'Will cut hair with razor': Indian-origin Hindu man Bhushan Athale jailed in US for violent threats against Sikhs
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Athale called the main number of the Sikh nonprofit organization and left numerous messages threatening to injure or kill these individuals, cut their hair with a razor etc.
The first calls were made in 2022 and in January this year he pleaded guilty to "interfering with federally protected activities' by threatening to use a dangerous weapon and making an interstate threat to injure another person.
He threatened to shave off her and other Sikhs' 'top and bottom' hair with a razor and called members of the religious group by profane names and other insults, according to the criminal complaint authorities wrote when the charges were filed.
In 2023, he again called the same Sikh organization and left two more voicemail using violent, sexual imagery against Sikhs and Muslims.
He had also sent 'hate-fuelled' emails and messages to a Muslim colleague in November 2021, a separate complaint against him said. In a telephone interview with law enforcement in February 2022, the criminal complaint stated, Athale told investigators that he hated Muslims because they ruined India.
'The Department of Justice has no tolerance for hate-fueled threats of violence in our country, and we appreciate the strong efforts of US Attorney Alina Habba and her team in working with us to bring this perpetrator to justice,' said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.
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The Hindu
26 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Socially banished, many face human and civil rights violations
Riyas Azeez, a 43-year-old expatriate from Wayanad, never had an inkling of what awaited him at his ancestral home when he reached there to attend his father's funeral a few years ago. His father was buried before his arrival. Worse still, his grieving mother and siblings severed familial ties with him for no apparent reason. Azeez could sense a building unease when he tried to strike up a conversation with his relatives; many of them ignored him or even acted as if they hadn't seen him. He soon realised that an unspoken social boycott was in force against him. The reason, he suspects, was his decision to quit Naqshbandi Thareeqath, a religious group based in Koduvally, Kozhikode, in which he was once a member. 'My mother, an ardent follower of this Sufi order, asked me not to come home again. She was even suspended from the organisation on the allegation that she once attempted to contact me over the phone. I wasn't even allowed to grieve my father's death,' says Azeez. However, Lubna and Shibila, his wife and sister-in-law, refused to be cowed down by the alleged dictates of the group and aired their concern with the media. They also approached the authorities against the alleged social ostracism slapped on them. 'We were greeted with hostility when we visited our parents back in their village. A crowd of nearly 100 people quickly gathered outside our house upon learning that we had arrived. The angry mob demanded our eviction from the house,' they say, recalling the terrifying moments. 'Even our aged parents were not spared for us leaving the group. They, too, face the risk of isolation.' A young woman from Kizhisseri, too, reportedly faced the wrath of the group for choosing her groom from outside the Naqshbandi Thareeqath. After being expelled from the group, she was cut off from her family in Malappuram and had to abandon her studies. 'Love marriages and alliances outside the community are forbidden. Unmarried women are banned from using smartphones or social media. Men are not allowed to grow beard,' says another woman on condition of anonymity. The exclusionary practices allegedly imposed by some segments of the Muslim society have come into sharp focus with incidents involving Naqshbandi Thareeqath. There have been instances of excommunication, denial of marriage registration, burial, and madrasa education, and cancellation or denial of mahal membership for those who have fallen out with the organised and powerful sections of the community. A few of the complainants have taken up their case with the Kerala Waqf Board as well. If it was the reported decision to quit the group that proved costly for Azeez and others, the fight to end social injustice and ostracism is far from over for P.S. Shajahan and around 200 Muslims in Changanassery in Kottayam, who belong to the Ossan community. The mahal committee (the administrative body of the jamaat) had been denying membership to those belonging to the social segment for over two centuries because their forefathers were once employed as barbers. In yet another case, a man was socially boycotted by a mahal committee in Thiruvananthapuram after his daughter married a non-Muslim. Abdul Faisal, a young businessman from Kasaragod, is fighting a legal battle against alleged social discrimination imposed on his family after his father reportedly challenged some actions of the mahal committee. Naqshbandi case Mohammed Fazil, a Kizhisseri native who helped many victims take on the Thareeqath legally, says those who left the organisation had to face strange social strictures issued by its leaders. Many families are enduring hardships for quitting the order, he says. The Kerala State Human Rights Commission has already registered a case. A fair investigation into the functioning of the group needs to be carried out, and the victims protected. Suicide attempts of some persons, who had quit the group, also need to be investigated, says Fazil. However, those associated with the group dismiss the allegations as false and baseless. 'We have not given any call for social boycott of anyone. Hundreds of people, including women and children, are involved in the activities of the group,' says P.V. Shahul Hameed, patron of the organisation. Hameed asserts that the organisation is least concerned about those who have quit. 'Why should we be bothered about those who are no longer with us? We don't go after those who have left the group. All the allegations raised against the group are fake and concocted ones,' says Hameed. Puthoorppally case It was the legal battle waged by P.S. Shajahan, a ration shop owner, and 11 others that ended the over two-century-old discretionary practice followed at Puthoorppally Muslim Jamaat, Changanassery, and upheld their right to lead a dignified life last year. However, they are far from happy at the turn of events. 'Though we were given mahal membership, there are still certain impediments that prevent us from contesting elections to the mahal committee and becoming its office-bearers. We are not contented with securing membership and the right to attend general body meetings, but are determined to fight for securing all our rights,' asserts Shajahan. P. P. Abdul Hameed, president of the mahal committee, is aware of the resistance that awaits him from those he terms as fundamentalist elements in the community, while standing up for the rights of the affected families. 'We have been supporting the cause of Shajahan and others right from the beginning. There's no going back on the fight for securing their rights,' says Hameed, who recently won the election to the mahal committee after defeating a section of the community members opposed to admitting Ossans and others to the membership. 'We argued that the very idea of segregating and socially isolating people is alien to Islam. It's a reality that there are still glass ceilings in the community, and the one that was in force at Puthoorppally was one such discriminatory practice,' says T.P. Sajid, a lawyer who represented them at the Kerala Waqf Board, the Waqf Tribunal, and the Kerala High Court. It was nearly three generations ago that the community members were engaged as barbers. Most of the community members have changed their social profile. Yet, the ghosts of social discrimination continue to haunt them, he says. Kasaragod case According to Faisal, his family was denied the right to participate in some religious functions after his father filed a case against the mahal committee and succeeded in bringing out some financial irregularities. 'It hurts when you're ostracised. But I won't take it lying down; I've decided to fight back,' says Faisal. However, M.A. Abdul Hameed, president of the Kulikkunnu Muhiyudheen Jamaat Committee, denies the allegation of social boycott. The mahal membership of his father, who was suspended following a legal dispute over a pathway with the committee, has been restored. Faisal, who claims to have secured a favourable order regarding his membership, has not approached the committee for restoring the membership. An appeal filed by the committee against the court order is pending, says Hameed. Social critic M.N. Karassery feels that social ostracism is a form of edict issued by the clergy of all religions. 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A few cases of disciplinary actions initiated by mahal committees against individuals have also been portrayed as social boycotts, he says. 'The board can intervene only in the cases of mahal committees associated with registered waqfs on which it has supervisory control. In such cases, the board has issued directives to end the discriminatory practices and restore the rights of individuals. We had even expedited the legal process by holding summary hearings to ensure justice to the victims,' says Sakeer. The board had also issued a circular to the mahal committees against excommunication, denial of marriage registration, burial, and madrasa education, and cancellation or denial of mahal membership. They have also been warned of prosecution. The board had initiated prosecution measures against the mahal committee of the Puthoorppally Muslim Jamaat following a complaint, he says. Legal recourse A host of legal remedies, says Sajid, are available for the victims of social discrimination. They can approach appropriate civil courts to get their rights restored, he says. However, the miseries of victims of social ostracism quite often fail to reach the corridors of justice, and their muted cries go unnoticed. (With inputs from Mitosh Joseph in Kozhikode)
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
ED freezes Rs 110 crore in mule accounts and seizes 1,200 credit cards in Parimatch money laundering probe
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Business Standard
an hour ago
- Business Standard
Publicis sues CCI for denying case files in ad firms' cartelisation probe
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