MP: Bajrang Dal activists protest against namaz offered at mall in Bhopal
Bhopal, Aug 27: Activists of the Bajrang Dal on Saturday staged a protest alleging that namaz was being offered in an open space inside a mall in Madhya Pradesh's capital Bhopal.
The videos of the incident that took place at DB Mall this afternoon have surfaced on social media, in which some people can be seen offering namaz on the ground floor of the facility.
Bajrang Dal activists shot videos of the prayers being offered and argued with a representative of the mall's management stating that they would recite Hanuman Chalisa at the establishment.
A police team was dispatched to the scene after getting information about the protest, but no untoward incident was reported, MP Nagar police station in-charge Keshant Sharma said.
When the police reached the scene, Bajrang Dal members were exiting the mall. No one has made any complaint in this regard so far, he said.
Bajrang Dal Vibhag Sah-Sanyojak Abhijeet Singh Rajput, who led the protestors, said, We have been getting information for the last one month that some people were offering namaz on the second floor of DB Mall. We reached there today and captured 10 to 12 people offering namaz.
The Bajrang Dal had raised an objection about this with the DB Mall management, but no official was present, he said.
We spoke to the security supervisors and warned them to stop the practise or the Bajrang Dal members will recite Hanuman Chalisa and Sundar Kand (a part of Ramayana), Rajput said.
While the supervisor claimed that namaz was being offered in an enclosed place, but the truth is that it was offered in an open space, he alleged.
However, DB Mall Private Limited's security staff didn't reply to the query in this regard. The company's vice president Sanjay Jain could not be contacted for a comment despite repeated attempts.
Viral video of offering #Namaz inside DB mall in Bhopal, People from Bajrang Dal chants #HanumanChalisa in protest against Namaz. pic.twitter.com/24PMx7HLRl
— Nikhil Choudhary (@NikhilCh_) August 27, 2022
Lulu Mall-like incident happened in DB Mall, #Bhopal when a few Muslims were performing namaz. Members of Bajrang Dal started chanting slogans of Jai Sri Ram in protest against namaz. #islamophobia pic.twitter.com/FVz4pzOEJQ
— Huneza Khan (@KhanHuneza) August 27, 2022
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2 Indian nationals part of crew of luxury cruise ship that reported hantavirus outbreak
London (PTI): At least two Indian nationals are part of the crew of the Dutch vessel MV Hondius which reported a hantavirus outbreak with five confirmed cases and three deaths so far, according to the BBC.
The luxury cruise ship, operated by Oceanwide Expeditions, began its journey on April 1 from Argentina’s Ushuaia and is expected to arrive in Spain’s Canary Islands on May 10.
About 150 passengers and crew from 28 countries were initially aboard the luxury cruise, but dozens disembarked on the island of St Helena on April 24, according to the report.
Of the 28 nationalities onboard, 38 are from the Philippines, 31 from the UK, 23 from the US, 16 from the Netherlands, 14 from Spain, nine from Germany, six from Canada, and two crew members from India, among others, the BBC reported.
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The World Health Organization said on Thursday that five of the eight suspected hantavirus cases had been confirmed.
A 69-year-old Dutch woman, confirmed to have the virus, has died; her Dutch husband and a German woman were also among the fatalities. Their cases are being investigated.
The UN health agency has said the outbreak is not the start of a pandemic.
Maria van Kerkhove, an infectious disease epidemiologist at WHO, told a news briefing that the situation is not the same as six years ago with Covid-19 because hantavirus spreads through “close, intimate contact”.
Van Kerkhove said “this is not Covid, this is not influenza, it spreads very, very differently”. She said authorities had asked “everyone to wear a mask” on board the MV Hondius.
Those in contact with or caring for suspected cases, she added, should “wear a higher level of personal protective equipment”.
Hantavirus typically spreads from rodents - but in the latest outbreak the transmission between people was documented for the first time, the WHO said.
Meanwhile, health authorities are racing to trace dozens of people who have recently disembarked from the Dutch vessel MV Hondius.
Oceanwide Expedition said 29 passengers, of at least 12 different nationalities, had left the MV Hondius in St Helena, the British Overseas Territory.
It also said the body of one deceased person—now known to be a Dutch man - was taken off the vessel.
Seven of those who left the cruise liner were British nationals.
