Dehradun: Haridwar hate speech accused Jitendra Narayan Tyagi has said he will surrender in a Haridwar court on Friday, and claimed in a video that his life is in danger and he may be killed in a suicide attack.

Tyagi, called Waseem Rizvi before his conversion to Hinduism, was granted an interim bail for three months on medical grounds in the Dharma Sansad case by the Supreme Court on May 17.

The apex court turned down his application for the extension of his bail on Monday and asked him to surrender on September 2. “I will surrender in the CJM’s court here on Friday,” Tyagi told PTI on Thursday.

He also expressed apprehensions that he could be killed in a suicide attack by Muslim fundamentalists.

Earlier in a video clip, Tyagi said his life is in danger and he may be killed in a suicide attack.

Some criminals from Haridwar’s Jwalapur had plans to behead him when he was in jail but did not succeed because of strict prison rules, he said in the video that surfaced on Wednesday.

However, Tyagi said he does not worry about the threat to his life as he has faith in the sanatan dharma and will fight for it till his last breath.

He said minorities in India have more freedom than the majority, so they can speak against Hindu gods and goddesses using Article 19 of the Constitution as a “shield”. “Whereas even allusions by us to what is written in their religious books is considered a hate speech,” Tyagi said.

On the charges levelled against him, he said they are all false.

“False charges of crimes which I did not commit were slapped against me. I am the victim of a conspiracy hatched by Mullahs,” he alleged.

Describing his return to Hinduism as “ghar wapsi”, Tyagi said he never regretted his conversion to the religion.

“I am in the sanatan dharma and will remain in it till my last breath,” he said.

However, he said he regretted that he was not treated the way a long-lost relative is treated after he returns home.

Citing caste divisions among the Hindus as their Achilles heel, he said “Islamic jihad” or terrorism cannot be fought unless believers in the sanatan dharma are united.

“If believers in the sanatan dharma were united, they would not have been ruled by foreign invaders for a thousand years,” Tyagi said in the video message.

He said daughters of India were taken to Afghanistan and sold off like commodities at a square named Dukhtaran-e-Hind but but the divisions among Hindus did not let them speak against this atrocity.

“Secularism does not mean bearing with atrocities silently,” he said.

Tyagi said he is in depression and there is no certainty of his life. He said he has written a book summing up what he has gained and lost in life, which may get published after he is no more.

Tyagi was the first to be arrested in January this year in connection with the Haridwar Dharma Sansad where highly provocative speeches were allegedly made against Islam and its practitioners.

The Dharma Sansad was held in December last year.

His name is among more than 10 accused, including the controversial priest of the Dasna temple near Ghaziabad, Yati Narasinghananada.

New York: Permanently misspelled tweets might soon be a thing of the past.

Twitter said Thursday it’s working on allowing users to edit their tweets, which it said is one of the most requested features to date.

The social media company said in a blog post that it’s testing the Edit Tweet feature internally with plans to roll it out later this month to subscribers of its premium Twitter Blue service.

The edit function will give users 30 minutes to make changes such as fixing typos or adding hashtags after first publishing a tweet.

To make it clear that a tweet has been modified, they’ll be labelled and appear with an icon and timestamp. Users can look up past versions of the tweet by tapping the label.

Twitter said it’s testing the edit feature with a small group of users so it can identify and resolve potential issues.

This includes how people might misuse the feature, the company said in a blog post. You can never be too careful.

The time limit and version history play an important role, Twitter said. They help protect the integrity of the conversation and create a publicly accessible record of what was said.

Screengrab from the video

Prayagraj: Police have registered a case after a video clip surfaced on the internet purportedly showing six people cooking a non-vegetarian meal and smoking a hookah on a boat on the Ganga near the holy Sangam.

Police said they have identified two of the six men, but they are absconding.

In the FIR lodged on Wednesday, the six people are accused of hurting religious sentiments and defiling a place of worship, police said.

The 30-second video purportedly caught the scene on a moving boat close to Prayagraj’s Daraganj. The men appeared to be cooking chicken on skewers.

Circle Officer Aastha Jaiswal said Daraganj is a pilgrimage area and people are expected not to do anything that could hurt the sentiments of the devotees.

“Cooking meat on a boat on the Ganga river can hurt the religious sentiments of the people who come here,” the CO said.

The FIR was registered against two named and four unknown people on the complaint of Bakshi outpost in-charge Diwakar Singh after the video surfaced on Tuesday.

Two of the men seen in the video have been identified as Ajaf and Hassan, against whom an FIR was registered under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race) and 295 (defiling place of worship) of the IPC.

The two are residents of Bakshi Khurd in Daraganj. They are absconding, police said, adding efforts are being made to identify the remaining four.

Mangaluru,: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in this coastal city on Friday afternoon during which he will inaugurate and lay the foundation for mechanisation and industrialisation projects worth around Rs 3,800 crore and address a mega event.

This visit by Modi for about a couple of hours to this port city, after attending events in neighbouring Kerala, is likely to give a boost to the Karnataka BJP, which is preparing for Assembly polls next year, aiming to regain power in the state, with a target of winning at least 150 of the total 224 seats.

According to party and official sources, the Prime Minister is scheduled to arrive at the Mangaluru International Airport at around 1:30 PM, from where he will fly to New Mangaluru Port Authority (NMPA) premises at Panambur by a chopper, and after inaugurating or laying foundation to various projects, he will arrive at the Goldfinch city grounds here, to attend an official public event.

Nearly two lakh people are likely to attend the event at Goldfinch city grounds, they said, in addition to one lakh workers of the BJP, the district administration is also said to have invited about 70,000 beneficiaries of various Union government welfare schemes to the programme.

Party workers and beneficiaries of government programmes are likely to come from various parts of Dakshina Kannada district and neighbouring Udupi.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Coal and Mines Prahlad Joshi, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shobha Karandlaje, a host of state Ministers, BJP legislators and leaders are likely to participate in the event.

Police have made elaborate security arrangements in the city for the PM’s visit.

The visit to Mangaluru in Dakshina Kannada district is seen as significant after recent incidents of “communal” murders including that of BJP activist Praveen Nettar near here, which triggered widespread protests and spate of resignations by some of its Yuva Morcha members and workers at various places across Karnataka, accusing the state government of not standing up to protect the lives of Hindu ‘Karyakartas’.

Several Hindutva ideologues and organisations too had expressed their angst against the government, reflecting similar sentiments.

The visit is also at the time when the BJP government is facing corruption charges of “40 per cent commission” in public works by the state contractors’ association, and also allegations of irregularities in several departments by certain organisations and opposition parties, especially the Congress.

The projects that PM will inaugurate or lay foundation tomorrow include: Inauguration the project worth over Rs 280 crore for mechanisation of Berth No. 14 for handling containers and other cargo, undertaken by the New Mangalore Port Authority; lay the foundation stone of five projects worth around Rs 1,000 crore, undertaken by the Port.

He will also inaugurate two projects undertaken by Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited viz BS VI Upgradation Project and Sea Water Desalination Plant, worth Rs 1,830 crore and Rs 680 crore respectively.

Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court has reiterated that “no transfer must be made except to a vacant post” and reinstated a Municipal officer who was transferred in December last year.

Murthy Halaiah, chief officer of Hanur Town Municipal Council, was transferred on December 23, 2021 but for the next six months, he was not given a posting. However on the same day of his transfer, another officer, Paramashivaiah, was posted to the position served by Halaiah till then, who challenged this in the HC.

When the case was pending, he was given a posting on July 20, 2022 to the Town Municipal Council, Ullal. Halaiah’s advocate Pavana Chandra Shetty argued before Justice S Sunil Dutt Yadav that as per a Division Bench order in ‘M Arun Prasad Vs The Commissioner of Excise’ case, it is a settled position in law that a transfer without showing place of posting would suffer from legal malafide.

The bench accepted this argument and also noted that the same was reiterated in another case, ‘Mahboob Sab Vs State of Karnataka’ recently. Justice Yadav also noted that the Government had issued two circulars in 2017, which stipulate that if any government servant is not given a posting, the reasons must be recorded in writing.

The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Ministry of Home Affairs to seek reports from States including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand on attacks on Christian institutions as alleged in a PIL.

A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli said an attack on individuals does not mean it is an attack on the community but it needs to verify the claims of any such incident if it is made in the public interest litigation (PIL).

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that on verification it has been found the majority of the alleged cases mentioned in the PIL are false and based on “self-serving articles” published on a web portal.

He said that the court should not pass an order in such a PIL, otherwise it will open Pandora’s box.

The bench gave two months to the MHA to seek reports from the States.

It said that the court is only concerned that its earlier verdicts on the appointment of nodal officers for reporting and monitoring of such incidents are complied with by the States.

The court’s order came on a PIL filed by Rev. Dr. Peter Machado of National Solidarity Forum, Rev. Vijayesh Lal of Evangelical Fellowship of India, and others claiming violence against the members of the Christian community in the country.

Mumbai: A former RSS functionary from Mumbai, Yashwant Shinde has made sensational claims against the RSS alleging that the 2006 Patbandhare Nagar bomb blasts were done by the RSS to ensure the victory of the BJP in elections.

Shinde has filed an application in a Nanded court and has offered to present himself as the witness of the case and to share all the information related to the blasts.

In a video that has shaken the political circles of the country, Shinde claimed that he has been a member of the BHP, Bajrang Dal, and RSS since 1995. He has further claimed that he had attended the training along with Himanshu Panse and 20 others who were killed in the Nanded bomb blasts.

Yashwant Shinde has said that he had gone to Nanded several times to meet Himanshu Panse and told him not to do so.

“As the RSS and VHP’s plan of causing blasts throughout the country was not as successful as was expected the BJP was not politically benefitted. Consequently, in the 2004 elections, the Congress party got the majority. Persons like Milind Parande who were the main conspirators were scared and went underground, but they continued hatching conspiracies secretly. By remaining underground they carried out many bomb blasts across the country and with the help of biased police and one-sided media blamed them on Muslims. That helped them in 2014 Loksabha elections,” the affidavit filed by Shinde reads.

Congress Chief Spokesperson Pawan Khera took to his official Twitter account and targeted the BJP after Shinde released the video and wrote what can be bigger breaking news than this.

“Yashwant Shinde, a pracharak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, has filed an affidavit exposing the horrific information about the anti-national acts of the Sangh. How was a conspiracy hatched to blast the whole country, who were involved in it? What can be bigger breaking news than this?” Pawan Khera wrote in his tweet.

Khera’s tweet was followed by another senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh’s tweet on the matter. Singh noted that Shinde had filed the affidavit with utmost courage and that his life can be in danger.

Digvijay Singh tweeted, “Yashwant Shinde has given the affidavit with utmost courage. The people whose names have been taken by Yashwant Shinde are people of criminal nature. Yashwant’s life may be in danger after this statement. Commissioner of Police Mumbai should immediately make elaborate arrangements for the security of Yashwant.”

Kochi: A plea moved by a Sessions Judge, who made controversial observations in his orders while granting bail to an accused in two sexual harassment cases, against his transfer order was dismissed by the Kerala High Court on Thursday.

Justice Anu Sivaraman said that transfer being a necessary part of service, “an order of transfer to a post borne on the cadre cannot be challenged by an incumbent on the ground that he is in any way aggrieved by it.”

The high court said there was no reason to interfere with the transfer order as the post — of Presiding Officer of Labour Court — that Sessions Judge S Krishnakumar has been transferred to was equivalent to that of a District Judge.

“The post of Presiding Officer of the Labour Court is a post borne on the cadre of District and Sessions Judges in the state of Kerala and the contention of the petitioner (S Krishnakumar) that it is a deputation or a government appointment which requires a consent from the appointee is completely untenable.

“Even in case willingness had been obtained on any earlier occasions, that will not support the contention of the petitioner that such consent of the incumbent is legally required for a transfer,” the high court said.

The high court said that the judge — S Krishnakumar — has not lost any legal rights due to the transfer and he has a responsibility to work at the place of assignment.

“Being a responsible member of the District Judiciary, the petitioner is expected to render his services wherever he is posted. I fail to see what legal right of the petitioner is infringed by the (transfer) order,” the high court said.

It further said that it was evident from the order under challenge itself that the post of Presiding Officer of Labour Court in the state was habitually being filled up by transfer from the Kerala Higher Judicial Service and all that was required was an order of the government, which has also been issued in the instant case.

“The petitioner cannot be said to be prejudiced in any manner by his transfer as a Presiding Officer of the Labour Court, Kollam,” it added.

Justice Sivaraman further said, “I am of the opinion that the grounds raised in the writ petition do not justify the grant of any of the reliefs as sought for. The writ petition fails and the same is, accordingly, dismissed.”

Krishnakumar, 59, in his plea had said that he was discharging his duty as a Principal District and Sessions Judge, Kozhikode, from June 6, 2022 and his transfer order issued by the Registrar of the High Court was against the transfer norms.

He had contended that as per transfer norms, he was entitled to continue as Principal District and Sessions judge, Kozhikode, till his retirement on May 31, 2023.

Krishnakumar had said in his plea that transferring him was illegal as it was a deputation post and his consent, which was required for transferring him to that post, was not obtained before taking that decision.

He had also claimed that he has had an unblemished service of 27 years and at the fag end of his career transferring him would tell upon his dedication while discharging duty as a judicial officer.

Krishnakumar had said he can be transferred as per the norms before completing three years of service only if it is necessary in the interest of administration or under special circumstances.

“Wrong order passed while discharging judicial duty cannot be a ground for transfer,” the judge said in the plea.

Krishnakumar’s observations regarding survivors in his two orders on the anticipatory bail pleas moved by accused ‘Civic’ Chandran, who is also a writer and social activist, in two sexual harassment cases had stirred a controversy.

While granting bail to Chandran in the case, Krishnakumar, in his order dated August 2, observed that the accused is a reformist, and against the caste system and it is highly unbelievable that he would touch the body of the victim fully knowing that she belongs to the Scheduled Caste (SC).

The judge had also made controversial observations about the dressing of the survivor while granting bail to Chandran in the bail application moved by the latter in another case of sexual harassment against him.

In its August 12 order, the court had observed that the photograph of the complainant, produced by the accused along with the bail application, would explain that she herself dressed in a sexually provocative manner and it is impossible to believe that a man aged 74 and physically challenged would ever do the offence.

The Kerala government has moved the High Court seeking to set aside the sessions court orders granting bail to ‘Civic’ Chandran in both cases.

Chandigarh: Canada-based gangster Goldy Brar was the mastermind behind the murder of popular Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala and he had coordinated with gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi and Jaggu Bhagwanpuria and some others to execute the killing earlier this year, according to a charge sheet filed by the Punjab Police.

Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, popularly known as Sidhu Moosewala, was shot dead in Punjab’s Mansa district on May 29.

He was killed when he, along with his friend and cousin, was travelling in a jeep to Jawahar Ke village in Mansa. Six shooters waylaid and sprayed bullets on him.

After the killing, Goldy Brar, who is a member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, had claimed the responsibility for the act.

The Punjab Police had filed a 1,850-page charge sheet, its first in the case, against 24 accused in a Mansa court on August 26.

The charge sheet was filed under different IPC sections, including 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 341 (wrongful restraint), 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means) and 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), and relevant provisions of the Arms Act.

The police had lodged an FIR against 36 accused but it filed the charge sheet against 24, including Lawrence Bishnoi, Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, and Goldy Brar.

According to the charge sheet, accused Goldy Brar was the mastermind behind the murder of Moosewala.

He had given the news of withdrawal of security of Moosewala to shooters on May 28 and had asked them to hurry up and kill the singer on May 29, according to the charge sheet.

Moosewala was among the 424 people whose security was pruned by the Punjab Police on temporary basis.

According to the charge sheet, Brar had coordinated with accused Lawrence Bishnoi, Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, Sachin Bhiwani, Anmol Bishnoi, Sachin Thapan, Monu Dagar, Pawan Bishnoi and the shooters and prepared the plan to kill Moosewala.

He arranged weapons, money, cars, phones, SIM cards and shelters for the other accused.

Brar used messaging app Signal to communicate with other accused, according to the charge sheet.

Brar had executed the plan to murder Moosewala to avenge the killing of Vicky Middukhera.

Youth Akali leader Vicky Middukhera was killed last year. The name of Shaganpreet Singh, who was said to be Moosewala’s manager, had figured in the murder of Middukhera.

Police had identified six shooters who were part of the two modules allegedly involved in the killing.

While Priyavrat Fauji, Kashish, Ankit Sersa and Deepak Mundi were in a Bolero vehicle, Manpreet Singh and Jagrup Singh Roopa were in a Toyota Corolla.

The Special Cell of the Delhi Police had earlier nabbed Priyavrat Fauji, Kashish and Ankit Sersa.

Roopa and Manpreet were neutralised by the Punjab Police while Deepak Mundi was still at large.

New Delhi: The Delhi Assembly on Thursday passed the confidence motion tabled by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal even as five BJP MLAs staged a walkout after their party colleagues were marshalled out of the House following an argument with the deputy speaker.

While all the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs present in the House voted in favour of the motion as expected, there was no vote against it due to the absence of BJP legislators.

Three BJP MLAs — Vijender Gupta, Abhay Verma and Mohan Singh Bisht — were marshalled out as they “argued” with Deputy Speaker Rakhi Birla, who did not heed their demand to take up their calling attention notices before a discussion on the motion. The remaining legislators walked out in protest soon after.

In the Assembly, Kejriwal also referred to the upcoming Assembly elections in Gujarat, saying his party’s vote share in that state has increased by four per cent after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raids against his deputy Manish Sisodia.

He said this vote share will increase by two per cent “if Sisodia is arrested”.

“The CBI raided Sisodia, went to his village and searched his bank locker. CBI people said they did not find anything against him but they are under pressure to arrest him,” Kejriwal claimed.

Outside the Assembly, he told reporters that Sisodia is a “pauper” and it was obvious that the probe agency could not find anything substantial.

The prime minister has given a “certificate of honesty” to Sisodia and the AAP, he said.

Kejriwal also alleged that the BJP tried to buy his party MLAs but none of them accepted the offer.

Trying to project the AAP as an alternative to the BJP, he said there are currently only two parties at the national level — ‘Kattar Imandar (hardcore honest) party and Kattar Beimaan (hardcore corrupt) party’.

“Absolutely corrupt party lacks educated people while ‘hardcore honest’ party has those with good education, genuine IIT degrees,” he said.

“They are spending Rs 20-50 crore to buy MLAs. Am I doing anything wrong if I want to build schools and hospitals,” Kejriwal sought to know.

The chief minister said both his children studied in Indian Institutes of Technology, and he wanted to provide the “same education to every child in India”.

Kejriwal also said his government is worried about the increasing law and order issues in the capital.

“There should be no politics in law and order and safety of women in Delhi. We will extend all cooperation to the Lieutenant Governor and the Centre on it,” he said.

On LG Vinai Kumar Saxena warning legal action against the AAP for levelling allegations of corruption against him, Kejriwal said, “We should welcome any probe if we are in public life.”