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Delhi Court reserves appeal seeking restoration of Hindu, Jain temples at Qutub Minar

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 A Delhi court on Tuesday reserved the appeal against the dismissal of a suit seeking restoration of the Hindu and Jain temples and the deities at the Qutub Minar complex.

Additional District Judge Nikhil Chopra of the Saket Court was hearing the appeal challenging the rejection of a suit alleging that the Quwwat-Ul-Islam Masjid situated within the Qutub Minar complex in Mehrauli was built in place of a temple complex.

After the detailed hearing, the court said the verdict will be delivered on June 9.

During the course of the hearing, the appellant alleged that around 27 Hindu and Jain temples were desecrated and damaged in 1198 under the rule of Mughal Emperor Qutub-Din-Aibak raising the construction of the said mosque in place of those temples.

The Archaeological Survey of India opposed the suit, submitting that the ‘fundamental rights cannot be availed in violation of any status of the land’.

“It will be contrary to the provisions of the AMASR Act, 1958 to agree to the contention of the Respondents or any other person claiming a fundamental right to worship in this centrally protected monument,” read the affidavit submitted by the ASI.

Earlier on February 22, allowing the appeal, Additional District Judge Pooja Talwar issued notice to the Union of India through the Ministry of Culture, Director General of Archaeological Survey of India, and Superintending Archaeologist, Delhi Circle, ASI.

The civil suit, filed on behalf of Jain deity Tirthankar Lord Rishabh Dev and Hindu deity Lord Vishnu (through their next of friends), was seeking restoration of the alleged temple complex, comprising as many as 27 temples.

As per the suit, the temples were dismantled, desecrated, and damaged under the command of Slave Dynasty Emperor Qutub-Din-Aibak, who raised some construction at the same very place and named it the Quwwat-Ul-Islam Mosque.

The ruler failed to completely demolish the existing temples and only partial demolition was carried out after reusing the material of the temples, the said mosque was erected, it read.

In December last year, Civil Judge Neha Sharma noted that the plaintiffs have no absolute right to restore and worship in the property as public order which is an exception under Article 25 and 26 of the Constitution. This requires the status quo be maintained and the protected monument to be used for no religious purpose. It is also an established fact that Quwwat-Ul-Islam Masjid was built atop existing temples, but the property was not being used for any religious purposes and no prayers were being offered here.

The court had observed that wrongs may have been committed in the past, “but such wrongs cannot be the basis for disturbing the peace of our present and future”.

Referring to a portion of the Ayodhya judgment, the court had said: “Cognisant as we are of our history and of the need for the nation to confront it, Independence was a watershed moment to heal the wounds of the past. Historical wrongs cannot be remedied by the people taking the law into their own hands.”

Crime

RG Kar Rape & Murder Case: West Bengal Govt Seeks Death Penalty, Calcutta HC To Hear Case On January 27

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Kolkata: The West Bengal government has appealed to the Calcutta High Court’s Division Bench against the trial court’s life imprisonment verdict convicting Sanjay Roy in the RG Kar case. The next hearing in the case will be held on 27th January.

Advocate General Kishore Dutta has approached the division bench of Justice Debangshu Basak, seeking the death penalty for Sanjay Roy. The matter has been allowed to be filed.

The Sealdah Civil and Criminal Court announced life imprisonment for the accused Sanjay Roy in the RG Kar rape and murder case. Along with this, the court has also fined Rs 50,000 to the accused.

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee Expresses Dissatisfaction

Earlier, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday expressed dissatisfaction over the court giving life imprisonment to the convict in the RG Kar hospital rape-murder case and said if the case had been with Kolkata Police, they would have ensured a death penalty.

“I learned about the sentencing from the media. We have always demanded capital punishment and we continue to stand by it. However, this is the court’s decision and I can’t say much about this. For three other cases, Kolkata police ensured capital punishment through thorough investigations concluded within 54-60 days. This was a serious case. Had it been under our purview, we would have ensured the death penalty long back,” CM Mamata said while addressing the media at Malda.

Victim’s Father Rejects Compensation

On Monday, RG Kar’s rape and murder case victim’s father rejected the Rs 17 lakh compensation and said that he will move to a higher court seeking the death penalty for the accused.

Speaking to Media, the victim’s father said “What the Court thinks as a good judgement based on the evidence produced by the CBI, the Court has given that verdict. We have a lot of questions on the investigation done by CBI. We did not go to the court for compensation. We want justice, not compensation. Kolkata police did wrong and the CBI will have to do something. The Kolkata police have given us more pain than the passing away of my daughter.”

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Bollywood

Saif Ali Khan case: Mumbai Police find clues from crime scene

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Mumbai, Jan 22: The Mumbai Police have recovered a piece of cloth from actor Safi Ali Khan’s apartment which belongs to accused Shariful Islam Shehzad Mohammad, the Bangladeshi national arrested in the attack case.

Sources said the Bandra police recovered cloth from Khan’s house, which the accused used to cover his face. The cloth fell from his face in Saif’s son Jahangir’s room during the scuffle.

The cloth can be seen in the CCTV footage when Shehzad is climbing up the stairs before committing the crime. The police have sent the cloth and hair samples for DNA testing to the forensic department.

Earlier, the officials said that Shehzad had entered the actor’s building, Satguru Sharan, in the Bandra area by scaling its compound wall and found the security guards sleeping.

Sources said that both the security guards in the building were sleeping when the attacker entered it by crossing over the boundary wall.

The sources further said that as Shehzad found both the security guards sleeping, he entered the building from the main entrance where no CCTV camera exists. The accused removed his shoes and kept them in his bag to avoid making any noise. He also switched off his phone.

The police on Tuesday recreated the crime scene with the accused at the building. Police took the accused wherever he went after fleeing from Saif Ali Khan’s house. Shehzad was taken to the garden near the Satguru Sharan building and then to the National College Bus Stop where he was said to have stopped and stayed for a while after committing the crime. During the probe, the police took Shehzad to the Bandra Railway Station from where he had fled. Police are trying to find out how he reached the station.

The police were trying to record the chain of events starting from Shehzad’s entry to the building to his fleeing before being arrested.

Saif Ali Khan was stabbed six times by Shehzad inside his apartment in the early hours of January 16. The actor underwent emergency surgery at the Lilavati Hospital and was discharged on Tuesday. Three days after the attack, the police arrested the accused from neighbouring Thane city.

A court in Mumbai on Sunday remanded the accused in five-day police custody.

Shehzad, a native of Jhalokathi district in Bangladesh was residing in Mumbai for over five months. He had been working odd jobs and was associated with a housekeeping agency, the police have said.

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Crime

Society cannot have humanitarian approach towards an inhuman: CM Mamata Banerjee on RG Kar verdict

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Kolkata, Jan 21: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Tuesday that society cannot have a “humanitarian” approach towards an “inhuman” individual.

She said this while expressing her opinion on the verdict by a special court in Kolkata on the ghastly rape and murder of a woman doctor of R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital.

The special court on Monday sentenced Sanjay Roy, the sole convict in the case, to life imprisonment.

“What is the meaning of ‘life imprisonment’? Often lifers get released on parole. If a convict is alive there is a chance that he might commit the same crime again. If anyone chooses to be ‘inhuman’, how can society be ‘humanitarian’ towards him? That is why we demanded a ‘death sentence’ for the convict in the R.G. Kar tragedy. It is really the rarest of rare crimes,” the Chief Minister said while addressing a state government programme in Malda district.

Her observations came just a couple of hours after the state government approached a division bench of the Calcutta High Court challenging the January 20 verdict of the special court and seeking the death penalty for the convict in the case.

Commenting on the murder of Dulal Sarkar a.k.a. Babla, the Trinamool Congress councillor from ward number 22 of English Bazar Municipality in the same district earlier this month, the Chief Minister gave a strong note of caution that the miscreants and mafias, even if associated with her party, will not be spared at any cost.

The murder is reportedly a fallout of infighting in the ruling party, sources had said.

Referring to the recent tension in neighbouring Bangladesh, having a stretch of international borders with Malda district, the Chief Minister emphasized that in case there are border skirmishes with the Border Security Force (BSF), the people residing in the bordering villages should refrain from going there during the period of tension.

“At the same time, the local people will have to be careful so that no terrorist can take shelter in the district either at any hotel or rent any room at a house in the bordering villages,” the Chief Minister said.

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