A 72-year-old journalist and social activist and a 25-year-old Muslim man have died in Indian police custody in the BJP-ruled states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, respectively. According to Kashmir Media Service, 72-year-old journalist and social activist Parvez Parwaz, who had sought a judicial investigation into a speech delivered by BJP leader, now CM Yogi Adityanath in Gorakhpur in 2007, died in Gorakhpur District Jail. He was serving a life sentence in a case alleged to be fabricated.

Parwaz came into the spotlight after recording an inflammatory speech delivered by Adityanath, then a Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Gorakhpur, at a public meeting on January 27, 2007. The speech was delivered when the city was tense following a clash during a Muharram procession, in which a Hindu youth was injured and later died. Parwaz recorded the speech with his camera. He subsequently approached the court, seeking an investigation into Adityanath’s role in inciting the violence that erupted in the city. 

The speech included remarks about retaliatory violence against those held responsible for the Hindu youth’s death. The ensuing unrest left at least two people dead and caused extensive property damage, according to accounts of the riots.  Adityanath was quoted as saying, “In the coming time, for the blood of one Hindu, we will not get an FIR registered against the administration, but will instead have at least 10 such people killed.” The crowd applauded. 

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)