Five women from a non-profit conducting an awareness campaign at a tribal area of Jharkhand were abducted and gang-raped at gunpoint. The men accompanying them have been thrashed. The police said the rapists made a video and used it to threaten the women with exposure if they complained.

The 11-member team, belonging to a non-profit supported by local Christian missionaries, had gone to hold a street play against human trafficking at Kochang in Khunti district, around 50 km from state capital Ranchi.

As the performance was in progress, a group of armed men came on bikes, beat up the men and took away the women at gunpoint. They were released in the jungle three hours later. The two nuns who had accompanied the women, however, were released unharmed.

After being threatened by the men, the women did not inform the administration about the incident. The officials were tipped off by sources, reported news agency Press Trust of India, quoting local police officer Ashwini Kumar Sinha.

The police have detained nine persons for questioning and a medical board has also been formed, the police said. Medical examination has confirmed rape and a case has been filed. Mr. Sinha said three teams have been formed to investigate the matter and arrest the culprits.

Reports from the area say the men involved are supporters of Pathalgadi — a tribal system under which the people govern themselves according to the tribe’s rules and do not recognize the state’s authority. They argue that the Constitution has given them the right to practice their own systems.

The name Pathalgadi is related to the huge stone slabs inscribed with ancestral names that are preserved by the villagers.

Outsiders, including the police and government officials, are not allowed in these villages without permission.

A girl was arrested on Thursday for repeatedly stabbing the girlfriend of her ex-lover with a sickle in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district, police said.

“Ankita Mondal, a resident of North 24 Parganas’s Ashoknagar, has been arrested for allegedly attacking a teenage girl from Habra area on Wednesday night. The girl sustained multiple injuries in the head and arms,” an officer from Habra Police Station said.

According to locals, the victim, a class 12 student, is currently in a relationship with Mondal’s ex-boyfriend.

“Mondal was in a relationship with a youth from Habra. He started dating this girl after he and Mondal allegedly broke up a year ago,” a neighbour of the victim said.

The victim, however, did not have a clue about the impending attack as she was oblivious of Mondal’s affair with her lover.

“She came to meet me on Wednesday. After talking to me for some time, she asked me to show her the way to the washroom but as soon as I took her there, she took out a sickle and stabbed me on the head five-six times. My arms also got injured while trying to save myself,” said the victim, who was rushed to a local hospital after the incident.

Police, however, refused to comment on the relationship between the trio and said further investigation is necessary before drawing a conclusion.

M N Nagaraj, police commissioner, Hubballi-Dharwad has suspended a constable under his command for sharing a derogatory Facebook post on Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy.

Nagaraj suspended constable Aruna Dollina for sharing a Facebook post that reads: “So when are you resigning Mr. Kumaraswamy?”

Aruna is attached the Hubballi Shahar police station.

The post further reads: “You (Kumaraswamy) have failed to waive farm loans even after 18 days. When is your resignation?”

Besides this, the commissioner has received ‘complaints’ that the constable has made several posts favorable to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

PTI

Parshuram Waghmare, who allegedly killed journalist Gauri Lankesh on September 5 a year ago, has told the investigative officials that he killed Gauri Lankesh not for money but for her anti-Hindu views and statements.

Parshuram, who is 29 years of age, said that he was paid Rs 13,000 for the work, sources in the Special Investigation Team (SIT) disclosed to the media.

Parashuram disclosed to SIT authorities that he met a man in Sindhagi, who assured him of all help if he killed Gauri Lankesh.

Parshuram said that he was given an advance of Rs 3,000 for food and stay in the city. After the murder, a stranger gave him Rs 10,000 and he left the city.

“After Gauri’s murder, I left for my hometown and nobody reached me,” Parshuram purportedly told the SIT authorities.

Parshuram, who used to work at a kitchen utensil shop, quit going to work after the murder.

The SIT sources said “He didn’t discuss the murder with anybody, including his parents. He acted normal and this made his parents believe that he was not associated with the murder when the authorities picked him up,”

“After the murder, Parshuram had organized a Hindu gathering in Vijayapura. He declined to respond on it when we questioned him,” they stated, including that: “We will keep on questioning Parshuram to get more details on the man he met in Sindhagi.”

A court here on Monday acquitted former Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha and three BJP leaders in a 2008 case of violating prohibitory orders.

Judicial Magistrate Vaishali Sharma ruled that the prosecution, which produced eight witnesses, had failed to prove a case against Sinha and the other three for violating prohibitory orders and breaking the barricades while demonstrating against then Chief Minister Madhu Koda in August 2008.

The other accused were former state BJP president Yadunath Pandey, former Rajya Sabha MP Ajay Maroo and present Khadi Board chairman Sanjay Seth.

A former television anchor committed suicide in Andhra Pradesh’s Krishna district, allegedly due to marital discord, police said.

M. Tejaswini (25) ended her life by hanging herself at her house at Edupugallu on Sunday. The incident came to light on Monday.

Tejaswini, who worked for a private television channel in Vijayawada, and Pawan Kumar got married five years ago against the wishes of their parents. They also had a daughter.

According to police, the couple developed differences over domestic issues. She took the extreme step when Pawan was out of town.

Tejaswini had locked herself in the room and did not respond when her mother-in-law called her for lunch. She alerted the neighbors, who broke open the door to find her hanging from a ceiling fan.

The body has been taken for autopsy. The police have registered a case of death under suspicious circumstances and launched an investigation.

 24 hours after Ramzan celebrations ended in Jammu n Kashmir, security forces have killed four terrorists after a gunfight broke out during the ongoing forces’ operation launched by Army in Bandipora district on Monday.
According to reports, the security forces gunned down the terrorists in an ongoing operation in Raynar forests adjacent to Panar area of north Kashmir’s Bandipora district. The operation is on in the area from past ten days and reportedly 13 more terrorists were still hiding in the forests.
This is the first terror attack in the strife-torn state after the Centre announced to not extend the ceasefire and directed security forces to resume operations against the terrorists.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Sunday urged security forces to take all necessary actions as earlier to prevent terrorists from launching attacks and indulging in violence and killings. Since past few days, Jammu and Kashmir have been witnessing a huge spurt in terror attacks.

Hindusthan Samachar/Ranjit/Balwan/Shri Ram\

In a confession recorded in the presence of special investigation team (SIT) probing Gauri Lankesh murder case, accused Parashuram Waghmare agreed that he was the one who fired at Gauri Lankesh. He said that he had given his gun to someone after this incident, but does not remember to whom.

Waghmare said that he was unable to bear Gauri’s habit of using bad language against Hindutva and Hindu gods. “Angered by this, I killed her by firing bullet. But that gun is not in my possession now. I had given it to someone. But I have forgotten the identity of the person to whom it was given,” he stated.

With this, the special investigation team seems to have made critical headway in the case. Now the team hopes to continue its systematic investigation and find out who were the persons behind this dastardly act.

It is gathered that the accused, during early stages of interrogation, remained non-cooperative and engaged in arguments often. However, when the officials of the team continued with sustained questioning, and also placed documents as proof of their finding, the accused confessed to his crime in the evening. The special investigating team said that investigation has not yet been completed and they are yet to find out who was the motorbike rider involved with the crime that day and those who worked behind the scenes. Sources said that although preliminary information suggests that pro-Hindu organization was behind this gunning down, there is lack of enough evidence.

The team needs to procure the firearm used for the murder and the motorbike used for the travel to strengthen its case. However, both are yet to be found. The accused has made the issues complicated by claiming that the gun was given to someone else after using it for murder. The motorbike also could not be identified. The rider of the motorbike who had brought Parashuram that day also has not been identified.

It is learned that during his questioning, Waghmare said that the hit list contained names of rationalists and critics like Girish Karnad, K S Bhagwan and other rationalists and thinkers in addition to Gauri Lankesh. Although Karnad was to be eliminated before Gauri as per the preliminary plan, that plan was shelved for some reasons, he told the investigating officers.

The team said that they found out during the investigation that names of C S Dwarakanath, the former minister, B T Lalita Nayak, Veerabhadra Chennamalla Swamiji of Nidumamidi Math and K S Bhagwan were in the list of persons targeted to be killed.

As soon as the killer of Gauri Lankesh was arrested, the state government provided security by way of the gunman to Prof Maheshchandra Guru of the department of journalism in Mysore University. Likewise, rationalist, Prof K S Bhagwan, had been given security last year.

Police in the Indian state of Assam has arrested at least 18 people in connection with the lynching of two youths following rumours on social media and WhatsApp that they were child traffickers.

Abhijit Nath and Nilotpal Das were beaten to death on Saturday by a mob of around 200 people in a remote village of Karbi Anglong district, some 200km east of the state capital, Guwahati.

The duo is the latest victims of rumours circulating on social media, particularly WhatsApp, about the child kidnapping gangs.

“We have taken strict measures against the culprits and arrested 18 individuals. We have also arrested some persons who were involved in spreading rumours on social media,” Director General of Assam Police (DGP) Kuladhar Saikia told Al Jazeera.

The clip of the lynching was widely shared on social media, which showed Das pleading with folded hands: “Don’t kill me … Please don’t beat me. I am an Assamese … Please let me go.”

Nath, 30, and Das, 29, had gone to remote Panjuri Kachari village on Saturday for sightseeing in a black four-wheel drive when they were chased and beaten to death on the suspicion of child kidnapping.

“There was a rumour that some child abductors had entered our village. This was shared via WhatsApp and Facebook. The message also read that one of the abductors had long hair,” said a village woman at Panjuri Kachari village who didn’t wish to be named.

“The youth was stopped and asked about their whereabouts. But in between some local people came and started thrashing them,” the woman said.

Cyber monitoring

Following the incident, police have alerted all the districts to keep a strict vigil on social media and rumour mongering.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has asked the state police chief Saikia to ensure that the police force maintains vigilance to ensure peace.

Mob lynching is a primal instinct. No one knows why they are lynching, but all seem to be cast under a spell to kill.

“I urge everyone to maintain peace and social harmony and not to fall prey to rumours. We won’t spare anyone and strictest of punishment will be given to the culprits,” the chief minister posted on Twitter.

Meanwhile, Assam government has decided to constitute a special unit for cyber monitoring to prevent attempts to spread rumours and to cause social disturbances.

The incident has caused an outrage, with thousands of people coming out on the streets of Guwahati demanding justice for the victims

Gopal Chandra Das, the father of Das, said that his son always enjoyed outdoors.

“He travelled many places in the country. He loved to go to the hill stations. He would play music and wanted to do something, but destiny had other plans. I asked him not to go alone there (Karbi Anglong). But he went ahead,” said the senior Das as he burst into tears ahead of the last rites of the two youths in Guwahati.

Mob violence spreading through social media has been on the rise in India. During the last two years, more than 10 such incidents have been reported from different parts of the country.

Last May, two youths were lynched in Assam’s Nagaon district on the suspicion of stealing cows.

“Mob lynching is a primal instinct. No one knows why they are a lynching, but all seem to be cast under a spell to kill,” activist Tinat Atifa Masood told Al Jazeera.

“Over the last few years, the number of people lynched has gone up. A person is lynched for being different from ‘the others’ in their looks, culinary choices, their attire and their philosophy. And since the government of the day has been quiet on this issue, the ugly head of mob lynching is now a new normal in India,” she said.

Aljazeera