. A father at 94: Indian farmer claims to be world's oldest dad... and he wants MORE children
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER 29th December 2010
An Indian farmer claims to have fathered a child at the age of 94.
Ramajit Raghav, of the village of Kharkhoda in Haryana, northern India, claims that he helped his wife Shakuntala, who is in her 50s, bear a son called Vikramjeet - his first child.
The couple said their child's birth, at the government-run Kharkhoda Civil Hospital, was ‘god's gift’ and Mr Raghav did not rule out siring more children, saying he'd like to try for more children next year.
Ramjit Raghav, 94, poses for a picture outside his house with his two-month-old baby Vikramjeet in Haryana, India
Raghav and wife Shankuntala Devi, 50-something, hope to have another baby
'It is great that I have become the world’s oldest dad,' he laughed.
'I am a strong follower of Lord Shiva. I wanted to have an offspring and prayed for him.
'This child is god’s gift to me.'
The proud father, who had been wrestler in his youth, attributes his incredible virility to his diet.
'My daily diet comprises of three litres of milk, half a kilo of almonds and half a kilo ghee (clarified butter),' he said.
'I had visited a quack in the village and he gave me some tablets but I didn’t take them and threw them away.'
When asked whether he was worried about his child’s future, Ramjit confidently claimed he would still be playing with his son in a decade.
'Nothing will happen to my child as I will die only if a black snake bites me and that is very far,' he said.
'Visit me after 10 years and you will find me in the same appearance.'
Doctors however have questioned the validity of the father’s claim.
Raghav feeds his son a bottle. The elderly father credits his own health to a high-calorie diet of fatty foods
Shankuntala Devi gave birth to the bouncing baby boy in a local hospital in the Kharkhoda village of Haryana, 70 kilometres north of Dehli
Dr Paramjeet Singh, chief Medical officer at the Kharkhoda civil hospital said: 'It was a normal delivery and the baby is quite healthy and fine.
'Having babies at such age is remote possibility but then it can’t be ruled out as it just needs one sperm to fertilise the egg.'
Shakuntala's age, alternately reported as 51, 52 and 54, makes for incredibly slim odds of ovulation and any viable eggs.
Villager, Karan Singh, 39, was surprised to hear one of the elders had become a father last month.
She said: 'At first I didn’t believe it but it is the god’s grace and most importantly Ramjit is quite healthy and hard-working.'
Ramjit claims to be more than 100 years old but according to the old-age pension records he is 94.
But if true, Mr Raghav’s claims would make him the world’s oldest father, edging out another Indian, Nanu Ram Jogi, who fathered his 22nd child at the age of 90 in 2007.
Britain’s oldest father is much younger.
Raymond Calvert, 79, fathered a son with a woman 54 years his junior earlier this year.
He claims to be more than 100 years old, but according to the old-age pension records he is 94
. "We had to wear plainclothes since Mewat is known for its notorious [Muslim] criminals, who have easy access to firearms," a police officer toldrediff.com.
'We wanted to rob cattle, landed up raping woman just for kicks'
December 03, 2010, Sahim Salim in New Delhi
They tanked up their vehicle with the intention of robbing cattle. On their prowl on Ring Road in Delhi, they noticed two women from northeast India sitting at the back of their call center cab. They could see the women through the window and decided to follow the cab -- just for kicks.
A little ahead, they saw the women being dropped on the Ring Road itself and the women started walking on the isolated stretch towards Moti Village.
Seeing that the women were alone, the five men -- all in their early 20s –decided to stop their car in front of the women. They wanted to kidnap both the women, but succeeded in kidnapping just one. They shoved her into the backseat of the car and as she screamed for help, the four men tore her clothes while the driver took the car to a desolated corner and stopped. Here they raped the 30-year-old woman one by one and later gave her Rs 150, so that she could hitch a ride back home.
This is what the Delhi police learnt after they interrogated two of the accused -- Shamshad and Usman -- arrested for raping a woman from Mizoram. The third accused -- Shahid -- gave himself up on Thursday in Faridabad. However, the kingpin of the gang, Kamruddin who has been evading arrest for past six years in another gangrape case that took place in Faridabad in 2007, and another accused, Iqbal are still at large.
After the rape, the men had taken off to Haryana's Mewat area, hid the vehicle in a remote village and went underground.
A huge team of 500 policemen in plainclothes tracked them to Mewat's Dhauj and Tikri Kalan villages in the wee hours of Thursday.
"We had to wear plainclothes since Mewat is known for its notorious criminals, who have easy access to firearms," a police officer toldrediff.com.
Delhi police commissioner BK Gupta said that accused could not have been arrested without the cooperation of the 'brave victim', who wanted to see her assaulters punished. The victim and her friend had hour-long conversations with the investigators, assisting them with minute details.
"The victim told us that the car in which she was raped had a flowery decoration. She also remembered a word written on the rear window of the vehicle," he said.
The accused had given the victim 15 notes of Rs 10 denomination each and interestingly, the police said, they were folded vertically. "It's a trend among criminals from Mewat to fold notes vertically and here's where we got our clue. Then we prepared a list of criminals from Mewat who had just got out of jail in and around the national capital region, and finally zeroed down on the accused," said deputy commissioner of police (south), HGS Dhaliwal, who led the operation.
The investigation was not easy. Fifteen police teams worked round-the-clock to catch the accused. Since the victim was not sure of the make of the car, police interrogated the owners of 3,245 vehicles before they nabbed Shamshad and Usman on Wednesday night.
The police have also recovered the vehicle in which the crime was committed. .
BPO gangrape: How police found suspects NDTV Correspondent, December 02, 2010
New Delhi: A breakthrough, as the Delhi Police arrest robbers Shamshad and Usman for raping a 30-year-old call-centre employee last Wednesday.
A rape, that has provoked a huge outrage in the capital.
Police say, they were a gang of five who dragged the victim into a tempo as she was walking back home with a colleague after the office car dropped them about 500 metres from home.
One of the five suspects, Usman, had been charged with another gangrape in Faridabad, 3 years ago. He was also charged with assualting a police team in Sarai Rohilla in Delhi last year. Others have had criminal records and have been charged with anumber of crimes ranging from petty theft to cow slaughter.
''The victim's car was followed by the five men. And seeing that the girls got off at Ring Road, they pulled the victim into the tempo. The men were drunk and committed the crime on the spur of the moment," said BK Gupta, the Delhi Police Commissioner.
The victim had given a detailed description of the vehicle.
Using that, the police had scanned 6,000 tempos in the capital and around it.
The Delhi Police, after eight days of extensive search got a breakthrough in the case through a tip off from Mewat.
It was a call about a tempo matching the description. The police raided the various dens in Haryana's Mewat region and arrested the men.
They have now led the police to the third accused, Shahid, who had surrendered himself in Faridabad Court on a previous charge of cow slaughter to escape the larger punishment.
Two others, Kamru and Iqbal, are still at large.
Kamru was also accused in another case of gang rape in Faridabad, alongwith Usman, who is now in police custody. .
. As she continued crying after being raped atleast , one of the accused even tried to calm her down by patting on her back and assuring her in Hindi that they would not kill her and would drop her somewhere "safe", a police official said.
With the Home Ministry breathing down their backs, the several specially constituted teams are working round the clock to crack the kidnap and rape of a woman hailing from northeast India.
One of the 15 specially constituted police teams has picked up a Mahindra pick-up from outer Delhi and police suspect this is the vehicle in which the 30-year-old BPO employee was gangraped by five men last week. But this very well could be a false lead, for the other teams working on the case have identified 80 other Mahindra pick-ups in and around the capital.
The Mahindra pick-up, which has been kept at Vasant Kunj police station for now, belongs to man hailing from Mangolpuri, who reportedly has a criminal record.
According to investigating officials, 80 other Mahindra pick-ups have been identified in the case. Of these four vehicles are under the scanner because their owners have criminal backgrounds, officials said.
According to the FIR in the case, the 30-year-old woman, hailing from Mizoram was dropped on the Ring Road at about 1.10 am by her cab driver on November 24. According to the cab driver's statement to the police, he had dropped her there on her own instructions. The victim was walking to her house in Moti Village with a friend, when three men stopped them at what looked like gun.
"In her statement, the victim told us that three men pointed something at her that looked like a gun. As they screamed, the men dragged the victim into a vehicle, which on basis of an eyewitness account, we have established as a Mahindra pick-up truck. They dumped her in the back, where two other men were sitting. They confiscated her cell phones and drove to an isolated spot near Dhaula Kuan before blindfolding her. They stopped and took turns in raping her. She was finally dumped in Mangolpuri area. Thankfully, she had one of her cell phones, which she used to call her friend, who by then had already called the Police Control Room," a senior police officer, involved in the investigations told rediff.com.
Several police motorcycles and PCR vans tried to trace the vehicle from the spot the victim was dropped at, but were unsuccessful. The brave woman declined the police's offer of being taken to her hometown and insisted on staying on and helping them with their investigations. Currently she is undergoing treatment for stress, physical and mental trauma at a hospital in Delhi.
Talking about the accused, the victim told police that they spoke in Hindi with an Haryanvi accent. They spoke in Hindi to each other and never once uttered each others' names, police said. The victim told police that they were all in their early 20s. As she continued crying after being raped atleast , one of the accused even tried to calm her down by patting on her back and assuring her in Hindi that they would not kill her and would drop her somewhere "safe", a police official said.
As the woman was blindfolded, she could not give a proper description of the accused, to the police. On the basis of her friend's description, police made the sketches of three of the accused, which they showed to the victim. The sketches have been published in all leading newspapers and faxed to all the police stations in Delhi.
The police's first attempt was to trace the accused with the help of three CCTV footages in Dhaula Kuan area. Images secured from this did show the vehicle, but were not clear enough to establish its make.
"The images were very grainy, because of which we could not make out the faces of the accused or even the make of the car. We then placed the mobile-phones that were used in the area on the night under surveillance. We are tracking all of them. The investigations will have to be scientific as there are several hundred phones that were in use on that night in the area," a senior police official said.
After the victim told police that her rapists appeared to be from the labour class, police identified some 1000 laborers working in factories in and around Mangolpuri area. Close to 500 of them have been questioned, police said.
"We are in the process of declaring a cash reward of Rs. 1 lakh to anyone who can lead us to the accused. We have detained four relevant suspects in the case and are questioning them. The case investigations are in full progress. We cannot share any more details at this point," Deputy Commissioner of Police (south Delhi), HGS Dhaliwal said. .
. NEW DELHI: After two persons were picked up for questioning from Haryana's Mewat district in connection with the abduction and rape of a 30-year-old call centre employee here, another accused surrendered in Haryana's Ballbhgarh court early on Thursday.
The two - Shamshad and Usman - were detained late last night, police said, adding they resembled the sketches of the three suspects released by them.
Police is questioning the two, who are in their early 20s. More than 500 people have been questioned in the case so far.
The incident took place on November 26 when the Mizo woman was walking towards her home in Moti village near Dhaula in south Delhi early last Wednesday morning along with one of her colleagues when the men in a vehicle abducted her and took turns to rape her. She was later dumped in Mongolpuri after which she approached police.
Investigators have also impounded a truck which could possibly be involved in the crime.
. Fiza caught throwing garbage at neighbour's on camera 18-Oct-2010
Mohali: Remember Fiza alias Anuradha Bali? In case you don’t, she is the woman who made it to the news before for being the second (now estranged) wife of former Haryana Deputy Chief Minister, Chander Mohan after converting to Islam.
Well, she happens to be back on air for the wrong reasons yet again. Fiza Mohammed alias Anuradha Bali was arrested on Sunday for allegedly throwing eggs and garbage in her neighbour’s house in Mohali.
She was later released on bail by Mohali SDM on a bail bond of Rs. 10,000. Police had registered a case after her neighbour Ram Krishan filed a complaint. He alleged that Fiza had earlier too thrown garbage in his backyard but started to throw eggs on Saturday.
Fiza denied the allegations and claimed that it was the other way round and that he had mala fide intentions towards her. She added that the CCTV cameras at her house would prove who is guilty. But things got worse for her on Monday.
A Hindi news channel today aired the CCTV footages which clearly showed Fiza throwing garbage in her neighbour’s compound proving his allegations true. Her claims of innocence and of being a victim of the neighbour’s so called mala fide intentions also now seem to have been a farce. .
Joel Joseph, TNN, Jun 14, 2010 ( joel.joseph@timesgroup.com )
NUH (HARYANA): A 25-year-old woman was allegedly killed by her husband in Malab village in Nuh district, around 30km from Gurgaon, after she did not vote for the candidate her husband asked her to and instead voted for one of her relatives in the sarpanch elections, which were held on Saturday.
Her relatives and local villagers blocked traffic on Sohna road for several hours on Sunday evening demanding the arrest of her husband.
According to police, Tahira was strangulated by her husband Shahid after she voted for Kamaal, who was standing for the post of sarpanch of Malab village. Tahira’s sister Ruksana is Kamaal’s sister-in-law.
‘‘The incident happened on Saturday night after the election. It seems Tahira’s husband Shahid was furious she voted for Kamaal though he had asked her not to. In a fit of rage, he strangled her. Her husband and in-laws managed to flee, but we will arrest them soon,’’ said Ram Singh Bishnoi, SP, Mewat.
‘‘There was a lot of resentment among the locals and they blocked the traffic on Sohna road for several hours, demanding the husband and in-laws be arrested soon. They also wanted postmortem to be conducted again. We have sent the body to the Rohtak district hospital where postmortem will be conducted again. The viscera report is still awaited,’’ Bishnoi added. .
Ratiram Malik - the Hindu superman of 20th Century
Having read stories of so many wrestlers of yesteryears who were lucky to be patronized by princely states and achieved worldwide fame and recognition in their times, there was one superman who was not associated with any state. Mention of Hindu wrestlers started with the famous wrestler Guru Hanuman, but we have little knowledge about other wrestlers of our area in the 1900’s to 1940’s.
One such powerful wrestler whose name is still famous in rural Haryana but unknown to rest of the world, was Choudhry Ratiram Malik (चौधरीरतीराममलिक) or nick-named Rattia Mhaal (रतियामहाल) (in Haryanvi language, Mhaal means "A Great Wrestler") who was born and lived in village Nangal Kheri or Gadi (Siva Gadi) near the city of Panipat. This village is adjacent to National Fertiliser Limited near Panipat.
Born around 1900 CE, this vegetarian Hindu was 6 feet 4 inches in height and was a true specimen of human muscle power, like the strength of the Alaskan grizzly bears. He was chiseled and muscular with big heavy bones and didn’t have the usual heavy protruding belly of heavyweight wrestler . His exercise routine sometimes included 10,000 baithaks at one go; and the next day would be for similar number of dands, besides these to gain strength in doing his baithaks, he carried two men on his shoulders. His strength can be measured with a barometer in the form of an old Girdi (a piece of heavy, round stone, used for crushing limestone and also for agricultural purposes). This type of stone usually weighs around 450 kgs and he lifted it when he was in his sixties (old age). One can imagine his strength in the prime of his youth. This girdi or roller is still present in his native village.
It is very difficult to lift this type of roller as there is no place to grip it, the only option is to use one’s own strength to hug it and lift it on the shoulders which Ratia Mhaal had - and it is a testimony to his massive strength which is justified in the form of that roller.
Old folks remember how Ratia pahelwan once pulled out a full grown male buffalo (that had fallen into a village-well) single-handedly tied with a rope. Once while he was having his food in the fields, a full grown donkey started braying loudly near him. Annoyed, he tried to shoo the animal away but the donkey didn't pay heed. So he caught hold of the beast by one of its legs and threw it away like a pillow. People said he caught a full grown powerful male buffalo tied with a rope to its neck and the male buffalo was made to run. It wouldn't move against the strength of Ratia Mhaal such was his enormous strength.
Once, during the time of Ratia Mhaal's older days in his 70's, a man tried to check his famous strength, he purposefully filled his bullock cart with sugar cane which everybody claimed was nearly 700 to 800 kgs and pretended that the fully-laden cart got stuck in a drain and asked for Ratia Mhaal's help. Ratia Mhaal put his shoulders under the bullock cart and asked the driver to move the cart forwards with the bullocks' help but instead of making the cart go forward, the devious man tried to take the cart backwards with the bullock's help. But little did he have a clue about Ratia Mhaal's enormous strength that the whole bullock cart, along with load and the bullocks went rolling forwards from the ditch .Hence we can imagine how strong Ratia Mhaal would have been in his younger days. It is simply unbelievable !
In wrestling, Rati Ram Malik used to throw his opponents in the air, in matter of seconds. With no disrespect to some famous pahelwans of that era who were lucky to get the patronage of the royal states like Patiala and got the fame by traveling around the world guided by their patrons, it was their good fortune that Ratia Mhaal remained famous only around the region of present-day Haryana and that too, on the G.T Road belt. Haryana region did not have a princely state in those times to give guidance far and wide corners. Once this famous wrestler was spotted by a British Officer while he was on a hunting expedition, he took Ratia Mhaal (who was a 20 year old then) and told him to join British Army and train as pahelwan and that he would give him all the support to train as he saw his enormous strength . But his mother brought him back saying he was their only son and if something happened to him who would look after their vast lands? If he had taken this opportunity for a bigger stage, he would have got the fame he deserved .
Older folk in the village Nangal Kheri say they didn't know much about Gama Pahelwan and other big wrestling names as there were no means to get such news in that era as it was a remote, agricultural area in those times. Moreover, there was nobody to guide Rati Ram, as his elder brother Chaudhry Dhanram (who had an untimely death) was equally strong and had wanted to make his younger brother Rati Ram a wrestler. Ratia Mhaal was between 18 to 22 when his elder brother died.
According to older folks, once in a wresting competiton in a nearby annual fair, a famous Muslim wrestler from Uttar Pradesh, who was around 6 foot 9 inches in height and supposedly had super-human strength to tear people apart, challenged all Hindus of the area and used abusive language against the Hindu religion. Ratia Mhaal heard of his challenge and came walking to the arena. During wrestling, Ratia Mhaal picked up the Muslim wrestler by his feet and hurled him towards a tree, like a doll. After crashing down, the gigantic Muslim wrestler was terrified and started trembling. Reportedly, out of fear, he fell at Ratia Mhaal's feet and begged for his life and vowed never to use such egotistic or foul language against Hindus in his lifetime.
The people in these areas claim that this handsome and powerful pahelwan called Ratia Mhaal was three times more powerful then the boastful Gama pahelwan. Older folks say Ratia Mhaal ran terror in opponents’ eyes and shiver around their spines when he caught opponents by their waists and hurled them over his head. Even the heaviest of wrestlers can be no more than 200 kgs in weight, whereas Ratia Mhaal hugged that Girdi (roller) of 450 kilograms in his sixties (in his older days), so we can imagine his strength while he was a youth. His ankles were reportedly around five inches wide.
He said Rati Ram Pahelwan's funeral pyre needed four times the wood of a normal well-built man as he had massively wide with heavy-set bones. Even at the age of 85, he had a stout and strong muscular body without any signs of fat. The people who saw the strong man's body at the time of his funeral, tell that people were worried that despite four times wood needed for his pyre (than an ordinary well built man) it won't burn his heavy bones and in the morning their apprehension was vindicated as they found big unburnt bones when they went to collect his ashes. It is unfortunate that this powerful hulk remained hidden from the pages of Indian wrestling history because of the remoteness of the area.
The 450-kg odd concrete roller (GIRDI) is still lying there, a witness to the Hindu superman of yester years, perhaps the descendant of Hanuman who lived just a few decades ago but is unknown to the rest of the world, as Rati Ram Malik was not associated with any princely state.
We should thank the Hindu princely states who gave support to Indian wrestlers of yesteryears and helped them display their might and prowress. These wrestlers were patronized by princely states who looked after there dietary needs but after India's independence in 1947, this system got dissolved and successive governments did not pay heed to our martial sports and wrestling legacy.
In protest against the slaughter of cows that took place at Dabwali on Friday, various Hindu organizations today held a march in the city and managed to force the markets to remain closed.
Later, the agitators staged a dharna at the Sadhbhawna Chowk where the speakers sought the resignation of the Haryana chief minister for his “callous attitude in checking such heinous activity in his state.” They also accused the Haryana police of taking the issue lightly as they had not been able to nab the accused even after four days had passed. They urged the Union government to declare the cow as national religious animal and demanded that anybody found guilty of killing a cow should get 20 years of imprisonment.
“If one kills a man, he is punished with life term, so if one kills a cow, which hurts the sentiments of crores of people, how can he be termed less guilty while announcing the verdict,” they said.
Speaking about the charter of demands, leaders said the government should get vacated all land— which were donated for cows— but were being used for other purposes.
It was also said that the slaughter house at Dabwali, where the carcasses of around 40 cows was recovered on Friday, should be handed over to some Gaushala Samiti. Otherwise, the protesters would secure possession on their own and construct a Gaushala there, least bothering about the consequences.
The protesters had given the call for bandh on Sunday and had personally visited the shops on Monday to urge all to cooperate.
Following this, many shopkeepers did not even roll up shutters and the rest too remained closed when volunteers visited them to make requests for closing down. At some places, verbal duel between the volunteers and the shopkeepers was also reported, but the city witnessed bandh widely.
Among others, volunteers from the Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Naujawan Welfare Society, Salasar Yatra Sangh, Bathinda Vikas Manch, Asra Welfare Society, Mahabir Sankirtan Mandal, Charan Paduka Seva Dal, Hanuman Seva Samiti and Peerkhana Seva Samiti took part.
Later, the volunteers informed over the phone that the president of the Truck Union, Bathinda, had announced collection of some amount from its customers as charity for the welfare fund of cows.
He also assured that no cow would be transported without getting the nod from Hindu organisations.
Haryana Watch's note: - A brief history of Sirsa:
1) Dabwali is the home-town of former Deputy Prime Minister Chaudhri Devi Lal and former Haryana Chief Minister Sh. Om Parkash Chautala. After being pampered with beef Biryanis at state-sponsored Ramzan Iftaars, are Muslims feeling so arrogant that they can get away in Cow Slaughter in such a Hindu strong-hold?
2) Perhaps the Muslims have forgotten that the lessons of history that Sirsa taught them.
During the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the killing of cows was subject to capital punishment, until the mid 19th century. As the British came to power in Punjab during 1849, they encouraged cow-slaughter by Muslims and sale of beef to mock the religious beliefs of all the Hindus, including Sikhs.
In Amritsar itself, a slaughterhouse was opened adjacent to the clock tower near the Golden Temple where Muslim butchers began to slaughter cows. As beef began to be sold in Punjab for the first time for over half a century, conflict arose between the Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus. Birds of prey began to carry carrion and bones away from the slaughterhouses and this would occasionally drop within the holy precincts of the Golden Temple and other nearby Hindu temples. The Sikh and Hindu priests were infuriated at this, and began to protest to the authorities. The British Governor of Punjab ignored these protests
Sirsa's Jeevan Nagar is the home of Namdhari Kuka Sikhs - the army of Baba Ram Singh ji Namdhari. The fiercely vegetarian Namdharis are renowned for their love of cows and therefore, the protection of cows from slaughter remains the foremost concern of Namdharis.
The Namdhari Sikhs were passionate in the matter of cow killings. They were punished by the British Raj because they attacked butcher houses and murdered the butchers for which they were executed/ blown off with cannons or put behind the jails.
The then deputy commissioner of Amritsar opened a slaughter house outside the city. The butchers were asked to follow these instructions, “The cows will be slaughtered at a particular place within an enclosure. No butchers would bring beef inside the city for sale. Transgressors of these rules will be punished.”
Opening a slaughter house at Amritsar was a signal for opening many more in different towns of Punjab. This led to the development of strained relations between the Hindus and the Muslims because the butchers started selling beef openly in the streets of Amritsar. Peeved at this, Namdharis came forward to punish the butchers and embraced martyrdom during the British era.
In their zeal for protecting the cow, an armed Kuka Namdhari band attacked a cow slaughterhouse in the sacred city of Amritsar on the night of 15 June 1871.The Namdharis assassinated four Muslim butchers involved in cow slaughtering and wounded three other butchers. The cows were set free. To prevent any anti-cow slaughter movement, the British administration hanged five brave Namdharis (Sant Hakam Singh Patwari, Sant Fateh Singh, Sant Lehna Singh, Sant Jhanda Singh and Sant Beehla Singh Narli) to death.
Exactly a month later on 14 July 1971, another surprise raid by Namdhari fighters took place on a cattle slaughterhouse in Raikot, in Ludhiana district. A group of Namdharis were passing by a Gurudwara in Raikot, on their way to Bhaini Sahib when they were summoned by the local priests. The priests took the Namdharis to temple precincts where crows were seen to be dropping carrion and bones.
The Namdharis decided to spend the night there, and in the morning they attacked the local slaughterhouse and assassinated four Muslim butchers and seriously wounded seven others. These Namdharis were arrested and brought before the magistrate at the village of Bassin.
On 5th August 1871, three Namdharis (Mastan Singh, Gurmukh Singh and Mangal Singh) were blown into pieces by British cannons at Raikot. On 26th November 1871, two more Namdharis (the scholar Giani Rattan Singh of Mandi and Rattan Singh of Naiwala) who were innocent, but were considered associates of above hanged Namdharis, were blown into pieces by British cannons in Ludhiana.
Painting by Vassili Verestchagin showing the British execution of Namdharis by blowing them up with cannons in Malerkotla
Meanwhile, the British continued to encourage Muslim butchers to open slaughterhouses in the Punjab and increase the selling of beef. In January 1872, the Namdharis had gathered at Bhaini Sahib to celebrate Maghi. A Gurmukh Singh of Farwahi village narrated to Sardar Heera Singh a tale of how an ox had been deliberately slaughtered in his presence in Malerkotla, and how the police on this occasion used abusive language towards him. Against the wishes of their Guru Ram Singh, the hot-headed militant Namdharis decided to attack the butchers at Malerkotla. On 13th January 1872, approximately 100 Namdhari fighters, lead by Sardar Heera Singh and Lehna Singh started from Bhaini Sahib for Malerkotla.
On 15th January 1872, the martial Namdharis reached Malerkotla. At 7 AM, the Namdharis attacked, and a bloody fight ensued between the forewarned British Raj police, and the Namdhari fighters. The police, who received eight causalities, was lead by a Muslim officer named Ahmed Khan. Seven Namdharis were killed, and as more police reinforcements arrived on the scene at midday, the police captured 68 Namdharis, including two women and 22 injured. The British deputy commissioner of Ludhiana, Mr. Cowen, reached Malerkotla and without any judicial process, he ordered the barbaric execution of 49 Namdhari Kukas by having them blown away by cannons.
Some sources state that one young Namdhari lad named Bishan Singh attempted to choke Mr Cowen but was pulled off and cut down with a sword. In this way, Cowen murdered 50 Namdharis in all. Namdhari tradition records of how one Viriyam Singh, being too short, elevated himself by placing bricks under his feet so as he could be executed by cannon fire more efficiently. On 18th January 1872, in the presence of Mr Forsyth, another 16 Namdharis were blown away by cannons as they sang hymns from Sikh scriptures. .
Barely 25 km from the bustling township of Karnal is village Mundogari, where people don't buy television sets, don't get themselves photographed, or even listen to Hindi film music.
It's not because they don't have the financial wherewithal to do so; it's because the 5,000-strong Muslim population of the village is under the near-total sway of retrograde maulvis whose edicts have barred the folk from any form of recreation.
With just one Hindu Dalit family in Mundogari, the village has more or less been reduced to a Talibanised relic. It's not the rule of law that enshrines personal freedoms that prevails here; it's the fatwas from maulvis, who interpret the Koran according to their blinkered vision, that calls the shots, preventing people from exerting their right to freedom in a country that celebrated its 60th year of independence in August this year. . The only connection of villagers - who don't travel out - with the outside world is the radio on which the only programme they are allowed to listen to is the news.
Says Raj Singh Chaudhary, a Karnal-based social worker: "When one family bought a TV set, it was severely ostracised." What adds to the problem, he says, is the literacy rate at an abysmal 3%, with just one person reaching college. And since no one is even 10th pass, there's not a single person in the village employed with the government.
Dilshad Ali, 20, would be seen as a villain in this village if his secret was out. For he has defied the maulvis' fatwa and took admission in BA second year. Asked whether he follows any other proclamation, he says: "I have to paste photographs on the admission form, have to read newspapers and I watch TV regularly whenever I am outside the village." How does he do all this? "I have to keep these things a secret," he says.
Eighteen year old Shadaqat Ali, who owns an STD/PCO outlet, says, Koran doesn't allow us to watch TV and listen to music in any form. On being asked who informed him about it, he says: "Maulvis have informed the entire village time and again and about TV's ill-effects."
Another woman, who refuses to be named, says: "The women folk aren't allowed to come out of their house. Many haven't travelled more than 25 km ever in their lives."
"My first outing as a child was to a hospital and ever since I have mostly gone to hospitals as do other women, most of whom are married at age 14-15."
Maulana Ajmal Khan, the imam at Sector 20 Masjid, Chandigarh, says: "If you want a photograph clicked for the passport, or on the admission form, you can have it, since it's out of necessity. But you can't have it hanging on the wall." Islam also does not allow singing and dancing or any such form of entertainment, he adds.
Mundogari in Haryana is a village where Osama will be at ‘home’
Mundogari, located 50-odd kilometers from New Delhi in Haryana prides itself on being a ‘true’ Islamic village.
In this village, which has 5,000 inhabitants, girls are debarred from going to schools. They have been debarred from having education. They are also not allowed to step out of their houses without totally covering themselves.
The madrassa, or the school in the village, is open only to boys.
“None of the women in our village have studied till standard ten. I went to school till fifth standard. Lots of restrictions have been imposed on the women. They say that according to Koran, girls should not be educated. Why do we have to face restrictions like this?” asks Saima, a Kindergarten teacher.
Not just that, watching television or listening to songs on radio is banned. The edict promulgated by the local cleric makes all those who listen to music and sees television of committing blasphemy,
The edict prohibits all recreational activities as un-Islamic.
The local clerics claim that going to schools and being seen outside your house, with an uncovered face is un-Islamic.
“Television is unacceptable in our religion. They show all kind of nude pictures and rubbish things which are banned in our religion. There is not a single television in our village,” said Shakeel Ahmed, a local cleric.
The clerics are not concerned that the people of the village live in abject poverty, and the only ‘employment’ open to them is to engage themselves in doing menial jobs.
No one has had the courage to defy the edict issued by the local cleric — so far. Osama would be completely at home at Mundogari. (ANI)
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Gokula (Hindi: गोकुला) or Gokul Singh (Hindi: गोकुल सिंह) (died 1670 AD) was a Jat chieftain of Tilpat in Haryana. His father's name was Madhu. Madhu had four sons namely, Sindhuraj, Ola, Jhaman and Saman. The second son Ola later became famous as Gokula.[2] Gokula provided leadership to the Jat peasants who challenged the Imperial power. Gokula inspired the Jats to fight the Mughals.
Condition of Hindus at the time:
It is important to know the condition of Hindus and our situation during those times in the country to understand the actions of Veer Gokula Singh. In the year 1658 A.D the fanatical Muslim Aurangzeb becomes the Mughal Emperor and embarks on a zealous mission to convert Hindus to Islam through any method possible. The atrocities of Aurangzeb on Hindus are too numerous and well known and need not be repeated here but it is important that we look at the situation of Hindus in Mathura and the adjacent areas since that was the place where Gokla was living at that time.
The fanatical Mughals used to administer the area through officers named faujdars, one of them was Murshid Quli Khan who died in 1638 A.D, and he used to raid villages for capturing beautiful women. In the words of Sir Jadunath Sarkar “the Khan, painting his forehead and wearing a dhoti like a Hindu used to walk up and down in the crowd. Whenever he saw a woman whose beauty filled even the Moon with envy, he snatched her away like a wolf, pouncing upon a flock, and placing her in the boat which his men kept ready on the bank (of the Jamuna) he sped to Agra.”
Another infamous character of the time was Abdu’n Nabi Khan, the governor (faujdar) of Mathura at that time. In the words of Sri Sita Ram Goel “He plundered the people unscrupulously and amassed great wealth. But his worst offence was the pulling down of the foremost Hindu temple in the heart of Mathura and building a Jamia Masjid on its site. This he did in AD 1660-61.
Soon after, in 1665, Aurangzeb imposed a pilgrim tax on the Hindus. In 1668, he prohibited celebration of all Hindu festivals, particularly Holi and Diwali.
The Jats who rightly regarded themselves as the defenders of Hindu honor were no longer in a mood to take it lying.”, It was under these trying times that a man named Gokul Singh rose to the occasion for the defense of Hindus of the area.
Rise to fame:
The rise of Veer Gokula Singh from obscurity to a position of importance in Hindu history starts in the year 1669 A.D. Around this time Samarth Ramdas, the Guru of Shivaji Maharaj, was traveling in the area of Gokula and after his sermon in Muzzafarpur area in which he exorted the people to rise to defend dharma “young men, led by Gokula, accepted the exhortation and challenge of the Guru to devote and sacrifice their lives for the motherland. The vows were taken, with a sip of water from the Ganga, and the Yamuna, and the chewing of a pipal leaf.”
The first serious outbreak of anti-imperial reaction took place among the Hindu Jats of Mathura district Uttar Pradesh, where the imperial Mughal faujdar Abdun-Nabi, had oppressed them greatly because they were Hindus. In 1669 the sturdy Jat peasantry rose under a leader, Gokula, Zamindar of Tilpat, killed the faujdar, and kept the whole district in disorder for a year, till they were suppressed by a strong imperial force under Hasan Ali Khan, the new faujdar of Mathura. The valiant Gokula was eventually captured and put to death. His family and many close relatives were forcibly converted to Islam.[3]
Rise of Gokula
Gokula came on scene when the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb (1658-1707) attempted to convert Dar-ul-Hurb (Hindustan) to Dar-ul-Islam forcibly through persecution and dogmatic policies. The 1669 Jat uprising in India under Gokula occurred at a time when the Mughal government was by no means weak.[4] In fact this period of Aurangzeb’s reign witnessed the climax of the Mughal Empire.[5][6] During the early medieval period frequent breakdown of law and order often induced the Jats to adopt a refractory course.[7] But with the establishment of Mughal rule, law and order was effectively established and there were no major Jat revolts during the century and a half preceding the reign of Aurangzeb,[8] though in 1638 Murshid Quli Khan, the Mughal faujdar of Mathura, was killed during an operation against Jats. During the reign of Aurangzeb, the faujdar of Mathura in 1669 was Abdunnabi, who incurred the wrath of the people.[9]
In early 1669, Aurangzeb appointed a staunch follower of Islam, Abdunnabi, as faujdar of Mathura to curb the Hindus of this area. Abdunnabi established a cantonment near Gokul Singh and conducted all his operations from there. Gokula organized the Hindu farmers not to give taxes to the Mughals. The Mughal soldiers retaliated, beginning the struggle of the farmers.
Meanwhile Aurangzeb issued orders on 9 April 1669 to abolish the Hindu temples. As a result a large number of ancient Hindu temples of priceless heritage from the ancient period of Kushans were damaged.[10] During May 1669 the faujdar Abdunnabi seized the village Sihora. Gokula was there waiting for him and there was a fierce battle in which Gokula killed Abdunnabi.
Gokula and his fellow farmers moved further, attacked and destroyed the Sadabad cantonment. Sadullakhan had founded Sadabad during the period of Shahjahan. This incidence inspired the Hindus to fight against the Mughal rulers.[11] The battles continued for five months.[12]
The outbreak of the Jat rebellion
The year 1669 witnessed, the bursting forth of the pent up fury of the Jats into a very powerful revolt under the inspiring leadership of Gokula, the zamindar of Tilpat. A remarkable feature of this rebellion was its composite character. [13] Though the Jats counted for its majority and provided leadership to it, it consisted of other local people as well such as, Meo, Meena, Ahir, Gujjar, Naruka, Panwar and others. [14] The rebels gathered at the village of Sahora (about 6 miles from Mathura). Abdun Nabi, the faujdar of Mathura, attacked them. At first he appeared to be gaining ground, but in the middle of the fighting he was killed on 12 May 1669. [15], [16], [17], [18]
Overjoyed at this success, Gokula ravaged the paragana and town of Sadabad (24 miles from Mathura) in the Daob. [19], [18], [20] The turbulence spread to Agra district also whereto Radandaz Khan was sent (13 May) with a force to put down the rebels. Aurangazeb appointed Saf Shikan Khan as the new faujdar of Mathura. [21], [22] As arms failed to prevail, diplomacy was resorted to. The Mughal government offered to forgive Gokula provided he surrendered his spoils. But Gukula spurned the offer.
The success they tasted soon stirred the Hindus of the area to rebel against the Mughal authority; the disturbance caused by them was severe enough to warrant an offer from the Mughal regime to Gokula according to which he was offered forgiveness if he stopped his rebellious activities. Gokula turned down this offer and continued his rebellion; soon Aurangzeb himself sent a strong force under the command of Radandaz Khan, Hasan Ali Khan and other officers.
On the other side, as the situation was assuming serious proportions, the Emperor had to proceed (28 November 1669) in person to the Disturbed area. On his way on 4 December 1669, Aurangzeb learnt of the circumstance of rebellion in the villages of Rewara, Chandarakanta and Sarkhud (Sarkharu). He dispatched Hasan Ali khan to attack these places. Till noon the insurgent fought with bows and muskets. Getting desperate thereafter, many of them having performed the jauhar of their women fell upon the Khan.
The Mughal forces delivered an attack on these three fortified Jat villages and in the words of K R Qanungo: “Hassan Ali delivered an attack upon three fortified villages of the Jats and won a very costly victory. The Hindu peasants fought long and steadily, displaying that cool obstinate valour which had ever characterised them. When resistance became hopeless, many of them slew their women to prevent a lifetime of sexual slavery under the Mughals and rushed upon the Mughals to sell their lives dearly.” Thus ended the first major battle against the Mughals in which Gokula’s forces made the Mughals pay dearly despite heavy odds against them.
A fierce fight raged till the evening in which many imperialists and 300 rebels were killed. Hasan Ali Khan returned to the Emperor, taking 250 male and female prisoners. Aurangazeb was pleased with his performance. He made him the faujdar of Mathura in place of Saf Shikan Khan who had obviously failed in suppressing the rebels. [23], [24], [25]
Under Hasan Ali Khan were placed 2,000 barqandaz troops, 1000 archers, 1000 musketeers, 1,000 rocketmen, and 25 pieces of cannons. Amanullah, the faujdar of the environs of Agra, was also ordered to help Hasan Ali. The latter immediately got engaged in quelling the rebellion.
The battle of Tilpat
Gokula Singh, with 20,000 Jat and other Hindu followers, rushed forward to face the Muslims at a place 20 miles from Tilpat. Both the sides suffered many casualties in the battle in which the Jats, despite showing utmost bravery, could not cope with the trained Mughals and their artillery. They took shelter in the Jat stronghold, Tilpat.
Hasan Ali followed them and besieged the Tilpat fort. Fighting continued for three days in which muskets and bows were used by the contestants. On the fourth day, the Muslim invaders charged the besieged fort from all sides and having made a breach in the walls entered Tilpat. Then ensued a sanguinary conflict. The Jats displayed their reckless courage and undaunted valour. The experienced Mughals gained the day but not before losing 4,000 men. Of the valiant Jats, 5000 lay dead, while 7000 were captured.
The gravity of this war can be understood from the fact that the Emperor Aurangzeb had to march himself on November 28, 1669 from Delhi to curb the Jat threat. The Mughals under Hasan Ali Khan attacked Gokula Jat. [26]
Gokula and his uncle Uday Singh with a united Hindu army of 20,000 Jats, Ahirs and Gujjars fought with superb courage and tenacity, the battle at Tilpat, but their grit and bravery had no answer to the Mughal artillery. It was only after three days of grim fighting that Tilpat fell. Losses on both sides were very heavy.
Gokula hacked to death
After the loss of Tilpat, Gokula and his uncle Uday Singh (who also fought in the battle of Tilpat) were captured alive through the efforts of Shaikh Razi-ud-Din, the peshkar of Hasan Ali Khan. They were imprisoned and was taken to Agra along with other captives. Many of the Jat womenfolk committed Jauhar to escape the clutches of the Mughals.
At Agra, all surviving prisoners were presented to the Emperor Aurangzeb. Gokula was offered pardon if he accepted Islam. Gokula was asked by Aurangzeb to embrace Islam if he wished to live.
On hearing this, the fearless Gokula asked Aurangzeb to offer his daughter to him in return, to poke fun at the Muslim emperor. Gokula, the defiant Hindu warrior, laughed and rejected the pardon by emphasizing that he would prefer to be killed rather than becoming a traitor to his Hindu religion.
This enraged Aurangzeb and he ordered the execution of Gokula. On January 1, 1670, following the orders of Aurangzeb, Gokula was hacked to death limb-by-limb, piece-by-piece on the platform of Agra Kotwali (Agra Police Office) and the same barbaric death was given to his uncle Uday Singh. Thus ended the lives of both the heroes and both attained martyrdom in fighting the tyranny of the Muslims but refused to give up their religion.
After Gokula's death, his family and close relatives were forcibly converted to Islam. According to Sri Sita Ram Goel “the capture and murder of Gokul with fiendish cruelty and the forcible conversion of his family members to Islam, coincided with the destruction of the Keshavadev (Krishna Janmabhoomi) temple in Mathura.”
Other Jat captives either met the same horrendous fate of their leader or were put in chains after forcible conversion to Islam. [27], [28], [24], [29]
Gokula may have passed away defiant but his death inspired many more rebellions among Jats against the Mughal authority and these rebellions would eventually lead to the establishment of the famed kingdom of Bharatpur. Hindus of today need to remember and honor such heroes without whom our religion and culture would not have survived.
Hopefully, many more Gokulas will be born among Hindus and will lift up the precarious condition of our country.
The Ambala police has nabbed a member of a gang who use to rob bus and train passengers by intoxicating them using sedatives in biscuits or other eatables.
According to information, the police arrested Javed, a resident of Bulandshahar, in this regard. A resident of Chandigarh, Mr Anil Jain, was coming from Delhi to Chandigarh in a bus. Javed boarded the bus near Ambala and sat beside Mr Jain. He offered a biscuit to Mr Jain, who became sedated after consuming it.
Javed took cash from the pocket of Mr Jain and as soon as he alighted from the bus, the police nabbed him. During interrogation, he disclosed that Yusuf Ali a.k.a. Raju, one of the members of his gang, had robbed Rs 3,000 and a mobile phone from a bus passenger at Shahbad. A police team was later sent to Shahbad in search of Raju.
Why did Mr. Om Prakash Chautala throw lavish Ramzan Iftaar dinners to appease Jihadis?
Mr. Om Prakash Chautala is a Hindu - a vegetarian Hindu - hailing from the brave Jat Hindu community whose fearless warriors have sacrificed their lives to defend India, Haryana and Hindu Dharma for centuries against Islamic aggression.
Then why did the then Chief Minister of Haryana, Mr. Chautala, host lavish Ramzan Iftaar dinners that servedbeef biryani on Haryana's sacred soil? To appease Jihadis?
On December 21, 2000, Mr.Chautala threw a lavish Ramzan Iftaar party to appease Jihadis in Nuh city (then part of Gurgaon district). He organised this Iftaar where his guests of honour were the Muslims of Mewat who flocked in large numbers to feast on beef biryani, just like vultures arriving at a road-kill.
Accommodating such a big crowd may have been a problem for most but not for Chautala; he simply converted a large tract of farm land into what he called an "Iftar park" just outside the city.
Muslim leader from Kashmir, Dr. Farooq Abdullah was the Chief Guest at this Iftaar Party hosted by Chief Minister of Haryana, Om Prakash Chautala.
Abdullah (whose name means “Slave of Allah”) expressed his sentiments while addressing a gathering of those who had assembled to offer namaaz on the occasion after observing the fast. The offering of Namaaz preceded the Iftaar party.
Voicing the long-standing demand of the Muslim residents of Mewat, Abdullah urged the Chief Minister of Haryana to grant the separate status of a district to Muslim-majority Mewat region by breaking it away from Gurgaon district. He reminded Mr Chautala that this would also fulfill the electoral promise of the INLD, now in power.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Chautala remained equivocal on the demand for a separate Muslim-majority district for Mewat. However,he assured the gathering that he would always obey Dr Abdullah. But he said that he could not make the announcement on the spot as his government was inhibited on account of the fact that this was a census year.
Mr Chautala said that the Iftaar party was organised to promote brotherhood among all sections of the society.
Praising Ramzaan, Mr Chautala said that “roza” (selective fasting) observed by Muslims, steel them spiritually and psychologically. Also, it reminds all concerned the pangs of pain experienced by the deprived sections of the society. The well-offs can empathise with the trial and tribulations faced by the have-nots only after they experience the pain themselves. The occasion here was contrived so that he could have first-hand experience of poverty and hardship of the people of the area, Mr Chautala said in a laudatory tone.
[Mr.Chautala forgot to add that as part of the silly “Roza”, the Muslims stuff themselves with rich, oily food in the morning, sleep through the afternoons lazily without working and then gorge themselves with rich, oily food in the evenings. Is that fasting, Mr.Chautala? Go ask your Hindu relatives what fasting truly means. To Hindus, “Fasting” means neither eating nor drinking any morsel of food or even a drop of water for the entire day, and still continuing to have an active, work-based day-time schedule. Samjhey aap?]
Mr Chautala pulled all stops to take on his political opponents who had been reportedly criticising the organising of Iftaar parties. The opponents had made statements saying that Mewat did not require Iftaar parties but developmental works.
Mr Chautala responded saying that since he took over he sanctioned Rs 25 crore for various development works in Mewat. He emphasised that it was his party’s government which tried to bring water to Mewat through the Ujjina dam.
State machinery had been overactive in the past few days to make the occasion a grand success. Although the district administration gave impression that it was not organised by the state, the contrary to it was discernible. The authorities had divided the sitting enclosure in 28 parts on a huge area of land.
Several MLAs and Ministers and religious leaders relating to Islam were present on the podium.
Mr.Chautala, are you listening to us? You owe the people of Haryana an answer and an apology for your opportunistic mindset and short-sighted decision to support Islam and destroy Haryana.
In 2005, you betrayed Haryana by announcing the religious partition of Haryana and the creation of a new Muslim-majority district called Mewat.
Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala today announced the creation of a new district, the 20th in the state, called “Satyamev Puram” for areas falling under Mewat encompassing five revenue blocks in Gurgaon and one in Faridabad district.
The announcement is a follow-up on a promise made to the people of Mewat, more than four years ago, for a separate district for them by Mr Chautala.
On the flip side, the Rashtriya Swayemsevak Sangh, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the Bajrang Dal, the Shiv Sena and other Hindu organisations took out a procession and blocked the national highway (Delhi-Jaipur) near Rajiv Chowk for about an hour in protest against the creation of the new district.
The agitationists had planned to block the passage of the Chief Minister’s cavalcade which was to cross the route to reach here. However, they came a cropper on this front as the cavalcade crossed much earlier than they had expected.
Making the announcement at a well-attended public meeting here, Mr Chautala said the district headquarters of Satyamev Puram would be Nuh, considered to be the political and social fulcrum of Mewat.Mewat is dominated by Meo Muslims. While Nuh, Taoru, Nagina, Ferozepur Jhirka and Punhana are the revenue blocks falling in Gurgaon district, Hathin falls in Faridabad. Assembly segment-wise, Nuh, Taoru and Ferozepur Jhirka fall in Gurgaon, and Hathin segment falls in Faridabad.
In order to give a calendar importance to the event, it was coincided with the Gandhi Jayanti and the birth anniversary of former Premier Lal Bahadur Shastri today.
According to Mr Chautala, the new district will become functional from November 1, the Haryana Day.
Mr Chautala also laid a foundation stone here for a mini-secretariat and a water scheme under the rubric “Rainy well” at Madiaki village.
The scheme, billed to cost Rs 425 crore to the state exchequer, is expected to boost the water supply system for the entire Mewat region. Water from the Yamuna will be drawn near Hodal (Faridabad) from where it will be distributed through a network of pipe lines.
Several members of the Haryana Cabinet and MLAs of the ruling INLD were present on the occasion.
The Chairman of the National Minority Commission, Mr Trilochan Singh, who accompanied Mr Chautala, in his speech lauded the Chief Minister. Mr Singh, who is also an MP from Haryana, cited the state, especially Mewat, as an exemplar of communal amity.
[HW adds: Mewat is an example of communal harmony? Since when? Is Mr.Trilochan Singh sleeping or stupid? It appears that Mr.Singh has not experienced Nuh's Jihadi riots of 1992 nor aware of their daily cow slaughter, their sexual slavery of Hindu girls and murders of Hindus by Jihadis. Or perhaps, he is a "good friend" and well-wisher of the Muslim mafia.]
