Lawyer files plea in Bombay HC against Eknath Shinde, Nitesh Rane over alleged Islamophobic remarks
Mumbai: A petition has been filed in the Bombay High Court seeking registration of an FIR against Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and BJP MLA Nitesh Rane for allegedly making Islamophobic remarks that hurt the religious sentiments of the Muslim community.
The petitioner, advocate Mohammed Wasi Sayed, filed the plea after coming across a video featuring self-proclaimed saint Mahant Ramgiri Maharaj, who is accused of making derogatory statements about Prophet Mohammed. The video shows Chief Minister Shinde expressing support for Mahant Ramgiri and warning the police against taking action against him as long as he remains in office. The advocate contends that this undermines the ongoing investigation against the Mahant.
The petition further notes that Nitesh Rane escalated tensions by allegedly threatening, “If anybody says anything against Ramgiri Maharaj, we will enter your mosque and hit you one by one.” Rane is also accused of making derogatory remarks against Muslims, referring to them as “homosexuals.”
According to Sayed, these comments should be viewed as part of a wider pattern of rising Islamophobia in the country. The plea asserts that such statements are intended to polarise voters along communal lines, particularly with the State Assembly elections approaching.
“They started Islamophobic campaigns to divert public attention from routine problems to hypothetical issues," Sayed argued, stressing that such tactics could deepen social divisions.
The petition also raises concerns over a growing trend of online hate speech targeting Muslims, highlighting data that indicates an increase in Islamophobic posts on social media platforms like Twitter/X. Sayed argued that most of this content goes undetected due to being shared in regional languages, which are underrepresented in calculations and sampling.
The advocate emphasised that certain social media users are leveraging Islamophobic content for political and economic gain, leading to dangerous real-world consequences.
Sayed has sought action under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita and the Information Technology Act against Shinde and Rane, along with an order to halt live broadcasts of Rane’s speeches targeting the Muslim community.
The Bombay High Court is expected to hear the petition soon.
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Jharkhand horror: Man kills live-in partner, chops body into 40 pieces
Ranchi (PTI): A 25-year-old man, who works as a butcher, allegedly strangled to death his live-in partner and chopped her body into 40 to 50 pieces in a forested area in Jharkhand’s Khunti district, police said on Wednesday.
The accused, identified as Naresh Bhengra, was arrested.
The matter came to light after around a fortnight after the killing when a stray dog was found with human body parts near Jordag village in Jariagarh police station on November 24.
Bhengra was in a live-in relationship with the deceased, a 24-year-old woman also from Khunti district, in Tamil Nadu for the past couple of years. Sometime back, he returned to Jharkhand, got married to another woman without telling his partner anything and went back to the southern state without his wife to join her.
"The brutal incident occurred on November 8 when they reached Khunti as the accused who had married another woman did not wish to take her home. Instead, he took her to a forest near his house at Jordag village in Jariagarh police station and chopped the body into pieces. The man has been arrested," Khunti Superintendent of Police Aman Kumar told PTI.
Inspector Ashok Singh who investigated the case said the man worked in a butcher shop in Tamil Nadu and was expert in slicing chicken.
“He admitted chopping the body parts of the woman into 40 to 50 pieces before leaving those in the forest for wild animals to feast on. The police recovered several parts on November 24 after a dog in the area was seen with a hand," Singh told PTI.
Singh said that the woman, who was unaware of his marriage, pressured him to return to Khunti. After reaching Ranchi, they boarded a train on November 24 and headed to the man's village.
"Under a plan, the man took her to Khunti in an autorickshaw near his home and asked her to wait. He returned with sharp weapons and strangulated her with her dupatta after raping her. He then cut the body into 40 to 50 pieces and left for his home to live with his wife," Singh said.
The woman, however, had informed her mother that she had boarded a train and would be living with her partner, the police officer said.
Following the recovery of body parts, a bag was also found in the forest with the murdered woman's belongings including her Aadhaar card. The mother of the woman was called at the spot and she identified her daughter's belongings.
"The mother suspected the man behind the crime who after being nabbed by the police admitted to chopping the woman into pieces," the official added.
The incident has sent shockwaves among people in the region, with the Shraddha Walker murder case of 2022 still fresh in their memory.
Walker was killed by her live-in partner who chopped her body into pieces before dumping them in the jungle in South Delhi’s Mehrauli.
