Tag: Kerala

Unhappy with Kerala HC order on wild tusker, protesters in Idukki block traffic

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Kochi: Angry protesters, including children and women, from 10 villages in the hilly district of Idukki on Thursday are out on the streets, blocking traffic on the Kochi-Dhanushkodi highway.
This highway passes through Idukki and the protesters are unhappy with the Kerala High Court’s Wednesday decision involving wild tusker ‘Arikomban’ and two other rogue elephants causing destruction to life and properties of people in these affected villages.
The Kerala High Court on Wednesday warned the state of strict action if it found that the area in the Idukki district where these wild tuskers, including ‘Arikomban’, were roaming had been an elephant habitat before the tribals were resettled there.
The division bench, according to the protesters, instead of helping them, called for records and reports on the resettlement of tribal people in the area back in 2000. The court said, “If it was an elephant habitat, you had no business resettling people there and putting them in danger. The court said that resettling people in an elephant habitat was the root of the entire problem.”
“We will examine it. If it was an elephant habitat, then your policymakers went way off the board. If people were resettled there despite being aware of this fact, we will come down heavily on those responsible.
“Errors in history can be corrected later in time. We need to find whether the mistake happened and if yes, correct it,” the bench said, and declined to issue any direction in the interim for capture and captivity of the wild tuskers, including ‘Arikomban’.
The feature of Arikomban (translated in Malayalam as Aari-rice and Komban-tusker) is it attacks ration shops and houses for rice.
The villagers are unhappy with the court decision as it said that it will constitute a five-member committee that would decide whether to capture the wild elephant and turn it into a captive tusker or relocate it to interior areas of the forest.

It further said that till the panel came to a decision by the next week, the tusker was not to be captured and put in captivity, but allowed tranquilising for a limited purpose of radio-collaring it to track its movements.
“We are not going to stop our protests and we will do it, only when some concrete things come out, as we are fed up living in constant fear. Lives are lost and properties are being destroyed,” said a group of angry protesters.
Meanwhile, state Forest Minister A.K. Saseendran said the people have the right to protest as the Court’s directive complicated things.
“The state will go forward exploring all the legal remedies and it will seek legal recourse,” said Saseendran.
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#Unhappy #Kerala #order #wild #tusker #protesters #Idukki #block #traffic
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 30, 2023
Mother of minor girl used as drug carrier approaches Kerala HC for CBI probe

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Kochi: The mother of a 12-year-old girl has filed a petition before the Kerala High Court alleging that her daughter was used as a “drug carrier” by drug mafia and sought a CBI probe into the matter.
In her plea, she said her daughter’s involvement with drug trade came to light when she was called to her school after her daughter was found in school washroom in an inebriated state with fully wet uniform and she was told that her daughter informed that someone made her smell a white powder and that she vomited four times.
Her plea also points out that the authorities informed the matter either to the police or to Child line, the agency which monitors children.
According to her daughter, she was first introduced to drugs by a fellow student during Kabbadi practice in October last year.
Later she fell into the hands of few men and she was taught to make blade-cut injuries on the wrist to put MDMA for intoxication.
The plea further submitted that at the police station, the child explained the entire incident to the police and lodged a complaint.
Adhinan, an influential man who was allegedly behind this, was subsequently summoned to the police station and even though he was questioned, police colluded with him and recorded a false statement limited to the allegation that he touched the girl’s hand, the mother said.
She further contended that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan allegedly made statements exonerating the accused during a debate in the Assembly, terming the media reports of the drug mafia case as fake.

(Except for the headline, the story has not been edited by Siasat staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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#Mother #minor #girl #drug #carrier #approaches #Kerala #CBI #probe
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 29, 2023
Russian woman returns heartbroken as Kerala friend turns violent

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Thiruvananthapuram: The ordeal of a young Russian woman ended as she boarded a flight to her home country via Dubai on Tuesday from the Kozhikode international airport.
The woman had come to India with her 29-old-male friend Aghil, who met her first on social media.
Aghil, an engineer by profession, was working in Doha. After the two met on a social media site, she flew down to Doha.
From there the two travelled to Nepal and finally to Aghil’s home town in India.
The purpose of their visit to home was to get married, but things went awry after Aghil often turned violent towards her. Unable to bear his behaviour, she tried to flee from his house last week by jumping from the first floor and got injured.
Soon the police arrested Aghil, and is presently in judicial custody.
The woman while convalescing at the state-run Kozhikode Medical College hospital gave a statement before the local magistrate narrating her sufferings.
The Russian Consulate also got into the act and got in touch with her parents in Russia. They sent a ticket to their daughter to return and on Tuesday morning the police put her on a flight to Dubai and from there she would return to her home country.

The woman has narrated her ordeal in her Facebook post wherein she said that she came with a lot of expectations to get married, but everything failed, and she suffered a lot when being with Aghil.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 28, 2023
Kerala: UDF, Congress organise marches across Wayanad constituency

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Wayanad: Members of the United Democratic Front (UDF) on Sunday took out a torch march in Thiruvambady in Kerala’s Wayanad constituency against the Central government in the wake of the disqualification of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha who was representing the seat in Parliament.
Several protest marches are being organised by Congress and UDF across the constituency against Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification.
In Kozhikode, Muslim Youth League also conducted a light march.
The procession inaugurated by IUML state president Sayyid Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal was carried out with the slogan ‘democracy in danger, support Rahul’.
MYL is the youth wing of the major political party in Kerala, IUML.
The Congress on Sunday began a day-long nationwide “Sankalp Satyagraha” in support of Rahul Gandhi following his disqualification from the Lok Sabha.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, senior leaders KC Venugopal, P Chidambaram and Salman Khurshid were among the party’s top brass taking part in the satyagraha at Rajghat.
Congress organised various protests in several states including Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

In Karnataka also, Youth Congress Workers hold a ‘Mashal March’ in Bengaluru against the Central government in the wake of the disqualification of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha.
However, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra from Delhi Raj Ghat trained her guns on the ruling BJP and vowed to keep fighting for the people at the party’s Sankalap Satyagraha to protest against the move to disqualify her brother and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
“Who thinks that they can silence us by scaring and humiliating us? Listen, we will not stop, I will see to it that the hard-earned money of the public is not being looted and given to few people,” Priyanka Gandhi said in a hard-hitting attack on the ruling party at the Centre.
“It was my family (Nehru-Gandhi) who nurtured the democracy of this country with their blood,” she said.
Rahul Gandhi, on Friday, was disqualified as a member of the Lok Sabha, a day after a Surat court sentenced him to two years imprisonment in a defamation case filed against him over his ‘Modi surname’ remark.
The decision came pertaining to his remark made in April 2019, where he had said “how come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname” at a Lok Sabha election rally at Kolar in Karnataka. The court approved Gandhi’s bail on a surety and stayed the sentence for 30 days to allow him to approach the higher courts.
“My brother went to PM Modi and hugged him in the Parliament and said he has no hatred for you. We might have different ideologies but we do not have the ideology of hatred,” the Congress General Secretary said at Raj Ghat.
“You (BJP) talk about ‘Pariwarvaad’, I want to ask who was Lord Ram. Was he ‘Pariwarvaadi’, or were the Pandavas ‘Pariwarvaadi’ just because they fought for the culture of their family? Should we be ashamed because our family members fought for the people of the country?” she said.
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#Kerala #UDF #Congress #organise #marches #Wayanad #constituency
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 27, 2023
Kerala HC quashes Guv’s order withdrawing 15 senate members

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Kochi: In a huge set back to Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, the Kerala High Court on Friday quashed his order which withdrew 15 nominated senate members to the University of Kerala.
Khan, who is also the chancellor of universities in the state, took the decision to withdraw in October last year, after the nominated senate members by him refused to heed to his directives.
It was against this order that a few senate members who lost their membership approached the high court and after a long drawn legal battle, the court quashed the order.
Congress spokesperson and former senate member Jyothikumar Chamakala said that this directive from the court was expected.
“The Chancellor (Governor) made a mistake of withdrawing four ex-officio members also, which though nominated by him, he doesn’t have the authority. The remaining 11 members can be Aremoved by him, but he did the mistake of removing all 15. We had pointed this out, then itself,” said Chamakala.
Meanwhile sources close to Khan’s office said they are waiting for the order of the court to see the scope for going for an appeal.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 24, 2023
No Covid clusters in Kerala, says Health Minister

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Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Health Minister Veena George said on Thursday that while utmost caution has to be exercised in the wake of rising Covid cases in the state, the saving grace is there aren’t any Covid clusters in Kerala at present.
George told the media that at the moment, what is required is exercising caution, adding that all the arrangements are in place with regard to facilities required in case the need arises.
“There are no Covid clusters in Kerala, but increasing number of cases is being reported. Facilities are being assessed and wherever required, they will be augmented,” George said.
Ever since a spike in the number of Covid cases was reported, especially in Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam districts, George has been pressing for the use of masks in public places.
At present, Kerala has over 1,100 active Covid cases, with an average daily new case tally of more than 100.
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#Covid #clusters #Kerala #Health #Minister

( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 23, 2023
Video: ‘Argentina football house’ gifted to Kerala farmer by UAE-based Indian bizman

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An ‘Argentina Football House’ is making rounds on social media platforms as it was gifted by an United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based Indian businessman to a farmer from Kerala whose unique commentary went viral during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
Afi Ahmed, managing director of UAE-based Smart Travels, built the house for Zubair Vazhakkad, a farmer in Vazhakkad village in Kerala’s Malappuram district.
During the FIFA World Cup matches, Zubair’s commentary in a regional Malay accent became viral on social media. Despite not having professional qualifications, the farmer was familiar with all the teams and players.
When Afi learned of Zubair’s passion for soccer and his love for Messi and Argentina, the business tycoon offered to fly with Zubair to Qatar to watch his favorite games live.
However, Zubair had to decline the offer as he had to take care of his ailing family members. After this, Afi offered to restore Zubair’s dilapidated house and gifted him a house with an Argentinian theme.
“It is my dream home. I don’t have words to thank him,” Zubair was quoted as saying by Gulf News.
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#Video #Argentina #football #house #gifted #Kerala #farmer #UAEbased #Indian #bizman

( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 21, 2023
Kerala: Church priest counters Archbishop’s statement on supporting BJP

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Thiruvananthapuram: Capuchin church priest and the editor of ‘Indian Currents’ weekly, Father Suresh Mathew, said on Sunday that Archbishop Mar Joseph Pamplany’s statement on supporting the BJP cannot be taken as the stand of the Christians in Kerala, though attempts have been made by Christian leaders to align with the saffron camp.
Pamplany, the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic church in Thalassery, had said in a public meeting that if the Government of India raises the price of rubber to Rs 300 per kg, the church will help the BJP in Kerala overcome the situation of not having a single MP from the state.
‘Indian Currents’ is the weekly online magazine of the Catholic church.
Speaking to IANS, Mathew said that many Christian religious leaders in Kerala do not have an idea about the ideology of the BJP, which is just the political face of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
A priest speaking against the Archbishop is uncommon in Catholic hierarchy. Capuchin is a congregation within the Roman Catholic church.
Mathew also said the ultimate intention of the RSS is to establish a Hindu Rashtra, adding that the teachings of the official church is never to align with any political party and individuals have the freedom to vote for whichever party they want.
The priest also said that no Christian would these days follow the diktat of priests and Bishops.
The ‘Indian Currents’ editor said that the Archbishop had spoken only for the rubber farmers of the state, while there are many other farmers in Kerala who are into cultivating cardamom, coconut, pepper, arecanut etc., and Christian leaders should demand fair price for all these products.

Mathew also said that those who cry for rubber planters must learn from the farmers of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, who never said that they would vote for a party if the farm laws were repealed. Instead, the farmers of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh fought for their rights in Delhi for one year.
The Capuchin church priest then asked why the number of attacks on Christians have skyrocketed ever since the BJP government assumed office at the Centre, adding that the strategy of the saffron party is to woo the Christians in some parts of the country while blatantly attacking them in other parts.
Mathew also also asked if the beef issue’ is core to Hindu beliefs, why is it not part of the BJP’s election manifesto in some states.
He also questioned the reason for enacting anti-conversion laws when the Christian population remains stagnant in the country and hardly any conviction takes place in such cases.
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#Kerala #Church #priest #counters #Archbishops #statement #supporting #BJP
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 19, 2023
NIA files charge sheets against 68 PFI leaders in Kerala, TN cases

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New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday said that they have filed two charge sheets against a total of 68 Popular Front of India (PFI) leaders, cadres and members in two separate cases in Kochi (Kerala) and Chennai (Tamil Nadu).
The NIA filed the first charge sheet against the PFI members in Jaipur on March 13 and the second in Hyderabad on March 16.
The charge sheets filed on Friday in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the two states where PFI is the most active, relate to separate criminal conspiracies hatched by the PFI to create a wedge between people of different communities through radicalisation of impressionable Muslim youth, providing them with training in handling of weapons, and raising funds for carrying out acts of terror and violence with the ultimate objective of establishing an Islamic Rule in India by 2047.
An official said that Kerala PFI case was registered in September 2022 by the NIA to probe the criminal conspiracy hatched by the PFI and its leaders and cadres to create a wedge and between people of different communities through radicalisation of impressionable Muslim youth, training them in handling of weapons and raising funds for carrying out acts of terror and violence with the ultimate objective of establishing an Islamic Rule in India by 2047.
In addition to the above mentioned criminal conspiracy, the NIA, in its Kerala charge sheet, also included the connected case of the brutal killing of a Palakkad resident, Sreenivasan, who was hacked to death by armed PFI cadres.
The NIA investigations had shown some of the accused in the PFI criminal conspiracy case (September 2022) to have been involved in the Sreenivasan killing too.
The accused in the two charge sheets filed on Friday were charged under various sections of IPC, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Arms Act.
In the Kerala case, registered in September 2022, the charge sheet has been filed in the Special Court in Ernakulam, against the PFI as well as an organisation and its 58 leaders.

The NIA had arrested 16 of the accused after taking over the case in 2022, while the others were arrested earlier by Kerala Police.
The Kerala charge sheet has been filed after searches were conducted by the NIA at more than 100 locations across the state. The NIA also attached 17 properties as they were identified as ‘proceeds of terrorism’ and frozen 18 bank accounts of the accused during the course of its investigations.
Investigations in the case had revealed that the accused had been conspiring to drive a wedge between different communities and groups living in India, spread the concept of violent extremism and Jihad in India with the objective of dismembering the country and taking it over by establishing Islamic Rule in India by 2047. To achieve these objectives, PFI had established various wings and units, such as ‘Reporters Wing’, ‘Physical and Arms Training Wing’ and ‘Service Teams’.
The NIA investigations also revealed that PFI was using its various campuses, facilities and infrastructure to impart arms training to selected cadres in the guise of Physical Education, Yoga Training etc. They also established a ‘Reporters Wing’ and ‘Service Teams or Hit Teams’ to eliminate their ‘targets’. Whenever required, PFI pressed into service its loyal and highly trained cadres of their ‘Service Teams’, as ‘executioners’ of the orders pronounced by their parallel courts, called ‘Dar-ul-Qaza’.
In a separate case registered and investigated by NIA Branch Office in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, NIA also filed a charge sheet against 10 accused. This case was also registered in September, 2022 to probe the criminal conspiracy, hatched by the PFI and its leaders to divide people based on religious affiliations through radicalisation and weapons-training of impressionable Muslim youth to launch an armed struggle against the Government of India with the objective of establishing Islamic Rule in India by 2047.
The charge sheet, filed before the NIA Special Court Chennai in the Tamil Nadu case, named 10 accused, including Khalid Mohammed, the State Vice President of PFI.
This case was also registered in September 2022, when nine of the accused were arrested by the NIA.
The NIA investigations in the case had shown that the accused had conducted radicalisation programmes to motivate, instigate and recruit gullible Muslim youths, who were then provided weapons training in training camps. PFI cadres used to carry out instructions of PFI office-bearers and leaders to conduct recce and attack adversaries and commit unlawful and violent activities.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 17, 2023
Islamophobia Day: Kerala CM calls for fight against hatred, bigotry

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Thiruvananthapuram: On the occasion of International Day to Combat Islamophobia, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan called for a united fight against the darkness of hatred and bigotry.
The United Nations General Assembly had adopted a resolution sponsored by 60 member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which designated March 15 as the International Day to Combat Islamophobia.
In a tweet on Wednesday, the Chief Minister said: “The UN’s International Day to Combat #Islamophobia is a solid call to action, reminding us of the disturbing rise of intolerance against Muslims and hate crimes worldwide.”
“We must unite and ignite a flame of compassion and empathy to illuminate the darkness of hatred and bigotry,” Vijayan said.
The document stresses that terrorism and violent extremism cannot and should not be associated with any religion, nationality, civilisation, or ethnic group.
It calls for a global dialogue on the promotion of a culture of tolerance and peace, based on respect for human rights and the diversity of religions and beliefs.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 15, 2023