All stories by Jyoti Punwani
'I had fought for undivided India'
Rediff.com20 Aug 2022For his participation in Netaji's INA, Major Ghulam Ahmed Qureshi was put into solitary confinement in the Red Fort, charged with rebellion against the Crown. Despite Nehru, Asaf Ali and a host of top lawyers defending them, Qureshi and his fellow officers were sentenced to death.
'Any litigation is like a war'
Rediff.com16 Aug 2022'You know the factors against you and those in favour, and you use the weapons you have in accordance with the strategy you've developed.'
Bhima Koregaon Hearings: IO Asked To File Affidavit
Rediff.com15 Jul 2022ACP Shivaji Pawar has been asked to file his affidavit by August 15.
Bhima Koregaon: If Collector Had Acted On Time...
Rediff.com9 Jun 2022'This shows how casually these officials approached a dispute simmering for years which finally erupted into violence.'
Why Is Prof Saibaba Denied A Water Bottle in Jail?
Rediff.com26 May 2022It took a five-day hunger strike by the former Delhi University professor, in jail without a break for five years after being convicted of links with Maoists, for the jail administration to agree to his request for a water bottle.
Why Sharad Pawar Is Against The Bhima Koregaon 16's Arrests
Rediff.com6 May 2022Despite Sharad Pawar's categorical stand, the Maharashtra government has done nothing to ease the suffering of the Bhima Koregaon 16, who have been denied their basic rights to health and to communication with their families while in jail.
'We've been pushed against the wall and no one seems to care'
Rediff.com25 Apr 2022The silence is specially deafening from three parties that symbolised hope for Muslims: The Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party and the Samajwadi Party. 'What fear prevents these leaders from at least talking about the way our community is being targeted?' 'Will they really lose Hindu votes if they do so?'
'Muslims have retreated into themselves'
Rediff.com22 Mar 2022'It's like the BJP is mocking people: Do what you want, we'll still win.'
'My nation, its dignity and welfare, is being defaced'
Rediff.com22 Mar 2022'Religion is being deprived of its spirituality and is being used for strife and war.' 'The task right now is to keep raising a voice in favour of the 'Real Hindustan', its democracy, its composite culture, its people and their welfare.'
'My religion, my country is here. Where will we go?'
Rediff.com18 Mar 2022'I really wish I knew how to arouse love in the hearts of people, how to make them understand that religion comes later, first we are all humans.'
'Women in Punjab were fed up with Congress, Akalis'
Rediff.com11 Mar 2022'The 10% increase in women voters was a determined bloc of voters.' 'They were willing to try this third party, specially because it seemed it had done something in Delhi.'
'Average Muslim in UP can't run away'
Rediff.com10 Mar 2022'He won't be able to migrate; he must survive in that environment.' 'He will go back after the election to becoming invisible.'
'Speeches were very provocative'
Rediff.com24 Feb 2022This senior cop who deposed in such detail about the Elgar Parishad, however, claimed to know nothing about the opposition to it from organisations such as Milind Ekbote's Samastha Hindu Aghadi as well as Pune's then Mayor Mukta Tilak.
Bhima Koregaon Commission: STARTLING Revelations!
Rediff.com8 Feb 2022Rashmi Shukla's testimony comes as a revelation because the proceedings of the Elgar Parishad form the basis of the Bhima Koregaon case which has become an international cause celebre.
MPs write to PM to free BK-13
Rediff.com8 Feb 2022'We urge you to take remedial measures to address this blatant injustice pending withdrawal of the case against them,' the MPs write.
Bhima Koregaon: Is Milind Ekbote Being Protected?
Rediff.com3 Feb 2022The former BJP corporator was named by a villager in a police complaint made three days before the January 1, 2018 violence at Bhima Koregaon. Yet, the police did not include his name in the FIR.
A Messiah For Humanity Passes Into The Ages
Rediff.com31 Jan 2022Where does one find a man who shows no bitterness or animosity towards Hindus, even after a frenzied Hindu mob burnt his house down?, Jyoti Punwani asks in this tribute to a truly extraordinary Indian.
Remembering A A Khan: The Tough Cop
Rediff.com24 Jan 2022Unlike other top police officers, A A Khan spoke boldly --- be it while defending 'encounters' in many of which he was involved, or in tracing the cause of the ghastly Radhabai Chawl incident, recalls Jyoti Punwani. Encounters were useful, he said, because hardened criminals who were targeted were beyond reform and no good for society.
What A Dalit Student At Top Mumbai Medical College Endured
Rediff.com21 Jan 2022Not just in the hostel, but in college too, they would block his way in the corridor; snatch his mobile; make him get up from where he was sitting; crowd around him in the mess; drag him into their room and threaten to hit him with a belt.
Police Case Collapses. Journalist Acquitted After 14 Years
Rediff.com13 Jan 2022'The wrong person had to spend a banvaas of 14 years on a wrong charge.'