P.V. Narasimha Rao's portrait unveiled at Raj Bhavan
Commemorating the occasion with floral tributes, the Governor paid rich homage to the legacy of P.V. Narasimha Rao, hailing him as a transformative figure in India's modern history. He lauded PV's pioneering contributions in ushering economic liberalisation, strengthening foreign policy and advancing the education sector.
Recalling him as a 'statesman-scholar', the Governor emphasised his intellectual prowess, administrative acumen and unwavering commitment to national progress.
The Governor also announced that the portrait of another towering national leader, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, will be unveiled at Raj Bhavan on Kargil Vijay Diwas (July 26) this year. A special ceremony to honour Kargil War veterans will also be organised to mark the proud occasion.
With the addition of PV's portrait, the Raj Bhavan is already embellished with portraits of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, and the last Nizam of Hyderabad Mir Osman Ali Khan, representing India's diverse and distinguished leadership. Principal Secretary to the Governor M. Dana Kishore and senior officials were present.
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Scroll.in
a day ago
- Scroll.in
Before demanding citizenship proof from Kargil veteran's family, mob barged into another Muslim home
On the night of July 26, a mob of Hindutva sympathisers forcibly entered the home of a Kargil war veteran's family in Pune's Chandan Nagar, accused his family of being Bangladeshi and demanded to see documents proving that they were Indian. Hours before, the same mob had similarly harassed another Muslim family who lived three houses away. In both instances, the mob was accompanied by police officials. As outrage over the incident grew, the police filed a first information report against seven Bajrang Dal workers who had raided the homes. 'In the garb of looking for illegal migrants, Muslims are being harassed,' said Shamshad Sheikh, whose uncle fought in the Kargil War. Sheikh and his family members were among those forced to go to the police station in the middle of the night with their documents. 'Several from our family served in the army, but we have been harassed to prove our nationality,' Sheikh said. So far, 16 people have been named in a first information report, Chandan Nagar Police Inspector Seema Dhakne told Scroll. Pradeep Jagannath Dhumal, the police hawaldar at the police station who is the main complainant, said that the initial FIR named seven people. 'All of them are Bajrang Dal members,' Dhumal told Scroll over the phone. Dhakne admitted to Scroll that the police had not carried out any background checks on the two Muslim families before they accompanied the Bajrang Dal workers to 'question' them. Vigilantes on the prowl Last Saturday night, Mohammed Salman had just retired to bed when there was a long banging on the ground-floor rented apartment in Chandan Nagar that he shared with his brother's family. Salman runs a hair-cutting salon in Pune. 'When my brother opened the door, several men came inside. They were chanting Jai Shri Ram,' he said. 'They said 'Aadhaar card nikalo, PAN card nikalo, kahan se aaye ho?'' Take out your Aadhar card, PAN card; where have you come from? Salman has lived in Chandan Nagar for six years. 'Before this we lived in another part of the city,' he said. 'My brother has lived in Pune for 17 years.' Salman said that a man dressed in plain clothes said he was from the police and asked them if any other Muslims lived in the neighbourhood. 'We were scared and told them about the Sheikh family,' said Salman. 'The Sheikhs are our neighbours in Pratapgarh' in Uttar Pradesh. The Hindutva workers and the accompanying police called Salman's landlord, who lived on the upper floor, to show identity proof. When contacted, the landlord refused to comment. A family of soldiers The mob then went next door into Sheikh's home. 'There were about 60 to 70 of them,' Shamshad Sheikh told Scroll. 'They went into our bedrooms, abused women and threatened children.' Sheikh, runs a transport business and lives in the residential locality. His extended family of 30, including his four brothers, live in the three adjoining houses. Sheikh's uncle Hakiumuddin served in the Indian Army and fought in the Kargil War. Hakimuddin currently lives in Pratapgarh. Hakimuddin's uncle – Sheikh's great-uncle – was also an Indian Army war veteran: he fought in the 1965 war against Pakistan and later in 1971. Several members of the family have served in the Indian army. Sheikh said five to seven men kept barging into the house while the rest stood outside and called them 'Bangladeshis'. 'We showed them our Aadhaar card, our PAN card,' he said. 'But they said the documents were fake.' Sheikh said that people in the mob identified themselves as Bajrang Dal members. The mob forced Sheikh's family to go to the Chandan Nagar police station. 'One person identified himself as a policeman,' said Sheikh. 'He was in plain clothes. He said the women and children could stay behind.' Sheikh, his brothers, uncle and their sons, and their neighbours Salman and his brother took their identification documents to the Chandan Nagar police station and waited there till 2.30 am. 'The police inspector told us to come again by 11 am the next day,' said Sheikh. 'She said that if we didn't come, we would be declared as Bangladeshis.' Chandan Nagar Police Inspector Dhakne refuted the allegation that she had threatened to declare the Sheikh family as Bangladeshis. 'I just asked them to return and submit their documents the next day,' Dhakne told Scroll. The family returned to the police station with their documents the next day. 'After that nobody harassed us,' said Sheikh. Policemen in plainclothes were with the mob, alleged the families, which the police later confirmed. 'The tip' Dhakne said that the Bajrang Dal told the police that some men from Assam were living in the area. She said the police team went directly to the spot with Bajrang Dal members without making any other inquiries. 'We suspected them to be Bangladeshis,' she said. 'If we get a tip, we will visit the spot. Some of our officers from the detection team wore civil clothes.' Dhakne added: 'We ask the suspects to show identification proof, details of native village, the local police station and we verify their details and leave them. The same protocol was carried out in this case.' In the initial FIR against the Hindutva mob, the police invoked sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanahita for unlawful assembly, disobeying public servants and creating public nuisance. But outrage grew over the harassment of a Kargil war veteran's family. The 26th anniversary of the Kargil War was marked across India on the same day – July 26. The police have added more stringent charges under Section 115 for causing voluntary hurt, Section 329 for criminal trespass, Section 353 for circulating false information and Section 299 for outraging religious feelings. Deputy commissioner of Police Somay Munde did not respond to calls or messages from Scroll. Officials from the Mumbai police told Scroll that they usually check the call data records of suspects to see if any phone calls have been made or received from Bangladesh before detaining people for questioning. However, Dhakne said they 'did not verify call records'. 'Police complicit' Milind Champanerkar, general secretary of People's Union for Civil Liberties, said it was a worrying pattern that 'even the police is complicit in anti-Muslim agenda'. 'About three months ago a Muslim salon owner was assaulted in Pune's Kothrud area because of his faith,' said Champanerkar. 'But the police did nothing, did not detain or arrest anyone.' Champanerkar said the police are dutybound to safeguard citizens. 'How can the police allow the Bajrang Dal to take the lead?' he asked, pointing out that no one from the outfit had been arrested so far for intruding into the homes of others. Firoz Khan, who runs a charitable organisation and is a member of the Republican Party of India in Pune, said communal incidents have increased lately. 'And all this is happening with complete knowledge of the police,' he said.
Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Hindustan Times
Ex-serviceman, two army jawans visit Kargil veteran's family
An office-bearer of ex-servicemen association and two jawans visited the family of Hakimuddin Shaikh, a retired soldier who fought in the 1999 Kargil War, on Wednesday afternoon and pledged solidarity with the family. After verifying facts related to the incident at the police station, the visitors went to his home to show support for the family, the family members said. (HT PHOTO) After verifying facts related to the incident at the police station, the visitors went to his home to show support for the family, the family members said. 'Two jawans on duty and an ex-servicemen association director from the Army Engineers Regiment heard that my uncle Hakimuddin was arrested. They came to the police station first and then to our house,' said Nawab Ali Shaikh, nephew of Hakimuddin. 'The director of the ex-servicemen association had worked with my uncle,' he said. Meanwhile, the Pune police on Wednesday registered a first information report (FIR) against seven individuals and others for alleged unlawful assembly after a group of members belonging to a right-wing group barged into the house of the family of the Kargil War veteran in Chandannagar late Saturday night accused them of being illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.
Indian Express
2 days ago
- Indian Express
Chhattisgarh conversion row and violence on Pune family: Rule of the mob
Two incidents, a day apart, show the police in two states, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra, in poor light. They failed to uphold a basic precept of modern governance — only law enforcement agencies have the power to detain and question suspects and investigate crime, and they must also do so only according to due process. Last week, policemen in these two states appear to have acted at the behest of the mob. On July 25, the Chhattisgarh police arrested three people, including two nuns, on charges of forced conversion and human trafficking. Reports in this paper have raised questions about the neutrality of the law enforcers in a situation rife with tension. Instead of calming tempers and probing the charges, the Chhattisgarh police drew up their FIR almost entirely on the basis of statements of Bajrang Dal members. One of the women at the centre of the row later admitted she was coerced by a member of a right-wing outfit to give a statement against the accused. A day after the Chhattisgarh arrests, a group of around 60-70 people, several of them allegedly belonging to the Bajrang Dal, barged into the house of a Kargil War veteran's relative in Pune, demanded identity proofs from the family, and called them Bangladeshis. The police personnel present at the site participated in the humiliation of the family by taking them to a police station in the dead of the night. The Supreme Court has, on several occasions, underlined the dangers of mob vigilantism. But whether in cow protection cases or in matters related to religious conversion, or now in the increasingly contentious issue of illegal migration, law enforcement agencies show a disturbing tendency to let self-proclaimed community leaders take over. The Pune incident reportedly occurred after a 'tip-off' about Bangladeshis in the city. The role of the Bajrang Dal in this episode — as well as in the conversion-related arrests in Chhattisgarh — points to the same worrying tendency of the state law enforcement apparatus ceding vital space to vigilantes. On more than one occasion, including in December last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has underlined the contributions of the Catholic community in social welfare. Instances such as the episode in Chhattisgarh pose question marks on that outreach. It's also a cruel irony that at a time when members of all political parties are applauding the valour of the armed forces in Operation Sindoor, a war veteran's relatives were targeted with impunity. The police in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra have much to answer for.
