Protests against CAA should continue: Singer Zubeen Garg
Guwahati (PTI): Popular singer Zubeen Garg said the people of Assam would never accept the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA, and protests against it should continue but without any bloodshed.
He said he will continue opposing it on various forums, and also urged for concerted efforts in winning the legal battle to get the Act scrapped.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Garg said he has been opposing the Act right from 2017, when it was a bill, and he remains firm on his stand.
He said that while protesting against CAA was necessary, there were various ways to do so.
Noting that the state has seen many deaths during many such movements, be it the Assam Agitation or the 2019 anti-CAA demonstrations when five youths died, he said that no more deaths should be allowed to happen due to protests.
"I will continue protesting against CAA in my own ways. On stage or on social media -- wherever, however I can," Garg, considered a youth icon in the state, said.
He claimed that the government was trying to "impose" the CAA, but the people of the state would never accept it.
He asserted that there was no room for any Hindu-Muslim divide in Assam, and only the people of Assam and India would stay here, not from anywhere else.
Mentioning the petition in the Supreme Court, he said all should come together to fight the legal battle and repose faith in the judiciary.
Besides Garg, noted personalities in different fields had come out against the law during the peak of the anti-CAA movement in 2019. They had shared the stage with leaders of different social organisations, penning songs and poems to register their opposition.
Later, many of them joined different political parties, including the BJP and the Congress.
The CAA seeks to provide Indian citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis who entered India on or before December 31, 2014 from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after five years of residence here.
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Businessman lured by FB friend, attacked for extortion in K'taka; 4 held
Madikeri (Karnataka) (PTI): Four people were arrested for allegedly assaulting, illegally confining and attempting to extort money from a 39-year-old businessman who was lured through a honeytrap set up on social media, police said on Monday.
The accused have been identified as Rachana, Malati, Darshan and Ravi.
Police said efforts are underway to nab the remaining suspects involved in the incident, which occurred on December 12 in Madikeri, the district headquarters of Kodagu.
According to the complaint, the victim, a resident of Maddur taluk in Mandya district, was befriended by a woman identified as Rachana through Facebook, who later sought financial assistance and received Rs 5,000 from him via PhonePe on November 28.
When he asked her to return the money, the woman allegedly asked him to travel to Mysuru or Kushalnagar, promising to meet him.
The police said the woman later called the victim to Madikeri on December 12 and took him to a house near the market area, where they spent some time and consumed alcohol in the evening.
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Later that night, citing an emergency, the woman left the house. After her departure, three men allegedly broke into the house and attacked the victim, assaulting him with a stick and the handle of a sword, causing injuries to his face, mouth, chest and leg, the FIR stated.
The complainant alleged that he was forcibly confined, stripped and a nude video of him was recorded. The accused also allegedly threatened him with a toy gun, demanding Rs 50 lakh and warning that the video would be uploaded on social media if the money was not paid.
Police said the victim was held captive and somehow managed to escape in the early hours of December 13. However, after he escaped, the accused allegedly attempted to kidnap him in an autorickshaw, an incident that was captured on CCTV cameras.
Based on his complaint at the Madikeri Town police station, a case was registered under Sections 310(2) (dacoity), 127(2) (wrongful confinement), 118(1) (voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means) and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, a senior police officer said.
“Four accused, including two women, have been arrested. Efforts are on to nab two more absconding accused. Further investigation is on,” he added.
