'Family members of arrested Jamia Millia Islamia student Safoora Zargar say they are “appalled and upset” by the attempts made to slander her on social media, but her husband says he is keeping faith in the country’s judicial system. Zargar, a 27-year-old M.Phil. student from Jamia, is over three months pregnant, and was arrested by the Delhi Police’s special cell on 10 April. She was later denied bail and, on 21 April, charged under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
'Last week, Mahesh Degvekar, a 55-year-old school teacher had a vision. Gajanan Maharaj, a 19th century Hindu guru from neighbouring Maharashtra appeared in it, and shared an ayurvedic formula which ''cures'' COVID-19. On Friday afternoon, Degvekar''s story took a serious turn, or a bizarre one, whichever way one looks at it.
'On rare occasions, the Indian government—which prides itself on visions of universal digital literacy, online services, and biometrical identity schemes—still conducts certain official communications by radiogram. An operator sitting at a radio transmitter taps out a message, and then a receiver spits out the transmission in another part of the country, generating an instant legal document.
'Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday asked people to read the Bhagavad Gita for half an hour every day over the remaining lockdown period, triggering fears that such advice could alienate sections of the society... This wasn’t the first time Kejriwal had resorted to religion in recent times. Ahead of the Delhi elections last month, he had invoked Hanuman — a popular deity especially in North India — in what appeared to be an attempt to undercut the BJP’s narrative of projecting the AAP as anti-Hindu for its opposition to the Citizenship Amendment Act...'
'Ardra Narayanan, a student-activist in Bengaluru who was arrested by Bengaluru police for holding a “Muslim, Kashmiri, Bahujan, Adivasi, Trans liberation now” placard a month ago, was released on bail on Tuesday after a month.
'The Kashi Vikas Samiti has taken objection to actress Sara Ali Khan’s visit to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi complaining that her attendance at the ‘Ganga Aarti’ was not acceptable as she is a non-Hindu. The Samiti has demanded an investigation into her visit and action against those responsible, News 18 reported. Also seeing her visit to the temple through communally colored lenses were some Deoband clerics.
'In an apparent bid to avoid a 'Hindu' backlash, especially, when the next assembly polls in the state are due in two years times, the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh has given a go-ahead for the 'Ram Navami Mela' in Ayodhya dismissing concerns against its own advisories against large gatherings in view of the Coronavirus outbreak. According to some estimates, around one million devotees from across the country would be congregating in Ayodhya to take part in the 'Mela, which would be held from March 25 to April Two...'
'In the backdrop of global COVID-19 outbreak, Kannada channel Public TV aired a show on March 14 where it was claimed that four Muslim youths in Sultan Street, Bhatkal in Karnataka refused coronavirus testing for “religious reasons” after returning from Dubai... Right-wing website OpIndia picked up the news the next day and tweeted, “Islam does not approve: Four Muslims who returned from Dubai threaten health officials in Karnataka, refuse to undergo Coronavirus test.”... The claim was shared sans any source by Mahesh Hegde, founder of fake news blog Postcard News.
'A Times Now broadcast of March 5 ran a video of a man in red, wearing a helmet, opening fire during communal riots in Delhi. “New video of Delhi violence surfaces. Video reportedly from Maujpur…This is the 4th video of attack on police,” the channel claimed. The video was tweeted using #ShaheenLynchModel... A day later, the same clip was tweeted by BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya who insinuated that the shooter was a member of the Muslim community. He wrote, “Another video of a ‘peaceful’ protestor firing at the cops?
'The festival of colors, Holi is here and soon all over one message is set to boom across – ‘Bura na maano, Holi hai (It’s Holi, take no offense).” However, we have been slow to realize what a travesty of consent the above slogan is. Starting by being normalized through Bollywood, the idea of a woman’s consent washed off faster that the color on her. From then to now has come such a time that this festival is now been given a communal colour by the right-wing saffron brigade. We tell you why the celebration of Holi in its current form is a threat to women throughout India...'
