Congress candidate from Rajkot, Indranil Rajguru stirred up a storm ahead of Gujarat state assembly elections where he claimed that in his opinion, Allah and Mahadev are both same. “Whether I go to Somnath with Hindu pilgrims in bus with Muslim pilgrims to Ajmer in train, it gives me equal happiness,” he said.
“In my opinion, there is Allah in Somnath and Mahadev in Ajmer,” he said. He later asked the public which had gathered to hail Mahadev when he hails Allah to ‘let those who want to divide that they will not win’. He then chants Allahu Akbar.
Rajguru was addressing a public gathering at Jangleshwar in Rajkot. Rajkot goes to polls in first phase on 1st December, 2022. Rajguru was first elected to Rajkot East constituency in 2012. In April 2022 he joined the Aam Aadmi Party only to return to Congress in November 2022.
In China’s far western Xinjiang province, protests have broken out, with people yelling at hazmat-suited security guards after a fatal fire sparked ire at their lengthy Covid-19 lockdown as countrywide infections hit a new record.
Videos shared on Chinese social media on Friday night (November 25) showed crowds chanting “End the lockdown” and raising their hands while walking along a road. The video was released from Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang.
On Thursday, 24th November 2022, a building in Urumqi caught fire. People could not easily escape because the lockdown was imposed. Since early August, there have been restrictions in place in the city, which serves as the provincial capital of western Xinjiang. The city reported about 100 new cases in each of the past two days.
According to a report by BBC, following the incident, a witness said that residents of the compound that had been affected by the fire had been primarily barred from leaving their homes. Chinese state media has refuted that account. Authorities in Urumqi, however, offered an extraordinary apology late on Friday, but promised to punish anybody who disobeyed their orders.
In spite of a strict zero-Covid policy, infections have reached unprecedented highs in China. Authorities in Urumqi have now pledged to gradually remove the restrictions, though they dispute that they prevented anybody from fleeing the fire on Thursday.
Due to China’s strict internet censorship, by Saturday morning, most citations to the Urumqi protests had been removed. The Urumqi apartment building fire that killed one person and wounded nine others on Thursday, according to local media, appears to have been started by an electrical extension problem. Online articles have claimed that Covid limitations made it more difficult to extinguish fires. City officials have denied this, attempting to rest the responsibility for the firefighters’ inability to reach the blazing structure on parked cars.
Although there has been growing popular opposition to Beijing’s zero-Covid policy, large-scale, confrontational demonstrations are uncommon in China. The zero-Covid policy is the world’s last program of its sort, due in part to the country’s poor vaccination coverage and an effort to safeguard the elders. It is notable that a large number of Uyghurs reside in the Xinjiang area, and the Chinese government has been blamed for a number of violations of their human rights.
The series of layoffs has struck the Indian media industry. After tech sector companies laid off thousands of employees worldwide, the TV news channel Zee Hindustan is about to shut down. This will result in at least 300 media professionals going jobless. Zee Network has decided to shut down its Hindi news channel Zee Hindustan at a time when another prominent national media organization, NDTV, is being confronted with acquisition due to a financial problem. Zee Hindustan, which apparently employs 300 people, is also believed to have let go of a number of workers already.
A news channel at Nodia having 300+ staffs shuts down & employees’ fate hing in pendulum. In fact, TV news didn’t have a revenue model ever; it was largely a pseudo PR biz in the guise ‘news’. It only sucked money. Advent of digital was the last nail in its coffin. #ZeeHindustan
According to reports, there are two main causes behind Zee Hindustan’s shutdown. The first was that the channel’s content mirrored that of its main Hindi news channel, Zee News. Zee Hindustan was launched as a regional Hindi news channel, to focus on Hindi-speaking states. But eventually, its difference with Zee News diminished. The financial stress of the channel is cited as the second factor. The Hindi news channel sector, which includes both major national channels and numerous regional channels, has become overcrowded, and due to that, several channels are suffering financially.
In the meanwhile, Zee Hindustan’s Managing Editor Shamsher Singh has resigned from his post ahead of the channel disappearing from TV sets. He confirmed it by responding to a news report saying that he has resigned. Before that, he had posted several cryptic tweets in Hindu hinting that everything was not right.
Earlier today, he posted a tweet talking about three phases of life, Creation, Decoration and Destroy, in the context of the news channel, where he confirmed that the channel is being shut down. The three stages of Zee Hindustan, according to him, were the launch in 2017, the relaunch in 2020, and the closure in 2022.
“सृष्टि- शृंगार – संहार” जीवन के तीन फ़ेज हैं।1. May 2017 जब @ZeeHindustan_ लॉंच हुआ (सृष्टि ) पहली 2 Pics. 2.November 2020 जब Relaunch हुआ ( शृंगार) तीसरी Pic 3.Nov.2022 जब बंद हो गया। ( संहार )आख़िरी Pic. और तीनों फ़ेज मेरे ही हाथों.ओम् शिव🙏 pic.twitter.com/fABpQcB6pQ
Zee Hindustan’s shutdown comes after a series of layoffs in various companies in India and the world. It started with tech giants laying off their employees. Meta recently asked thousands of its employees not to come to the office. Meta is the parent company of social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, and the personal messaging application WhatsApp.
Deepak Chaurasia to make a TV comeback
In another significant development in the media sector in the country, Veteran TV newsman Deepak Chaurasia, who abruptly quit News Nation at the end of last year amid a controversy, will make a reappearance in the upcoming new year. A new TV news channel called Bharat Express, which has been formed by Upendra Rai, has offered him a primetime program. Upendra Rai is a journalist who formerly held administrative posts at Tehelka and Sahara News Network
Upendra Rai said, “The show will be called ‘8 pm with Deepak Chaurasia’. He will also be a consultative editor with Bharat Express.” Along with Chaurasia, Bharat Express will also have former Zee Salaam editor Khalid Raza Khan, Sahara India group editor Ismail Zafar Khan, and Rashtriya Sahara group editor Manoj Tomar.
In his nearly three-decade career, Deepak Chaurasia has worked for Aaj Tak, ABP News, and India News. He joined News Nation in 2019 and departed in December 2021, shortly after hosting his show while allegedly drunk. At the time, he served as the channel’s consultant editor.
On Friday, November 25, the Central Information Commission (CIC) said that the 1993 Supreme Court order allowing remuneration to imams and Muslim clerics in the mosques in Delhi was in violation of the Constitutional provisions that state that taxpayers’ money will not be used to favour any particular religion.
BJP leader Amit Malviya took to Twitter on Saturday (November 26) to share a copy of the order passed by the Central Information Commission.
CIC @UdayMahurkar has passed a historic order on an RTI appeal against salary to imams by Delhi Govt, which strikes at the root of Muslim appeasement politics. It calls a 1993 SC order that opened flood gates on salary to Imams as violative of Article 27 of the Constitution… pic.twitter.com/NySvjORpKd
The Supreme Court, in 1993 , on a petition from the All India Imam Organisation had directed the Waqf board to give remuneration to imams in mosques managed by it. In recent years, the Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal announced a salary hike for Imams of Delhi mosques, from Rs 10,000 to Rs 18,000.
While hearing an RTI application filed by an activist Subhash Agarwal demanding details of salaries to imams by the Delhi government and the Delhi Waqf Board, Information Commissioner Uday Mahurkar also observed that besides setting a “wrong precedent”, the SC’s decision has become a source of unnecessary political skirmishes and social discord.
Uday Mahurkar directed that a copy of his order be forwarded to the Union law minister with appropriate action in order to maintain equality among all religions in terms of monthly remuneration to priests of all religions at the expense of the public exchequer.
The Information Commissioner added that it should be ensured that the provisions of Articles 25 to 28 of the Constitution are enforced in the letter.
“Further with regard to the judgment by the Supreme Court in the case between the ‘All India Imam Organisation vs Union Of India And Ors’ on 13 May 1993, that opened the doors to special financial benefits from the public treasury to only imams and muezzins in mosques, the commission observes that the highest court of the country in passing this order acted in violation of the provisions of the Constitution, particularly Article 27, which says taxpayers money will not be used to favour any particular religion,” Mahurkar said.
“The commission notes that the said judgment sets a wrong precedent in the country and has become a point of unnecessary political slugfest and also social disharmony in the society,” the information commissioner added.
He also ordered the Delhi Waqf Board to compensate RTI activist Subhash Agrawal for the time and resources he spent pursuing the response to his plea. The activist had received no appropriate response to his application, asserted Mahurkar.
CIC says the decision encourages pan-Islamist tendencies
“It is necessary to note here that it was the policy of giving special benefits to the Muslim community before 1947 that played a key role in encouraging pan-Islamic and fissiparous tendencies in a section of Muslims, ultimately leading to the nation’s partition,” the information commissioner said.
Giving remuneration to imams and others only in mosques, according to the information commissioner, amounts to not only betraying the Hindu community and members of other non-Muslim minority religions, but also encourages pan-Islamist tendencies among a section of Indian Muslims that are already visible.
Commissioner Mahurkar also noted that the Delhi Waqf Board (DWB) receives an annual grant of approximately Rs 62 crore from the Delhi government, while its own monthly income from independent sources is just approximately Rs 30 lakh.
“So the monthly honorarium of ₹18,000 and ₹16,000 being given to the imams and muezzins of DWB mosques in Delhi is being paid by the Delhi government virtually from the taxpayers’ money which in turn is in sharp contrast with the example quoted by the appellant in which the priest of a Hindu temple is getting a paltry amount”, he added.
CIC slams Delhi Waqf Board for trying to hide information
Mahurkar slammed the Delhi Waqf Board by asserting that initially, the Islamic board had denied that salaries were given to imams but later in a revised reply it said that it is only an honorarium, not a salary.
“The commission observes that there was a clear attempt to hide the information in the initial period by a play of words which showed complete lack of transparency on the part of the respondent authorities in a case which in turn affects the provisions of the Constitution, and also social harmony and uniform applicability of laws for all religions in keeping with the constitutional direction that citizens of all religions be treated equally,” he said.
Mahurkar directed the Delhi Waqf Board and the office of the Delhi Chief Minister to provide responses to the RTI application of Agrawal.
Kejriwal announces salary hike for Muslim clerics, BJP accuses AAP of appeasement politics
Notably, in January 2019, the CM of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal announced a salary hike for Imams of Delhi mosques, from Rs 10,000 to Rs 18,000. The salary of the helpers was increased from Rs 9,000 per month to Rs 16,000 per month. The amount is received by the recipient clergies in their respective bank accounts.
In 2020, during the discussion on the motion of thanks on the president’s address, Bhartiya Janta Party’s MP from West Delhi, Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma attacked the Aam Aadmi Party over its mismanagement in Delhi. He accused the Kejriwal-led government of favouring Islamic clerics or “imams” by giving them 18,000 rupees from the taxpayers’ money. Parvesh Verma furthermore said that the Kejriwal government conveniently forgets the temple’s pujari and the gurudwara’s granthi.
Faith in God and faith in one’s personal deity are the pillars deeply rooted in India, due to which our country has stood up to many difficulties for thousands of years. There is a saying in Gujarati that “Vishwase vahan tare” which means ‘it is faith that saves one’. In line with this saying, great human beings have lived life in our land of India. Whether it was Narsinh Mehta or Mirabai, their faith in God became the key that took them to God. And we recently saw an incident that proves that the same trust in the almighty is intact even in today’s time.
We saw in this incident how an elderly cow worshipper trusted his god Dwarikadhish to save his cows from a deadly disease like lumpy, and as soon as his faith was realized, he travelled on foot from Kachchh to Dwarka taking his cows along. Mahadevji Desai, who made this trip, had an exclusive conversation with OpIndia.
It is important to clarify here that it is not about fostering any superstition. But it is about Mahadevji Desai, who walked from Kutch to Dwarka with cows, not even knowing the name of the dreaded disease, to set a living example of how strong faith and belief in Sanatan Dharma remains intact even in today’s era of science and so-called modernity.
A conversation with Mahadevsingh Barad, a social worker and a resident of Kachchh Vagad, revealed that the name of the veteran who has come to Dwarka Darshan with cows is Mahadevji Desai. Giving more details, he said, “This is the land of desert, hills, and people dwelling here. There are so many settlements here that are surrounded by the desert. Many such places have their own religious and historic significance. Melak Bet is one such place of religious importance where lives cow worshipper Mahadevji Desai.”
Mahadevji Desai travelled to Dwarka with cows. (Photo by Mahadev Singh Barad)
Cow worshipper Mahadevji Desai wanders in the deserts of Melak Bet
Mahadevji Desai is a wanderer of the Kutch desert. He is a Bhomia of the region. Bhomia is a Gujarati word that means one who knows the local Bhoomi i.e. land. In deserts, it is very difficult to know the exact location. But a Bhomia is an expert in locating exact places.
Mahadevsingh Barad said, “Mahadevji Desai is a religious person and has been performing puja services at the temple and gaushala of Varneshwar Dada, a religious place at Melak Bet, for the last 20 years. Apart from this, He also manages the arrangements for pilgrims coming to the Melak Bet.”
Barad narrated his first-hand experience in the deserts of Kutch as he said, “Once the pilgrims of Bhimasar were going to get the Darshan at Muli, during which they were lost in the desert, at that time the local administration was also finding it difficult to locate them. When Mahadevji Desai came to know about this, he spoke only once on the phone and reached there with the police, guessing the location of the lost pilgrims in the vast Desert, and helped in bringing the pilgrims back.”
Mahadevji Desai belongs to the family of the great son of the soil Ranchhodji Pagi
According to Barad, the reason behind Mahadevji Desai choosing to remain a Bhomia in this vast desert is his uncle Ranchhodji Pagi. This is the same Ranchhodji Pagi who helped the Indian Army during the Indo-Pak war and made the war in the desert easier for the Indian army by giving accurate information about the direction with his intelligence. It is worth mentioning that the Indian Army has named the Nadabet post after Ranchhodji Pagi. Sanjay Dutt played the character of Ranchhodji Pagi in the recent Bollywood film ‘Bhuj – The Pride of India’.
Our team had a special conversation with Mahadevji Desai
At present, Gaubhakt (cow worshipper) Mahadevji Desai is returning from Dwarka with his cows and has covered half the distance. In the meantime, OpIndia contacted him. In a telephone conversation, he said that he is originally from Soi village. His full name is Mahadevbhai Kesrabhai Desai and he is the nephew of Ranchhodji Pagi. About serving cows, he said, “For the last 20 years, I have been serving cows and performing puja in the temple and gaushala of Varneshwar Dada in the desert of Kutch. Apart from this, I help to find the lost passengers in the desert.”
Varneshwar Dada’s Temple in Melak Bet (Image Source: Mahadevji Desai)
Speaking about his unique journey, Mahadevji Desai said, “When the lumpy virus had wreaked havoc across the country, we were afraid that around 100 cows in our cowshed would be affected. At that time, I had the idea that if the cows of the gaushala survived this epidemic, then I take the vow of making the cows see Lord Dwarikadhish by travelling on foot from the desert of Kutch to Devbhoomi Dwarka with these cows. By the grace of Varneshwar Dada and the grace of Lord Dwarikadhish, not a single cow or calf in the cowshed showed any symptoms of the disease. So I fulfilled my vow.”
A walk on the rough road (Image Source: Mahadevji Desai)
It is worth mentioning that the distance from Melak Bet to Dwarka is more than 468 kilometres. Travelling with so many cows on the way was a big challenge during the journey. Describing it, he told, “Although it was a little difficult to travel so long by walking with so many cows, trusting Lord Dwarikadhish, we started the journey with two to four volunteers serving the cows. On the way, we were worried about getting enough fodder and drinking water for the cows. But people from small villages along the way were very supportive. Wherever they came to know that the cows are walking to Dwarka to have the darshan of Lord Dwarkadhish, they arranged for food and water for the cows. In this way, we didn’t even know when this long journey was over and we reached Dwarka.”
Historic parikrama by the cows in the Dwarka temple
It is pertinent to mention here that no such incident has happened in the past in which such a large number of cows have come together after such a long journey to see Lord Dwarikadhish. Sharing the experience of the visit to the Dwarka temple, Mahadevji Desai said, “Since many devotees were in the temple during the day, it was not possible to have darshan during the day, so the local administration made arrangements for darshan at night. But as the news of this unique journey spread, many people were present in the temple even at night and enjoyed this divine vision.”
Cows in the Dwarka temple (Image Source: Mahadevji Desai)
Talking about the temple administrators, he said, “We just went for darshan. But the local administration and the temple administrators were so pleased that they got the feeling of making all the cows circumambulate the temple, and made special arrangements for it. It is for the first time in history that such a large number of cows have performed the parikrama of the Dwarka temple at the same time.
The feeling after darshan is supernatural: Mahadevji Desai
When asked about the fatigue of travelling after reaching Dwarka, he said, “Not tired at all. It’s just contentment. The cooperation by the people and the way we had the darshan of lord Dwarikadhish, is a feeling we can never forget. Lord Dwarikadhish has somehow brought these cows here. we are just a medium. Not a single cow of ours has suffered during this journey. We traversed such a long road only by the grace of God. For two minutes after the Darshan, it was as if even the cows had calmed down, which was like a miracle for us.”
He said that now they are returning and had reached halfway. He added that he will reach home in four to five days. Even during the telephone conversation, he did not seem to be tired.
Melak Bet loses contact with the rest of the world during monsoon
After talking to Mahadevji, we got to know about the Melak Bet and found that this Bet is a series of hills 10 kilometres away from the Varnu village in the small desert next to Adesar in Rapar taluka of Kutch. This range is 17 kilometres long and its width is 3 kilometres. In some places, the width is half a kilometre. Here, the Melak Bet is inhabited by crocodiles, foxes, and boars, as well as many other animals and birds. Even in the midst of the dry desert, there is a well on this bat, in which drinking water is still available today.
There is a temple of Varaneshwar Dada, the heroic man of Vagad, located in Melak Bet. According to folklore, dada’s body fell on this place during the war to save the cows. 10 km away from there, there is a place near Varana village. According to popular belief, dada’s head fell there. It is also believed that from there, while fighting against the Islamic tyrants, Dada’s body came up to Melak Bet and dada’s body was lying in this place. This is the place where Mahadevji Desai lives and serves cows.
Melak Bet is a place of religious significance. It is in the Kutch desert. Image Source: Mahadevsinh Barad
This place is considered very sacred by the locals. Green and dry fodder is also arranged for the cows in the gaushala (cowshed) so that the cows get enough food during the four months of the monsoon when the place is turned into an island. This is a unique feature of Sanatana culture, that by behaving so intimately with an animal, it is given a revered place like a mother.
A Delhi court on Saturday said that jailed AAP minister Satyendar Jain was receiving preferential treatment in Tihar Jail before the guilty officials were transferred. The court made this comment while dismissing Jain’s application seeking direction to the jail authorities to provide him with special foods like dry fruits for his religious beliefs.
Dismissing the plea, the court of Special Judge Vikas Dhull said that Jain was being extended preferential treatment by jail officials by providing him fruits and vegetables, which is a violation of jail rules and Article 14 of the constitution. According to the rules, inmates can be served only regular meals prepared in jails, but they can purchase other items like fruits and vegetables from the jail canteen.
Saying that the government cannot provide special privileges to anyone, the court noted that the Tihar Jail records show that Satyendar Jain didn’t purchase any fruit and vegetable from the jail canteen during the period August 20 to October 10, except on one occasion. The judge said that there was no official order to provide fruits and vegetables to the jailed AAP leader, therefore it was violation of rules.
“This court prima facie believes that the fruits/vegetables were being provided without there being any order of DG Prison or any authority, to the applicant in violation of the DPR 2018, by the staff of Tihar Jail no.7, where the applicant was lodged. The providing of fruits and vegetables to the applicant was in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution of India, 1950 as State is bound to treat all the prisoners equally and there can be no discrimination on the basis of caste, creed, sex, religion, status etc. Article 14 of the Constitution of India, 1950 provides for Equality before Law, which basically means that all persons should be treated equally no matter whether they are poor or rich, male or female, upper caste or lower caste,” the court said.
The court said that the preferential treatment given to Jain is established by the fact that after 26 officials of Jail No.7 were transferred and the Superintendent of Jail No.7 was suspended, Jain started to purchase fruits and vegetables from the canteen regularly. This prima facie shows that officials of jail no 7 were providing preferential treatment to Jain by providing fruits and vegetables, the judge observed.
“The very fact that applicant is now purchasing fruits and vegetables from the jail canteen w.e.f. 03.11.2022 as per the bills filed on record by the Tihar Jail Administration in Annexure “A” and has filed this application after suspension/transfer of officials of Tihar Jail administration prima facie establishes on record that the incumbent Tihar Jail Officials have stopped providing preferential treatment to the applicant, which was being given earlier to the applicant, in violation of the DPR 2018,” the court said.
On the claim of Satyendar Jain that he has lost 2 kg of weight in one week and 28 kg in total in jail due to lack of fruits, vegetables and dry fruits, the judge pointed out that Jain himself said that he is not taking regular food in the jail. “A person, who does not consume regular food is bound to lose weight. Even a dietician prescribes fruits and vegetable diet when a person intends to lose weight,” the judge said. He further said that Tihar Jail can’t be held responsible for this loss of weight as he is not consuming regular food.
On the request of dry fruits which was stopped earlier this month, the court said that he can’t be given dry fruits because doctors have advised against it. The jail medical officer examined Jain on November 11 and advised to stop giving him dry fruits based on his health condition, and also advised him to take regular fruit. Therefore, the court can’t go against medical advice to order jail authorities to provide him with dry fruits, the court order said.
It is notable that Satyendar Jain’s stay in Tihar Jail has become controversial after numerous CCTV footage appeared showing how he was getting VVIP treatment in the jail cell. He was getting regular massages, was served bottled water and special food, and a TV was also seen in the cell. Jain had already moved the court seeking to prevent the publication of CCTV footage of his jail cell.
Theodoros Benakis, managing editor of New Europe, in a European Interest report has written that China’s genocidal policy toward Uyghurs, an ethnic Turkish group who live in Xinjiang, has reached a new low. The report highlights how the Wumao army, also known as the “50 Cent Army”, who are recognised as the Chinese government’s trolls, are used to insult Islam and commit ‘blasphemy’ against the Prophet.
Notably, the Wumao Army is a digital group of state-backed internet critics, who are active on Chinese social media insulting the religious sentiments of the Uyghur Muslims. Despite having close ties to conservative Muslim countries such as Pakistan, Indonesia, and the Arabian Peninsula, China’s social media frequently depicts Muslims as radicals and terrorists.
Benakis went on to assert that China is using Islamophobia as a tool to discriminate against, and isolate Uyghur Muslims as well as gain support for the policies adopted by the Chinese government in Xinjiang. “Through posts on social media, the Wumao Army insults Islam and unleashes blasphemy on Prophet”, Benakis wrote.
The unrestrained trolling and detraction of Islam have gone beyond all bounds, and this group of social media users made comments that would have sparked public outrage in any other part of the world. The Weibo Army aids the government in Xinjiang by spreading anti-Muslim propaganda, insulting Islam, and justifying Beijing’s discriminatory policies.
According to the European Interest report, several Chinese Muslims have revealed that Islamophobia is being used as a practice in Xinjiang and the mainland to boost Chinese President Xi Jinping’s cultural policy. Chinese citizens use Weibo, a popular Chinese social media platform, to justify their rejection of Islam.
Numerous Chinese citizens have expressed their absolute support for the new cultural policy and have given their approval to oust Uyghur Muslims from Xinjiang. Muslims in China conducted a month-long investigation into this new cyber social practice and noticed that the users who introduced Islamophobia in the majority of discussions are known as the Wumao 50 Cent Army. This social media group interprets the Quran and Hadiths in a derogatory manner. Such content is then shared on Weibo, along with erroneous references, in order to foster acceptance of Islam as a negative religion, the European Interest report claims.
The Chinese Communist Party’s vision sees their country to be the home solely of the Han people. Following his election to a third term, Chinese President Xi Jinping is using every means possible to achieve his simple and bleak goal of “a unified China inhabited by a unified people”.
At a two-day party conference in September 2020, the Chinese President reaffirmed his commitment to Beijing policies in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. “Practice has demonstrated that the party’s strategy for governing Xinjiang in the new era is entirely correct,” Xi Jinping said.
In 2018, a Chinese board was seen at the school gate in Turpan, an Uyghur-majority city in Xinjiang, reading, “You are about to enter the school grounds. Please converse in Guoyu, which is Mandarin, the national language of China.” According to European Interest, a policy of “cultural genocide” in China is underway.
According to the European Interest report, Uyghur Muslim families are the target of a brutal program that isolates children from their mothers and sends them to state institutions or to live with Chinese families.
Notably, on 16th November 2022, Uyghur Human Rights Project published a report on the measures taken by the Chinese government to promote marriages between Uyghur Muslims and Han Chinese ethnic groups. The means employed by the Chinese government consist of both incentivisation and coercive actions, underlines the report.
The Uyghur Human Rights Project examined Chinese state media, policy documents, testimonies of government-approved marriages, as well as accounts from women in the Uyghur community, and discovered that since 2014, the government has increased incentives and coercion to encourage inter-ethnic marriages.
The report is titled ‘Forced Marriage of Uyghur Women: State Policies for Interethnic Marriage in East Turkistan’. Andréa J. Worden, Nuzigum Setiwaldi, Dr. Elise Anderson, Dr. Henryk Szadziewski, Louisa Greve, and Ben Carrdus are the authors of this report. According to the report, the Chinese Party-State is actively involved in carrying out a campaign of forcefully assimilating Uyghurs into Han Chinese society by means of mixed marriages.
In Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior, a case of forced conversion and sexual assault has come to the fore. A woman named Sunita Jatav, who is from Chattisgarh, was forced by one Sohail Khan to marry him and convert to Islam. The woman was repeatedly forced by Sohail to follow Islamic rituals after which she lodged a police complaint at Bahodapur police station. The accused has been arrested by the police.
In her complaint, Sunita Jatav accused Sohail Khan of forcefully converting her to Islam and raping her. This is her second marriage. From her first marriage, Sunita has a 10-year-old daughter and an 8-year-old son.
FIR copy (Image: Twitter @subhi_karma)
According to the FIR filed, Sunita’s parents died when she was young, and she was raised by relatives. However, her relatives got her married when she was just 12, and after the marriage, she gave birth to a son and a daughter. But her husband was abusive, and he used to assault her physically. Therefore, she left Chattishgarh 9 years ago and moved to Gwalior in Madya Pradesh when she was pregnant with her second child. In Gwalior, she took a job in a factory and started living in a rented place.
Sunita informed the police that after moving from Chattisgarh to Gwalior’s Khatik, she met Sohail Khan while working in the factory. Sohail used to visit her residence frequently, and they developed a relationship. Following that, the two started to live together in a live-in relationship. Once she became pregnant during this time, but the pregnancy didn’t last due to some reason.
After together normally for 4-5 years, Sohail changed and started to abuse her. He started to sexually assault Sunita, threatening to kill her. He also started to assault her when she worshipped Hindu deities.
Sunita met Sohail at her workplace, they liked each other hence moved in together.
Year’s later, Sohail forcefully converted her to Islam. Sunita became Sultana Bano. Since conversion & alleged ‘nikah’ Sohail never allowed Sunita follow her religion. Fed up Sunita files a case: pic.twitter.com/lPSxZ9R954
In 2020 during the lockdown, Sohail forcefully converted Sunita to Islam and had Nikah rituals performed. Sunita has alleged that Sohail threatened to kill her son if she refuses to marry him and convert. After the Nikah, he stopped Sunita from following Hindu traditions and changed her name to Sultana Bano.
On the basis of the victim’s complaint, an FIR has been registered under section 376(2)(N), 506 IPC, and Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, 2021. Accused Sohail Khan has been arrested and the Police investigation is underway.
Reportedly, upon receiving information, several Bajrang Dal activists reached the police station and staged a protest saying that they will not let another Hindu girl become Shraddha Walkar.
In a similar case, On November 18, Indore police arrested a 32-year-old Muslim man for forcing his Hindu wife to convert to Islam. The accused has been identified as Rubab Shah.
Khajrana police station officer Dinesh Verma briefing about the case said that the accused who is a fourth-year homeopathy student has been booked for using fraudulent ways and forcing the victim to change her religion, which goes in violation of the provisions of the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, 2021.
On November 25, O Yeong-Su, the Korean actor who recently won a Golden Globe for his performance in the mega-hit Netflix dystopian thriller “Squid Game”, was charged with sexual misconduct by the 2nd Criminal Division of the Seongnam Branch of the Suwon District Prosecutor’s Office. The actor was, however, released without detention in the 2017 case.
In 2017, the 78-year-old Korean actor was accused of touching a woman inappropriately. The actor has, however, denied all the allegations levelled against him.
According to media reports, the alleged victim first filed a complaint with the police against O Yeong-Su in December last year. However, the inquiry was closed in April without the actor being charged. Now, authorities have reopened the investigation “at the request of the victim”, reads media reports.
During an interrogation by authorities investigating the case, the Squid Game actor denied all allegations levelled against him, saying that he had just held the victim’s hand to guide her around the lake.
Variety quoted the actor’s statement to JTBC in the matter, the actor said, “I just held her hand to guide the way around the lake. I apologized because [the person] said she wouldn’t make a fuss about it but it doesn’t mean that I admit the charges.”
The blockbuster Netflix hit ‘Squid Game’ has made O Yeong-Su famous not only in South Korea but all over the world. He has acted in more than 200 stage plays and films, such as Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…and Spring, and A Little Monk and Soul Guardians. Besides Squid Game, he also appeared in drama series like Chocolate, God of War, The Great Queen Seondeok, and Moon River.
His most popular act remains Squid Game, which released in September 2021. Among those who appeared in the show were Lee Jung Jae, Park Hae Soo, Lee Byung Hun, Lee Ji Ha, and Anupam Tripathi.
The show earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor in a series, a mini-series or television film. He also got an Emmy nomination for the same.
Former Gujarat CM Shankersinh Vaghela on Saturday hailed gangster Abdul Latif, stating that he was “popular, generous, and helpful to the people.”
The comment from the veteran politician came a day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah made a pointed attack against the Congress party, asserting that it was because of Congress that riots erupted in Gujarat in 2002, but there is permanent peace in the state since. Shah said BJP brought peace in the state and instilled a sense of fear among criminals.
Vaghela, who had a long association with the Congress party but resigned from the party last year, said that infamous gangster Abdul Latif was quite popular among people and was generous towards them.
“He was a don but a kind-hearted one. He was very generous, popular, and helped people here. That’s why he won elections from wherever he stood,” Vaghela emphasised in his interview with ABP News.
The former Gujarat leader said Latif was encountered under Dilip Parekh’s government that was formed by his support.
Gangster Abdul Latif and his encounter
Abdul Latif was born in the Kalupur area of Ahmedabad in 1951 in a poor Muslim family. One of seven children of his father, he couldn’t get a decent upbringing and struggled to finish school. He was soon employed by his father at his shop, where he sold tobacco, but he started fighting with his father for more money. After getting into his 20s, he decided to go his own way.
To make quick money, he entered the world of illicit businesses and joined Allah Rakha, a bootlegger who also ran a gambling den. Latif was first employed at the gambling den. He then left Allah Rakha and joined a rival gambler, but parted ways with him too after being accused of theft.
He then became a bootlegger himself, and that’s where his journey into the world of crime, politics, and terrorism started. As a bootlegger, he established contacts and relationships with smugglers, criminals, policemen and politicians who helped and allowed this illegal business to flourish.
In the process of growing his clout and illicit business, Latif became involved in other crimes like extortion, kidnapping and even murders. He developed contacts in Pakistan too. He formed his own gang, and at one point of time in the early 80s, he indulged in a gang war against Dawood Ibrahim.
In 1995, BJP formed its own government in Gujarat and the same year later Latif was arrested in Delhi following a two-month-long operation led by the Anti-Terrorism Squad of Gujarat Police. Latif was lodged in Sabarmati Jail of Ahmedabad subsequently, and two years later, he was killed in an encounter when he tried to flee from police custody.
