U'khand: Transfer students of closed illegal madrassas to those affiliated with board, says chairman
Dehradun (PTI): Uttarakhand Madrassa Education Board on Saturday expressed concern over the future of children enrolled in illegal madrassas which have been closed by the state government for not being affiliated to the board.
The board urged the district magistrates (DMs) concerned to make arrangements for the transfer of these students to recognised madrassas.
A formal letter in this regard will soon be sent to the DMs of all the districts where action has been taken against such madrassas, Uttarakhand Madrassa Board Chairman Mufti Shamoon Kasmi told PTI.
"We are sensitive to the matter. Though the action against illegal madrassas is justified, the future of children enrolled in such madrassas should not suffer. We will send a letter to the DMs in a day or two requesting them to transfer such children to the recognised madrassas in the state so that their studies are not affected," he said.
Around 100 illegal madrassas in five districts -- Dehradun, Haridwar, Pauri, Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar -- have been sealed after a verification drive carried out by the state government found they were being run without proper documents.
However, not many students have been affected by the government's action as the number of children going to the illegal madrassas is not huge, he said.
"Unaffiliated madrassas without proper documents and facilities like the ones running in one or two room accommodations without toilets and other basic amenities for children are viewed with suspicion by parents who avoid sending their children to them. Hence their number is negligible," he said.
Still, the board will request the authorities concerned to transfer them at the earliest to the recognised madrassas, he said.
However, the Madrassa Board Chairman justified the state government's action against the illegal madrassas saying their operators should follow the norms and have them legalised.
"The board recently gave recognition to 49 madrassas and renewed the affiliation of 47 others. There is a set procedure for the affiiliation of madrassas with the board. Madrassa operators should co-operate with the authorities and not hesitate in coming forward for their legalisation," Kasmi said.
There are 467 legal madrassas affiliated to the board in the state where around 46,000 students study, Kasmi said.
Accusing the opposition parties of politicising the issue, he said they are raising a hue and cry over the closure of illegal madrassas as they are devoid of issues.
"It is a positive action not targeted against any community but against illegal madrassas. After all why should illegal madrassas be allowed to run?" Kasmi asked.
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Gurugram Police arrest BJP Yuva Morcha member for spreading fake murder story on social media
New Delhi: Gurugram Police have arrested BJP Yuva Morcha member Hariom Mishra, for allegedly spreading a fabricated and communally sensitive story on social media about the murder of a college student in Gurugram.
Mishra who is also known as Shaurya Mishra had shared a collage of four photographs on his X handle earlier this month. He claimed that a 24-year-old college student, identified as Nikita Agarwal, had been murdered by her classmate Arif Khan in Gurugram. In the post, he alleged that the woman was blackmailed, forced into prostitution, gangraped, and eventually killed. He also claimed that Arif dumped her body in a forest. The claims were presented as being based on police sources.
The post went viral and garnering over 1.5 lakh views, and was amplified by several right-wing social media handles across X, Facebook and Instagram. A verification of the claims revealed that no such incident had taken place in Gurugram. A search of credible news reports showed no record of any such murder. The police said this news would have inevitably attracted media attention if it were true.
On December 11, Gurugram Police publicly refuted the claims through their official X handle. They stated that the information which was being circulated was completely false. The police warned that legal action would be taken against those spreading misinformation. Despite the warning, Mishra neither deleted the post nor issued any clarification.
Police in Gurugram confirmed Mishra's arrest on December 16. The police said a FIR was filed after he continued to spread false information about the alleged murder of a Hindu woman by Muslim man. Police said Mishra, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Kaushambi district, is now being investigated.
Gurugram Police spokesperson Sandeep Singh told The Print that the accused had deliberately misrepresented facts and used objectionable content to spread hatred along religious lines. “Such posts can create serious disturbances in society, and the police take these matters very seriously,” he said.
A reverse image search conducted by fact-checkers at Alt News, revealed that the photographs used in the viral post were unrelated to the claims, while two of the images were traced to a Pinterest account belonging to influencer Maulik Chopra and another image was sourced from an Instagram post by influencer Shivam Thakur featuring a woman named Deepanshi Rawat. The fourth image was found on an unrelated Instagram page. The images depicted different individuals and had no connection to any crime.
Police said they are also investigating Mishra’s motive behind sharing the false and provocative content.
