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Church gutted in East Delhi, Archbishop asks PM to order judicial enquiry

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The alter of the St Sebastian Church was completely gutted on Monday. (Source: Express photo by Ravi Kanojia)

The alter of the St Sebastian Church was completely gutted on Monday. Photo: Ravi Kanojia, Indian Express

New Delhi: A Catholic church in East Delhi’s Dilshad Garden area, St Sebastian’s Church, was completely gutted in a fire this morning. Church authorities alleged the fire was an attempt at triggering religious polarisation ahead of the Delhi polls, likely early next year.

On the complaint of Church priest Fr. Anthony Francis, the police have registered an FIR against unknown outsiders for causing the fire with malicious intent. Senior officers of Delhi police, the Special Branch and the Forensic Crime unit came to the spot after many hours, and once the agitated members of the Catholic community blocked the roads in the area. Samples were retrieved from the inside of the church, which was still smelling of fuel oil.

The forensic team found traces of kerosene inside the church premises, which led the police to conclude that the attack was pre-meditated.

A case of “mischief by fire” has been lodged and the police are questioning several persons, among them the watchman of the church.

The police will come out with a final report after the forensic team finalises its findings.

The authorities found out about the fire around 6.30 am after the watchman, who came in for work around that time, informed them. There was no security guard at the church between 5 and 6 am, which was when the authorities thought the fire started.

There was no casualty since the church was empty at the time.

“It seems to be a deliberate act as we could smell kerosene on the spot. It has been a very emotional day for us,” Father Stanley Kozhichira, of the Delhi archdiocese told the media.

Delhi Archbishop Rev. Anil Couto, has in a memorandum to Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Mr. Rajnath Singh, called on them to urgently order a judicial enquiry into the burning.

Addressing the media, Archbishop Couto said apart from the judicial enquiry, the government must repair the building before Christmas, ensure that policemen guilty of dereliction of duty are punished, and special police investigation teams are set up to trace the guilty.

The church was built in 2001. Almost 3000 people attend the Sunday mass.

Representative of church at the protest site. Photo: Krishna Vamsi

The Christian community cutting across denominations, and civil society have decided to protest at the offices of the Police Commissioner of Delhi on Tuesday morning to focus attention on the attempts to polarize the people in Delhi state which goes to the polls soon, and the continued persecution of Christians in Madhya Pradesh, Chhatishgarh and other tribal and rural areas.

On Sunday, 30th November 21014, two house churches in Annupur district of Madhya Pradesh were attacked. Earlier in November, catholic priests in the Bastar region in Chhatisgarh were told all their schools were to install statues of Goddess Saraswati and they would not be allowed to be called “Father”, the usual honorific, by the students, but would be called “Acharya”. In other districts of Chhartisgarh, village panchayats under political influence have passed regulations banning non-Hindu religious persons from organising prayers or opening places of worship in their territory.

Maoists gun down 13 CRPF troopers in Chhattisgarh

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Maoists-CRPF-Chhattisgarh

Sukma: Maoists Monday gunned down 13 CRPF troopers engaged in an operation aimed at flushing out the rebels from a thickly forested area of Chhattisgarh, police sources said.

The deadly attack, the worst in months, also killed two officers – a deputy commandant and an assistant commandant of the Central Reserve Police Force.

The incident took place near Chintagufa area in Sukma district, Additional Director General of Police R.K. Vij told IANS. “We have suffered a major casualty.”

The Maoists fire indiscriminately from all sides at a joint contingent of the CRPF and Chhattisgarh Police. “Suddenly there was heavy firing from almost everywhere,” Vij told IANS.

He said the security forces were engaged in a major combing operation when the Maoists sprayed bullets.

The attack site is about 500 km south of capital Raipur. The area is cut off from all communication networks.

Officials at the state police headquarters said Chintagufa was a den of Maoists where they have had several major hideouts since the 1990s.

One officer said the security forces were often scared to carry out anti-Maoist operations in the area.

“The casualty is basically due to lack of solid intelligence,” said a CRPF officer posted at Sukma’s Dornapal base camp.

“We failed to know that Maoists had assembled in hundreds in the area with sophisticated weapons to take on the CRPF.

“But we have to admit that getting specific intelligence in the insurgent-commanded jungle war zone has always been a difficult task,” the officer told IANS.

The attack site is part of Bastar region that is spread out over 40,000 square km. In almost the entire forested interiors, the rebels run a parallel government.

In the past six months the insurgents had come under heavy pressure from both the paramilitary troopers and the state police.

(IANS)

B S Yeddyurappa's nephew arrested in cheating case

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Yeddyurappa

Mysuru: A nephew of former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa has been arrested by police for cheating a man after receiving huge amount of money.

Yeddyurappa’s sister’s son Rajesh was arrested by Hanumanthanagar police in Bengaluru on Monday following a complaint by K G Krishnappa, resident of Banashankari in Bengaluru.

In the year 2008, when the Yeddyurappa government came to power, Rajesh had allegedly promised to get 11 acres of land, previously owned by Krishnappa at Mogaralli on KRS Road, denotified.

The land had been acquired by Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board from Krishnappa in the year 2007.Rajesh had received Rs 20 lakh cash, a cheque amounting to Rs 20 lakh, and a Honda City car from Krishnappa in return for the favour. However, he failed to get the land denotified, as per the complaint.

Krishnappa filed a complaint with Police Commissioner, Bengaluru on September 28, 2011. Shortly after, Rajesh too filed a complaint against Krishnappa with the Banashankari police, stating that the latter had been threatening him. Hanumanthanagar police also seized the Honda City car found at Rajesh’s house.

Polling for 2nd phase Jharkhand Assembly election begins

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jharkhand-POLLS

Ranchi: Polling began today at 7 am in 20 Maoist-affected constituencies amid tight security in the 2nd phase of Assembly election to the Jharkhand Assembly, with polling personnel airdropped in the remote parts of the state.

An electorate of 44,31,900, including 21,72,982 women, is eligible to vote in 5,048 polling stations across seven districts to elect 223 candidates, said Jharkhand Chief Electoral Officer P K Jajoria.

There are 35 women among the candidates with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, BJP and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) nominating four women each.

Polling began at 7 am in all 20 constituencies. While it will end at 5 am at Jamshedpur (West) and Jamshedpur (East) seats, the exercise will end at 3 pm in the rest of the seats, Jajoria said.

Inspector-General of Police M L Meena said there were 1,424 supersensitive and 2,048 sensitive polling stations and added that polling personnel were airlifted to remote areas to be brought back by air after the polling.

The November 25 first phase election covering 13 Maoist-affected constituencies had ended peacefully, recording 62 per cent votes.

The CPI (Maoist) and the People’s Liberation Front of India are the banned extremist outfits operating in several rural areas across the seven districts – Seraikella-Kharsawan, West Singhbhum, East Singhbhum, Khunti, Simdega, Ranchi and Gumla where the 20 Assembly segments are situated.

The BJP is contesting in 18 seats in this phase, leaving two – Tamar and Jugsalai – for its pre-poll alliance partner, the AJSU Party.

The Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM-Prajatantrik) and Trinamool Congress are contesting in a pre-poll alliance, with the JVM-P fielding candidates in 18 seats, conceding two seats to the TMC.

Ruling allies JMM and Congress, who parted ways just before the Assembly election, are contesting against each other in all 20 constituencies.

In this phase, RJD and JD(U) are not in the fray. A Prominent among the candidates are incumbent Agriculture minister Banna Gupta (Jamshedpur -West), HRD minister Geetashree Oraon (Sisai) and Industry minister Champai Soren (Seraikella).

Former chief ministers Arjun Munda and Madhu Koda are the other figures trying their luck.

Former IAS officer J B Tubid, who took voluntary retirement to join the BJP, is contesting from Chaibasa, while former MLA Surya Singh Besra is fighting from the Potka seat.

(PTI)

Former Maharashtra CM A.R. Antulay passes away

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AR Antulay

Mumbai: Former Chief Minister of Maharashtra and a veteran Congressman Abdul Rahman Antulay, widely known as A. R. Antulay passed away on Tuesday morning. He was 85. He also served as the Union Minister for Minority Affairs in the UPA-I government.

The funeral will take place at his native Ambet village in the state’s Raigad district on Wednesday, said news agency PTI.

The veteran Congress leader had been admitted to Breach Candy Hospital around a month ago for severe kidney ailment. He had renal failure a year-and-a-half ago.

Antulay had been a heart patient for years. He underwent a bypass surgery in 1985 and a pacemaker was fitted in 1993.

Mr. Antulay was the first and only Muslim Chief Minister of Maharashtra during the years 1980 to 1982. However he had to resign from his post following allegation of corruption. He was convicted in an extrotion case by the Bombay High Court.

Later, he worked as party MLA and MP, representing the Congress in Raigad district. He fought his last election in 2009, which he lost to the Shiv Sena, after which he was out of the active politics.

He was minister in the Congress-led UPA 1 government but was sidelined soon after his controversial comment on the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack in 2008.

Mr. Antulay had questioned the circumstances of Anti-Terrorism Squad Chief, Hemant Karkare’s death in the Mumbai terror attack on 26 Nov 2008. The party had distanced itself from his comment and soon he was removed from the union cabinet. He had suggested that there should be a probe into the circumstances of Karkare’s killing.

Abuse, insult of Backward Castes may soon attract penal action

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Karnataka Social Welfare Minister H. Anjaneya

Karnataka Social Welfare Minister H. Anjaneya

Bengaluru: The State Government is considering a proposal to enact legislation aimed at preventing abuse of the backward classes on the basis of their caste, according to Social Welfare Minister H. Anjaneya.

A proposal to this effect has been made to the Law Department. “We are keen on it and we will take a call based on the department’s opinion,” the minister said on Monday.

A meeting of leaders from backward communities, intellectuals and writers, chaired by Social Welfare Minister H Anjaneya, resounded with vehement demands for a law to end abuse and insult of people belonging to the backward castes.

The meeting, on Monday, was held ahead of the launch of a caste-based census covering all of Karnataka. “Even today, seeing people of certain communities when setting out for important work is considered a bad omen. People engaged in some traditional vocations are insulted and abused by their caste names,” Anjaneya said, explaining the need for a new law.

“We are also considering banning the use of words that insult people belonging to certain castes. This is affirmative action to prevent caste discrimination,” the Social Welfare Minister added.

ISIS our biggest challenge: Rajnath Singh

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Rajnath Singh

by Manoj Anand, Asian Age

Union home minister Rajnath Singh said here on Saturday that the growing threat of Islamic State (ISIS) in the Indian subcontinent was the biggest challenge, especially in the wake of some youth being lured by them.

Referring to the attack in Arnia sector, Mr Singh said that Pakistan claims “non-state” actors are behind such incidents, which is not true.

“I want to ask Pakistan if its intelligence agency the Inter-Services Intelligence, is also a ‘non-state actor’,” Mr Singh said, reiterating that Pakistan was engaged in destabilising India.

The Union home minister also pointed out, “Though ISIS was born in Syria and Iraq, it is a fact that the Indian subcontinent is not outside its radar, especially as some Indian youth are also getting attracted to it.”

He said, “Moreover, the Al Qaeda had recently announced the formation of a new outfit, Qaeda-ul-Jihadi, with the intention of specifically targeting Gujarat, Assam, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir and Bangladesh.”

He said, “India cannot remain unaffected by international terrorism, (and the) activities of the Islamic State. We can’t take Al Qaeda’s threat of turning India into an Islamic country lightly, we should consider it a challenge.”

Asserting that India was capable of handling these threats, Mr Singh, in his inaugural address at the 49th police conference, however, asserted, “There might be many terrorist organisations in the world, but we will not allow them to get a foothold in our country.”

Mr Singh also expressed confidence that these Islamic terror groups will never be able to succeed in India and said that the majority of Indian Muslims will not side with them. “I am sure these terror groups will never succeed in India. They may try to convert India into an Islamic country on the assumption that a large number of Muslims will support them. But the fact remains that Indian Muslims had fought and sacrificed equally with others for India’s independence,” Mr Singh said.

The home minister, at the meeting attended by police chiefs from across the country as well as senior officials from intelligence agencies, also urged states to fill up vacancies in police forces and assured them of all possible help.

Speaking about modernising police forces, Mr Singh stressed the need to make the police people-friendly.

“Our coastal security network is inadequate and it should be strengthened,” he said while expressing his concern on the growing use of cyberspace by anti-national and anti-social forces. He asked the police chiefs to deliberate on strategies and steps to monitor cyberspace. He admitted that the biggest stumbling block in this direction was that the majority of servers are outside India. “We should work out a strategy on how to handle it,” he said.

Palestinian woman shot after stabbing attack

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Bet Fajjar resident transferred to hospital after being shot for stabbing Israeli civilian in southern West bank.

West bank

by Al Jazeera

The Israeli army has shot and wounded a Palestinian woman after she stabbed an Israeli civilian near a Jewish settlement bloc in the southern part of the occupied West Bank, police said.

Witnesses told Al Jazeera that the woman, said to be in her 20s and from Bethlehem, arrived at the Gush Etzion settlement bloc on Monday and stabbed the civilian with a knife, injuring him lightly.

“According to the police, the woman approached an Israeli soldier with the intention of stabbing him but was unable to do so. So she then used her knife to harm a passerby, an Israeli civilian, who was apparently only lightly injured,” Al Jazeera’s Nisreen El-Shamayleh reported from Ramallah.

The Palestine Red Crescent told Al Jazeera that they saw the Palestinian woman after she was shot at the junction and that she was still alive at the time. However, Israeli authorities did not allow the Palestinian medical team to approach her.

Police released a statement saying that the Israeli civilian suffered minor injuries in the stabbing at the settlement bloc south of Bethlehem, and that the Palestinian woman was transferred to a hospital for further medical treatment.

The Gush Etzion junction is a business, commercial and tourism centre in the southern West Bank, which serves as the entry point to the Gush Etzion bloc of settlements.

Why Muslims are unhappy with SP in UP

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The Modi magic which seems to have cut across caste and even religious lines to some extent is making the Samajwadi Party edgy.

Akhilesh Yadav adjusts microphone for his father Mulayam during a meeting with the newly elected legislators at party headquarters in Lucknow

by Piyush Srivastava, Daily O

The Samajwadi Party has become increasingly edgy over the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attempts to woo Muslim voters in the state. On paper of course, it seems very unlikely that the BJP will win a fraction of Muslim voters in Uttar Pradesh. But the Modi magic which seems to have cut across caste and even religious lines to some extent is making the SP edgy, fearing that it will lose its Muslim votebank in the upcoming Assembly elections in 2017.

The SP has also been hurt by allegations made by certain prominent members of the Muslim community, who claim that there is really no difference between the party and other Hindu parties, as the former practises “soft Hindutva” and the other i.e the BJP “hard Hindutava”. The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) party that has recently announced that it will contest the next Assembly election — a first time for the party in the state — has left SP leaders edgy, as it will divide the Muslim votebank.

The SP’s fears are grounded in some reality. Though the MIM won only two seats in Maharashtra, the party took away a significant number of votes that would have gone to the SP or the Congress. This is ideal for the BJP, as sources say, the recent communal tensions in the state, along with the Modi factor, will give the party Hindu votes. And if some Muslim votes come on board so much the better.

Prime Minister Modi has already begun wooing Muslims. During his trip to Varanasi earlier in November, Modi laid the foundation stone for the Trade Facilitation Centre (TFC) which was meant for members of Julaha (Muslim weaver caste) community. While doing so, the PM took a swipe at the SP, saying he wanted the Rs 147-crore TFC in the heart of the city so that the weavers could reach there without any hassle. But the state government has not cooperated with the Centre.

The fact that Modi’s words hit home were seen by the sharp rejoinder from the SP. Senior leaders such as Azam Khan tried to stir up passions by saying, “The TFC was planned in Lalpur because not a single member of the community resides there. In fact, the BJP wants the minorities to migrate to Pakistan.”

But a jittery SP was still not confident that Azam’s move was enough to convince the community. So Rajendra Chaudhary, party spokesperson of the UP unit, too jumped into the fray by reminding the Julahas about the work done for them by Mulayam government in the past and the packages presented to them by Akhilesh government.

“Mulayam has given a package of Rs 5,032 crore for weavers’ rehabilitation. Akhilesh has given special package to them. A loan of Rs 8.06 crore was given to 7,520 weavers,” Chaudhary told reporters. He added that Mulayam was in the process of developing Azamgarh, his Parliamentary constituency in a better maner than Modi’s Varanasi. The SP hopes that such promises and sops will keep this crucial votebank with them.

But MIM’s entry is hurting the party. Already, controversial MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi asked the state government: “Where is the Muslim reservation that was promised during the last Assembly elections? (the SP in its election mainfesto had promised reservations for Muslims in the police and other government jobs). What action has been taken to ensure justice to Muslims who suffered as a community in Muzaffarnagar? These are questions that the ruling party will have to answer,” he said. The fact that Owaisi who refuses to categorise himself as a “Muslim candidate” and has also said that Dalits and Muslims must come together on common causes, is another blow for the SP, Bahujan Samaj Party and an already decimated Congress in UP. The Congress and the SP have so far hit back claiming that the MIM has a tacit understanding with the RSS in the state. But such allegations prove weak as the MIM was a part of the previous UPA government. Clearly, then these parties, especially the SP, will have to rehone their strategies if they retain power in the next elections.

A Gorgeous Photograph of the Milky Way Galaxy Over Devils Tower in Wyoming

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A gorgeous photograph by astrophotographer Dave Lane shows the Milky Way galaxy over Devils Tower in Wyoming. The photograph was featured recently as NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day, complete with an annotated version highlighting some of the nebulas in the photograph.

milky_way_galaxy

photos via Dave Lane

via Astronomy Picture of the Day

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