A teenage Dalit girl was raped and her body was later found hanging from a tree.
With the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls scheduled for 2027, political experts are observing an increasing trend of temple-mosque disputes in the state, leading to heightened polarization. Recent bypolls saw the use of divisive slogans, and analysts believe this trend will intensify as the 2027 elections approach. The recent surge in claims about the existence of Hindu temples at the sites of mosques in various cities has fueled this polarization. The BJP-led government has been accused of promoting communal polarization, while opposition parties like the SP have criticized the ruling party's actions. The RSS chief has called for restraint in raising new temple-related disputes. Experts predict that communal polarization is likely to escalate in the coming days.
Under attack from opposition parties, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday decided to recommend a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the gang rape and murder of two Dalit sisters in Badaun.
Protesting the lack of law and order in the state and the rapes in the state, BJP workers stormed the streets, demanding the ouster of the Akhilesh Yadav government. Sharat Pradhan reports.
Under attack over the rape and murder of two Dalit cousin sisters, the Akhilesh Yadav government on Saturday suspended Badaun superintendent of police and decided to take action against the then district magistrate and undertook a massive rejig involving 66 Indian Administrative Service officials and 42 Indian Police Service officers.
Three minor Dalit girls were allegedly assaulted and gang-raped by seven men for opposing eve-teasing in Singauli village in Badaun, police said on Tuesday.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday visited the village of the two Dalit sisters, who were gang-raped and murdered in Badaun, and met their family members as they pressed for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe and refused to take any compensation, demanding justice for their girls.
Mahant Satya Narayan was hiding in the house of his follower in a village under Ughaiti police station from where he was picked up.
DNA samples of all the three accused have been sent for forensic examination, police said.
Coming down hard on the Akhilesh Yadav government for the Badaun gangrape case, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Sunday said transferring and suspending officers will not help and the Samajwadi Party to tighten the noose around its own patymen.
In the past five years, UP's Opposition remained passive and defensive against the BJP, a trend that does not augur well for the impending battle.
All the five main accused, including two policemen, have been arrested in connection with the gang rape and murder of two Dalit sisters in Badaun, police said on Saturday.
Maurya resigned as the party's national general secretary on February 13, accusing the leadership of discriminating against him and not defending him over his controversial statements on the Ramcharitmanas and the Ayodhya temple consecration ceremony.
'Nobody is speaking up for Muslims today.' 'Secular parties too have calmed down because they feel this will hurt the Hindu vote (bank).' 'In this scenario, where does a Muslim go?'
UP accounted for 14.7 per cent of all registered crimes against women in 2019. The state also recorded the highest number of cases against Dalit women.
Former Bharatiya Janata Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya on Wednesday said he was not going back to the saffron camp and indicated joining Samajwadi Party on Friday.
As outrage spread over the horrific gang rape of two Dalit sisters in the district, authorities on Friday sacked two constables in connection with the crime even as police arrested another accused in the case.
"We particularly want Bajrang Bali because he is linked to my own Dalit caste," Mayawati said.
"You are safe aren't you? I hope you have not faced any danger," shot back Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Friday when asked about the law and order situation in the state in the backdrop of the Badaun gang rape and murder case and the Azamgarh gang-rape incident.
Informing about his decision, Maurya said in a tweet in Hindi, 'Due to the attitude of gross neglect towards Dalits, backwards, farmers, unemployed youth and small and medium-sized traders, I am resigning from the council of ministers of Yogi (Adityanath) of UP.'
Under fire for the Badaun gangrape and murder of 2 sisters, Uttar Pradesh government on Monday shifted Principal Secretary (Home) Anil Kumar Gupta.
The Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh will be reduced to its 2012 tally of 47 or thereabouts as the wind is blowing in favour of the Akhilesh Yadav-led coalition this election, says Swami Prasad Maurya who left the saffron party to join the Samajwadi Party last month.
The Ambedkar statue that was vandalised in Badaun's Dugraiyya village on April 8 was repainted saffron on April 9.
Hours after Mayawati announced her plans of going solo in future elections in a series of tweets, a senior SP leader accused her of "weakening" the fight for social justice.
Two teenage Dalit sisters were allegedly gang-raped and murdered with their bodies found hanging from a tree in Katra village in Uttar Pradesh's Badaun district.
Yet another case of gang rape and murder of a teenage girl was reported from Uttar Pradesh's Azamgarh, the constituency of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.
'Even though the film focuses on caste discriminations in rural India, it is first of all a riveting police procedural, and one of the best made in India,' says Aseem Chhabra.
With five rapes being reported over the past 36 hours from different corners of Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state seemed to be turning into the country's 'rape province'. Sharat Pradhan reports
We need to question ourselves if we are to be implicated as well in the institutional murder of Rohith and many other Rohiths, if not bodily but in spirit, because of our complicity in naturalising this elitist, exclusionary, discriminatory-to-the-core conception of education, says Kishalaya Mukhopadhyay.
The UP government said it would not sack any of its ministers without a probe, days after a cabinet minister was accused of orchestrating the murder of a journalist in the state.
After witnessing a near rout in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the ruling Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh might be facing the toughest challenge in its political history. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who was basking in the glory of wrestling the reigns of the state from Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati in the 2012 assembly elections, is now facing political heat in more ways than one.
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In the event of a triangular contest the winning party will need about 40 per cent of the votes polled. And it is here that the votes of the numerically smaller communities will come into play.
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