As a consequence of prominence given to the brutality during those few days, a very important aspect of that episode got almost glossed over. This was the intervention by a very significant section of people who restored faith in humanity, and conveyed the message that only a small section of Indians, that too politically backed, were consumed by anti-Sikh majoritarianism. The overlooked facet of the events of 1984 was the story of significant sections of the city's populace, public figures and nondescript ones, stepping out hand-in-hand, to first stand with little but bravery in hands, in the way of attackers, and thereafter to provide immediate relief to those who lives were uprooted and who lost family members in the violence, recalls Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
The Supreme Court will hear on April 5 a batch of PILs challenging the validity of certain provisions of a 1991 law that prohibits filing of a lawsuit to reclaim a place of worship or seek a change in its character from what prevailed on August 15, 1947.
The man and the woman turned out to be both Muslims and adults. Kushinagar Superintendent of Police Vinod Kumar Singh said someone from Gurnia village had informed them on Tuesday that a couple was getting 'quietly' married there, and suspected it to be a case of 'love jihad'.
A plea was filed in the Supreme Court on Wednesday challenging the constitutional validity of certain sections of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act 1991, saying that it "barefacedly violates" the principles of secularism and rule of law.
Since Parliament is still in session, the government refrained from making an official statement but the ministers said there were ample 'precedents by the Congress governments in the past' of Bills being pushed through the ordinance route.
...Even if it means less democracy, so that their everyday problems get solved? argues R Jagannathan.
In the wake of a raging controversy over the issue of 'love jihad' raised by right wing outfits, All India Muslim Personal Law Board has decided to remove misconceptions among people with regard to the subject besides concepts pertaining to the Islamic law.
Making such publication mandatory would invade in the fundamental rights of liberty and privacy, the Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court said.
The MP ATS arrested 11 persons, including a gym trainer, software engineer and teacher, and booked them under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and other relevant provisions of the IPC, an official said.
'What's sad today is that there are so many people who cannot find work, not because the country is devoid of that opportunity, but because we are not doing enough in the country.'
The BJP's 2022 assembly election win may have further consolidated Adityanath's stock within the BJP. The saffron party is now set to win the UP state polls twice in a row, a feat achieved by no other party in three decades.
The plea, filed by a religious guru based in Mathura, Devkinandan Thakur, has challenged the constitutional validity of Sections 2, 3, and 4 of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act 1991, stating that it offends Articles 14, 15, 21, 25, 26, 29 of the Indian constitution and violates the principles of secularism and the rule of law, which is an integral part of the Preamble and basic structure of the Constitution.
Mohan Bhagwat said the temple would be constructed in the same grandeur as it existed before, using the "same stones" under the guidance of those who were the flag-bearers of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement for the last 25 years.
Mathura has a prominent mosque -- the Shahi Idgah -- located next to a temple, believed to be the site of the birthplace of Lord Krishna. The mosque has been at the centre of a legal battle for years with Hindu groups claiming that the Idgah was built on land where Lord Krishna was born.
The 1991 provision is an Act to prohibit conversion of any place of worship and to provide for the maintenance of the religious character of any place of worship as it existed on August 15, 1947, and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
'Should the practice of triple talaq be abolished, retained or retained with suitable amendments; and whether a uniform civil code should be optional', are among 16 queries by the commission.
Leaders and members of the Hindu community rue the fact that they are not given proper representation and many are not even registered as voters.
The AIMPLB contended that the object of the Act is to prevent disturbances of public order, maintain peace and tranquility, and strengthen the basic feature of secularism.
'When Rajiv Gandhi was PM, Roman Catholic missionaries were allowed to enter Arunachal Pradesh and they made full use of this. They had the blessings of Sonia Gandhi'
The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a plea on a dispute involving the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi on November 10.
India is the birthplace of four major world religions -- Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism. It is home to the world's third largest Muslim population, a diverse community of sects that includes Sufis, Shia, and Bohra. Roughly three per cent of India's citizens are Christian, and notably, Christians are the religious majority in three of India's 29 states, she said.
The Act prohibits conversion of any place of worship and to provide for the maintenance of the religious character of any place of worship as it existed on August 15, 1947.
In both of these Hindi heartland states, the straight contest between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the opposition Congress.
What should be made out of the Madras high court order involving non-Hindus' entry into Hindu temples, when many non-Hindus are among the hundreds of thousands that have been worshipping at these temples for generations, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
As CM, he took decisions that confirmed his image as a Hindutva mascot. Early in the first term, he banned illegal slaughterhouses and the state police cracked down on cow slaughter. But the menace of stray cattle created disquiet among farmers, presenting the Adityanath government with a new challenge.
'The politics of Goa is moving around a sole entity, which is land.'
'Why is a powerful person called Amit Shah who camped in Manipur for three days not able to maintain law and order in the state?'
A Hindu body has moved the Supreme Court challenging a provision in the 1991 law that provides for maintaining the "religious character" of holy structures as it existed on August 15, 1947, in a bid to open the litigation route to reclaim disputed religious sites other than the Ram Janambhoomi in Ayodhya. The petition, which has challenged Section 4 of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, assumes significance in the case of Kashi and Mathura, where two disputed mosques stand.
There have been over 300 attacks against Christians and their churches and prayer halls, primarily in northern India, states Aakar Patel.
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and JB Pardiwala said the petitioners will be able to supplement the grounds of challenge in the pending petitions.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the district magistrate, Varanasi, to ensure protection of the area where the 'Shivling' was said to have been found in a survey on Monday.
For the fifth day in succession, a united opposition led by the Congress party on Friday created turmoil in Rajya Sabha demanding a reply from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on forcible religious conversions, leading to two adjournments before lunch.
Instead of repealing Section 295A of the IPC, which criminalises speech that offends the religious, India intends to further criminalise offence against religion, says Mihir S Sharma
'Potent nationalism doesn't just distract from the economic task at hand; it actively undermines it.'
'But he was very quick and did a very stylish adab.' 'Of course, I didn't expect him to hug.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party lined up several promises, including a legislation to protect traditions of the Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala and a law against "love jihad", while assuring employment for at least one person from each family and free laptops to high school students, in its manifesto for the assembly polls unveiled in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday.
Under NSA, the government can detain a person for as long as it wishes and the authorities need not disclose the grounds of detention. A person booked under the provision of Gangsters Act becomes part of a gang listed in police records. It entitles the police to keep track of those booked under the Act and issue summons to them for attendance at the local police station for questioning even if no fresh case is lodged against them.
Aam Aadmi Party Chief Arvind Kejriwal has kicked up a controversy by asking voters in Delhi to take "bribes" from the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress but to vote for his party in the upcoming Delhi assembly election.
'We must begin dialogue with openness and goodwill, but we will not proceed very far without trust and good faith. The alternative is the violence of 'might is right,' which settles very little and destroys so much of real value,' says Dr Rudolf C Heredia, author of Religious Disarmament -- Rethinking Conversion in India.
'By making Rachel Rajeshwari, Tejashwi has done an exemplary thing.'
