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The Minority Commission of Bihar has flagged rising incidents in which a section of the Muslim people is beaten up by mobs after labelling them as “Bangladeshis”, and asked the police to stop such happenings.

The letter from the Minority Commission Chairman Gulam Rasool Balyawi came less than two months after the NDA returned to power in the state.

In a letter to the state police chief, Balyawi contended that such incidents have left minorities “terrorised” and demanded “a complete check” through implementation of measures “suggested by the Supreme Court”.

Balyawi is also a leader of the JD(U), the party headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

In his two-page letter, Balyawi cited three instances from different districts involving members of the minority community being beaten up by mobs that called them Bangladeshis.

In one of the incidents cited by Balyawi, victim Atar Hussain succumbed to injuries in Laheri area of Nalanda, the home district of the chief minister.

“These reprehensible incidents have a detrimental effect on communal and social harmony...... Minorities and other depressed classes are living in an atmosphere of terror and insecurity. The erosion of their trust in law and order machinery is unfortunate for the government,” said the letter.

The Supreme Court took cognisance of the issues of mob violence and gave detailed directions in its July 17, 2018, judgment to take preventive, remedial and punitive measures to curb the incidents of mob lynching in the country, it said.

According to the apex court’s directive, state governments must designate a senior police officer, not below the rank of Superintendent of Police, as the nodal officer in each district, the letter said.

Such nodal officers shall be assisted by one of the DSP rank officers for taking measures to prevent incidents of mob violence and lynching, Balyawi said, and asked the government to designate the officers in all districts with immediate effect.

Median wealth rose “substantially” for Indian-origin adults in the UK even as the wealth gap between ethnic groups in the country widened significantly over the past decade, new research by the London School of Economics (LSE) has revealed.

The LSE’s Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion study found that since 2012-14, wealth gains were concentrated among adults from the white British and Indian ethnic groups.

While adults in the Pakistani ethnic group experienced a “marked decline” in their wealth, gains for all ethnic groups across Britain were concentrated at the very top.

“Taken together, my findings underscore the cumulative disadvantages experienced by many individuals from ethnic minority backgrounds,” said Dr Eleni Karagiannaki, LSE Assistant Professorial Research Fellow and author of the study released last month.

Her analysis found that while overall wealth has grown, the gains have been unevenly distributed across ethnic groups.

“Since 2012/14, median wealth gaps between ethnic groups have widened sharply, with gains concentrated among adults from the white British and Indian ethnic groups,” the research concludes.

“Median wealth rose substantially for adults in these groups but remained close to zero for those in the Black African, Black Caribbean, and Bangladeshi groups, while adults in the Pakistani ethnic group experienced a marked decline,” it notes.

The study also highlights that UK-born individuals from the Indian ethnic group “outperform” both first-generation peers and white British counterparts, while UK-born individuals from the Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Black Caribbean ethnic groups show “limited progress”.

Across all ethnic groups, including white British, wealth gains were disproportionately higher among those at the top, “widening inequality not only between but also within groups”.

This resulted in very different wealth mobility patterns, with upward mobility far less common among individuals from Black African and Black Caribbean ethnic groups, and some groups facing a greater risk of downward mobility from the top, such as people from Pakistani and Black African ethnic groups.

The report finds that homeownership and asset ownership, rather than the amount saved, have driven much of the widening wealth gap.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Wednesday (January 7) said Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s accusation that the rights of Hindus are being snatched away in Tamil Nadu is completely false and unbecoming of his position.

Addressing a government function in Dindigul, Stalin said his dispensation respects the beliefs of people belonging to all religions and protects their religious rights. “In such a state as ours, the Home Minister’s accusation that the rights of Hindus are being snatched away is completely false and unbecoming of his position. To tell the truth, it is the mindset of those who wish to create riots and division that has not succeeded in Tamil Nadu,” he said.

Such a thing will never happen in the future either and “we will not allow it to happen”. “As long as this Stalin is here, it will absolutely not happen,” the ruling DMK president asserted. The CM strongly condemned Shah as the union minister had alleged Tamil Nadu acted against Hindu religious beliefs and right to worship.

The CM said: “Shah does not know what is happening in Tamil Nadu. So far, our government has performed consecrations for as many as 4,000 temples. Have you done such an achievement in the states you rule? For sure, you would not have done it.” Also, properties worth Rs 7,701 Crore (7,655 acres land) belonging to 997 temples have been retrieved and true devotees appreciate the government for its work, Stalin said.

“Amit Shah asked the people, ‘Should there be PM Modi's rule in Tamil Nadu or not?’ And this is exactly what we have been saying. The 2026 Assembly election is all about deciding, should we govern Tamil Nadu, or should people from faraway Delhi govern us, and this is a challenge posed to the self-respect of the Tamils. There was no need to explain that if you vote for the AIADMK alliance, the BJP will rule Tamil Nadu,” Stalin said.

With the Supreme Court granting bail to five of the accused in the 2020 Delhi riots conspiracy case, another accused has filed a fresh bail application in a Delhi court, contending that he is facing similar charges as one of them and seeking parity.

The bail application was filed by Salim Malik alias Munna, one of the 11 alleged organisers and speakers of the anti-CAA/NRC meeting against whom the court had framed charges under the offence of criminal conspiracy.

Malik was allegedly involved in arson at a car showroom on February 24, 2020, in northeast Delhi’s Bhajanpura area.

The application moved before Additional Sessions Judge Sameer Bajpai contends that the Supreme Court on Monday (January 5) granted bail to another accused charged under similar charges and that he stands on the same footing.

It said the case by the prosecution against Malik only situates him “as a local operative associated with meetings at the Chand Bagh protest site”, which is as similar to co-accused Saleem Khan who was among those granted bail by the apex court on January 5.

The court listed the hearing on Malik’s bail application for January 8.

The mutilated body of a girl who went missing on December 29 was recovered from the Nihri area in Himachal Pradesh's Mandi on Wednesday (January 7).

According to the police, the girl left her house without informing anyone on December 29, following which her father lodged a missing person’s complaint, suspecting that his daughter had been kidnapped.

On Tuesday evening, a police team found the mutilated body, with her left leg and arm missing, with the help of a drone. The body was spotted about 1.5 km away from a road under a cliff.

The police team also inspected the spot with the help of a forensic team. Further investigations are underway.

The body was handed over to the family after a post-mortem on Wednesday, police said.

A controversy has erupted in Karnataka following allegations that the police disrobed a BJP woman functionary while arresting her recently in Hubballi in connection with an attack on government officials.

Police rejected the woman’s allegation, saying she removed her clothes herself and also attacked the cops, causing them bite injuries. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah blamed the woman for the incident.

A video of the woman, disrobed, has gone viral, sparking a row.

Hubballi-Dharwad Police Commissioner N Shashikumar has dismissed her allegations, claiming the woman not only disrobed herself but also bit four police officers, including two sub-inspectors, in their abdomen.

According to PTI, there was an encroachment of government land. To clear it, revenue officials had gone there with policemen, and they were attacked by the alleged illegal occupants.

A case was registered in this connection, and the woman was a key accused. When a police team went to pick her up, she resisted arrest, they claimed. The police team overpowered her and bundled her into the police vehicle. However, videos of the woman emerged showing her topless. She alleged the police team disrobed her.

Refuting the charge, Shashikumar said while effecting the arrest, the investigating officer showed utmost restraint and precaution. He had taken about 8–10 women officers and staff, knowing very well that there was a possibility of some nuisance, Shashikumar said.

“Despite that, when she was taken inside the police vehicle, she undressed herself. Our women officers and staff who were present at the spot took the assistance of local people and got a separate dress for her,” the officer said. He added that the police repeatedly requested her to put on some clothes.

He said he has still asked the Deputy Commissioner of Police to conduct a thorough inquiry into the whole sequence of events from January 1 to 5.

Shashikumar said the woman has about nine cases pending against her. She has been sent to judicial custody. Four women police officers got injured in the melee, he said.

“Two were very badly injured because she bit them in their abdomen, and two others have also suffered some injuries. And three to four of our male staff have also sustained some injuries,” Shashikumar said.

CM Siddaramaiah said the accused woman had bitten police officers. “When police officers went to arrest her she bit many officers. It’s very bad. There was an FIR against her. When police personnel went to arrest her, she beat them and bit them,” the chief minister said.

He said no one should take law into their hands or else, they will face legal action.

The Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly, R Ashoka, condemned the police action.

“The inhuman incident that took place where Hubballi Keswapur police stripped and beat a BJP woman worker in response to a complaint filed by a Congress party municipal member has become another example of the hate politics that the state Congress government, which has been in power, is carrying out unabashedly, bringing shame upon itself,” Ashoka alleged in a post on X.