45 more arrested over attack on Hindu temple in northwest Pakistan
Peshawar: Pakistani police have arrested 45 more people for their alleged involvement in the vandalisation of a Hindu temple by a mob led by members of a radical Islamist party in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
With the latest arrests, the number of accused arrested in the case has risen to 100. Over 350 people have been named in the FIR after the temple in Terri village in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Karak district was vandalised and set on fire on Wednesday by a mob protesting against its expansion work.
The arrested people were produced in the anti-terrorist court (ATC) where the police secured three days remand of the accused.
The temple, which also has a samadhi of a Hindu religious leader, was attacked by the mob after members of the Hindu community received permission from local authorities to renovate its decades-old building.
The mob, led by some local clerics and supporters of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party (Fazal ur Rehman group), demolished the newly constructed work alongside the old structure.
The attack on the temple drew strong condemnation from human rights activists and the minority Hindu community leaders.
India has also lodged a protest with Pakistan over the vandalisation of the temple and sought strict action against those responsible for the incident.
The protest was conveyed to Pakistan through diplomatic channels, sources in New Delhi said on Friday.
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has assured that his government would reconstruct the damaged temple and the Samadhi at the shortest possible time.
According to a notification issued by the Chief Minister's Secretariat on late Saturday night, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has constituted a four-member committee to assess the damages caused to the temple and develop its reconstruction plan in consultation with the Hindu community.
The committee has been asked to complete the work in 10 days. Pakistan's Supreme Court has also ordered the local authorities to appear before it on January 5.
The court has issued directions to one-man Commission on Minorities Rights, KP chief secretary and KP inspector general of police to visit the site and submit a report on January 4. Hindus form the biggest minority community in Pakistan.
According to official estimates, 75 lakh Hindus live in Pakistan. However, according to the community, over 90 lakh Hindus are living in the country.
The majority of Pakistan's Hindu population is settled in Sindh province where they share culture, traditions and language with Muslim residents. They often complain of harassment by the extremists.
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Delhi court sentences Haryana gangster Vikas Gulia, associate to life imprisonment
New Delhi (PTI): A Delhi court has sentenced Haryana gangster Vikas Gulia and his associate to life imprisonment under MCOCA provisions, but refused the death penalty saying the offences did not fall under the category of 'rarest of the rare cases'.
Additional Sessions Judge Vandana Jain sentenced Gulia and Dhirpal alias Kana to rigorous imprisonment for life under Section 3 (punishment for organised crime) of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
In an order dated December 13, the judge said, "Death sentence can only be awarded in 'rarest of the rare cases' wherein the murder is committed in an extremely inhumane, barbarous, grotesque or dastardly manner as to arouse umbrage of the community at large."
The judge said that on weighing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, it could be concluded that the present case did not fall under the category, and so, the death penalty could not be imposed upon the convicts.
"Thus, both the convicts are sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs 3 lakh each, for committing the offence under Section 3 of MCOCA," she said.
The public prosecutor, seeking the death penalty for both the accused, submitted that they were involved in several unlawful activities while they were on bail in other cases.
He argued that the accused had shown no respect for the law and acted without any fear of legal consequences, and therefore did not deserve any leniency from the court.
The court noted that both convicts were involved in offences of murder, attempt to murder, extortion, robbery, house trespass, and criminal intimidation. Besides, they had misused the liberty of interim bail granted to them by absconding.
It said, "The terror of the convicts was such that it created fear psychosis in the mind of the general public, and they lost complete faith in the law enforcement agencies and chose to accede to the illegal demands of convicts. Despite suffering losses, they could not gather the courage to depose against them."
The court noted that Gulia was involved in at least 18 criminal cases, while Dhirpal had links to 10 serious offences.
It underlined that MCOCA had been enacted "keeping in view the fact that organised crime had come up as a serious threat to society, as it knew no territorial boundaries and is fuelled by illegal wealth generated by committing the offence of extortion, contract killings, kidnapping for ransom, collection of protection money, murder, etc."
Both accused persons had been convicted on December 10 in a case registered at Najafgarh police station. The police filed a chargesheet under Section 3 (punishment for organised crime) and 4 (punishment for possessing unaccountable wealth on behalf of member of organised crime syndicate) of MCOCA.
