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Hindustan Times
2 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
UP: Kanwariyas showered with flower petals; Muslims in Sambhal among those welcoming them
Barabanki/Ayodhya/Basti/Sambhal , Kanwariyas, or Shiva devotees, on Tuesday were showered with flower petals in various districts, including Sambhal, which witnessed violence last year over a dispute related to Shahi Jama Masjid. UP: Kanwariyas showered with flower petals; Muslims in Sambhal among those welcoming them As the yatra entered its 11th day, the district administration of Barabanki, Sambhal, Ayodhya and Basti districts greeted the devotees with petals as they arrived at various temples in these districts to perform rituals. Communal harmony was on full display in Sambhal district as Muslims, along with authorities, showered rose flowers on kanwariyas. Sambhal witnessed violence in November 2024 after locals clashed with government officials over a court-ordered survey of Shahi Jama Masjid, located in Kot Garvi area of the city. The violence resulted in the death of four people. In Barabanki, District Magistrate Shashank Tripathi and Superintendent of Police Arpit Vijayvargiya supervised the aerial shower on devotees, who gathered at the ancient Mahadeva Shiva temple in Ramnagar tehsil. Virendra Kumar Awasthi, chief priest of the Mahadeva temple, lauded the initiative, calling it a heartfelt tribute to the unwavering faith of the devotees. Tight security arrangements were made for the event to ensure the safety of the crowd on Tuesday, officials said. The Mahadeva temple becomes a major pilgrim site during Shravan, drawing devotees from across the region. In Ayodhya, marigold and rose petals were showered on the Shiva devotees walking barefoot in large numbers. District Magistrate Nikhil Tikaram Funde and Senior Superintendent of Police Gaurav Grover rained flowers from a helicopter on the kanwariyas visiting Hanumangarhi Temple, Nageshwarnath Temple, Darshan Marg, Saryu Ghat, Lata Mangeshkar Chowk and the Ram Temple. Seventy kilometres east of Ayodhya, similar scenes were witnessed in Basti district, where Divisional Commissioner Akhilesh Singh and Deputy Inspector General of Police, Sanjeev Tyagi, showered flowers while conducting aerial inspection of security arrangements for kanwariyas. The Shiva devotees were visiting ancient Bhadeshwarnath Temple to perform jalabhishek and other rituals, officials said. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Scroll.in
7 hours ago
- Scroll.in
Rush Hour: Assam constable's son held as suspected Bangladeshi, blasts acquittal challenged and more
We're building a brand-new studio to bring you bold ground reports, sharp interviews, hard-hitting podcasts, explainers and more. Support Scroll's studio fund today. The Maharashtra government moved the Supreme Court challenging a Bombay High Court order on Monday acquitting all 12 persons accused in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts case. The High Court said that the prosecution had 'utterly failed' in establishing the guilt of the 12 men. This came nearly 10 years after a special court had sentenced five of them to death and others to life imprisonment. It remarked that while punishing the perpetrators of a crime is an essential step, creating a 'false appearance of having solved a case' leads to a misleading sense of resolution. The Supreme Court will hear the matter on Thursday. The Supreme Court refused to examine the legality of the directives issued by the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments requiring eateries along the Kanwar Yatra pilgrimage route to display quick response codes with their owners' identities. The bench reiterated that the eateries must display their licences and registration certificates as required by law. The petitioners had argued that the governments' orders violated the court's 2024 interim order that prohibited vendors being forced to disclose their identities. The pleas had contended that the directives not only undermine the spirit of the court's stay, but also risks discriminatory profiling, particularly of vendors from minority communities, under the guise of public safety and licencing requirements. Read on. An Assam Police constable has said that his son is among nine Muslims of Bengali origin who have been detained in Gurugram since Sunday on suspicion of being undocumented Bangladeshi immigrants. Sannat Ali, a constable in the Assam Industrial Security Force, told Scroll that his son, 23-year-old Ashraful Islam, is a resident of Barbala village in Barpeta district. He had gone to Haryana on July 11 to work at a construction site, said Ali. Ali said that his son had submitted his voter ID card, school certificates, Aadhaar card and PAN card, which were not accepted by the police. 'They call them illegal Bangladeshis,' Ali alleged. He added: 'We have sent more documents like my service identity card and voter cards. Senior police officials have contacted me this morning. They are working to release him.' An assistant commissioner of police-rank in Gurugram told Scroll that the action was taken as per the Union home ministry's guidelines to verify the credentials of persons suspected to be undocumented migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar. Read on. A day after Jagdeep Dhankhar resigned as the vice president, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wished him good health and said that the Rajya Sabha chairperson had 'got many opportunities to serve our country in various capacities'. Dhankhar had cited medical reasons for stepping down with immediate effect on Monday, which was the first day of the Monsoon Session of Parliament. Several Opposition leaders raised questions about the timing of Dhankhar's resignation. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that there were 'far deeper reasons' behind Dhankhar's decision.
Indian Express
8 hours ago
- Indian Express
Mumbai train blasts case: What happened to the Pakistan nationals accused?
While all 12 Indian men convicted in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts case were acquitted by the Bombay High Court on Monday, questions now linger around the Pakistani nationals who were alleged to have played a key role in the conspiracy. According to the prosecution, at least 10 Pakistani nationals infiltrated India in the months leading up to the attacks. Among these, many were said to have planted the bombs that killed over 180 people. Yet nearly two decades later, these foreign operatives remain largely unaccounted for, with most said to have fled, one killed in the blasts, and another gunned down in a police encounter. What was the Pakistani connection, as per the prosecution? The prosecution had alleged that the 7/11 Mumbai local train blasts conspiracy mastermind was a Pakistani national, Azam Cheema aka Babaji, associated with the Lashkar-e-Taiba. Cheema and the Indian accused, particularly Faisal Shaikh and Asif Shaikh, are alleged to have conspired sometime in 1999 to wage war against India and train Indian Muslim youth in subversive activities. The prosecution, however, does not state when and how they met. Cheema is subsequently said to have sent funds to India to train youths to 'avenge the alleged atrocities committed on Muslims in India, by causing widespread insurgent and terrorist activities by exploding/bombing financial nerve centers and causing mass damage to life and property thereby crippling the economy,' the chargesheet states. On the back of this, between 2001 and 2005, seven of the 12 now acquitted accused, namely Faisal Shaikh, Tanveer Ansari, Kamal Ansari, Muzammil Shaikh, Suhail Shaikh, Zameer Shaikh, and Shaikh Mohd Ali, were alleged to have gone to Pakistan through Iran and undertake 'subversive training'. Faisal was the first to go and is said to have gone multiple times, with the prosecution claiming that he even met Hafiz Saeed. A Pakistani Army Havaldar, Tafheem Akmal Hashmi, who is in Indian custody, had during the trial claimed to have met Faisal at a Lashkar-e-Taiba training camp near Muzaffarabad in June or July 2004. How did the alleged conspiracy unfold? The prosecution had alleged that in May 2006, Cheema asked Faisal Shaikh to identify targets, who informed Cheema that suburban trains were suitable for 'causing explosions.' In the same month, several Pakistanis infiltrated into the country. Mohammed Majid, a resident of Kolkata, made arrangements and ensured the infiltration of six Pakistani nationals, namely Sabir, Abu Bakr, Kasam Ali, Ammu Jaan, Ehsanullah, and Abu Hasan, through the Bangladesh border. They then traveled from Kolkata to Mumbai by train, the prosecution said. In the same month, four more individuals infiltrated from the Kutch border into Gujarat. They included two Pakistani individuals, Salim and Abu Umed, and two Indian nationals, Abdul Raazak from Hyderabad and Sohail Shaikh from Pune, who had settled in Pakistan. One of the accused, Kamal Ansari, is alleged to have facilitated the entry of two Pakistanis, Aslam and Hafizullah, through the Nepal border. In all, 10 Pakistanis and two Indian nationals staying in Pakistan infiltrated to carry out the blasts in May 2006, according to the prosecution. One of the Pakistanis, Ehsanullah, was believed to have brought along 15 kg of RDX. The prosecution alleged that all the 12 infiltrators reached Mumbai in May. The first group of six, who had come in from Bangladesh, were put up in a flat in Mira Road by Asif Khan. The four who came in from the Gujarat border were housed in Bandra West by Faisal Shaikh, and the two from Nepal were housed in Mira Road in the house of Sajid Ansari. Subsequently, the planning for the bombings started, with three men, including Sajid Ansari, Sohail Shaikh, an Indian staying in Pakistan, and an unnamed Pakistani assembling seven explosive devices in the house of Mohammed Ali in Govandi. The explosives were made from July 8 to 10. The prosecution has claimed that Kamal Ansari, along with Pakistani accused Salim, Hafizullah, and Aslam, planted the bomb in the train that exploded at Matunga Railway Station. Naveed Khan along with wanted Pakistani accused Abu Umed planted the bomb that blasted between Santacruz and Khar Railway Stations. Faisal Shaikh along with wanted Pakistani accused Abu Bakr put the explosives that blasted at a train on the Jogeshwari Railway Station. Asif Shaikh with Pakistani accused Sabir were responsible for the Borivali Railway Station train blast. Ehtesham Siddiqui along with wanted Pakistani accused Ammu Jaan planted the train bomb that blasted at Mira Road Railway Station. Bombs in trains also went off at Mahim and Bandra Railway Stations, but the names of the accused were not made public. What happened to the Pakistanis after the blasts? The prosecution has claimed that six Pakistanis were given shelter at the Mumbai residence of one Wahid Shaikh after the blasts, and then provided safe passage out of Mumbai by Mohamed Majid. The prosecution does not state what happened to the other Pakistanis, barring the claim that one Pakistani national, Salim, died in the blast as he could not get off the train in time, while the other, Abu Osama alias Abu Umed, a Faisalabad resident, was gunned down on August 22, a month after the blast, in an encounter with the Mumbai ATS in Antop Hill. His presence in Mumbai after all his associates allegedly returned to Pakistan remained unexplained. What does the HC verdict say about the Pakistani nationals? The court has noted that the defendants in their confession had claimed that they made seven pairs for planting bombs in the trains, which included one local and one Pakistani. The court has noted, however, that a confession by another defendant states that he was accompanied by three Pakistanis, stating that 'the truthfulness of this statement is under the cloud of doubt.' The verdict also notes that complete details of the seven pairs who were accused of planting the bombs were not given. It also notes that the details of how the Pakistanis managed to escape were also not known and pointed out that the Indian accused did not attempt to run away. 'This is important to state because many accused were called as suspects at the initial stage of investigation and they were not arrested and allowed to go home. Even then, no one ran away,' the Bench observed. The verdict also states that the prosecution has not detailed the dates on when the Pakistanis arrived in Mumbai, and neither is much known about the physical description of these men. The verdict also talks about how there are no details about how the RDX was brought to Mumbai. 'There is even no mention whether the full quantity of 15kgs RDX was used in making the bombs or some quantity was left over. If some quantity was left over, what was done with the same…' it states. The verdict also states that the prosecution's argument that the accused had visited Pakistan was not evidence to state that they had committed the blasts. It also states that while it was the prosecution's case that the accused were in contact with the key conspirator Azam Cheema and members of the terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba, the prosecution failed to place the call details on record. 'It is pertinent to note that the prosecution had sought the police custody remand of the accused on the ground, inter alia, that the accused were in contact with Pakistanis, Azam Cheema and his associates. Yet, even after the defence produced the CDR, the prosecution failed to establish any nexus between the accused and Pakistani nationals, including Azam Cheema and his associates,' the verdict states.
