New Delhi: The murder of gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed remained on the front pages of the Urdu press all week, with all three prominent Urdu newspapers — Roznama Rashtriya Sahara, Inquilab, and Siasat — questioning the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh.
Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf were shot dead at point blank range in Prayagraj on the night of 15 April. The murders took place two days after Atiq’s son Asad Ahmed was killed in an alleged police encounter in Jhansi.
Among other topics that made front page of Urdu papers were the Supreme Court’s hearings of same sex marriage, a Surat court’s dismissal of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s appeal in a criminal defamation case, and former Jammu & Kashmir governor Satyapal Malik’s sensational claims about the 2019 Pulwama attack.
ThePrint brings you a roundup of all that made headlines in the Urdu press this week.
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Atiq Ahmed’s murder
Atiq Ahmed, a former Samajwadi Party Member of Parliament, was murdered with his brother Ashraf when they were speaking to reporters outside a hospital in Prayagraj, where the police had taken them for a medical examination.
Three suspects were immediately arrested in the case.
Atiq, Ashraf, and Asad were suspects in the February murder of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Umesh Pal.
On 16 April, all three Urdu papers carried news of the killing. Sahara reported that the murdered occurred amid chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and in the presence of policemen, who didn’t return fire.
Atiq, the report said, had previously voiced fears he would be killed in a police encounter.
Inquilab, meanwhile, reported that Atiq’s son Asad was buried next to his grandfather’s grave at Kasari Masari village in Prayagraj’s Dhoomanganj.
On 17 April, Sahara reported that Opposition parties condemned the incident and said there was “jungle raj” (jungle rule) in Uttar Pradesh.
The same day, Siasat reported eyewitnesses as saying that the suspects arrived at the hospital in a police car and were wearing press cards around their neck.
In an editorial that day, Sahara said the killings occurred during India’s presidency of the G20. International delegates were coming to India and noting what’s happening here, it said, wondering what message they would get about the country’s security.
In its editorial, Siasat said the killings of Atiq and Ashraf were a proof of lawlessness in Uttar Pradesh. Describing the situation as a chain link, the editorial said bulldozers and guns were being used to tear down any opposition in the state. Out-of-court decisions are being taken, and extrajudicial punishments are being meted out, the editorial said, demanding a Supreme Court-monitored probe into all such instances.
On 19 April, Sahara reported that the National Human Rights Commission took cognizance of the case and issued notices to the UP’s Director General of Police, the state government and the Prayagraj Police commissioner.
The same day, the paper reported that crude bombs were hurled on the street where one of Atiq’s lawyers lived.
In an editorial that day, Sahara said that glamorising murderers is not part of this country’s tradition. Here, the Constitution and the rule of law reigns supreme. It’s ironical therefore that in a country like this, the upholders of the law were justifying and even patting themselves on the back for such extrajudicial killings.
On 20 April, the paper reported five policemen from Prayagraj’s Shahganj Police Station were suspended for lapses after a Special Investigation Team inquiry.
Court hearings
From the Supreme Court’s hearings on same-sex marriages to a Surat court’s hearing of an appeal against Rahul Gandhi’s criminal defamation sentence, court coverage took up a large part of the front pages this week.
On 18 April, Siasat reported that the custody of Delhi’s former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who was arrested in February in connection with the alleged liquor policy scam, was extended until 1 May.
On 18 April, Sahara reported that the Centre told the Supreme Court that same-sex marriages were an “urban elitist” notion and stood against the interest of the common citizens.
On 19 April, it said that the Modi government and the BJP government in Gujarat told the Supreme Court that they were considering filing a review petition against the apex court’s 27 March order asking for the files remitting the sentence of 11 convicts in the 2002 Bilkis Bano gangrape and murder case. In its order that day, the Supreme Court highlighted the gravity of the offence and directed the two governments to place the files before it.
Also on 19 April, the paper reported that the Supreme Court agreed to hear a petition demanding an independent investigation into the murders of Atiq and his brother Ashraf.
On 21 April, all three Urdu papers reported that a sessions court in Surat had dismissed Rahul Gandhi’s appeal against his two-year sentence in a 2019 defamation case.
For context, Rahul was sentenced to two years of prison for statements he made at an election rally in Karnataka. At the rally, he is quoted as having said: “Why do all the thieves have Modi in their names whether be it Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, and Narendra Modi?”
In an editorial on 21 April, Siasat linked a Gujarat court’s acquittal of all 69 suspects in the Naroda Gam massacre during the 2002 Gujarat riots to the failure of the state’s police and law departments.
Despite the fact that the blood of innocent Muslims were spilled, the accused were released by courts, the editorial said. Meanwhile, former IPS officer Sanjeev Bhatt is in jail for having voiced his suspicions about a high-level conspiracy in the 2002 riots and fighting to bring the truth to light, the editorial said, adding that the Gujarat administration is denying justice in the case.
Pulwama attack
Satyapal Malik’s interview with The Wire that the Pulwama attack occurred because the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) refused to heed to the CRPF’s demands for an aircraft to move its troops were covered prominently by both Sahara and Inquilab.
In his interview, Malik had claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked him to remain silent on the issue.
The newspapers also carried the Congress’s allegation that the Modi government was trying to suppress Malik’s voice.
In an editorial on 18 April, Siasat said that instead of ignoring such allegations, the claims need to be investigated and action needs to be taken against the people responsible.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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