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Assam: School principal Asar Uddin rapes minor female student, police launch manhunt to nab him

On Thursday (May 18), a 7th std student was raped by the Principal of her school in the Karimganj district of Assam. The accused was identified as one Asar Uddin and the incident is said to have taken place at the Bhanga Higher Secondary School.

As per reports, Asar Uddin called the 12-year-old to his room during regular school hours and then forced himself on her. He then tried to intimidate the victim into silence by threatening to fail her in all subjects.

The victim narrated her ordeal to her parents, following which they filed a complaint with the Badarpur police. The cops registered a case under relevant Sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and POCSO (Prevention of Child Sexual Offences) Act.

The statement of the victim was also recorded, following her medical examination. Reportedly, Asar Uddin has been absconding since the incident. According to SP (Karimganj) Partha Pratim Das, a search operation has been launched to apprehend him.

After the matter came to light, Asar Uddin was immediately suspended as the Principal of the Bhanga Higher Secondary School. The decision was taken by the Director of Secondary Education in Assam, Mamata Hojai, following the receipt of a report from the Inspector of Schools in Karimganj.

“Considering this, the departmental proceeding was called for (against the accused principal). He has been placed under suspension with immediate effect under Rule 6(1) of the Assam Services (Discipline & Appeal) Rules, 1964,” Hojai said in her letter.

Members of local organisations, such as Bajrang Dal and Hindu Raksha Bahini, gathered outside the office of the Superintendent of Police and demanded immediate action against the accused Principal.

Minor girl assaulted, gang-raped in moving car in Assam

On May 16 this year, a 13-year-old girl was gang-raped by four youths inside a moving car in the Kokrajhar district of Assam. The four accused were identified as Rubel Rehman, Imran Hussain, Mamunur Rehman and Anowar Hussain.

The police arrested the four men and booked them under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 363, 376(d), 328 of the Indian Penal Code and also under Section 6 of the POCSO Act.

The incident is said to have happened on May 16, when the four accused forcibly took the young girl inside a van while it was moving along National Highway 31C. They assaulted her as she protested and raped her one by one in the moving vehicle.

Madhya Pradesh becomes first state to provide free air travel to pilgrims, CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan flags off first batch to Prayagraj

Madhya Pradesh has become the first state to provide free air travel facilities to senior citizens for yatra (holy pilgrimage), as 32 people flew from Bhopal to Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh today. The 32 elderly people, comprising 24 men and eight women are going as part of the state’s Mukhyamantri Tirth-Darshan Yojana, which was introduced in 2012, and elderly persons were sent on free pilgrimages by special trains.

Recently Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced that air travel facility will also be included in this scheme and launched the programme on Sunday morning at Bhopal’s Raja Bhoj Airport.

Shawls and coconuts were also presented as a token of honour to those pilgrims. It is noteworthy, that both the lodging and travel expenses for this trip are covered by the state government.

Meanwhile, the CM stated that today is a lovely and holy day since now the dream of senior citizens to travel by plane is being fulfilled. He said, “A resolution has been fulfilled today. A dream has come true. Elderly people like my parents are going on pilgrimage by aeroplane.”

“A person seeks inner tranquilly. My resolution was accomplished today. Prime Minister Narendra Modi used to say that those who wear slippers should also get the opportunity to travel by air. His words are coming true now,” he remarked.

The Bharatiya Janata Party stalwart added, “Our elders are going to holy Prayagraj. With the grace of Ram, you will go on pilgrimages and we as well as the state will get your blessings. Currently, only a member of one family is going, but moving forward, senior couples will be able to travel together. Grandfather and grandmother will both board the next flight.”

Shivraj Singh Chouhan instructed the State Minister of Tourism and Culture Usha Thakur to start preparations for sending husband and wife together the next time since going on a pilgrimage as a pair is seen as auspicious. This year, 25 aircraft would transport senior pilgrims from 25 districts to Prayagraj, Shirdi, Mathura, Vrindavan, and Gangasagar Dham by July 19.

So far, 7.82 lakh senior citizens have availed the benefits of the pilgrimage that was made possible by running 782 special trains.

‘To call it propaganda is complete nonsense’: UK journalist Naomi Canton hails film The Kerala story

The film The Kerala Story has turned out to be an eye-opener for many, even as the usual suspects continue to lobby against the film. Taking to Twitter on Sunday, May 21, Naomi Canton, a London-based journalist who recently watched the Adah Sharma starrer after it hit the UK theatres on May 19, called it an “excellent film that probes what happens to women who marry ISIS fighters.”

“Just seen the movie The Kerala Story at the cinema in the UK. It is an excellent film that probes what happens when women marry ISIS fighters. Not seen any films like this,” Canton tweeted.

She further said that calling The Kerala Story a ‘propaganda film’ is nonsensical and is itself a “false propaganda”. 

Naomi then points out that the victim women could have been Muslim or non-Muslim who married the ISIS terrorists adding that these women are meted out the same treatment. These women who were promised ‘paradise’ lose all their freedoms, their passports seized, and are raped and tormented. She added that these trapped women eventually regret it unless they are highly radicalized like Shamima Begum and have wilfully taken up ISIS ‘militant’ roles.

“To call it a propaganda film is complete nonsense and is itself false propaganda. It could have been a Muslim or non-Muslim woman who married these ISIS fighters. The treatment they get is the same – promised Paradise and when they get to Syria, they are raped, have all their freedoms and passports removed, are trapped and regret it (unless they are heavily radicalised like Shamima Begum and willingly take up ISIS militant roles),” Canton added.

It is notable that Shamima Begum is a British ISIS bride who fled to Syria as a teenager to join ISIS. She married a Dutch recruit Yago Riedijk and lived with him for three years after arriving at an ISIS camp. She lost two children during that time. She was nine months pregnant when she was found in 2019. Begum was shifted to a Syrian refugee camp.

In 2019, Shamima Begun justified the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing by ISIS which claimed 22 lives saying that it was in retaliation to the other parties attacking ISIS.

She then went on to assert that the film talking about the dangers posed by ISIS to everyone depicts the story of two Hindu and one Christian woman in India and how they are groomed and converted to an “Islamist radical ideology”.

“The film is entirely about the dangers that ISIS poses to everyone. It happens to focus on two Hindus and one Christian girl in India who get groomed and radicalised to convert to an extreme Islamist ideology. It shows how this is done which is important,” Naomi Canton wrote in her tweet.

The London-based journalist then stresses that The Kerala Story is a film and not a documentary, saying that it is inspired by what happened with the three victim women in reality. She added that the film does not claim to state their exact stories.

“It is a film, not a documentary, so is inspired by what happened to three girls in Kerala – not claiming to state their exact stories. I hope some journalists in Kerala have gone to interview the families of these girls. Also hope the police arrest the men who radicalised these girls. One of them is still in Kerala running a pizza parlour” Naomi added.

The journalist was shocked that even Hindu girls were deployed to ISIS. Calling The Kerala Story a good film, she added that the film is not propaganda rather it exposes the propaganda—methods used to indoctrinate people. 

“I had no clue that even one Hindu girl had gone to join ISIS from India. One alone is shocking. It is good the film showcases the truth of what happens when people do join such terror outfits and get radicalised. What is propaganda is not this film, but the methods ISIS use to radicalise people, which the film exposes,” Canton further wrote.

Canton also appreciated the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC)’s decision to give the film an ’18’ age rating as the film has multiple violent sequences. 

Notably, The movie The Kerala Story written and directed by Sudipto Sen revolves around Shalini Unnikrishnan, played by Adah Sharma, an innocent Hindu woman from Kerala, who is brainwashed by her Muslim friend and gets converted to Islam and marries a Muslim man. The lead actress soon realizes that she has been trapped in a huge terrorist web after she is raped, separated from her only child, and then forced to serve as a sex slave.

Bihar: Mehre Alam, accused in 2013 Gandhi Maidan bomb blast at PM Modi’s rally, arrested by STF

In a significant development, the Special Task Force (STF) team in Darbhanga, Bihar, has apprehended one of the accused in the 2013 Patna Gandhi Maidan bombing case. On Saturday, the agency captured Mehre Alam, who had escaped NIA earlier.

On October 30, 2013, the NIA team filed case number 612/13 against the perpetrator in the municipal police station of Muzaffarpur and Alam had been evading arrest ever since.

The incident involved the bombing at Patna Junction on October 27, 2013, which occurred just before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s election campaign event at adjacent Gandhi Maidan and resulted in the deaths of six persons and the injury of around eighty-two people.

The NIA team in this investigation then brought along Mehre Alam, a local of the Darbhanga district’s Ashok Paper Mill police station area, as a witness.

A raid was carried out at Mirpur in Purba Champaran on October 29, 2013. After the raids failed to produce any results, the team left for Muzaffarpur with the culprit. However, he managed to escape while the crew was staying with him at a lodge.

On October 27 in 2013, eight explosive devices with timers went off between 9.30 am and 12.25 pm as part of a serial bomb attack which was the handiwork of Indian Mujahideen in an attempt to inflict mass casualties and assassinate Bharatiya Janata Party’s Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi during his rally in Patna.

Indian Mujahideen operatives Haider Ali, also known as Black Beauty, Noman Ansari, Mohammed Mujibullah Ansari, Mohammed Imtiaz Alam, Ahmed Hussain, Mohammed Firoze Aslam, Imtiaz Ansari, Mohammed Iftiqar Alam, and Azharuddin Qureshi were all found guilty in October 2021 by the NIA court. Lack of evidence resulted in the acquittal of one named Fakruddin.

Four of the nine convicts, Imtiaz Ansari, Mohammed Mujibullah Ansari, Haider Ali alias Black Beauty and Noman Ansari were given the death penalty in November of the same year. Azharuddin Qureshi and another person received life sentences, while Ahmed Hussain and Mohammed Firoze Aslam got ten years of imprisonment. One of them received a seven-year jail term.

Pakistan: Former prime minister Imran Khan, who blamed US interference for his removal, now seeks help from a US lawmaker, audio leaks

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, who previously held the United States responsible for his removal from power in April 2022, has reportedly reached out to a US lawmaker seeking intervention amidst a government crackdown on his party’s members.

The information comes from leaked audio circulating on social media, purportedly featuring a conversation between Imran Khan and US lawmaker Maxine Moore Waters. Maxine Moore Waters is a Congresswoman from California. In the audio, the leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party can be heard urging the US lawmaker to raise her voice against “human rights violations” taking place in Pakistan.

In this audio, Imran Khan blamed the Pakistan army for toppling his government which said was the most stable government in Pakistan in the last 17 years. He asked the Congresswoman to verify his claims on her own if she wants. Imran Khan said that Pakistan is going through a crisis like never before and urged the US lawmaker to make a statement on the situation of human rights in Pakistan.

The crackdown on PTI began shortly after protesters stormed the army headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi and set fire to a corps commander’s residence in Lahore. These events occurred following Imran Khan’s dramatic arrest on May 9 in connection with a corruption case. His arrest came one day after the military accused him of making unfounded allegations against a senior officer of the intelligence agency, ISI. Imran Khan had claimed that Faisal Naseer, also known as ‘Dirty Harry,’ was involved in previous assassination attempts against him and was responsible for the murder of journalist Arshad Sharif.

Jharkhand: Six men gang-rape a Dalit minor girl in Palamu and threaten to circulate the video, one arrested

On Thursday, 18th May 2023, a teenage girl, aged 16 and belonging to the Dalit community, was abducted from her residence in Hussainabad, Jharkhand, and was gang-raped by a group of six men. Disturbingly, the perpetrators not only committed this horrendous act but also recorded a video of the incident and used it to intimidate the victim, threatening to circulate it widely.

The incident took place within the jurisdiction of the Hussainabad police station in Palamu. During the late hours of Thursday, the young girl was left alone at home while her parents were attending a wedding ceremony. Taking advantage of the situation, six men from the same village forcefully entered her residence and forcibly took her away. They gang-raped the girl on a farm.

The following day, on Friday, the young girl’s parents returned from the wedding, and it was then that she disclosed the harrowing incident to them. Immediately, her parents took action and informed both the local villagers and the police, sharing the details of the matter.

The concerned villagers took swift action and successfully apprehended Dinesh Kumar Thakur – one of the accused individuals, promptly delivering him into the custody of the police. However, the remaining five perpetrators managed to evade capture and fled from the village. It is crucial to note that all the accused individuals involved in this despicable act reside in close proximity to the victim’s house.

The accused individuals brutally assaulted the girl when she resisted. She received injuries on her chest, back, and abdomen. The victim is currently undergoing treatment at Medini Ray Medical College and Hospital (MRMCH). Her private body part was injured during the incident of gang rape. During the treatment, seven stitches were administered. A team of five doctors has been formed for the treatment. The team consists of Dr RK Ranjan, Dr Vijeta Singh, Dr Jayant Ghosh, Dr Ashish, and one other doctor. According to the doctors, the condition of the girl is critical due to significant bleeding.

Jagannath Dhan, in charge of Hussainabad police station, said, “Raids are being conducted to arrest the remaining accused. Police will file a complaint against the accused under charges, including the POCSO Act. The victim has been sent to the hospital for medical examination.”

Canada: Punjabi man Nav Nishan Singh arrested for stabbing a woman to death in Brampton

A Punjabi man has been charged in connection with the murder of a woman at a city park in Brampton on Friday, May 19. Nav Nishan Singh (44) stabbed Davinder Kaur (43) to death in broad daylight in the area of Cherrytree Drive and Sparrow Court.

According to the police, they received a call about the killing at about 6 pm on Friday. The victim was discovered at the scene of the crime with clear evidence of trauma. She was declared dead on the spot after many attempts to resuscitate her failed and she eventually died from her wounds.

The accused was found and arrested two kilometres away from the location. On Saturday, May 20, police announced that the perpetrator is facing a first-degree murder charge.

Singh appeared before the Ontario Court of Justice, Brampton. The two individuals were previously informed to be acquainted by police, however, they did not clarify their relationship.

Anyone with information on this occurrence or who may have surveillance or dashcam footage of events leading up to, during, or following the incident is urged to get in touch with homicide investigators at 905-453-2121 extension 3205.

People may also provide anonymous information by contacting Peel Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or going to peelcrimestoppers.ca.

The largest concentration of the Punjabi community in Canada is found in the city of Brampton, which has a population of almost 7 lakh Punjabis.

Eight senior officers including Delhi Chief Secretary write to LG’s office alleging harassment by ministers of Arvind Kejriwal govt and Punjab Police

On Saturday, May 20, the Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) House officials said that they have received complaints from eight officers from All India Services alleging ‘blatant harassment’ by the CM Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government and the AAP government in Punjab. The complainants have alleged that the AAP governments in Delhi and Punjab started hounding them and their family members in retaliation to action taken against party members and leaders.

According to authorities in the LG Office, two complaints were received earlier this year, while six were received since May 11, when the Supreme Court granted the Delhi government authority over all service matters except police, land, and public order. The officers who sent the complaints include 5 IAS officers, 1 IPS and 1 IRS officer. Two of the officers belonging to Punjb have said that they and their families are being hounded by the Punjab Police, where AAP is in power.

Among the officials alleging harassment at the hands of AAP leaders is Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar, who accused Services Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj of misbehaviour and intimidation against department officers. On Friday, Bharadwaj, on his part, filed a police report accusing Kumar of making death threats to him on May 16. Police have stated that they are investigating the matter.

Naresh Kumar, on the other hand, claimed in a letter to the LG that Bharadwaj made the claims to protect himself from his alleged wrongdoing with service department officers. It is notable that the Delhi govt is attempting to remove Naresh Kumar from his post of chief secretary. The govt has asked the centre to replace him with IAS officer Praveen Kumar Gupta, currently posted as Additional Chief Secretary in Delhi government.

According to L-G House officials, IAS officers Ashish More and Kinny Singh, both posted in the Services Department, have accused Bharadwaj of using demeaning language against them and forcing them to sign a document they did not want to sign. They added that Amitabh Joshi, another department official, was also intimidated.

Another complainant is YVVJ Rajasekhar, Special Secretary (Vigilance), who claims “a coordinated effort to defame” him and remove him from his position so that alleged scams involving the Delhi government cannot be probed.

Furthermore, LG Office officials said that an attempt was made to intimidate Delhi’s power secretary Shurbir Singh through Punjab Police. In response to this harassment, Singh moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court, according to the officials. According to LG Office insiders, IPS officer and anti-corruption branch chief Madhur Verma, who is also from Punjab, was also “hounded” by the Punjab Police.

Two other officers who have alleged harassment by AAP leaders are Kunal Kashyap, IRS officer and chief assessor and collector in the house tax department of the MCD, and Amitabh Joshi, ad-hoc DANICS officer and deputy secretary in the services department.

Meanwhile, the Delhi government in a statement has called the complaints ‘fake’ and accused the L-G of playing ‘dirty’ politics.

The complaints regarding the alleged harassment of the IAS officers will be forwarded by the Delhi L-G to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) as MHA is their cadre controlling authority. The L-G House officials reportedly said that the likely outcome of these complaints being forwarded to the MHA will be the launching of inquiries against accused AAP leaders. 

Complaint filed against TMC MP Mouha Moitra with the EC alleging inaccuracies in 2019 election affidavit and expenditure report

Mahua Moitra, Trinamool Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP from Krishnanagar is accused of providing the Election Commission (EC) with inaccurate information in her post-election spending report and of failing to disclose her investments in a financial advising firm in her affidavit for the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

Shravan Kumar Yadav, who identified himself as a public-spirited person in the letter, sent a complaint to Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, making the accusations.

According to the complaint, Mahua Moitra failed to disclose her 4,900 shares in Villerville Financial Advisors Ltd. in her election affidavit for 2019. Her declaration of nil in the section for details of investment in bonds, debentures, shares, and units in companies/mutual funds was in conflict, as stated in the complaint, with the business’s annual reports submitted from 2010 to 2022.

2019 election affidavit of Mahua Moitra (EC website)

“The said wilful non-disclosure of her investments in the election affidavit is a material illegality and the same needs to be inquired into,” the charges mentioned.

It is notable that according to the company data of Villerville Financial Advisors Ltd, Mohua Moitra was a director of the company from January 2010 to March 2016.

In accordance with the complaint, Mahua Moitra’s post-election spending report listed a total expenditure of Rs 55.59 lakh, of which Rs 99,800 came from own source, Rs 20 lakh came from party funds and Rs 23 lakh came from contributions.

“There is no breakup of the remaining funds amounting to Rs 11,59,545 in the affidavit filed,” the complaint read.

It also noted that filing false election expenditures may result in the issuance of notice by the EC and cited Section 10A of the Representation of the People Act, which allows the organisation to disqualify a person for failure to deposit election costs in the proper time and manner.

The complaint was posted on April 25 from South Delhi. The complainant Shravan Kumar Yadav informed that he had obtained the knowledge via Right to Information (RTI) responses. He also denied having any connections to any parties.

Senior AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj acts ‘anpadh’ and wonders why PM Modi isn’t speaking in a language Ukrainian delegation understands. Here is how it works

On Saturday (May 20), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj courted controversy by claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi ‘displayed his ignorance’ by speaking in Hindi during his in-person meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart.

PM Modi met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima and sent out a message of peace. “I wish to assure you that India and I, in my personal capacity, will do whatever is possible to find a solution to this (conflict),” the Indian Prime Minister said.

In his desperation to take potshots at his political rival, AAP MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj mocked PM Modi for speaking in Hindi, which is one of the official languages of India. “Wasn’t the PM told that the language used in Ukraine is not Hindi?” he remarked (archive).

Screengrab of the tweet by Saurabh Bharadwaj

While proudly showcasing his inability to comprehend things, the AAP legislator said, “This video of the Prime Minister (speaking in Hindi) can only be used to fool Bhakts (a term used to mock BJP supporters).”

Saurabh Bharadwaj, who has often been in the news for the wrong reasons, failed to understand that world leaders are accompanied by interlocutors and translators. The Heads of State are not expected to speak the language of their counterparts during bilateral meetings or visits to foreign nations.

It has been a long tradition in India for Prime Ministers to speak Hindi on world forums or during their meeting with world leaders. One may recollect the famous address of ex-PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Hindi at the United Nations.

Although Prime Minister Narendra Modi is well-versed in English, he has voluntarily chosen to speak in Hindi with other world leaders since 2014.

A report in The Indian Express states, “While Modi is quite conversant in English given that many New Delhi-based diplomats have met him and never found language to be an impediment, sources said he seems to have decided to stick to Hindi in his interactions.”

“That he is reasonably comfortable with the English language is clear by the fact that interpreters are not required to translate from English to Hindi,” the report further read.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has also conceded that he spoke in Ukrainian during his meeting with PM Modi. His message was conveyed to the Indian Prime Minister through an interlocutor.

“Had a meeting with Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi in Japan. I briefed the interlocutor in detail on the Ukrainian Peace Formula initiative and invited India to join its implementation,” the Ukranian President said.

“I spoke about Ukraine’s needs in humanitarian demining and mobile hospitals. I thank India for supporting our country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, in particular, at the platforms of international organizations, and for providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine,” he added.

However, AAP MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj presumed that there would be no translators in the meeting, who would help Zelenskyy understand what his Indian counterpart was saying.

Social media users were aghast at the ignorance of the AAP legislator and lambasted him for mocking the Indian Prime Minister. “Bharadwaj has lost his mind…Shouldn’t we speak in our mother tongue in front of any country? Should he have spoken in Ukrainian?” inquired one Vikash Singh Rathore.

Popular Twitter user Ankur Singh chided, “Please use some common sense.” He also mocked the AAP legislator for claiming to hack an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) using a screwdriver.

“Just like himself, Kejriwal has kept clowns as his Ministers,” wrote one Niraj Verma.

Netizens took potshots at Saurabh Bharadwaj for being completely unaware of diplomatic protocols and still having the audacity to mock others. This is however not the first time that the AAP legislator has courted controversy.

Earlier in February this year, a video went viral on social media wherein Saurabh Bharadwaj and another AAP senior leader were heard assuring his party workers that Delhi jails have a lot of ‘majje’ (enjoyment). 

They were also heard saying that all the jailed AAP leaders are having fun inside the jail and there was nothing to worry about.