Several protests and mass movements across Delhi and the country were at their peak when the coronavirus threat slowly crept in, throwing normal life out of gear and pushing everyone indoors to ensure social distancing.
The warning was given by Home Minister Shivraj Patil after he reviewed the situation with Governor, Rameshwar Thakur in Bangalore on Saturday, ministry sources said on Sunday.
Jahangir, chairperson of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, is preparing a report for the United Nations on violence relating to religion for which she is meeting various persons.
Bengal, where the electoral discourse has mostly steered clear of divisive agenda, has been drawn into the vortex with the TMC and the BJP accusing each other of fanning communal sentiments ahead of elections.
Protesters torched 24 houses in Kandhamal on Saturday as the death toll in the week-long communal violence rose to 14, with the recovery of two more bodies in the Orissa district.Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was headed for the curfew-bound district to review the situation in the affected areas and the Ashram at Jalespeta, where Vishwa Hindu Parishad Laxamanada Saraswati was gunned down along with three others on August 23, leading to the violence.
The development sparked off speculation that the MNS chief might be arrested and produced before the court in Vikhroli in suburban Mumbai.
Meanwhile BJP President Rajnath Singh told newsmen that the terrorists were getting bolder. He also spoke to Modi and asked all political parties to join hands in fighting terrorism. He alleged that the country had become unsafe for common people. "5,000 sleeper modules" have come up in last few years, he alleged.
The Union government has formulated detailed guidelines for implementing its scheme for providing assistance to victims of terrorist and communal violence. The guidelines have been sent to the states and union territories, the home ministry said on Thursday.
The VHP leaders presented a memorandum to the President, seeking an immediate ban on the conversion activities of Christian missionaries and foreign funds to these organisations. They also demanded a thorough scrutiny of the accounts of these Christian missionaries and urged the President to ensure that no foreigner is allowed to practice religious conversion in the country.
Fresh violence erupted in Indore on Friday, leading to the imposition of curfew in the entire city, a day after four persons were killed in clashes during the Bharatiya Janata Party Vishwa Hindu Parishad sponsored bandh against the revocation of land to Amarnath shrine board.
Fifty people from Orissa have sought shelter in Kerala in the wake of recent communal violence that rocked Kandamal and other places in that state, Kerala Social Welfare Minister P K Sreemathi said today.
Coming out in the open for the first time, a nun who was allegedly raped during the recent communal violence in Orissa on Friday demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the incident, charging the state police with being "friendly" with the attackers.
The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy visited the riot hit town of Bhainsa on Thursfday and near by Vatoli village in Adilabad district, six days after communal violence had flared up there leaving ten people dead and dozens of shops and houses looted and burnt.
The curfew was imposed on Sunday after riots left four people dead. However, the situation in the north Maharashtra town is well under control.
An official source informed that though there was no report of fresh violence from any part of the two affected districts, the situation remained very tense. Ten additional companies of Border Security Force personnel had been deployed in the two districts where 16 columns of the army along with a large number of police and paramilitary force personnel were already operating.
Bharatiya Janata Party member of Legislative Assembly Suresh Rana, who was arrested for his alleged role in fanning communal violence in Muzaffarnagar, was booked on Thursday under the National Security Act.
"We are not happy with the judicial inquiry ordered by the Orissa government. Since both Central and state governments failed to check the spread of arson in Kandhamal, there must be a CBI probe," said Sajan K George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians. He observed that Christians in riot-hit areas of Kandhamal were denied the right to worship on Christmas due to widespread violence and attack on places of worship.
Nearly two decades after the communal violence in Bhagalpur in Bihar, the Centre on Thursday announced a Rs 29.81 crore relief and rehabilitation package for the next of kin of those killed and injured in the riots.
The nun, who was allegedly raped during communal violence in Kandhamal, has told the Crime Branch of Orissa police that after the sexual assault, she was saved by a local Hindu man from being gangraped, police said today.
"The Commission has decided to direct an inquiry by the CBI into the episode in the light of accusations made in the 'Operation Kalank' on communal violence in Gujarat," a statement from the NHRC stated. The Commission's observations come after it viewed the tapes of the programme aired by Aaj Tak and found the contents a fit case for probe by an independent agency.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Amit Shah on Wednesday moved the Allahabad high court challenging the FIRs lodged against him by the Uttar Pradesh government for alleged hate speeches made by him at election meetings in Bijnore and Shamli districts.
In a statement, the party said the Centre and the law enforcement agencies have a "special responsibility" in this regard.
The state police on Thursday appealed to the people not to believe in rumours as some elements are trying to create confusion.
Over 50 people, mostly pilgrims returning from Ayodhya, were burnt alive in two bogies of Sabarmati Express in Godhra in February 2002.
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.
Eleven persons were sentenced to life imprisonment by a special court in Mumbai on Monday for their involvement in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape and murders that took place during the communal violence in Gujarat in 2002. The twelfth convict in the case, Somabhai Gori, a police official who was found guilty for shielding the offenders, has been sentenced to three years' rigorous imprisonment. On January 18, the court convicted the 12 and acquitted seven for lack of evidence.
Amid raging controversy over the lynching of a man in Uttar Pradesh earlier this week over rumours that his family stored and consumed beef, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad on Saturday asked people to shun beef for it was not good for health and caused many diseases.
Official sources said the probe was ordered by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik who visited the riot-torn area on Thursday to take stock of the situation.
Jammu and Kashmir Minister of State for Home Sajjad Ahmad Kitchloo submitted his resignation to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday over communal violence in Kishtwar that claimed three lives.
In Jaffrabad, Maujpur, Yamuna Vihar, Chand Bagh, Mustafabad and Bhajanpura, which were among the areas worst hit by the communal violence, there were more vehicles and people on the roads than in the last five days.
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The UP government, if it manages to remain in power now, must take immediate steps to ensure that no violence takes place as the country gears up for the elections. Action has to be taken to prevent this, not just through the law and order machinery, but through a secular campaign in which all non-communal political parties participate, says Seema Mustafa.
Adityanath said he has changed the "perception about the state" and improved its "tarnished image".
Election Commissioners Navin Chawla and Qureshi have threatened to postpone the Gujarat election process and bring President's Rule in the state if the Bharatiya Janata Party fans communal violence in Gujarat through its new CD, which is to be released in the birth place of Sardar Patel.
The apex court lashed out at the law enforcing agencies for allowing the 'instigators of violence' to get away and said they should act as per law without waiting for somebody's nod.
In an outbreak of communal violence, 25 houses were torched and as many ransacked in three villages of Howrah district on Monday after which curfew was clamped in the riot-torn areas. Superintendent of Police Niraj K Singh said trouble erupted on Sunday night when a person went to a jewellery shop owned by Ashis Parui and told him to mortgage some gold ornaments.
The situation is now said to be under control.
The displacements were a result of a combination of increasing hazard intensity, high population exposure and high levels of social and economic vulnerability, a report says.
The watchdog said human rights violations continued to surge in different parts of India, including Jammu and Kashmir and North Eastern states.
No prominent leader -- either from the vociferous Hindu hardliner groups or from any Islamic fundamentalist body -- proposes to be in or around Ayodhya on Wednesday.
The publishing house faced massive backlash online on Friday after an advertisement of the book launch on Saturday with Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kapil Mishra as a guest of honour did the rounds on social media.
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