Kathmandu, Dec 30 (IANS) Three months after being caught for masterminding attacks on churches and mosques in Nepal, the chief of an underground organisation that persecuted Christians and Muslims says he was funded by India’s ultra-right organisations and armed by outlawed Indian militant group United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA).
Ram Prasad Mainali, a 37-year-old Hindu, [...]
Bhubaneswar, Dec 25 (IANS) A fast track court in Orissa convicted three people in two separate cases related to the anti-Christian violence in Kandhamal last year. But 26 others were let off for want of evidence, in judgements that came on Christmas eve.
‘In one case, two people were convicted by Fast Track Court-I and handed [...]
Bhubaneswar, Dec 24 (IANS) A fast track court in Orissa Thursday convicted three people in a Kandhamal riot case.
‘Three people have been convicted for torching the house of Alima Mallick of Grisangia village in Kandhamal district on Sep 25, 2008,’ said P.K. Patra, the public prosecutor.
‘All three have been sentenced to two years in jail [...]
Lucknow, Dec 23 (IANS) Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s (VHP) international president Ashok Singhal Wednesday accused the police of conspiring against self-styled spiritual guru Asaram Bapu, facing charges of paedophilia and child abuse, and demanded immediate removal of the Gujarat police chief.
‘Asaram Bapu is being victimized. The saints would not tolerate it at any cost and will [...]
Bhubaneswar, Dec 23 (IANS) A fast track court in Orissa Wednesday sentenced six people to three years imprisonment for torching the house of a villager in Kandhamal last year, an official said.
‘Six people have been convicted in the Kandhamal riot case. Each of them has been awarded three year jail term,’ public prosecutor P.K. Patra [...]
Bhubaneswar, Dec 22 (IANS) A fast track court Tuesday acquitted five people in a Kandhamal riot case, an official said.
The five were acquitted in a case of arson in K Nuagaon village under Baliguda police station area. ‘Though the witnesses acknowledged the destruction and burning of house, they could not recognize the perpetrator. All the [...]
Bhubaneswar, Dec 22 (IANS) Thousands of policemen have been deployed in Orissa’s trouble-hit Kandhamal district to ensure peaceful Christmas celebrations, authorities said Tuesday.
The district witnessed widespread communal violence last year after the murder of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati.
‘We have deployed adequate number of policemen in all sensitive places of the district. [...]
Lucknow, Dec 21 (IANS) The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) is to start a toll-free helpline service in India for Hindu pilgrims and tourists to help them in booking low-cost accomodation, hiring vehicles and medical services during pilgrimages.
The 24-hour helpline, which would be functional from January 2010, would be part of the VHP’s ’social responsibility programmes’, [...]
Ahmedabad, Dec 18 (IANS) Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Pravin Togadia threatened a nationwide agitation if the government made any move to implement the report of the Ranganath Mishra Commission for reservation for Muslims and other minorities. ‘It is anti-constitutional, anti-national and anti-Hindu,’ he alleged.
Togadia, VHP secretary general, condemned the report terming it as against [...]
Bhubaneswar, Dec 11 (IANS) A fast track court in Orissa Friday convicted five people to four years’ jail term each in a Kandhamal riot case, an official here said.
‘Five people have been convicted in one case. Each has been awarded a jail term of four years and a fine of Rs.4,000 each,’ said P.K. Patra, [...]
New Delhi, Dec 10 (IANS) Terming Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) position on demolition of the Babri mosque as a ‘national shame’, the Congress said Thursday that the opposition party was taking the country in a wrong direction ‘in the name of Lord Ram’.
‘Don’t make false arguments. You will regret it tomorrow. You are taking the [...]
Bhubaneswar, Dec 7 (IANS) The main accused in the gang rape of a nun in Orissa’s Kandhamal district during last year’s communal clashes has been arrested, police said Monday.
‘We have arrested Gururam Patra from Dharampur area of the district Sunday evening,’ investigating officer B.K. Mohanty told IANS.
Patra had allegedly led the mob that attacked the [...]
Patna, Dec 6 (IANS) Bihar was on high alert Sunday on the 17th Babri mosque demolition anniversary and additional forces were deployed in communally sensitive areas to prevent any trouble, police said.
Bihar police chief Anand Shankar said all senior police officials at district levels have been directed to monitor the situation and keep a close [...]
Lucknow, Dec 4 (IANS) The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to withdraw a pamphlet of its tourism department because it describes the disputed Ayodhya site as ‘Ramjanmabhoomi’ (Lord Ram’s birthplace). The description has kicked up a big row.
‘This inadvertent error in a small guide-booklet on Ayodhya has caused us unnecessary embarrassment; so we are withdrawing [...]
Lucknow, Dec 3 (IANS) Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vinay Katiyar Thursday said he will make certain ’startling revelations’ about the razing of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya Dec 6, 1992, on the 17th anniversary of the incident Sunday.
‘While some people would hail Dec 6 as ‘victory day’ and others would condemn it as [...]
Ayodhya, Dec 3 (IANS) The Liberhan Commission report might be creating ripples in the corridors of power in New Delhi. And preparations for the 17th anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Mosque Dec 6 might also be in full swing. Yet, back on ground zero, all appears to be quiet.
Everything appears to have come [...]
New Delhi, Nov.30 (ANI): The scheduled parliamentary debate on Liberhan Commission’s report over Babri mosque demolition on Monday evening was postponed for next week due to non-availability of its Hindi version for parliamentarians.
The debate was [...]
Bhubaneswar, Nov 30 (IANS) A fast track court in Orissa Monday convicted a person to five years in prison in a Kandhamal riot case.
‘Sanjeev Pradhan has been held guilty by the court for setting on fire the house of Shravan Kumar Digal of Penagari village in Kandhamal district Aug 25, 2008. He has been given [...]
Bhubaneswar, Nov 28 (IANS) A fast track court Saturday jailed 12 people for four years while acquitting two others in a 2008 Kandhamal riots case, an official said.
Judge C.R. Das sentenced the 12 to concurrent jail terms of four years and one year and a Rs.2000 fine after convicting them of arson and unlawful assembly [...]
Bulandshahar (Uttar Pradesh), Nov 27 (ANI): Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav on Friday contended that the Supreme Court will decide whether to build temple or a mosque at the disputed site in Ayodhya.
Interacting with the media persons on the sidelines [...]
New Delhi, Nov 27 (IANS) Hundreds of Muslim protesters gathered near the Jama Masjid Friday and burnt effigies of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders L.K. Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who were indicted by the Liberhan commission for razing of the Babri Masjid. They demanded the arrest of those responsible for the 1992 demolition.
The [...]
New Delhi, Nov 27 (ANI): Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) International president Ashok Singhal revealed here on Friday that he had face to face meetings with former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao thrice to solve the Ramjanmabhoomi issue.
Addressing a press conference here, Singhal said all these meetings were arranged by ‘Dhirubhai,’ apparently referring to the [...]
Bhubaneswar, Nov 24 (IANS) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Manoj Pradhan was Tuesday acquitted by a fast-track court in a murder case relating to the Kandhamal riots for want of evidence.
‘Manoj Pradhan has been acquitted in the case. He has been let off for want of evidence,’ said Bijay Pattnaik, the special public prosecutor.
The legislator [...]
New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) Putting at rest 17 years of speculation, the Liberhan Commission Tuesday pinned the blame for the demolition of the Babri Masjid on Hindutva advocates across the spectrum and said in a scathing indictment that events leading up to Dec 6, 1992 were ‘neither spontaneous nor unplanned’.
The voluminous 1,029 page probe [...]
New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) Journalists covering the Dec 6, 1992, attack on the Babri Masjid were subjected to ’systematic harassment’ and not only were they stopped from covering the event but were instilled with a fear for their own safety, the Liberhan Commission has said in its report.
‘The reporters were confined to small rooms [...]
New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) The Liberhan Commission that probed the Babri Masjid demolition has held 68 people individually culpable for leading the country ‘to the brink of communal discord’. The list includes former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, senior BJP leaders L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi as well as Shiv Sena chief Bal [...]
New Delhi, Nov 23 (IANS) Following is the chronology of the important dates related to the Babri Masjid demolition:
Dec 22, 1949: Idols of Ram Lalla were allegedly installed inside the 16th century Babri mosque in the night by a group of Hindus following which a court ruled that the site be locked against entry to [...]
Nagpur, Nov 22 (IANS) Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Ashok Singhal Sunday accused Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray of lacking courage and said Hindi can never be banished by anyone.
Commenting on Thackeray’s claim that it were Shiv Sainiks who demolished the Babri mosque in Ayodhya in December 1992, the VHP leader told reporters here that [...]
Nagpur, Nov. 22 (ANI): The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Sunday demanded action against MNS chief Raj Thackeray for trying to divide the country in the name of language and humiliating the lingua franca.
“It is vote bank politics and Raj Thackeray will not succeed in dividing the country in the name of opposition to Hindi [...]
Haridwar (Uttarakhand), Nov 20(ANI): Security has been beefed up at Har Ki Pauri, a sacred ghat on the banks of river Ganges, ahead of the Maha Kumbh Mela.
During the ‘Maha Kumbh Mela, Har Ki Pauri will be one of the main sites where pilgrims will converge to take dip [...]
