Freedom Under Fire: VHP Gets Muslim Officer’s Name Cut from Temple Invite; Irom Sharmila Barred from Addressing JNU Students
A round-up of news, both bad and good, on the rights front from India.
Credit: rhinman/Flickr, CC BY 2.0.
HC orders reprint of invitations for Mahalingeshwara temple event without Muslim DC’s name
According to reports in Mangalorean News and Hindustan Times, the Karnataka High Court has responded to writ petitions objecting to the inclusion of the name of a Muslim IAS officer in a temple invitation on Wednesday and ordered that the invitations be reprinted without his name.
Earlier this month, the invitation to an annual temple festival at Mahalingeshewara temple in Puttur, Karnataka received objections from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal because it carried the name of Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner AB Ibrahim. Speaking to CNN-IBN, Ibrahim had said that he had done a lot for the temple and nobody had objected then. He also added that his name has been on several temple invites in the region before, with no trouble.
House ethics panel recommends expulsion of Delhi BJP MLA OP Sharma over sexist comment
The ethics panel of the Delhi assembly has called BJP MLA OP Sharma a “habitual offender” and recommended his expulsion, The Times of India reported. This comes in light of his derogatory and sexist remarks about AAP MLA Alka Lamba on the floor of the house in November. Sharma has called the report “politically motivated”.
OP Sharma is the same BJP MLA who was caught on camera thrashing CPI leader Ameeque Jamai outside the Patiala House courts in February this year.
How can women be stopped if men are allowed in temple, says High Court
According to a PTI report, the Bombay High Court observed yesterday that if men are allowed in a place of worship then women should also be permitted as no law prevents them. This was in response to a PIL filed by an activist and a senior advocate challenging the bar on entry of women in the sanctum sanctorum of Shani Shingnapur temple in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra.
Irom Sharmila not allowed to address JNU students
The Delhi trial court on Wednesday acquitted rights activist Irom Sharmila of charges of attempting to commit suicide during a fast-unto-death in the capital in 2006.
A Hindustan Times report said that a march of JNU students was stopped by a police barricade when they tried to approach Manipur House, where Sharmila is staying. Though she was able to greet them from the other side of the barricade, police said that they could not let her address the gathering because she was still under judicial custody after refusing to sign a personal recognizance bond earlier this month.
Sharmila has been on hunger strike for 16 years now, demanding that AFSPA be revoked from Manipur. She spoke to The Wire the day before the judgment came in.
Do you know of any other incident we should highlight in this column? Write to me at jahnavi@cms.thewire.in.
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