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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

Educated Muslims being hounded: Owaisi

Mumbai: AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi has flayed what he termed as a ‘media trial’ in the alleged TCS Nashik conversion case and claimed that educated Muslims youth are being deliberately targeted as part of planned ‘hate campaign’, here on Saturday. Reiterating full faith in the judicial process, Owaisi said that justice cannot be handed out through media narratives or television debates and the law must be allowed to take its own course. “We are seeing a very dangerous trend… Now,...

Educated Muslims being hounded: Owaisi

Mumbai: AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi has flayed what he termed as a ‘media trial’ in the alleged TCS Nashik conversion case and claimed that educated Muslims youth are being deliberately targeted as part of planned ‘hate campaign’, here on Saturday. Reiterating full faith in the judicial process, Owaisi said that justice cannot be handed out through media narratives or television debates and the law must be allowed to take its own course. “We are seeing a very dangerous trend… Now, educated Muslims are being picked out for orchestrated allegations and media campaigns. This doesn’t augur well for society and justice itself with the media playing the role of the judge and jury,” said Owaisi sharply. Flanked by the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen state President Imtiaz Jaleel, Owaisi also emphatically said that it was wrong to link his party with the TCS case prime accused Nida Khan, “who will be ultimately proven innocent in the courts”. He expressed concerns over the slur campaign driven by malice and political motives against his party as well as Nida Khan in some sections of the media even before the investigations were completed or a judicial scrutiny. “Merely because some allegations have been hurled at a young woman professional, attempts are being made to paint her ‘guilty’ through media trials, even before judicial scrutiny. But, we have complete faith in the judiciary and are confident that the court will eventually exonerate her,” asserted Owaisi. Public Discourse Raising questions on the probe and accompanying public discourse with stress on the alleged recovery of certain ‘evidence’ from Nida Khan’s home, he sharply questioned: “Since when have a burqa, a niqab or religious literature become objectionable… Is wearing a hijab now regarded as evidence of a crime?” He said that these details along with baseless allegations are sensationalism in the media to create further prejudice against the minority community and reflected a deep-rooted hostility aimed at harassing educated Muslim men and women. Owaisi pointed out that a complaint in the TCS Nashik case was filed by a leader linked with the ruling party, and as per the software giant’s statement, Nida Khan was not with its HR Department and transferred even before the controversy erupted, contradicting several media reports. Of the nine cases lodged in the matter till date, in one case, she was accused of hurting religious sentiments, but nobody can comment on it before the court pronounces its verdict, he pointed out. Court Fight Dismissing attempts to drag and link the AIMIM into the row, he referred to a party Municipal Corporator Matin Patel who was booked merely on the basis of certain allegations and vowed to contest the matter in the court. Here Owaisi cited multiple examples of educated Muslims being scrutinised – including in Delhi when some educated youths were arrested for possessing a book by the legendary Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib and they were later released. There was another one from Allahabad where some Muslim boys were targeted for writing an Urdu ‘sher’ (couplet) prompting judicial intervention, and predicted that even in the Nashik TCS case, the truth will ultimately prevail as no criminal charges against Nida Khan may stand. AIMIM to set up voter help-desks AIMIM President and Hyderabad MP, Asaduddin Owaisi said his party is developing a digital application containing electoral records of all 288 Assembly constituencies in Maharashtra for 2002-2024, to help voters in the SIR process. For this, the AIMIM will set up help desk centers in its strongholds to facilitate the process and ensure proper utilisation of voter data. Alleging discrepancies in electoral records, he said such errors create huge problems for the voters, especially the poor or illiterates. Owaisi mentioned how of the nearly 27 lakh names placed in the adjudication list in West Bengal, “90 pc were poor Muslims.” These centers would be open for all Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, Dalits, Adivasis and the general public needing assistance with the electoral records.

Growing distrust among traders over delivery of spot deals

Due to the lack of proper price discovery for silver across the world, a deal for the delivery of 900 kg of silver between the Government of India company "Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited" (SPMCIL), Hyderabad, and a Mumbai-based bullion firm named "Augmont  Enterprise Limited" has run into trouble, creating a huge  flutter in the Mumbai bullion market.

 

A silver bullion dealer from Mumbai said that silver traders across the country—including Mumbai, Rajkot, Jaipur, Agra, Delhi, and Ahmedabad—have landed in serious difficulty. He said that, if a government company creates such issues in silver delivery, then what will happen to the deals of small traders who rely only on a “letter of trust” and whose spot deal deliveries are already jeopardized ?

 

Referring to the details of the deal on December 17, 2025, enquiries were made with leading bullion dealers from the city of Melbourne (Australia) on the status of 'spot deal deliveries' in the local market. 

 

They reveal that deliveries of silver from the (Australian) silver mining companies are not happening on time. Because of this, after accepting money from the investors, they are forced to enter into deals on the condition of delivery after 15 to 20 days.

 

The Mumbai-based silver dealer then countered that if deliveries by a government company itself get stalled in this manner, what will happen to India’s ETF, mutual fund, silver futures, and spot-market “kabala” (non-transferable specific delivery) paper transactions?

 

A senior official of a leading bank, involved in ETF management, said that, so far there has been no major problem with spot silver delivery in India. "However, to protect ETF transactions entered into at recently high prices, we may be compelled to hedge at lease rates with Western countries," he said preferring anonymity.

 

The powerful Indian Bullion and Jewellers Association (IBJA), Secretary  Surendra Mehta admitted there is a price recovery problem in Mumbai, but it is also true that in the local markets, spot silver is currently being offered at a discount of Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 per kilo. "There is also little likelihood of any immediate solution to such discounts and premiums", he averred.

 

When you consider discounts and premiums of USD 8 to 10 per ounce (31.10347 grams) being quoted between China, Japan, the US, and Europe, how can Indian bullion dealers take the price risk of spot transactions?

 

A source close to Augmont Enterprise, said that, on December 17 the government mint company in Hyderabad had announced an auction of refined silver with purity ranging from .995 to .998.5 touch (carat). Augmont deposited the initial earnest money deposit of Rs 1.16 lakh on December 16 and paid the remaining security deposit amount on December 18. On December 19, the auction for 900 kg of silver was approved in the name of Augmont Enterprise. The final balance payment was to be made by December 27.

 

However, even before that, on December 22, the auction deal was cancelled. Between the initial auction date and the date of cancellation, silver prices increased by Rs 36,000 to Rs 40,000 per kilo. Over the last 52 weeks alone, global spot silver prices had risen by 194 percent.

 

Another market  player said that an amount of Rs.18-20 crore is at stake in this deal. Now, on behalf of its member Augmont Enterprise, the IBJA has requested the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) intervention (on January 9, 2026), to resolve the imbroglio.

 

(The writer is a bullion market expert. Views personal.)

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