Professor T J Joseph, whose right hand was chopped off back in 2010 by alleged activists of now banned Islamic outfit Popular Front of India (PFI), still bears no ill-will against his attackers whose actions not only impaired the functioning of his palm, but also led to him losing his job for a while that in turn resulted in his wife's suicide.
Bhima Koregaon represents what the government can do in India against well meaning people who speak up against atrocities, who stand up for the weak and the dispossessed and for this reason alone as seen as enemies of the State and kept in prison for as long as the government can manage. So long as the rest of us do not speak up against this misbehaviour by the State, so long as we forget about those who have been made its victims, this behaviour will continue, asserts Aakar Patel.
The judge said the prosecution failed to prove that the accused were members of a terrorist organisation.
The National Investigation Agency on Friday filed a fresh charge sheet against five persons in connection with the Coimbatore car bomb blast in October 2022, and said the prime accused was "reportedly inspired by the hardcore ISIS ideology" to carry out this terrorist attack.
The FIR pointed out that the accused persons booked by the Central agency were instructed to hurl hand grenades at public gatherings and processions in order to create communal tension.
'...by directing these draconian provisions against political and ideological opponents of the ruling group, minorities, and those who dare to dissent through and selective prosecution and prolonged incarceration as undertrials.'
Para, perhaps, has become the first person to benefit from the Supreme Court putting on hold trial of cases under section 124 A (sedition).
The court is likely to hear argument on quantum of sentence on February 14 and the convicts face a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.
Panjwar, 63 was involved in drug and weapons smuggling and was designated as a terrorist under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in July 2020.
Five people who were radicalised to carry out terror attacks have been arrested by the Central Crime Branch with firearms and ammunition along with 12 mobile phones confiscated from them, Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda said on Wednesday.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and S Ravindra Bhat fixed the plea for final disposal on September 9.
The Central Bureau of Investigation, which is the national central bureau of India to liaison with the Interpol, had sent the request of National Investigation Agency seeking Red Notice against Pannun but it was returned with further queries, they said.
"Having given our anxious consideration to this aspect of 'likelihood' of threat and terror, we are of the view that the foundations of our nation stand on surer footing than to be likely to be shaken by a protest, however vicious, organised by a tribe of college students or other persons, operating as a coordination committee from the confines of a University situate in the heart of Delhi," a bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Anup Jairam Bhambhani said in a 133-page judgement.
A Supreme Court bench of Justice M R Shah and Justice Bela M Trivedi in a special sitting on Saturday upheld the Maharashtra government's plea and suspended the Bombay high court order acquitting former Delhi University Professor G N Saibaba in a case relating to his alleged Maoist links.
On average, about 60 cases were filed by the agency in 2019 and 2020, officials said.
Chief metropolitan magistrate Dinesh Kumar admitted him on bail on furnishing Rs 25,000 bond with one surety of like amount.
'This action sends out a very nasty message in a very strong way -- that nobody is exempt.' 'It is also an attempt to extend the definition of who is an anti-national, who's a terrorist, a definition that's becoming looser under this regime.' 'The sad part is that by the time the courts acquit those arrested, they would've spent years in jail and been taught a lesson.'
Maybe, the need for secrecy may have tied the government's hand from sharing details in Parliament. Still, it should consider the need of sharing the utmost within any consultative committee, so that relative secrecy is still maintained. But such a course should involve the prime minister or home minister, as it is much more serious than is being made out to be, argues N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Kerala high court on Tuesday granted bail to Swapna Suresh in the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act case registered by the National Investigation Agency in connection with the sensational gold smuggling through diplomatic channel.
'I wonder how people who come to power through democratic means turn out this way.' 'But people of India are strong, and those who think they can hoodwink people, are mistaken.' 'You can fool some people for some time, but not all people, all the time.'
The police have detained three more people in connection with the killing so far.
Lashing out at both the opposition and ruling fronts led by the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday said that neither dukandar nor chowkidar opens their mouths when Muslims are oppressed.
Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and several other party leaders were detained on Tuesday night as they held a dharna at the Union Rural Development Ministry office in New Delhi demanding a meeting with the minister and released around three hours later.
'Where you change the law and then say, we are following the law.' 'The fact is, the law is not meeting any international standards.' 'How can you call UAPA or PMLA a law when you are guilty until proven innocent?'
'It taught me how to be resilient, how to be strong and how to be courageous.'
The NIA on Thursday filed a chargesheet against six people in connection with the October 2022 Coimbatore car bomb blast, saying the prime accused of the terrorist attack was "inspired by ISIS ideology".
Kerala-based journalist Sidhique Kappan, arrested in October 2020 on the way to Hathras where a Dalit woman had died after allegedly being gang-raped, has deep links with the Popular Front of India and is part of a larger conspiracy to "incite religious discord and spread terror", Uttar Pradesh government has told the Supreme Court.
'I asked him why were he and other writers being targeted.' 'I saw his point of view, that he and others being writers, their work was popular and well-appreciated by people, especially the youth.' 'This made the State fear them.'
Malik had earlier pleaded guilty to all the charges including those under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act in a terror funding case.
Dabholkar, who headed the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti, was shot dead in Pune on August 20, 2013, allegedly by members of a right-wing extremist group. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is conducting a probe into the case.
The Reserve Bank on Thursday asked banks and other financial institutions to report to the government details about accounts resembling 10 individuals who have been designated as terrorists by the Union home ministry earlier this month. On October 4, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had designated a total of 10 members of Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and other proscribed outfits as terrorists under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). Those designated as terrorists include Habibullah Malik alias Sajid Jutt, a Pakistani national, Basit Ahmad Reshi, who hails from Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla but is currently based in Pakistan, Imtiyaz Ahmad Kandoo alias Sajad, who hails from Jammu and Kashmir's Sopore but now lives in Pakistan, Zafar Iqbal alias Salim, who is from Poonch but presently residing in Pakistan, and Sheikh Jameel-ur-Rehman alias Sheikh Sahab, who hails from Pulwama.
Teltumbde is the third of the 16 accused arrested in the case to be released on bail.
While most political parties have mostly stayed mum about the vicious anti-hate speeches -- reportedly calling for killing Muslims and former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh -- made at the so-called 'Dharma Sansad' event in Haridwar from December 17-20 -- student organisations protested against the inflammatory and provocative speeches, calling for the immediate arrests of the accused.
The Jamia Teachers' Solidarity Association has expressed strong reservations about the proposed amendments to the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
Three suspected members of a Sikh extremist group on Interpol's red notice watchlist were arrested during a joint operation by the Philippine government agencies this month, according to an official.
In a notification, the Union home ministry said that Hafiz Talha Saeed, 46, has been actively involved in recruitment, fund collection, and planning and executing attacks by the Lashkar-e-Tayiba in India and Indian interests in Afghanistan.
Arrested in September 2019 by the Delhi police for making 'provocative statements' when Donald J Trump was on his visit to India, Dr Umar Khalid has now spent three years in jail without being convicted of an offence, points out Aakar Patel.
A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Mumbai on Monday rejected the bail plea of human rights activist Gautam Navlakha, an accused in the Elghar Parishad-Maoist links case.
The entire operation was meant to have a chilling effect on independent journalists, those not completely subservient to the regime, the small section still doing what the Fourth Estate should do -- raising questions to those in power.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to entertain a plea seeking to prevent a 'mahapanchayat' called by Hindu outfits in Uttarakhand and registration of an FIR against hate speeches allegedly targeting members of a particular community.
