Latest news with #HarshMander
Al Arabiya
7 days ago
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
India accused of illegal deportations targeting Muslims
India has deported without trial to Bangladesh hundreds of people, officials from both sides said, drawing condemnation from activists and lawyers who call the recent expulsions illegal and based on ethnic profiling. New Delhi says the people deported are undocumented migrants. The Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has long taken a hardline stance on immigration -- particularly those from neighboring Muslim-majority Bangladesh -- with top officials referring to them as 'termites' and 'infiltrators.' It has also sparked fear among India's estimated 200 million Muslims, especially among speakers of Bengali, a widely spoken language in both eastern India and Bangladesh. 'Muslims, particularly from the eastern part of the country, are terrified,' said veteran Indian rights activist Harsh Mander. 'You have thrown millions into this existential fear.' Bangladesh, largely encircled by land by India, has seen relations with New Delhi turn icy since a mass uprising in 2024 toppled Dhaka's government, a former friend of India. But India also ramped up operations against migrants after a wider security crackdown in the wake of an attack in the west -- the April 22 killing of 26 people, mainly Hindu tourists, in Indian-administered Kashmir. New Delhi blamed that attack on Pakistan, claims Islamabad rejected, with arguments culminating in a four-day conflict that left more than 70 dead. Indian authorities launched an unprecedented countrywide security drive that has seen many thousands detained -- and many of them eventually pushed across the border to Bangladesh at gunpoint. 'Do not dare' Rahima Begum, from India's eastern Assam state, said police detained her for several days in late May before taking her to the Bangladesh frontier. She said she and her family had spent their life in India. 'I have lived all my life here -- my parents, my grandparents, they are all from here,' she said. 'I don't know why they would do this to me.' Indian police took Begum, along with five other people, all Muslims, and forced them into swampland in the dark. 'They showed us a village in the distance and told us to crawl there,' she told AFP. 'They said: 'Do not dare to stand and walk, or we will shoot you.'' Bangladeshi locals who found the group then handed them to border police who 'thrashed' them and ordered they return to India, Begum said. 'As we approached the border, there was firing from the other side,' said the 50-year-old. 'We thought: 'This is the end. We are all going to die.'' She survived, and, a week after she was first picked up, she was dropped back home in Assam with a warning to keep quiet. 'Ideological hate campaign' Rights activists and lawyers criticized India's drive as 'lawless.' 'You cannot deport people unless there is a country to accept them,' said New Delhi-based civil rights lawyer Sanjay Hegde. Indian law does not allow for people to be deported without due process, he added. Bangladesh has said India has pushed more than 1,600 people across its border since May. Indian media suggests the number could be as high as 2,500. The Bangladesh Border Guards said it has sent back 100 of those pushed across -- because they were Indian citizens. India has been accused of forcibly deporting Muslim Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, with navy ships dropping them off the coast of the war-torn nation. Many of those targeted in the campaign are low-wage laborers in states governed by Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), according to rights activists. Indian authorities did not respond to questions about the number of people detained and deported. But Assam state's chief minister has said that more than 300 people have been deported to Bangladesh. Separately, Gujarat's police chief said more than 6,500 people have been rounded up in the western state, home to both Modi and interior minister Amit Shah. Many of those were reported to be Bengali-speaking Indians and later released. 'People of Muslim identity who happen to be Bengali speaking are being targeted as part of an ideological hate campaign,' said Mander, the activist. Nazimuddin Mondal, a 35-year-old mason, said he was picked up by police in the financial hub of Mumbai, flown on a military aircraft to the border state of Tripura and pushed into Bangladesh. He managed to cross back, and is now back in India's West Bengal state, where he said he was born. 'The Indian security forces beat us with batons when we insisted we were Indians,' said Mondal, adding he is now scared to even go out to seek work. 'I showed them my government-issued ID, but they just would not listen.'
Arab News
7 days ago
- Politics
- Arab News
India accused of illegal deportations targeting Muslims
NEW DELHI: India has deported without trial to Bangladesh hundreds of people, officials from both sides said, drawing condemnation from activists and lawyers who call the recent expulsions illegal and based on ethnic profiling. New Delhi says the people deported are undocumented migrants. The Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has long taken a hard-line stance on immigration – particularly those from neighboring Muslim-majority Bangladesh – with top officials referring to them as 'termites' and 'infiltrators.' It has also sparked fear among India's estimated 200 million Muslims, especially among speakers of Bengali, a widely spoken language in both eastern India and Bangladesh. 'Muslims, particularly from the eastern part of the country, are terrified,' said veteran Indian rights activist Harsh Mander. 'You have thrown millions into this existential fear.' Bangladesh, largely encircled by land by India, has seen relations with New Delhi turn icy since a mass uprising in 2024 toppled Dhaka's government, a former friend of India. But India also ramped up operations against migrants after a wider security crackdown in the wake of an attack in the west – the April 22 killing of 26 people, mainly Hindu tourists, in Indian-administered Kashmir. New Delhi blamed that attack on Pakistan, claims Islamabad rejected, with arguments culminating in a four-day conflict that left more than 70 dead. Indian authorities launched an unprecedented countrywide security drive that has seen many thousands detained – and many of them eventually pushed across the border to Bangladesh at gunpoint. Rahima Begum, from India's eastern Assam state, said police detained her for several days in late May before taking her to the Bangladesh frontier. She said she and her family had spent their life in India. 'I have lived all my life here – my parents, my grandparents, they are all from here,' she said. 'I don't know why they would do this to me.' Indian police took Begum, along with five other people, all Muslims, and forced them into swampland in the dark. 'They showed us a village in the distance and told us to crawl there,' she said. 'They said: 'Do not dare to stand and walk, or we will shoot you.'' Bangladeshi locals who found the group then handed them to border police who 'thrashed' them and ordered they return to India, Begum said. 'As we approached the border, there was firing from the other side,' said the 50-year-old. 'We thought: 'This is the end. We are all going to die.'' She survived, and, a week after she was first picked up, she was dropped back home in Assam with a warning to keep quiet. Rights activists and lawyers criticized India's drive as 'lawless.' 'You cannot deport people unless there is a country to accept them,' said New Delhi-based civil rights lawyer Sanjay Hegde. Indian law does not allow for people to be deported without due process, he added. Bangladesh has said India has pushed more than 1,600 people across its border since May. Indian media suggests the number could be as high as 2,500. The Bangladesh Border Guards said it has sent back 100 of those pushed across – because they were Indian citizens. India has been accused of forcibly deporting Muslim Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, with navy ships dropping them off the coast of the war-torn nation. Many of those targeted in the campaign are low-wage laborers in states governed by Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), according to rights activists. Indian authorities did not respond to questions about the number of people detained and deported. But Assam state's chief minister has said that more than 300 people have been deported to Bangladesh. Separately, Gujarat's police chief said more than 6,500 people have been rounded up in the western state, home to both Modi and interior minister Amit Shah. Many of those were reported to be Bengali-speaking Indians and later released. 'People of Muslim identity who happen to be Bengali speaking are being targeted as part of an ideological hate campaign,' said Mander, the activist. Nazimuddin Mondal, a 35-year-old mason, said he was picked up by police in the financial hub of Mumbai, flown on a military aircraft to the border state of Tripura and pushed into Bangladesh. He managed to cross back, and is now back in India's West Bengal state, where he said he was born. 'The Indian security forces beat us with batons when we insisted we were Indians,' said Mondal, adding he is now scared to even go out to seek work. 'I showed them my government-issued ID, but they just would not listen.'
The Hindu
12-06-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Assam will deport 'foreigners' even if their names feature in NRC: Himanta
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has said that the State government's current policy is to push back foreigners even if their names are found in the National Register of Citizens (NRC). The way the NRC was carried out in Assam leaves a lot of scope for doubt, and it cannot be the only document for determining a person's citizenship, Mr. Sarma said. The NRC, an official record of bonafide Indian citizens living in Assam, was updated under the supervision of the Supreme Court and released on August 31, 2019, leaving out more than 19 lakh applicants. However, it has not been notified by the Registrar General of India, leaving the controversial document without any official validity. ''Many people had entered their names in the NRC by using unfair means. So we have adopted the policy of pushing back (foreigners) if the authorities are absolutely convinced that the persons concerned are foreigners,'' the CM said on the sidelines of a programme in Darrang on Wednesday. 'Doubtful' citizens A large number of people have been picked up from across Assam since last month on suspicion of being doubtful citizens, as part of a nationwide drive, and many of them were pushed back to Bangladesh. Some of them returned after the neighbouring nation refused to accept them as their citizens. ''Personally, I am not convinced that the presence of a name in the NRC alone is enough to determine that someone is not an illegal migrant,'' he said. Asked whether a section of officials did not carry out the NRC exercise with due diligence, Mr. Sarma said that is a possibility. Harsh Mander Mr. Sarma alleged that social activist and author Harsh Mander had camped in Assam for two years, and sent some youths from the state to America and England for education and encouraged them to manipulate the NRC. "These matters came to my knowledge after I became the chief minister,'' he said. Mr. Sarma, speaking on detection and deportation of foreigners, during a special assembly session on June 9, had said the state government will implement the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950, for the purpose, which allows the district commissioners to declare illegal immigrants and evict them.
Scroll.in
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Scroll.in
Video: Why is a caste census critical for meaningful social justice?
Play The government's decision to enumerate caste in the next census will have profound implications both for social justice and the political landscape. What are the arguments for and against it? What effect could this data have on policy and law? Those are among the questions up for discussion in the latest episode of Karwan e Mohabbat's Yeh Daag Daag Ujala series on the state of the republic. It features writer and peace worker Harsh Mander in conversation with Sumeet Mhaskar and Harish S Wankhede. Sumeet Mhaskar is a professor of sociology at the Jindal School of Government and Public Policy and Harish Wankhede is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Indian Express
23-04-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
‘You want creditworthiness of someone to give Rs 5,000?': Delhi HC pulls up I-T Dept for cancelling Harsh Mander's NGO's income tax registration
The Delhi High Court Tuesday pulled up the Income Tax Department, orally inquiring if it would 'ask for someone's creditworthiness' who makes voluntary nominal contributions to an NGO while dealing with a petition by former IAS officer Harsh Mander's Aman Biradari Trust (ABT). ABT's registration under the Income Tax Act was cancelled in September 2024, and the NGO is seeking the quashing of this cancellation order before the High Court. A public charitable trust established by Mander, ABT was registered initially in 2005, and again in 2022. ABT moved the Delhi High Court in March this year, challenging a September 23, 2024, order by the principal commissioner of Income Tax, cancelling the Trust's registration under the I-T Act in 2005 as well as the subsequent registration in 2022 under the Finance Act 2020. The cancellation, the order stated, was owing to two 'specified violations'. The first violation alleges that ABT has not maintained the PAN and address details against some of the voluntary contributions received by the Trust in FY 2017-18, FY 2018-19, and FY 2019-20 in violation of provisions of the I-T Act. For the three years, the department has made a tax demand of over Rs 3.92 crore. The demand notice issued in November 2024 is already under challenge before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT). Taken up by a bench of Justices Vibhu Bakhru and Tejas Karia Tuesday, Justice Bakhru, addressing the I-T Department's counsel, said, 'The other (specified violation) is where they're getting anonymous donations, they don't have PAN, they give you the names of it… Look at the amounts of donations. What is the donation amount? Are you going to ask for someone's creditworthiness? You want creditworthiness for someone to give Rs 5,000?' The court also observed that prima facie, the activities of ABT, which the I-T Department has raised an issue over, appear to be covered under the objectives set out by the Trust. As reflected in the I-T department's cancellation order, the voluntary contributions range from Rs 50 to a few donations over Rs 1 lakh. The voluntary contributions of the three years, which the I-T department has listed in its September 2024 order, amount to around Rs 92 lakh. Secondly, the I-T Department said in its registration cancellation order that the trust has incurred expenses on account of 'Media Fellow' towards documenting issues on constitutional values and secularism practice in India, which is purportedly not a part of the 'main objects' of the Trust. To this, Justice Bakhru, addressing the I-T Department's counsel, remarked, 'We are looking at the grounds you are saying. One is (saying) it's contrary to the object. Can you explain what's not contrary to the object?… Plain reading of the object indicates prima facie that it is covered. So one (specified violation) goes.' The department had issued a show cause notice before the cancellation, first on March 30, 2024, followed by two other notices in May that year. ABT, through its counsels Abhik Chimni and Pranjal Abrol, has argued that the cancellation cannot be retrospective, and that powers of Section 12AB(4) of the I-T Act can only be invoked against a specified violation during any 'previous year', which has been defined as the financial year immediately preceding the assessment year. It is ABT's case that in the absence of a specified violation in the financial year 2022-23, the powers of Section 12AB(4) could not have been invoked. The Trust has pointed out that as a charitable trust, it is exempt from providing addresses against voluntary contributions, adding that statutory requirements of maintaining PAN details against voluntary contributions only came into effect by way of the Finance Act, 2021, which cannot apply retrospectively for financial years 2017-20. In its plea, ABT has also pointed out that in its response to the show cause notices, the trust had provided the details of the available donors and the amount they have contributed during the period 2017-2018, 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 financial year 'demonstrating full cooperation with the tax authorities.' It has also contended in the response to the notices that the objective of the media fellowship programme 'such as creating alternative media to challenge the discourse of hatred is similar to the petitioner's trust objectives as enumerated in the trust deed which, inter alia, talks about developing alternative educational material and methods to build and strengthen humanistic and secular values.' It had also submitted that the trust did not incur any expenses as it was funded by a grant. Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court suggested ABT's counsels to take instructions from the petitioner if they want to avail their alternate remedy before ITAT first, posting the matter for further hearing on August 5.
