Hajj pilgrimage-2019 application distribution starts: Minister Zameer Ahmed
Bengaluru, October 20: Minority Welfare, Hajj and Wakf Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan said that the Indian Haj Committee has started the process of distributing the applications for Hajj Pilgrimage 2019 from today.
Inaugurating the process of distributing the Hajj applications for 2019 at Hajj Bhavan at Thirumenahalli in the city on Saturday, the Minister said that for last year’s Hajj pilgrimage, total 18,427 applications were submitted to the State Haj Committee and among them, 6,624 persons were selected through lottery. This time, Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi would be urged to increase the quota by 2,000-2,500 for the state, he said.
Action against private tour operators
The cases of private tour operators cheating the pilgrims were increasing. They take the money from the Hajj pilgrimage aspirants and disappear. Those who want to prefer private tour operators for Hajj pilgrimage should confirm whether the tour operators have permission or not. The owner of Hareem Tours of Tilak Nagar had collected amount from 138 persons. But later, he was disappeared. For 2019 Hajj pilgrimage, all the 138 persons would be selected without lottery. Among 138 persons, around 15-20 persons were in economically poor condition and he would send them for the pilgrimage in his own expenses, he said.
“The Hajj Committee has been collecting Rs 2.30 lakh from each person. Of which, Rs 76,000 was being spent for flight ticket. If we take the flight tender, then the cost might be around Rs 36,000. If the central government gives us the Karnataka quota, we could arrange the remaining facilities and it would help the people”, the Minister said.
State Haj Committee Chairman Roshan Baig said that he and Minister Zameer would try to increase the quota this time. Last time, the pilgrims from Karnataka had some accommodation problems in Mecca and Madina. Steps would be taken to avoid such problems next year, he said.
In November-December, Central Haj Committee delegation would visit Mecca and Madina to review the accommodation facilities. Since the process of application submission was started three months before, best accommodation could be expected near the Haram and the tomb of Prophet Muhammad, he said.
Maulana Lutfullah, Maulana Zainul Abidin, State Haj Committee Executive Officer Sarfraz Khan, Members M.S. Arshad, Balqish Banu, Syed Sanaullah, BBMP Member Syed Mujahid and others were present.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
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.
