25 houses demolished in Delhi’s Muslim locality, women allege police brutality
Government officials and police forces in Delhi demolished over two dozen houses without any prior notice in a predominantly Muslim locality on 21 October, as a discriminatory means of collective punishment against the Muslim community.
A fact-finding team on Thursday said the demolition drive was carried out by using brutal force against the residents.
“The Delhi Police injured several people including women, and male policemen shamelessly manhandled the protesting women residents. The residents of the demolished houses were not even given time to rescue their household goods,” the report stated.
The police demolished the houses during the time of Friday prayers, which is a holy time of the week for Muslims.
The opposition has called the demolition “anti-Muslim” and “anti-poor.” Amnesty International has labeled similar demolitions in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat states as a violation of international human rights law.
Supreme Court dismisses Amnesty International’s plea to unfreeze bank accounts
The Supreme Court last week refused to entertain Amnesty International India’s plea challenging a federal probe agency’s attachment of the charitable trust’s bank accounts, worth Indian Rupees 15,400,000 (USD 186,924). The Court’s failure to address the shutdown of one of the world’s most renowned human rights organizations in India is a reflection of the way all pillars of Indian democracy, including the judiciary, have been compromised under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The federal probe agency had accused Amnesty’s India office of allegedly receiving foreign contributions illegally.
In September 2020, Amnesty India had said it was forced to shut its operations as the Indian government had frozen its bank accounts. The group had said its “lawful fundraising model” was being portrayed as money laundering because Amnesty India had challenged the “government’s grave inactions and excesses.”
After ban on hijabs in schools, Karnataka demands report on Arabic schools
Following its discriminatory and anti-Muslim ban on wearing hijabs in schools, Karnataka state’s Hindu supremacist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled government has now demanded a report on Arabic schools in the state, which are primarily run by Muslims.
There are 106 aided and 80 non-aided Arabic schools in the state, which the BJP government has accused of not being up to standard with other schools.
Minister for School Education and Literacy B. C.Nagesh, who is known for his dehumanizing comments about Muslim hijabi students, said the report was to probe allegations that Arabic schools are not following the syllabus prescribed by the education department.
Karnataka stands on a slippery slope that could lead to a shutdown of Muslim-run schools across the state. A similar measure was taken by the Uttar Pradesh government. After the conclusion of its survey of Muslim primary schools, the BJP had declared Darul Uloom Deoband, a 150-year-old globally renowned Islamic seminary, as illegal, along with over 300 seminaries in the Saharanpur district.
Recently, the government in Assam State, also ruled by the BJP, demolished three madrasas illegally without following due process, on the blatantly false charges of being associated with “a terror organization.”
