Alberta mosque set ablaze in 'brazen' arson

A mosque in Edson, Alta. was set on fire late Saturday night shortly after a small group of people left the building after evening prayers.

The three people who were praying inside had left the mosque and were still in the parking lot when a fire started at the building's south entrance at around 11 p.m. on June 16.

Surveillance footage recorded by the mosque's security cameras captured the flames as well as a person in a dark hoodie leaving the property with what appears to be a red jerrycan shortly after 11 p.m.

The fire burned for nearly 15 minutes before firefighters arrived to extinguish it, said Tufik Baterdouk, vice president of the Islamic Society of Edson.

"It was quite brazen," Baterdouk said. "Typically you would think that someone who wants to commit arson or vandalism, if they see people ... they probably would change their mind. But this individual, it does not seem to be a concern for him.

Lucknow: An inter-faith couple who had applied for their passports in Lucknow, were allegedly humiliated and shamed by a passport officer before he rejected their application. The couple later tweeted their ordeal to Union Minister Sushma Swaraj and the Prime Minister’s Office and sought their intervention.

Mohammad Anas Siddiqui, who married Tanvi Seth in 2007 in Lucknow and has a six-year-old daughter, applied for both of their passports on June 19 and took an appointment for June 20 at the Passport Office in Lucknow.

On the day of the appointment, the couple cleared the first two stages of the interview at counters A and B but problem started at counter C where one has to interact with an official.

Speaking to News18, Anas said, “My wife’s turn came before me and as soon as she reached counter C5, an officer named Vikas Mishra started to go through her documents. When he read the spouse’s name as Mohd Anas Siddiqui, he started shouting at her and said that she should not have married me. My wife broke into tears, after which Mr Mishra said that she should get all the documents corrected with a changed name.”

“My wife, Tanvi, said that we don’t want to change the name and our family doesn’t have a problem with our names. Then the passport officer asked her to go to the APO office and that he is sending her file to the APO. Mr Mishra then called me and started humiliating me. He said that I will have to convert to Hinduism else my marriage won’t be accepted. He asked, 'You have to take the 'pheras' and get converted to our religion, will you do so?'” narrated an angry Anas, who is working with a multi-national company along with his wife in Noida.