Demand for Muslim candidate in Bhatkal constituency gains pace on social media ahead of K'taka polls
Bhatkal: With over 55 thousand votes, the Muslims in the Bhatkal-Honnavar Constituency have lately been raising demands of fielding a Muslim candidate in the constituency. WhatsApp groups and Facebook pages have been created to garner support for demanding a Muslim candidate among the locals.
The general perception among the Muslim youngsters in Bhatkal is that the community has not been able to groom even a single Muslim political leader for over forty years now after the late Jukaku Shamsuddin and SM Yahya. The debates on social media have also revolved around how the secular parties have exploited the Muslim votes in the region but have never allowed a Muslim candidate to contest the assembly elections.
The majority of the members of the WhatsApp groups that have been created to discuss the issue ahead of the local socio-political organization Majlis-e-Islah wa Tanzeem extend support to any of the candidates in the fray, collectively opine that even if it means losing the election, the Tanzeem should support a Muslim candidate and put a show of the strength and significance of its votes.
The Muslim community in the constituency has 55,000 votes, second only to the Namdhari community which has over 65,000 voters. The majority of the political parties have traditionally preferred Namdhari candidates or other candidates over Muslims to contest on their tickets.
Majlis-e-Islah wa Tanzeem in 2013, supported JD(s) leader Inayathullah Shabandri in the 2013 assembly elections. Shabandri secured the second position in the elections and polled over 27 thousand votes against the 37,319 votes polled by independent candidate Mankal Vaidya who won the election that year.
In 2018, Mankal Vaidya contested the election on a Congress ticket backed by Tanzeem and lost the election to Sunil Naik of the BJP. Shabandri, who is now the president of Majlis-e-Islah wa Tanzeem, had to withdraw his candidature after failing to secure Tanzeem’s support for the election.
With the 2023 assembly polls in sight, the locals are upping their demands to support a Muslim candidate. While some are against these demands and believe fielding a Muslim candidate will ensure the victory of the BJP, the number of people bolding the gamble to field a Muslim candidate is higher.
With Election Commission expected to announce the dates of the election later this month, it will be interesting to see how these demands of locals influence political parties.
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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.
