Mob kills three in Bihar on suspicion of cattle theft, three arrested

Source: in.reuters.com

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – A mob on Friday beat to death three men suspected of trying to steal cattle in Bihar, police said, the latest in a spate of attacks that have provoked alarm among religious minorities.

In recent years angry mobs have lynched many people from marginalised groups in India, especially Muslims and the Dalits who occupy the lowest rung of the ancient caste system, often over suspicions of cow slaughter.

The three men were caught by some villagers early on Friday while trying to load cattle on a pickup truck, police official Har Kishore Rai said.

“They were trying to load a buffalo and a calf when some villagers woke up and took the three into their custody and beat them up,” he said, adding that the men had died.

Police have arrested three people from the village of Pithauri and have filed a case of murder against four more from the village, administrative official Lokesh Mishra told Reuters.

Police have filed a case of theft against the three men, and the villagers face a separate case of murder filed by the victims’ families, naming three accused people, although more names are likely to be added, Mishra said.

Hinduism, India’s dominant religion, considers cows sacred, and killing them is taboo.

Activists have tracked a rise in the number of mob lynchings in the last five years that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government has been in power. Critics accuse it of not having done enough to rein in such violence.

The Supreme Court last year recommended making mob lynching a separate offence. In July, opposition parties in Bihar demanded a separate law against mob lynching in the state, where they say the problem is growing.

People vs Govt: The Bihar Residents Arrested for Demanding Water

Source: thecitizen.in

NEW DELHI: Today we kick off a series of stories revolving around the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India. Through field reports, interviews, photo essays, histories and analysis, we discover these rights of strength and their shortcomings.

On June 25 police lodged an FIR against 39 people in Harivanshpur village in Bihar’s Vaishali district for carrying out the protests over the lack of water supply and the deaths of several of their children from the Acute Encephalitis Syndrome.

Residents of the village have been booked under IPC Sections 147, 148 and 149 (rioting and unlawful assembly), 188 (disobedience of orders), 283 (obstruction of public ways), 353 (assault) and 504 (breach of peace).

Even the parents of encephalitis victims have been charged with these crimes.

It was following the deaths of seven children from AES over two weeks that the residents of Harivanshpur staged a protest on June 23 and again two days later.

They also staged a protest demanding water tankers for their village, reports say, as there is an acute shortage of drinking water in the area and all the hand pumps have dried up.

The farmers and livestock of Vaishali district are the worst affected. There is no irrigation water available in the region, and with no groundwater left to tap, standing crops in the farms are drying up according to several reports.

Article 19(1)(b) of the Constitution of India guarantees the right “to assemble peaceably and without arms”. Freedom of peaceful assembly resembles the idea of a democratic government.

It is also reported that the residents of Harivanshpur have announced a missing person award of Rs.15,000 for Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan.

Speaking to The Citizen, Amresh Kumar the area’s Block Development Officer said, “On June 23 the villagers staged a protest when the Hajipur MP Pashupati Kumar Paras and Lalganj MLA Rajkumar Sah came to the area and tried to hold them hostage. Following the incident, orders were given to the local officers to keep vigil and report any form of nuisance in the area.”

Ashok Kumar Singh, the Block Panchayati Raj Officer told The Citizen that “villagers blocked the highway for four hours and created nuisance. Most men have fled the village fearing rule of law after an FIR was filed against them.”

According to The Hindu “most of the children who died in Harivanshpur belong to the extremely backward Mallah community and the Dalit Musahar community.” One among them, Ganesh Manjhi, lost two sons within 24 hours due to suspected AES. They were 7 and 2 years old.

Schoolgirl cycling back home gang raped in Bihar

Source: gulfnews.com

Patna: A grade 12 girl was dragged by youths into a car, gang raped in the moving vehicle and then thrown along a road in Bihar.

The police have arrested one person but four others are absconding.

The incident took place in Saran, the Lok Sabha constituency of ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parliamentarian Rajiv Pratap Rudy. Saran is a north Bihar district around 80km from Patna, the capital city of Bihar.

Police said the 17-year-old was returning home after school on her bicycle on Friday afternoon when the youths kidnapped her. She had gone to school to receive her grade 12 mark sheet and other documents for admission in higher classes.

After the kidnapping, the youths drove the car around the locality and raped her until she lost consciousness. According to the victim, five men were in the car. After committing the crime, they threw her along the road and fled the scene.

Late in the evening, villagers noticed the unconscious girl on the road with her school documents by her side. They called up her father using a contact number written on the school documents. The victim was then admitted to hospital where her condition is said to be critical.

“We have arrested one person based on the information provided by the victim while raids are already on to nab the other absconding accused persons,” the local Saran district superintendent of police Hari Kishore Rai told the media on Sunday.

The opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal slammed the state government for the fast-deteriorating law and order situation in the state. “This is one more example of worsening law and order in Bihar,” RJD spokesperson Mirtunjay Tiwary said.

Last week, three incidents of gang rapes were reported from various parts of the state.

In one case from the Sitamarhi district, two sisters were kidnapped from outside their home in the night and allegedly gang raped by eight men.

After the incident invited wide outrage, former parliamentarian Rajesh Ranjan, alias Pappu Yadav, announced a cash reward of Rs100,000 (Dh5,316) to anyone who kills the rapists.

“If the government can punish the rapists, the society too holds the right to teach a lesson to the outlaws,” Yadav told the media after meeting the two girls last week.

According to an official report, more than 6,200 incidents of rape have been reported in the past five years of the ruling Nitish Kumar government in the state. This year, as many as 353 cases of rape have been reported until March, indicating at least four girls are raped every day in Bihar.

Why do terrorists from Bengal find a safe haven in Bengaluru and Kerala

Source: oneindia.com

New Delhi, June 26: In less than one year, the National Investigation Agency has picked up a terrorist of Bengal origin from Bengaluru, Karnataka.

On Tuesday, an absconding accused in the Burdwan blast case was arrested by the NIA from Doddaballapur near Bengaluru. In August 2018 the NIA had arrested one Mohammad Jahidul Islam alias Kausar from Ramnagara near Bengaluru in connection with the Bodhgaya blasts case.

Both of them belong to the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, Bangladesh or JMB, a group which is extremely active and also has its roots in West Bengal. It may also be recalled that in January 19 2018, two more persons Abdul Karim and Mustafizur Rehman were arrested from the labour camp of Bengali speaking persons in Mallapuram in Kerala. Both were also of Bengal origin and were wanted in connection with the Bodhgaya case.

When Islam was arrested, the NIA found some electronic devices besides traces of explosives. He is a top leader of JMB in India and is wanted in Burdwan blast case and in many other cases in Bangladesh also. He is the master mind of the Bodhgaya case, the NIA had said.

Tuesday’s arrest from Karnataka is connection with the Burdwan case. The case pertains to a major bomb factory in Burdwan which was busted following an accidental blast. The NIA learnt during the investigation that terrorists of the JMB were preparing bombs in large numbers and had planned on smuggling them into Bangladesh and carry out a series of blasts. The NIA has been probing the case since late 2014 and there are still many absconding accused yet to be arrested.
The accused, Habibur Rehman was arrested from Bengaluru by the NIA.

Rehman was charged in this case for his direct involvement in the conspiracy of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) to wage war against Government of India and Bangladesh.

Rehman was a close associate of senior JMB leader Jahidul Islam alias Kausar. He was also associated with other JMB leaders like Rahamatullah and Moulana Yusuf. He was an active member of JMB, Bolpur Module in West Bengal. He had attended a number of training camps conducted by JMB.

Intelligence Bureau officials tell OneIndia that this is not for the first time that terrorists have come down South to hide. There have been several such instances reported in Kerala and Hyderabad as well. They tend to mix with the migrant population including the Rohingyas and continue to stay on in states such as Telangana, Kerala and Karnataka.

In Mallapuram, the members of the JMB were staying at a camp for a long time which was set up for Bengali speaking people. Even in Karnataka, their activities go unchecked as they tend to mingle with those who have migrated in search of work. There is also a concern with regard to the Rohingyas who have moved to various parts of the country in large numbers, including Karnataka. These terrorists often use such persons as a shield and use such states as a safe haven.

The Bengal-Bengaluru connection is not restricted to terror alone. There has been a dedicated route between these two states which has been busted by the NIA which probing a case relating to fake currency.

The NIA’s Hyderabad wing had in March 2018 arrested Saddam Hussain, a resident of Bengaluru who was found in possession of fake currency to the tune of Rs 26,000.

The NIA team also recovered two demonetised currency notes of the value Rs 1,000. The accused was allegedly circulating fake currency in various parts of his country after obtaining it from his contacts in Mada, West Bengal.

During investigation it was revealed that accused Saddam had travelled to Malda from Bangaluru on the instructions of Amirul Hoque and collected High Quality FICN from Roustam on four occasions.