Bengaluru: Pre-school principal held for extorting Rs 20 lakh from student’s father
Bengaluru (PTI): A pre-school principal and her two associates were arrested for allegedly extorting money from the father of a five-year-old student with whom she had an affair, police said on Wednesday.
The woman allegedly blackmailed the 34-year-old man by threatening to leak his private pictures on social media if he did not pay her Rs 20 lakh, they added.
The man became friends with the woman after enrolling his daughter in her pre-school in 2023 and later got into a relationship with her, police said.
According to a senior police officer, the man used a separate phone to communicate with her. Over time, she extorted Rs 4 lakh from him under various pretexts.
Later, she demanded that they live together, and when his family was away, she visited his home and borrowed Rs 50,000 from him, he said.
When he refused, she allegedly intimidated him, claiming she had contacts in the police.
As a result, he began distancing himself from her. Facing financial difficulties, he decided to withdraw his daughter from the pre-school and relocate his family to his native place in Gujarat, police said.
At the principal’s behest, her two male associates allegedly demanded Rs 20 lakh from him to delete his private videos and photos.
To protect his reputation, he agreed to pay Rs 15 lakh and initially transferred Rs 1.9 lakh, police added.
However, when he failed to pay the remaining amount, they continued to harass him, prompting him to approach the police last month, police said.
"Based on the complaint, we arrested all three on Monday and sent them to judicial custody," police added.
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AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan moves SC against Waqf Bill
New Delhi, Apr 5 (PTI): Aam Aadmi Party MLA Amanatullah Khan has moved the Supreme Court, challenging the constitutional validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025.
In his plea, Khan sought that the Waqf (Amendment) Bill be declared as "unconstitutional and being violative of Articles 14, 15, 21, 25, 26, 29, 30 and 300-A of the Constitution" and sought direction for striking it down.
"The Bill violates fundamental rights enshrined under Articles 14, 15, 21, 25, 26, 29, 30, and 300-A of the Constitution. It curtails the religious and cultural autonomy of Muslims, enables arbitrary executive interference, and undermines minority rights to manage their religious and charitable institutions," Khan's plea said.
On Friday, Congress MP Mohammad Jawed and AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi moved the apex court, challenging the validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025, saying it violated the constitutional provisions.
Jawed's plea alleged the Bill imposed "arbitrary restrictions" on Waqf properties and their management, undermining the religious autonomy of the Muslim community.
The petition, filed through advocate Anas Tanwir, said the proposed law discriminated against the Muslim community by "imposing restrictions that are not present in the governance of other religious endowments".
The Bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha with 128 members voting in favour and 95 opposing it. It was passed in the Lok Sabha early April 3 with 288 members supporting it and 232 against it.
Jawed, a Lok Sabha MP from Kishanganj in Bihar, was a member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Bill and has alleged in his plea that the Bill "introduces restrictions on the creation of Waqfs based on the duration of one's religious practice".
"Such a limitation is unfounded in Islamic law, custom or precedent and infringes upon the fundamental right to profess and practice religion under Article 25," it said.
In his separate plea, Owaisi said the Bill takes away from Waqfs various protections which were accorded to Waqfs and Hindu, Jain, and Sikh religious and charitable endowments alike.
Owaisi's plea, filed by advocate Lzafeer Ahmad, said, "This diminishing of the protection given to Waqfs while retaining them for religious and charitable endowments of other religions constitutes hostile discrimination against Muslims and is violative of Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution, which prohibit discrimination on the grounds of religion."
The plea argued the amendments "irreversibly dilute" the statutory protections afforded to Waqfs and their regulatory framework while giving "undue advantage" to other stakeholders and interest groups, undermining years of progress and pushing back Waqf management by several decades.
"Appointing non-Muslims on the Central Waqf Council and the State Waqf Boards disturbs this delicate constitutional balance and tilts it to the detriment of the right of Muslims as a religious group to remain in control of their Waqf properties," Owaisi said.
