Ahmedabad, Oct 10: The Ahmedabad Rural Police have seized 696.94 kg of poppy husk concealed beneath steel coils in a truck travelling from Nagpur in Maharashtra to Sanand in Gujarat and arrested the driver, while two other suspects have been identified in connection with the alleged interstate trafficking operation.

The narcotic substance, packed in 36 sacks, was valued at Rs 1.045 crore, while the total value of the seized property, including the truck, steel coil, mobile phones and cash, was estimated at Rs 1.47 crore, police said on Saturday.

The joint operation was conducted by the Special Operations Group (SOG) and the Anti-Narcotics Wing (ANW) of Ahmedabad Rural Police following a tip-off received by SOG Sub-Inspector I.K. Sheikh that a truck-trailer was carrying a large consignment of poppy husk concealed beneath steel coils.

The coils were reportedly being transported from Nagpur for delivery to Tata Motors in Sanand, said the police.

Acting on the information, police teams tracked the vehicle and received specific information that it would pass along the Kheda-Dholka highway on the night of October 8. The teams intercepted the vehicle and inspected its cargo.

When the tarpaulin covering the steel coils was removed, they found 36 black and yellow sacks containing the suspected narcotic substance concealed beneath the coils.

Police identified the arrested driver as Bhairaram Tarad, 33, a resident of Barmer district in Rajasthan.

According to the police, the consignment had allegedly been loaded into the trailer near Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh by a person identified as Santosh, who is now wanted in the case.

The driver was allegedly promised freight charges of Rs two lakh to transport the consignment to its intended recipient in Gujarat.

Police have also detained Jetaram Kadwasha, a resident of Samakhiyali in Kutch district, who is suspected of being the receiver who ordered the consignment. He is being questioned, while efforts are underway to apprehend Santosh.

A case has been registered at Dholka Rural Police Station under Sections 8(c), 15(c) and 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

Further investigation is underway to establish the source of the consignment and the roles of the other suspects.

The seized property includes the truck-trailer valued at Rs 20 lakh, a steel coil worth around Rs 22.22 lakh, two mobile phones valued at Rs 7,000 and cash amounting to Rs 32,010, in addition to the poppy husk.

New Delhi, Oct 10: The Delhi BJP Mahila Morcha staged a protest on Saturday to demand the expulsion from Congress and the arrest of MP and JNU Professor Angomcha Bimol Akoijam accused of sexual harassment of female students.

A large number of Mahila Morcha workers gathered near the Laxmi Nagar Metro Station in East Delhi, and raised slogans against the MP.

As soon as they began marching towards the Congress headquarters on Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg, the Delhi Police detained them after they had walked only a short distance and took them to Shakarpur Police Station, a Delhi BJP leader said.

The protest was led by BJP Mahila Morcha National Secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Sangeeta Yadav and Delhi BJP General Secretary Yogita Singh, in the presence of State Vice President Sarika Jain, Mahila Morcha President Archana Gupta and In-charge Aarti Mehra.

Rajya Sabha MP Sangeeta Yadav said, “We are standing here to defend the dignity of daughters. At a prestigious educational institution like JNU, a person accused of sexually harassing female students under the guise of being a professor, and who is also a Congress MP continues to move around freely.”

“The Congress is the most glaring example of an ‘anti-women’ mindset. A party that cannot protect its daughters has no right to remain in power,” she added.

“We (BJP) demand his (Akoijam’s) immediate expulsion from the party (Congress) and immediate arrest. The BJP Mahila Morcha will not remain silent. The slogan of ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ will be meaningful only when those responsible are punished. Ensuring the safety of every daughter in Delhi is our responsibility,” she said.

Delhi BJP General Secretary Yogita Singh said that the Congress has always treated women merely as a vote bank.

“A sitting MP is accused of sexually harassing female students at JNU, and the Congress is shielding him. The party should be ashamed,” she added.

“How long will the dignity of our daughters continue to be violated? How long will the Congress protect its leaders accused of wrongdoing?” Yogita Singh asked.

“If Angomcha Bimol Akoijam is not arrested today, no other daughter will be safe tomorrow. Our struggle will continue from the streets to Parliament. We demand justice, not compromise,” she said.

BJP Mahila Morcha General Secretary Archana Gupta said, “A Congress MP has been accused of harassing female students at JNU. This exposes the Congress party’s double standards — speaking about women’s empowerment on public platforms while allowing the exploitation of women within its ranks.”

“We demand that the accused be expelled from the party and sent to jail. The BJP Mahila Morcha stands with every daughter. Break the silence and deliver justice,” she added.

Richa Pandey, Delhi BJP Vice-President, said the Congress is ‘anti-women’.

“The party is shielding MP Angomcha Bimol Akoijam, who is accused of exploiting JNU’s female students. This is an insult to our daughters,” she added.

Brussels, Oct 10: Pakistan record of blasphemy cases over the past decade, including cases emerging in 2026, highlights the human cost of religious accusations backed by criminal law. Such accusations can begin as whispered allegations and end in imprisonment, death sentences or mobs gathering outside family homes, a report has stated.

It noted that for Christians, Hindus and Ahmadis across Pakistan, the threat extends beyond extremists operating outside the law.

“Pakistan’s legal framework itself contains provisions that criminalise religious expression and, in the case of Ahmadis, restrict how a community can identify and practise its faith. Across the border, India follows a fundamentally different constitutional model. It has no official state religion. Its Constitution describes the country as a secular democratic republic and guarantees freedom of conscience and the right to profess, practise and propagate religion,” a report in the European Times detailed.

It noted that the contrast becomes particularly stark when Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are examined through the experiences of its religious minorities over the past decade.

According to the report, Pakistan’s blasphemy provisions have repeatedly been misused to settle personal scores, property disputes and other forms of social hostility. It highlighted that in 2022, Hindu teacher Notan Lal was sentenced to life imprisonment after a student accused him of insulting Prophet Muhammad. The student later reportedly admitted to fabricating the charge after being reprimanded by the teacher.

In another case that year, Christian bicycle mechanic Ashfaq Masih was sentenced to death over accusations of making blasphemous remarks. Imprisoned since 2017, Masih maintained that personal and financial disputes were behind the accusation, European Times mentioned.

“The consequences extend beyond courtrooms. In February 2023, a mob stormed a police station in Nankana Sahib and lynched a man detained on blasphemy allegations. In August that year, hundreds attacked a Christian settlement in Jaranwala after two Christians were accused of desecrating the Quran. Churches, homes and a cemetery were vandalised or set on fire,” said the report, highlighting the alarming level of violence across Pakistan that followed blasphemy accusations.

The report noted that Pakistan’s constitutional designation of Islam as the state religion coexists with criminal blasphemy laws and explicit restrictions on Ahmadis. Cases involving Christians, Hindus and Ahmadis illustrate how religious accusations can escalate into arrests, imprisonment, death sentences or mob violence.

In contrast, the report said, India’s constitutional framework does not make adherence to one religion a prerequisite for citizenship. It highlighted that religious freedom is enshrined in the country’s secular Constitution, which safeguards freedom of conscience, worship and the right of religious communities to manage their institutions.

“That difference matters most when faith becomes contested. In Pakistan, the blasphemy framework can place the criminal law directly at the centre of a religious accusation, while in India, the constitutional model places religious freedom within a secular legal order in which no faith is designated as the religion of the State,” the report stated.