Uttar Pradesh Police Shot 3 Muslim men over alleged Cow Smuggling
Police in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad city shot three Muslim cattle herders for allegedly smuggling cows. The three men were fired at in the wee hours of Wednesday morning after being chased by the police at the Jal Nigam Police Outpost area of Vijayanagar police station.
The injured Muslim men were identified as Zeeshan, Saddam, and Qasim.
Over the last six years, the police in Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) ruled Uttar Pradesh have been accused of killing members of minority and marginalized communities in fake encounters.
Last month, two Muslim men, Akbar Banjara, and Salman Banjara, were killed under similar circumstances in Assam state after being handed over by the Uttar Pradesh police.
Bulldozers roll in again, MLA Amanatullah Khan detained during protests
Aam Adami Party (AAP) Muslim legislator Amanatullah Khan was arrested on Thursday for opposing a demolition drive carried by the BJP-ruled civic body in the Muslim majority area of Madanpur Khadar.
A case was registered against Khan for rioting and obstructing government work.
“I am ready to go to jail if it saves the houses of poor people. There is no encroachment here. I will support them (civic body) in demolition if there is any encroachment,” Khan said at the demolition site.
Residents were seen raising slogans against the police, which provided security to the BJP civil body team that is carrying out the demolitions. Critics have accused the authorities of selctively targetting the houses and businesses of Muslim community members. Khan was later released on bail.
Allahabad High Court dismisses petition to ‘open 22 sealed doors’ in Taj Mahal
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Thursday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking direction to the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) to open 22 sealed doors of the Taj Mahal in Agra to resolve the “controversy” around the monument’s origins.
The plea, filed by petitioner Dr. Rajneesh Singh, a Hindu extremist, contends that the Taj Mahal was a Shiva Temple, known as Tejo Mahalaya, and asked for the government to constitute a fact-finding committee to publish the “real history” of the monument.
On the petitioner’s prayer seeking direction for the opening of sealed doors and removal of certain structures to facilitate historical study, the court said, “We may at this juncture itself indicate that any historical research conducted by the academicians will necessarily involve a particular methodology.”
“Determination of the question as to which particular methodology of research would yield correct results lies outside the scope of our jurisdiction and powers of judicial review. Such issues should be left to be debated by academicians, scholars and historians. Judges, by experience and training, are not equipped to pronounce any verdict on such non-justiciable issues,” the court further added.
The court observed that “on a closure examination of the prayers, we are of the opinion that the petitioner has called upon to adjudicate and give a verdict on a completely non-justiciable issue”.
