Anjuman-e-Islam leads Muslims' protest against Neha murder case accused in Dharwad
Dharwad (Karnataka) (PTI): Muslim men and women on Monday came out in large numbers and staged a demonstration, denouncing the accused from their own community, Fayaz Khondunaik, in the murder of college student Neha Hiremath and publicly stood by the Hindu victim's family.
Shops owned by Muslims were shut for half a day in solidarity with the family of Hiremath and to condemn the dastardly act that shook the twin city of Hubballi-Dharwad. The shopkeepers put out a poster saying, "Justice for Neha Hiremath".
Under the banner of Dharwad unit of Anjuman-e-Islam, Muslim students, both boys and girls, too took out a march in the city holding banners and placards which read: "One murder of a human is equal to the murder of humanity" and "Girl students should be respected and protected".
As the BJP has also been staging demonstrations in the city as part of its statewide protest against the Neha murder case, elaborate security arrangements were made with the deployment of reserved police forces.
Neha Hiremath (23), daughter of Congress Councillor of Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation Niranjan Hiremath, was stabbed to death on the campus of BVB College by Fayaz Khondunaik on Thursday.
Fayaz, who fled from the scene, was arrested by the police subsequently.
Neha was a first-year Master of Computer Application (MCA) student and Fayaz was earlier her classmate.
The murder case, which sparked widespread outrage, has snowballed into a political slugfest between ruling Congress and opposition BJP.
While the ruling party has tried to project it as an incident with a personal angle, the saffron party has labelled it a "love jihad" case and claimed it stands testimony to the alleged deterioration of law and order in the state.
BJP's student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and other organisations aligned to Hindutva outfits have staged protests demanding justice, and calling for severe punishment for the accused. Similar protests have been reported in various other places.
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SGPC writes to Mann, seeks ban on 'Emergency' in Punjab a day before release
Amritsar, Jan 16 (PTI): The SGPC on Thursday wrote to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, seeking a ban on the release of Kangana Ranaut's movie 'Emergency' saying it "tarnishes" the image of Sikhs and "misrepresents" history.
Actor and BJP MP Ranaut's 'Emergency' is slated to release in cinemas on January 17.
In the letter to Mann, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee chief Harjinder Singh Dhami expressed strong objection to Ranaut's film.
Dhami said that if the film is released in Punjab, it will spark "outrage and anger" in the Sikh community and therefore it is the responsibility of the government to ban its release in the state.
The SGPC, an apex gurdwara body, had earlier also protested the film.
"It has come to our attention that the movie 'Emergency' produced by BJP MP Kangana Ranaut is going to be released on 17th January 2025 in cinemas in different cities of Punjab and the tickets have also started to be booked," its letter to Mann read.
Dhami said the SGPC had also protested the release of the movie in a letter to the Punjab Chief Secretary on November 14 last year.
"But it is sad that the Punjab government has not taken any step till now. If this film is released on January 17, 2025, then it is natural to create outrage and anger in the Sikh world," the current letter read.
Dhami said the SGPC will submit a letter also to all the deputy commissioners in Punjab, seeking a ban on the film in the state.
The SGPC denounced the "character assassination" of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the Khalistani militant killed in 1984 in a military operation.
"If this film is released in Punjab, we will be forced to strongly oppose it at the state level," Dhami said.
In August last year, the SGPC sent a legal notice to the producers of the 'Emergency' film, alleging that it "misrepresented" the character and history of Sikhs, and asked them to remove the objectionable scenes depicting "anti-Sikh" sentiments.
In the notice, the producers of the film, including Kangana Ranaut, were asked to remove the trailer released on August 14 from all public and social media platforms and tender a written apology to the Sikh community.
The SGPC objected to film writing separate letters to the Minister of Information and Broadcasting and the Central Board of Film Certification.
