A Bajrang Dal activist who actively participated in a campaign that led to the closure of a slaughter house in the Moodabidri region of Dakshina Kannada was hacked to death on October 9. Police have so far arrested eight Muslim men — four on Tuesday and four last Sunday — calling it a “revenge killing”, the result of “communal rivalry”.

Police said 29-year-old Prashant Poojary, a flower-seller, was hacked to death outside his shop, some 40 km from Mangalore. The attack was carried out by a group of six men who came on motorcycles wearing masks and wielding knives.
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Before he died, Prashant revealed the identities of four of his assailants to his father Anand Poojary, police said.

Mangalore police commissioner S Murugan identified the persons arrested Sunday as Mohammed Hanif (36),

Mohammed Ilyas (27), Ibrahim Liyaqat (26), and Abdul Rashid (39), all residents of Dakshina Kannada district.

On Tuesday, four more were arrested — Mohammed Sharif (42), Mustafa Kavoor (28), Mohammed Mustafa (25), and Kabeer (28).

Police claimed Mohammed Hanif and the four arrested Tuesday carried out the attack on the morning of October 9.
Before he died, Prashant named Hanif and one Imtiaz, who is said to be absconding, as the main assailants. Police said a search was on for more individuals involved in the attack. It is suspected that some have crossed over to Kerala.

“Prashant Poojary was actively involved with a pro-Hindu outfit. There were many clashes and he was attacked out of a communal grudge,’’ police commissioner Murugan said.

Police said Hanif and Imtiaz used to work at a slaughter house in Moodabidri that had been forcibly shut down by Bajrang Dal activists, including Poojary, a few days before the murder.

Police suspect the role of a member of a radical Muslim youth outfit in the attack. “We have no proof of their links to any outfit. One of the motives for the murder was Poojary’s interventions to disturb cattle trafficking,” Murugan said.

Hanif and the others directly involved in the Poojary murder are also involved in a case at Handelu on September 9 and another assault case in Permude on October 3,” he said.

In recent years, the Dakshina Kannada region has been witness to several incidents of violence over cow-politics.
Nalin Kumar Kateel, BJP MP from Dakshina Kannada, said the murder was directly linked to the shutting down of a slaughter house in Moodabidri by a group of activists led by Poojary.

“After the illegal slaughterhouse was shut down, one of the accused, Hanif, made a provocative speech at the Moodabidri bus stand saying revenge would be exacted against all involved in the raid on the slaughter house. Prashant was murdered a few days later at the spot where the protest was held,’’ Nalin Kateel said.

Situation in Ballabhgarh became tense on Wednesday after the residents of Sunped village refused to cremate bodies of two Dalit children who were burnt alive after some persons from an upper caste set their house afire while they were sleeping.

Staging protest and blocking the Ballabgarh-Faridabad highway, villagers have also threatened to convert into Islam if all the accused are not arrested and their demands are met.

Vaibhav, a two-and-a-half years old, and his sister, 11-month-old Divya were burnt alive, while their mother Rekha suffered 70% burns and has been referred to Delhi for treatment. The bodies of Dalit children were brought from Delhi amid a large contingent of police deployed to avert law & order situation.

Meanwhile, the Haryana Government has ordered a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the incident of a Dalit family being burnt in Sunped, a village near Faridabad, and suspended the eight erring police officials

Earlier in the day, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi visited the family and accused the Prime Minister, Harayana Chief Minister, the BJP and RSS of practising “politics of crushing” those who are weak which results in such incidents.

“This is an attitude shared by the Prime Minister, Chief Minister of the state and the entire BJP and RSS. The attitude is if somebody is weak, he can be crushed. What you have seen is the result of this attitude,” Gandhi said.

So far, four people have been arrested in connection with the case on the basis of the preliminary investigation.

The minority commission of Mumbai will take up the matter of the brutality exhibited to Asif by the Police. In this context it is likely to summon Mumbai Police. The possibility of C.P Javed being summoned seems pretty strong.

The commission has termed the act of the Police brutal and illegal. The Chairman of minority commission MR Mohammed Hussain Khan has assured the victim’s family for justice and that legal action will taken against the police involved in this brutality.

Asif was badly thrashed by the cops in the police station a few days ago where witness say that Asif was totally innocent.The manner in which Asif was brought to the police station was illegal. The thrashing continued till the next early morning which has left Asif with all bruises and injuries all over his body.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for his military support during a visit to Moscow, according to a transcript of their meeting published on the Kremlin website.

At the meeting, Putin said Russia was also ready to help with a political solution in Syria, and would work closely on that with other world powers who want a peaceful solution to Syria’s prolonged conflict.

“I would like to express enormous gratitude to the whole leadership of the Russian Federation and to the Russian people for the help they are giving Syria,” the transcript quoted Assad as saying

Thank you for standing up for the unity of Syria, and its independence,” he said. “Those political steps that have been taken by the Russian Federation since the start of the crisis have not allowed events in Syria to develop following a tragic scenario.”

Putin said that positive developments on the military front in Syria would provide a basis for a long-term political solution, involving all political forces, ethnic and religious groups.

“We are ready to make our contribution not only in the course of military actions in the fight against terrorism, but during the political process. This will, of course, be in close contact with other world powers and with countries of the region which are interested in a peaceful resolution of the conflict,” Putin said, according to the transcript.

Dusshera signifies the victory of good over evil.
May all the evils in and around you vanish by the
virtue of the goodness in and around you.
Happy Dusshera!

Enjoy your Dusshera and long weekend.

Govind Ghimire and team

An emergency landing of Mi 17, air force helicopter was made at 3.08 pm, today at the commercial hub of Mumbai at Bandra Kurla Complex. The chopper was forced to land to due to some technical hitch.
However all on board were taken out safely from the chopper and are found to be safe and sound.
It learnt that the chopper was heading towards Mumbai airbase.

Amidst the ongoing row over cow slaughter, a group of women associated with Muslim Mahila Foundation (MMF) in Varanasi came forth with an appeal to end the dispute and protect cows.

These Muslim women called cows as their mothers, ‘Gau Mata’, and performed aarti at ‘Gaushala’ situated in Golghar on Monday. They also offered ‘Chunri’ and fodder to cows.

“Cow is a symbol of our Indian culture and at any cost we will save them. Those who advocate beef consumption are actually trying to defame Muslims,” said MMF President Nazneen Ansari, adding that efforts are being made to give an impression that all Muslims consume beef, which is not true.

“We request our Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi to impose ban on cow slaughter completely and stop politics on cow,” she said.

Founder of Indian Institute, Rajiv Srivastava said, “Cow is the carrier of human civilization and culture. Eating beef could lead to various diseases. However, drinking cow’s milk is healthy. In future also we will support these muslim women who are conveying the message of communal harmony.”

An Uber cab driver was today held guilty by a Delhi court of raping and endangering life of a 25-year old woman executive in his taxi last year, and faces maximum punishment of life imprisonment.
32-year-old Shiv Kumar Yadav was convicted by Additional Sessions Judge Kaveri Baweja for all the offences he was charged with including endangering a woman’s life while raping her, abducting with an intent to compel her for marriage, criminally intimidating and causing hurt under the IPC.
“Shiv Kumar Yadav is convicted of all charges (framed against him). To come up for arguments on quantum of sentence on October 23,” the judge said, pronouncing his verdict 11 months after the crime which had brought into focus the working of radio taxis.
Yadav faces maximum punishment of life imprisonment for the offences.
The driver, who is in judicial custody, was present in the court room along with his wife, parents and other family members.
The court had on October 7 reserved its judgment in the case.
According to the prosecution, the incident took place on the night of December 5 last year when the victim, a finance executive working in Gurgaon, was heading back to her house at Inderlok.
The accused was arrested on December 7, 2014 from Mathura. The prosecution had produced 28 witnesses in the case.
Yadav, however, had denied all the allegations leveled against him, terming them as “false”.
Following is the chronology of events in the Uber cab rape case:
Dec 5, 2014: US-based Uber Cab service provider’s driver Shiv Kumar Yadav accused of raping a woman in his taxi when she was heading from Vasant Vihar to her house in Inderlok.
Dec 7: Delhi Police arrests Yadav from Mathura, UP.
Dec 8: Yadav produced in court and sent to police custody. He refuses to go for Test Identification Parade. Victim identifies him as the offender while coming out from another court.
Dec 17: Yadav sent to police custody in another forgery case for allegedly procuring fake character certificate.
Dec 24: Police files charge sheet against Yadav in the rape case 19 days after the incident.
Jan 5, 2015: Magistrate takes cognisance of the charge sheet, commits case to the sessions court.
Jan 9: Special fast track court begins hearing arguments on framing of charges in the case. Special Public Prosecutor appointed in the case.
Jan 13: Court frames charges for alleged offences of endangering a woman’s life while raping her, kidnapping with an intent to compel her for marriage, criminally intimidating and causing hurt. Judge orders trial on a daily basis.
Jan 15: Trial commences, victim deposes and identifies accused in court.
Jan 17: Court concludes recording of victim’s statement.
Jan 31: Prosecution evidence concludes.
Feb 3: Accused testifies and denies charges of rape and claims to be innocent.
Feb 11: Court observes accused trying to delay trial, fixes case for February 16 for final arguments.
Feb 16: Accused seeks to recall all prosecution witnesses.
Feb 18: Court rejects plea to recall witnesses.
Feb 19: Prosecution commences final arguments, says accused can be convicted on sole testimony of the victim.
Feb 19: Driver moves Delhi High Court against trial court order rejecting plea to re-examine 28 prosecution witnesses.
Mar 4: HC allows accused plea to recall 13 prosecution witnesses, including victim.
Mar 5: Victim re-examined by defence counsel in trial court. Woman says traumatised due to delayed proceedings.
Mar 9: Supreme Court agrees to hear on March 10 victim’s plea against HC order allowing accused to recall witnesses.
Mar 10: SC stays HC order and trial court proceedings and issues notice to police and accused on victim’s plea.
Aug 13: SC reserves order on victim and police plea.
Sept 10: SC sets aside HC order, says victim and witnesses not to be re-examined and vacates stay on trial proceedings.
Sept 15: Trial court could not hear final arguments as record were yet to come from SC.
Sept 24: Accused advances final arguments in trial court, alleges police manipulated evidence.
Oct 7: Defence counsel concludes arguments, court reserves judgement for October 20.
Oct 20: Court convicts Yadav for offences under Sections 376(2)(m), 366, 323 and 506 of IPC. Court to hear arguments on quantum of sentence on Oct 23