Lucknow: Five people were killed and one was critically injured when they were run over by a speeding train after being thrown out of stationary Farakka Express allegedly by some army jawans following an altercation near Shikohabad Railway Station in Uttar Pradesh early today.

The bodies of the five passengers who were killed after being thrown out of the running Ganga Yamuna Express train by personnel of the armed forces near Shikohabad junction in Uttar Pradesh after a minor tiff in a general compartment on Sunday.

     The incident took place on the Delhi-Kanpur section, when some passengers entered a compartment of the Delhi-bound Farakka Express occupied by troops belonging to Rajputana Rifles, police said here. Heated arguments ensued and the jawans allegedly threw six of them out of the train, police said, adding five were run over by oncoming Sampoorna Kranti Express on the parallel track. The sixth, who was grievously injured, was admitted to hospital. SP Railways (Agra) Raj Bahadur Singh said the incident took place at around 0500 hrs, adding one of the killed was a woman. Singh said, three army personnel and a BSF jawan had been arrested in connection with the incident. An army team, on way to the scene, would probe the incident, the SP said.

Split in Muslim body (Go To Top)

     Lucknow: An influential group of Indian Muslims split on Sunday over a bitter dispute over marriage laws. The progressives within the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) split to form a new body. The new group, Shia Muslim Personal Law Board, does not follow the conservative belief of Islam, which does not permit family planning, and follows stringent rules on marriage and divorce. Maulana Mirza Mohammad Akhtar, first chairman of the new group. said they would seek representation from all walks of life. "We will take representation from different provinces in India and constitute a 200 people body. In this there will not just be ulemas (religious leaders) but people like judges, lawyers, scholars, professors, doctors and engineers will also be there. People from social and religious organisations and waqfs all of them will be there. We will also have Shia businessmen...so we will constitute a board in which the entire society is adequately represented," he said. Tradition-bound Muslims consider contraception as unholy and have shut doors on the two-child norm saying more children would ensure the sustenance of the community.

    Last year, the government data showed that Muslim population was growing at a faster pace in Hindu majority but secular India. Analysts have warned the census finding could exacerbate friction between the two communities and provide fodder for Hindu hardline groups, who fear an increase in Muslim numbers could threaten Hindu majority -- more than 80 percent of the population. Muslims account for about 13.5 percent of India's more than one billion people, up from 12 percent a decade ago. Liberal Muslims have called for scrapping of triple Talaq and have called for reforms allowing women greater say and equal rights in matters of matrimony, property and family disputes. Muslims in India largely follow Islamic laws that are interpreted and administered mainly by religious and community leaders, with variationsbetween sects.

Leaders undertake hi-tech election campaign in Bihar (Go To Top)

     Patna: The style and manner of campaigning is also changing with changing time and technology. The campaign strategies of different political parties have also changed to match the pace of time. This is evident from the election campaign of different parties in Patna for the upcoming assembly elections. Ministers, who earlier used to organise road shows and campaign in cars have now become hi-tech and are using helicopters for the same. These leaders use television more than the print media for advertising. Smaller parties, which cannot afford all this, have to depend upon printed ads and cars. These small parties criticised this style of campaign strategy and appealed the election commission to keep a check on these parties. According to them, such campaigns requires a huge amount of money and leaders use this as an excuse to launder their black money. "I think small parties which don't have access to helicopters or television advertisements find it difficult to campaign during elections. So election commission must make sure that these small parties get good coverage during elections with printed materials. They should also curb the use of helicopters and television advertisement which is being carried out with the help of black money," said Deepankar Bhattacharya,General Secretary, CPI(ML). He added that in this entire process, the smaller parties are losers, as they don't possess a similar spending capacity.