Family members of Kamal Ahmad Vakil Ahmad Ansari, who died awaiting justice in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts case, read aloud the Bombay High Court's acquittal order at his grave, publicly affirming his innocence and demanding accountability from the system.
Status quo to be maintained till further order..., the court said.
Samajwadi Party leader and Kairana MP Iqra Choudhary has moved the Supreme Court seeking effective implementation of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991. This move comes amidst several petitions challenging the law's validity, including those filed by the Akhil Bhartiya Sant Samiti and lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay. The Supreme Court, in December 2022, had restrained all courts from examining fresh suits and passing interim orders in pending cases seeking to reclaim religious places. The Act aims to maintain the religious character of places of worship as they existed on August 15, 1947, but the dispute relating to Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid at Ayodhya was kept out of its purview. The court has listed Choudhary's plea with other pending pleas for February 17.
The Supreme Court of India is scheduled to hear a batch of petitions challenging the validity of certain provisions of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which prohibits lawsuits to reclaim a place of worship or change its character from what prevailed on August 15, 1947. The pleas, including one filed by Ashwini Upadhyay, argue that these provisions violate the right to judicial remedy and create an arbitrary cut-off date. The matter will be heard in the backdrop of several ongoing cases related to places of worship, including the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi and the Shahi Idgah Mosque in Mathura. The Muslim side has cited the 1991 law to argue that such suits are not maintainable. The Supreme Court had previously sought the Centre's response to Upadhyay's petition, which alleged that the law creates an "arbitrary and irrational retrospective cut-off date" for maintaining the character of places of worship.
Narsinghanand has several cases against him, including for allegedly making a hate speech at a conclave in Haridwar in December 2021, and was out on bail.
At a press conference organised in Mumbai by the Jamiat Ulama Maharashtra (Arshad Madani), which provided them free legal aid, the acquitted also demanded action against officers for prosecuting them. Five of the six accused -- Adam Ajmeri, Mufti Abdul Qyyum Mansuri, Mohammed Salim Shaikh, Abdulmiyan Qadri and Altaf Hussain -- were present at the press conference.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar also indicated that it may not take up the pending scheduled petitions, heard earlier by a three-judge bench, during the day as it was sitting in a combination of two judges.
'RSS leaders have now accepted that Muslims are part of this country. Muslims and Hindus are brothers. It is a good sign,' Jamiat leader Maulana Abdul Hameed Nomani on the talks with the RSS.
The VHP on Wednesday lashed out at Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind for adopting a resolution asking Muslims not to recite Vande Mataram, and demanded a public apology from Union Home Minister P Chidambaram for "keeping silent despite the anti-national pronouncement being made in his presence".
The resolution of Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind asking Muslims not to recite 'Vande Mataram' is "unacceptable" and will be "counter-productive", said Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid.
The coordination committee of Indian Muslims, which consists of leading Muslim organisations like the All India Muslim Majlis e Mushawarat, Jamiat Ulama e Hind, Jamaat e Islami Hind, Jamiat Ahl e Hadees, All India Milli Council etc, has requested imams across the country to condemn the Mumbai terror attacks in their Friday and Eid sermons. The committee also called on Muslims to celebrate Eid ul Zoha with simplicity this year and to wear black strips on Eid day
The Centre on Thursday assured the Supreme Court that it will neither denotify Waqf properties, including "Waqf by user", nor make any appointments to the central Waqf council and boards till May 5.
A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar issued notice to the authorities and listed the matter for further hearing on March 27.
Ahead of the Maha Kumbh, a senior cleric has written to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressing fears that mass conversions of Muslims will take place during the event, while other community leaders have flagged the alleged demand raised by some Hindu seers' body to keep Muslims out of the mega gathering.
Several Muslim organisations on Wednesday demanded dismissal of Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh and imposition of President's rule in the state, saying Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has failed to contain communal violence in Muzaffarnagar and surrounding areas.
A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a court-monitored investigation and prosecution in hate crimes related to the "continuous attack" on the personality of Prophet Mohammad and disparaging remarks by various people in different parts of the country attacking the very belief system of Muslims at large.
In an affidavit filed in the court in response to petitions challenging the law, the Union of India said that despite the top court setting aside the practice in 2017, it has "not worked as a sufficient deterrent in bringing down the number of divorces by this practice" among the members of the Muslim community.
In response to an RTI query filed by Gulzaar Azmi, general secretary (legal cell) of a socio-cultural organisation, Jamiat Ulama-E-Maharashtra, it was found that Sadashiv Abhimanyu Patil, a constable attached to Nashik unit of ATS, had sent Rs 1,000 thrice to accused Abrar Ahmed through money order in August, September and November 2008 from his residential address at police headquarters in Nashik.
"I want to put this in absolutely clear terms that Islam does not preach violence. In fact, the so called jihad that terror groups talk about, is not what they think it is. Real jihad in fact means fighting the perpetrators of terror," the cleric said. Madni added that the Jamiat is planning to organise a conference to discuss the various aspects of terrorism and ways to stop it, in Mumbai next month.
Home Minister P Chidambaram said no resolution was passed on Vande Mataram recital when he was present at the Jamiat Conference at Deoband on Tuesday.
A top Muslim body on Tuesday asked members of the community not to recite Vande Mataram and supported seminary Darul Uloom's edict that opposes any prayer involving the song. "The fatwa of Darul Uloom (opposing the recitation of Vande Mataram) is correct," stated one of the 25 resolutions passed by the Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind on Tuesday, at its 30th general session in Deoband, in the presence of Union Home Minister P Chidambaram. Darul Uloom' had issued the edict in 2006.
Terming demolition of Babri Masjid as an act of religious fanaticism and extreme prejudice, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday said communalism in all its forms was deplorable and asserted that it was the duty of the majority community to protect the minorities.
The pleas, filed by advocate Vishal Thakre and others and an NGO 'Citizens for Justice and Peace', have challenged the Constitutional validity of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance, 2020 and the Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act, 2018 which regulate religious conversions of interfaith marriages.
Defying the fatwa issued by the Jamiat-Ulama-e-Hind against the rendition of Vande Mataram, a group of Muslims, led by a clergyman, joined people from other communities in singing the national song in front of a mosque in Betul. A large number of people from a cross-section of the society collected in front of the Jama Masjid at Betul Bazar at the invitation of its Imam Hafiz Abdul Razique and recited the song on Sunday.
Maulana Syed Ahmed Bukhari asked Muslims to stop supporting the so-called secular parties and form a separate party to protect the interests of the community.
The litigant, in review plea filed through lawyer Ejaz Maqbool, has also sought an interim stay on operation of the verdict in which it had directed the Centre that a trust be formed within three months for construction of the temple at the site.
'The irony of this country is that the party in Opposition and the party in power both depend on Muslims.'
The PM said that democracy's greatest strength is harmony and amity.
It further said the UK government must not remain a mute bystander.
The apex court pulled up the Centre for its "evasive" and "brazen" affidavit on the issue.
The Supreme Court on Monday said that it will hear on March 17 pleas dealing with two separate issues of alleged 'fraudulent conversions' and challenge to various state laws on religious conversions due to interfaith marriages respectively.
A bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan clarified that its order will not be applicable to unauthorised structures on public roads, footpaths etc.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Centre to file its reply to a batch of PILs challenging the validity of certain provisions of a 1991 law that prohibit filing of a lawsuit to reclaim a place of worship or seek a change in its character from what prevailed on August 15, 1947.
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