Gujarat Riots

Guj court acquits all 26 accused in 2002 gangrape and multiple murders case

A court in Gujarat has acquitted all 26 persons accused of gangrape and murder of more than a dozen members of a minority community in separate incidents in Kalol during 2002 communal riots for want of evidence in the 20-year-old case. Of the total 39 accused, 13 died during the pendency of the case and the trial against them was abated. A court of additional sessions judge of Halol in Panchmahal district, Leelabhai Chudasama, on Friday acquitted 26 persons for the offence of murder, gangrape and rioting for want of evidence. "As many as 13 out of a total 39 accused in the case had died during the pendency of the trial," the court said in the order passed on Friday. The accused persons were part of a mob that went on a rampage in the communal riots that broke out on March 1, 2002, during a bandh call given after the Sabarmati train burning incident in Godhra on February 27. An FIR was lodged against the accused at Kalol police station on March 2 that year. The prosecution examined

During UPA regime, CBI was 'putting pressure' on me to 'frame' Modi: Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said the CBI was "putting pressure" on him to "frame" Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a alleged fake encounter case in Gujarat when he was being questioned by the probe agency during the Congress-led UPA government. Shah said this at the 'News 18 Rising India' programme here in response to a question on Opposition's charge that the Narendra Modi government is "misusing' central agencies to target them. The CBI "was putting pressure" on me to "frame Modi ji" (when he was Gujarat CM) in an alleged fake encounter case during the Congress government," he said, adding that the BJP never raised a ruckus despite this. On Rahul Gandhi's conviction in a criminal defamation case by a court in Surat, the home minister said the Congress leader was not the only politician who was convicted by a court and lost membership of the legislature. Instead of moving to a higher court, Rahul has been trying to create hue and cry and blaming Prime Minister Narend

SC to form bench to hear Bilkis Bano's plea against release of convicts

The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to constitute a special bench to hear a plea by Bilkis Bano, who was gang-raped during the 2002 Gujarat riots, against the remission of sentence of 11 convicts in the case. A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala assured Bano, represented through her lawyer Shobha Gupta, that the new bench will be formed. Gupta mentioned the matter for urgent hearing and said that a new bench needs to be constituted. "I will have a bench constituted. Will look at it this evening," the CJI said. Earlier, on January 24, the hearing on Bano's plea challenging the remission of sentence of 11 convicts in the gang-rape case by the Gujarat government could not be held in the top court as the judges concerned were hearing a matter related to passive euthanasia as part of a five-judge Constitution bench. Besides the plea challenging the release of the convicts, the gang-rape survivor had also filed a separate petition seeking

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Gujarat Assembly passes resolution against BBC documentary, seeks action

Gujarat Assembly on Friday passed a resolution requesting the Centre to take strict action against the BBC for tarnishing the image of Prime Minister Modi with its documentary on the 2002 riots

Why no documentary on 1984 riots in Delhi, asks EAM S Jaishankar

He termed the documentary as politics at play by people who don't have courage to come into the political field

I-T teams at BBC's Delhi, Mumbai offices for survey operation: Officials

The Income Tax Department on Tuesday conducted a survey operation at the BBC's offices in Delhi and Mumbai as part of a tax evasion investigation, officials said. The surprise action comes weeks after the broadcaster aired a two-part documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots and India. The department is looking at documents related to the business operations of the company and those related to its Indian arm, they said. As part of a survey, the Income Tax Department only covers the business premises of a company and does not raid residences and other locations of its promoters or directors.

'Misconceived, no merit': SC dismisses Hindu Sena plea to ban BBC

Court separately seeks centre's response on petitions challenging orders blocking BBC documentary's screening

SC agrees to hear PILs on BBC's documentary on 2002 Gujarat riots

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear pleas challenging the Centre's decision to block a BBC documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots. A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala took note of the submissions of lawyer M L Sharma and senior advocate C U Singh seeking urgent listing of their separate PILs on the issue. At the outset of the proceedings, lawyer Sharma, who has filed a PIL in his personal capacity, mentioned the plea, saying that people were being arrested. "It will be listed on Monday," the CJI said. Senior advocate C U Singh mentioned a separate plea on the issue filed by veteran journalist N Ram and activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan. He mentioned how the tweets by Ram and Bhushan were deleted allegedly by using emergency powers. He also said that students in Ajmer were rusticated for streaming the BBC documentary. "We will list," the CJI said. Lawyer Sharma filed the PIL against the Centre's decision to block the .

Toolkit that spreads lies, propaganda, says RSS on BBC documentary

Central government has condemned the BBC documentary series describing it as propaganda to push a discredited narrative

A K Antony's son resigns from all Congress posts following tweet on BBC doc

Veteran Congress leader and former Kerala Chief Minister A K Antony's son, Anil, on Wednesday resigned from all his posts in the party following widespread criticism of his tweet against the controversial BBC documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots. Anil Antony announced his resignation via a tweet in which he said that he was getting "intolerant calls" to retract his tweet against the documentary and the "wall of hate/abuses" on Facebook over the same issue have prompted him to take the decision. In a portion of the redacted resignation letter, he posted on his Twitter handle, Anil said, "Considering the events from yesterday, I believe it would be appropriate for me to leave all my roles in the Congress -- as the Convener of KPCC Digital Media, and as the National Co-coordinator of AICC Social Media and Digital Communications Cell." Anil had on Tuesday tweeted that despite large differences with the BJP, those who support and place the views of the British broadcaster and of former

No screening of BBC doc at JNU; students say varsity cut power, internet

Several students, who gathered at the JNU students' union office for a screening of a controversial BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, claimed the varsity administration cut power and internet to stop the event, and staged a protest after stones were thrown on them. They claimed that they were attacked when they were watching the documentary on their mobile-phones as the screening could not be held. Some alleged that the attackers were members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), a charge the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliated student body denied. Later in the night, raising slogans of "Inqlaab Zinadabad" and against the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) administration, the protesting students marched to the Vasant Kunj police station to lodge a complaint against the "stone pelters". On the power cut at the campus, a JNU administration official, requesting anonymity told PTI, "There is a major (power) line fault at the university. We are ...

Kerala political groups to screen BBC doc; BJP seeks CM's intervention

CPI(M)'s youth wing, DYFI, kicked off the political storm in the state over the documentary by announcing on its Facebook page that it would be shown in the state

Gujarat riots documentary: BBC's motives are less clear

Critics of the documentary are correct in thinking that it is intended to embarrass Prime Minister Modi, that this has been released at a time when the presidency of G-20 has passed to India

Law minister Rijiju slams controversial BBC documentary on Gujarat riots

Law Minister Kiren Rijiju has slammed the controversial BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the 2002 Gujarat riots, saying India's image cannot be disgraced with "malicious campaigns". In a series of tweets in English and Hindi on Saturday and Sunday, he said minorities, or for that matter, every community in India is moving ahead positively. "India's image cannot be disgraced by malicious campaigns launched inside or outside India," he said, adding that Prime Minister Modi's voice is the voice of 1.4 billion Indians. "Some people in India have still not gotten over the colonial hangover. They consider BBC above the Supreme Court of India and lower the country's dignity and image to any extent to please their moral masters," Rijiju. He said much cannot be expected from members of the "tukde-tukde gang who seek to weaken the might of India.

Some people consider BBC above SC: Rijiju on documentary on Gujarat riots

Taking to Twitter, Rijiju said that minorities in the country are moving ahead positively

UK PM Sunak defends PM Modi over controversial BBC series on Gujarat riots

"We strongly condemn the BBC's malicious documentary India: The Modi Question," said Insight UK, among several diaspora groups who have taken to social media to condemn the documentary

It is a propaganda piece: India on BBC documentary on Gujarat riots

Bagchi said the documentary is a reflection on the agency and individuals that are peddling "this narrative" again

Where will people go if they don't get justice from SC: DCW chief on Bilkis

When people do not get justice from the Supreme Court, where do they go, Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal asked on Saturday after the apex court dismissed a review plea filed by Bilkis Bano. Bano was gang-raped and seven members of her family were killed during the 2002 Gujarat riots. The Supreme Court has dismissed Bano's plea seeking a review of its earlier order by which it had asked the Gujarat government to consider the petitions for remission of the sentences of 11 convicts in the gang-rape case. "Supreme Court rejected Bilkis Bano's plea. Bilkis Bano was gang-raped when she was 21 years old, and her three-year-old son and six family members were murdered but Gujarat government freed all the rapists. If justice won't come from Supreme Court, where will people go?" Maliwal asked on Twitter. According to procedures, review pleas against apex court judgments are decided in chambers by circulation by the judges who were part of the judgment under review. Bano

SC dismisses Bilkis Bano's plea seeking review of its May 2022 order

The Supreme Court has dismissed a plea filed by Bilkis Bano, seeking a review of its earlier order by which it had asked the Gujarat government to consider the petitions for remission of sentences of 11 convicts in the gang-rape case. Bano was gang-raped and seven members of her family were killed during the 2002 Gujarat riots. According to procedures, review pleas against apex court judgments are decided in chambers by circulation by the judges who were part of the judgment under review. The review plea came up for in-chamber consideration on December 13 before a bench of justices Ajay Rastogi and Vikram Nath. "I am directed to inform you that the review petition above mentioned filed in Supreme Court was dismissed by the court on December 13, 2022," read a communication sent to Bano's counsel Shobha Gupta by the apex court's assistant registrar. The gang-rape survivor had sought a review of the top court's May 13 order on a plea moved by a convict. The top court had asked the s