In a far reaching decision affecting freedom of individuals and one that will impinge on already crowded prison conditions, the Supreme Court on Friday directed that all prisoners, who were released on emergency parole by the High Powered Committee during the Covid-19 period based on the orders of the Supreme Court, to surrender within 15 days.
“All those under trial prisoners and convicts who have been released on emergency parole/interim bail pursuant to the recommendations of the High Powered Committee in compliance of the orders passed by this Court have to surrender before the concerned prison authorities within 15 days”, ordered a bench comprising Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar.
However, the bench clarified that after the concerned prisoners surrender before the concerned prison authorities, it will be open for the concerned under trials to pray for bail before the competent court and their applications to be considered in accordance with the law. Similarly, after the surrender of concerned convicts released on emergency parole, it will be open for them, if so advised, to pray for suspension of their sentence before the concerned court in their appeals which might have been pending, which is also to be considered in accordance with the law.
The two judge bench bench passed the order in the suo motu case In Re: Contagion of COVID-19 virus in Prisons. In 2020 and 2021, the Supreme Court had passed several orders in the suo motu case during the first and second waves of pandemic for grant of emergency parole to prisoners in order to avoid the overcrowding of prisons. The Court had directed the constitution of High Powered Committees in States comprising of the (i) Chairman of the State Legal Services Committee, (ii) the Principal Secretary (Home/Prison) by whatever designation is known as, (ii) Director General of Prison(s), to identify the classes of prisoners who can be granted emergency parole.
Five days back , at Etawah, Uttar Pradesh (UP), on March 19, a Muslim youth named Amjad was reportedly brutally beaten over the suspicion of car theft. In what is turning out to be a singular pattern in the state, the young man later died due to severe injuries to his lungs.
This is not the first time that mob violence has targeted minorities there. On September 2, 2022 (incident reported by The Wire on October 2022, a 50-year-old Muslim man named Dawood Ali Tyagi was reported to have been attacked by a mob in Vinaipur in Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat district. At the time, around 20 men reportedly charged at Tyagi with sticks and sharp objects late at night, inflicting fatal injuries upon him. While the police claimed that four arrests have been made in the case, five months down little progress appears to have been made in the case. While the authorities contested the claim, Tyagi’s family had claimed that the attack was not random and that it was, in fact, a targeted crime aimed at instilling fear in Muslims. The police claim otherwise.
Tyagi, a farmer, lived in Vinaipur with his wife and daughter while his three sons lived and studied in Delhi. Speaking to The Wire about what transpired, one of his sons, Shahrukh, said, “My father was sitting on the porch of the house chatting with our relatives. At around 10 pm, a group of 22 men on about seven or eight bikes arrived.”
“He was attacked with sharp weapons; chain sockets latched onto sticks,” Shahrukh continued. “They attacked my father on his head and he also suffered three separate injuries on his hand. They fired on my cousins too, however, since they were much younger, my cousins escaped.” “As they attacked him, they were raising the slogan of ‘Jai Shri Ram’,” Shahrukh said.
In a significant verdict that overturns several previous precedents, the Supreme Court on Friday, March 24, overruled its 2011 judgments in Arup Bhuyan vs State of Assam, Indra Das vs State of Assam and State of Kerala vs Raneef which held that mere membership of a banned association is not sufficient to constitute an offence under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967 or the Terrorism and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, unless it is accompanied with some overt violent. Significantly, the three member bench that delivered this verdict that will substantially alter jurisprudence on the issue consisted of Justices MR Shah, CT Ravikumar and Sanjay Karol also upheld Section 10(a)(i) of the UAPA which makes membership of an association, which has been declared to be unlawful, to be an offence.
Earlier, two benches of the Supreme Court held sharply contradictory views. In 2011, a judgment delivered by a two-judgement bench in Arup Bhuyan while deciding a bail application under TADA filed by a person accused of being a member of ULFA. “Mere membership of a banned organisation will not make a person a criminal unless he resorts to violence or incites people to violence or creates public disorder by violence or incitement to violence”, the bench had held. Earlier, in State of Kerala vs Raneef (2011), while deciding a bail application under the UAPA, the same bench had taken the same view. This bench comprised of Justices Markandeya Katju and Gyan Sudha Mishra. Later, the same view was taken in Indra Das too by the same bench.
Thereafter, in 2014, three years later, a two-judge bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and AM Sapre referred the matter to a a larger bench, after the Union Government (under Narendra Modi) filed an application seeking reference on the ground that the interpretation was given to the central legislations without hearing the Union.
As a result, the 3-judge bench commenced hearing the reference on February 8 and reserved the judgment on next day, after hearing Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, Senior Advocate Sanjay Parikh (for an intervenor NGO).
Impact of the findings in the reference
On Friday, March 24, while delivering the judgment, the bench held that the 2011 judgements were passed in bail applications, where the constitutionality of the provisions were not called in question. Also, the constitutional validity of the UAPA and TADA had been upheld in earlier judgments.
The bench also found fault the 2011 judgments for reading down the provisions without hearing the Union of India. “When a Parliamentary legislation is read down in the absence of the Union, enormous harm would be caused to State if they are not heard”, the bench observed. The bench also observed that the reading down of a provision is not permissible when the language of a section is plain and clear. “In view of the above section 10(a)(i) should not have read down by this court especially when the constitutional validity of the section was not in question”, Justice Shah read out from the judgment.
Decisions of US courts could not have been relied upon
The bench also held that the 2-judge bench made a mistake by relying on US Supreme Court judgments, as the right to freedom of speech and association as per the Indian Constitution is subject to reasonable restrictions.
“We do not say for a moment that US Supreme Court decisions may not guide us. But Indian courts are required to consider the difference in nature of laws between two countries”, the bench observed.
Section 10(a)(i) is constitutional
“Section 10(a)(i) is absolutely in consonance with 19(1)(a) and 19(2) of the constitution and thus in consonance with the objectives of the UAPA”, Justice Shah read out the operative portion of the judgment.
The bench observed that the provision has been enacted in furtherance of the interests of sovereignty and integrity of the nation, which are grounds of reasonable restrictions under Article 19. As a result, the 3-judge bench has declared the judgments in Arup Bhuyan, Indra Das and Raneef to be bad in law. Also, the High Courts which followed these precedents were overruled as bad in law.
Predictably, the solicitor general for the union of India, Tushar Mehta expressed his “gratitude.”
“Really grateful, this will be a historic judgment to protect the sovereignty of the country”, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said after the pronouncement.
Challenges to Constitutional Validity of UAPA pending before SC, HC
It is important to note that, while this particular judgements upholds the validity of Section 10(i)(a) of the controversial UAPA, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, is currently under challenge in the same court as having “manifestly arbitrary” provisions and a very broad definition of “unlawful activity” that has a stifling impact on free expression. The Supreme Court that first took up the matter September 26, 2022 will hear the matter on October 18.
In October 2022 (last hearing before the Supreme Court), senior counsel Arvind Datar, representing the petitioner Foundation of Media Professionals, cited the Act’s arbitrary provisions before a three-judge bench comprised of Chief Justice of India UU Lalit, Justices Ravindra Bhat, and J.B. Pardiwala. The Bench requested notification be conveyed to the counsels appearing in other related cases. “List these matters on October 18, 2022. The counsel appearing in the connected matters sent intimation accordingly,” the bench had then stated in the order. Interestingly that was also a three judge bench that heard the matter. The matter appears to have gone into cold storage since.
This petition also argues that the UAPA’s provisions are “arbitrary and perverse, since they represent a condemnation of all democratic expression,” and that governments are abusing them “to target any and all kinds of dissent.”
The petition was filed through attorney Rahul Bhatia. A year before, on November 11, 2021, an appellate court panel led by the former Chief Justice N.V. Ramana had sent notices to the governments of Tripura and the Centre on a request for an immediate hearing of two UAPA-challenging petitions made by lawyer Prashant Bhushan. Since then, no hearings have taken place while the mis-use of the law continues, most rampantly probably in Jammu and Kashmir.
In both these petitions, it was claimed that the anti-terror statute had been abused to persecute lawyers and journalists for their social media posts about the communal unrest in Tripura in October 2021.
Besides, the petition by the Foundation of Media Professionals argues that because the UAPA offers the State “excessive and overwhelming powers… to act against groups and persons” who criticise “the governing party or majoritarian attitudes,” it “is a flagrant attack” on the fundamental rights to equality, freedom of speech, and life and liberty. The arbitrariness also stems from the statutory structuring of the law, the petition states, because the authority that determines whether or not an organisation is a terrorist also administers the sentence, takes into account an appeal, or selects the appellate panel, “the entire structure” of the statute “is dictatorial.”
“The definition of ‘unlawful activity’ includes ‘disaffection against India’ which does not have a defined meaning under the Act and can be used to target anyone against whom the government harbours a grudge to someone who may have a contrary point of view. It is submitted that ‘unlawful activity’ as a category exists only for the state to quell opposition, and in that sense is arbitrary and undemocratic,” the petitioner submitted through the petition.
The Foundation of Media Professionals has urged the top court to declare the UAPA unconstitutional on the grounds that it was manifestly arbitrary and violated Articles 14, 19, and 21 of the Constitution, which guarantee the rights to equality, freedom of speech, and life and liberty. The petitioner foundation also claimed that the UAPA was a severe violation of the liberties guaranteed by these articles insofar as it gave the state sweeping authority to take action against groups and individuals who opposed the ruling party or the majority.
In the petition, it was also submitted that, “The scheme of the Act is a gross assault on the freedoms protected under Articles 14, 19, and 21 of the Constitution, insofar as it grants excessive and overwhelming powers to the State to act against associations and individuals who express criticism against the ruling party or the majoritarian sentiment
It is a matter of judicial confusion that while such an overarching and comprehensive challenge to the statute is pending before the Supreme Court, the same forum decides a matter, albeit on one section of the law in question.
A New India spews Islamophobic hate today. We see a new India calling for death to Muslims. We see a saffron Mumbai marching toward genocide. We see the saffron army marching towards “cleansing” Maharashtra of “jihadis”. We see involuntary celibate, saffron-adorning men wanting to go to ‘Taj nagar’ to violate a ‘burqe wali’ (woman wearing a burqa). A skull cap-wearing man is a jihadi for them, who allegedly drugs their impotency. They fear impotency as it may reduce ‘their’ numbers, and to avoid this, they hope to reduce ‘our’ numbers. They other us, call us invaders, a threat to their saffron land, they perceive us as pests infesting the country. They want a pesticide to make the country pest-free, Muslim-free.
For the last eight years, India has displayed an evident abhorrence for minorities. The anti-Muslim sentiment spreads throughout the country in various forms. This hate is characterised by the mob lynching of Muslims in the 2020 East Delhi pogroms, cow vigilantes targeting Muslim dairy producers, the economic boycott of Muslim traders, pushing for surveillance of inter-faith couples, and the auctioning of vocal Muslim women in the public sphere through apps such as “Bulli Bai” and “Sulli Deals”. The vitriol brews in this saffron atmosphere. Its aim is amply clear – establishing a “Hindu Rashtra”.
During the Covid – 19 pandemic, Muslims in India faced communal violence due to selective stigmatisation of the Tabhlighi Jamaat’s congregation in 2020. Several Muslims from different countries were stranded in India as all modes of transport were canceled. The pandemic witnessed an economic boycott of Muslims as they were blamed for the spread of the virus. Muslims faced dual isolation, as the quarantine was regulated harsher in Muslim areas by the state, and Muslim traders were also discriminated against due to communal hostility. This exacerbated economic issues for the community, deeply affecting their incomes and pushing them to impoverishment.
Muslim women specifically have been targeted to cause “shame” and dis-honour the community. The Hijab row in Karnataka attacks their freedom to practice religion. The online trolling, doxing, and cyber harassment faced by vocal Muslim women is traumatising, it pushes them to self-censor their opinions. As a result, families tend to take a protective stance towards them. This hinders their mobility in both domestic and public settings. The slogans for the abduction and rape of Muslim women are vulgar, despicable strategies to sexualise Muslim women, to “unveil and unravel” is an open to support rape culture wrapped in saffron.
Festivals and rituals have also been targeted and condemned for being “disruptive of public order.” There were efforts last year to curb Eid celebrations, the morning prayer – azaan –from (koudspeakers on) mosques was considered as “too loud”. This is ironic in a country like India, where most festivals are practiced with a lot of sound display, loudly. The Navratri celebrations, Ganesh Chaturthi, the bursting of crackers and fireworks during Diwali, Indian weddings, and the baraat (wedding) proceeding, the bursting of fireworks to celebrate cricket victories, all disrupt public order. Singling out Eid and Ramzan is a deliberate attempt to curb the minorities’ display of religion and rituals. It is to stop any kind of public visibility and congregation of Muslim communities in India.
Around 50 Hindu Janaakrosh Morchas have been organized in the past four months in Maharashtra. Such mobilisations give calls for Hindus to unite and boycott Muslims in three ways, love – jihad, land jihad, and economic boycott. On February 26, the meeting at Mira Bhayandar witnessed Kajal Hindustani calling for Hindus to unite and boycott Muslim vendors and traders. The land on which mosques and cemeteries are built are allegedly “illegal” constructions. She also mentioned how Mira Bhayandar no longer remains a Hindu-dominated area. Geeta Jain, the Independent-elected then BJP-turned MLA of Mira Bhayandar, also supported Jan Aakrosh Morcha. Despite Supreme Court’s order against hate speech, people chanted slogans against Muslims openly.
The collective memory of Muslims today is tainted in saffron; saffron posters, slogans, banners, and speeches. The hate-filled air causes nausea, and loud death calls instill fear. Such vitriol harms the Muslim identity at different levels. The Muslim identity is feared, othered, and now subjected to genocidal intent. These saffron demonstrations intimidate Muslim communities and also deride them of hope. The state-funded vitriolic atmosphere is a direct attack on the citizenship rights of Muslims. It causes deep insecurity in the Muslim psyche and leaves lasting trauma. Muslim folks are specifically being targeted by such mobs, and open calls to attack Muslim women reveal the state’s misogynistic character. Moreover, the early release of Bilkis Bano’s convicts and the garlanding of these men as they are Brahmins who brought honour to their community is an awful disregard for justice and a failure of the state. This hate is perpetuated at individual level by right wing Bhakts (devotees of the regime) who post Islamophobic slogans, statuses, and tweets online. It contributes to the larger agenda of associations like Hindu Sakal Samaj to continue hate-mongering as it is being mimicked by people.
This insurmountable impact of bigotry and hate on Muslims is immeasurable, it cannot be quantified, but the effects can be observed in the code of conduct and ethos of Muslims. Such treatment has had a tangible impact on people’s livelihoods. The barring of students from wearing Hijab to college increased the dropout rates amongst Muslim girls. Their right to education, social mobility, and their right to lead a life with dignity is all under threat. Moreover, it is a bigoted approach to relegate the constitutional rights of Muslims to simplified identity politics. Hindu liberals who support the Hijab believing this are ignorant of the larger narrative here. Through Hijab, the bodies of Muslim women become a site of regulation by the State and religious groups trying to impose modesty on women. Muslim women’s bodily autonomy has been token-ised, controversial-ised and problemat-ised by the State, media and the community. The hyper-masculine expression of adorning saffron scarves, spitting on Muslim women are beastly tactics to intimidate Muslim women. The bias while hiring professionals from Muslim communities affects the social and economic aspirations of both the individual and the larger demographic of Muslims. Muslim communities then resort to coping mechanisms like an overt expression of identity through clothes, preaching Islam emphatically, becoming more insular, and being sceptical of any interaction with non-Islamic groups.
The state expects Muslims to remain “good minorities, “silent and passive people who should not fight. The citizenship rights of Muslims are under threat. The lack of adherence to Supreme Court orders and verdicts shows the failure and disregard of state institutions. It is disheartening and threatening more when it’s closer to home. In Mumbai, the Jan Aakrosh Morchas put public peace and harmony in jeopardy. Muslims are vulnerable even while claiming space in the public sphere. Women wearing burqas face bigoted stares from co-passengers on trains and the metro. There’s a hateful tone in any kind of interaction between strangers. Moreover, when saffron-clad men notice Muslim women, they are harassed by their stares and catcalled. This saffronised chauvanism threatens Muslim existence in India.
The All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) in Maharashtra began the third Kisan Long March from Dindori in Nashik district to Mumbai on March 12, 2023, on a 15-point charter of demands. It was withdrawn at Vasind in Thane district six days later on March 18, after the state government conceded many of the major demands in writing and the Chief Minister, Eknath Shinde, placed the agreement with the AIKS before the state assembly on March 17.
(See separate box for demands conceded by government.)
Three Kisan Long Marches
This was the third such Kisan Long March in Maharashtra led by the AIKS. The first and the most effective was the one from Nashik to Mumbai, which lasted full seven days from March 6-12, 2018. The second lasted only two days, from February 20-21, 2019 within Nashik tehsil, because three Ministers of the state government gave written assurances to the AIKS on the second day of the march. The third lasted six days from March 12-18, 2023, from Dindori to Vasind.
While there was a preparatory time of at least three weeks for the first two marches, the third began with less than a week’s preparation, because of the circumstances under which it was undertaken. Onion prices for farmers had plummeted suddenly; an immediate response was necessary; and the state assembly was due to end in the third week of March. The shortage of time naturally reflected in the strength of the march. While the first Kisan Long March of 2018 began at Nashik with 25,000 peasants and culminated in Mumbai with 50,000 peasants, the third Kisan Long March began at Dindori with 10,000 peasants and culminated at Vasind with 15,000 peasants. However, it still raised all the crucial issues affecting farmers at an appropriate moment time and also received good media coverage.
In all the three Long Marches, the lion’s share of the mobilisation was from among Adivasi farmers from Nashik district, followed by Adivasi farmers from Thane-Palghar and Ahmednagar districts. There was also representation of non-Adivasi peasants from the above four districts, as also plus from several districts of Vidarbha, Marathwada and Western Maharashtra regions, especially in the first two marches. In the third march, as mentioned above, time for preparation fell short. Adivasi peasant women and youth participated in large numbers in all three marches.
Coming of the red storm
By the night of March 12, 2023, the marchers from various tehsils of Nashik district, and from other districts of Maharashtra gathered at the Mhasrul Maidan just outside Nashik city. On the next morning, March 13, amidst great enthusiasm they marched into Nashik city. The march was replete with thousands of red caps, red placards, red flags, and red banners. Banner headlines in the Marathi newspapers hailed the coming of the “Laal Vaadal” (Red Storm). At the Dindori Chowk the marching farmers threw down onions, tomatoes, brinjals, potatoes and other vegetables on the road in anger at the falling prices of all these items. The media captured those memorable moments on camera.
On March 13 and 14, the Kisan Long March walked along the Agra-Nashik-Mumbai National Highway through Nashik district and reached the scenic spot of Ghatandevi near Igatpuri at night. After walking the whole day in the scorching sun, it was inspiring to see how Adivasi farmers, women and men still had the energy to sing and dance energetic collective tribal dances into the wee hours of the morning. Their anger against the government and the system could be seen with every step of the joyous anger of the dance.
On the morning of March 15, the Kisan Long March descended downwards along the famous serpentine Kasara Ghat, with high hills on one side and deep valleys on the other. The march by now had left Nashik district and entered the Thane district. Stunning photographs of the march were captured here by the electronic and print mainstream media and they soon reached all parts of the country. Sections of the social media did even better. By March 16, the marchers reached the Idgah Maidan at Vasind in Thane district, three days walk away from Mumbai.
Negotiations with the state government
Due to the past experience of the widespread popular and political support that the 2018 Kisan Long March had received, the Shinde-Fadnavis state government was naturally, nervous. On the night of March 12 itself, a senior state Minister Dada Bhuse held a preliminary meeting with an AIKS delegation at Nashik. CM Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis declared that they, along with concerned Ministers, will meet an AIKS delegation on March 14 at 3 pm in the State Assembly premises. On March 14, a state-wide strike of hundreds of thousands of state government employees and teachers began, for the old pension scheme and other related demands. The state government suddenly postponed the March 14 meeting with the AIKS to the next day, March 15.
The AIKS responded by marching on towards Mumbai, refusing to go for the March 15 talks, and demanding that now, state Ministers come to negotiate with the marchers. Eventually, two Ministers Dada Bhuse and Atul Save came to meet the marchers, held discussions and requested the AIKS leadership to come to the State Assembly premises on March 16 afternoon for full-fledged discussions with the CM, deputy CM, and other concerned Ministers and officials. While agreeing to go for the talks, the AIKS made it clear that the Kisan Long March will continue on its route to Mumbai until a satisfactory agreement has been reached.
On March 16, at the invitation of the CM Shinde and Deputy CM of Maharashtra, Phadnavis, a 16-member AIKS delegation held a two and a half hour discussion with the state government in the state assembly premises in Mumbai. For this discussion six other concerned Ministers, the Chief Secretary, and several Secretaries of related departments were present. Among those in the AIKS delegation that met representatives of the state government were J P Gavit, ex-MLA, Dr Ashok Dhawale, Dr Ajit Nawale, Dr Uday Narkar, Vinod Nikole, MLA, Dr D L Karad, Umesh Deshmukh, Subhash Choudhary, Irfan Shaikh, Arjun Adey, Kiran Gahala, Mohan Jadhav, Ramesh Choudhary, Indrajit Gavit, Hiraman Gavit and Manjula Bangal. The talks ended on a positive note, with the government acceding to most of the 15-point Charter of Demands of the farmers.
But the AIKS refused to withdraw the Kisan Long March and decided to continue their sit-in at Vasind, district Thane till such time as the Minutes of the decisions of this meeting were not placed on the table of the State Assembly and instructions about their implementation were not sent out to all district officials. In the face of such a resolute decision by the AIKS, the Chief Minister was forced on March 17 to announce all the decisions on the floor of the Legislative Assembly in a 15-minute address. On March 18, the AIKS received an official copy of the decisions and the Government also issued the same to all the district and lower authorities. In the wake of this significant victory, the third Kisan Long March was withdrawn on March 18, after six long days.
A tragic incident occurred on the second last day of the March. A farmer who had walked in the march right from the beginning, Pundalik Ambadas Jadhav, age 58, Village Mavdi, Tehsil Dindori, Dist Nashik, died of illness in a government hospital at Shahapur in Thane district, where he had been admitted. This was a great shock. J P Gavit immediately demanded compensation from the state government. The CM had to announce Rs 5 lakh as ex gratia payment to the family of the peasant martyr.
Congratulations from the AIKS leadership
The AIKS leadership congratulated the farmers of Maharashtra for the victorious third Kisan Long March. It concluded its statement by saying, “The AIKS-led Kisan Long March in 2018 had caught the imagination of the people and had instilled confidence in all democratic sections by forcing the then BJP-led State Government to accept almost all demands. In 2023, yet again the poor peasants, a large number of them Adivasis, with women leading from the front, have forced the SS-BJP to bow down and accept the demands. This victory will inspire militant struggles against the anti-people BJP Government and its pro-corporate policies. Coming just a fortnight before the Mazdoor Kisan Sangharsh Rally at Delhi, it will also inspire the working class and the peasantry to come out in bigger numbers in all forthcoming struggles.”
What the Kisan Long March of 2023 achieved
We give below in brief the demands won by the AIKS as a result of this Kisan Long March. This is based on the official Minutes of the meeting between the state government and the AIKS on March 16, 2023, which were placed on the table of the state assembly by the Chief Minister on March 17. One very significant aspect of this Kisan Long March was that, while taking up the burning demands of the peasantry and agricultural workers, it also took up some crucial demands of workers, employees, and unorganised scheme workers, and won some of them. This was a significant step in the direction of worker-peasant unity, which was widely noted.
1. Onion Prices: Due to collapse in onion prices, the state government agreed to give a subsidy of Rs 350 per quintal for onions. A state level onion price advisory committee will be constituted. Since fluctuation of onion prices is a regular phenomenon that is connected with central government policies, a state delegation will soon meet central ministers to discuss a long-term solution to the problem.
2. Forest Rights Act (FRA) Implementation: Several problems still remain in FRA implementation under the 2006 Act. These are as follows: thousands of claims remaining pending, less area than that under cultivation granted in the claims, not getting benefit of government schemes, and so on. For settling all these problems, a committee of concerned ministers will be set up, which will include J P Gavit, ex-MLA, and Vinod Nikole, MLA, and it will submit its report within one month. On the basis of this report, immediate action will be taken for vesting land in the names of Adivasi peasants.
3. Temple (Devasthan) and Waqf Board Lands: The government will enact a law to vest temple lands in the name of the cultivating peasants, and this will be placed soon before the Cabinet. The decision of the Supreme Court as regards Waqf Board lands will be studied and it will be sent to all district collectors for clarification. Both these types involve lakhs of acres of land throughout the state, which are cultivated by peasants, but have not been vested in their names for generations.
4. Provide Electricity Supply for 12 hours constantly and waive the pending electricity bills of farmers: Under the CM Solar Agricultural Scheme, electricity projects will be started on a priority basis in the Adivasi areas. A 120 KV sub-centre at Kanashi in Kalwan tehsil will be set up with adequate funds.
5. Loan Waiver: In the case of over 88,000 peasants in Adivasi areas who have not received the benefit of the two earlier loan waiver schemes, named after Chhatrapati Shivaji and Mahatma Phule respectively, they will be given a loan waiver.
6. Old Pension Scheme: A committee has been set up to make a comparative study of the old pension scheme and the national pension scheme. It will discuss with all the stake-holders and submit its report within three months. On the basis of this report appropriate action will be taken.
7. Increase in PM Housing Scheme Subsidy from Rs 1.40 lakh to Rs 5.00 lakh due to price rise, a re-survey of poor beneficiaries and their inclusion in the ‘D’ lists: Discussion will be held with the Employment Guarantee Department so that extra fund with MNREGA can be made available for this housing subsidy. The eligible beneficiaries who do not find a place in the ‘D’ list of the Centre will be accommodated in the housing scheme of the state government. Under the Shabari, Pardhi and Aadim Awaas schemes, 1 lakh new houses will be built. For building houses for workers, more subsidy will be given from the Workers’ Welfare Fund.
8. Declaring all Scheme Workers as Government Employees with Government Pay Scales: The monthly honorarium for scheme workers has been increased as follows: Anganwadi worker – Rs 8,325 to Rs 10,000; Mini Anganwadi worker – Rs 5,975 to Rs 7,200; Anganwadi helper – Rs 4,425 to Rs 5,500. Also, 20,000 vacant posts of Anganwadi workers and helpers will be filled. Asha workers and block facilitators will be given a raise from the state government of Rs 1500 per month. Thus, a block facilitator will now receive Rs 14,975 instead of Rs 13,475 earlier. And an Asha worker will now receive Rs 6,500 instead of Rs 5,000 earlier. As regards pension and gratuity for Anganwadi workers and helpers, the Law and Justice Department will study all the Court decisions and will ensure their proper implementation. Arrangements will be made to send the wages of contract workers directly into their bank accounts, instead of them being arbitrarily cut by the contractors. Vacant posts in various workers welfare boards and tripartite committees will be filled and they will function with their full strength.
9. Compensation by NDRF for Crop Loss due to Unseasonal Rains and Stop of Loot of Farmers by Crop Insurance Companies: At present compensation is paid to farmers in case of unseasonal rains. For constant rain, criteria for compensation are being decided. To get the Crop Insurance compensation in Beed district for 2020, the state government will send a proposal to the central government.
10. State Government should begin purchase of the Bal Hirda crop at Rs 250 per Kg. Adequate compensation be given for the destruction of the Bal Hirda crop due to cyclone in 2020: The Maharashtra Adivasi Development Corporation used to purchase Bal Hirda earlier, but it stopped doing so in 2017 due to losses. The issue will be reopened and studied again, and an appropriate decision will be taken. The professional training centres were being run by the Adivasi Development Department through the Central Government-sponsored scheme. Now this scheme has stopped. An effort will be made to re-start these centres through the skill development department of the state government.
11. Cancel the River Linking Scheme and divert excess water flowing to the west into the Arabian Sea, to the east of drought-prone areas of Nashik district, Khandesh and Marathwada: This scheme has already been announced in the latest budget of the State Government. Irrigation schemes in Surgana and Kalwan tehsils were accepted and work on them was directed to begin.
12. Thousands of bogus Adivasis have wrongly cornered ST reserved jobs by producing false caste certificates. Remove them from their jobs, replace them with genuine Adivasis, and fill all ST/SC vacant posts: All such cases of bogus Adivasis have been dealt with, they have been removed and the posts made vacant. These posts will be properly filled by genuine Adivasis within the next three months.
13. Increase in Old Age and other Pensions: The sum for the Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar Scheme and the Shravan Bal Scheme has been increased from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 per month.
14. Along with the free grain given on ration cards, re-start the grain that was earlier available for sale: A request to this effect will be made to the central government. Instructions will be given to all districts about giving yellow ration cards to families who have divided their cards. There are have been problems on this score for many years.
15. An independent machinery should be erected to examine the milkometres and weight scales, with appointment of milkometre inspectors. Implement the policy of FRP and Revenue Sharing for milk: To stop the loot experienced by farmers involved in dairy (milk), standard milkometres will be insisted upon and priority will be given to appoint independent inspectors to examine milkometres. In the present situation, the state government has no control over private milk bodies. A meeting will be held with those concerned and an appropriate decision will be taken to establish such control of the state government over the private milk sector.
“No society should accept hatred as the new normal” – CJI DY Chandrachud
As a society we have largely aspired for peaceful co-existence, however, this consensus does not sit easy with the right wing in India. They are determinedly imposing hatred and animosity among the majority with an aim to alienate and marginalise the minority. These agents of hate include Sudarshan News Editor Suresh Chavhanke who has been on a guided tour in Maharashtra over the past three months, spreading divisiveness, attempting to incite violence. His speech feed the audience (and others online) with heaps of false information and also make baseless claims to paint the minority community as an “enemy.”
On the occasion of Gudi Padwa, the New Year, when all people look forward to messages of positivity, hate mongers like Chavhanke were busy injecting hatred. More problematic is the fact that the police and administration allowed this sort of corrosive activity unchecked.
At Anant Kanhere Maidan in Nashik on Hindu New year, March 22, Chavhanke addressed a large crowd at a ‘Hindu Hunkar Sabha’, speaking in Marathi while the entire show was streamed live on YouTube. Needless to say, in his hour long speech he resorted to his usual fear mongering, stigmatising Muslims and Christians, referring to them in denigrating terms, gave calls for violence, used the ‘they should be in Pakistan’ trope, made baseless claims of encroachment over temples, made unfounded claims about “love Jihad”, revolved his narrative around attacking the autonomy of women and urged people to take law in their hands. All of this and more has always been Chavhanke’s particular brand of hate recipe.
Almost every statement he made during this address amounted to at least one offence under Indian penal laws. Apparently (as can be understood from his speech), there were even senior officers of Maharashtra police present at this event. Despite this however, the man emerged unscathed, with no case, to date, being registered against him.
Using the victim card, trying to generate both anger and fear, he made some baseless claims about ‘Land Jihad’ around the Navshya Ganpati temple in Nashik. He claimed that he would be going to visit the temple and then the countdown will begin. He said he will gift a bulldozer to CM Eknath Shinde to remove this “encroachment”. This statement evoked a loud applause from the audience. “Sit on the bulldozer like Yogi Adityanath,” he said exhorting the Maharashtra chief minister, Eknath Shinde.
He even attacked Christians. He claimed that Adivasis living in Peth, Harsul, Trambak, Igatpuri, Surgana, Ghoti are being converted “in large numbers”. In the last three years alone, he says, Christians have converted so many Adivasis that this has beaten the record of the past 20 years! I have a list that shows that even where there are only four Christian homes, there are still big churches in the area. Where do they get the money from? Who is talking about this? Hence we need to talk about this. (Time stamp: 28.27-28.35)
He claimed that the Waqf Board is eyeing thousands of acres of land in Nashik and that Nashik needs to be awakened. (Time stamp: 31.11)
He said the biggest obstacle in rescuing girl from Love Jihad is the girl herself because she has not been taught by her parents that wars in Ramayan and Mahabharat were fought for protecting the women. You should give Sanskar to your children.
He made the following demands to the government:
Bring a stringent Love Jihad law in Maharashtra
Bring a stringent anti-conversion law in Maharashtra
Bring a stringent anti-cow slaughter law in Maharashtra
Bring Anti-encroachment law for forts, Law against Madrassas and a Population control law
What he said
Here is the transcript of the video by time stamps (Time stamp:8:19-9:02)
“If someone is looking at your sister with bad intentions. Then your anger should be so loud that the jihadi should start bleeding from his ears. The conspiracy against your mothers and sisters should be heard by you and you need sharp ears for that. Like Gandhiji’s monkeys will you keep your eyes, mouth and ears shut? (Time stamp: 10.00- 10.53)
“The police are the victims. The first target of these jihadis are the police. These Hindus are with you (the Police). From tomorrow the ‘love jihadi’ will not be so brave because so many Hindus are with you.” (Time stamp: 12.45- 13.30)
“In Vihitgaon Hindus population is less than 50%. The name is now renamed as Eid gaon. Politicians will not tell you such things. That is why you need such meetings.
(Time stamp: 14.25-14.38)
“You praise the cow but unless you don’t cut off the hand of the Kasaai who slaughters the cow, the cow will not give you any blessings. Protect cows like Shivaji Maharaj did.
(Time stamp: 15.37- 19.02)
“Even a married woman is unsafe. We have forgotten about Kiran Sanap. Nobody knows if Rashid Khan is on bail. Unless you take revenge, there will be rule of law. Here there is no hegemony of law and no hegemony of Hindus either. I am not saying break the law. If a jihadi molests your sister, will you dial 100 or will you take the matter in your hands?” The audience says they will do the latter “Is there even one such example of a person taking law in their hands in such a case? No… This Sabha is to encourage you that if someone looks at your sister with bad intentions, that person should not be let off. (Time stamp: 20.04 – 21.18)
“In MIDC, Shinnar Bangladeshis have settled down. I plead to the senior officers of the Police seated here and Ministers as well. Nashik does not have a cell for searching for Bangladeshis. You must be seeing new kinds of caps (referring to Muslim skull caps. Where did they come from? From Bangladesh. They brought Rohingyas from Bangladesh. I take their name today. Islamic organization called ‘Jamaat-e-Islami’ through their network of various mosques a Muslim foreigner has been settled in smallest of villages in India. (Time stamp: 21.20- 21.32)
Your fruits business is not with your anymore. You have lost them out to them (Muslims). If a fellow countryman had done it (taken over the business) I would have remained quiet for a while. But a Bangladeshi! (Time stamp:21.32-21.45)
“That’s why from this Nashik we need to give a declaration: Bangladeshi Bhagao aur Hindustan Bachao (Chase away the Bangladeshi and Save India).” The audience resonated with him.
(Time stamp: 21.53-22.43)
“How many of you know what the Muslim population in Nashik is? As per Census 2011, 19% Muslims are in Nashik. This is 2011 census. As per current data, this number has increased to 27-29%. DO you understand how big a number this is? Wherever the Hindus population decreases there Hindustan also diminishes. Kashmir, Bengal, Kerala are all border states. What is happening within the borders? Do you want Nashik to become Malegaon? It’s happening!”
(Time stamp: 22.44-23.22)
“If this continues, I am telling you by 2030, within 7 years, you will not be able to organize any Hindu events/programs. Population (of Muslims) will increase so much you won’t be able to do anything.” “Today in Malegaon, can you such a meeting? (Time stamp: 23.30-24.47)
“We think we have money so we don’t have to fear. The Hindus in Dhaka at one point thought that the velvet business is ours, the Hindus of Kashmir at one point though the Kesar business is ours and they (Muslim) are just labourers. But if they announce on the loudspeakers of their mosques that leave your women and girls behind and leave this Nashik, do we want such a situation to arise here? It happened in Kashmir, right? Could Hindus enter Kashmir again despite Modi’s government? Still not even nine Hindus could go to Kashmir and live there.
(Time stamp: 29.02-29.22)
“Waqf Board is a demon capturing lands. Central government needs to pay attention to this. If they say tomorrow that Dindori Ashram (in Nashik), is ours then to get justice you will have to go to the Waqf Board.” (Time stamp: 29.34-30.15)
“This is nothing. Even the Allahabad High Court had to go to the Supreme Court begging to save them. This is how powerful the Waqf Board is. In the last 3 years, 1.5 lakh acres land has been captured by the Waqf Board. I had been to Rahta and Guha in (Ahmed) Nagar, there they have even usurped temple lands. (Time stamp: 35.28-36.12)
“Tipu Sultan was an enemy of Maharashtra. He was an agent of the French and Portuguese I demand from the Maharashtra government that those worshipping Tipu Shaitan and Aurangzeb should be treated as traitors” (Time stamp: 36.28- 37.04)
“Everywhere Muslims are more than 20%. There around a 40 crore population in India. All Muslim nations together do not have this much population. Can you call them minority? Only 2-3% population is called minority. That’s why we are appealing to Narendra Modi to get rid of the Ministry of Minority Affairs. (Time stamp: 38.00- 39.50)
“Speaking about population, he said that Hindus are now only having one child but they (Muslims) are still having 4 children and at whose expense is this? Ours. In this democracy, even a saint gets only vote to cast and even a criminal gets only 1 vote to cast. Isn’t this injustice? These children take the rice given to them funded by our money, and fill their stomachs.
(Time stamp: 39.50- 40.30)
“Around 56-60% tax is paid by Hindus. There is only 1% Hindus in Pakistan, but they pay 26% tax there. But they are not safe there. India’s 20% Muslim does not even pay 2% tax. But they are safe here.
(Time stamp: 48.17- 48.57)
“Babasaheb Ambedkar said ‘until the last Muslim does not go to Pakistan, I will not accept this partition.’ If we had listened to Babasaheb then today the Rupee which is 83 for 1 Dollar, would have been equal to that dollar.
Actor and activist Chetan Kumar, who was arrested for his offensive tweet has been granted bail on Thursday, March 23.A local court in Bengaluru released him on a surety of two persons and a Rs 25,000 bond. He was remanded to judicial custody for 14 days after he was arrested by Seshadripuram police.
Soon after attaining his freedom, Chetan who has been fighting for equality, while speaking to media said, sticking to his stand once again reiterated that, “Hindutva is built on lies.” Sharing his thoughts on Uri Gowda and Nanje Gowda who allegedly killed Tipu Sultan, he added, “It is a cooked-up story to create disharmony between Vokkaligas and Muslim communities. Even historian have confirmed that Tipu Sultan was not killed by the duo. He was a great freedom fighter. We need to adopt his principles to create an egalitarian society. ”
The actor has also stated that he will continue fight for the betterment of the society. This is not the first time the actor was arrested following his offensive tweet. He was also earlier arrested in February last year for a tweet against Karnataka High Court Justice Krishna Dixit. He was later released on bail.
Kannada film actor, Ambedkarite Activist Mr. Chetan Kumar has been arrested by the Bommai led BJP government for the second time in the last one year. The previous arrest was made in February 2022, for a tweet criticising, Justice Krishna Dixit , a high court judge , over his misogynist remarks in an order allowing a bail plea of a rape accused. The same judge was part of the bench of three judges that heard the Hijab case in the Karnataka High Court. Chetan had expressed his serious reservations about the outcome of the proceedings due to the Judge’s prejudice against the women as expressed in the bail order. In fact, on the advice of the chief justice, those controversial remarks were later expunged from the order also.
Nevertheless, Chetan had to spend a few days in judicial custody before he got bail. There was an outrage in Karnataka civil society over the arrest which was considered as an attempt to suppress a dissident Ambedkarite Voice.
Chetan has proved his commitment to the causes he pursued even after his arrest. He was outspoken and unapologetic about his views on how even the judiciary is a replica of Indian casteist and male chauvinist society. He continued his unadulterated critique of all the political parties based on an Ambedkarite and Periyarist ideology. His strong views has resulted in the consolidation of some of his support base but has also alienated some others. His views continue to be debated in the mainstream media, very often not doing justice to his nuanced understanding.
This time around, the tweet for which Chetan has been arrested for the second time has touched the very electoral and ideological fault line of the RSS-BJP combine. In the impugned tweet Chetan had said that:
Hindutva is built on lies. Savarkar’s theory that Hindu Rashtra was inaugurated from the times when Rama killed Ravana and brought back Sita is a lie. That there was a Ram Mandir beneath Babri-Masjid was a lie. And that Uri Gowda and Nanje Gowda, two concocted Vokkaliga warriors (were responsible for the) killing of Tipu is also a lie. Hence Hindutva is built on lies. Only truth can defeat these lies; and Equality is the Truth.
While the first two statements have been made by scores of people all of the time, what has truly perturbed and rattled the BJP’s machinery in Karnataka is the last one about Uri Gowda and Naje Gowda.
To understand the import of this statement one needs to understand the predicament of the BJP in the poll bound state of Karnataka.
The BJP government which is today wrecked with charges of corruption, scandals, factional fights, administrative failures etc., is solely banking on the time-tested electoral strategy of communal polarisation in the state. To this end it has been trying to rake up communal issues and also create a wedge between the dominant Vokkaliga community and the Muslims in the Mysore region where Tipu and Hyder Ali ruled for decades. The BJP is constantly attempting this by demonising Tippu Sultan and building statues for Kempe Gowda, the Vokkaliga chieftain of the area.
Of late the Gobblesian false factory of RSS-BJP has discovered two Vokkaliga warriors, namely Uri Gowda and Dodda Nanje Gowda and spun the story that they are responsible for killing Tipu Sultan in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War on May 4, 1799 in Srirangapattana, as a revenge against his “rule of religious bigotry”. A minister of the Bommai cabinet has even volunteered to produce a movie titled “Urigowda and Nanje Gowda”.
But all that propaganda did not gain traction, albeit temporarily, because a majority of the Vokkaliga community took offense to this misadventure of the Sangh Parivar and even the seer of the community prevailed upon the minister to retract and himself gave a firm caution against this false campaign. This is only because Tipu is considered even today as a great patriotic ruler who fought against the British with bravery and lost his life in the battlefield defending the country. Hence those who are responsible for the death of Tipu, like Mir Sadiq, the commander who betrayed Tipu in the final war, are considered traitors. Now the BJPs campaign which make two Vokkaligas “take credit” for the killing of Tipu is taken as a huge offense against the community.
However, even though, the momentum around “Urigowda” propaganda has decreased, staunch Vokkaliga politicians with an RSS background, like CT Ravi and Shobha Karandlaje have indirectly challenged the caution given by the seer and hinted that they would pursue the false campaign. Thus the Urigowda campaign might get postponed until the election but may resume with more fervour because it is the part of the larger strategy of the Sangh Parivar to re write the history by inventing Hindutva soldiers and Freedom Fighters while demonising all Muslim rulers with the same brush of invasion and bigotry.
It is in this background that Chetan tweeted this seemingly most innocuous tweet reiterating a truism stated by different people umpteen times in the public sphere.
For example, scholars like Ambedkar have exposed the Savarkarite myth of Hindu Rashtra and Ramayana in most of his works. Allam Prabhu, one of the great teachers of the Lingayat Community which is the main social base of the BJP in Karnataka, has declared in one of his couplets, in most unambiguous terms that “Puranas are nothing but a time pass of Ruffians and Vedas are worthless coir”.
In fact Chetan’s tweet can hardly be more “offending” than this .
That there was no Rama mandir beneath Babri Masjid is acknowledged by no less than the Constitutional bench of the Supreme Court.
And, Niramalanda Swamiji, the seer of the Vokkaliga community has officially declared that the Urigowda and Nanjegowda “warriors” are figment of fiction. The seer is also on record saying that “through imagination(s) one can write novels but not History.”
Not only that, if this new “discovery” was true, the Britishers who wanted to portray Tipu’s egalitarian rule as bigotry to justify their conquest, would have made maximum use of Uri Gowda and Nanje Gowda in their campaign against Tipu immediately after his death.
Neither do “The Journey From Madras Through the Country of Mysore, Canara and Malabar” a documentation of Society and People of Mysore province by Francis Buchanan, immediately after the death of Tipu or the Historical account of the last Anglo-Mysore war documented by Alexander Beatson, or James Salmond or the locals like Ramchandra Rao Punganuri or the more recent one documented by British Officer C. Hayavadana Rao in 1946, even contain a bare documentation of mention these characters.
All the official, credible accounts of 1799, May 4 document that:
Mir Sadiq, the commander -in-chief of Tipu Sultan, betrayed Tipu and colluded with the British. He facilitated the march of the British Army into Srirangapattana after breaching the unguarded fort at about lunch time. Tipu Sultan, after learning that his confident commander Gafur had been martyred in the fight, rushes to the battleground with some of his confidence. But it was late and the city of Srirangapattana was being ransacked and plundered by British soldiers. Still Tipu puts up a brave fight killing many British soldiers in his wake. But in no time his beloved horse got killed and Tippu himself was hit by Musket balls and collapsed from the mount. Few British soldiers who were on the rampage, approached Tipu to seize from him the diamond studded sword. Tipu kills the soldier with the drawn sword. The other British soldiers kill him immediately by shooting without even knowing whom they are killing.
Even the local ballads in the folklore of Mysore, which are generally considered as an unadulterated account of truth in history, praise Tipu as a hero who died a martyr in safeguarding the country and in the quest of liberating the peasants. If Tipu was a tyrant and the Uri Gowda and Nanje Gowda were liberators, the local ballads would have depicted the same. In fact there is not a single ballad even mentioning these imaginary Sanghi warriors or portraying Tipu as a tyrant.
Hence, the agrarian communities in the region have a great regard for Tipu and the Vokkaligas in general have taken offense to BJPs campaign which is bringing bad repute to their community.
Chetan has only aired this sentiment. Chetan is charged with creating disharmony between the communities over a complaint filed by a Bajrang Dal activist. That there was no need of arrest in such cases and that there has been no arrests of Right Wingers on more vicious statements says a lot about the current state of affairs.
Chetan may get the bail in a day or two. But the Hinduva bigots will continue with their crusade against Tipu and continue this agenda since it strengthens a crucial pillar of their Hindu Rashtra. The secular combat against this needs to be carried out relentlessly and with caution.
The start of this week, March 2022 saw five incidents reported that targeted the miniscule Christian minority. Incidents occurred across Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh revealing that the political party in power regardless, the pernicious reach of sustained propaganda is being weaponised across the country. “Conversion” through incentives (for Christians) and by seductive marriage (for Muslims) is an dual-edged allegation made against India’s religious minorities without substantiation never mind that figures show that the largest conversions have been to Hinduism not the other way around.
It bears emphasis that such threats and physical attacks violate the Constitution (Article 14, 15, 21 and 25) and sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) too, yet law enforcement agencies and the district administration –police and collectorate etc—have failed to enforce the rule of law and constitutional and legal morality.
Over the period of the last two days, five incidents of forcible eviction, attack and abuse were reported. These happened over two days, March 20 and 22. While in most of these incidents, extremist Hindutva outfits and locals were involved, often the police –sworn under oath to protect the Constitution –were also found to be silent spectators or even supporting the perpetrators.
On March 20, 2023, a group of far-right extremists linked to Bajrang Dal disrupted a Christian prayer meet, heckled congregants and accused them of religious conversions. This incident was reported from Shivamogga, Karnataka. A video showing the Bajrang Dal goons heckling and fighting with the Christians praying have been doing rounds on social media. Little is known about whether a case has been registered, any investigation is on or protection given to targeted sections.
The said video can be viewed here:
Location: Shivamogga, Karnataka
Far-right extremists linked to Bajrang Dal disrupted a Christian prayer meet, heckled congregants and accused them of religious conversions. pic.twitter.com/398d7U9C5I
In another instance, reported from Shahpur, Himachal Pradesh, a group of Christians living on rent were heckled by the locals over accusations of religious conversions. The locals even asked the Christian family to leave the village. In the video uploaded from the said incident, the president of the Gram Sabha can be seen standing with a group of people behind him, conversing with the family of Christians. One of the individuals from the group, a member of the gram sabha, then speaks to the person recording the video and says that the mother and son have been misleading the people by saying that there is no Vishnu, Ram or any other Hindu god. As this spread, the locals started opposing the Christians, accusing them of conducting forced religious conversions. The man then goes on to say that they have gathered today to make the Christian family leave, and they have also issued a warning to the landlord of the flat that the Christian family were residing in. The man informed that the Christians have been given two days to vacate the flat. The man further informs that they have also clarified the Christian family that if they refuse to leave, the gram sabha will not be responsible for what happens to them.
The fact that such eviction from home or banishment is clear violation of the rule of law appears to be something that those in power fail to respond to, never mind that presently Himachal Pradesh is being governed by the Indian National Congress.
The video can be viewed here:
Location: Shahpur, Himachal Pradesh
A group of Christians living on rent were heckled by the locals over accusations of religious conversions. They asked them to leave the village. pic.twitter.com/AkV592oeBD
From Jodhpur, Rajasthan, an incident was reported where the members of the far-right Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal disrupted a Christian event, again over allegations of “religious conversions”. They forcefully entered the venue, St. Andrews Hall, and prompting organisers to cancel the event. The goons had also filed an FIR stating the same, accusing the Christians of conducting forced religious conversions. Pursuant to which, the police had also reached the spot. Again, the right to expression (Article 19) right to faith (Article 25) and Articles 14 and 21 (the right to life and equality before the law) are clearly violated. Trespass (section 441, IPC), criminal Intimidation (section 503,506 of the IPC) and use of force (section 350) are offences under criminal law too!
The video can be viewed here:
Stopping to another low, a news video has been causing uproar on social media wherein locals of Jagdalpur in Bastar, Chattisgarh stopped the burial of an elderly Adivasi woman, who they claim had converted to Christianity. Reports of stone pelting also came from the area. In the video, a large group of people can be heard sloganeering and fighting with the Adivasi group. Police can later be seen controlling the opposing mob. It has been reported that while, under the protection of police, the body of the deceased had been buried, the local are not giving up on this issue. It bears mentioning that all the fundamental rights of the Constitution mentioned above outlined above are clearly violated in this incident as well as also criminal law.
The video can be viewed here:
Location: Jagdalpur, Bastar, Chattisgarh
Locals stopped burial of an elderly woman who they claim had converted to Christianity. Reports of stone pelting are coming from the area. pic.twitter.com/mkXEJgR0i9
In the fifth instance reported, reported from Khorabar, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, the police stopped a Christian prayer meeting and arrested a pastor over allegations of “religious conversion”. It is being alleged that more than 50 women were being offered money and undergoing religious conversions.
The video can be viewed here:
Location: Khorabar, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh
Police stopped a Christian prayer meeting and arrested a pastor over allegations of religious conversion. pic.twitter.com/Y6dzqciPNP
