Alwar lynching: Supreme Court seeks Rajasthan's response
New Delhi, Aug 20: The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Rajasthan government to apprise it of the action the state has taken in a lynching case in Alwar district in July.
A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud asked the Principal Secretary of the state's Home Department to file an affidavit on a plea seeking contempt of court proceedings against the state government.
It sought the affidavit on the action taken to prevent future incidents of lynching. Asking for the affidavit to be filed in one week, the court posted the matter for the next hearing on August 30.
Senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for petitioner Tehseen Poonawala, had sought the initiation of contempt of court proceedings against the state government, contending just a few days after the apex court's directions on the lynching incident in Alwar.
The bench asked the Rajasthan government whether any disciplinary action has been taken against the police officers who allegedly took three hours to reach a hospital with a badly injured man accused of smuggling cows.
The counsel appearing for Rajasthan told the bench that action has been taken. The central and state governments have come under sharp criticism from the top court over frequent lynching incidents across the country.
The court had condemned the mob lynching incidents and suggested enactment of a law in Parliament to deal with the crime that threatens the rule of law and the country's social fabric.
Rakbar Khan, 28, was beaten to death by suspected cow vigilantes in Alwar district on July 24.
Alwar had earlier also witnessed similar attacks in the name of cow protectionism. The latest killing comes more than a year after Pehlu Khan was murdered allegedly by some cow vigilantes in April 2017.
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Catholic Bishops' body slams Bhagwat's remarks
New Delhi: The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India on Thursday slammed RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat for his reported remark that Pranab Mukherjee, when he was President, had said tribals would turn "anti-national" if there is no "ghar wapsi"Catholic Bishops.'
In a statement issued here, CBCI, a body of Catholic Bishops, referred to reports which said Bhagwat, at an event on Monday, claimed that Mukherjee, while he was President had appreciated ghar wapsi and told him that had it not been for the Sangh's work on reconversion, a section of Adivasis would have turned "anti-national".The CBCI called the report "shocking".
"Fabricated personal conversation being attributed to a former president of India and its posthumous publication with the vested interest of an organization with questionable credibility raises a grave issue of national importance," the CBCI claimed.
"Is it not the violent ghar wapsi program of VHP and other similar organizations, curtailing the exercise of freedom of conscience of economically deprived tribals, the real anti-national activity?" it asked.
'Ghar wapsi' is a term used by the RSS and affiliated organisations to refer to reconversion of Muslims and Christians to Hinduism, based on the belief that they were originally Hindus before converting to other religions.
The CBCI also questioned why Bhagwat did not speak about it while Mukherjee was alive.
"We, the 2.3 percent of Indian citizens who are Christians feel extremely hurt by such manipulated and motivated propaganda unleashed," it said.
In a post on X following the statement issued by CBCI, Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien said, "Speak up. This is a start!"
"Bishops body have issued a statement condemning remarks made by Dr Mohan Bhagwat and RSS for defaming the Christian community," he said.
O'Brien added that they should ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi more questions, including why Christmas Day has been turned into "Good Governance Day".
The TMC leader, in a blogpost earlier this month, had said "hard questions" must be asked to the government with regards to the Christian community, including why the FCRA has been 'weaponised', and why has Manipur been 'ignored'.
