A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice G. Narendar and Justice Subhash Upadhyay, while hearing Noor Jahan v. State of Uttarakhand, on October 29, 2025, instructed the Investigating Officer (IO) to file an action taken report by November 6, and to remove any inflammatory social media posts related to the incident.

The court’s direction came in response to a protection petition filed by Noor Jahan, the wife of Nasir, a local driver who was brutally assaulted on October 23 after rumours spread that he was transporting beef in his vehicle. The petition alleges that Madan Joshi, a local BJP leader and former president of the party’s Ramnagar City Unit, went live on Facebook, falsely claiming that cow meat was being transported — an act that allegedly incited a mob to attack Nasir.

“Lawlessness in Full Display”: Petitioner seeks CBI probe and police protection

According to the petition, reported by LiveLaw, Nasir’s vehicle was stopped by a crowd incited through Joshi’s Facebook Live. The mob allegedly dragged Nasir out, beat him with stones and kicks, and livestreamed the assault. Instead of rushing him to a hospital, the police are accused of taking the severely injured man to the police station first.

Noor Jahan described the episode as “a glaring example of complete lawlessness,” adding that it represented “cow vigilantism in utter disregard of the Supreme Court’s directions in Tehseen S. Poonawalla v. Union of India (2018).” She also claimed that since the incident, her family had been receiving threats of dire consequences from unidentified persons.

The plea sought a CBI investigation, police protection, and strict enforcement of the Supreme Court’s mob-lynching guidelines, along with compensation for her husband, who continues to receive treatment for severe injuries.

High Court’s order

The High Court’s order, though brief, is a sharp indictment of selective law enforcement and impunity in cases involving political actors. While the Deputy Advocate General informed the Bench that two of the assailants had been arrested, the Court pressed for a full update on the investigation and warned that compliance on removal of inflammatory posts must be shown at the next hearing.

The case will now be taken up on November 6, 2025, when the police are required to submit their action taken report. The Bench’s insistence on immediate removal of hate content marks an important judicial intervention in the digital dimension of communal violence — where misinformation and Facebook Live broadcasts often act as catalysts for mob action.

Selective accountability

The Ramnagar attack adds to a growing pattern of cow-vigilante violence in Uttarakhand’s Kumaon region, where rumours and Facebook Live videos frequently precede communal flare-ups. As Citizens for Justice and Peace has documented, local vigilante groups often operate under tacit political patronage, with little deterrence from police.

The petition cites the Supreme Court’s landmark judgment in Tehseen S. Poonawalla v. Union of India (2018), which mandated states to curb mob lynching, appoint nodal officers, and ensure prompt FIRs and victim protection. Yet, as Noor Jahan’s case reveals, implementation remains largely on paper.

The High Court’s intervention also reignites a broader question — why politicians accused of hate or incitement rarely face swift prosecution, even when evidence is public. While citizens, journalists, and activists are often booked for online speech, leaders accused of fanning communal hatred enjoy impunity. As legal commentators note, this “selective policing of speech” corrodes faith in the rule of law.

The complete order may be read here.

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November 2024 Surge in Cow Vigilantism: Rising Violence and Legal Apathy in North India

The post Uttarakhand HC pulls up police over mob attack in Ramnagar, seeks action against BJP leader for inciting communal violence appeared first on SabrangIndia.

“We cannot exclude any community,” the usually reticent C.K. Padmanabhan, 75, told the Malayalam channel Media One, answering a question about Muslims being denied the Citizenship (Amendment) Act’s benefits.

“Hatred of Muslims will not do any good to us. In no way will it help our nation’s all-round progress and brotherhood among the people,” he said.

He added: “My Hindutva is that of Swami Vivekananda and (Kerala social reformer) Sree Narayana Guru. I don’t need anyone else’s (Hindutva). Our nation’s strength is our unity and its beauty is our multiculturalism.”

Asked about what the reporter/interviewer described as the BJP’s tendency to spread communal hatred, especially before elections, Padmanabhan avoided a direct answer. Instead, he described the change/evolution of his attitude towards Muslims.

He stated that when the then Left government in Kerala had formed the Muslim-majority district of Malappuram in 1969, a young Padmanabhan had joined the Jana Sangh agitation against the move. “I was imprisoned for protesting against the formation of the Malappuram district,” he said.

However, all the fears about a Muslim-majority district were later disproved, he said.“The people of Malappuram will die for you. I have personally experienced it. I don’t have to make things up. They are such loving people,” he said.

“I have hundreds of young Muslim friends. We can totally depend on them and trust them…. Muslim hatred will be of no use other than destroying the brotherhood in our state. I know that very well.”

He also added: “Where is the need to view them under a lens of suspicion? This is not north India. Here we live among Muslims and Christians.

“Our Kerala society celebrates Ramzan, Onam and Christmas together, and (people from different religious communities) exchange food on these days. Whoever tries to bring in any ideology to hurt this beautiful system will fail.”

The saffron ecosystem continues to malign Malappuram as a hotbed of terrorism and “love jihad”. Padmanabhan, who was Kerala BJP president from 1998 to 2003, has largely been viewed as a moderate leader.

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The post Hatred towards Muslims will not do any good to us or the nation says Kerala BJP leader C.K. Padmanabhan appeared first on SabrangIndia.

“He should be ashamed of this statement too, as speaking against religious places of Muslims is equally condemnable as Gurdwaras” says a social media post by the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabvhandhak Committee (SGPCC), Amritsar,

In his apology, BJP leader Sandeep Dayma who gave statement of uprooting Gurdwaras & Masjid during his party rally in Tijara, Rajasthan says, “I wanted to say Masjid-Madrasa, but somehow said Gurdwara.” He should be ashamed of this statement too, as speaking against religious… pic.twitter.com/7NeVXABtgz

— Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (@SGPCAmritsar) November 2, 2023

The Video has until 7.30 p.m. been viewed 603.1 thousand times.

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The post Sorry, instead of “Masjid Madrassa” I used word Gurudwara” says BJP leader, Sandeep Dayma when he called for them to be uprooted, SGPCC calls him out appeared first on SabrangIndia.

As per the response received by the ECI, a complaint has been raised by the commission with the concerned officers regarding the impugned speech highlighted in CJP’s complaint. It has further been provided that the commission has also personally forwarded the email to the corned officer for a quick response. A further detailed reply from concerned officers/department is now awaited.

It is essential to note that through the said complaint, it had been highlighted that the speech made by Vijayvargiya amounts to the offence of “corrupt practices” and stands in violation of Section 123 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. CJP had demanded that strict action be taken against Vijayvargiya for his serious violations and that he should be directed to issue an unconditional public apology as well as a retraction for his utterances. CJP had further urged that the Commission issues a notice to the state and national party in chief of the BJP as this conduct of one of its own elected representatives puts a responsibility on any party that participates in elections held under the mandate of the Indian Constitution to honour and follow its mandate as laid down in both the Preamble and Fundamental Rights (Chapter III). 

The full complaint can be read here:

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The post Complaint filed by CJP against Kailash Vijayvargiya to ECI gets forwarded to concerned officer; response awaited appeared first on SabrangIndia.

BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya became the laughing stock of the nation when he remarked that he suspected some of the labourers conducting repair work in his house were Bangladeshi because they ate poha, a snack made from puffed rice.

NDTV quoted Vijayvargiya saying, “There is some construction work going on at home. Outside, I saw some six-seven labourers sitting with one thali piled up with a huge amount of poha — maybe 10 plates — and eating. I asked, why are you eating poha? They did not answer because they could not speak Hindi. Then one man said they are Bengalis. I suspected something. I asked why they had been hired here. The answer was, they are cheap labour.”

Poha is a beloved snack in different parts of India including Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka.

Shockingly, Vijayvargiya made the statement in Indore, a city known for its Poha pride. Twitter swung into action to educate the ignorant politician. Hashtags like #PohaTwitter and #PohaOnMyPlate started trending. Sample this salvo by proud poha-loving Indoris:

https://twitter.com/Banoliyaa/status/1220786992553709568

According to this poha fact, indore is going to declare as one of the state or capital of bangladesh. Damn in indore every nukkad offers poha and mostly every poha is tasty here. Wait does bangladesh have good poha?
Never mind. Poha jalebi Shyd hi hoga. #Poha #PohaTwitter

— yash banoliya (@Banoliyaa) January 24, 2020

https://twitter.com/madhavmantri/status/1220708817689882626  

#PohaOnMyPlate is a kind of compulsion or the taste of Indore, of which every Indori is proud of, the same Indore to which @KailashOnline belongs and has made his political career from!
With this, he has tried to burn the tradition of Indorehttps://t.co/xq40bGIYkV

— Madhav Mantri (@madhavmantri) January 24, 2020

And here’s more:

https://twitter.com/reshma_alam9/status/1220666939241947137  

I hate POHA !

Can I use this as a proof that I’m an INDIAN? #PohaOnMyPlate

— Reshma Alam (@reshma_alam9) January 24, 2020

https://twitter.com/GDnarbhakshi/status/1220733083823099905

I have heard Sudama took “Poha” for Krishna & he loved it
“Bangladeshis” not just infiltrated Bharat but Mahabharat too ??#PohaTwitter #PohaOnMyPlate #KailashVijayvargiya pic.twitter.com/fnUjbNWYpg

— जनरल नरभक्षी (@GDnarbhakshi) January 24, 2020

https://twitter.com/TXingh/status/1220771305777057792

One of my friend marked safe #PohaTwitter pic.twitter.com/6cfUxA3QMe

— Tajiinder Singh (@TXingh) January 24, 2020

https://twitter.com/Devil1nDetail/status/1220898082084159488

Look what I found on my #poha this morning#PohaOnMyPlate #PohaTwitter pic.twitter.com/qG61Nf72i9

— Pao (@Devil1nDetail) January 25, 2020

Vijayvargiya may have been lampooned by poha-loving Indians, but his anti-Bangladeshi stand cannot be ignored in the present political climate. With the burgeoning movement against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the National Population Register (NPR) and the recently concluded National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, there is a strong united voice emerging against divisive forces of the ruling regime.

However, of late, there has been an increase in instances of people being harassed after being accused of being Bangladeshi. Recently, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike demolished huts of alleged Bangladeshi immigrants in the Kariyammana Agrahara area. The residents of the impoverished shanty-town were mostly daily wage earners. Social media videos had claimed that illegal Bangladeshi immigrants were sheltered in the settlement. The video of the demolition was also shared on Twitter by Mahadevpura’s BJP MLA Aravind Limbavali where he too reiterated the stance alleging that the residents were illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.

But, upon investigation, it was revealed that most residents of the settlement were from different parts of the country, including Assam, Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and even north Karnataka. The High Court has stayed the demolition for now, though many residents have been forced to go back to their home states.

Earlier in October 2019, 29 men, 22 women and nine girls were picked up during a raid in Marathahalli, Bellandur and Ramamurthy Nagar areas of Bangalore. The people detained were mostly daily wage workers earning their living as construction labourers, garbage collectors and doing menial jobs under contractors. Some of them are also employed by the contractors of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). In November, 59 of them were transported to West Bengal for eventual repatriation with Bangladesh.

The post Twitter makes BJP leader eat humble Poha! appeared first on SabrangIndia.

BJP leaders who had come to Hospete, Karnataka on December 6, to create awareness on the much debated and contentious law Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), faced a blockade from local residents proving to be an embarrassing situation for them.

A few Muslims and those belonging to SC/ST communities formed a human chain when the leaders and the party workers reached there to distribute pamphlets and asked the leaders to go back. A resident of Chalavadikeri locality told The Deccan Herald, “We aren’t against the BJP. We are living in harmony in our locality. We don’t want anybody to divide us.”

The Deccan Herald reported that the situation was tense for about half an hour as members of the two sides had an argument. The BJP leaders departed after the police persuaded them not to enter inside.

The BJP leaders are following, what seems like a diktat, issued by the higher ups of BJP to all its party leaders to create awareness and inform eh ‘misinformed’ people about the facts of CAA. So far BJP has resorted measures like door-to-door campaigning, distributing information pamphlets and introducing a number to give missed call on for people to register their support for the discriminative law.

Related:

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The post BJP leaders face a blockade in Karnataka with their pro CAA propaganda drive appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The raid was simultaneously conducted at 12 different locations in Bhopal on Tuesday, December 20, that includes his house in the Bairagarh township and the three hotels he owns in various parts of Bhopal.

Sushil Vaswani, the BJP leader has been raided by the Income Tax department in Bhopal for allegedly exchanging large amounts of old currency notes with new ones through the Mahanagar Nagrik Cooperative bank.

The raid was simultaneously conducted at 12 different locations in Bhopal on Tuesday that includes his house in the Bairagarh township and the three hotels he owns in various parts of Bhopal.

Earlier in November, BJP’s youth wing secretary from Salem, JVR Arun, was arrested by Tamil Nadu police with bundles of new currency notes worth Rs 20.55 lakh. BJP said that they had removed Arun from organisational responsibilities after his arrest. In another incident, former BJP leader Manish Sharma from West Bengal was also caught with Rs 33 Lakh in Rs 2,000 notes.

Photo Courtesy: Indian Express

Who is Sushil Waswani?

Says India Today,

1. He was once a bus conductor in the now defunct Madhya Pradesh Road Transport Corporation. But that was much before Vaswani made it big in MP BJP politics.
2. He now owns three hotels and several other posh properties in Bhopal.
3. The raid was simultaneously conducted at 12 different locations in Bhopal on Tuesday that includes his house in the Bairagarh township and the three hotels he owns in various parts of Bhopal.
4. Vaswani is also the founder director of the Mahanagar Nagrik Cooperative Bank that was inaugurated by a top BJP leader in 1992.
5. Apart from a senior BJP minister Uma Shankar Gupta, senior RSS leader Shashi Bhai Seth are also among the directors of this bank through which the disproportionate exchange of old and new currency notes has allegedly happened.
6. Vaswani also enjoyed a minister of state status in the BJP government when he was appointed the chairman of the MP Housing Corporation. He proudly displays his past status on the name plate of his house that was raided on Tuesday.
7. The December 20 income tax raid started at around 6.30 am with 64 officers simultaneously searching 12 locations in different parts of the city.
8. According to a top source in the IT department a lot of incriminating evidence pointing towards large scale exchange of currency notes post demonetisation have been recovered during the raids.

The post I-T Sleuths Raid BJP leader Sushil Waswani for allegedly Laundering Huge Sums of Black Money appeared first on SabrangIndia.