A similar drive will later be carried out across the city against establishments operating illegally from basements, the official said.
Slamming the anti-encroachment drive being carried out in various parts of the city, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said if bulldozers raze shops and houses of 63 lakh people in Delhi, which are considered illegal, it will be the "biggest destruction" in independent India.
According to the notice, Malik's supporters attacked the team that had gone to carry out the demolition drive in 'Malik Ka Bagicha' and damaged the properties of the municipal corporation.
Electricity Department has imposed a fine of Rs 1.91 crore on Lok Sabha MP from Sambhal Zia Ur Rehman and also disconnected the electricity supply to his residence for alleged power theft at his residence, an official said on Friday.
At a public hearing in New Delhi on Monday, civil society and community members shared accounts of the evictions and anti-encroachment drives.
Devotees thronged the Khaggu Sarai area in Sambhal on Tuesday to offer prayers to an idol of Lord Hanuman that was discovered in the Bhasma Shankar temple, reopened last week after being shut for 46 years.
On Republic Day the President recognised the daring rescue of 41 workers trapped in a tunnel for 17 days in 2023 by humble rat-hole miners. The award hopefully will bring the forgotten superheroes back into the light.
A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana ordered status quo in the present situation, and said the petition would be listed before an appropriate bench.
With the fresh arrests, the total number of rioters held in connection with incidents of stone pelting and arson triggered by the demolition of a madrassa in the town on February 8 has climbed to 42, they said.
A four-member team from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) conducted a survey of the recently-discovered Shri Kartik Mahadev temple, five pilgrimage sites, and 19 wells in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, India. The survey followed the discovery of three damaged idols inside a well of the Bhasma Shankar temple, which was reopened after being shut for 46 years. The Shri Kartik Mahadev temple, also known as the Bhasma Shankar temple, was reopened on December 13 after authorities found the covered structure during an anti-encroachment drive. The temple houses an idol of Lord Hanuman and a Shivling and had remained locked since 1978. The district administration has requested carbon dating of the temple, including the well, from the ASI. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has restrained courts across India from entertaining new lawsuits or passing any orders in pending ones seeking to reclaim religious places, especially mosques and dargahs, until further notice. This action halts proceedings in approximately 18 lawsuits filed by Hindu parties seeking surveys to determine the original religious character of 10 mosques, including the Gyanvapi at Varanasi, the Shahi Idgah Masjid at Mathura, and the Shahi Jama Masjid at Sambhal, where four individuals died in clashes. The Supreme Court will examine the legality, scope, and boundaries of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which prohibits the conversion of places of worship and ensures the preservation of their religious character as it existed on August 15, 1947.
Six rioters were killed in the violence that broke out over the demolition of an illegally built madrasa, officials said Friday as curfew remained enforced in Uttarakhand's Haldwani town.
Meanwhile, the Delhi government has ordered magisterial enquiries into the demolition and also the death of a six month-old child.
Two young men can be seen in the video breaking the mazars with hammers amid cries of Jai Shri Ram.
The action was taken under a demolition drive, which will be carried out till March 9, officials said. It comes a month ahead of a G20 meeting planned to be hosted at the archaeological park in south Delhi.
The Uttar Pradesh Police has sent a notice to Bhojpuri folk singer Neha Singh Rathore, known for her video 'UP Me Ka Ba', over her latest song which created 'disharmony and tension'.
While Rajasthan BJP president Satish Poonia accused the Congress of being behind the demolition, state Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra asserted that it was the decision of the city's municipality headed by the saffron party.
As Jahangirpuri's C-Block remains heavily barricaded and under tight security following last week's violence, several residents Friday said they are unable to open their shops or go to work due to restriction on movement which is affecting their livelihoods.
'Government cannot pick and choose as to against whom they want to take action and against whom they do not want to take action.'
Action was being taken to remove encroachments from about 10,000 square feet of land around the temple premises.
No casualties had been reported among the residents of the area, while a fire brigade personnel was injured, the official said.
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.
Traders, hoteliers, monks and locals from Bihar's Gaya district are all speaking in one voice. They are protesting against the district administration's anti-encroachment drive where in the world heritage and pilgrimage site Bodh Gaya, which houses the famous Mahabodhi Temple, will be declared a buffer zone.
The accused has been identified as Farid alias Neetu, and is being brought to New Delhi.
'Barricading will remain for a few more days. Situation today is better than previous days and we are keeping an eye on law and order here'
Hemmed in by barricades and police and paramilitary swarming all over the place, the troubled Jahangirpuri on Friday showed signs of returning to normalcy, with the local peace committee calling for communal harmony and members of the warring communities embracing each other, agreeing to let bygones be bygones.
In the video footage, Rawat is heard threatening the IAS officer: "'Main tumhara jeena mushkil kar doongi'
It further said the UK government must not remain a mute bystander.
A day after the NDMC's demolition drive following communal clashes, Jahangirpuri's C-Block, the epicentre of Saturday's violence, witnessed heavy security deployment and barricading as it remained out of bounds for the media, and residents stayed indoors.
"Why is CPI-M filing a petition? What is the fundamental right that is being violated? Not at the behest of political parties. This is not the platform. You go to the high court," the bench said.
The condition of Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Virendra Kumar Khatik, who was beaten up allegedly by Railway Protection Force personnel, is stable and he is out of danger, doctors said on Saturday. The MP from Sagar was beaten up on Friday during an anti-encroachment drive near Bina railway station. He was hit by RPF personnel while protesting against the removal of encroachments from Chhoti Bajaria area, police had said.
Asserting that there is no threat to Hinduism in India or anywhere else, Indian American supermodel and author Padma Lakshmi on Wednesday said people of all faiths should be able to live peacefully in 'this ancient, vast land'.
Naqvi said the culprits have been arrested on the basis of the crime committed by them and not on the basis of their creed.
Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan has taken up the anti-encroachment drive on a war footing and was in Munnar on Wednesday to monitor the taking over of 1,300 acres allegedly held by Tata Tea.
A curfew was imposed in Haldwani on Thursday after local residents set vehicles and a police station on fire and hurled stones, injuring more than 60 people, over the demolition of an 'illegally built' madrasa and an adjoining mosque, officials said.
Karnataka Home Minister Araga Jnanendra on Wednesday indicated that the state government is contemplating strong action against those involved in rioting similar to the situation in Delhi where bulldozers were used to raze down alleged illegal structures.
Chidambaram came down hard on the Jahangirpuri demolitions and those in Madhya Pradesh's Khargone earlier, saying the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders' justification of the bulldozer-enabled demolitions 'flies in the face of the law'.
Though the legislator of Rupohihat, Nurul Huda, stopped the drive in Sitalmari area of Burachapori Wildlife Sanctuary for a while claiming it was illegal, the exercise resumed later, a senior official said.
At one point, Justice Biren Vaishnav, who was hearing the petition, got agitated and asked the AMC 'What is your problem? How can you decide what I should eat outside my house? How can you stop people from eating what they want? Suddenly because someone in power thinks that this is what they want to do?'
Amid concerns over minorities being targeted in India, former Reserve Bank governor Raghuram Rajan on Thursday cautioned that an 'anti-minority' image for the country can lead to loss of market for Indian products and may also result in foreign governments perceiving the nation as an unreliable partner. India enters the perception battle from a position of strength, the professor at Chicago's Booth School of Business said, alluding to credentials like democracy and secularism, but warned that this battle is "ours to lose". The comments came a day after bulldozers tore down several concrete and temporary structures close to a mosque in Jahangirpuri as part of an anti-encroachment drive, days after the northwest Delhi neighbourhood was rocked by communal violence.
It also said that certain debates on television channels on the incidents in northwest Delhi had unparliamentary, provocative and socially unacceptable language.
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