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Venues in Kolkata cancelled meeting bookings after pressure from top: CJP
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Speaking to the media, CJP co-convenor Asutosh Ranka (third from right) said the BJP is trying to gag the voice of the outfit in West Bengal. (Express photo)Written by Arghya Chakraborty The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) on Tuesday alleged that multiple venues in Kolkata cancelled or refused bookings for its meetings after the owners of a venue came under “pressure” from local BJP representatives. The CJP’s scheduled press conference at the Kolkata Press Club was held on the road outside the club after the organisation said the indoor space could not accommodate them due to issues of waterlogging and unavailability of electricity. Speaking to reporters outside the Calcutta Press Club, CJP member Sunil Kumar Tiwari said, “We contacted a hall on Monday and were asked to come the following morning to complete the booking and make the payment. However, when we arrived on Tuesday, the management refused to proceed with the booking.” “We subsequently approached three or four other venues, but were met with similar refusals,” he added. When asked whether the CJP had concrete evidence that BJP leaders had directly threatened the venues, he said there had been no such direct communication with the organisation, but alleged that pressure may have been imposed “from the top”. Alleging that the venue owners were afraid of facing action or attacks if they allowed the meetings, CJP co-convenor Asutosh Ranka said, “We have received refusals from around six other halls as well.” The allegations could not be independently verified.Story continues below this ad The outfit also accused the BJP government in West Bengal of resorting to “intimidation and threats to gag” the CJP’s voice and “not taking action” against all those involved in the murder of Janab Mafik, who was assaulted while he was trying to assess the condition of a government school at Karisunda in the district. “The local BJP MLA in Bowbazar in the city today pressurised Indian Association authority not to allow the CJP to hold a meeting, while the Press Club Kolkata also cited a technical problem. We don’t understand what happened. We cannot be threatened or intimidated this way,” Ranka said. “The BJP is trying to gag the voice of CJP in Bengal,” he said, adding that every political party which believes in democracy should extend support to the “school clean-up campaign and clean up the education system”. A core CJP member, Sudhir Sangwan, said, “Those involved in the assault were certainly affiliated with the BJP. We have eyewitness accounts and the names and photographs of some of the accused which can be matched with their profiles and the FIRs to establish their political affiliation.”Story continues below this ad He did not, however, provide any independent documentary evidence to substantiate the claim during the interaction. Ankit Bhardwaj, the CJP’s east and northeast zone in-charge, said Mafik’s 25-year-old son Shaik Abdul Hafeez did not want financial compensation and instead wanted the government to build a “world-class” school in his village and district in his father’s memory. The CJP said a delegation led by member Akash Prem would remain at Hafiz’s residence and warned of demonstrations outside local administrative offices if the government failed to respond to its demands. The BJP has denied organisational involvement in the incident. Police reject claims of ‘brutal assault’ West Bengal Police rejected claims that the Bankura resident died following a “brutal physical assault”, saying he had sustained only a minor injury during an alleged attack at his residence and later died after being admitted to hospital following severe blood pressure fluctuations. In a post on X, the police said Mafik had sustained an injury requiring a single stitch after the August 13 incident.Story continues below this ad “During the incident, Sk Md Mafik sustained a minor injury that required a single stitch,” the West Bengal Police wrote on
New DelhiAug 3, 2026 06:56 PM IST The Karnataka High Court was dealing with a plea of a father challenging family court order. (AI-generated Image)The Karnataka High Court allowed a father’s plea seeking expanded visitation with his four-year-old son. While upholding supervised visitation, it scrapped the Rs 5,000 per-visit payment, restrained grandparents from attending visits, and warned that the mother’s non-cooperation could weigh against her in the final custody decision. Justice P Shree Sudha was dealing with a plea of a father challenging the family court’s order, which denied him the unsupervised visit to his child and the directing to pay Rs 5,000 for each visitation towards the child’s conveyance and other expenses.“There is a direction to the petitioner-husband to pay an amount of Rs 5,000 per visitation. As the respondent-wife herself has asked for a shift of the place from the coffee shop to the visitation room, she is not entitled to any conveyance, and it is hereby cancelled,” the court said on July 24. The court noted that despite living only 1.75 km apart, the mother repeatedly failed to bring the child for scheduled visitation without prior intimation, showing reluctance to facilitate the father’s access. Examining the father’s records, the court found repeated non-compliance with visitation orders by the mother and held that her conduct could be considered while deciding the pending custody petition. Father challenged restricted child visitation The case arose from a custody dispute between an estranged couple over their four-year-old son. The father filed a petition before the Family Court, Bengaluru, seeking permanent custody of the child. During the pendency of the divorce case, he sought interim unsupervised custody for a few hours every weekend, stating that although the family court had granted him supervised visitation every Sunday, the mother often brought the child late, accompanied by her parents, and prevented him from interacting freely with the child, which he claimed was affecting the child’s mental well-being.Story continues below this ad The mother opposed the request, contending that the child was uncomfortable spending long hours with the father, became restless and cried during visits, and that the father had been negligent in the child’s upbringing and was not paying maintenance. She, therefore, sought modification of the existing visitation arrangement. The family court modified the visitation schedule by allowing the father to meet the child on the first and third Saturdays of every month in the family court’s visitation room under the mother’s supervision, permitted a birthday meeting, and directed the father to pay Rs 5,000 per visit towards the child’s conveyance and other expenses. Aggrieved by these directions, particularly the denial of unsupervised visitation and the payment condition, the father approached the high court. Appearing for the father, advocate Rashmi George contended that the mother left the matrimonial home with their child on June 30, 2022, without any reason, compelling him to file a petition seeking permanent custody. No Rs 5,000 fee for visitation: Order The court observed that the family court had already granted the father visitation rights and that its decision to permit visits on the first and third Saturdays of every month and on the child’s birthday was appropriate. Accordingly, it confirmed those directions.Story continues below this ad The court noted that records produced by the father showed the mother had failed to bring the child for visitation on several occasions without prior intimation and appeared reluctant to facilitate meetings between the father and the child. It observed that she had sought modification of the visitation order within a short time and had not complied with the earlier directions on multiple dates.\ The court held that both sets of grandparents should not be present during visitation sessions to ensure that the
The incident took place on Saturday evening when the duo were on their way to a local market in Madhopur village and were intercepted by the accused. Sensing danger, they tried to flee, but the attackers allegedly chased them and assaulted them with sticks. (Representative Image)A nine-year-old boy was killed and his 19-year-old cousin seriously injured after they were allegedly attacked by a group of men in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur over the alleged harassment of the teen’s minor sister. Police said three attackers have been arrested.The incident took place on Saturday evening when the duo were on their way to a local market in Madhopur village and were intercepted by the accused. Sensing danger, they tried to flee, but the attackers allegedly chased them and assaulted them with sticks. A police team immediately rushed to the spot and shifted the injured victims to a nearby hospital. The boy, a Class 4 student, succumbed to his injuries while undergoing treatment. His cousin’s condition is critical. Police said the assault was linked to an earlier dispute in June, when the teen’s minor sister, a Class 11 student, was allegedly harassed by a local resident. The matter was subsequently discussed at a village meeting, where both sides reportedly reached a settlement. However, police believe the animosity between the two groups persisted and eventually culminated in the attack. Police said the assailants had intended to target the 19-year-old but the child was caught in the middle and suffered fatal injuries. Following the incident, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Dr Kaustubh suspended Pipraich Station House Officer Vivek Trivedi and sub-inspector Anjani Tiwari for alleged negligence in handling the matter. Circle Officer, Gorakhpur, Kundan Kumar Sigh said police have arrested three of the nine people named in the FIR, while raids are underway to apprehend the remaining accused, who are absconding. All the accused are aged between 20 to 27 years, he added.Story continues below this ad The incident has heightened tensions in the village, with heavy police deployment continuing to prevent any further violence. Police said the situation remains under control, but security has been intensified as a precaution. The two groups are from different OBC communities. Police said the victim had been living with his maternal aunt since the death of his mother five years ago.
The police said all five accused, aged between 15 and 17 years, have been detained for questioning. (File photo for representational use)Five boys have been booked for allegedly gangraping a 12-year-old Dalit girl in Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjahanpur district. The police said all five accused, aged between 15 and 17 years, have been detained for questioning.“All five minors have been held and will be produced before the Juvenile Justice Board for further legal proceedings,” the station house officer of the police station concerned said. The police said the accused and the survivor belong to the same village and knew one another. In her complaint, the survivor’s mother told the police that the five boys were playing near the fields on Friday when the girl also joined them for a while. Then after some time, the boys took the minor girl to a nearby sugarcane field and gangraped her. In the meantime, the owner of an adjoining field happened to reach the area. On noticing the farmer approaching, the boys allegedly fled from the sugarcane field. The girl later returned home in a distressed condition and narrated the alleged incident to her mother. Acting on her daughter’s account, the woman approached the police station the following day and lodged an FIR.
“If my son is involved, he should be hanged with the other accused,” said Sandhya Mondal, mother of one of the three men arrested in connection with the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl in Baruipur in South 24 Parganas district.Her son, Prabhash Mondol, was arrested after he was identified in CCTV footage with the girl before she went missing on Saturday. The next morning, her body was found in a sack in a pond. The post-mortem report concluded that the girl was raped and dumped in the pond while she was alive.According to Prabhash’s mother, he used to work with a catering service, while his wife is a domestic help in Kolkata. The ransacked house of another accused Ananda Sardar in Baruipur. (Atri Mitra)“I have three sons. Prabhash is the second one. His behaviour used to be good, but recently he made bad friends. I don’t know what he did on Saturday night. On Sunday morning, I heard that my son was arrested. I have nothing to say. If my son is involved in this crime, I can only say that he should be hanged with the other accused,” said the 62-year-old who works as a domestic help to eke out a living. “I tried many times to persuade him not to indulge in all these addictions. But do boys these days listen to anyone?” she added. Prabhash and the two other arrested accused – Dibakar Sardar and Ananda Sardar – are in their 30s, with their houses in the same neighbourhood as that of the dead girl. Dibakar’s mother, Madhubala Sardar (60), however, claimed that her son was innocent and that the police arrested him, mistaking him for another Dibakar in the village. The family sells fish in Baruipur and nearby markets.Story continues below this ad “You can ask anybody here or in the market, at the wholesale fish market, Hindus or Muslims, they all will say that Dibakar can’t commit such a crime. On Saturday night, he returned home from our fish shop around 8 pm. After that, he didn’t go anywhere. I don’t know whether he was trapped or not, but my son can’t commit such a crime,” said his mother. His younger brother, Bhaskar, also said they were clueless on what to do next. “There may be one more Dibakar in this area, and the police wrongfully arrested my brother. Police have not allowed us to speak with him,” Bhaskar said. Nearby, the house of the third accused, Ananda Sardar, remains deserted after it was ransacked by angry villagers on Sunday. Neighbours said the family had fled just before a mob came and attacked his house. “Ananda worked as a driver. His brother is also a driver. Before this incident, we had not heard of any criminal acts by Ananda. He worked with the girl’s father and used to ferry his wooden furniture,” said a neighbour.Story continues below this ad “After the family fled on Sunday morning after the body of the girl was found, hundreds of protesters gheraoed his house and ransacked it. Later, we heard that Ananda was arrested from the Baruipur market area,” added the neighbour. Besides the three, the police are looking for the fourth suspect, whose identity has not been revealed. One person, 26-year-old Indrajeet Mondol, was lynched by the mob on Sunday after the body of the girl was found, on suspicion of being involved in the crime. DGP visits crime spot – a shack The Police probing the rape and murder case said that one of the accused is suspected to have taken the victim to a shack where two other accused were already present before the crime took place.Story continues below this ad “The investigation is underway on the basis of evidence collected from the spot, witness statements, and scientific examination. We are verifying the exact sequence of events and the individual roles of each accused,” a police officer said, adding that the three accused allegedly consumed intoxicants before the assault. “It is suspected that she was kept inside the shack before an attempt was made to dispose of her. Circumstantial evidence indicates that they tried to carry her in a plastic sack, but after it got torn, they
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