire brigade personnel extinguished the blaze by 7.58 am, he said.

The battery box is located quite far away from the passenger area under the coach, the official said.

As soon as the fire incident took place, the electrical safety system separated batteries from it. The batteries were removed and the fire was extinguished, he said.

After the railway staff conducted the repair work, the train resumed its onward journey at around 10.15 am, officials said.

Senior Congress leader and former leader of opposition in the MP Assembly Ajay Singh, who was also travelling in the train to Gwalior, said the train stopped as soon as the fire was noticed.

“People got down to see what happened. All passengers are safe. The train resumed its journey after remaining stranded for nearly three-and-a-half hours,” Singh told PTI over phone.

On April 1 this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the Vande Bharat train between Rani Kamalapati station here to Hazrat Nizamuddin.

The train runs for six days in a week except Sundays

Jodhpur/Jaipur: A 17-year-old Dalit girl who had eloped with her boyfriend was allegedly gang-raped by three college students in front of him in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur in the early hours of Sunday, police said.

The three accused, who thrashed the victim’s boyfriend before taking turns to rape her, were arrested hours after the incident, they said.

A senior police official said the accused were canvassing for a student leader seeking a ticket from the RSS’ student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) for student union elections.

The ABVP, however, said it has no links with the accused.

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot spoke to Director General of Police (DGP) Umesh Mishra about the incident in Jodhpur, his home town, and instructed him to ensure strict punishment to the accused, according to officials.

Gehlot said the promptness with which police arrested the accused is commendable. He added that his government would ensure justice for the victim by securing the harshest punishment for the culprits.

The girl eloped with her boyfriend from Ajmer on Saturday. They took a bus and reached Jodhpur around 10:30 pm. Later, they went to a guest house to get a room but left after the caretaker, Suresh Jat, misbehaved with the girl, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Amrita Duhan.

The two then went to Paota Chauraha, where the three accused — Samandar Singh Bhati, Dharmpal Singh and Bhattam Singh (aged 20-22) — approached them, she said.

The accused befriended the girl and her boyfriend, and offered them food and cold drinks, the DCP said.

When the girl and her boyfriend told the accused about themselves, the three assured them of help. Around 4 am, the accused took them to the hockey ground at the old campus of Jai Narayan Vyas University (JNVU) on the pretext of taking them to the railway station, Duhan said.

After reaching the ground, they thrashed the boy and held him hostage, while taking turns to rape the girl, she said.

As morning walkers started reaching the campus, the accused fled the spot. The girl’s boyfriend sought help from the morning walkers, who informed the police, she added.

Police swung into action and launched a hunt for the accused. A dog squad and a Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) team were also at the spot.

Hours after the incident, the accused were traced to a house in Ganeshpura near Ratanada in Jodhpur. They tried to flee but were injured after they fell. While two of them fractured their legs while trying to flee, the third sustained an injury in the hand, Duhan said.

“We arrested all of them after treatment,” she added.

Samandar Singh is a first-year student at JNVU, Dharm Pal Singh is a post-graduation student at JNVU and Bhattam Singh is pursuing B.Ed from Ajmer, the officer said.

Police said they have also arrested the guest house caretaker for allegedly misbehaving with the girl.

Hours before the incident, Rajasthan Chief Secretary Usha Sharma and Director General of Police Umesh Mishra held a meeting to review the law and order situation in the state.

An FIR mentioning both the incidents (misbehaviour at the guest house and gang rape at the hockey ground) has been registered with the local police station under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, IPC and the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

ABVP national secretary Hushiyar Meena said the accused have no links with the student group. “The ABVP demands the strictest punishment for the accused. The law-and-order situation of Rajasthan is deteriorating day by day and the safety of university campuses is being neglected by the Congress government,” he claimed.

Chief Minister Gehlot said there were reports of the involvement of people associated with the BJP and their organisations in rape incidents in Jodhpur and in Datia of Madhya Pradesh.

“Due to such incidents, the character and face of the BJP have been exposed,” he said.

Gehlot said BJP president JP Nadda maintained silence and did not even condemn these incidents which showed the seriousness of the party on women’s safety.

“No matter how influential the accused is, the state government will secure the harshest punishment to the culprits to get justice for the innocent daughter,” he tweeted.

In Jaipur, Congress-affiliated National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) president Abhishek Choudhary said the student group will give a representation to the governor against the ABVP on Monday.

“This incident is a blot on humanity. The strictest action should be taken against the accused. We will hand over a representation to the governor against the polluted ideology of ABVP,” he said.

Congress leader and Social Welfare Board chairperson Archana Sharma said in Jaipur that the police promptly arrested the accused, which shows the state government’s commitment to women’s safety.