INDIA SUMMARIZED

Masum Akhtar, a newspaper columnist and the headmaster of a madrasa in Kolkata’s Metiabruz area, was attacked by suspected Muslim hardliners on March 26. Speaking to The Indian Express soon after being discharged from the hospital, Akhtar said he feared for his life and would approach Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for help. Akhtar was treated for head injuries after a mob beat him with iron rods. “My life is in danger. I am physically brutalised and mentally traumatised. There is no place for free thinking in the society,” he said. The provocation for the attack, he said, seems to be a class he took earlier this month, in which he spoke about Islam. “I am afraid some students misinterpreted my teaching and circulated that in the area, after which the attack was organised,” Akhtar said. Akhtar said he had also written an article on the battle of Karbala in the Dainik Statesman last year, giving a historical perspective to the event. After that, he started receiving threate...

Would you like to send your wards to any Madrasa (Quran School)? Juvenile beaten up and forced to learn Arabic, kept in chains at madrasa, flees madrasa, lands in judge’s house… Sangareddy (Andhra Pradesh – India) Oct 07, 2012 :: IF YOU DON’T LEARN ALLAH’S LANGUAGE (ARABIC) PROPERLY, YOU BE PUT IN CHAIN. ALLAH IS GREAT AND MERCIFUL. In an inhuman incident that has come to light, a boy was kept chained in a madrasa (Islamic seminery) in Medak town for 15 days and was forced to learn Arabic. A 12-year-old boy was allegedly chained by authorities of a local madrasa to prevent him from escaping from the school, following which a case was registered against its management, police said on Sunday. According to Medak town police, the boy has been studying in ‘Minhaj-ul-uloom’ religious school for the past three years and had earlier made several attempts to run away from the madrasa, as he was not a quick learner and had a stammering problem. However, he escaped with the locked cha...