Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra sat on a hunger strike on Monday after being detained in Uttar Pradesh's Sitapur district while she was en route to Lakhimpur Kheri, her party said.
The Delhi high court on Friday sought response of 16 policemen acquitted of murder charges and other crimes by a trial court in the 1987 Hashimpura massacre case.
After two months of dilly dallying, the Uttar Pradesh government has finally decided to come to the assistance of the 42 Muslim families whose bread winners were gunned down by policemen 28 years ago.
The accused, identified as Murtaza Abbasi, was arrested and has been sent to judicial remand for two weeks, police said and alleged that he tried to forcibly enter the temple, which was teeming with devotees during the Navratri festival, after raising the religious slogan of 'Allahu Akbar'.
The ceremony on Friday will be attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and chief ministers of Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states.
Tension gripped Meerut's Kharkhauda and Atrada areas as members of a particular communities attacked and pelted stone at the houses of members of another community on Sunday night, over the alleged gangrape and religious conversion of a 20-year-old woman.
'When a person is very furious, it does give way to tears.' 'It was in this emotional state of mind that he took a decision to not vacate the Ghazipur border without fearing the consequences.'
Zia-ul Haq, manager of MA Convent School in Baghara locality, was booked under the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act and arrested
Rai says the story is a 'sordid saga of the relations between the Indian state and minorities'.
The Centre has rushed additional security forces to Ayodhya to prevent the much hyped yatra that is being planned by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad in spite of a ban on it by the Uttar Pradesh government.
Drone cameras will monitor the crowds in real time.
'It is a frightening situation as the most threatening aspect is the development and growth of society.' 'Once our society comes into perpetual violent mode, then investments will drop.'
The Manmohan Singh government has agreed to provide 2,800 additional paramilitary personnel to contain the unabated tension that continues to prevail in and around the riot-torn Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh where 32 persons were killed in the 48-hour-long communal violence that broke out on Saturday.
Around 1,500 villages across Uttar Pradesh are trying to struggle to stay afloat after flood fury hit them hard due to the release of overflowing water from dams in Nepal last Sunday.
At least 21 persons have died and thousands were marooned in villages across eight districts of Uttar Pradesh where release of water from dams in Nepal have caused major floods, even as large parts of the state were heading towards a drought-like situation due to scanty monsoon rain.
Markets in Uttarakhand's Purola and neighbouring towns remained closed amid heavy police deployment on Thursday in protest against the imposition of prohibitory orders to prevent a 'mahapanchayat' that was scheduled to be held there over alleged incidents of 'love jihad'.
He said there was no report of any untoward incident from anywhere in the state.
Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra left for Lakhimpur Kheri Wednesday evening from a PAC guest house in Sitapur where she was kept in detention since Monday morning.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday directed officials to speed up setting up of a commando training centre in Rampur and also form a skilled team of women commandos.
Meanwhile, the administration claimed it was fully prepared to deal with fresh fires in case they break out anywhere in the state due to a change in the weather.
Adityanath has earned a new sobriquet "bulldozer baba" due to raging of properties of criminals and mafias built through illegal means.
Violence marred Muharram processions on Saturday leaving one person dead and at least 12 injured.
1980-batch IPS officer Sulkan Singh, who was DG-Training, will replace Ahmed, a 1984-batch IPS officer, who has been shifted as the DG of Uttar Pradesh Provincial Armed Constabulary, a senior home department official said.
The incident took place when thousands of followers of religious leader Jai Gurudev were on their way to Domri village on the banks of Ganga to take part in the two-day camp, police said.
Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait on Saturday asked the Centre to explain to farmers why it does not want to repeal the three farm laws, while promising it that they 'will not let the government bow its head' before the world.
Senior party leader P Chidambaram, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut expressed support to Priyanka, who has alleged that no notice or first information report (FIR) has been given to her even after her 38-hour detention and was not allowed to meet her legal counsel.
On the second day of his visit to Varanasi, Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday undertook a road show in the rural parts and interacted with villagers, including farmers, in a bid to make inroads in the temple town where he is facing a formidable rival in the Bharatiya Janata Party's Narendra Modi.
The top cop of the state said despite the verdict coming out last week every district is on a "high state of preparedness" and no untoward incident has been reported so far.
Singh said his priority would be ensuring unbiased policing.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday conducted an aerial survey of rain-ravaged areas of Uttarakhand to asses the damage which the state government has pegged at Rs 7,000 crore.
Uneasy calm prevailed in areas around Jawaharbagh in Mathura a day after violent clashes between police and members of a sect claimed 24 lives as a large posse of police and paramilitary personnel kept strict vigil forcing locals to stay indoors.
The SP continued silence on last week's acquittal of 16 policemen, pointedly accused of the cold-blooded murder of 42 Muslims in Meerut
Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in his Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi on Friday morning the first time after assuming charge, where he is likely to firm up plans for its development.
Uneasy calm prevailed in Ayodhya, which on Saturday looked like a fortress, with deployment of more than 10,000 cops on the 22nd anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Mosque.
'Yogiji has neither been successful in reducing crime in the state nor has he been able to make the people feel that they are safe,' says one UP minister.
As Som, who is an accused in the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots case, and Samajwadi Party leader Atul Pradhan took out separate rallies, prohibitory orders were enforced across Shamli district and borders of Kairana sealed and paramilitary forces deployed. Both the rallies were stopped by authorities.
"When police were writing complaint as we had asked for, why would Bajrang Dal protest?" he says.
The Delhi HC termed the massacre "targeted killing" of unarmed and defenceless persons by the police.
The UP government has deployed additional police, including over 1,000 personnel of anti-riot forces, and ordered multiple probes -- by SIT, ADG-Intelligence -- and a magisterial inquiry.
Wearing garlands, the farmer leaders, who had called for observing 'Sadbhavana Diwas' (Harmony Day) on Saturday after the immense outrage over violence by protesters during their Republic Day tractor rally, sat on the dais during the fast, as crowds of supporters swelled, especially in Gazipur where the Bharatiya Kisan Union is leading the protest.
