News Analysis India

Tag: jahangirpuri

  • Delhi riot suspect arrested from Bengal after cops track location of his cellphone

    By Express News Service

    KOLKATA: In a pre-dawn swoop on Thursday, a Delhi police team raided a house in Tamluk, East Midnapore, and arrested Mohammad Farhid alias Neetu, a key accused in the communal riots in Delhi’s Jahangipuri area on Hanuman Jayanti. Crime branch personnel traced the accused by tracking the location of his cellphone.

    Farid was hiding at his aunt’s house where he took refuge after the communal discord. He was produced in a Tamluk court and remanded to transit remand. The Delhi police team left Kolkata in a flight on Thursday evening.

    Sources in the police said Farid is a history-sheeter and had been booked in six cases which include robbery, snatching and burglary.

    Shortly after the incident, Farid managed to give police the slip. “He took a train and reached Howrah railway station. From there, he took a bus to reach Tamluk,” said a police officer adding, “The mistake he did was he continued switching on and switching off his cellphone frequently during the course of his journey. Since we placed his cellphone number under the scanner, we could track his movement whenever he switched on his handset.”

    The police carried out raids at several places in west Uttar Pradesh and Farid had a narrow escape on several occasions, said the police.

    Farid’s arrest comes hours after two more accused Jaffar and Babuddin were arrested. “While examining footage of multiple CCTV cameras, Jaffar was seen roaming around with the unruly crowd with a sword during the violence. Babuddin was found instigating the crowd,” said another police officer.

  • Amit Shah failed to protect Delhi from communal violence: NCP chief Sharad Pawar

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: NCP president Sharad Pawar on Saturday said Union Home Minister Amit Shah could not protect Delhi from communal riots. Speaking at a rally of the Nationalist Congress Party at Kolhapur in western Maharashtra, Pawar referred to violence that broke out in Jahangirpuri area of Delhi during Hanuman Jayanti processions.

    “Few days back, Delhi was burning due to communal tensions. The state of Delhi is controlled by (chief minister) Arvind Kejriwal, but its police comes under the Union Home Ministry handled by Amit Shah. Shah failed to protect the city from communal riots. If anything happens in Delhi, the message goes out to the world. The world would imagine that there is unrest in Delhi. You have power, but you can not handle Delhi,” he said.

    He also targeted the BJP government in Karnataka over riots in Hooghly. “The names of shops and their owners from minority communities were mentioned on a hoarding. It was also written on it that people should not buy things from such shops. This is a common picture in the states where the BJP is in power,” the former Union minister said.

  • Jahangirpuri violence: TMC MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar says residents ‘caged’, suffering due to restrictions

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The residents of northwest Delhi’s Jahangirpuri are struggling to make ends meet and suffering due to the restrictions imposed in the area in the wake of the clashes last week, Trinamool Congress MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar claimed on Saturday.

    Dastidar, who led an all-women fact-finding team of the TMC to Jahangirpuri on Friday, alleged residents of Jahangirpuri’s C-Block, the epicentre of the April 16 violence, have been “caged” and are not allowed to come out.

    She told PTI that the team found that people are “under threat” and living in fear.

    They also complained of restricted access to water.

    Clashes broke out between two communities during a Hanuman Jayanti procession in northwest Delhi’s Jahangirpuri last Saturday, leaving eight police personnel and a local resident injured.

    According to police, there was stone-pelting and arson during the clashes and some vehicles were also torched.

    All points of entry to the C-Block have been heavily barricaded and security has been beefed up following the clashes.

    Dastidar said the TMC team managed to enter Jahangirpuri despite the restrictions and spoke to many residents before being stopped by police.

    “Residents of the C-Block have been caged.

    They could not come out and were also not allowed to speak to us.

    “There were some children who helped us enter the residential area. Before the police stopped us, we had already met a number of families living there. We also visited the back lane of the mosque and spoke to people who were present there when the violence took place. We have observed that people are under threat and fear,” the TMC leader said.

    She said that many of the residents are scrap dealers and unable to earn their daily wage due to the restrictions.

    “We went to extend our support to these residents. We are planning how to help them,” Dastidar said.

    TMC MP Saugata Roy said the delegation managed to speak to nearly 200 people in Jahangirpuri.

    “They will submit a report to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee by tomorrow (April 24) and after that, the party will take a decision. We are ready to extend help to them (Jahangirpuri residents),” Roy told PTI.

    In a tweet on Friday, senior TMC leader Aparupa Poddar, who was also part of the party’s fact-finding team, alleged they were stopped from meeting residents as the Centre was scared of the truth coming out.

    “Police stopped the all women fact-finding team of @AITCofficial which was sent by @MamataOfficial didi for enquiring about the #Jahangirpuri incident. BJP Govt & Delhi Police is (are) scared of the truth of the violence being exposed if the delegation was allowed to meet the victims,” she said.

    So far, 25 people have been arrested in the Jahangirpuri violence case by the police, while two juveniles have been apprehended.

    The Crime Branch of the Delhi Police is investigating the case.

  • Jahangirpuri violence: ED registers money laundering case against accused 

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate has registered a money laundering case against various suspects in the recent Jahangirpuri violence case including prime accused Mohammed Ansar, officials said on Saturday.

    An Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), the ED’s equivalent of a police FIR, has been filed by the federal agency under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

    Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana had recently written to the ED recommending a probe by the agency.

    ALSO READ | Jahangirpuri clash: Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana interrogates accused Ansar

    He cited preliminary findings made by his officers in the case and the First Information Reports (FIRs) filed by them.

    The ED case stems from these police complaints, the officials said.

    Clashes broke out between two communities during a Hanuman Jayanti procession in northwest Delhi’s Jahangirpuri on April 16, leaving eight police personnel and a local resident injured.

    According to police, there was stone-pelting and arson during the clashes and some vehicles were also torched.

    ALSO READ: Business hit bad, earnings tank for locals in Jahangirpuri

    Ansar (35), a resident of B-Block of Jahangirpuri, is alleged to be the “main conspirator” behind the violence, the police said.

    During preliminary investigation, they said, it emerged that Ansar has some financial dealings and is also in possession of several properties which were allegedly purchased through gambling money.

    The ED is expected to question all the accused and probe their financial dealings.

    It is empowered to arrest and attach assets of the accused during the course of the money-laundering investigation.

    So far, 25 people have been arrested in the Jahangirpuri violence case by the police, while two juveniles have been apprehended.

    The Crime Branch of the Delhi Police is investigating the case.

    Stringent provisions of the National Security Act (NSA) have been slapped against five accused, including Ansar.

    According to the police, Ansar allegedly had an argument with participants of the Hanuman Jayanti procession that escalated and led to stone-pelting.

  • ‘I will raise difficult issues’: UK PM Boris Johnson on Jahangirpuri controversy

    By PTI

    LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday indicated that he would be raising “difficult issues” when he meets his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Friday.

    The difficult issues being referred to is likely to include the controversial demolition of some properties as part of an “anti-encroachment” drive by the BJP-ruled North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) in the Jahangirpuri area of north-west Delhi, days after communal clashes in the locality.

    ALSO READ| Jahangirpuri demolition: Amnesty India slams Boris Johnson for inaugurating factory in Gujarat

    Johnson was responding to questions from the UK media during a visit to a new bulldozer factory in Gujarat’s Halol industrial area near Vadodara set up by British multinational JCB. “We always raise the difficult issues, of course we do, but the fact is that India is a country of 1.35 billion people and it is democratic, it’s the world’s largest democracy,” Johnson was quoted in the ‘Guardian’ newspaper as saying in response to questions.

    The factory visit came under fire on social media over JCB equipment being involved in the “anti-encroachment” demolitions in Delhi, which activists have claimed targeted one particular religious community – an issue being considered by the Supreme Court.

    However, Johnson sought to highlight the new Halol plant as a “living, breathing incarnation of the umbilicus between the UK and India”. “This is a world-leading factory – 600,000 diggers a year coming from India, exported from India to 110 countries with British technology,” he said.

    ALSO READ| Fugitive offenders need to be brought to book: EAM ahead of Modi-Johnson talks

    The UK media also raised the issue of JCB chairman Anthony Bamford being a donor to Johnson’s Conservative Party and whether the visit was motivated by that connection. “No, he chose to go to the JCB factory because it is a very good illustration of UK business, working with India and the Indian government to benefit both the UK and India,” Johnson’s official spokesperson told the ‘Guardian’.

  • Bulldozers pause in riot-hit Jahangirpuri after SC fiat

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI:  Bulldozers were back in play against alleged rioters, this time in Delhi, till the Supreme Court’s status quo order was officially communicated to the North Delhi Municipal Corporation’s demolition team in Jahangirpuri around quarter past noon on Wednesday. 

    ALSO READ| Selective demolitions bring no glory to the nation

    ‘Bulldozer justice’ against alleged rioters was first delivered in Madhya Pradesh and replicated in Gujarat before it was initiated in New Delhi. While the demolition squad with heavy police protection had already begun action in Jahangirpuri, the matter was mentioned by senior advocate Dushyant Dave before a Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana. 

    “…The drive is unconstitutional. Unauthorised demolition is taking place in Jahangirpuri where riots took place. No notice was served or reply sought,” he told the apex court while mentioning a plea filed by Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind. 

    Senior advocate Kapil Sibal mentioned another Jamait plea on the larger issue of demolition of residential or commercial property as a punitive measure in various parts of the country without following due process. Despite the bench ordering status quo and posting the matter for urgent hearing by a day, the bulldozers went on razing the alleged encroachments. 

    Dave had to mention the matter again before the bench around noon saying the demolition was on despite its orders, before the court directed communicating the status quo through the secretary-general of the court to the concerned authorities.

    ALSO READ| BJP councillors allowed illegal constructions in Delhi to come up: AAP

    It was CPM leader Brinda Karat who rushed to the spot and stood in front of a bulldozer with a hard copy of the Supreme Court order before the drive came to a grinding halt. The clock read close to 12.15 pm. By then the operation had gone on for about two-and-a-half hours. Among other several structures torn down was the gate of a mosque.

    The action drew a wave of condemnation. “At least the Supreme Court and its order should not be bulldozed,” Brinda Karat told reporters. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi called it “a demolition of India’s constitutional values” while urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to switch off the “bulldozers of hate”. 

    Hyderabad MP and AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi  tried visiting Jahangirpuri but was stopped by the police. As for the BJP-ruled North Delhi Municipal Corporation, it said the demolition around a 2 km stretch was part of a routine exercise.

    ‘Why punish the entire community?’

    Shop owners whose buildings were demolished, claimed the NDMC did not give them prior notice.  “If you (authorities) want to punish, then punish the accused who have been arrested. Why are you punishing the whole community?” Mohd Rahman, whose shop was razed, said 

  • Status quo to be maintained till further orders: SC on anti-encroachment drive in Jahangirpuri

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday extended the status quo until further orders on the issue of demolition of buildings in violence-hit Jahangirpuri area of the national capital.

    A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and B R Gavai issued notice to the Centre and others on the plea filed by the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind that claimed that buildings of Muslim riots accused are being razed.

    “Status quo to be maintained till further order…List after two weeks and pleadings to be completed till then,” the court said.

    The apex court also said that it will take a serious view of the demolition on Wednesday, which was carried out even after its orders though the NDMC Mayor was informed.

    Bulldozers tore down several concrete and temporary structures close to a mosque in Jahangirpuri on Wednesday as part of an anti-encroachment drive by the BJP-ruled civic body, days after the northwest Delhi neighbourhood was rocked by communal violence.

    The Supreme Court on Wednesday intervened twice to stop the drive after it took cognizance of the petition filed by Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind against the demolition.

  • Supreme Court orders status quo on demolition drive in Jahangirpuri, matter to be heard on April 21

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered a status-quo on the demolition drive in Jahangirpuri, Delhi.The matter was mentioned by Senior advocate Dushyant Dave before the bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana.“…The drive is unconstitutional, unauthorized demolition is taking place in Jahangirpuri where riots took place. No notice was served so that reply is served in 10 days,” he said.

    ALSO READ: MCD bulldozers in Jahangirpuri today, cops on alertSenior advocate Kapil Sibal also mentions the plea by Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind seeking directions that residential accommodations or any commercial property cannot be demolished as a punitive measure. The petitioners have said in the plea that the administration in several states is employing bulldozers to raze down the houses of persons suspected to be involved in criminal incidents such as riots.The petitioners have also prayed that police personnel to be provided specialised training in handling communal riots and situations where populations become restive.The court will hear both matters tomorrow.

  • Air quality slips to ‘very poor’

    While the overall quality of Delhi is in “very poor” category some areas and pockets in the national Capital are  on the verge of entering into the “severe” category with slightest dip in air quality.

    The overall Air Quality Index (AQI) of Delhi was recorded at 309, according to a data provided by System of Air Quality Forecasting and Research (SAFAR).

    While according to data of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) Anand Vihar recorded an AQI of 380, Dwarka Sector 8 registered AQI of 376, ITO recorded 295 and Jahangirpuri recorded an AQI of 349, Rohini an AQI of 353.  The CPCB has deployed 41 teams to monitor the implementation of measures taken to combat air pollution.

    The emergency plan usually gets implemented only if ‘very poor’ or ‘severe’ air pollution levels are recorded for 48 hours, but given the extent

    of winter pollution witnessed by the national Capital, the plan has been already enforced without waiting for the 48 hours.

    Dust from unpaved roads, construction activities and traffic congestion are some of the main local factors causing the air quality of Delhi-NCR to deteriorate as reported by 41 inspection teams deployed to monitor the implementation of norms enforced to combat pollution.

    According to three reports on the inspections conducted by the Central Pollution Control Board till October 7, it was found that a total of 96 inspections were conducted during which 554 violations were recorded.

    Of the 554 cases, 41 per cent violations were for open storage of construction and demolition of waste; 14 per cent for open waste dumping; 13 per cent for dust from unpaved roads; 10 per cent for open dumping of construction waste; 7 per cent for traffic congestion; 5 per cent for road dust re-suspension; and 3 per cent for open burning.

    The CPCB has deployed 41 two-membered teams to monitor pollution in the National Capital Region. Delhi’s air quality for the first time this season deteriorated to “very poor”.

    The concentration of Particulate Matter (PM)10 in Delhi stood at 287 and the PM 2.5 level was recorded at 131.This is the first time this season that the air quality deteriorated to ‘very poor’ category.Further deterioration of air quality is forecast in the coming days with PM10 to reach 330 and PM2.5 to 151.

    The GRAP, notified by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in 2012, prescribes a set of measures to curb air pollution based on the CPCB daily Air Quality Index.