"Such are his core supporters that they will vote for him even if cooking oil sells for Rs 5,000 per litre under his leadership.' 'They don't think about inflation but Modi when they go out to vote.'
The NHRC counsel told this to a SC bench, which was hearing amicus curiae Harish Salve's plea for transfer of trials of cases to 14 serious cases of massacre outside Gujarat.
She had been lodged in the Sabarmati Central jail in Ahmedabad since her arrest on June 26.
'There are films, documentaries and reportage on the Internet regarding the Godhra riots. But whether the Sabarmati Express burned in an accident or a planned attack, what was the truth?'
'The SIT did not follow up with the CD of the phone call recordings that could have helped it find who were leading the mobs and where the calls of people involved in the rioting originated from and terminated.'
Police have detained social activist Sandeep Pandey and three others ahead of a foot march planned on Monday to express solidarity with Bilkis Bano, who was gang-raped and seven of her family members murdered during the 2002 Gujarat riots, police said.
Following is the timeline of events in the case in which the Supreme Court on Friday upheld the Special Investigation Team's (SIT) clean chit to then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and 63 others in the 2002 riots in the state.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi gave a candid and controversial interview to Shahid Siddiqui, editor of the Urdu weekly Nai Duniya, where he spoke about the Gujarat riots. For doing the interview Siddiqui was suspended from the Samajwadi Party, which he has joined recently after quitting the Bahujan Samaj Party.
'The BJP is racing against its opponents by putting a chain on their legs.'
Modi can abandon the path of Hindutva only at risk to his position within his own fraternity. But if he pursues a hard line, he faces the risk of being hauled up by his coalition-partners. For the first time in a decade, Modi is not in enviable situation, observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
References to freedom fighter and India's first education minister Azad have been removed from the new class 11 political science textbook by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).
The Central Board of Secondary Education class 12 sociology paper held on Wednesday asked students to name the party under which the 'anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat in 2002' took place, a question the board later said was 'inappropriate' and against its guidelines.
As per police, some miscreants travelling in an autorickshaw threw stones at the Ganesh pandal, damaging the idol.
The 11 convicts in the case of gang-rape of Bilkis Bano and murder of seven of her family members during the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat can approach the Maharashtra government with request for remission of their sentences.
The Sabarmati Report is so flimsy in its execution, taking offence to it would be dignifying its existence, notes Sukanya Verma.
'I do this today for myself, for my children, and for women everywhere'
The Union government had last week directed social media platforms such as Twitter and YouTube to block links to the documentary India: The Modi Question.
'Especially at a time when truth is being twisted and a new narrative is being manufactured.'
Having sparked off a major political controversy with his tweet -- that the Gujarat riots led to the formation of terror outfit Indian Mujahideen -- All India Congress Committee general secretary Shakeel Ahmed on Monday said he was surprised by the Bharatiya Janata Party's strong reaction to the comment as he was merely referring to the charge-sheet filed by the National Investigation Agency after the Bodh Gaya serial blasts
Ehsan Jafri was killed during the riots. Zakia Jafri, his wife, had filed the petition challenging the special investigation team's report giving a clean chit to Modi and 63 others.
What is the lure of a government job? The answer is India's worst kept secret: Job security. And among the many government jobs desperately sought after is in the armed forces. Which is why the riots by aspiring armed forces job seekers against the government's Agnipath scheme should not really be surprising, points out Harishchandra.
The incident took place on Saturday evening and a first information report (FIR) was registered at Khergam police station in the wee hours of Sunday in which Patel accused local BJP leader Babu Ahir, who is the district panchayat president, and his supporters of attacking him after being upset over a song sung in Patel's support at a garba event.
Keeping up his tradition of celebrating the festival with soldiers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Sir Creek near the Indo-Pak border in Gujarat's Kutch district and offered sweets to jawans.
A First Information Report was also registered against the victim on a complaint filed by some of the accused, said an official of the local Kakoshi village police station.
It is rare for communal riots to spread to rural areas. The UP riot is the first time after the September 1969 Gujarat riots that a rural area have been affected. Electoral politics which divide society in majority/minority, going on since the early 1990s, is a major contributing factor to this heightened tension between communities, says Colonel (retd) Anil Athale in the first of a two part series.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to consider listing a plea challenging the grant of remission by the Gujarat government to 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case.
"Of course, we do not tolerate persecution anywhere, but I am not sure that I agree at all with the characterisation that the hon. gentleman has put forward," the British prime minister said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday alleged that Congress president Sonia Gandhi was the "driving force" behind the "conspiracy" to implicate then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 riots case in the state.
All the 11 life term convicts in the Bilkis Bano case of the 2002 riots were released as per the remission policy prevalent in Gujarat at the time of their conviction in 2008, a top government official said on Tuesday and rejected claims of contravention of the Centre's guidelines in the matter.
Can ordinary citizens counter this backward march? Can peace activists ensure that the two communities retain their bonds? Do they have a choice, asks Jyoti Punwani.
The Gujarat government has said the apex court's observation in the January 8 judgment, holding the state guilty of "usurpation of power" and "abuse of discretion" for complying with an order of another top court bench, was an "error apparent on the face of the record" primarily on three grounds.
A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices P S Narasimha and Dipankar Datta took note of the submissions of lawyer Shobha Gupta that the review plea is yet to be listed.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and justices S Ravindra Bhat and Sudhanshu Dhulia, which was to take up the plea for hearing at 3.45 pm, adjourned the matter to September 1 due to paucity of time.
As per the affidavit, he was booked under Indian Penal Code Sections 147 (rioting) 149 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 436 (arson), 332 (causing hurt to deter public servant), 143 (unlawful assembly) and 380 (theft).
The court then issued a notice to the state government on the bail pleas of Abdul Raheman Dhantia alias Kankatto, Abdul Sattar Ibrahim Gaddi Asla and others.
The Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind has moved the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Centre and some states, including Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, that "precipitative actions" like razing buildings in criminal proceedings be not taken.
Several BJP leaders including Prime Minister Modi called on Lalji at his home in New Delhi to wish the former deputy prime minister.
The Supreme Court on Friday said it will hear on March 24 the appeal of the Gujarat government and the bail pleas of several accused who are serving life imprisonment in the 2002 Godhra train burning case.
A section of students of the University of Hyderabad (UoH) has screened the BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on its campus, prompting the University authorities to seek a report.
A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud took note of the submissions of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Gujarat government, that he has to verify certain factual details with regard to some convicts.
