Lucknow Policemen Keep Their Mobiles Off

Government spent huge amounts of money to give BSNL and Hutch mobile connections down to the level of Station Officers in each of the Police Stations of Lucknow. Consequent to this expenditure, the Government decided to do away with basic landline telephones in various Police Stations. Unfortunately, instead of becoming more accessible to public, the police officers still continue to remain as elusive as their phones are kept off most of the times and the helpless public is left with no option but to pass their grievances to the higher authorities. HTE has learnt that most of these officers have 'private numbers' on which they continue to talk freely while the official mobile is kept close. In fact, some daring officers even show the audacity to remove the official SIM and put their personal SIM, instead.
The case is different if you go higher up. While the senior officers are not resorting to keeping the phone off, their phone is picked up by a junior officer who decides whether to pass on the phone to 'saab' or not. Wonder whether giving mobiles has made any difference, if the 'saab' is not going to pick it up himself!

Role of Fatwa in India’s First War of Independence

Fatwa today is increasingly being seen with negative connotations. However, there was a time when fatwas were issued in public interest with an aim at nation building. Most ironically, role of fatwa can be traced even in India’s first war of Independence of 1857.
It was a fatwa issued by the chief cleric of Awadh, Mujtahid Sayyad Muhammad Nasirabadi of the famous Khandan-e-Ijtihaad along with a similar fatwa by the senior most Ulema from Firangi Mahal that armed Nawab Wajid Ali Shah with the power to confront Maulvi Ameer Ali, hell-bent on building a mosque in between the Hanumangarhi complex of Hindu temples at Ayodhya.
Not only this, Begum Hazrat Mahal sought the silent nod of the same cleric, Mujtahid Sayyad Muhammad Nasirabadi, before unleashing her sword against the British. Wajid Ali Shah’s popularity and the feeling that he was wronged by the British were still afresh. This brought all the Muslims together with the Hindus and they waged the fiercest of all wars, whose remnants can still be seen in the ruins of Residency in Lucknow.