RAJAN-DAWOOD RIVALRY: THE PAST AND THE FURIOUS - By S. Hussain Zaidi, Mumbai Mirror

HOW INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES COURT, SUPPORT AND PROTECT CRIMINALS AS IF THESE CRIMINALS ARE PART OF THE ESTABLISHMENT AND THEREFORE LEGIT

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/mumbai/crime/Rajan-Dawood-rivalry-The-past-and-the-furious/articleshow/49545323.cms

RAJAN-DAWOOD RIVALRY: THE PAST AND THE FURIOUS

 

 

By S Hussain Zaidi, Mumbai Mirror | Oct 27, 2015, 12.21 AM IST

After falling out with Dawood Ibrahim, Rajan carefully cultivated image of 'patriotic gangster' for survival.

Chhota Rajan is a survivor. From being nearly bumped off at a yacht party that he was invited to in 1993 by Chhota Shakeel to the brazen attempt on his life in September 2000 in Bangkok, the gangster from Chembur knows how to get out of a sticky situation. It is this survival instinct, rather than any newfound love for India, that made Rajan get into a strategic deal with the authorities.

Till early nineties, Dawood Ibrahim and Rajan were thick as thieves. Rajan worshipped Dawood. He had risen from being a black-marketer of tickets at Chembur's Sahakar cinema in the late eighties to Dawood's right-hand man. And none of Dawood's lieutenants liked the proximity and trust that the two shared.

Cracks began to appear between the two in July 1992 with the daylight murder of Ibrahim Parkar in Nagpada by Arun Gawli's men. Ibrahim was Dawood's brother-in-law; husband to Haseena Parkar, the sister that Dawood used to dote on. Dawood had a sprawling empire, unmatched muscle and fire power; yet the hit on Parkar was not avenged. Rajan was the eyes and ears of Dawood at the time, but he did nothing - instead of planning a counter hit, Rajan was enjoying life with wine, women and song. The seeds of mistrust between Dawood and Rajan had been sown.

Dawood's trusted lieutenants, Chhota Shakeel and Sunil Sawant, smelled blood. They tried to convince Dawood that they could take out Gawli's men and avenge his brother-in-law's death. In the process, they would discredit Rajan as well. An elaborate plan was drawn up.

Taking out his enemies while they were under police protection was a fetish of sorts for Dawood. In order to avenge his brother Sabir Kaskar's murder, Dawood had ordered a hit on Amirzada in the sessions court in 1983.

September 6, 1992, witnessed the most daring operation in Mumbai gangland's history. Sawant and his men stormed into JJ Hospital to finish of Gawli's men, Shailesh Haldankar and Bipin Shere. The two were under police protection but the posse of constables could do nothing. While Haldankar died, Shere escaped. Three policemen were also killed in the operation. Dawood had sent out the first in a series of messages.

With the hit, Dawood had managed to prove a point to his rivals, placated his sister and sought solace in the fact that at least his brother-in-law's killers were eliminated. Rajan had forgotten the age old adage in the Mumbai mafia: 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer'. Dawood promoted Shakeel and Sawant as his number two and three. The alienation of Rajan had begun.

One fine evening in 1993, Rajan was on his way to the yacht party organized by Shakeel. Chhota Shakeel and his cronies had plotted to kill him and dump the body in the sea. Just in the nick of time, Rajan got an alert about the impending attack and changed his plans. He also realized that Shakeel could have never taken the decision to bump him off unilaterally. The plan had to have Dawood's blessings.

Rajan then reportedly fell on Dawood's feet and asked for forgiveness. Dawood agreed to give him one last chance to prove his loyalty.

The opportunity came soon after. After the blasts of 1993, Dawood was getting a lot of bad press. The carefully cultivated image, thanks to the generous portrayals in Bollywood, had taken a massive beating.

The man at the forefront of whipping Dawood was then Shiv Sena supremo, the late Bal Thackeray, who was lashing out at him through the party mouthpiece, Saamna. The tide was turning against Dawood and his men. Rajan realized that if he wanted to save himself, he should his boss's image. Audaciously, and unexpectedly, Rajan stooped to the level of a telephone operator and began calling and shooting faxes to various newspaper offices. Through their offices, he asked Thackeray to mind his political business and also told him that Dawood did not need a certificate of patriotism from the Sena chief.
And it worked.

In those days, nobody had the guts to take on Thackeray. Rajan's temerity earned him brownie points with Dawood. Perhaps this also managed to ward off the proverbial Damocles' sword hanging over his neck. Dawood might have given him a second chance but his lieutenants were in no mood to forgive and forget.

Rajan had tried his best to appease Dawood and reclaim his position as his Man Friday, but in vain. By 1994, he realized he could be bumped off in Dubai. The only recourse left for him was to escape and save his life.

Rajan sought help from the Indian Embassy. Since Rajan's passport was in the custody of a kafeel (local sponsor), he got another passport made in a jiffy and in the process sold his loyalty to the intelligence agencies. The association was to prove mutually beneficial in the time to come.

Once Rajan survived, he decided to get back at Dawood. However, Rajan's main objective was to destroy Shakeel's stronghold on the gang and show the men who was boss. With confusion in the ranks, most hitmen in Mumbai and Bengaluru could be easily made to switch their allegiance to Rajan as he was leading the pack until recently and the transfer of oath of fealty seemed easier.

So with some of his trusted aides like Sadhu Shetty, Avdhoot Bonde and Vilas Mane, Rajan launched a violent assault on Shakeel's men in Mumbai. And a parallel assault on Dawood's empire in Dubai. This resulted in Dawood relocating to Karachi from Dubai.

Due to his proximity to Dawood, Rajan knew most of his loyalists in Bollywood, construction czars and other businessmen. Rajan systematically began targeting them.

Rajan had seen the power of public opinion once; and he wanted to capitalize on it. Overnight, he became a self-proclaimed patriotic don and started floating stories that Dawood was a traitor and anti-India as he had orchestrated the serial blasts of 1993. For some, this worked and caused a vertical split in the gang and its sympathizers.

To drive his point home, Rajan started picking out serial blasts accused who had been granted bail by the TADA court. The message was loud and clear - people who had committed a crime against the country would not be spared.

In fact, 1998 turned out to be Mumbai's most violent year, when over 100 shootouts were reported in the city.

The animosity between Dawood and Rajan had scaled such heights that Dawood's other rivalries -- with the Pathan syndicate or with Arun Gawli --paled in comparison.

Rajan could have successfully continued and may have even succeeded in his quest until he got almost killed on September 15, 2000, in an assault on him in Bangkok by Shakeel's men.

SI tries molest Dalit woman police station, arrested

Cop fired for beating Dalit woman

President’s Opening Act - Written By Nicolas Blarel - The Indian Express, Mumbai, INDIA

http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/presidents-opening-act/

The Indian Express

My Comments:

GM Ghulam Muhammed

This article in Indian Express should be regarded as the first salvo across Modi's bow, for not recognizing Israel's undeclared terms of engagement. Zionist Israel is very possessive, demanding and domineering and it will require Modi's all reserves of guile and diplomacy to carry Israel and Arab world on each of his two shoulders. A difficult task indeed! India needs heavy investments in its infrastructures that may come on much easier terms from Gulf oil states. On the other side, Israel is promoting its defense hard gear by creating panic psychology to divert India's scarce resources to its defenseless defenses in terms of armaments. Money may come in and money may go out and India's people will remain with their begging bowl. Modi must realize which side of his bread is buttered.

a few seconds ago

GMGhulam Muhammed

We must note how the incensed writer has branded our President's first visit to Israel as 'opening act of a stand-up comedy'. That had set the tone of this garrulous diatribe against India's hyphenated policy .

a few seconds ago

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reply (0) 

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President’s Opening Act

 

Pranab Mukherjee’s Israel visit reconfirmed Delhi’s deliberate policy ambivalence

  92  7

Written by Nicolas Blarel 
Published:Oct 17, 2015, 0:10

About Author

• Nicolas Blarel
• 
  
• Nicolas Blarel is assistant professor of International Relations at Leiden University, the Netherland

·        Comments (6)

Pranab Mukherjee’s visit could be interpreted as an additional guarantee from Narendra Modi’s government that India will stay the course.

The opening act in stand-up comedy or music concerts is arguably the hardest as it involves warming up a “cold” audience. To some degree, President Pranab Mukherjee faced this thankless task by becoming the first Indian president to visit Israel. Traditionally, presidential visits don’t attract much attention. But the six-day tour of Jordan, Palestine and Israel is seen as a prelude to the much-anticipated Narendra Modi visit to Tel Aviv. How can we interpret his visit in the broader context of Modi’s policy?

The contours of the Modi government’s policy towards West Asia are still undefined. Because Modi has never explicitly articulated any grand strategy towards the region, others have ventured into the vacuum. Building on sporadic glimpses like Modi’s much publicised meeting with Binyamin Netanyahu at the UNGA in September 2014, India’s abstention on a UNHRC resolution that condemned Israel, and the announcement of a visit to Israel, some have argued India had broken with the traditional hyphenation of Israel and Palestine. While appealing to certain audiences in India, the narrative of a paradigmatic shift in India’s position is complicated by empirical realities.

In fact, the effective de-hyphenation happened in January 1992. In 1950, India recognised Israel and initiated discussions towards the exchange of embassies while refusing to recognise the All Palestine Government. However, India indefinitely deferred formal diplomatic ties following Israel’s participation in the operation to regain control of the Suez Canal in 1956. Hyphenation only began when New Delhi recognised the Palestine Liberation Organisation in 1974 and, thereafter, conditioned rapprochement with Israel on progress in the Israel-Palestine dispute. It’s in the context of the renascent peace process in the early 1990s that India established diplomatic relations with Israel.

Since then, India moved to a policy of engagement of both. Defence and economic relations between India and Israel have thrived despite India’s enduring support to Palestine. While Israel became India’s second-largest arms supplier, Delhi continued to be one of the most important aid donors to the Palestinian Authority. Modi also met with Mahmoud Abbas on the sidelines of the UNGA in September 2015. During his visit, Mukherjee confirmed the de-hyphenation process by restating that India’s relations with Israel were “independent” of its ties with Palestine.

The Mukherjee visit could be interpreted as an additional guarantee from Modi’s government that India will stay the course. Anticipating criticisms of his upcoming visit, Modi has refrained from giving a specific timetable. He also surprised many by making his first West Asian stopover in the UAE. While declaring explicit designs in other regional contexts (“Act East”), the government has seemingly opted for pragmatic ambivalence on West Asia.

Yet, deliberate ambivalence can lead to misperceptions. Mukherjee went beyond symbolical gestures of support to the Palestinian cause. Prior to the visit, he referred to Gandhi’s 1938 statement about Palestine belonging to the Arabs. He also specified “East Jerusalem” was to be the capital of an independent Palestine. Some Israeli media finally highlighted the president failed to address terrorism in his public addresses in Ramallah. The presidential visit revealed varying domestic interpretations of India’s position.

Given the stakes, it’s unlikely these declarations will decisively affect Modi’s visit.

But it’s clear that the Indian government needs to be upfront about its policy. Partly articulated positions create a vacuum of interpretation. If the current government is sincere about de-hyphenation, it should clearly spell out its ambition to reinforce cooperation with Israel while also actively supporting an independent Palestinian state. Some opening acts leave lasting impressions and Mukherjee’s performance could be more influential than initially expected.

The writer is assistant professor of International Relations at Leiden University, the Netherlands, and author of ‘The Evolution of India’s Israel Policy: Continuity, Change, and Compromise since 1922’

- See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/presidents-opening-act/#sthash.GhX8w8lp.dpuf

Modi and the Hindu Hard-Liners - Editorial - The New York Times

The New York Times Editorial is trying to be politically correct in separating Modi from his own party's Hard liners, even though by all standards of judgement, Modi's all moves and especially his silence after the mob lynching of a Muslim on mere rumors of an allegation that is not legally a crime --- exposes without any shadow of doubt that Modi's full sympathy, if not full support is with the rabble-rousers. It is significant that International Media has editorially taken note of the turmoil India is going through. But any simplistic diagnosis as a mere slap on the wrist will not do justice to the suffering of the millions, as the hardliners persist in vigorous following up of their declared agenda of ethnic cleansing of  200 million Indian Muslims, now with the connivance of hard-line Hindutva BJP government.

Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai


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http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/15/opinion/modi-and-the-hindu-hard-liners.html?ref=opinion&_r=0

The Opinion Pages | EDITORIAL

Modi and the Hindu Hard-Liners

By THE EDITORIAL BOARDOCT. 14, 2015

Since he was elected in May 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India has been adept at appeasing his Hindu hard-line base while, at the same time, promising economic growth and development to a wider national and international audience. But that balancing act is in danger of teetering, imperiling not only the economic development Mr. Modi has promised but also India’s open, inclusive democracy.

The latest alarming sign of the Hindu right’s growing boldness was the Sept. 28 lynching of a Muslim man by an angry mob. The attack, which occurred in the village of Bisada, just 30 miles from India’s capital city, New Delhi, was instigated by local Hindu men, many linked to the governing Bharatiya Janata Party.

On the strength of a baseless rumor that a cow — considered sacred by Hindus — had been killed in the area and that a local Muslim family was eating beef, a furious mob descended on the family’s home, killing 52-year-old Mohammed Ikhlaq and severely injuring his son. Another son, Sartaj, an active member of India’s Air Force, admirably appealed for calm after the attack.

Photo

Indians took part in a vigil in memory of the Muslim man who was killed by a mob earlier this month.CreditAltaf Qadri/Associated Press

Although Mr Modi denied that his party had anything to do with the episode, his public aloofness as officials in his government and extremists across the country have aggressively pushed a Hindu nationalist agenda is partly to blame. So are the prime minister’s efforts to make cow slaughter a divisive political issue. During his election campaign Mr. Modi had warned Hindu voters that if the Congress Party gained control, it would expand a “pink revolution” of cow slaughter.

Last week, at a political rally in Bihar, where hotly contested state elections began on Monday, Mr. Modi slammed the opposition politician Lalu Prasad, suggesting he was possessed by a “devil” for “insulting” Yadavs, an important clan in Bihar, by suggesting they eat beef. In contrast, Mr. Modi boasted that “I come from the land of Gujarat,” where “people worship cows.”

Faced with mounting outrage at his silence on the brutal lynching, Mr. Modi finally managed to refer directly to the attack on Wednesday, calling it “sad” and “unwelcome.” In comments to a Bengali-language newspaper, he declared: “The B.J.P. has never supported such incidents.” This message is welcome but it comes late.

Mr. Modi should keep in mind the wise words of India’s president, Pranab Mukherjee, in an eloquent plea for sanity last week. “We cannot allow the core values of our civilization to be wasted,” Mr. Mukherjee warned, adding, “This civilization has celebrated diversity, promoted and advocated tolerance, endurance and plurality.”

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The True Nature of BJP: Justice Markandey Katju - Siasat Daily

http://www.siasat.com/news/true-nature-bjp-852563/

Home / News / The True Nature of BJP: Justice Markandey Katju

The True Nature of BJP: Justice Markandey Katju

October 15, 2015 News, Top Stories 2 Comments

Mr. Fali Nariman, the doyen of the Indian bar, has spoken against the growing intolerance in the country, and so has the Indian President and many others.

But without instigating communal hatred and communal riots how can the BJP win elections ?

BJP normally has only the upper caste Hindu votes. But the upper caste Hindus (Brahmins, Rajputs, banias,etc) are altogether numerically only about 15% of the population in north Indian states.(they are much less in south India).

An election cannot be won by getting only 15% votes. So how can the BJP win elections ?

For that there only two ways.

1. Promise ‘vikas’ ( development ), which will create an illusion that millions of jobs will now be created under BJP rule. In the May 2014 Lok Sabha elections this was the magic slogan which ensured victory for the BJP. The youth in particular, cutting through caste and religious lines, voted en masse for the BJP led by Modi, thinking that now they will all get jobs.( the voting age was reduced from 21 to 18 in 1988). After all, all youth, whatever their religion or caste, want jobs.

But after the Lok Sabha elections it was realized that this promise was hollow and a sham, and the youth were taken for a ride and left high and dry..There is no vikas, and no jobs. Jobs cannot be created by empty slogans. They can only be created when the economy is rapidly expanding, but the Indian economy is stagnant. So the vikas slogan has now become ineffective, despite all talk of Digital India and all that kind of jazz.

2. So the BJP has now to fall back on the other, traditional, way to win elections :instigate communal hatred and riots, of which they are experts.

Hindus are ordinarily divided on caste lines ( it was recently reported that in Bihar even kitchens of policemen are separate for different castes ). But when the communal poison is spread they often unite against Muslims.

This idea was best developed by Advani, the poor chap who is now licking his wounds and saying ‘ Et tu Brute ‘ to his erstwhile chelas Modi and Jaitley who have unceremoniously kicked him aside..

It was Advani who started rath yatra and the Ram Janmabhumi agitation which resulted in the BJP’s seats in the Lok Sabha going up from 2 in 1984 to 161 in 196 and 183 in 1999, never mind what damage was done to the country by the demolition of the Babri Masjid.

The attacks on Muslims in Muzaffarnagar, Ballabhgarh, the lynching of Ikhlaque in Dadri, the hate speeches of Adityanath, Sadhvi Prachi, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti ( of ‘ haramzada ‘ fame ) etc, and the deliberate spreading of communalism in rural areas all fit into this pattern.

What is the real nature of the BJP ? It is really dominated by the RSS, as its leadership and cadres are from the RSS. And the RSS is rabidly anti Muslim and anti Christian.

The BJP claims to profess ‘Hindutva’. But in fact it does not really represent Hinduism, and its leaders and rank and file have no knowledge of the great Hindu intellectualism in the past ( see my speech ‘ Sanskrit as a language of Science’ available online and in my blog justicekatju.blogspot.in ). All it has in its ideology is communal hatred, and pseudo claims of our past achievements like the claim that our ancestors had invented aircraft (pushpak viman), atom bombs, guided missiles, etc and had discovered genetic engineering and head transplant technique (Ganesh) in ancient India, which are all false.They have little knowledge of the real great achievements of our ancestors like the decimal system, plastic surgery, construction of ports as in Lothal, and the great discoveries by Aryabhatta, Brahmagupta, Bhaskar etc in mathematics, Sushrut and Charak in medicine, Panini and Patanjali in grammar, etc

So, Mr. Nariman, do not live in a world of dreams

This was in response to the article “It’s high time PM acts: Fali S Nariman” published in Times of India

By Justice Markandey Katju

There is surely a method to this Beef Madness

ONE COMMENT

1. 

   Ghulam Muhammed

   October 13, 2015 at 8:25 am

   There is surely a method to this Beef Madness. Both for longer term targeting of Muslims, in one case as businessmen and in another as voter. While the world has come to realize that India is the second most important beef ( actually Buffalo beef and not cow or bull beef) exporter, not much is known by wider circles that Muslims are the main beneficiaries of this huge export business opportunity. RSS/BJP/Brahmins cannot tolerate Muslims making money and improving their economic status at least in some pockets. Once in the saddle at the Central and some state governments, they have now cracked down on beef slaughter. The manipulation may be to hijack the entire been export to their own Hindu exporter and let Muslim be the menial worker. So this is a longer term plan being executed at breakneck speed, lest BJP does not come into power again. Second, is of course, the electoral compulsion. The more Muslim is identified and vilified as killer of the mother cow, the more consolidation of Hindu vote will be against the Muslim voters as well as the supporting secular classes. If beef crackdown can polarise the communities, BJP can assure itself a complete control of the both houses of parliament and pass legislations without bothering for any opposition from any quarters forthwith. So there is a method to this Beef Madness, that has to be addressed by the victims and opposition to frustrate RSS/BJP’s dirty games tactics. The way they have antagonized the entire world against their open fascist methodology to rule India, the world has to be rightfully alarmed. India is most vulnerable at so many levels and BJP/RSS cannot confront the world as much as they would like.

Saudi employer denies chopping maid’s hand - By FPJ Bureau - The Free Press Journal, Mumbai, India.

The details now emerging from Saudi Employer's statement show how media, especially Western media is quick on the draw in demonizing Muslims, Arabs and Saudis, in an ongoing Islamophobic crusade. 

In this case, it is regrettable that India's top Foreign Office minister Shushma Swaraj, with full Riyadh Embassy staff at her command, should follow the 'hand chopping' media headline news to issue India's strong reaction, --- reality being damned.

Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai

<ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com>

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http://www.freepressjournal.in/saudi-employer-denies-chopping-maids-hand/

Saudi employer denies chopping maid’s hand

— By FPJ Bureau | Oct 11, 2015 12:21 am

 

“India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj reacted on Twitter: “Chopping of hand of Indian lady – we are very much disturbed over the brutal manner in which Indian lady has been treated in Saudi Arabia.” Sushma Swaraj / External Affairs Minister reacted on Twitter

Riyadh : The Saudi Arabian employer of an Indian domestic help whose hand was “chopped off” has said the woman had to get her hand amputated in hospital after she damaged it badly while jumping from the third floor of their house in Riyadh.

Arab News newspaper quoted the First Secretary (Community Welfare) of the Indian Embassy Anil Nautiyal as saying on Friday that the Indian mission has demanded a full-scale inquiry into the incident, reports IANS.The Saudi sponsor told Arab News that the right hand of Kasturi Munirathinam, 55, was amputated as a result of her failed attempt to flee by jumping from a window.

He said she was recruited two months ago to serve his mother who is 70 and lives alone in an apartment in Riyadh. On Thursday, the housemaid went to her room while my mother was performing Asr prayer and locked herself inside. “She knotted together bed sheets and some of her clothes and dangled the rope out of the window so that she could jump from the third floor.

“An expat worker on the street saw her trying to jump, and when she fell she landed on two electricity boxes, which caused severe damage to her hand.

“The worker then informed the building guard and my mother informed police and the Red Crescent about the incident. “The rescuers arrived on the scene and transferred the housemaid to the hospital where she underwent amputation surgery to her right hand,” he told the newspaper. “Police investigated the accident and checked all the evidence at the site and concluded that the woman tried to jump from the window and fell from the  third floor,” he said. The doctors who performed surgery on Kasturi informed embassy officials that she was out of danger and would soon be able to travel. India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj reacted on Twitter: “Chopping of hand of Indian lady – we are very much disturbed over the brutal manner in which Indian lady has been treated in Saudi Arabia.”

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Saudi employer denies chopping off maid's hand

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‘LAW WON’T PROTECT SINNERS LIKE YOU’: SCROLL.IN REPORTER COVERING BEEF PROTEST HELD FOR SEVEN HOURS - MumbaiMirror

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/news/india/Law-wont-protect-sinners-like-you-Scroll-in-reporter-covering-beef-protest-held-for-seven-hours/articleshow/49237554.cms

Tue, Oct 06, 2015BANGALORE MIRROR|AHMEDABAD MIRROR|PUNE MIRROR

‘LAW WON’T PROTECT SINNERS LIKE YOU’: SCROLL.INREPORTER COVERING BEEF PROTEST HELD FOR SEVEN HOURS

Mumbai Mirror | Oct 6, 2015, 09.48 AM IST

By Mayank Jain

On Sunday at noon, as I emerged from New Delhi's Patel Chowk Metro station, I was startled to find about a dozen police officers on high alert on the street outside. They were conducting vigorous checks of people's bags. They weren't looking for bombs - they were inspecting the contents of their lunchboxes. 

Last week, a group of students from Delhi posted a notice on Facebook announcing a demonstration outside the Bharatiya Janata Party headquarters to protest against the ruling party's refusal to condemn the lynching of a 50-year-old man in Dadri, ostensibly because he had killed a calf and stored the meat in his refrigerator. Participants were urged to to BYOB - bring your own beef - and eat it at a "Beefy Picnic" on Ashoka Road. 

The Delhi police, it seems, had been stationed at all the metro stations in the area to detain anyone headed to the event. 

As a reporter, it was just another day in the field for me. I expected to see some posters and listen to some sloganeering. The police had other plans. I was stopped right outside the metro station since the policemen refused to believe that my press card was genuine. The fact that I wasn't carrying containers full of beef failed to convince them otherwise. 

After I was frisked, a burly policemen grabbed my hand and pulled me to the side. From the Delhi police website, I would later learn that he was Dinesh Kumar, the Station House Officer at the Parliament Street Police Station. After waiting for 15 minutes, another constable arrived with a smartphone. They started scrolling through photographs on the phone. From their conversation, they wanted to check if I was the one. 

CHECKING FACEBOOK 

It would later become clear that they had found the Facebook invitation the organisers had created for the event, and were looking at the profile of the person who had posted the notice. 

After they established that I wasn't the organiser, Kumar let me go with a warning: "Unse mat milo, kaat ke fenk dunga. (Don't join them. I will cut you into pieces and throw them away.) As I strolled towards the BJP office, two people asked for directions to the BJP headquarters. One of them told me that his name was Gaurav Jain and it turned out that he was the organiser of the protest. He said that they had escaped security check at the metro station by hiding the beef deep inside their bags. Evidently, the police search hadn't been as thorough as it should have been. 

As we were chatting, an SUV stopped in front of us. A group of policemen grabbed us and asked us to step into the car. We were being taken to the Parliament Street Police Station, one of the constables said. As protesters started phoning Gaurav Jain to ask why he had not arrived at the venue, I explained repeatedly to SHO Kumar that I was a journalist and I was only doing my job. He would have none of it. 

Soon enough, we found ourselves in his office at the police station where they made us write down all our details, surrounded by a scrum of constables and inspectors. There was even a senior officer from the CID who said he was investigating the case, but didn't bother to ask or verify my credentials. 

The fact that my surname is Jain was enough to enrage the SHO. "Today's kids are throwing Hinduism into a gutter," he said. "Is this what your parents teach you? That you go out and eat beef?" 

My protestations were met with a command to "shut up" and threats of slaps and "dhaaras" (sections of the law). 

After my repeated insistence that I was a journalist, he asked me to prove it. I gave him my press card as well as the visiting card, both of which clearly mention my designation as a reporter at Scroll.in. 

"It's all fake media," Kumar said. He tore up my visiting card and threw the pieces at me. "I can get this made at home." 

DENIED WATER, WASHROOM 

I was ushered out of the room by two policemen and kept in a sub-inspector's office, along with Gaurav Jain and the woman who accompanied him. I was not allowed to phone my family or a lawyer. "The law can protect criminals but it won't protect sinners like you," a constable declared. 

I pleaded to be allowed to drink some water and use the washroom. It was half an hour before I was allowed to. I wasn't allowed to eat, or use my phone. We had to get up from our seats or sit down when we were ordered to. 

Around 4 pm, I was called into the SHO's office, where he sat with a police inspector who was struggling to turn on the computer. He was using Google to search for the term "Beefy party". 

The idea was to find everyone who interacted with the page and use it as evidence. Since they couldn't find anything about me, they asked me to help them look up Gaurav Jain's profile. I refused. This angered the SHO and he asked me to "get out" right away. 

Finally, at 8 pm, the SHO called me to tell me that I would be let go after writing an apology. "What do I apologise for?" I asked. He replied, "Just do what we say and don't open your mouth." 

The sub-inspector gave us another lecture on how we were a "disgrace" to the country and how the government wasted its personnel and time to keep protests in check. 

NO FORMAL COMPLAINT 

Almost seven hours after being detained, there had been no written complaint, no First Information Report, no paperwork of any sort to prove that we had actually been detained. When we asked why we had been taken in, we were told that we had "offended feelings of a lot of people" for which we would be "punished". After another 30 minutes of waiting, they finally let me go without forcing me to make an apology. But my press card was missing. I asked the SHO to return it to me. "I crushed it and tore into pieces," he said with a laugh. He finally ordered one of the constables to fetch it. 

He bent the hard plastic back and forth before giving it back to me. I was asked to "leave and run as soon as possible". I got away with a damaged press card and a first-hand experience of strategies employed by the state to silence opinions it finds inconvenient. 

This account originally appeared on scroll.in.

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My Tweets on Dadri lynch murder on beef eating rumor:

1. Ghulam Muhammed ‏@GhulamMuhammed  Oct 4

   Ghulam Muhammed: Dadri’s dire warning: If Modi fails to give India ... http://ghulammuhammed.blogspot.com/2015/10/dadris-dire-warning-if-modi-fails-to.html?spref=tw …0 retweets0 favorites

   
   
2. Ghulam Muhammed ‏@GhulamMuhammed  Oct 3

   Ghulam Muhammed: A beef-eating Hindu demands his rights - By SA Aiy... http://ghulammuhammed.blogspot.com/2015/10/a-beef-eating-hindu-demands-his-rights.html?spref=tw …
3. Ghulam Muhammed ‏@GhulamMuhammed  Oct 2

   Destroying Muslim economics is ongoing agenda of Brahmin mindset. Communal riots destroyed Aligarh Moradabad Varanashi's Muslim businesses.

   0 retweets0 favorite
4. Ghulam Muhammed ‏@GhulamMuhammed  Oct 2

   Beef ban activated in response to export trade enriching Muslims. Destroying Muslim economics is an ongoing agenda of Brahmin mindset .0 retweets0 favorites
5. Ghulam Muhammed ‏@GhulamMuhammed  Oct 2

   Dadri lynching: Owaisi attacks PM, says it was 'planned murder' over religion http://zeenews.india.com/news/uttar-pradesh/dadri-lynching-owaisi-attacks-pm-says-it-was-planned-murder-over-religion_1805146.html …

   View summary

   0 retweets0 favorites

   
   
6. Ghulam Muhammed ‏@GhulamMuhammed  Oct 2

   BJP's outlook towards community, society responsible for Dadri mob murder: Congress http://zeenews.india.com/news/uttar-pradesh/bjps-outlook-towards-community-society-responsible-for-dadri-mob-murder-congress_1805121.html …

   View summary

   0 retweets0 favorites

   
   
7.  Ghulam Muhammed Retweeted

   Syed Qamar Hasan. ‏@qamarhasan50  Sep 30

   @GhulamMuhammed #Beef is costlier than flesh in Modi's India.

   View conversation

   1 
8. Ghulam Muhammed ‏@GhulamMuhammed  Sep 30

   Yakub Shaikh died when his co-worker Santos Arekar inserted an air blower pipe into his rectum saying I'll take out all mutton U ate on Eid.
9. Ghulam Muhammed ‏@GhulamMuhammed  Sep 30

   Next door to Delhi, mob kills 50-year-old [Muslim], injures son over 'rumours' they eat beef ... http://ghulammuhammed.blogspot.com/2015/09/next-door-to-delhi-mob-kills-50-year.html?spref=tw …
10.