'We were activists when we were students. It was as students that we were propelled to fight for justice. Neither of us regret that.' 'Where the country is now, more and more people should become vocal.'
Holi was celebrated with pomp and splendor across India on Friday, with people soaking in the festivities by smearing 'gulaal' on each other and exchanging greetings and sweets. Homes and streets wore a colourful look as the revellers splashed colours and feasted on traditional delicacies. Public transport did not ply in the morning in most major cities while metro services started functioning from noon. As Holi coincided with the second Friday prayers during the holy Islamic month of Ramzan, security -- including increased patrolling and picketing -- was beefed up in several states. In Delhi, more than 25,000 security personnel were deployed. Police closely monitored about 300 sensitive areas with CCTV cameras and drones.
Khalid's RT-PCR test report came on Saturday as positive, the official said, adding he has been isolated within the jail premises.
"Charges are being framed under sections 124 (sedition), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion), 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), 505 (Statements conducing to public mischief) of Indian Penal Code, and Section 13 (punishment for unlawful activities) of UAPA," Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat ordered.
Punjab Police detained several farmer leaders, including Sarwan Singh Pandher and Jagjit Singh Dallewal, while they were returning from a meeting with a central delegation in Chandigarh. The police also began evicting protesting farmers from the Shambhu and Khanauri border points, which have been closed for over a year. The action comes amid concerns from industrialists in Punjab over the prolonged closure of the border points, which they say has resulted in heavy losses. The meeting between the farmer leaders and the central delegation, led by Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, was inconclusive, but the next meeting is scheduled for May 4.
National Democratic Alliance convener George Fernandes said on Saturday that the post-Godhra violence in Gujarat and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots could not be compared.
Bharatiya Janata Party MP Parvesh Verma, who is accused of making hate speeches, on Saturday said he would give his one-month salary each to the families of the policeman and Intelligence Bureau employee who were killed in the communal violence in northeast Delhi.
Gunmen allegedly shot dead two women in southwest Delhi's RK Puram in the early hours of Sunday over a suspected financial dispute with their brother, police said.
"In the last 60 hours, no incident has taken place. We have made arrangements as there are Friday prayers today. Through the extensive outreach programme done by us and the interaction with the people, we get to know that everybody wants peace. We are moving fast towards normalcy. In the Aman Committee meetings everybody has said that they will work for maintaining peace," the special commissioner said.
A first information report (FIR) has been registered against Union minister Ravneet Singh Bittu for his alleged remarks against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over the statements he made in the US about the condition of Sikhs in India, police said on Thursday.
A man from Manipur, his wife and his sister were allegedly assaulted by a group of people from the same state in southeast Delhi's Sunlight Colony area, police said on Saturday.
Months before he demitted office as prime minister in 2014, Manmohan Singh had famously asserted that his leadership was not weak and history would be kinder to him than what the media projected at that time.
Ahead of farmers' 'Delhi Chalo March', the Delhi Police has intensified security arrangements at Singhu, Ghazipur and Tikri borders and installed nails along with barricades to prevent vehicles carrying protesters from entering the city, officials said on Sunday.
Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri noted the prosecutor appearing in the case hadn't appeared on the last four to five occasions.
Delhi faces a severe financial crunch and the deficit is largely due to numerous welfare schemes without adequate revenue flowing in. The success of welfare schemes and electoral promises will need careful financial planning and out of the box thinking to whip up additional revenue, notes Ramesh Menon.
More than 500 scientists, academicians and students have written to the Bengaluru-based IISc expressing dismay over the cancellation of a discussion on anti-terror law UAPA that was to be led by student activists Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita.
'It is very easy to invoke Bhagat Singh but difficult to emulate him... There was a gentleman who was eventually hanged .... He stayed there..., he did not run away. You are saying you weren't even there'
With the sole motive of triggering communal violence and riots, the BJP got Rohingyas and Bangladeshis 'illegally' settled in different parts of the country in the last eight years, the AAP alleged.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), however, maintained that classes 10 and 12 examinations will be conducted as per schedule from March 2.
A team of three Union ministers will hold talks on Monday with a delegation of farmer leaders, who are planning to march towards Delhi to press for their demands.
At least 51 people were arrested, and three cases registered so far in connection with the violent protests that broke out in Maharashtra's Parbhani city over vandalising of a replica of the Constitution, police said on Friday.
A total of 1,807 communal riot cases were registered in different parts of the country during 2018-2020 in which 8,565 people were arrested, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Wednesday.
'The tragedy with Indian Muslims is that they do politics from the heart, not from the head.'
'They contest to ensure they win the election.'
The Supreme Court of India granted bail to eight convicts in the 1987 Hashimpura massacre case. The case involved the killing of 38 people by personnel of the Provincial Armed Constabulary. The court considered the fact that the convicts have been incarcerated for over six years following the Delhi High Court's reversal of their acquittal by the trial court.
Authorities in New Delhi intensified security arrangements on Tuesday to stop the farmers' march from entering Delhi as the Singhu and Tikri borders were shut while the Red Fort complex was closed temporarily after peasants on their way to the national capital clashed with the police at the Shambhu border between Haryana and Punjab.
Sources in the Special Cell said that now arrests are likely to follow across the country.
Five cow vigilantes in Faridabad have been charged with mob lynching in the death of a student who they mistook for a cattle smuggler. The Faridabad police filed a 600-page chargesheet against the accused, including statements from 30 witnesses. The chargesheet includes sections for murder, criminal conspiracy, and intentionally concealing evidence.
Hitting out at the Congress government headed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, he said the ruling party has reached "height of appeasement politics," and alleged that it has in a way made appeasement of minorities its "goal."
Leaders who built and manage these incredible global companies cannot be tyrants, slave-drivers, or idiots. Essentially what they are saying falls under the definition of rallying the troops, inspirational talk, like the usual coach-speak with the team before a match, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
A Delhi court on Friday granted bail to former JNU student Sharjeel Imam in a sedition case in which he was accused of instigating the Jamia riots in New Delhi in 2019.
'The lesson you taught was that you will free the murderers of Bilkis' three-year-old daughter. You also taught us that Ahsan Jafri can be killed. You taught the lesson of Gulbarga bakery, you taught the lesson of Best bakery lesson'
Thousands of pro-democracy protesters were killed on June 4, 1989 in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square as the People's Liberation Army launched a brutal crackdown on those demonstrating there against the ruling Communist Party of China for weeks.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate also shared the video and said the BJP leader is openly threatening to kill the Leader of the Opposition of this country.
Indira Gandhi was murdered by her bodyguards on the morning of October 31, 1984. Her death sparked off horrific anti-Sikh riots, killing over 3,000 innocent Indians.
The NCRB report stated that a total of 71,107 cases of 'offences against public tranquillity' were lodged across the country in 2020, an increase of 12.4 per cent over 63,262 such cases in 2019.
Delhi Assembly's peace and harmony committee has summoned Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut over her alleged hateful posts on social media, panel chairperson Raghav Chadha said on Thursday.
The Indian National Congress, India's oldest political party, is moving from its longtime headquarters at 24 Akbar Road to a new building called Indira Gandhi Bhawan. The move marks the end of an era for the Congress, which has been headquartered at 24 Akbar Road for nearly 50 years.
Dominic Xavier asks if Umar Khalid's arrest is part of a fresh campaign to crush all dissent against the Modi government
Over 1,000 riot-affected people have moved into the Delhi government's relief camp at Mustafabad in the last 24 hours from areas like Shivpuri, Mustafabad and Karawal Nagar, the government said in a statement.
