Taking exception to Uttar Pradesh government's proposed move to withdraw cases against Muslim leaders in Muzaffarnagar riots, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday asked Governor B L Joshi to press the government to withdraw all cases, including those lodged against its leaders, in connection with the violence.
In the couple of hours that you spend in the riot-hit city you find it is not the BJP that is asking for the votes of an excited section of Hindus, but it is the people who are clinging to Narendra Modi. Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt reports on the sentiment on the ground in Muzaffarnagar, whose Hindu-Muslim fracture is a long way from being mended.
A 23-year-old teacher was allegedly raped by a youth at a village in Muzaffarnagar which was videographed by two of his associates and all of them blackmailed her, police said.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Himashu Bhatnagar also imposed a fine of Rs 2,12,000 on each of the seven accused -- Muzammil, Mujassim, Furkan, Nadeem, Janangir, Afzal and Ikbal -- for killing Gaurav and Sachin on August 27, 2013 and rioting.
Two clerics from Harayana arrested last month for their suspected links to the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, and another operative, had allegedly visited the Muzaffarnagar relief camps in Uttar Pradesh and sought to recruit men to their module, a television news channel reported on Tuesday.
While refraining from naming any one of them, he said, "I will disclose their names once the investigation is complete," he said.
"The kind of incident which happened yesterday (Wednesday) can definitely be attributed to lapses on part of the police due to which some people dared to do this (violence). We will take strong action," Devraj Nagar, state Director General of Police told media persons.
As many as 37 ministers have been dropped from the government in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's third term and these include seven with cabinet rank -- prominent among them being Smriti Irani, Anurag Thakur and Narayan Rane.
Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh, BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad and two BJP MPs were on Monday detained by the police after they attempted to enter UP to visit violence-hit Muzaffarnagar district.
Thirty three family members of victims of recent riots in the district were given government jobs by the district authorities in Muzaffarnagar on Sunday.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi claimed in a rally in Indore that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence was trying to recruit disgruntled riot-affected youngsters to carry out its nefarious plans. Vicky Nanjappa finds out the truth behind his statement
The Hyderabad Lok Sabha member termed as "bogus" the list of 346 families who are alleged to have "fled" Kairana in Uttar Pradesh, adding that it suited the interests of both the BJP and the Samajwadi Party to create a "drama" over the issue.
The police on Monday said that 33 children have gone missing in Muzaffaranagar district since 2007 and only six of them have been found.
A school teacher was arrested on Thursday for inciting communal hatred after she allegedly ordered a Muslim student to slap a Hindu classmate for not answering a question, the police said.
The Supreme Court on Monday imposed an interim stay on directives passed by the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments that eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route must display names of owners.
Majority of these constituencies are in Uttar Pradesh and the party that is on the third slot even as the counting is still underway on several seats is the Bahujan Samaj Party, a party neither with the National Democratic Alliance nor the opposition INDIA bloc.
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.
The police on Friday arrested two persons for their alleged involvement in the Muzaffarnagar acid attack case in which four sisters, all of whom are teachers, were severely injured.
A young Dalit woman was allegedly thrown into a hot cauldron of a jaggery-making unit for protesting against molestation in the Budaun district, police said on Sunday.
In comments that could stoke a controversy, Congress leader Rashid Alvi on Thursday said that communal riots in Muzaffarnagar have left Gujarat far behind.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Sunday asked the victims of Muzaffarnagar riots living in relief camps here to go back to their homes, saying those engineering communal riots want them to remain in the camps as such a situation "benefits" them.
The bail plea of Ali Mohammad would come up for hearing on June 27 in the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, his lawyer V K Tyagi said.
'The BJP is racing against its opponents by putting a chain on their legs.'
Sharat Pradhan secures exclusive access to the Justice Vishnu Sahai report and discovers it blames two BJP MLAs, a former BSP MP and his cohorts, local intelligence officials and the media for the horrific Muzaffarnagar riots of 2013, but attributes no blame to the Samajwadi Party government in the state.
The BSP has not entered into any alliances and has also been keen to shed the tag of being a 'B-team' of the BJP.
One person was taken into custody on Wednesday in connection with the murder of a Bharatiya Janata Party leader in Muzaffarnagar, police said.
The Special Investigation Team, probing the Muzaffarnagar riot cases, has reopened a gang-rape case of Phugana village in the district, following a directive by the Supreme Court.
The Aligarh Muslim University Teachers' Association on Thursday urged political parties "not to play politics over the dead bodies" of the victims of the communal clashes in Muzaffarnagar.
The Centre has refused to share copies of reports sent to it by the Uttar Pradesh governor and the government on Muzaffarnagar communal violence, saying it would impede probe, apprehension and prosecution of offenders.
Three persons were on Wednesday killed in fresh outbreak of communal violence in Budhana area of Muzaffarnagar district, hit by riots last month which had left over 60 dead.
A video showing the incident involving school teacher, Tripta Tyagi, and the Class 2 boy in Muzaffarnagar has gone viral on social media eliciting strong words from several political parties.
As general elections approach Uttar Pradesh may see more communal incidents as political parties make an all-out play for votes, says Faisal Kidwai.
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Top bureaucrats from Uttar Pradesh visited relief camps in Muzaffarnagar on Monday to convince riot victims to go back home so that they can now be dismantled, reported NDTV.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday over the Muzaffarnagar riots, accusing it of vitiating the atmosphere ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, and promised stern action against all those found guilty.
Six people including two women were arrested and eleven pistols seized from their possession on their return from Pakistan on the Samjhauta Express at the Attari Railway station on Thursday.
Curfew was lifted on Monday from all parts of riot-hit Muzaffarnagar, ten days after it was imposed, as the administration found the situation "conducive" for scaling down the high alert.
Ahsan Ullah Khan, the additional district and session judge of the MP-MLA court in Sonbhadra, also imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh on Gond which would be used in the rape survivor's rehabilitation.
The Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday removed senior police official Arun Kumar, who oversaw the situation in Muzaffarnagar after the recent communal riots, from the post of Additional Director General in-charge of law and order.
BJP heavyweights Smriti Irani, Arjun Munda, Ajay Mishra Teni and Kailash Chaudhary were among the 13 Union ministers who tasted defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, as stunning losses in three Hindi heartland states forced the BJP to rely on allies to form the government.
The top court appointed the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai to suggest the mode and manner of counselling of the child and his classmates involved in the incident.
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