Police book suo motu case against Sharan Pumpwell for alleged hate speech
In his complaint, Udupi Town Police Sub-Inspector Bharatesh Kankanawadi said that when he was surfing social media on Thursday evening, he came across a video clip of Mr. Pumpwell's address to the media. In it, the accused stated that the Kunjalu cow butchering issue in Brahmavara taluk was a 'conspiracy by Islamist forces using Hindus' to create unrest in the country.
'Just as two Hindu youth were used by Islamist forces in the murder of Suhas Shetty in Bajpe on May 1, they might have used the six Hindus, who were arrested by the police later, to create unrest in society,' Mr. Pumpwell said in the video. He had also said 'Islamist forces' were attempting to create unrest in society using Hindus.
The video clip in question was circulated widely on different social media platforms and had the potential to create unrest in society by fomenting enmity between groups on the ground of religion, the PSI said in his complaint. The statement, given when the investigation was in progress at a press conference, was aimed at creating unrest in society, he said.
Accordingly, police booked a case under Section 353 (2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita against Mr. Pumpwell for issuing statements conducing to mischief. Mr. Pumpwell's statements were made at a press conference in Udupi on Thursday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
What part did Druze leader al-Hijri play in Syria violence?
What part did Druze leader al-Hijri play in Syria violence? Over the last ten days or so, as deadly violence broke out in the southern Syrian province of Sweida, there was one name that kept coming up: Hikmat al-Hijri. The 60-year-old spiritual leader of Syria's Druze community played a major role in events that saw over 500 people killed and threatened to overturn Syria's fragile transition, after decades ruled by a dictatorship. Al-Hijri's critics have blamed his belligerent attitude towards the new Syrian government for what happened as violence escalated. They describe him as an "unhinged warlord," a power-hungry traitor to his country and a drug smuggler with ties to remnants of the ousted Syrian dictatorship's military. But his fans say the Druze spiritual leader is a "symbol of dignity and nobility," who was right to defend his community against the overbearing new Syrian government and their potentially dangerous followers. Inherited power The position of Druze spiritual leader is inherited and after his older brother, Ahmad, died in an unexplained car accident in 2012 — the Assad regime was suspected — the younger al-Hijri, born June 1965 in Venezuela, was given the post. He is one of the three main religious leaders of the Druze community in Syria. The others are Yousef Jarbou and Hammoud al-Hanawi. The spiritual leaders are seen as a reference point on social, moral and religious matters and for any major decisions, there is supposed to be consensus between all three. While the Assad regime was in power, and during the Syrian civil war, which started 2011 and ended 2024, al-Hijri's position might best be described as one of politically expediency. At times he openly supported the Assad regime, urging young Druze to fight for Syrian dictator Bashar Assad. But by 2023, he was speaking for Druze protestors and against the regime. He was not alone in this though. The other two Druze spiritual leaders also supported the Assad regime at times. There has also been squabbling among the three over who is the primary leader of the Druze community in Syria and who speaks for it. Reports suggest that Jarbou and al-Hanawi split from al-Hijri because of this. Villain or hero? Since the ouster of the Assad regime and the formation of a new, interim government, headed by Ahmad al-Sharaa, the leader of an Islamist rebel group that headed the December offensive against Assad, al-Hijri has become even more controversial. The Druze mainly live in the southern Syrian province of Sweida and just like Syria's Kurds, the community has been negotiating its involvement in the new Syria. Syria is a Sunni-majority country — Sunni Muslims make up about 70% of the country's population — and the various Syrian religious and ethnic minorities have been concerned about their future in it. Some, like the Kurds, have suggested they be allowed to run their own areas, which has sparked fears the country could be split into different zones. There have also been ongoing talks on how to integrate armed militias around the country into a central military and whether the state should have a monopoly over arms. These are the kinds of negotiations that al-Hijri has been involved in. He is considered the most belligerent when it comes to cooperating with the country's new leaders, with an absolutist attitude that differs to that of Jarbou and al-Hanawi, who have generally been more conciliatory and advocated finding ways to come to terms with al-Sharaa's government. For example, in March a handwritten memorandum of understanding between the government and Druze authorities was circulated, saying the Druze and the central government had come to an agreement about their mutual future. Al-Hijri was at the meeting where it was drafted but didn't sign it and then later said he disagreed with it. The interim government doesn't have total control of national security and recent outbreaks of violence (in which some government soldiers may well have been involved) haven't done much to assure minority communities they'll be safe. This is why some believe that al-Hijri's attitude is the correct one. What did al-Hijri do during recent violence? Since July 13, after tit-for-tat kidnapping between the Druze and Bedouin communities blew up into major fighting, several ceasefires were negotiated and even agreed to, including by other Druze leaders. However, after first agreeing, al-Hijri rejected them. Some observers say he was right to do so. British-Iraqi researcher and analyst Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi says he spoke to leaders of Druze fighters in Sweida, who had previously disagreed with al-Hijri's anti-government stance. But they told him, "at the same time, discussions were taking place on initiatives such as forming joint patrols between local [Sweida] factions and the internal [Syrian government] security forces, violations were being committed by the government forces," al-Tamimi wrote on his Substack page this week. During this month's violence, every side has been accused of atrocities — the Druze fighters, the Sunni fighters and the government forces. Online disinformation has been rampant and until the violence has been investigated, it will be difficult to know exactly who was responsible for what. Al-Hijri's views on the new government are allegedly supported by a body called the Sweida Military Council, which was created shortly after the Assad regime fell. Critics accuse the council of protecting military remnants of the Assad regime and say it may be involved in drug smuggling and other crimes. Traitor to Syria? Syrian Sunni fighters elsewhere in the country responded to the violence, saying they would travel to fight the Druze in Sweida. Al-Hijri called on the international community, including the US and Israel, to protect the Druze. Later that same day, July 16, Israel bombed central Damascus. This is what led to al-Hijri being called a traitor to his country. That anger about Israel — the two countries are still considered to be at war — was also mistakenly extended to the Druze community in general, with other Syrians saying they must all be traitors. Fast-moving events, entrenched attitudes and long-simmering prejudices make it almost impossible to tell who are the villains or heroes of recent events. Possibly what al-Hijri currently represents most of all is the lack of consensus in the Druze community. There's no doubt that recent events, in which al-Hijri's attitude and opinions likely escalated violence, have deepened sectarian tensions in a Syria scarred by communal insecurity. A ceasefire seems to be holding but after the violence of the past week, one thing is becoming clearer: Even as other Druze leaders in Lebanon continue to urge diplomacy, the Syrian Druze community's feelings towards their new central government appear to be hardening.
&w=3840&q=100)
First Post
2 hours ago
- First Post
Nearly a year after Hasina's exit, stability still eludes Bangladesh
August 5, 2025, marks one year since former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina sought refuge in India, following a wave of violent unrest across Bangladesh that left widespread destruction and countless lives lost. Many in the country had hoped that her departure would bring a return to order and stability. Instead, the situation has deteriorated sharply, with law and order collapsing on multiple fronts. A stark example of this is the recent violence in Gopalganj — a traditional stronghold of the Awami League (AL) and home to a significant Hindu minority, comprising nearly 40 per cent of the population of the area. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The National Citizen Party (NCP), which is believed to enjoy open backing of the ruling dispensation of Muhammad Yunus, in active collaboration with Jammat-e-Islami (JeI) and other communally fanatical parties, resorted to unprovoked violence in attacking the Awami League activists in Gopalganj in an ostensible bid to weaken the AL bastion and demoralise the Hindu population, keeping aloft the communal frenzy. Several people were killed by the security forces, and at the time of writing the column, the city is filled with tension and uneasy calm notwithstanding the imposition of stringent prohibitory orders and security forces resorting to indiscriminate firing resulting in deaths and injuries, and the paramilitary forces and the army are seen in clear visuals protecting the NCP and Jammat activists in the hold of the Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) to save them lest their crime be exposed. This spurt of violence in Gopalganj signals that the law and order machinery is still far from satisfactory. Also, according to a prominent Dhaka Daily, Prothom Alo (July 17), the commemorative march marking the July 2024 uprising was planned well in advance by the NCP and its affiliates, and the authorities were obviously indifferent to any wake-up calls or straws in the wind. This also shows complete failure of the intelligence apparatus of the government. Interestingly, the advisor in charge of law and order, Lieutenant General (Retired) Jahangir Alam Chowdhary, is not only an army veteran but also headed the then Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), now renamed as Bangladesh Border Guards (BGB). The ineptitude on the part of the general speaks of a complete lack of oversight in reining in the disturbing law and exercising order and control over the national intelligence with far-reaching security implications. Now, two things are glaring and can't be ignored. One, the Hindus will be more vulnerable in Gopalganj in particular, and the cascading effects of the ensuing violence are likely to reverberate in other Hindu pockets in Bangladesh, where they could possibly be the target of violence, with their places of worship and immovable property more vulnerable to the communal elements. Two, with the tacit support of the interim regime under Muhammad Yunus, anti-AL forces, including the NCP and the Jammat, in all probability, will be emboldened to take on the AL cadres in order to further decimate them. And three, by implication, it is largely believed that the AL and Sheikh Hasina, perceived to be India-inclined, anti-India rhetoric will escalate further amongst the vernacular media and other quarters of the political and social entities. After dwelling upon the Gopalganj violent clashes, which are still fresh in minds, exposing the government's abject failure to contain public order and lawlessness, it would be imperative to examine what all happened within the year post-Hasina's departure from Dhaka. Subsequent to Hasina's departure, complete anarchy prevailed all over Bangladesh, indicating there was no government control or semblance of any law and order. The communal elements, robbers, and criminals had a field day for several months, looting and vandalising at their free will. There were hundreds of prisoners, including hardened criminals, who escaped from the prison, and not only that, there were outrageous lootings of the armouries, broad daylight dacoities, and murders. In addition, the communal elements attacked various minority groups, including Ahmadiyas, Shias, Sufis, etc, and their places of worship were openly desecrated and vandalised. Hindu places of worship were targeted in particular, and many temples were attacked, and their idols were defiled and destroyed. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD While stock taking of the major violent happenings in Bangladesh during the post-Hasina period, it would also be pertinent to highlight the lawlessness when the unbridled violent mob brought down the residence of the father of the nation, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, looting all the pieces kept in the residence-turned-museum and destroying precious possessions reminiscent of the bloody freedom struggle of 1971. Analytically, this shows the mindset of a large number of ungrateful people who shamelessly tampered with history, destroying all evidence of the Liberation War. Sadly, the government, the military, and various arms of police forces were mute witnesses to the destruction, leading the people to believe that there was indeed a government complicity in turning a blind eye when the perpetrators carried out this mindless violent act. Under the circumstances, it would also appear desirable to touch upon some other occurrences in the aftermath of Hasina's departure from the political scene, which had a profound negative impact on the social, political, and cultural fabric of Bangladesh. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The most disturbing development was the present regime's steady proximity towards Pakistan, which once unleashed such highhandedness with immense ferocity by committing genocide in 1971 without so far tendering any apology for the large cases of violation of Bengali women by Pakistani occupation forces and the grotesque inhuman acts on the Bengalis before the liberation. While it is politically alright for Bangladesh to befriend Pakistan, amnesia should not be to the extent of conveniently forgetting atrocities once so viciously committed. To illustrate further, it would perhaps be politically unwise to observe Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah's 76th death anniversary being held in the National Press Club, Dhaka, in the presence of the Pakistani Deputy High Commissioner. It may be recapitulated that Jinnah, who was anti-Bengali and anti-Bangla, always opposed the use of the Bengali language in place of Urdu. In sum, involving the Pakistani High Commission and remembering Jinnah is indeed a departure from the past and an endorsement of Jinnah's two-nation theory and anti-Bangla ideology. This has also hit hard the secular forces within Bangladesh, the progressives and liberals as well as the freedom fighters and pro-liberation forces. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD In another development post Hasina, there were demands for renaming one of the hostels of Dhaka University to Allama Muhammad Iqbal, who was chiefly responsible for supporting the idea of a separate Pakistan. This trend also merits a close watch as to whether the intelligentsia of Bangladesh is moving towards a direction with Pakistani leanings. In a different vein, it would also appear that there is a subtle move to remove the powerful presence of Tagore amongst the Bangladeshi minds, as he had influenced Bengalis in a big way in the fields of music, dance, literature, drama, etc. A mob vandalised the historic Rabindra Kacharibari in Bangladesh's Sirajganj district, which has an ancestral mansion of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, and attacked the auditorium on the mansion premises and assaulted its director in the month of June this year. Following the attack, authorities in Bangladesh shut down the site and formed a probe panel to investigate the incident. It could, however, be an eyewash. It is an irony that this act of vandalism drew more criticism in India than in Bangladesh. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Meanwhile, another unfortunate incident has come to the fore, which speaks poorly of the Yunus administration and its vision to keep things under control. The old heritage ancestral property belonging to film icon Satyajit Ray's paternal grandfather, Upendra Kishore Ray Chowdhury, was demolished in the district of Mymensingh in Bangladesh very recently to make way for a new semi-concrete structure for Shishu Academy. This bizarre step has naturally hurt the sentiments of hundreds and thousands of Satyajit Ray's fans all over India, leading the governments of India and West Bengal to protest and stop the demolition. Such an outrageous act on the part of the Bangladesh authorities also shows that the Yunus-led administration in Bangladesh is completely insensitive to the sentiments of heritage and ancestral property of Upendra Kishore Ray Chowdhury, who was a noted writer and academic, plus a prominent and progressive social reformer. The strong appeal by the Indian side has forced the government of Bangladesh to rethink the demolition, as it would again expose the present Bangladesh regime in a dim light. Such a glaring amiss, which was perhaps unthinkable during the previous regime, and, therefore, it is important to highlight this while auditing the performance of the present regime in the last nearly one year. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD In an ultimate assessment, it is clear in the preceding year, the present regime has failed to meet people's expectations in the maintenance of law and order, safety and security of the minorities and their places of worship and properties, controlling the communal and fundamentalist forces, or even checking the economic downturn. The government, according to the analysts, has also failed miserably to improve ties with India, with no signs of any improvement. The government-controlled media continues to be hostile and biased amid a sharp rise in human rights abuses as charged by many. It is likely that these factors will play a dominant part in the upcoming elections scheduled some time next year. In fact, a large segment of the population is so miserable and disillusioned that they are silently wanting Hasina's rule back again, perhaps for an orderly and tranquil regime with their dignity intact. The writer is a retired IPS officer, adviser NatStrat, Bangladesh watcher and a security analyst. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost's views. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
Indian Express
3 hours ago
- Indian Express
Till khap do us part: Haryana interfaith couple forced to stay separated as panchayat orders annulment
It's difficult to say what angered the villagers more and the couple's interfaith marriage or the fact that the groom and the bride belonged to the same village. The July 3 marriage of a 25-year-old Muslim man and a 24-year-old Hindu woman from Mehrana village in Haryana's Charkhi Dadri district shattered many unwritten rules set by the villagers. From 'dent to izzat (honour)' brought by the interfaith relationship to violation of age-old customs practised by the residents, their marriage drew the ire of not one but three villages in the neighbourhood. On Sunday (July 20), Haa khap panchayat called by residents of Mehrana and those of neighbouring Kheri Sanwal and Patuwas villages pronounced its 'verdict' on the marriage — it has to be annulled at the earliest possible, according to Chaju Ram, 63, a cattle farmer who attended the meeting. 'Two other decisions were also taken at the Athgama khap. The girl (bride) has to marry someone else who is not from any of the three villages. The boy (groom) cannot live in the village (Mehrana) and his family will be boycotted indefinitely,' he said. 'Yeh hamari purani parampara hain. Desh itna bara hai… Aap ko 15 km ke andar hi kisi se shadi kyun karni hai (This is our age-old tradition. This country is so huge, why do you have to marry someone who lives within 15 km of your village)?' he said. The couple and their families are already bearing the brunt of the villagers' wrath. While the groom has left the village, his parents have been living under police protection since July 7. The bride, who is pursuing her Master's from a Rohtak college, is staying with her parents in Prem Nagar area in the district. Asked if the couple was being forced to stay separated, Bhupender Sanwal, a resident of Mehrana and former sarpanch, said: 'You tell me, is it right for such a couple to stay together, even if married?' He said the couple's families have been asked to immediately initiate a formal nullification of the marriage through legal process. Another villager, on condition of anonymity, said it has been a tradition to treat girls in the village as sisters, and any other relationship is 'wrong'. Chaju Ram claimed that the woman, who belongs to a Scheduled Caste, was made to convert to Islam in front of two witnesses arranged by the man, and the conversion has been reversed after the village's intervention. The woman has sworn in an affidavit that she has returned to her previous faith, another villager said. The police, however, said they did not have information on any conversion being carried out. The couple, who got married on July 3, got police protection from court on July 6 and moved to a safe house on July 8, said the police. They were released from the safe house on July 10 on their request, the police said. According to villagers, the woman was taken by her parents to their Prem Nagar home, while the man was denied entry in the village by his grandfather. The grandfather, Jaleddin, a retired Armyman, said with folded hands, 'The villagers have taken their decision. I cannot and do not want to say anything more now. My mental balance is not right.' Mehrana sarpanch Mukesh Grover was not available for a comment. The family of the woman did not wish to speak on the issue. The police maintain that the atmosphere in the village is peaceful. 'Police personnel were present during the panchayat meeting. We do not know what decisions were taken but the village has remained peaceful. We have not received any complaints from the villagers or the couple,' said Charkhi Dadri DSP (Headquarters) Dheeraj Kumar. The villagers, meanwhile, remain on the edge. 'If the boy (groom) returns, it can definitely get physical (violent). Anything can happen,' Ram said. A police officer said nobody can stop the man from returning to the village and boycotts are not necessarily followed by more than a handful of villagers. Policemen have been posted at the man's home as a precaution to prevent any untoward incident, the officer said.
