Pathbreakers: The Twentieth Century Muslim Women of India

December 6, 2018

‘Pathbreakers’, an initiative of Muslim women is taking the responsibility to tell the narratives of twentieth-century Muslim women who broke barriers and contributed to the project of building a new India.

The misinformation and generalisations about Muslim women speak volumes about the way they are perceived in today’s time. ‘Pathbreakers’, an initiative of Muslim women is taking the responsibility to tell the narratives of twentieth-century Muslim women who broke barriers and contributed to the project of building a new India. Dr. Syeda Hameed, an activist and writer spoke to Newsclick about the initiative and the importance of these unheard stories.

Courtesy: Newsclick.in

Justice denied – the Dharmapuri rape

December 6, 2018

On the night of November 12th 2018, more than fifty people from Sittilingi, a village in Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu, made their way back home from Dharmapuri Government Medical College Hospital with the body of a 16-year-old Adivasi (Malaivasi) girl. The girl had been raped on November 5th by two drunk men, and had died in the hospital five days later – a death that her family have described as linked to blatant police negligence, beginning with their refusal to file an FIR, and involving the questionable role of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) in Dharmapuri. Manjunathan*, a resident of Sittilingi, says that on November 12th, around ten police vehicles and 100 policemen had followed the girl’s funeral procession through the village, all the way to the graveyard. “Till now we have never seen the police,” Manjunathan attests, “now suddenly, since the day of the protest, they have remained in the village, especially at the junction, harassing people.”

This large and unusual police presence in Sittilingi began on November 10th, after around 2000 people gathered on the main road of the village, frequented by buses connecting Salem and Thiruvannamalai, to protest against the rape and death of the girl. Subsequently, Satish, one of the accused, was nabbed by the police in Yercaud on November 11th, after which Ramesh, the second of the accused, surrendered in Salem the next day, even as the girl’s family waited for a post-mortem. On November 13th, The News Minute reported that 17 activists, including student activist Valarmathi, Dalit and trans activist Grace Banu, and others from the Tamil Nadu Women’s Federation, who were visiting the girl’s family on a fact-finding mission, had been briefly arrested. This was followed by reports of allegations that the police had failed to collect evidence like the girl’s soiled underwear and her broken bangles from the site of the crime – four days after she had died, and almost ten days after she had been raped.
In the very recent past, that is, from the end of October 2018, there have been two other reported cases of caste and sexual violence from Tamil Nadu. The first was the beheading of Rajalakshmi, a 13-year-old Dalit girl in Salem, by her neighbour Dinesh Kumar, a Mudaliar man, after she rejected his sexual advances. More recently, the bodies of a young couple from Hosur, S Swathi, a Vanniyar woman, and N Nandish, a Dalit man, who had been murdered by Swathi’s family for their marriage, were found in the Cauvery river in Karnataka’s Mandya district. However, much like Rajalakshmi’s murder and the Hosur killing, the case from Sittilingi warrants more public condemnation than it has received; in fact, over the last two weeks, there have only been brief English media reports about it outside of Tamil Nadu. Just as Rajalakshmi’s case was followed by a discussion about whether her murder was a caste or sexual crime – with some rightly contending that it was both – there is arguably a need for similar attention to this case from Sittilingi.

So far, conversations with those involved in the protests following this girl’s death reflect a common, disturbing refrain – “I don’t think the police expected her to die; if she hadn’t died, then no inquiry would have been raised.” Although in this instance, both the accused are also Malaivasi, the violence has undoubtedly been compounded by several discrepancies and a series of concerted police cover-ups, all of which require much closer attention. The whole episode, as indeed the events marking it, is a critical reminder of the need to urgently address (and document) the multiple ways in which social identities of ‘tribe’, caste and class are linked to situations of sexual violence and accompanying efforts at legal and governmental redress (whether in the form of registering a criminal complaint, or accessing a government hospital and generally addressing subaltern public grievances). To borrow an evocative phrase from Suchitra Vijayan’s piece on Rajalakshmi’s murder, “[the crime] remains seen but not acknowledged, heard but not listened to,” and, note, we are only speaking of ‘acknowledgement’ and ‘listening to’ here, and much less about ‘redress’ or even ‘righting wrongs’.

For now, what we know about the Sittilingi event from various reports in the media is this: the girl, who had returned to the village from her boarding school for Deepavali, was raped on November 5th by two drunk men, Satish and Ramesh, when she had gone to relieve herself. She was gagged, her clothes had been torn, and she was bleeding and very weak. On the same day, her family had gone to the police station in Kottapatti (12 kilometres away) to register a complaint. The police initially refused to do so, until they were pressured to comply when the girl’s family contacted 1077, the Tamil Nadu Police Helpline number. The FIR was finally filed on November 6th as ‘attempt to rape’, and the girl was taken to Harur (approximately 40 kilometres away from Kottapatti) for a medical examination. The FIR mentions that Satish and Ramesh were being booked under Sections 5 (g) [whoever commits gang penetrative assault on a child], 6 [punishment for aggravated penetrative assault], and 18 [punishment for attempt to commit an offence] of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO).

The police, who as reported had taken a bribe of Rs 6000, then shifted the girl to a CWC children’s remand home in Dharmapuri. Thiru MS Saravanan, Chairman of the CWC, has insisted that they were not informed of the girl being a victim of sexual assault. “We were only told about an attempt to rape,” he says. On November 7th, the girl, who was vomiting and complained of dizziness in the remand home, was taken to Dharmapuri Government Medical College Hospital. A CT scan was conducted – for which Rs 500 was taken from the family – which revealed a diffuse cerebral oedema. Over the next two days, her condition seemed to improve, until suddenly, on the morning of November 10th, she collapsed and then died.
When the news about the girl’s passing away reached Sittilingi that morning, a large group of protestors blocked the main road through the village. They demanded not only the arrest of the two accused men, but an investigation into the police and hospital negligence that had resulted in the girl’s death. The Dharmapuri District Collector (DC) S Malarvizhi ordered a revision of the first FIR, in which the case had been registered as an ‘attempt to rape’. She also promised that the accused would be arrested in 48 hours. Muthukrishnan, the investigating officer of the Kottapatti police was replaced by Inspector Lakshmi, and the two accused were subsequently arrested.

Over the last two weeks, these broad facts about the case and its timeline – particularly the important questioning of the CWC – have been repeated by the media with varying details. The fact that there is now a perception among the people about the ‘problems’ with the investigation cannot be denied. However, what has remained hazy is the scale of police negligence and cover-up, the dimensions of which emerge quite clearly in smaller particularities as evoked in interviews with those close to the girl’s family, and others who have been involved in the protests that followed her death.

The first complaint
Perhaps it is best to highlight these distortions by returning to the events of November 5th. When we talk over the phone, Abhay, a recent graduate and resident of Sittilingi, is waiting outside Dharmapuri Government Medical College Hospital for the post-mortem. As reported, he tells me that the girl was raped when she had gone to relieve herself near a river in the village. She was found there by her brother, who had gone looking for her. The men were “problem cases”, Abhay insists. They had been in trouble in Sittilingi before – Satish for taking a video of a woman bathing, and Ramesh for abusing his wife, who had subsequently left him.

Here, it appears that media reports of what happened at Kottapatti police station – including the police’s initial refusal to file an FIR – tell only a small part of the story. Abhay describes other smaller, but important details: first, that the police followed the family back to Sittilingi on the evening of November 5th, and demanded a bribe of Rs 2000 to take their complaint. On November 6th, the girl and her family then returned to Kottapatti police station early in the morning. They again described the entire episode to the police, who filled in a complaint form, which they made the girl’s father sign. “Her parents are illiterate; they didn’t know what was written,” Abhay affirms, “But the complaint had no mention of rape; it only said attempt to rape. The police also additionally lied, saying that they [the victim and her family] only came on the 6th because their village [Sittilingi] didn’t have vehicles, and the girl had fainted. They made up an entire story to hide the fact that they didn’t take the complaint before.”

What happened in Harur?
At this point, the story – which has so far seemed familiar in terms of the police’s initial refusal to file an FIR in a case of sexual violence – begins to get murkier.

After the FIR was filed, the police instructed the girl and her family to travel with them to the government hospital in Harur, for a medical examination. Abhay insists – and it is important to remember this – that the girl had vaginal bleeding, severe injuries on her back and in her trachea (from the cloth stuffed in her mouth), bite marks on her face which was also swollen, and two cuts on the side of her abdomen. At Harur, the girl and her family were made to wait outside the hospital, even as two police officers – one male and the other a female – went and talked to somebody inside. During the 30 minutes that the family waited outside, a nurse came and asked them to sign the registration form. No treatment was given. Immediately after this, the police said they needed an additional Rs 2000 to shift the girl to Dharmapuri Government Medical College Hospital, which the family gave. Abhay is certain that no explanation for this decision to shift was given to the family. The girl was then taken to a CWC children’s remand home in Dharmapuri (around 75 kilometres away from Harur, and 90 kilometres away from Sittilingi), and her parents, who thought she would soon be taken to hospital, were sent back home.

What is unclear here, and has received no media attention, is what Piyush Manush, an environmental activist in Tamil Nadu, who was involved in the protests in Sittilingi following the girl’s death, describes as the “most intriguing part of the case”. “The parents say that there was no medical examination at the hospital in Harur,” Manush clarifies, “But Dr Matheshwari, a gynaecologist at the hospital, says that an examination was done. She told me she recorded that the girl’s ‘hymen was not intact’, thereby confirming rape.”

Evidently, there are many serious issues with this order of explanation about the hymen. Where Manush had corroborated as he did, the DC, S Malarvizhi insisted that an investigation by the Harur Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) recovered footage of the girl “in a yellow salwar” undergoing a medical examination in the government hospital at Harur. Over the course of our conversation, Malarvizhi begins by saying “the findings [of the doctor at Harur] are under investigation, and need to be corroborated with the post-mortem report”; and then, when pressed about whether she is certain that a medical examination was done, she insists: “Without doing a medical examination, she cannot be produced in front of the CWC. The doctor confirmed it after the examination, that it was an attempt to rape, not rape. So, the CWC was also told this.”
Repeated attempts to reach Dr Matheshwari from the government hospital at Harur – to clarify whether the girl had been examined, and what the examination found – have gone unanswered.

From the CWC Remand Home to the Dharmapuri Government Medical College Hospital
I talk to Madheshakka, who works at the hospital in Sittilingi and was at the forefront of the protests following the girl’s death. She is certain that the girl’s parents had not known that their daughter was kept at the CWC remand home. After Harur, Madheshakka says, the parents had thought that the girl would eventually be taken to the Dharmapuri Government Medical College Hospital. At the remand home too, the girl’s parents had been asked for an additional Rs 2000 for treatment. The parents had to return to Sittilingi to arrange for the money, which they did by selling one of their goats.

Vidya Reddy, founder of the NGO Tulir – Centre for the Prevention and Healing of Sexual Abuse, who has also been looking into this case, clarifies that under POCSO, children are placed in the CWC’s care under three conditions: if the abuser is from within the household, if the abuse happens in a children’s home, or if they don’t have parental support. As many media platforms have reported, the CWC Chairman, Thiru MS Saravanan, has claimed that they had not known about the girl being a victim of sexual assault. However, the same news reports quote CWC officials noting that the girl was in trauma, did not speak, and could not walk or stand, reminding us of the serious and visible injuries that she bore, which required immediate attention and care.

Here, the DC indicates a more formal procedure. She says emphatically: “The girl was made to appear before the CWC. There also she didn’t complain of any physical discomfort or anything. So, she was admitted in the home. In the home also, she didn’t say anything, but confirmed she was on her menstrual cycle. There she was vomiting and unable to eat properly.” The trajectory of her explanation – from describing the entire case as an “attempt to rape” to the girl’s appearance before the CWC, following which she was quickly admitted into a children’s remand home – raises multiple questions. Why was the girl produced in front of the CWC? Why was she, in a traumatised and physically weak state, sent to a remand home when neither she, nor her parents, had asked for this? Why were her parents sent home? Manush is similarly unconvinced – “She was in state custody for five days. And the remand home, run by the CWC, had no business to keep her there,” he says. He goes on to highlight another unreported layer of inconsistency – that the government hospital in Harur has claimed (to Manush) that they had indeed provided the CWC with all the necessary papers which indicated that the girl had been raped (what the DC contradictorily describes as “attempt to rape”), despite the CWC’s claims to the contrary.

On November 7th, the girl’s parents were called back to the CWC remand home. A woman told them that their daughter – who had vomited and fainted there, and complained of giddiness – was being taken to Dharmapuri Government Medical College Hospital. The DC concurs with this, but does not mention, as Abhay states, “This woman specifically told the parents not to mention rape [at the hospital] because it would ruin the girl’s image, and to just say giddiness.” Here, the police took the last bribe of Rs 2000 – one that they had to sell their goat for, bringing the tally up to Rs 6000 in all – to take the girl to the hospital. Madheshakka adds that the girl – whose face, as she tellingly describes, was still swollen, who still had vaginal bleeding, and who hadn’t been able to speak, eat, or drink – was taken to the hospital by a public bus and not an ambulance.

As we noted at the outset, a CT scan was then conducted at the Dharmapuri Government Medical College, given the girl’s recurring complaints of giddiness, and for which Rs 500 had been taken from her family. Abhay insists that the doctors had told the family that the CT scan showed no issues, and that their daughter would be released from the hospital soon. “They said she was alright even though she had still had continuous vaginal bleeding, and vomiting,” he pointedly says. The girl was only given IV fluids. Over the course of the next two days, however, the parents went through a cycle of being with their daughter, being asked to leave, and then returning to her side when they were allowed. “The girl’s mother told me that her daughter had stated that ‘Amma, they haven’t done any treatment, they’ve just left me,’” Madheshakka recalls.

On the morning of November 10th, the girl collapsed. She was taken to the ICU, where she died within fifteen minutes.

What remains suspect, is that no medical records, or cause of death had been given to the girl’s family until November 12th – despite the fact that The News Minute had reported medical findings (on November 11th), including the “diffuse cerebral oedema and space-occupying lesion of the brain.” “Now, even if that was the finding, they should have informed the parents and given treatment,” Abhay insists, adding: “It is incredibly unethical of the hospital to have given all this information to the media, when the family was told nothing. They only received this information on the evening of November 12th, when we refused to claim the body until we were given a discharge summary.”

The discharge summary notes that the doctors had been informed about the girl being a victim of “attempted rape” only after she had been declared dead.

The two FIRs
On the morning of November 10th, Madheshakka, who was at work, heard that the girl had died. “Everyone was asking, ‘How did she die?’” she exclaims, “Because the doctors had said she is fine only; they kept saying that.” That morning, Madheshakka asked for permission to leave the hospital to find out what had happened, and found that people were beginning to gather at the junction on the main road through Sittilingi. I am told that the group, which began with 200-300 people (primarily Adivasi women), soon became more than 1000 people by the afternoon – a number, as was claimed, that doubled when people from neighbouring villages joined the protest. “This was when the RDO and police came and said don’t block the roads; we’ll catch the boys in three days. But it’s not only about the boys,” Madheshakka asserts. She adds: “We’d just then heard about the [remand] home. What is this home? We want to know what happened at every stage, in Kottapatti, Harur, and Dharmapuri. We want to know what treatment she was given – we were told that in Dharmapuri she was not even given a blanket.”

What followed thereafter was supposedly a series of negotiations with S Punniyakodi, the RDO, who claimed that the Collector was on holiday in Chennai. The protestors had decided to blockade the road through the night. The police, who had not begun to search for the accused until then, asked protestors for their photographs. It was also only after these protests began that a copy of the first FIR was received: it only noted an ‘attempt to rape’ and listed appropriate charges under POCSO, while also indicating that the case was being forwarded to the next government official.
While the sections invoked in this FIR have been acknowledged by the media, what has not been reported is an attachment of three handwritten pages, supposedly signed by the victim, detailing the event as ‘attempt to rape’ and which the girl’s family insists she had never written, or signed. According to Abhay, the girl’s signature, when compared to other documents, is different.

Madheshakka, who remained with the protestors at the junction from the morning of November 10th without any food, says that on the 11th, the RDO insisted that he would convey their demands to the DC. But as local media coverage increased and prominent politicians started to arrive, the DC, Malarvizhi, was forced to intervene. “She started listening to the politicians,” Madheshakka retorts, adding firmly: “When the Collector asked them [the politicians] to describe what happened, I said no, you come to the centre and talk to the village directly. Don’t talk to the politicians on the side, talk to the family. Then girl’s mother recounted the story at the protest gathering.”

The protestors had very clear demands. The first was that the FIR had to be changed from ‘attempt to rape’ to ‘rape’. They also wanted a full investigation into the glaring police and hospital negligence under the Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, clearly reflecting that the police and other authorities had been more callous because the girl came from a poor Adivasi family. These two demands, Manush had urged, should be included in a single FIR, as it had been done in the Kathua case – to ensure that the investigation into the patterns of official negligence was not conveniently forgotten. Subsequently, Madheshakka says that the DC ordered the RDO to record a new statement from each member of the girl’s family for a second FIR, promising that it would be filed the same day. This statement was duly recorded, but was given only on November 12th.

Some media reports have noted this revision of the first FIR, and hinted at the family’s discontent. But nobody has reported that this new FIR too does not include an investigation into the police role. “Although the details of the rape are correct, they’ve only mentioned bribes taken by the police, without adding charges of negligence, or criminal conspiracy. These should go against them in the same FIR, because they also murdered this girl, and took bribes for it,” Abhay strongly urges. When asked about this second FIR, the DC Malarvizhi, who repeats that it is a case of ‘attempt to rape’ is almost dismissive. “During the protests, they said gang rape, and wanted sections to be altered. We altered whatever sections they said. They made some allegations against the police – that the FIR was not filed on the same day, that they demanded some money – those kinds of allegations were there, and RDO is inquiring into that. They also made some allegations that the doctors have not given proper treatment. So again, inquiry will be completed, and any omission and negligence from the part of the officials, whether criminal action is warranted, or departmental action, that will be done,” she affirms.

Concerns about the post-mortem
By November 12th, the girl’s family had waited two days, hoping for a fair post-mortem. The post-mortem was finally undertaken by Dr K Thunder Chief, Head of the Forensic Medicine Department at Government Medical College, Vellore. It must be noted that even the question of who would conduct the post-mortem had been a point of contention, with the family insisting that the heads of the Forensic Medicine Department at Madras Medical College and Kilpauk Medical College be called upon to conduct it. Abhay is emphatic: “But the police said no; they asked why we were asking for these specific doctors, and that we were trying to alter the post-mortem results. Because now if it shows evidence of rape, they will be in serious trouble. Then the police said that this was not possible without a High Court order.” He further adds: “I don’t know if this is actually the procedure. But we agreed to have Dr K Thunder Chief come in. The family, who’ve been constantly questioned by the police, politicians, and the media, also really wanted the body back.”

The results of the post-mortem should have been given to the family in three days, but they are still awaited to this day. Madheshakka says she has been praying that the post-mortem is fair, and that it will tell the truth. As someone who works at the hospital in Sittilingi, she asks repeatedly: “I keep thinking that if she’d been our neighbour, we would have taken the girl to our hospital; we would have given her treatment ourselves, and she would have been alive. The parents trusted the police, and they trusted the hospital. I keep thinking, what should we do, how do we make sure this never happens again?”

Bulandshahr Violence: This is how cow vigilantes hatched the plot to kill a policeman

December 6, 2018

The social media posts by the main accused Yogesh Raj, a member of Bajrang Dal and other posts show that the violence which claimed the life of police inspector Subodh Kumar Singh (SHO) and a student named Sumit, was pre-planned.

Image Courtesy: PTI

Bulandshahr: Various news reports and social media posts paint a gory picture of the Bulandshahr violence that rocked Uttar Pradesh on Monday. The social media posts by the main accused Yogesh Raj, a member of Bajrang Dal and other posts show that the violence which claimed the life of police inspector Subodh Kumar Singh (SHO) and a student named Sumit, was pre-planned.

It has come to light that a letter was sent by representatives of BJP and other Hindutva outfits to Bulandshahr MLA Dr. Bhola Singh on September 9, complaining about Inspector Subodh Singh. The written complaint spoke about how inspector Singh was creating obstacles in Hindu religious events and that people were angry with his interference.

Monday was the last day of the Ijtema which is an integral part of the Tablighi Jamaat. Many Hindutva outfits questioned the validity and aim of holding the Ijtema and tried to incite hatred towards the organisers through social media.

Many Hindus and Muslims who were present for the Ijtema shared that it was a peaceful event which was very well organised.

On Monday, it was reported that cow carcasses were found in Mahaw village, some 40-50 kms away from the Ijtema gathering. “One of the villagers residing very close to the field where the carcass was found said he did not see any cow meat the day before. “I live right opposite the field. There was no dead meat during the previous day. It was only on Monday did we see these things. Also, I didn’t see anybody cutting the meat,” he said in a report by News 18.

BJP Yuva Morcha Adhyaksh (president) of Sayana, Bulandshahr invited Hindutva volunteers to gather at 6:30 am at RSS shakha (at Indira Gandhi College) in Sayana on Monday, the day the violence erupted.

Preplanned murder of Inspector Subodh Singh
“It appears to be a cold-blooded murder as rioters had come fully armed with arms, iron rods, spears and wooden sticks and they specifically targeted Inspector Subodh,” a police officer said on the condition of anonymity in a report by the Daily Pioneer. Circle Officer (CO) of Sayana Satya Prakash Sharma, escaped death as police force arrived on time and he was taken out to safety from a locked room.

“Inspector Subodh could not escape as rioters attacked with deadly sharp weapons and did not allow the rescue team to take him to hospital. By the time he was taken to the hospital, he had succumbed to bullet injuries in the head. According to sources in Bulandshahr Police, it appears that those behind the murder of Inspector Subodh Kumar had come prepared to bump him off as they did not heed to the continuous assurance given by him to lodge an FIR after a carcass of cow was found hanging in a sugar field on Monday morning,” the report said.

“Inspector Subodh Kumar, who had reached the spot immediately after getting the call, tried his best to assuage the irate crowd and he was joined by the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of Siyana who kept on announcing via a loudhailer that exemplary action was being taken against those found guilty of killing cows. However, there were certain elements who were not in a mood to listen and they egged on the irate crowd to take revenge. The situation went out of hand and soon there was free of all as the police team led by Inspector Subodh Kumar was outnumbered. The mob, that was baying for his blood, targeted Inspector Subodh Kumar and snatched away his .32 bore licensed gun and three cell phones, including the one with the CUG number of the Uttar Pradesh Police. They shot in the head with his revolver. As other policemen tried to take him to the hospital, the mob attacked them,” said the police in the report.

Inspector Singh’s sister also believed that he was killed because of his role in the Dadri lynching case where Mohammad Akhlaq was murdered on the suspicion of storing beef. “My brother was killed in a conspiracy by the police as he was probing a cow slaughter case (Akhlaq lynching case). He should be given a martyr’s status and a memorial should be constructed in his name in our native place. Cow is our mother, I accept that. My brother has given his life for her. The CM used to chant ‘gau, gau, gau’. Why can’t he come for cow protection?” said Sunita Singh, his sister.

Singh was transferred before he could complete the Akhlaq investigation. Uttar Pradesh Additional Director General (Law and Order) Anand Kumar said that they will try and determine the age of the bovine carcasses to check if there was any foul play involved. He refused to disclose the reason for Mr Singh’s transfer.

ADG Intelligence SB Siradkar has reached Bulandshahr. The UP Government has asked him to submit his report within 48 hours. Additionally, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been constituted which will investigate what circumstances sparked the violence and why was the inspector left alone by his colleagues.

Yogesh Raj’s claims innocence
Bajrang Dal leader Yogesh Raj, the main accused in the killing of a policeman during mob violence over alleged cow slaughter in UP’s Bulandshahr, released a video from hiding on Wednesday, claiming innocence.

“In the video, Yogesh Raj, who is also a member of the VHP, claimed he was not present at the site of violence and had nothing to do with the protests. He also alleged that the UP police were trying to portray him in a bad light. Yogesh’s whereabouts have been unknown since Monday evening and the police are yet to decipher the location where the video was shot,” News18 reported.

“Protests were being held in the street outside Siyana police station. My Bajrang Dal colleagues and I were sitting inside,” he said. In the video, the 28-year-old also confirmed that he is the district convenor of the Bajrang Dal.

“I was in my house on Monday morning and received a call that some villagers had found cow meat in sugarcane fields. After this, I went there and rushed straight to the police station,” he said in the video.

However, the arguments that Yogesh puts forth in the video do not tally with the initial statement he gave to the Bulandshahr police. In his statement, Yogesh had stated that around 9 am on Monday, he and three of his friends had gone for a walk, the report said.

In a forested area near Mahaw, a neighbouring village, they spotted seven people slaughtering cows, they said. Before they could raise an alarm, those people fled. He had said they were all residents of his village.

“Another point of contradiction was Yogesh’s claim that he was sitting inside the police station when clashes erupted. Several videos have emerged to the contrary. He is seen and heard saying in one of the videos that he would keep blocking the road unless the police acted against those involved in the ‘cow slaughter’. In a few more videos that surfaced after the clash, he is also seen talking to police officials while the protest was on. “If the police has registered a case against cow slaughter, why will Bajrang Dal protest,” he said in his video from the hideout, the report added.

Analysis of Bulandshahr violence through various news reports and social media posts:

A letter dated 9 September 2018 against Inspector Subodh Singh was sent to Bulandshahr MLA Dr. Bhola Singh by the representatives of BJP and other Hindutva outfits. In this letter, they had accused Inspector Subodh Singh of creating hurdles in Hindu religious events and people are angry.

(this letter is available on social media)

Bhola Singh had sent the same letter to the SSP.

https://www.facebook.com/etvbsr

9 सितंबर 2018 को ये चिट्ठी बीजेपी सांसद डॉ भोला सिंह ने एसएसपी बुलंदशहर को भेजी थी। इसमें लिखा था कि हालात ख़राब होने की ओर हैं, कुछ कीजिये जनाब। इसमें साफ लिखा है कि इंस्पेक्टर स्याना हिंदू आयोजनों में अड़चन पैदा करते हैं।

The background of the main accused Yogesh Raj Pravin of the Subodh Singh Murder case can be seen in the collection of his social media posts.

#बुलंदशहर सुबोध कुमार हत्याकांड मे जिस बजरंगदल के कार्यकर्ता (योगेश राज प्रवीण) का नाम FIR मे पहले नमबर पर आ रहा है, उसके द्वारा किये गये टवीट को पढ़िये और सोचिए कि बीते चार सालो मे नेताओ/पत्रकार द्वारा जो भीड़ मुस्लिम/दलित के लिए तैयार की गई, उनके दिलो-दिमाग मे जहर भरने के लिए नेताओ/पत्रकार ने कितनी महनत की है..?

(Khalid Umar’s Facebook wall: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100004806458418)

BJP Yuva Morcha Adhyaksh (president) of Sayana, Bulandshahr invited Hindutva volunteers to gather at 6:30 am at RSS shakha (at Indira Gandhi College) in Sayana on Sunday, a day before the violence erupted.

A very large Muslim event was ending on December 3 when the violence erupted. It was a peaceful gathering which can be seen on various social media posts posted by local people.

Hindus were making food for Muslims

https://www.facebook.com/A.SALAMAIRTEL/videos/1975219392554131/

The Hindutva groups had tried to stop the Ijtema by Muslims near Bulandshahr. Hateful messages against the Ijtema can be seen on social media.

https://www.facebook.com/prathak.batohi/posts/10215392567740376

https://www.facebook.com/chetna.sharma.1690/posts/1887195511397505

Media reports raise several questions and conspiracy:

https://www.thequint.com/news/india/bulandshahr-violence-unanswered-question-timeline-of-events

https://www.boltahindustan.in/bh-news/om-prakash-rajbhar-raised-question-on-bulandsahr-violence/

A video is posted on social media that gives clue to the pre-planned violence and cow slaughter conspiracy: https://www.facebook.com/imtiyazmewat/videos/1992264550849633/

Muslim children detained by police for cow slaughter: https://hindi.sabrangindia.in/article/bajrang-dal-leader-yogesh-raj-fir-on-two-kids

Bulandshahr violence: Children named in FIR by Bajrang Dal member

December 5, 2018

Almost 70 policemen came to Nayabans village on Monday after the attacks to identify the seven accused of cow slaughter. The team of cops occupied a central position in the cluster of Muslim houses and called out the names, one at a time.

Image Courtesy: Abhishek Dey / Scroll.in

Bulandshar: In a curious twist of events, two minor boys aged 11 and 12, have been named as accused in the Bulandshahr violence that rocked the western UP village of Mahaw on Monday. A case was filed by Yogesh Raj, a member of Bajrang Dal and also considered the main accused in the incident where a police officer was shot by an angry mob. Raj is absconding since the incident.

The boys, who are cousins, are among seven named in a complaint of cow slaughter filed after some 25 carcasses were allegedly found strewn around in a forest near a village in Bulandshahr.

“Yogesh Raj is seen in a video arguing with the police and demanding action against cow slaughter on Monday, shortly before the situation went out of hand and a mob attacked policemen, burnt the police outpost and set vehicles on fire. Yogesh Raj’s complaint includes two children, one man who does not live in the village anymore, and three names the villagers have never heard,” reported News18. Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh was shot in the head and died when he went out to pacify the mob.

Many named in the FIR don’t live in the village
“The police came to our house, called us to the police station and kept us there for four hours. They took the names of the boys and took my phone number. I was told we should be called again if required,” the father of one of the accused minors said. He said that they were not even in the village on the day of the incident.

“For the two minors, it was nothing less than a traumatic experience. “We hardly spoke there. I was not feeling well. I had never been inside a police station before. After my uncle said that we were younger than 18, he was asked to get our Aadhaar cards to confirm the age,” said one of the minors in a report by News18.

Back in the village, on Monday evening, almost 70 policemen had come to the village of Nayabans to identify the seven accused of cow slaughter. The team of cops occupied a central position in the cluster of Muslim houses and called out the names, one at a time, the report said.

It turned out that Sudaif, the first name on the list was not a resident of the village. There were two men by the name of Ilyas, the second name on the list. However, both of them had left the village with their families around 15 years ago, in search of jobs and were settled in the national capital region. Sharafat, the third name in the FIR, has also been living in Haryana’s Faridabad with his family for many years, the report observed.

“Sarfuddin and Parvez, named in the FIR, were residents of the same village. However, they were in Bulandshahr since Saturday, 45 km from Nayabans. The duo was attending Ijetma where 10 lakh Muslim devotees had gathered to pray on Monday, an essential part of the Tablighi Jamaat and were yet to return. The families of both individuals provided photographs and videos of the men attending the ceremony as proof,” the report said.

The two minors were the only ones whose names matched the ones called out by the police. The entire incident was confirmed by several villagers and two policemen who were part of the team in the village.

Raj absconding, no proof on the ground
The statement given by the sole complainant in this case, Yogesh Raj, was not corroborated on the ground, the report said.

“Yogesh had stated that around 9 am on Monday, he and three of his friends had gone for a walk from their village. In a forested area near Mahaw, a neighbouring village, they spotted seven people slaughtering cows, they said. Before they could raise an alarm, those people fled. He had said they were all residents of his village. However, his sister Suman Mahur, while talking to News18, said someone from Mahaw had called him up and that is when he left the house. “He also went to the police station but left for his college exam right after that,” she said. “He returned home at around 2:30 pm and left in another half an hour. We have not seen him since.”

9 days to go, 32 lakh claim forms yet to be submitted in Assam

December 5, 2018

Guwahati, December 5: Even as the December 15 deadline for filing NRC Claim forms looms large, nearly 32 lakh people are yet to file their claims. Over the last 73 days, only 8,10,000 people have been able to complete the process. That comes to approximately 11,095 application filed per day. Given how now we have less than ten days left, out of which only 5 are working days, it is obvious that the remaining people will not be able to complete the application process in time!

NRC CJP

Image Courtesy: https://cjp.org.in/

A total of 40, 07, 707 persons failed to find their names in the NRC final draft that was published on July 30, 2018. This means, more than 80 percent of the people whose names had not been included in the NRC yet to submit their applications as a part of the Claims and Objections process. The fast approaching deadline is only casting a dark shadow over their future. What will happen to those who fail to submit their claim applications within stimulated period?

According to Prof. Taizuddin Ahmed, who teaches Political Science at Bhawanipur Anchalik College, there are two possibilities:
a) if you submit claim forms and your name remains out of final NRC your case may be referred to Foreigners Tribunal,
b) if you don’t submit your claim form there is high probability of being declared ‘Foreigner’.

Prof Ahmed, has been burning the midnight oil working closely with CJP’s community volunteers and other youth of Barpeta and Baksa district to help people in filling up NRC claim application forms.

CJP’s work gets appreciated
Dr. Hamida Haque, who has the distinction of being the first Muslim woman to hold a PhD in Mathematics, says, “The situation is deeply disturbing. But what’s worse, is that very few young and educated people are fully aware of how grave it has become.” She adds, “Had all people been working with the same passion and commitment at CJP community volunteers and volunteer motivators, we would have been able to mitigate the crisis to some extent by now.”

Prof Abdul Mannan who teaches Statistics at Gauhati University says, “Today we find ourselves amidst an unwarranted situation. Everybody in the state and from across the country, should come forward to lend a helping hand to ensure 100% of the claim forms are submitted within the stimulated period. Otherwise the poor and distressed people will have an uphill task ahead.” Appreciating work of CJP, Prof. Mannan says, “It is time to have a rethink. If someone can’t work on the ground like CJP Volunteers, they should have at least support CJP for their noble work.”

Meanwhile, there are some people who smell a conspiracy in deliberately setting an impossible deadline. Advocate Shaizuddin Ahmed of Gauhati High Court says, “It is greater conspiracy to drop a large number of people from final NRC and thus declare them as stateless. Everyone should understand and work to overcome this conspiracy. If others would have worked on the ground like CJP, then we could have averted this catastrophe.”

Assam’s Arithmetic
At present there are 25 Volunteer Motivators along with 500 community volunteers who are working hard on the ground for filling claim applications every day. But the number is not enough. A volunteer can’t fill up more than 15 forms a day, helping cover anywhere between 40 to 50 applicants given how each form can cover more than one applicants. This is because if one person’s citizenship is under the scanner, it could affect others in their family. Therefore, 500 community volunteers can help cover only 40×500= 20,000 applicants a day, which in itself is a formidable feat!

This also means during the last 73 days CJP community volunteers alone have covered 14,60,000 claim applications. But then why is it that only 8,10,000 claim applications have been submitted till 4th December, 2018? It is because of mainly two reasons.

Bureaucratic Hurdles
First, compiling documents for claim applications is not easy. The SOPs that finally came out after Supreme Court hearing on 1 November have created some complications for filling claim applications for the updating NRC. We know that most people were dropped from the final draft of the NRC because of linkage certificates. It means the Legacy documents or List A documents or the documents prior to 1971 of these people are beyond doubt. But the problem is that if the Legacy documents is in the name of someone’s father, grandfather or great grandfather it is tough establish his linkage with the Legacy Person.

Moreover there are 7 list B documents viz; 1) Birth certificate, 2) Land documents, 3) Board/ University Certificates, 4) Bank/ LIC/ Post office policy documents, 5) Circle Officer / Lot Mandal / Panchayat Secretary Certificates, 6) Voters list, 7) Ration card and 8) Others. Among these 7 documents, many are not easily available for economically weak and uneducated people, women and children. Though the voters list is a universal documents it excludes the population under 18 years of age and married women can’t connect with their inherents as father’s name is not available with the name of a married woman in the voters list. Though the ration card of a family could have been used for the linkage documents, not a single ration card has issuing date with the seal and signature of the issuing authority. So, all ration cards submitted so far have been rejected all over the state.

The only alternative that was for the poor, uneducated woman was Panchayat Secretary Certificates which too was rejected largely during verification. The Supreme Court that permitted the acceptance of Panchayat Secretary Certificates stipulated that this was pending proper verification. But, the officials of NRC Authority from top to bottom, rejected Panchayat Secretary Certificates who failed to submit additional document to that of Panchayat Secretary Certificates. On December 1, Prateek Hajela, the State Co-ordinator, NRC have issued an additional order to all DRCR of the State, where he has maintained that the Married Woman, who have no other documents to Panchayat Secretary Certificates should be verified as per Supreme Court directives.

But, an overwhelming majority of ground level officials appear to be quite ignorant about the Supreme Court directives. So, people are afraid about the situation that a document rejected once may not be acceptable again. So, everyone searching for the alternative documents which may be a substitute to Panchayat Secretary Certificate. But the door is closed for such alternative as in SOP it is strictly mentioned that any documents issued after 31 August, 2015 will not be acceptable as List B documents for claim applications.

When Team CJP was monitoring the NSK centre it found in Narayanpur NSK in Baksa District that one LRCR was rejecting a land document of 1969 only because of the copy of the document was issued in 1987. Bedanta Bora, the LRCR of the opinion that the document was issued after 1971 so it can’t be a Legacy document. At that time Shanti Ranjan Mitra of Forum for Social Harmony, who was part of the CJP delegation asked, “I have passed the Matriculation Examination in 1965. I had lost my Admit card of that Examination. I have bring collected duplicate copy of that Admit card only on yesterday. Is it a document of 1965 or 2018?” Shanti Ranjan Mitra asked the question repeatedly, but the LRCR didn’t cite a single word.

Still, the distressed people have not given up their efforts to collect alternative documents. The community volunteers of CJP along with hundreds of educated youth, students and informed people are extending helping hands to gather alternative documents for claim applications. The people who have submitted wrong Legacy Data due to similarities of Names of their Legacy Person are searching hard for their genuine Legacy Person and their Legacy Data Codes, which is also a toughest work. But, they are still searching, they are still fighting, because giving up is not an option.

In solidarity with Kisan Mukti March: JNUSU

December 5, 2018

The Farmers’ Freedom from Indebtedness Bill, 2018 and the Farmers’ Right to Guaranteed Remunerative Minimum Support Prices for Agricultural Commodities Bill, 2018 have already been placed in the Parliament. The parliamentary session should ensure the passage of these bills. The focus needs to put on the issues of women farmers, Adivasi and Dalit farmers in the country, JNUSU said in a statement.

New Delhi: The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) expressed their solidarity with the Kisan Mukti March, November 29-30, Delhi.

In a press note, they stated that “Over 300,000 farmer suicides in the past twenty years and increased migrations driven by the collapse of livelihoods are reflective of the deep crises of declining productivity, ascending poverty and increased dispossession that plagues the rural economy.”

They wrote that the Swaminathan Commission had identified the issues affecting farmers in the country including issues of institutional credit, unfinished agenda of land reforms and water crisis. Over a decade has passed and the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission are yet to be implemented. Successive central and state governments have failed to address the issues concerning farmers in the country. Consistent anti-farmer policies are reflected in the collapse of the village society and agrarian economy. The current government also cannot shy away from its responsibilities towards those engaged in one of the largest sectors in terms of employment in the country.

The All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), representing over 200 organisations, has given a call for the Kisan Mukti March to the Parliament demanding a special session of the Parliament on farmer’s issues in the country. This demand for the special parliament session has arisen after continuous protests, petitions, demands from distressed farmers, labourers, several other sections of the population that derive their livelihood from agriculture and related activities. The march will provide a broad platform for the peasants, working class as well as the middle classes to come together and demand the rights of the agricultural workers, farmers, peasants affected by the policies of successive neoliberal governments, JNUSU said.

“The Farmers’ Freedom from Indebtedness Bill, 2018 and the Farmers’ Right to Guaranteed Remunerative Minimum Support Prices for Agricultural Commodities Bill, 2018 have already been placed in the Parliament and seeking approval. The parliamentary session should ensure the passage of these bills. The focus needs to put on the issues of women farmers, Adivasi and Dalit farmers in the country,” they said.

“The JNUSU gives its complete solidarity to the Kisan Mukti March and vouches to participate in all the struggles seeking redressal of farmers’ concerns in the country,” they stated.

Our society needs to make civilizational course correction: Dr. S Faizi

December 5, 2018

The 42nd Annual Conference of Ethological Society of India (ESI) was held at the University of Calicut. In the Presidential Address by Dr S Faizi, President of ESI spoke about the dangers the modern world faces as water becomes a scarce resource.

Calicut: The 42nd Annual Conference of Ethological Society of India (ESI) was held at the University of Calicut. In the Presidential Address by Dr S Faizi, President of ESI spoke about the dangers the modern world faces as water becomes a scarce resource.

During the seminar on animal behaviour, biodiversity and human future, he said that their challenge as behavioural scientists was to shed anthropocentric and acquired Eurocentric views when they look at other species and read them objectively.

“We need to think beyond the human barriers, reform our assumptions, methodologies and protocols so that we make new strides in understanding the complex world of animal behaviour, and communicate our findings in a way that would help our society make civilizational course corrections. Just so that our own species has a longer lifespan than what otherwise appears,” he said.

“How do we avert this impending disaster? The animal world offers the answer. They do not conduct wars as an enterprise and devote resources for that, they address disputes if any with displays, retreats, conciliation and such. They don’t amass resources to create capital for profit but leave enough for others. They don’t rape as humans do, nor do they seek the mate with money and power, but through splendid courtship displays. They haven’t created religions and castes as a rule to divide the members of the same species. They respect the rhythms of nature, whether circadian or circannual, unlike our species that breach these rhythms,” he said.

Full text of the Presidential address by Dr S Faizi:

Honourable Vice Chancellor, distinguished speakers on the dais, respected members of the faculty, dear delegates and my dear young friends,

The Ethological Society of India is happy to have its 42nd Annual Conference being held at the University of Calicut, where a previous ESI Annual Conference was held in 1982. This university is an important repository of knowledge about biodiversity, and Malabar’s rich biodiversity has attracted both global traders and colonial armies for centuries. A sack of Malabar’s pepper was the most prized dowry in western Europe in the 18th century.

This conference is held immediately after the conclusion of the 14th meeting of the Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity at Egypt’s Sharm Al Shaikh where important deliberations were held on the strategies for biodiversity conservation beyond the year 2020, and the proceedings of this seminar could form an input into the making of the post-2020 Strategic Plan of the Convention.

We face a biodiversity crisis with the irreversible loss of a large number of species due to the industrial revolution of a little over a century, that is but a part of the civilizational crisis that we face. Drinking water becoming a scarce resource in most parts of the world, the spectre of climate change causing deluges like the one suffered by Kerala in August, sea level rise, crop failures and new diseases, and the progressively declining inclusive physiological fitness of humans precipitate this civilizational crisis. And this crisis will mark its tipping point in much less than a century when the oil reserves of the world, upon which our modern civilization is built, will go dry.

How do we avert this impending disaster? The animal world offers the answer. They do not conduct wars as an enterprise and devote resources for that, they address disputes if any with displays, retreats, conciliation and such. They don’t amass resources to create capital for profit but leave enough for others. They don’t rape as humans do, nor do they seek the mate with money and power, but through splendid courtship displays. They haven’t created religions and castes as a rule to divide the members of the same species. They respect the rhythms of nature, whether circadian or circannual, unlike our species that breach these rhythms.

The natural world offers us insights into how we should reform ourselves as a species in order to ensure the long-term continuity of our species. Shedding our prejudiced anthropocentric views of other species is the first step to do this. And these prejudices have their origin in the Eurocentric worldview of the western science of the 19th century where every ‘other’, whether humans or animals, is treated with contempt. Let us not forget that the great biologist of all times, Charles Darwin, uses the term ‘savage nations’ repeatedly to refer to countries outside Europe in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species – the book that has gifted us the theory of evolution that has stood the test of time. I see this very much in the tradition of the 14th-century Italian poet Dante Alighieri who termed forests as infernal.

E O Wilson is a great sociobiologist who has unravelled the mystery of ant societies but his views on human population in the global South does not address the population density factor nor the massive difference in the rate of resource consumption between the northern and southern countries and hence are heavily flawed.

Our challenge as behavioural scientists is to shed anthropocentric and acquired Eurocentric views when we look at other species and read them objectively. We need to think beyond the human barriers, reform our assumptions, methodologies and protocols so that we make new strides in understanding the complex world of animal behaviour, and communicate our findings in a way that would help our society make civilizational course corrections. Just so that our own species has a longer lifespan than what otherwise appears.

I thank the Vice Chancellor for supporting the hosting of this conference and the Department of Zoology for their hard work to make this happen. We have a very large number of excellent papers from across the country scheduled for presentation and I, like all of you, look forward to a very productive scientific discourse in these three days.

Thank you very much.

Dr S Faizi
President
Ethological Society of India.

‘Samvidhan Samman Yatra’ to protect the constitution reaches Jammu

December 5, 2018

The “Samvidhan Samman Yatra” reached Jammu for its third led leg after covering over 20 states across the country. A large number of peace right activists, students, journalists including Prabodh Jamwal, Editor ‘Kashmir Times Group of Publications’ were present for the occasion.

Jammu: The “Samvidhan Samman Yatra” reached Jammu for its third led leg after covering over 20 states across the country. J&K chapter of Pakistan India People’s Forum For Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) hosted National Alliance for People’s Movement’s (NAPM) “Samvidhan Samman Yatra”, aimed at “Honouring and Protecting Constitution” on Tuesday.

In a function organized at the convention hall of Tourist Reception Centre (TRC), national convener of NAPM from Delhi, Rajendra Ravi, talked of public/citizens’ participation (Jan-Bhagidhari) in policy formulation. He also spoke of the Alliance and how it was an amalgam of organizations, fighting for the rights of marginal groups, weaker sections, tribal, Dalit and minority rights. “Yatra is aimed at protecting autonomous institutions of the country and citizens’ rights enshrined in the Constitution from the onslaught of those in power patronizing few big corporate houses and rabid communal elements,” he said.

NAPM convener Suniti SR said that the individuals and organizations that are a part of the Yatra, which had almost covered its third leg, believed that they were fighting for people’s rights and striving hard for uprooting those working against citizens’ rights and playing communal-politics. They want to ensure people-oriented development. “We’ve fought battles for citizens’ rights and won also. This Yatra will culminate at Delhi on December 10. We need the support of all those who believe in socialism, Constitution and above all humanism to make our endeavours in this regard successful,” she stated.

Ramon Magsaysay awardee peace activist and vice president Socialist Party of India, Sandeep Pandey, cited the life struggle of Ganga crusader and IITian-turned seer Professor G D Agrawal, who died after 111-day fast for the cause of the holy river, to expose, what he said, “doublespeak of present ruling dispensation headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”

While detailing about PIPFPD’s persistent endeavours advocating increased people-to-people contacts, de-militarisation, Indo-Pak dialogue to resolve all issues including Kashmir, Pandey also referred to “duplicity” of former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on the nuclear policy.

Roma Mallick of All Indian Union of Forest Working People stated that she shared empathy with the struggling people of Kashmir for their “right of self-determination” and branded as “terrorists and Pak agents” as she found them no more different from Adivasis, forest dwellers fighting for their land for which they were being labelled as “Maoists” shamefully by the ruling clique.

Ashok Chaudhary of All Indian Union of Forest Working People, while also cautioning against attempts to fiddle with Article 370 and Article 35-A, invoked Dr. BR Ambedkar- the father of Indian Constitution, to underline persisting social and economic disparities, encouraged by lopsided policies of ruling dispensation. “Dr Ambedkar had cautioned that if these disparities did not end, political equality guaranteed by the constitution too will get eroded. This is happening now with the government of the day acting as state agent of Multi-National Companies (MNCs). In the present times, even the fundamental rights, including freedom of speech and expression, are in danger. Yet we need to remind all that the citizens’ rights cannot be negotiated at any cost,” he said.

NAPM convener from Gujarat Krishan Kant, Sanjeev Kumar of Delhi Solidarity Group, Basant Hetansaria, an activist from Jharkhand working on Right to Food issue, Aishwarya Adhikari PIPFPD coordinator too shared their views about Yatra while ridiculing misplaced priorities of the ruling dispensation. “The ruling clique is exploiting natural resources, land, which actually belonged to citizens of the country, for furthering interests of few privileged corporate houses against the basic structure of the constitution,” they added.

Earlier in her welcome address, peace activist, PIPFPD national executive committee member and Executive Editor of ‘Kashmir Times Group of Publications’ Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal delineated the imminent dangers to the basic spirit of Constitution and the rights, it confers upon all citizens, irrespective of their caste, creed, colour or religion, from fascist forces. She emphasized the need to value the constitutional guarantees aimed at ensuring a life with dignity for all citizens of the country and make all-out efforts to protect them from the onslaught by fundamentalists patronized by the ruling dispensation.

Peace activists from Jammu viz., advocate Jameel Qazmi, I D Khajuria of Internationalist Democratic Party (IDP), Abhijit Jasrotia, trade union leader Sampat Prakash advocated for sincere efforts to resolve J&K problem, major irritant in Indo-Pak relations, to provide much sought-after reprieve to common masses of the state, suffering for last three decades.

A large number of peace right activists, students, journalists including Prabodh Jamwal, Editor ‘Kashmir Times Group of Publications’ were present on the occasion.

The function concluded with a revolutionary song presented by a trio of Bhima Azad, Satish Vidrohi and Gulshan Udham of Inquilabi Natak Manch from the border area of R S Pura.

Meanwhile, the other team of the yatra continued its journey to Himachal Pradesh and held a public meeting in Shimla joined by many community groups and organisations.

National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) planned to embark on a Samvidhan Samman Yatra after numerous discussions. The Yatra is a nationwide tour to restore and protect the core values of Constitution and democracy, at a time when there is an all-out attack on the Constitution, people’s rights, livelihoods, environment and the spirit of diversity in the country, even as massive scams, resource loot and dilution of laws are taking place and farmers, workers, students, employees, women, Dalits, Adivasis, Muslims all are on the streets asserting their rights, spaces and freedoms.

The Yatra plans to travel more than 25000 kms through 26 states in 65 days holding meetings, discussions, public events, supporting struggles, sharing grief with victims of violence and spreading the message of plurality, love, peace and social justice. The Yatra will culminate in a Manvadhikar Rally and Jan Sansad in Delhi on December 10, 2018, the International Human Rights Day.

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Pathbreakers: The Twentieth Century Muslim Women of India

‘Pathbreakers’, an initiative of Muslim women is taking the responsibility to tell the narratives of twentieth-century Muslim women who broke barriers and contributed to the project of building a new India.

Justice denied – the Dharmapuri rape

Bulandshahr Violence: This is how cow vigilantes hatched the plot to kill a policeman

The social media posts by the main accused Yogesh Raj, a member of Bajrang Dal and other posts show that the violence which claimed the life of police inspector Subodh Kumar Singh (SHO) and a student named Sumit, was pre-planned.

Bulandshahr violence: Children named in FIR by Bajrang Dal member

Almost 70 policemen came to Nayabans village on Monday after the attacks to identify the seven accused of cow slaughter. The team of cops occupied a central position in the cluster of Muslim houses and called out the names, one at a time.

9 days to go, 32 lakh claim forms yet to be submitted in Assam

In solidarity with Kisan Mukti March: JNUSU

Our society needs to make civilizational course correction: Dr. S Faizi

The 42nd Annual Conference of Ethological Society of India (ESI) was held at the University of Calicut. In the Presidential Address by Dr S Faizi, President of ESI spoke about the dangers the modern world faces as water becomes a scarce resource.

‘Samvidhan Samman Yatra’ to protect the constitution reaches Jammu

The “Samvidhan Samman Yatra” reached Jammu for its third led leg after covering over 20 states across the country. A large number of peace right activists, students, journalists including Prabodh Jamwal, Editor ‘Kashmir Times Group of Publications’ were present for the occasion.

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