Connect with us

Crime

India bans Islamist group, citing ‘terror links’

Published

on

India bans Islamist group, citing ‘terror links’

India banned an Islamist group and its affiliates for five years on Wednesday over alleged terrorism links, after a nationwide crackdown that saw hundreds of the organisation’s members arrested.

A government notice said the Popular Front of India (PFI) had been outlawed for its ties to extremist organisations, including the Islamic State group, and for violent attacks attributed to its members.

The PFI denies involvement in extremist activity and says it is the subject of a “witch hunt” by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government.

Advertisement

 

Police have arrested more than 300 PFI cadres in raids across the country since Friday.

A home affairs ministry statement announcing the ban outlined a laundry list of charges accusing the group of violent and subversive activities.

Advertisement

Members had engaged in “cold-blooded killings of persons associated with organisations espousing other faiths, obtaining explosives to target prominent people and places and destruction of public property”, Wednesday’s notice said.

The ministry said PFI members had been responsible for at least 10 murders in southern India since 2016 and accused the group of “pursuing a secret agenda” to radicalise society and undermine democracy.

Hardline Hindu groups have long campaigned for a ban on PFI, which is estimated to have tens of thousands of members around India.

Advertisement

 

READ ALSO: Mikel Obi officially retires from professional football

 

Advertisement

Calls to outlaw the organisation have grown in recent months after several Muslim-led protests against the government.

The group was accused of organising street rallies against a state ban on the wearing of hijabs by Muslim school students in Karnataka, which resulted in violent confrontations between protesters and Hindu activists.

– Violent attacks –
Modi’s government has been accused of clamping down on dissent and promoting discriminatory policies toward the country’s 200-million-strong Muslim minority since coming to power in 2014.

Advertisement

Actions against the PFI were “a conscious attempt by the Modi government to spread Islamophobia among the public and demonise Muslims as a community”, CPIML Liberation, a communist political party in India, wrote on Twitter.

But the PFI has been implicated in violent attacks before, with 13 members jailed in 2015 for hacking off the hand of a university lecturer accused of insulting the Prophet Mohammed.

Wednesday’s ministry notice said some PFI activists had joined Islamic State and participated in terror activities in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Advertisement

It also linked the PFI to Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), an extremist group that carried out several bombing attacks in India’s eastern neighbour in 2005 that left at least 28 dead.

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Crime

Police Foil Cult Initiation in Anambra, Arrest Six Suspects

Published

on

The Anambra State Police Command has foiled a cult initiation ceremony in Nawfia, Njikoka Local Government Area of the state.

Spokesperson for the Command, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, disclosed this in a statement issued on Tuesday in Awka.

According to Ikenga, the operation was carried out by police operatives around 9:30am on June 15, leading to the arrest of six suspects at the scene.

Advertisement

Recovered during the raid were one Jojef pump action gun, two cartridges, and a golden-coloured Lexus SUV with registration number ATN 202 AE. Other items found include two cutlasses, two scissors, a cap bearing the inscription of the Supreme Vikings Confraternity, charms, and substances suspected to be hard drugs.

“They are currently undergoing police interrogation to get more insight into their modus operandi, after which the case will be charged to court on the conclusion of the investigations,” Ikenga stated.

The police spokesperson reassured residents of the command’s unwavering commitment to fighting cultism and other related crimes across the state.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Crime

Court remands 2 over alleged attempted murder

Published

on

Court discharges man accused of burning father’s house in Abuja

An Ikeja Magistrates’ Court, Lagos, on Wednesday, remanded two persons, Olaitan Fasasi and Kehinde Tobiloba in a correctional facility over alleged attempted murder.

Fasasi, 40, and Tobiloba, 26, whose addresses were not provided, are being charged with conspiracy, attempted murder and membership of a secret society.

The Magistrate, Mr L.A Owolabi, did not take the plea of the defendants for want of jurisdiction.

Advertisement

Owolabi directed the police to forward the case file to the Director of Public Prosecution for legal advice.

He thereafter adjourned the case until May 31 for mention.

The Prosecutor, Josephine Ikhayere, told the court that the defendants committed the offences at about 5.02p.m on Feb. 15, at Mushin, Lagos.

Advertisement

She said that Fasasi, Tobiloba and others now at large, attempted to commit murder by shooting at a resident, Alfred Ademola.

“They armed themselves with a locally made gun. They belong to Eiye Confraternity, a group proscribed by law,”, she said.

Ikhayere said that the offences contravened Sections 230(1) and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2012.

Advertisement

He said that the actions of the defendants also contravened Section 2(3)(a)(b)(c)(d) of the unlawful societies and Cultism Law of Lagos State Law.

Continue Reading

Crime

Man jailed 3 months for stealing mobile phone

Published

on

An Area Court in Jos, on Tuesday, sentenced one Jeptha John, to three months imprisonment for stealing a Redmi mobile phone valued at N165, 000.

The judge, Shawomi Bokkos, sentenced the John after he pleaded guilty to the offence.

The judge, however, gave the convict an option to pay N20, 000 fine and N50, 000 restitution to the complainant.

Advertisement

Bokkos said that if the convict defaulted in paying the restitution, three months should be added to his sentence to make it six months imprisonment.

Earlier, the police prosecutor, Insp Monday Dabit, told the court that the case was reported at the B Division Police Station, Jos, on Dec.  1, 2024, by Ms Nerat Danjuma.

He said that the complainant alleged that the defendant trespassed into her house and stole her mobile phone valued at N165, 000.

Advertisement

The prosecutor further told the court that the offence contravened the Plateau State Penal Code, Law of Northern Nigeria.

Continue Reading

You May Like

Copyright © 2025 Acces News Magazine - All Right Reserved.

Verified by MonsterInsights