Tag: Anil Vij

  • Over 200 arrested, 102 FIRs lodged in Nuh violence: Haryana minister

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij on Friday said 202 people have been arrested so far and 80 taken into preventive detention in connection with the communal clashes in Nuh.

    He also said the way bullets were fired from hillocks and stones collected on rooftops of buildings indicates that Nuh’s violence was pre-planned.

    In all, police have so far filed 102 FIRs in the matter.

    “I want to assure you that anyone involved in the violence won’t be spared,” Vij told reporters in Ambala, adding, the detainees are being questioned. It is a big game plan, every person had a lathi in his hand. Were these being distributed for free? Someone must have arranged these. Bullets were being fired. From where did weapons come? We will go to the depth of the matter,” he said.

    The minister had earlier on Tuesday too said the violence was engineered and had a mastermind behind it.

    However, in a press conference on Friday, the Nuh Superintendent of Police said they have so far found no indication of there being a mastermind behind the clashes.

    Nuh SP Narendra Singh Bijarnia said the investigation so far has suggested the involvement of disparate elements, which are being identified and arrested.

    Meanwhile, when the minister was asked if the administration will resort to bulldozing the properties of the culprits, he quipped “Bulldozer, wherever necessary, will be used”.

    “Ilaj mein bulldozer bhi ek karavayi hai (bulldozer is part of the treatment),” he said.

    Haryana authorities have used bulldozers in the past to raze structures of alleged criminals in Nuh and other parts.

    On a cybercrime police station being targeted in Nuh, Vij said, “We have taken the incident very seriously.” Investigations are underway to find out who attacked the police station and what records they wanted to destroy, he said.

    He said Nuh was becoming a new Jamtara — the Jharkhand district notorious as India’s cyber crime hub.

    A massive crackdown was launched earlier this year against cyber criminals and several people were arrested for defrauding people across India.

    ALSO READ  | No mastermind behind Nuh violence, culprits being identified, arrested: Nuh SP

    “In April a house-to-house search was conducted with 5,000 police personnel. Many laptops, several thousand SIM cards and ATM cards were found there, on which action was also taken. Now the cyber station that has been attacked, and the way attempts have been made to tamper with the files, has made us launch an investigation into whether cyber thugs attacked the computer systems also of the police station,” said Vij.

    Six people, including two home guards and a cleric, died in the clashes that erupted in Muslim-dominated Nuh when a Vishva Hindu Parishad procession was attacked by mobs on Monday.

    Vij said police were recording people’s statements and scanning CCTV footage.

    He also urged the journalists who have been to Nuh to cover the clashes since Monday to provide videos and feeds to the authorities to help them investigate the clashes.

    Vij made the same request to people who were part of the procession where the violence first broke out.

    Asked if the authorities had received intelligence about potential trouble during the VHP Yatra, as purportedly shown in a TV channel sting, Vij said “at what level the input was there, who was told about it, all these things will be investigated.”

    ALSO READ | Violence has no religion: ‘Allahhu Akbar’ in Nuh, ‘Jai Shree Ram’ in Gurugram

    Vij said an Inspector is heard saying something during a TV sting and the video has been sent by him to the Additional Chief Secretary, Home Department, for analysis. If that inspector had any information, then who did he give it to and at what level, this all will be investigated, he said.

    When asked about Ashok Gehlot’s allegation that Haryana Police did not cooperate in the arrest of Monu Manesar “a cow vigilante who is wanted in a case by Rajasthan Police” Vij said, “Congress chief ministers are known for making irresponsible statements and they talk irresponsibly all over the country.”

    “They should come and arrest Monu Manesar, we have never stopped anyone, the Haryana Police also goes to the other states to arrest the culprit, everyone cooperates, and we will also cooperate,” he said.

    The Home Minister said all measures are being taken to restore peace in Nuh and nearby districts.

    Referring to the Friday namaz, the minister said he has spoken to deputy commissioners of Nuh, Faridabad, and Gurugram, and instructed them to make adequate security arrangements.

    CHANDIGARH: Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij on Friday said 202 people have been arrested so far and 80 taken into preventive detention in connection with the communal clashes in Nuh.

    He also said the way bullets were fired from hillocks and stones collected on rooftops of buildings indicates that Nuh’s violence was pre-planned.

    In all, police have so far filed 102 FIRs in the matter.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    “I want to assure you that anyone involved in the violence won’t be spared,” Vij told reporters in Ambala, adding, the detainees are being questioned. It is a big game plan, every person had a lathi in his hand. Were these being distributed for free? Someone must have arranged these. Bullets were being fired. From where did weapons come? We will go to the depth of the matter,” he said.

    The minister had earlier on Tuesday too said the violence was engineered and had a mastermind behind it.

    However, in a press conference on Friday, the Nuh Superintendent of Police said they have so far found no indication of there being a mastermind behind the clashes.

    Nuh SP Narendra Singh Bijarnia said the investigation so far has suggested the involvement of disparate elements, which are being identified and arrested.

    Meanwhile, when the minister was asked if the administration will resort to bulldozing the properties of the culprits, he quipped “Bulldozer, wherever necessary, will be used”.

    “Ilaj mein bulldozer bhi ek karavayi hai (bulldozer is part of the treatment),” he said.

    Haryana authorities have used bulldozers in the past to raze structures of alleged criminals in Nuh and other parts.

    On a cybercrime police station being targeted in Nuh, Vij said, “We have taken the incident very seriously.” Investigations are underway to find out who attacked the police station and what records they wanted to destroy, he said.

    He said Nuh was becoming a new Jamtara — the Jharkhand district notorious as India’s cyber crime hub.

    A massive crackdown was launched earlier this year against cyber criminals and several people were arrested for defrauding people across India.

    ALSO READ  | No mastermind behind Nuh violence, culprits being identified, arrested: Nuh SP

    “In April a house-to-house search was conducted with 5,000 police personnel. Many laptops, several thousand SIM cards and ATM cards were found there, on which action was also taken. Now the cyber station that has been attacked, and the way attempts have been made to tamper with the files, has made us launch an investigation into whether cyber thugs attacked the computer systems also of the police station,” said Vij.

    Six people, including two home guards and a cleric, died in the clashes that erupted in Muslim-dominated Nuh when a Vishva Hindu Parishad procession was attacked by mobs on Monday.

    Vij said police were recording people’s statements and scanning CCTV footage.

    He also urged the journalists who have been to Nuh to cover the clashes since Monday to provide videos and feeds to the authorities to help them investigate the clashes.

    Vij made the same request to people who were part of the procession where the violence first broke out.

    Asked if the authorities had received intelligence about potential trouble during the VHP Yatra, as purportedly shown in a TV channel sting, Vij said “at what level the input was there, who was told about it, all these things will be investigated.”

    ALSO READ | Violence has no religion: ‘Allahhu Akbar’ in Nuh, ‘Jai Shree Ram’ in Gurugram

    Vij said an Inspector is heard saying something during a TV sting and the video has been sent by him to the Additional Chief Secretary, Home Department, for analysis. If that inspector had any information, then who did he give it to and at what level, this all will be investigated, he said.

    When asked about Ashok Gehlot’s allegation that Haryana Police did not cooperate in the arrest of Monu Manesar “a cow vigilante who is wanted in a case by Rajasthan Police” Vij said, “Congress chief ministers are known for making irresponsible statements and they talk irresponsibly all over the country.”

    “They should come and arrest Monu Manesar, we have never stopped anyone, the Haryana Police also goes to the other states to arrest the culprit, everyone cooperates, and we will also cooperate,” he said.

    The Home Minister said all measures are being taken to restore peace in Nuh and nearby districts.

    Referring to the Friday namaz, the minister said he has spoken to deputy commissioners of Nuh, Faridabad, and Gurugram, and instructed them to make adequate security arrangements.

  • Men should strengthen their minds, free women from hijab: Haryana minister Anil Vij

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Haryana Minister Anil Vij on Thursday waded into the headscarf issue saying men should strengthen their minds and free women from the hijab.

    Vij’s tweet came shortly before the Supreme Court delivered a split verdict on a batch of pleas challenging the Karnataka High Court judgement refusing to lift the ban on hijab in educational institutions of the state.

    “The men who could not control their excitement upon seeing women forced women to wear hijab. The need was to strengthen their mind, but the punishment was given to the women, they were covered from head to toe. This is a grave injustice,” the Haryana Home minister said in a tweet in Hindi.

    जिन पुरुषों का महिलाओ को देखकर मन मचलता था उन्होंने ही महिलाओं को हिजाब डालने के लिए मजबूर किया । आवश्यकता तो अपने मन को मजबूत करने की थी परंतु सजा महिलाओं को दी गई उनको सिर से लेकर पांव तक डाक दिया। यह सरासर नाइंसाफी है । पुरुष अपना मन मजबूत करे और महिलाओ को हिजाब से मुक्ति दें
    — ANIL VIJ MINISTER HARYANA (@anilvijminister) October 13, 2022
    In the same tweet, he suggested, “Men should strengthen their minds and free women from hijab.”

    In February, amid a row over some students wearing hijab in Karnataka, Vij had said the prevailing dress code in schools and colleges must be followed.

    In view of the split verdict in the Supreme Court, the bench directed that the appeals against the high court verdict be placed before the Chief Justice of India for constituting an appropriate larger bench.

    CHANDIGARH: Haryana Minister Anil Vij on Thursday waded into the headscarf issue saying men should strengthen their minds and free women from the hijab.

    Vij’s tweet came shortly before the Supreme Court delivered a split verdict on a batch of pleas challenging the Karnataka High Court judgement refusing to lift the ban on hijab in educational institutions of the state.

    “The men who could not control their excitement upon seeing women forced women to wear hijab. The need was to strengthen their mind, but the punishment was given to the women, they were covered from head to toe. This is a grave injustice,” the Haryana Home minister said in a tweet in Hindi.

    जिन पुरुषों का महिलाओ को देखकर मन मचलता था उन्होंने ही महिलाओं को हिजाब डालने के लिए मजबूर किया । आवश्यकता तो अपने मन को मजबूत करने की थी परंतु सजा महिलाओं को दी गई उनको सिर से लेकर पांव तक डाक दिया। यह सरासर नाइंसाफी है । पुरुष अपना मन मजबूत करे और महिलाओ को हिजाब से मुक्ति दें
    — ANIL VIJ MINISTER HARYANA (@anilvijminister) October 13, 2022
    In the same tweet, he suggested, “Men should strengthen their minds and free women from hijab.”

    In February, amid a row over some students wearing hijab in Karnataka, Vij had said the prevailing dress code in schools and colleges must be followed.

    In view of the split verdict in the Supreme Court, the bench directed that the appeals against the high court verdict be placed before the Chief Justice of India for constituting an appropriate larger bench.

  • Punjab’s AAP government ‘bachha party’: Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij on Saturday dubbed Punjab’s AAP government a “bachha party”, lacking “complete knowledge of issues”.

    Vij’s remark came a day after the Punjab assembly passed a resolution seeking immediate transfer of Chandigarh to the state.

    Vij also termed Punjab’s Bhagwant Mann government as being at the “infancy stage” whose “milk teeth have not broken yet”.

    Chandigarh is the common capital of Punjab and Haryana.

    “The government which has come in Punjab is a ‘bachha party’. It does not have complete knowledge of issues,” Vij said reacting to the resolution passed by the Punjab assembly.

    Vij also accused the Mann government of raking the issue of Chandigarh while ignoring other related issues.

    “The issue of Chandigarh is there but it is not the only issue. There are other issues which are connected to it. There is SYL water (issue), (the issue of) Hindi speaking areas. They have not spoken on those issues. Whenever there will be a decision, it will be a single one. There cannot be different decisions,” Vij added.

    Replying to another question, Vij called the AAP a “fraud party.”

    “It was born out of deception. There was never an agenda in the Anna Hazare movement that a political party would be formed. But some mischievous elements played with the sentiments of people and formed a political party. A party which is born out of deception will play fraud at every step,” alleged Vij in Panchkula while talking to reporters.

    To another question, Vij asked the AAP what happened to it in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur as he was targeting it over its performance in these states during the recent assembly elections.

    “The situation in Punjab was different. It is not a victory of the AAP, it is a defeat of some people,” said Vij.

    The AAP stormed to power after winning 92 seats of the 117-assembly segments in Punjab.

    On Friday, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had said Chandigarh is and will remain the capital of Haryana and Punjab.

    Both the states have several other issues to talk about apart from Chandigarh, a state government statement quoting him had said here.

    Chandigarh is and will remain the capital of Haryana and Punjab, Khattar had said.

  • Haryana honours doctors aged above 75 with ‘Vat Vriksha’ award

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Health Minister Anil Vij honoured 90 doctors above the age of 75 years on Sunday by presenting them with the ‘Vat Vriksha’ award for their dedicated service.

    Dr R S Sangwan (92) from Sirsa was also among those who received the honour. Speaking on the occasion, Khattar said the doctors of today’s generation should take inspiration from their counterparts of the older generation and serve humanity with the same spirit and devotion.

    Khattar said the process of opening one medical college in every district is underway to meet the demand of doctors in the state.

    He said a target has been set to prepare 2,500 doctors every year and for this the MBBS seats have been increased to 1,685 from 700 in 2014.

    The chief minister was addressing the ‘Doctors Day Award function’ organized under the aegis of Haryana Medical Council at Panchkula.

    He appreciated the title “Vat Vriksha” chosen by the Haryana Medical Council to honour the elderly doctors.

    Khattar said that at present the number of doctors in both private and government sectors in Haryana is about 13,000-14,000, whereas according to the UNO norms, there should be one doctor per 1,000 population.

    “If we consider the population of Haryana as 2.70 crore in 2021, then 27,000 doctors are required,” an official statement quoted his as saying.

    To meet this demand, a target has been set so that 2,500 new doctors are added each year, he added.

    Khattar said that required support and cooperation is also being received from the central government in the health sector.

    The National Cancer Institute has been established at Badsa in Jhajjar district. Apart from this, the process of setting up an AIIMS each in Rewari and Panchkula is going on, he said.

    Twenty-five acres of land in Panchkula has already been handed over to the central government, he said. Vij said the Health Department has done a commendable job during the Covid pandemic.

    He said the state is fully prepared to deal with a new variant which has been detected in some foreign countries.

    The minister said he salutes all doctors, paramedical staff and ambulance drivers who bravely fought against the pandemic. He said that he knows how deadly this disease can be.

    “But our doctors and medical staff worked day and night for Covid patients. Despite knowing the high-risk involved they discharged their duties with dedication to serve coronavirus patients,” Vij said.

    Vij said 28 people belonging to the Health Department have lost their lives to Covid. He said that in their memory ‘Wall of Memory’ will be built in the headquarters and district hospitals.

    RTPCR labs are being set up in all 22 districts, Vij further said, and claimed that Haryana is the first state where such labs are being set up in civil hospitals of every district for Covid testing.

  • Everyone should hold religious events inside places of worship: Haryana Minister Anil Vij on namaz row

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Amid protests by right-wing groups in Gurgaon against offering of ‘namaz’ in the open, Haryana’s Home Minister Anil Vij said on Sunday that everyone should hold religious events inside places of worship.

    Such events should be avoided on the roads without the permission of the administration, Vij told reporters in Ambala.

    “Everyone should hold religious events inside their religious places,” he said.

    On Friday, BJP leader Kapil Mishra attended Govardhan puja held at a site in Gurgaon’s Sector 12A, where Muslims used to offer ‘namaz’ every week.

    The puja was organised by Samyukt Hindu Sangharsh Samiti.

    A Gurgaon police official had earlier said that no namaz was scheduled to be offered at the site on Friday.

    Objecting to anyone occupying a public place to offer prayers, Mishra had said, “If people from different religions, faiths and sects keep occupying open public spaces on one day every week, it will result in blockade of all the roads and parks.”

    Around 30 people were briefly detained by police on October 29 for allegedly gathering to disrupt Friday namaz offered by Muslims in Sector 12 area in Gurgaon.

    Three years ago, the district administration had designated 37 sites in the city for Muslims to offer Friday namaz after which there were protests by some Hindu groups.

    A few months ago, a group started protests against the prayers offered in the open following which there have been demonstrations on Fridays for the past one month.

    Meanwhile, when Vij was asked to comment on BKU leader Rakesh Tikait’s statement that farmers’ protest will be intensified if the farm laws are not repealed till November 26, he said it is the farmer union leaders who do not want a solution to this issue.

    “The central government called farm union leaders for talks on numerous occasions. In democracy, all issues are resolved through dialogue. But for unknown reasons, they do not want to participate in the dialogue,” the state home minister claimed.

    “Only they know the politics behind their agitation. They do not want a solution to this issue,” he said.

    Replying to a question, Vij said the number of development works that have been completed during the seven-year tenure of the Modi government at the Centre were not done since Independence till now.

    “But if (Congress leader) Rahul Gandhi cannot see that, then nothing can be done about it,” he added.

  • DNA of those who burst firecrackers on Pakistan win not Indian: Haryana minister Anil Vij

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij on Tuesday said the DNA of those who burst firecrackers in the country if Pakistan wins a cricket match against India cannot be Indian.

    He also said that one needs to be careful of “traitors” hiding in one’s own country.

    “The DNA of those who burst firecrackers in India on Pakistan winning a cricket match cannot be Indian. Be careful of the traitors hiding in our own house,” Vij tweeted in Hindi.

    The senior BJP leader’s comments come amid media reports of some Kashmiri students allegedly cheering for Pakistan and raising objectionable slogans.

    Pakistan had registered a 10-wicket victory over India in the ICC T20 World Cup tie in Dubai on Sunday.

    Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir Police registered two cases against medical students in Srinagar under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for celebrating Pakistan’s victory over India in the T20 international cricket match, officials said on Tuesday.

    Six people were also detained in Sambha district after a video purportedly showing objectionable slogans being raised by a group of persons following the match went viral on social media, police said.

  • DNA of those who burst firecrackers in India on Pakistan’s win cannot be Indian: Anil Vij

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij on Tuesday alleged that the DNA of those who burst firecrackers in the country if Pakistan wins a cricket match against India cannot be Indian.

    He also said that one needs to be careful of “traitors” hiding in one’s own country.

    “The DNA of those who burst firecrackers in India on Pakistan winning a cricket match cannot be Indian. Be careful of the traitors hiding in our own house,” Vij tweeted in Hindi.

    The senior BJP leader’s comments come amid media reports of anger against Kashmiris for celebrating the neighbouring country’s victory.

    Pakistan had registered a 10-wicket victory over India in the ICC T20 World Cup tie in Dubai on Sunday.

  • Farmers agitation getting violent day by day: Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij

    By IANS

    CHANDIGARH: Amidst the anger for postponing the procurement of paddy in Punjab and Haryana by the Central government, Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij on Saturday said the agitation of farmers is getting violent day by day.

    “The violent movement in the country of Mahatma Gandhi won’t be allowed. The leaders of farmers should keep patience during the agitation,” Vij said in a tweet.

    किसान आंदोलन दिंन प्रतिदिन हिंसक होता जा रहा है । महात्मा गांधी के देश मे हिंसक आंदोलन की इजाजत नहीं दी जा सकती । किसान नेता अपने आंदोलन को संयम में रखें ।
    — ANIL VIJ MINISTER HARYANA (@anilvijminister) October 2, 2021
    The Centre on Friday said, delaying the paddy procurement, which was supposed to have started on October 1 from Punjab and Haryana to October 11, is in the “overall interest of farmers and consumers as well because of the untimely rains, maturity of paddy grains is delayed”.

    As per Indian Meteorological Department data, rainfall during September 2021 is 77 per cent and 139 per cent above normal in Punjab and Haryana, respectively, a release from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said.

    Punjab and Haryana witnessed widespread protest and anger over the delay in the procurement. A day earlier even Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi and requested him to take back the decision to postpone the paddy procurement by 10 days.

    As a protest, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Badal accompanied a trolley filled with paddy to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) head office here to get the moisture content of the food grain checked.

    Talking to the media, Badal said the postponement in paddy procurement would spell doom for the state’s economy. “Farmers had planned in advance and had started harvesting their crop since the last few days. Paddy had also reached ‘mandis’ in the state. Postponing procurement will not only result in harassment of farmers but will also jeopardize the paddy crop in case of inclement weather,” he said.

  • Assistant in Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij’s office accused of leaking confidential information

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: An employee working as an assistant in the office of Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij was on Friday handed over to police on allegations of leaking information about confidential matters by clicking photos of “secret files”, sources said.

    Suspicious about his activities, the minister, in the presence of reporters, called up the police after checking the mobile phone of the employee and finding photos of some secret files, documents and information about confidential matters of the departments that Vij heads, they said.

    On the Vij’s complaint, the employee was handed over to police.

    This happened in the presence of the minister.

    Police said they were investigating the matter.

    Besides home, Vij also has portfolios of health, urban local bodies, technical education, and science and technology.

    Police said the accused was working as an assistant in the minister’s office.

    The sources said that a large number of photos regarding confidential matters was found to have been clicked by the accused who was working in the minister’s office for more than a year.

    These were being sent to different people, sources said.

    To whom these were being send is a matter of investigation, police said.

    In the previous term of the BJP government in the state, Vij, who was then health minister, had caught a ‘CID officer’ allegedly spying outside his office.

    However, later the then DGP had clarified that such personnel are deployed as per standard procedure to keep an eye on people visiting ministers.

    At that time, Vij had been told by a member of his personal staff that a man whom they had spotted on many previous occasions wandering outside his office, was again in the premises.

    Later, Vij and some of his staff catch the man who had revealed his identity as a CID official.

  • Nationalist Amarinder Singh’s ouster political murder: Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij on Thursday termed Congress veteran Amarinder Singh’s exit as the Punjab CM a “political murder”, which he said was done as the “nationalist” leader was a hurdle in the party’s “gameplan”.

    Vij also accused the Congress of hatching an “anti-national conspiracy” in Punjab while referring to state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu’s visit to Islamabad for the swearing-in ceremony of Imran Khan in 2018.

    After resigning as the Punjab CM following a bitter power tussle with Sidhu, Amarinder Singh had said he felt “humiliated” and called the Punjab Congress chief “anti-national” and “dangerous”.

    Claiming that the Congress wants to bring Punjab and Pakistan closer, Vij alleged that an “anti-national conspiracy is being hatched” in the state.

    “Nationalist Amarinder Singh was a hurdle in the Congress gameplan, this is why his political murder was done,” Vij told reporters here.

    He further alleged that the “conspiracy” is being hatched by the top leadership of the Congress.

    “All nationalist forces should join hands to defeat this conspiracy,” he said.

    The Haryana minister said this was proved when Sidhu went to Pakistan to attend Imran Khan’s oath ceremony despite Amarinder Singh advising him against it.

    Vij said in Pakistan, Sidhu not only heaped praise on Imran Khan but also warmly hugged the neighbouring nation’s Army chief.

    “When Sidhu came back and was asked why he had gone to Pakistan despite Amarinder advising him not to go, he then said that my captain is not Amarinder Singh, my captain is Rahul Gandhi,” Vij said.

    “It is clear from this that the game was being played and the conspiracy was being hatched against nationalist Amarinder Singh, who was obstructing this dirty conspiracy of the Congress,” Vij alleged.

    Not only Amarinder Singh, all nationalist forces in Punjab should join hands “to defeat the gameplan of the Congress”, said Vij.