Suranjit Sen Gupta died in Lab Aid Hospital Dhaka

Advisory council member of Bangladesh Aowamilegue Mr. Suranjit Sen Gupta died in Lab Aid Hospital Dhaka Today.

He was admitted to hospital after falling ill yesterday night.

The 78-year-old politician from Sylhet began his career with the National Awami Party. He joined Awami League in the early ’90s. Suranjit was appointed railway minister in 2012 but resigned within five months after a bribery scandal. He was later reappointed as a minister without portfolio.

 

28 women militants of Jamaat-e-Islami arrested

Police yesterday claimed the 28 women leaders and activists of Jamaat-e-Islami arrested by Mohammadpur police on Thursday were planning to conduct sabotage in government establishments.
Shafiqul Islam, inspector of Mohammadpur police and investigation officer of a case filed against the arrestees, mentioned it in a forwarding letter placed before a Dhaka court.

The arrestees were hauled before the court yesterday with a seven-day remand prayer for each of them.

Metropolitan Magistrate Delwar Hossain however granted two-day remand for interrogation in police custody for each of them.

The court also ordered the law enforcers to interrogate the arrestees in presence of policewomen.

Earlier, a team of Mohammadpur police arrested the 28 while they were holding a secret meeting on the second floor of a building on Nurjahan Road. The police also recovered leaflets, money receipts and monthly reports of Jamaat-e-Islami along with books authored by Ghulam Azam and Motiur Rahman Nizami.

In the case filed against the 28 under the Special Powers Act, Sub-inspector Yeahia, also the plaintiff, said the women gathered in the house to plan for subversive activities.

Biplob Kumar Sarker, deputy commissioner (Tejgaon Division), said acting on a tip off, the police conducted a drive on house No. 11/7 in the area.

Primarily it was learned that all of them were highly educated and “Rukon” members of Jamaat, he said in a media briefing at Mohammadpur Police Station yesterday.

Some of the women are doctors and teachers by profession, he added. “We also suspect some of the arrestees belong to the families of war crimes convicts.”

The police have yet to trace the clear identities of the women, as they did not reveal anything, said Biplob, adding they would learn about it after interrogation.

He suspects some of the arrestees have possible links with militancy.

Source: thedailystar.net  February 04, 2017

Racism in Bollywood !

Fabienne Menoud, a 26-year-old nurse in Haiti, is a huge Bollywood fan, who has been following the film industry and its stars ever since she was 14.


“My love for Bollywood began when I was 14 and my geographic teacher teach us about India and show us Bend It Like Beckham,” she told indianexpress.com.


Well, her fascination has not only led her to watch countless movies, but even learn Hindi and also cover the IIFA 2016 event for a French media company. But things weren’t as smooth as one would expect for such an ardent admirer, who even got the chance to meet a couple of Bollywood stars such as Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone.


According to an open letter she wrote after facing racism on several instances, she was discriminated against because of her “ethnicity and color”.


A simple scroll down Menoud’s Facebook wall – peppered with photos of her with several Indian stars and Bollywood news – shows her love for Bollywood, which makes it even more ridiculous that someone like her should go through such experiences.

She wrote, "I am a girl from Haiti and have been a fan of Bollywood since I was 14 years old. I discovered Bollywood through my lessons at school and with the movie Bend it like Beckam. I am now 26 and my passion for Bollywood has only increased with time.


I have at least 100 CDs of Indian movies, several Hindi learning books and some on Indian culture and travelling to India. I also convinced my mother to add three Indian channels in our TV box because of my love for Bollywood movies and Koffee with Karan.


During the media interviews at IIFA, each celeb was in a room were media could interview them for a few moments. Imagine my shock when the bodyguard let everyone enter except me. People behaved strangely all through the event. They would look at me, laugh at me and some kid even tried to kick me.


You should be proud that people like me like your country, your culture, your industry. That we want to meet you to tell you that we love you! Do not look at us in a weird way just because of our skin color.


We are in 2017 and even if you think that only Indians are Bollywood fans, you’re wrong!"

Terrorist attack on Muslims: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

The shooting at a Quebec mosque during Sunday night prays which reportedly killed five people was a "terrorist attack on Muslims", said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.


“We condemn this terrorist attack on Muslims in a center of worship and refuge," Trudeau said in a statement, reports Reuters.


Five people were killed after gunmen opened fire in a Quebec City mosque, the mosque's president told reporters on Sunday. A witness told Reuters that up to three gunmen fired on about 40 people inside the Quebec City Islamic Cultural Center.


"Why is this happening here? This is barbaric,” said the mosque's president, Mohamed Yangui.


Quebec police said there were many victims and deaths, but did not confirm the death toll. They said two people had been arrested, but there were no immediate details on the suspects.


A witness said a heavily armed police tactical squad was seen entering the three-storey mosque. Police declined to say whether there was a gunman inside the mosque at the time.


Police tweeted later that the situation was under control and that the mosque had been secured and occupants evacuated.


Yangui, who was not inside the mosque when the shooting occurred, said he got frantic calls from people at evening prayers. He did not know how many were injured, saying they had been taken to different hospitals across Quebec City.


"Tonight, Canadians grieve for those killed in a cowardly attack on a mosque in Quebec City. My thoughts are with victims & their families," Trudeau tweeted earlier in the night.


The shooting came on the weekend that Trudeau said Canada would welcome refugees, after U.S. President Donald Trump suspended the U.S. refugee program and temporarily barred citizens from seven Muslim-majority nations from entering the United States on national security grounds.

US President Donald Trump and Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull over worst phone

A phone call between US President Donald Trump and Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull has called into question a refugee resettlement deal.


Donald Trump called the conversation "the worst by far" of his calls with world leaders that day, and cut it short.


Trump later tweeted that he would "study this dumb deal", reports BBC.


Struck with the Obama administration, it would see up to 1,250 asylum seekers to Australia resettled in the US.


Australia has controversially refused to accept them and instead holds them on offshore detention centres on the Pacific nations of Nauru and Papua New Guinea.


Turnbull said he was disappointed details of the call, which he described as "very frank and forthright", had been made public. However, he said Trump had assured him the deal would go ahead.


Last Friday, Trump signed an executive order temporarily banning the entry of refugees and people from seven Muslim-majority countries.


Australia has since been seeking to confirm its arrangement would go ahead.


US president said Turnbull was looking to export the "next Boston bombers" to the US, a newspaper said, and ended the call abruptly after 25 minutes.


Trump later posted on Twitter: "The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why?"


Australia has been repeatedly criticised by rights groups for its tough policy on refugees and asylum seekers.

Myanmar's four-month military crackdown on Rohingya Muslims

Myanmar's four-month military crackdown on Rohingya Muslims has likely killed hundreds of people, the UN said Friday in a report detailing horrific abuses allegedly committed against civilians in Rakhine state.


"The 'area clearance operations' have likely resulted in several hundred deaths," said the report from the United Nations human rights office, referring to the military crackdown launched on October 10, reports AFP.


The report based on interviews with 204 Rohingya refugees who have fled to Bangladesh said it was "very likely" that crimes against humanity had been committed in Myanmar, echoing similar accusations made by UN officials.


Victims recounted gruesome violations allegedly perpetrated by members of Myanmar's security services or civilian fighters working alongside the military and police.


"An eight-month-old baby was reportedly killed while his mother was gang-raped by five security officers," the rights office said in a press release, citing witness accounts.


The UN also said it had reports of three children aged six or younger being "slaughtered with knives".


"What kind of hatred could make a man stab a baby crying out for his mother's milk," UN rights chief Zeid bin Ra'ad Zeid al-Hussein said in the statement.


A full 47 percent of those interviewed by the UN said they had a family member who had been killed in the operation, while 43 percent reported being raped.


The Rohingya are loathed by many among Myanmar's Buddhist majority.


Yangon refuses to recognise the Rohingya as one of the country's ethnic minorities, instead describing them as Bengalis -- or illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh -- even though many have lived in Myanmar for generations.


The military crackdown in Rakhine, home to more than one million Rohingya, was triggered by a series of October 9 attacks on border guard posts.


Yangon's own probe into the unrest denied that the security forces had carried out a genocidal campaign against the Rohingya.


Myanmar's government, led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, has said the allegations are invented and has resisted mounting international pressure to protect the minority.


But Zeid, who has previously urged Yangon to act, hit back again on Friday demanding that impunity for such serious crimes had to stop.


"The Government of Myanmar must immediately halt these grave human rights violations against its own people, instead of continuing to deny they have occurred," he said.

Doubt is very serious in conjugal life

Asking for a divorce claiming that the woman has levelled wild and unsubstantiated allegations against the husband and his parents has just gotten more difficult. In a unique judgment recently delivered by the Bandra family court, it was held that though the ground of mental cruelty against the man was proved, divorce still can't be granted considering the husband's conduct and, since the woman is willing to continue with marital life, it cannot be said that the marriage has irretrievably broken down. 

The couple, who got married in 2010, has a minor child out of the said wedlock. The husband had moved the family court seeking divorce on the grounds of cruelty and sought free access to the child, while the woman sought to continue her married life. 

The grounds raised by the husband seeking divorce were that the woman had petty quarrels with him and his family members. She would continuously talk on her mobile phone and would step out for walks in the nearby garden late at night. She would not cook and there were instances when she had left the gas knob on, thereby endangering the lives of everyone around.

It was also said that while conceiving, the woman had kept telling the husband that the child was not his, thus causing him tremendous mental agony. The woman denied all these allegations and levelled counter allegations of ill treatment and dowry demand against her husband and in-laws. However, she could not substantiate the same. The family court, after carefully going through the records, held that levelling baseless allegations against the husband did amount to mental cruelty. However, as per section 23 of the Hindu Marriage Act, it is the duty of the court to satisfy itself as to whether the husband is not taking advantage of his own wrongdoings. The term wrongdoings includes bad behaviour and improper conduct. 

The court said: "The husband has levelled very serious and wild allegations against the woman about her chastity. Thought there is no specific pleading/wording or allegation in the petition, it can still be gathered from the overall contentions of the petitioner." 

It added: "Because of the petitioner's doubt, the woman was required to face a DNA test. The petitioner's contention that the woman denied the paternity of the child, because of which it was necessary to conduct the test, does not appear to be probable and reliable. No ordinary prudent man would rely upon such contentions. Because of the premature birth of the child and also due to the woman's alleged phone calls, there was a doubt in the husband's mind. Such a doubt is very serious and can amount to lowering the dignity of the woman." 

The court also said: "Granting decree in favour of such a person would definitely amount to rewarding the wrongdoer. When he has thrown mud at the woman, then he should not complain about mud being thrown at him. In my view, the husband is also a wrongdoer and he cannot be granted the advantage of the woman's unsubstantiated claims.