Tripura police books 4 Supreme Court lawyers under UAPA for abetting disharmony
Agartala(PTI): Tripura police have registered a case against four Supreme Court lawyers under the stringent UAPA and various sections of IPC for allegedly promoting communal disharmony with their social media posts about the recent violence targeting Muslims, a senior official said on Friday.
The lawyers have also been served notices asking them to appear before police by November 10 for questioning, Superintendent of Police of West Tripura district Manik Das said.
"A group of Supreme Court lawyers visited Tripura on Tuesday last and after their visit we noticed that several posts were made in social media expressing their discontent regarding the recent communal incidents. Police has registered a case and wants to know if the posts were made by them or were fake posts," Das told PTI.
The case was registered at West Agartala police station on November 3 under various sections of IPC including 153 (a) and (b) related to promoting disharmony, enmity or feelings of hatred between different groups on the grounds of religion, race etc, 469 (forgery), 504 (intentional insult, provocation), 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy), besides section 13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
If convicted under the tough UAPA, an offender may face imprisonment up to seven years.
The lawyers belong to different organisations including Lawyers for Democracy, National Confederation of Human Rights Organization (NCHRO) and the PUCL.
Notices were served to Estesham Hashmi, lawyer of the Supreme Court of India, advocate Amit Srivastav, Coodinator of Lawyers for Democracy, NCHRO national secretary Ansar Indori and PUCL member Mukesh Kumar. They were alleged to have claimed that the Muslim community was targeted, including women, and a mosque was vandalised.
The team demanded appropriate police action against the attackers, those who spread rumours and officials who remained inactive during attacks that occurred in the aftermath of violence against Hindus in Bangladesh during Durga Puja.
A mosque was vandalised and two shops were set ablaze at Chamtilla during the October 26 Vishva Hindu Parishad rally which was called to protest against the communal violence in neighbouring Bangladesh.
Three houses and a few shops, reportedly owned by Muslims, were also ransacked in nearby Rowa Bazar, North Tripura Superintendent of Police Bhanupada Chakraborty had said.
The state government had on October 29 alleged that a group with vested interest from outside had hatched a conspiracy against the administration to create unrest in Tripura and malign its image by uploading fake photographs of a burning mosque on social media after the October 26 incident.
In a video message on Wednesday, DIG (Southern Range) G K Rao said, "Some mischievous incidents are happening in the state since the last few days. There was some minor loss of property and some incidents of disturbance occurred. Tripura Police registered 11 cases including 4 in North Tripura, 3 in West Tripura, one in Gomati district and three cases in Sepahijala district.
In the notice to the lawyers, police asked them to delete the social media posts and appear before the investigators by November 10.
The Trinamool Congress, which is seeking to make a political foray into the state, approached the NHRC with a complaint about the incidents of violence. The human rights panel has forwarded its complaint to Tripura Chief Secretary Kumar Alok and Director General of Police V S Yadav, and asked them to submit an "action taken report" within four weeks.
In its complaint to the NHRC on October 28, the TMC alleged that despite reports of violence against people from the religious minority community, the state government didn't take proper action.
Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb recently announced compensation for losses incurred by the victims of the violence.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
