Hindi actor tries on skull cap in public, faces Islamophobia
Date: 21 Dec 2019
Category: Discrimination
Hindi actor Surendar Rajan, who became famous as the old man who received a “jadoo ki jappi” from Sanjay Dutt in the movie Munnabhai MBBS, recounts his experience where he put on a skull cap for a few days to resemble a Muslim and study their everyday experiences. In an interview, Rajan narrated that he had tried to get on a bus near Oberon Mall in this attire, sporting a beard. The bus driver had reacted with disdain. As he tried to get on, the driver raced the bus forward, causing him to stumble. The man saw this and laughed, he said. “I kept falling and he laughed. There was so much hate,” Sundar said. Sundar has been active in the anti-CAA movement and has expressed his anguish at the transforming atmosphere in the country. He even considered converting to Islam to stand in solidarity with his Muslim brethren, Rajan said, but later revoked this decision because he realized that it would be disrespectful to the religion.
Sources:
https://www.patrika.com/mumbai-news/muslims-will-become-against-caa-5538185/
Lawyer ‘mistaken to be Muslim’, beaten up by MP police
Date: 20/5/2020
Category: Hate violence: Physical
Police officers who beat up a lawyer in Madhya Pradesh’s Betul on March 23 have offered a strange excuse- they thought he was Muslim. Deepak Bundele was beaten up brutally by the state police while he was on his way to a government hospital for treatment while Section 144 had been imposed due to the pandemic. A month later, he came under pressure from the police to withdraw his complaint. Police officials, in their defence, told Bundele that he was beaten up because they had wrongly identified him as a Muslim man. Bundele, who sports a beard, said that he explained to police personnel that he had to get his medicines but one of them slapped him without trying to listen to what he was saying and roughed him up. On March 24, he filed a complaint with the district Superintendent of Police D.S. Bhadoria and the state Director General of Police Vivek Johri. In his March 24 complaint to the SP he requested the district police to file an FIR against the incident. On that basis, a few police officials came to his house on May 17 to record his version. This is when the police told him that this was a case of mistaken identity, and that the police officials thought he was a Muslim. Then they go on to say that police generally support the Hindus in a situation of communal riots. Bundele clarified that there was no Hindu-Muslim riot that day, and asked whether he was beaten for being wrongly identified as a Muslim. The police officials agreed, and said: “Yes, exactly. You had a long beard. The man (who assaulted you) is a kattar (staunch) Hindu…In Hindu-Muslim riots whenever a Muslim is arrested, he beats them up brutally, always.”
Sources:
https://thewire.in/communalism/madhya-pradesh-lawyer-police-betul
https://thewire.in/rights/deepak-bundele-betul-police-brutality-case
Shiv Sena asks Centre to curb use of loudspeakers in mosques
Date: 2/12/2020
The Shiv Sena has asked the Centre to take steps to stop the use of loudspeakers in mosques to curb noise pollution. An editorial in Sena mouthpiece "Saamana" said the issue is of noise pollution and environment protection. "The Centre should promulgate an ordinance to stop loudspeakers on mosques to prevent noise pollution," it said.
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Muslim men fearing arrests flee after Delhi violence, women left to fend families
Date: 8/12/2020
Category: Hate violence: Physical
The fear of being randomly arrested in riot cases has led to men leaving their homes in some areas of North-east Delhi where families are now living without their working male members. The Hindu reported that from March 22 to mid-April, around 25 to 30 arrests were made in the violence-affected, Muslim-majority areas of Northeast Delhi. The Indian Express reported a total of 802 arrests, of which at least 50 were made during the lockdown. But some accounts peg the figure much higher at around six to seven arrests every day. Earlier this year, Delhi Minorities Commission (DMC) had issued a notice to Delhi Police Commissioner S. N. Shrivastava on the grounds that police officers have been “arresting young Muslim boys by the dozens every single day” from North East district, and that the arrests have continued even after the lockdown. Residents of the area alleged that video evidence was being manipulated to keep the community in check and to arrest several people. Due to these arrests, fear looms large in the area with local residents questioning the intentions of the Delhi Police controlled by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. They have alleged that random persons were being incriminated in the Delhi riots cases citing remote links with some incident. With the year drawing to a close and no means of economic rebuilding, the families are on the brink of a breakdown. With male members being the sole earning members of the family, the women are finding themselves struggling to make ends meet, while managing their homes and children. The women said that they are borrowing money from family members or waiting on NGOs to supply rations. Amidst the pandemic, with no access to schools and online learning being an obstacle, the women managing homes single-handedly are also struggling to pay their children’s fees. Months after the violence, Hindutva outfits continue to terrorise in some areas, claim Muslim residents, alleging that the police stay indifferent towards such incidents.
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Job seeker from Kerala told to join Shaheen Bagh CAA protests
Date: 26/01/2020
Category: Hate speech
A Malayali job seeker in Dubai was chided by his prospective employer for looking for work and suggested that he should make a living (sic) by joining protestors in Shaheen Bagh in New Delhi. Abdulla S.S., 23, had applied for a mechanical engineer’s position in Dubai and had received an email from UAE-based Indian expat Jayant Gokhale in response to his job application. “Just a thought. Why u need a job? Go to Delhi and sit in Shaheen Bagh for protest. Every day you will get Rs 1000. Free food i.e Biryani, Unlimited amount of Tea and Milk, some time sweets also,” Gokhale said in the email which has since gone viral.
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‘Miya culture is too aggressive’, says Assam minister
Date: 23 November 2020
Category: Discrimination
Speaking about the Assembly elections coming up in the state next year, Assam minsiter and BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma asserted that in Assam, the factor was not that of “Hindu-Muslim”, but a “fight between two cultures”. “The so-called migrants, Bangladeshi Muslims, have started a new concept in Assam,” the BJP leader said. “They call it Miya culture, Miya poetry…Miya language. We have to protect the composite Indian culture and more particularly Assamese culture.” He also accused the “Miya culture” of aggression and assertion. “Here is a community which has distorted Assamese language,” he claimed. “They tell people that they want to assert their identity. What is the need to assert identity? That means you want to aggressively counter Assamese culture by encroaching on land of our monasteries.”
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Karnataka brings in blanket ban on cattle slaughter
Date: 9/12/2020
Category: Discrimination
The Karnataka Assembly on 9 December passed the Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Bill, 2020, spelling death knell for lakhs of families dependent on the trade for their livelihood. The Bill proposes to bring a blanket ban on the slaughter of all cattle. Under the Bill, ‘cattle’ is defined as cow, calf of a cow and bull, bullock and male/female buffalo below the age of thirteen years. Slaughter of cattle will be a cognisable offence and will attract three to seven years of imprisonment and a fine that shall not be less than Rs 50,000, extendable up to Rs 5 lakh. A second and subsequent offence will attract a “fine not less than Rs 1 lakh but which may extend to Rs 10 lakh along with imprisonment which may extend to seven years,” the Bill said. The Bill also recommended constituting special courts for the purpose of speedy disposal of disputes under this Act. Currently, the sale and purchase of cattle in Karnataka are carried out in accordance with the Karnataka Prevention of Cow Slaughter and Cattle Preservation Act, 1964. This law permits the slaughter of non-milch cows and diseased cattle over 12 years of age. Former Karnataka Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah had earlier said that the Bill was introduced without any discussion. “Whenever a Bill is introduced, the copies of the bill should be circulated to all the members. But even the minister (for animal husbandry) did not have a copy of the Bill with him,” he said.
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After three men shot dead, families to move court against police in UP
Date: 2/12/2020
Category: Hate violence: Physical
A year after Aftab, Raees and Saif- who lived in Kanpur district of Uttar Pradesh- said they were shot by police before dying, their kin have moved court to file FIRs. “The police cannot say that they have not killed my son. Before dying, my son told me that the police had fired at him,” 55-year-old Najma Bano, Aftab Alam’s mother, says. After repeated visits to the police station proved futile, as the local policemen dismissed her claims and insisted her son died in cross-firing between anti-CAA protesters themselves, she is now knocking the doors of the court as a last resort. Her lawyer has moved an application under Section 156/3 of the CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure) to ensure the court directs the police to register an FIR. Two other men who succumbed to bullet injuries in Kanpur – Raees Khan and Mohd Saif- had also expressed in confidence to their families and friends that the police had shot them, and their families have also moved court to register an FIR after being told off by police. The families of Raees, Saif and Aftab, all of whom live in Begum Purwa area of Kanpur, said that they were being pressured to take their cases back. “The lawyer (Nasser Khan) told me that some inspector is suggesting we take Rs 5 lakh each and withdraw the case. I did not agree,” says Najma. A similar claim was made by Mohammad Saif’s father, 62-year-old Mohammad Taqi as well. 70-year-old Mohammad Shareef, Raees Khan’s father, said the local police station called him a few months ago and asked for his thumb impression on some papers. “I told them I would not. I said I would do it only after my lawyer tells me to. Then I was forced to leave from there,” he said. When Raees was shot, no one tended to him at the hospital. “The doctor heard he had a Muslim name and did not want to touch him at all. We were thumping our chests and asking for help, but no one was listening to us,” Shareef said. While all families claim the same, there is no written statement by the deceased claiming they were shot by the police – a reason why their claims are being allegedly dismissed as lack of evidence. They were brought to the hospital for several hours before they breathed their last. “Before dying all three made statements in front of the doctors, their parents and friends, that the police had shot them. I wrote an application on the basis of this and submitted it to the SSP as well, but since no FIR has been registered, I've moved court under provisions of CrPC 156/3 and the final arguments are going on,” the lawyer said. “This is the negligence of the police that they did not record dying declarations. If someone is dying, it is logical that they would record their statements in front of a magistrate or a higher official. Why did they get late? It would have all been clear then itself. This is the responsibility of the government,” he added.
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Srinagar residents alege mass beatings by Army after militant attack
Date: 29/11/2020
Category: Hate violence: Physical
After militants attacked a patrol group, killing two troopers, on the afternoon of 26 November in Abanshah area in Srinagar’s outskirts, the locals have accused the Army of raiding the neighbourhood every day and night, dragging out civilians and beating them up. More than a dozen families in the neighbourhood claimed that more than sixty people were beaten up by the army so far. More than a dozen men ran away from the village the day after the beating. “Their officer walked up to me and said ‘Bol, Jai Shri Ram’, (chant Victory to Lord Ram, a rallying slogan for Hindu nationalists)” one of the attacked residents said. “[But] I screamed in pain then he shoved his gun in my mouth.” “At least twenty other people”, he said, were ordered out of their homes. They “stood in a line” on the dark street as the temperature dipped to 1°C. As the men and boys shivered, one trooper walked up to Hussain and said: “Yeh raat tu kabhi nahi bhulega. Yeh to shuruwat hai.” (You’ll never forget this night. This is just the beginning.)
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Malayalam cartoon portrays Muslim-majority party as man with A K 47
Date: 29/11/2020
Category: Propaganda
A cartoon published in Deshabimani, the mouthpiece of Kerala’s ruling CPI(M) party, has drawn flak for portraying a Muslim man carrying a gun as an indication of radicalization. The man, wearing traditional Muslim attire, is supposed to symbolize the Welfare Party, a political party supported by the Islamic organization Jamat-e-Islami. Welfare Party state president Hameed Vaniyambalam accused the Left party of trying to communally polarize the state. He also asked what kind of communal activities the party had committed, and pointed out that CPI(M) itself had joined hands with the party in earlier elections and in other states. The character is seen to be hugged by M M Hasan, the convenor of Congress-lead UDF. There is widespread criticism that the cartoon is racist in nature.
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Attempt to murder charge against man who attended Tablighi event 'abuse of law': Allahabad HC
Date: 5/12/2020
Category: Discrimination
The Allahabad high court observed that the attempt to slap a murder charge against a Mau resident who participated in the religious congregation organised by the Tablighi Jamaat in March was reflective of an “abuse of the power of law”. The high court made the observation while staying the proceedings under section 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code against Mohammad Saad, who was accused of deliberately not informing the local authorities about taking part in the event and avoiding voluntary quarantine upon his return from Delhi. The Tablighi Jamaat congregation in New Delhi in March coincided with a spike in the coronavirus cases in the country. The Central government, BJP leaders and media played a crucial role in communalising the pandemic and blaming the Muslim community in general and the Tablighi Jamaat in particular for the spread of COVID-19. In UP, the Yogi Adityanath government even promulgated an ordinance in May that prescribed a maximum punishment of life term if a person causes death by “intentional affliction” of COVID-19. The ordinance was passed merely a few days after the chief minister accused those who visited the Tablighi Jamaat event of “hiding” their infection, which he said “is definitely a crime”. “And this crime has been done by those associated with the Tablighi Jamaat,” he said, adding action would be taken against them, prompting fears that the ordinance would be used to target only certain people. In many other states too, both local and high courts have found that the action taken by police departments against people who attended the Tablighi Jamaat event was excessive. In Mumbai, all cases registered against people who attended the event ended “either in acquittals or discharge, being cleared of all charges”.This came after the Bombay HC observed that the people who attended the congregation were chosen as ‘scapegoats‘.
Sources:
https://thewire.in/law/allahabad-high-court-tablighi-jamaat-attempt-murder-abuse-of-law-power
Old photo circulated as Muslim man disguised as Sikh farmer
Date: 28/11/2020
Category: Propoganda
Supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) promoting misinformation around the anti-farm bill protests to discredit the farmers have posted a picture of a man wearing a green turban and claimed that a Muslim man disguised as a Sikh took part in the agitation. Kunwar Ajay Pratap Singh, a Twitter user who is followed by Prime minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, shared the picture and questioned, “He is a farmer?” He also attached a screenshot of the man’s Facebook profile which shows that his name is Nazeer Mohd. From the Twitter handle @AndColorPokeT, it received over 19.000 likes. Another Twitter user Abhimanyu Tyagi shared these images. According to his Twitter bio, Tyagi is State Secretary BJP Delhi Youth Morcha. “Nazeer Mohammad turn into Navdeep Mohanpuria,” he wrote. The photograph being circulated was posted by Nazeer Mohd on his Facebook profile on April 8, 2020. The picture, therefore, cannot represent a Muslim man disguising as a Sikh to take part in farmer protests. Nazeer Mohd locked his Facebook profile after his pictures began circulating online with false, provocative claims.
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Muslim leaders have helped Rohingyas get on voter list, allege BJP
Date: 23/11/2020
Ahead of elections for Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), BJP leaders like Home Minister Amit Shah and Tejaswi Surya have alleged that the Owaisi brothers, who lead the AIMIM party, have helped Rohingya Muslims get on the voter list. AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi challenged the BJP to show the names of 100 Rohingya refugees on the voters’ list, after a BJP leader claimed that 40,000 Rohingya had succeeded in getting listed as voters. Hours after Mr Shah asked Mr Owaisi to give in writing that Bangladeshis and Rohingya have to be evicted, Asaduddin Owaisi asked who was stopping Union Home Minister Amit Shah from removing illegal Rohingya refugees from Hyderabad. Mr Owaisi pointed out that Mr Shah was the first Home Minister who was seeking permission from an MP to remove illegal immigrants.
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