Court protects top BJP leaders rejecting plea against their acquittal for violence
A high court in Uttar Pradesh state has dismissed a petition against the acquittal of senior leaders of the Hindu right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other Hindu supremacists over their involvement in the demolition of the historic Babri mosque in 1992 and the large-scale anti-Muslim violence that followed.
Among those whose acquittal was challenged are India’s former deputy prime minister, L. K. Advani; former federal ministers Uma Bharti and Murli Manohar Joshi; and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, among others.
It was on the watch of Singh as the state’s chief minister that hordes of supremacist Hindus had brought down the 16th-century Babri mosque in 1992 in the Ayodhya town.
The appeal against their acquittal was filed by two Muslim residents of Ayodhya, Haji Mahboob Ahmad and Syed Akhlaq Ahmad. They had challenged the court’s ruling of 2020 that acquitted 32 Hindu supremacists on charges of a criminal conspiracy and inciting a mob to tear down the historic mosque.
On December 6, 1992, tens of thousands of extremist Hindus gathered near the mosque site, climbed the mosque, and demolished it with axes and hammers. The demolition sparked nationwide anti-Muslim violence that left some 2,000 people dead, mostly Muslims.
On November 9, 2019, the Supreme Court awarded the mosque site to Hindus for the construction of the temple, handing the BJP a victory to drive home its Hindu nationalist agenda. Muslim groups and activists called the verdict a “blatant injustice towards Muslims.”
Amid crackdown over false terror charges, Assam madrasas to submit teachers’ details
Amid an ongoing crackdown on Islamic seminaries and teachers over bogus charges of “involvement in terror activities,” BJP-ruled Assam government has ordered all the madrassas in the state to provide information about the teachers employed by them.
Forty-seven people, including some madrasa teachers, have been arrested so far. Muslim-run schools have regularly come under attack by Hindu supremacists. Recently, officials in the state demolished three madrasas illegally, on the blatantly false charges of being associated with “a terror organization.”
Court orders release of anti-Muslim hatemonger and BJP lawmaker Raja Singh
The Telangana High Court on Wednesday ordered the release of BJP lawmaker Raja Singh, who was arrested in August after he made derogatory comments about Prophet Muhammad.
On August 22, Singh posted an offensive video against Prophet Mohammad. Following massive protests, the police arrested Raja Singh the next day. He, however, was granted bail by a city court the same day.
He was re-arrested after protests escalated against his release.
Singh has been habitually delivering provocative and inflammatory speeches. A total of 101 criminal cases have been registered against him since 2004 and he was involved in 18 anti-Muslim offenses.
