Crime
From courts to politicians, bulldozer under attack in Assam, Tripura

Besides other parts of the country, the BJP’s bulldozer politics has also drawn severe criticism both from the political spectrum and the courts in the northeastern states specially in Assam and Tripura.
During his recent three-day (May 8-10) visit to Assam, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that 10,700 bighas encroached upon by infiltrators have been freed.
The Assam government has also cleared over 3,800 hectares of forest land of encroachments during the past few years.
Before Assam’s BJP led government’s eviction drive, the saffron party led Tripura government after coming to power in March 2018 bulldozed a large number of opposition party offices across Tripura.
The Assam government had last year undertaken eviction drives in different districts to free government land encroached by hundreds of people for years. Various opposition parties including the Congress had criticised the BJP government for evicting the people without making alternate settlements.
In one of the violent eviction drive, two persons, including a 12-year-old boy, were killed while 20 others were injured after a mob clashed with the police in Darrang district on September 23 last year.
A video of the clashes, which went viral, also showed a photographer engaged by the Darrang district administration stomping on the body of a man shot by the police.
The eviction drive was launched by the police and the district administration to vacate 4,500 bighas (602.40 hectares) of government land, allegedly encroached upon by several hundreds of Bengali-speaking Muslim families in Darrang district.
Hearing a public interest litigation filed by Debabrata Saikia, Leader of Opposition in the Assam Assembly, the division bench of the Gauhati High Court headed by the then Chief Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia (who was recently elevated to the Supreme Court) had termed the Darrang district incident as “a big tragedy and very unfortunate” and directed the state government to file a detailed affidavit in the matter.
“This was a big tragedy, very unfortunate. Those who are guilty, if at all, must be punished, no doubt about that. Khoon zameen par gir gaya (blood has been spilt),” the Chief Justice had remarked.
The court wanted to know whether the National Rehabilitation Policy is applicable in Assam, and directed the state government to file a detailed affidavit in the entire matter within three weeks.
The Assam government had ordered a judicial inquiry into the incident.
Assam government officials said that around 800 families of Bengali-speaking Muslims were unlawfully occupying about 4,500 bighas (602.40 hectares) of government land for many years and the government recently decided to use the land for agricultural purposes by removing the settlers.
Besides various opposition parties including the Congress and the Badruddin Ajmal-led All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), the All Minority Organisations Coordination Committee, which includes the All Assam Minority Students Union and the Jamiat-e-Ulema, among others, had organised a series of agitations against the eviction drive.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had earlier claimed that the Popular Front of India (PFI) was involved in the Darrang violence.
Besides Sarma, other BJP leaders accused the migrant Muslims of encroaching upon a huge area in Assam.
Muslims comprise 34.22 per cent of the 3.12 crore population of Assam, of which 4 per cent are indigenous Assamese Muslims and the remaining are mostly Bengali-speaking Muslims.
Muslim votes are the determining factor in at least 30 to 35 seats out of Assam’s total 126 Assembly seats.
Of Assam’s 34 districts, 19 districts have 12 per cent or more Muslim population, and in six districts (out of these 19 districts), the Muslim population constitutes 50 per cent or more.
In Tripura, after the BJP government wrested power from the Left parties defeating the CPI-M led Left Front, it bulldozed 185 CPI-M party and Left trade union offices across the state alleging that all these party offices were set up on government land.
The BJP government had also demolished eight Congress party offices in different districts.
CPI-M central committee member Jitendra Chaudhury said that BJP governments across the country tried to enforce one party rule.
“The BJP not only bulldozed the physical structures of the opposition parties, they also bulldozing the society, mindset of the people, communal harmony and the democratic structures of the country. They are not maintaining the demarcation between the party and the government,” Chaudhury told IANS.
Supporting the BJP government’s stand and action, the party’s Rajya Sabha member Manik Saha said that the government has been doing its work as per the law.
“If any party or individual occupying the government lands and properties, these should be vacated by the law enforcing agencies. A few of our party offices were also removed in Tripura,” Saha, who is also the president of the BJP Tripura unit, told IANS.
After coming to power in the politically important Agartala Municipal Corporation (AMC), the civic body led by Dipak Majumder evicted many hawkers from shops in the capital city.
Almost all opposition parties and civil society activists criticized the AMC’s action.
They argued that without making alternate arrangements and rehabilitation of the hawkers, the authority should not do this unilaterally.
Crime
Mumbai: RPF Cracks Down On Fake ‘Tantrik’ Posters Across Suburban Railway Network, Seizes 22,000 Illegal Ads

Mumbai: In a major crackdown on fraudulent advertisements inside Mumbai’s suburban railway network, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) of Western Railway’s Mumbai Division intensified its campaign against fake ‘tantriks’ and ‘vashikaran babas,’ whose posters had been illegally plastered across local trains and platforms. On October 14, an accused and his two accomplice were arrested with more than 22,000 posters.
According to an official, posters, often promising supernatural fixes to personal, health, and financial issues, have not only misled commuters but also defaced railway property.
Following a spate of complaints received via social media and the Rail Madad portal, Senior Divisional Security Commissioner Santosh Kumar Singh Rathod formed a special enforcement team. The drive gained momentum under the leadership of Sub-Inspector Santosh Soni.
“On October 14, acting on a tip-off, Soni and his team apprehended Abdul Samad, son of Irshad Khan, red-handed while he was pasting such posters inside a stationary local train at Platform No. 2 of Andheri station. Over 600 posters were recovered from his possession at the scene” further added official.
During interrogation, Samad disclosed the whereabouts of the main culprits — a self-styled so called godman and his accomplice — who were later arrested from their hideout in Mira Road. A subsequent search led to the seizure of an additional 22,000 posters. All three individuals, along with the confiscated materials, were handed over to the RPF post at Andheri for further legal proceedings.
“This is part of an ongoing operation to cleanse the railway premises of illegal and misleading advertisements,” said an RPF official. “The actions are aimed at curbing fraudulent practices and improving the aesthetics and safety of local trains.”
In just the past month, RPF teams have nabbed 29 offenders caught red-handed while putting up such posters. A total of 49,100 posters have been seized during this period, and fines amounting to Rs 13,000 have been imposed by the court.
This drive follows a similar operation conducted in May 2025, during which 53 offenders were booked, and 37,400 posters were confiscated. That campaign led to penalties totaling Rs 26,500.
Crime
SC stays Karnataka High Court order nullifying Congress MLA’s election

New Delhi, Oct 14: The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed a decision of the Karnataka High Court that had nullified the election of Congress MLA K.Y. Nanjegowda from the Malur Assembly constituency in the 2023 polls.
However, a Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymala Bagchi did not interfere with the direction to the Election Commission of India (ECI) regarding recounting of votes but ordered the poll body to keep the revised results in a sealed cover.
“Issue notice. In the meantime, the operation of the impugned order of the Karnataka High Court, to the extent it set aside the election of the appellant (Nanjegowda), shall remain stayed. Resultantly, the appellant shall continue as the elected Member of the Legislative Assembly,” ordered the Justice Kant-led Bench.
However, the ECI is directed to comply with the directions to the extent of recounting of votes and submit the result in a sealed cover, and the recounting results shall not be disclosed without the permission of the Supreme Court, it added.
In an order passed on September 16, the Karnataka High Court had nullified Nanjegowda’s election but granted him 30-day timeline to file an appeal before the Supreme Court. If the apex court does not give any relief, the Congress legislator will lose his seat, clarified a bench of Justice R. Devdas, while pronouncing the verdict on a petition filed by the defeated BJP candidate K.S. Manjunath Gowda.
Manjunath Gowda has moved the Karnataka High Court, seeking a recount of votes polled in the Assembly elections, as the margin between him and Nanjegowda was just 248.
The BJP candidate had claimed that counting officials called him on the phone and said that he had won the elections. But later, it was announced that the Congress candidate had won by a margin of 248 votes. Hence, he had moved the Karnataka HC, seeking a recount of the votes polled.
The election petition was presented under Section 81 of the Representation of the People’s Act, 1951, and Rule 4 of the Karnataka Election Petition Rules.
Manjunath Gowda has prayed the Karnataka High Court to call for records, documents, videos, computers, including the one where the rejection order was drafted, and all further material and data regarding the election, including the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and the postal ballots, the videography and computations relating to elections, and to hold them in custody.
The petition further demanded to set aside the election of Nanjegowda on the grounds mentioned under Section 100 (1) (d), (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv) as enumerated therein and to declare him as the elected candidate from the Malur constituency.
Crime
Two petitions filed at Calcutta HC in Durgapur gang-rape case

Kolkata, Oct 14: Two parallel petitions have been filed at Calcutta High Court on Tuesday in the gang-rape case of a tribal medical student in Durgapur of West Bengal’s West Burdwan district.
On one hand, the West Bengal unit of the BJP has filed a petition to carry out its protest demonstration near the private medical college till October 19. On the other hand, the authorities of the said private medical college have approached the Calcutta High Court seeking the removal of gatherings of people in front of the college premises, considering that the examinations are being conducted there.
Both the petitions have been filed at the single-judge bench of Justice Shampa Dutt (Paul). The matter is likely to come up for hearing in the second half in the later part of the day.
Altogether five people have been arrested in connection with the gang-rape of the Dalit medical student. The confidential statement of the victim is scheduled to be recorded in front of a judicial magistrate later in the day.
The victim’s parents have already claimed they will take their daughter back to Odisha soon after her confidential statements are recorded.
On Monday, Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi spoke to the victim girl, who is still admitted at the hospital. Even the victim expressed a desire to go back to her native state and continue with her medical studies there.
The Odisha Chief Minister had already claimed that his government will take all the steps to ensure the culprits in the case are given due punishment.
Recently, the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee attracted criticisms after she advised women not to go outside at night amid the Durgapur incident. The Chief Minister also created controversy, claiming that the woman stepped out of the college premises at 12.30 a.m.
Her statement was contradicted by the college authorities claiming that they left the premises at around 8 p.m. on October 10 after signing the register and taking permission.
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