New Delhi (PTI): The Vishva Hindu Parishad on Wednesday disassociated itself from cow vigilante Bittu Bajrangi arrested in connection with the communal clashes in Haryana's Nuh district.
"Raj Kumar alias Bittu Bajrangi, who is said to be a Bajrang Dal worker, has never had any relation with Bajrang Dal. The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) also does not consider the content of the video allegedly released by him to be appropriate," the right-wing outfit said in a statement.
Bajrang Dal is the youth wing of the VHP.
Bajrangi was arrested on Tuesday in connection with the communal clashes that erupted in Nuh on July 31, police said.
He was questioned in connection with a fresh FIR registered against him and 15-20 others at Nuh's Sadar Police Station based on a complaint filed by Assistant Superintendent of Police Usha Kundu.
Police said Bajrangi, the president of an outfit called the Goraksha Bajrang Force, was initially detained by a Crime Investigation Agency team of Tauru from Faridabad and taken for questioning.
A spokesperson of Nuh Police later said he had been arrested and would be produced in a city court on Wednesday.
The FIR against Bajrangi and the others has been registered under Indian Penal Code sections 148 (riots), 149 (unlawful assembly), 332 (causing hurt), 353, 186 (obstructing a public servant from discharging duty), 395, 397 (armed robbery), and 506 (criminal intimidation) and provisions of the Arms Act, police said.
A senior police officer said Bajrangi and his associates wielded illegal weapons during the VHP procession that came under attack in Muslim-majority Nuh on July 31.
Six people, including two home guards and a cleric, died in the clashes that also spread to nearby regions.
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New Delhi, Dec 5: The Supreme Court on Thursday set aside an NGT order imposing around Rs 3 crore fine on M/s Govardhan Mines and Minerals as compensation for damages to the environment on account of illegal stone mining activities in the Dadam Hills of Tosham at Bhiwani, Haryana.
Asking the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to deal with the case afresh, a bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and justices Sanjay Kumar and Manmohan took strong note of the green panel’s order and said it did not deal with the contentions of the firm and adopted the report of a committee set up to ascertain illegal mining.
“This order does not deal with the contentions raised by the mining company (M/s Govardhan Mines and Minerals). The arguments of the parties are needed to be dealt with by the first court which is NGT here,” the CJI said.
The bench accepted the submissions of senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for the mining firm, that the NGT did not deal with the contentions of the company and based its findings on the committee's report which was wrong.
The CJI, however, did not agree with Divan's legal submission of "res judicata".
"Res judicata" is a legal doctrine that prevents a court from re-examining a case that has already been decided by the same court which means a litigant cannot be vexed again and again on decided issues.
Divan argued that the issue of the alleged illegal mining was previously decided by the NGT and the same could not have been re-agitated by the panel in another case.
On August 26, 2022, the NGT issued a detailed order penalising the mining firm for illegal and unscientific mining and also laid out directives for environmental restoration and strict compliance with safety norms.
The tribunal’s order followed a series of investigations and reports that allegedly exposed violations, including mining beyond permissible boundaries and non-compliance with the approved mining plans.
A fact-finding committee led by Justice Pritam Pal, a former judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, concluded that illegal mining extended beyond the approved area, including forest zones and beyond permissible depths.
The committee held there were gross violations of environmental clearance conditions and mining plans, including the failure to maintain the required 7.5-meter green belt and safety zones within the leased area.
It had imposed a penalty equivalent to 10 per cent of the value of illegally mined material, replacing the earlier recommendation of Rs 7.5 crores.
The NGT also directed the Haryana government to assess the cost of restoring the damaged Aravalli plantation and recover these costs from the mining firm.