Dominic Xavier remembers tribal rights activist Father Stan Swamy who passed into the ages on Monday, July 5, 2021.
'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.'
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.
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".
Teltumbde is the third of the 16 accused arrested in the case to be released on bail.
A special court in Mumbai on Monday remanded Maharashtra Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Malik in 14-day judicial custody in a money laundering probe linked to the activities of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his aides.
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.
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.
'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 high court's observation came while hearing the bail plea of Khalid who has challenged a trial court's March 24 order dismissing his bail application in the case.
Nengroo is the fifth individual to have been designated as a terrorist by the Centre in the last fortnight.
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.
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.
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.
'What the UP administration wanted was political mileage, and they also had the silent approval from the central government.'
The high court on Tuesday had granted bail to two Jawaharlal Nehru University students Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita and a Jamia Millia Islamia student Asif Iqbal Tanha saying in its anxiety to suppress dissent, the State has blurred the line between right to protest and terrorist activity and if such a mindset gains traction, it would be a "sad day for democracy".
'Our children are waiting to welcome him home. Their happiness was taken away. Can they forget their father? They are proud to say that Siddique Kappan, a journalist, is their father'
Opposition leaders and activists hit out at the Centre after the death of Jesuit priest and activist Stan Swamy on Monday, saying it should be held accountable for the "ruthless" and "inhuman treatment" meted out to the 84-year-old who was suffering from multiple ailments and awaiting bail on medical grounds.
'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.'
The US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) also recommended to the Congress to raise the issue of religious freedom during US-India bilateral meetings, and hold hearings on it.
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.
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.
The high court directed Pinjra Tod activists Narwal and Kalita and Tanha to surrender their passports and not to offer any inducement to prosecution witnesses or tamper with the evidence in the case.
The ED conducted multiple searches in Mumbai as part of a money laundering probe into the operations of the underworld and linked illegal property deals and hawala transactions, official sources said.
'From the look of those photographs and videos, it cannot be made available to anyone,' the judge said.
It further claimed the prosecution has not been able to establish Khan had any intention to cause the murder (of Kolhe) in order to invoke UAPA or IPC provisions.
A single bench of Justice Krishan Pahal passed the rejection order on Thursday.
'Anybody and everybody who opposes this government for whatever reasons will be branded a terrorist and charged in such a manner that all human rights will be taken away.'
The unidentified youths shot Nijjar, a designated terrorist, inside the premises of Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara Sahib, of which he was the head, at Surrey at 8:27 pm (local time) on Sunday, they said.
"For security reasons, Mailk may not be assigned any work in jail. He has been kept in a separate cell in jail number seven under heavy security. His security will be regularly monitored and reviewed from time to time," a senior jail official said.
'In that dark tunnel, we spent our energy searching for a ray of hope.' 'It was tough; nobody can even imagine the conversations we had.' 'Laughter had disappeared from our lives.' 'I would tell my daughters, I might go mad.'
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.
Religious freedom and related human rights in India are under ongoing threat, the US Commission for International Religious Freedom alleged on Tuesday in an unusual year-end update of the status of its assessment of religious freedom in the country.
While ordering Khalid's release on bail for a week on Monday to attend the marriage related functions of his sister, the court imposed several conditions.
The latest blast occurred on Wednesday midnight behind the Guru Ramdas Niwas building, police said.
These four, including two Afghanistan nationals, were among the nine accused who were remanded in custody till March 29 by Special Judge Shubhada Baxi.
A special court in Mumbai on Wednesday refused bail to former Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik in an alleged money laundering case linked to a land deal in which fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his aides were involved.
'Now they're talking about changing the Constitution; they feel they have no reason now to hide their intentions.'
In a landmark overhaul of colonial-era criminal laws, the Centre on Friday introduced in the Lok Sabha three bills to replace the IPC, CrPC and the Indian Evidence Act, proposing among other things repeal of the sedition law and introducing a new provision with a wider definition of the offence.
'He did not do anything wrong. There was no crime and no evidence'
