On June 26, two days after its release, controversial Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala’s song ‘SYL’ was blocked in India by Youtube. The video platform has blocked the song for the Indian audience following a legal complaint by the Government of India. If someone wants to access the song from India, a message appears that reads, “Video unavailable. This content is not available on this country domain due to a legal complaint from the government.”
SYL by Sidhu Moosewala blocked in India. Source: YouTube
The song is available on streaming services
Though the song has been blocked for the Indian audience on YouTube, it is still playing on music streaming services, including Gaana, JioSaavan, Wink Music, Sound Cloud, and others. Notably, it is still available on YouTube Music as well for the Indian audience. It is unclear if the Government of India has blocked only the video version of the song or if the notice was sent to music streaming services as well.
The problematic song has all the elements to attract a ban
The song SYL was released four weeks after Moosewala’s murder. The problematic song has provocative lyrics and visuals. In the song, Moosewala talked about Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Chandigarh to Punjab. On November 1, 1966, post-independence Punjab was divided into three states, Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh, on the basis of language.
The song also goes on to warn that if there is no alternative way, then Balwinder Jattana will return. Jattana was the terrorist who killed two senior engineers working on the SYL project in Chandigarh. Affiliated with Babbar Khalsa terrorist outfit, the Ropar resident Jattana killed Chief Engineer and the Superintending Engineer working on the SYL project in 1990. Following the murders, the construction on SYL stopped as the terrorised engineers refused to continue working on it. Jattana was later killed in a police encounter in 1991.
In the text on-screen during the song, Sidhu Moosewala goes on to call the SYL canal the causative agent of the Congress-led pogrom of Sikhs in Delhi in 1984. The flag hoisting at Red Fort by a Sikh mob on 2021 Republic Day also finds a place in the video of the song. The video also shows a bomb blast on an animated canal, pushing the idea that violence should be used to stop SYL.
Rebuttal song released by Haryanvi singer Masoom Sharma
In a rebuttal to the SYL song by Sidhu Moosewala, Haryanvi singer Masoom Sharma has released his own version of SYL in which he expressed his views that the water from SYL is Haryana’s right and no one can stop the state from getting the water as per the agreement.
In the by-polls results of which have been declared today, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the Azamgarh Lok Sabha seat making Dinesh Lal Yadav alias Nirahua a member of Parliament. Ghanshyam Singh Lodhi, a BJP candidate, also won the Rampur Lok Sabha seat by over 40,000 votes.
Following the results, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said, “Victory in by-polls have sent an optimistic message regarding 2024 general elections. People have shown their trust in double-engine govt under PM Modi. People have given a clear message to ‘parivarvadis’, casteist & communalist elements.”
Victory in by-polls have sent an optimistic message regarding 2024 general elections. People have shown their trust in double-engine govt under PM Modi. People have given a clear message to ‘parivarvadis’, casteist & communalist elements: UP CM Yogi Adityanath pic.twitter.com/8g1m6nLROo
Dinesh Lal Yadav was defeated in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections by former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, but this time he has accomplished his retribution by defeating Akhilesh’s brother Dharmendra Yadav in Azamgarh. Both of these victories have increased the Bharatiya Janata Party’s and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s stronghold on Uttar Pradesh.
Popularly known as Nirahua, Dinesh Lal Yadav is a popular actor, singer and producer in Bhojpuri movie industry. He has acted in a large number of movies, many of which are blockbuster hits.
The outcome of this by-election is extremely significant because both Akhilesh Yadav and Azam Khan abandoned their Lok Sabha seats after winning assembly elections in Karhal and Rampur, respectively. The SP, on the other hand, was certain of winning both seats since Azamgarh has always been a Mulayam family bastion, and the aggression of Azam Khan’s family continues in Rampur.
The counting of ballots began at 8 AM under multi-tiered security for the three Lok Sabha seats and seven assembly seats spanning across five states and Delhi, where by-polls were held on June 23. While the three Lok Sabha seats are in Uttar Pradesh (Rampur and Azamgarh) and Punjab (Sangrur), seven assembly seats are distributed throughout Tripura, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, and Delhi.
Tripura has the most seats with four — Agartala, Jubarajnagar, Surma, and Town Bardowali. Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha won the seat from Town Bardowali. This was a critical byelection for Saha since he needed to win to keep his position as chief minister.
Notably, in a severe blow for the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab, Simranjit Singh Mann of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) won the election from the Sangrur Lok Sabha constituency. The seat was vacated by Bhawant Singh Mann after he became Punjab CM, and now AAP does not have any MP in Lok Sabha. Durgesh Pathak of the Aam Aadmi Party won the Delhi assembly by-election.
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut continues to issue threats to dissident party MLAs led by Eknath Shinde currently staying in Guwahati. In a sensational and disturbing remark, the controversial politician has threatened that the death bodies of the rebel MLAs will return to Mumbai. Speaking at the ‘Shiv Sena Melava’ (party gathering) of workers at Sahisar in Mumbai, Raut went up to say, “40 bodies will arrive from Guwahati and they will be directly sent for post-mortem,” in a remark directed at the rebel Sena MLAs.
Sanjay Raut, 25th June 2022, Dahisar, Mumbai.
“40 dead bodies will come from Guwahati, will send bodies to Vidhansabha. We sent 40 MLAs as a sacrifice to Kamakhya Temple”
On Sunday, Sanjay Raut was speaking at a party gathering in Mumbai’s Dahisar and took my snides at the Eknath Shinde-led rebel group of MLAs residing in Radisson Blu Hotel in Assam’s Guwahati. Raut said, “When bodies of these forty MLAs will arrive, they will be directly sent for postmortem.” After a brief silence after this comment by Raut, a party worker from the audience said, “No sir, we will directly immerse their ashes.” “Yes, we will send them to Chatt Pooja” Raut replied while the audience burst out in laughter.
“In Guwahati, we have sent forty bulls which will be sacrificed. In Assam, there is Kamakhya Devi Mandir – Jadu Tona Mandir, where bulls are sacrificed. We have sent forty bulls from here who will be sacrificed,” Raut saying targeting the Rebel Shiv Sena leaders in Guwahati. He also referred to the Kamkhya Devi Mandir as ‘Jadu Tona’ Mandir.
Raut asked how dare the MLAs are sitting in Guwahati and allegedly conspiring against him. Excited Shiv Sena workers were bursting out in laughter and cheering Sanjay Raut after his hateful remarks. One of the party workers stood up and commented, “Sir In that flock of 40 bulls, there are three buffaloes as well,” in a misogynistic remark levelled at three female Shiv Sena MLAs in the Shinde Camp.
Amidst the grand Shiv Sena rebellion, The Eknath Shinde camp has the support of 38 MLAs, which is more than the required two-thirds of MLAs of the party to defect without attracting the provisions of the anti-defection law. Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena has moved to disqualify 16 of the MLAs, citing their absence from party meetings despite whips issued by the party. Recently, there were reports of cabinet Minister Uday Samant also joining the Shinde group, leaving Aditya Thackeray the lone Sena Minister in the MVA government.
Aam Aadmi Party has lost the by-election held for the Sangrur Lok Sabha constituency. AAP candidate Gurmail Singh was defeated by Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) president pro-Khalistani ideologue Simranjit Singh Mann by 5822 votes. With this result, AAP will now have no MP in Lok Sabha.
AAP secured a clear majority in the Punjab assembly elections held in February 2022. After swearing in as the chief minister, Bhagwant Mann had to leave the Lok Sabha seat of Sangrur from where he was elected in the general elections of 2019. In the by-election, AAP gave the ticket to Gurmail Singh while Shiromani Akali Dal-Bahujan Samaj Party (SAD-BSP) alliance fielded Balwant Rajoana’s sister Kamaldeep Kaur as the candidate. It is notable that Balwant Rajoana has been awarded the death penalty for his role in the assassination of Punjab’s former chief minister Beant Singh. As pro-Khalistani leader Simranjit Singh Mann, who is the president of Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), won the by-election, there will now be no AAP MP in the Lok Sabha.
It is notable that Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) is not related to the larger party Shiromani Akali Dal. Simranjit Singh Mann got 253154, while Gurmail Singh got 247332 votes in the bypoll. The election had saw low turnaround of 45.30%, against 72.5% turnout seen in the general elections in 2019. 16 candidates had contested the polls, and Congress candidate Dalvir Singh Goldy was in third place. NOTA was in 8th position, which means as many as 9 candidates got less votes than NOTA votes.
In the 2019 general elections, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won just one of the over 40 seats it fought across nine states and Union territories, although it received its largest vote percentage (18.10%) in the national capital. Delhi, Chandigarh, Bihar, Goa, Punjab, Andaman and Nicobar, Haryana, Odisha, and Uttar Pradesh were the states in which the AAP fielded candidates. However, only Bhagwant Mann, the party’s candidate from Sangrur in Punjab, could win. Mann had defeated Congress contender Kewal Singh Dhillon by a margin of almost one lakh votes. AAP had won four Lok Sabha seats in Punjab in 2014, and while it lost all seven constituencies in Delhi, it finished second.
After claiming the win, Simranjit Singh Mann said, “My priority will be to raise the issue of the poor economic condition of Sangrur, including the condition of farmers under debt. We will work with the Punjab Government.”
Born on May 20, 1945, in Shimla, Simranjit Singh Mann is president of Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), which is the Pro-Khalistan political party. Before winning Lok Sabha elections from Sangrur, he had become MP twice, once from Taran Tarn in 1989 and once from Sangrur in 1999.
While AAP has no MPs in Rajya Sabha now, the party has 10 MPs in Rajya Sabha. Out of them, three are from Delhi and the rest 7 are from Punjab.
On Saturday, the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad took so-called activist Teesta Setalvad into custody after an FIR for forgery was registered against her and others under several sections of the Indian Penal Code. Setalvad, who under the guise of her activism, was found influencing witnesses in the Gujarat riots case, was booked under IPC 468 (Forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using forged document or record as genuine), 194 (Giving or fabricating false evidence with intent to procure conviction of capital offence) and other sections of the IPC alongside two others.
Teesta Setalvad is accused of tutoring witnesses and making false allegations in several cases related to the Gujarat riots 2002. She had gone all guns blazing in coercing and forcing critical witnesses in the infamous Best Bakery case in which two key prosecution witnesses, Yasmeen Bano Sheikh and Zaheera Sheikh had said that they were lured and misguided by Setalvad for giving false testimony.
The Best Bakery case
On March 1, 2002, a small outlet owned by one Sheikh family in Vadodara was attacked and burned down by a mob as part of the violence that fanned after the Godhra train burning. The enraged mob, which was accused of targeting the Muslim owners inside was responsible for the killing of 14 people, who had taken refuge inside the bakery, including three Hindu workers.
A special court in Mumbai charged nine out of the seventeen accused with life imprisonment after the case was moved out of Gujarat. However, it was noteworthy, when two of the witnesses from the family of Best Bakery owners, Yasmeen Bano Sheikh and earlier her sister-in-law, Zaheera Sheikh, appeared before different courts, they had said that they were lured and influenced by social activist Teesta Setalvad into giving false testimony against the accused.
During the long run of the case, taking back her original statements against the accused, Yasmeen Bano sought for her evidence to be recorded again and requested that her appeal to be considered as a petition. This came after the Gujarat High Court in December 2003 ruled in favour of the acquittal of all 17 people accused in the Best Bakery case by the trial court.
When two witnesses from the owner’s family turned hostile
However, in a 2004 ruling, The Gujarat High Court had dismissed the state government’s amended appeal in challenging the acquittal of the accused in the Best Bakery case and for seeking to conduct a trial again. While maintaining that the police failed to record evidence and testimony of key witness Zahira Sheikh, it underlined that the likes of Teesta Setalvad directly attempted to influence the testimony given by Sheikh.
“An attempt has been made by journalists, human rights activist Teesta Setalvad and advocate Mihir Desai to have a parallel investigating agency…that it is not permissible under the law,” the bench observed. In an interview with Aaj Tak, in early July 2003, she confessed, “Hamejaan ki parvah nahi hai kya?” (Will we not care for our lives?) which indicated that she was tutored to talk like this. It appeared that a person truly scared for his life would never talk as openly as candidly as Zahira did on Aaj Tak.
Years after Zaheera turned hostile, Yasmeen Bano Sheikh, her relative, became the star witness in this case. An exact repeat of the Zaheera Sheikh episode took place in 2011. Bano, in April 2011, moved to the Bombay High Court alleging that she was “lured and misguided” into giving false testimony against 17 accused persons by Teesta Setalvad of whom 9 were given life imprisonment in 2006, just like Zaheera Sheikh had alleged that Teesta forced her to name innocent persons as guilty in the same Best Bakery case.
Yasmeen Bano’s confessions
In the petition filed by Yasmeen Bano Sheikh in 2011, it was stated, “Yasmeen gave false deposition against the accused and identified them falsely at the behest and advice of Teesta Setalvad only in the false hope that she (Teesta) would help her financially.” It further claimed that Setalvad had made Yasmeen an instrument to achieve the ulterior goal.
Sheikh’s petition was amidst the pending appeals filed before the Bombay High Court on behalf of nine of the total 17 accused in the Best Bakery Case. In a submitted Affidavit, Yasmeen Bano said, “Teesta Setalvad made me give false testimony in the Best Bakery case by luring and misguiding me. I had written everything in the affidavit submitted to the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court in June last year.”
While the rest of the Sheikh family, including Zaheera Sheikh, had already turned hostile and alleged that Teesta Setalvad lured them to lie, it was Yasmeen Bano who had become a popular contender against the 17 accused. Yasmeen also stated that her preliminary statements before the trial court were made on the orders of Setalvad.
Yasmeen also revealed that Setalvad, alongside her aid Rais Khan, promised to help her financially and convinced her that she should shift to Mumbai as her life was in danger in Gujarat.
It has been twenty years since 59 Hindus returning from Ayodhya after performing Karseva at the Ram Mandir were burnt alive at railway station in Godhra, Gujarat. Subsequently, riots broke out in the state, hundreds died. However, within 48 hours the army was called in and with curfew imposed, situation slowly got to normal.
Over the years, there are many, many lies that are published about the carnage and riots. All of them have been busted but they are so often repeated that some refuse to accept facts for reasons best known to them. Remember the ‘foetus ripped open and swung on a sword?’ story that invariably comes up every year and is presented as one of the most horrifying truths of Gujarat? The postmortem of the women revealed her foetus was intact. Despite doctor who performed postmortem coming on record to say it, some people refuse to acknowledge the truth.
One more such lie is that the ‘dead bodies were paraded’.
So here is what had happened. On 27th February 2002, an Islamist mob set a train on fire killing 59 people in Gujarat’s Godhra. These people were returning after pilgrimage in Ayodhya. Few hours later, when the train was leaving again, with remaining alive passengers, mob came again to kill them all. Somehow, the train left before attack could take place and those survived. From Godhra, train went to Vadodara and from there to Ahmedabad as per the route of the train.
On 28th February, 2002, during the wee hours of morning at 3:35 am, the bodies of the deceased were brought to Ahmedabad’s Sola civil hospital. Sola civil hospital is on the outskirts of the city in an isolated area. The decision to bring bodies there instead of main civil hospital in Asarwa was to avoid further escalation of communal tension. The Times of India report from that day mentions that the bodies were brought in a convoy of five trucks being piloted by a Police Gypsy.
Small bundles, bodies of children, were handed over to their relatives and the atmosphere was sad. Remains of some victims were placed on ice slabs and they were charred beyond recognition. Emotions were high, obviously, as they saw the disfigured corpses of their loved ones burnt alive. Their fault? They were Hindus on pilgrimage to Ayodhya.
Things to note here:
Bodies were brought in at 3:30 am, not during daytime. They were brought in middle of the night to avoid further escalation of tension. They had to be brought to Ahmedabad because most of the passengers were from Vadodara and Ahmedabad and surely they deserve a more dignified cremation. They were brought quietly without any ceremonial procession, so that further tension is not escalated.
That is one of the first reports on bodies being brought to Ahmedabad. Nowhere it mentions they were ‘paraded’. But eventually someone, somewhere lied, and the lie continues to shame Hindus even in their death.
No parade was done? I know his entire political career is based on falsification of facts, and they have tried to remove videos from Youtube, but this is well documented. The charred remains were handed over to the VHP and Togadia, Bajrangi, Modi made provocative speeches. https://t.co/nZwbmdVEVt
One Subir Sinha, an academician based out of London, on Sunday very confidently said that the politicians tried to remove the videos from YouTube but it is ‘well documented’. He claimed the charred bodies were handed over to the VHP and provocative speeches were made. As we have seen from initial media reports, before the propaganda kicked in, the mood was sombre and bodies were handed over to relatives. In past 20 years, not a single video of ‘dead body parade’ has surfaced. Surely, someone would have evidence somewhere, since the ‘fact-checkers’ of today were busy running propaganda back then. How come they have not released any video evidence?
When someone asked Sinha if he has evidence for the claims he is making on charred bodies being paraded, he shares a link of an article where former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri’s video made the claim.
The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed Zakia’s petition and accused ‘activist’ Teesta Setalvad, one of the co-petitioners, of keeping the pot boiling for years just for their political agenda. These people were playing politics over dead bodies of Hindus.
The Supreme Court has categorically rejected allegations that the post-mortem of bodies was conducted in the open in a railway yard and the bodies were paraded from Godhra to Ahmedabad and called it proof of larger conspiracy, terming them “pure conjectures and surmises” and “devoid of merits”.
So, Sinha cites a ‘source’ to prove that bodies were paraded, the source which is rejected by Supreme Court and he has no video evidence to prove.
Sinha, however, isn’t the only one.
RT "@anumayhem: Reminds me of Godhra when bodies paraded too "BJP parades ashes of Patna blast victims before Modi meets families "
Arent there Video Proof of all this? How Is He Blatantly Lying over here? If Gujarat has No Law & Order Situation then Where was the Police? I believe you had knew of Unrest before hand, So why was there No Curfew when you knew there were Possibilities of Unrest? https://t.co/vTuCSHsHFE
This Twitter user is asking why was Home Minister Shah lying when there is video proof of this. I would really, really like to see the video proof of bodies being paraded.
It is truly unfortunate that not only those Hindus returning from Ayodhya were burnt alive by an Islamist mob high on revenge for demolition of disputed structure called Babri Masjid, their dead bodies were used and abused by the so-called activists to continue to further their careers.
Hindus are dispensable. But dead Hindus are kept alive and brought back from the dead and used as political pawns to set the country on fire over and over.
On June 26, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced by-poll results for multiple Lok Sabha and Assembly seats across states, including the Lok Sabha seat of Sangrur, Punjab, that fell vacant after Bhagwant Mann, MP from Sangrur became Chief Minister of Punjab. Aam Aadmi Party had given the ticket to Gurmail Singh, who lost the seat to Simranjit Singh Mann of Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar).
Out of a total turnout of 7,10,825 voters, Mann got 2,52,898 votes while AAP’s Gurmail Singh got 2,46,828 votes. Shiromani Akali Dal’s attempt to win the votes of Khalistani sympathisers by fielding the sister of Balwant Singh Rajoana failed as Simranjit Singh Mann has been a long-time supporter of Khalistan moment himself. Rajoana could not even cross 50,000 votes. There were 1,203 postal votes as well out of which Mann got 256 votes and Singh got 504 votes.
Bharatiya Janata Party’s Kewal Singh Dhillon got 66,171 votes, and Congress’s Dalvir Singh Goldy got 78,844 votes. Several factors played a vital role in Simranjit Singh Mann’s victory in Sangrur, including his connection to the late Punjabi actor and Khalistani sympathiser Deep Sidhu. The recent murder of a famous Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala also factored in his victory as the incident raised serious questions on AAP leadership.
Mann understood how important deceased actor Deep Sidhu and singer Sidhu Moosewala were to the voters. He extensively used their names in his posts on Instagram in the lead-up to the elections. Almost all of his Instagram posts had these two names as hashtags. In fact, Deep Sidhu was believed to be travelling to campaign for Simranjit Singh for the Punjab Assembly elections when he met with an accident and died.
Hashtags #sidhumoosewala and #deepsidhu were extensively used by Simranjit on Instagram. Source: Instagram
Who is Simranjit Singh Mann?
Born on May 20, 1945 in Shimla, Simranjit Singh Mann is the president of Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), which is a Pro-Khalistan political party in Punjab. He has previously been elected to Lok Sabha twice, once from Tarn Taran in 1989 and once from Sangrur in 1999.
Mann comes from a military-political background. Mann’s father, Lt. Col. Joginder Singh Mann, was a speaker in Punjab Assembly. His wife, Geetinder Kaur Mann, and former Punjab CM Amarinder Singh’s wife, Preneet Kaur, are sisters.
Mann was a Police Officer and served in several important posts since 1967, including ASP Ludhiana, SSP Ferozepur, SSP Faridkot, AIG GRP Punjab-Patiala division, Deputy Director of Vigilance Bureau Chandigarh, Commandant of Punjab Armed Police and Group Commandant of CISF, Bombay. After Operation Blue Star in 1984, he resigned from Police Services.
Simranjit Singh Mann’s political career
In 1989, he contested Lok Sabha elections from Tarn Taran for the first time and won with a comfortable margin. Notably, before the formation of SAD (Amritsar), he was associated with Shiromani Akali Dal till 1991. He had won the Tarn Taran seat in 1989 under the banner of SAD. In 1994, he and other prominent Sikh leaders of Punjab, including CM Amarinder Singh, formed SAD (Amritsar). Mann won his Lok Sabha seat under the banner of SAD (Amritsar) from Sangrur in 1999.
In the 2022 Punjab Assembly Elections, Mann was defeated by AAP’s Jaswant Singh Gajjanmajra from the Amargarh seat by a margin of around 7,000 votes.
Simranjit Singh Mann, a Pro-Khalistan leader
Simranjit Singh Mann has a long history of openly supporting the Khalistan movement. He had left Police Services because of Operation Blue Star, which was initiated by the Government of India to eliminate Khalistani terrorists lodged in Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar. Reports suggest his party workers raised pro-Khalistan slogans at Golden Temple on Operation Blue Star anniversary this year.
In 2021, while wishing for the new year, he said on Twitter, “May 2021 bring freedom for the Sikh community in form of ‘Khalistan’ that will eradicate social evils such as coercion, discrimination, greed, ego, etc. and restore human values, mutual love, respect, and cooperation.”
On June 6, 2019, he paid tribute to Khalistani terrorist Bhindranwale and wrote, “Paying tributes to Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and other martyrs fought with THIS’s army at Sri Akal Takht Sahib on this day. Long live the struggle for Khalistan.”
In 2018, while sharing photographs of security forces deployed on the anniversary of Operation Blue Star, he wrote, “This naked show of force by the Indian state is to show the world how this Hindu state treats the stateless Sikhs. The Hindu state still thinks that machine guns will frighten the Sikhs and keep them away from their peaceful means to carve out the Sikh state of Khalistan.”
On Operation Blue Star anniversary this year, he published a post in which he said, “The Indian Armed Forces surrounded Golden Temple. Without provocation they opened fire at peaceful devotees and killed eight people.”
Post on Operation Blue Star Anniversary. Source: Instagram
Simranjit Singh Mann has openly demanded Khalistan and often spoke about a separate state for Sikhs. Reports suggest he has been arrested over 30 times including over charges of sedition but never got convicted.
At least 17 people were reportedly found dead on Sunday inside a nightclub in a neighbourhood of East London, a city in southern South Africa. Brigadier Thembinkosi Kinana, a spokesman for the Eastern Cape Authorities, said that because it is unknown how many people were at the Enyobeni Tavern before the incident, police do not know if there are any survivors.
“We got a report that about 17 people died in a local tavern in Scenery Park which is based in East London. We are still investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident,” said Brigadier Thembinkosi Kinana.
Scenery Park is roughly three kilometres from the city centre. Unverified social media images showed victims scattered across the club floor with no evident indications of injury. Eyewitnesses told the Daily Dispatch newspaper that bodies were lying inside the venue as if they had collapsed on the floor.
A resident of the Eastern Cape shared details about the incident on Facebook. Khudani Keith Munyai took to Facebook and wrote, “22 young school kids who apparently were celebrating for pens down were found dead at Enyobeni Tavern in Scenary Park, East London this morning. Apparently, the owner wanted to close but they couldn’t go. Then it’s said he sprayed something to kick them out. Unfortunately, it killed all of them.”
The Facebook post.
Residents have reportedly called for the venue to be closed since relatives of the victims have reportedly been unable to see their bodies. In the city, which is situated on the Indian Ocean coast around 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) south of Johannesburg, a sizable number of emergency personnel are present.
This is a developing story and no further details are available on it. The report will be updated once the details are more clear.
The presidential election in India is going to take place in July 2022. The ruling alliance that is the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance and the united opposition – both the camps have declared their candidates. Yashvant Sinha is the opposition candidate whereas Draupadi Murmu is the NDA candidate.
As Draupadi Murmu was a comparatively less-known name and she was not much active on social media before, many social media users, rather misusers, have made fake social media accounts in her name. Especially Twitter is flooded with scores of such accounts. These social media users have not stopped just by making the accounts in her name. They have also continued to post pretending that the account is a real account of Draupadi Murmu.
Many of such accounts are old, which means they were created with other names and later changed the name to Draupadi Murmu after NDA announced her as the candidate for the alliance. While some of such accounts are parody accounts, most of them are pretending to real accounts. If one searches on Twitter for ‘Draupadi Murmu’ and goes to the ‘people’ tab in the search results, hundreds of fake accounts of the presidential candidate can be seen. A sample of such search result is given below:
Screenshot of search result for people named Draupadi Murmu on Twitter
Most of the IDs or handles of these accounts have the words Draipadi Murmu along with random numbers or letters, as more than one account can’t have the same account ID. All of them have the display picture of the presidential candidate, showing that they are fake accounts, not real accounts with other people with the same name.
One such profile is the account with the Twitter handle @draupadimurmupr has hailed BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan for his appeal to the people of Odisha to reduce the single-use plastic in the upcoming Jagannath Rath Yatra.
Another Twitter handle @_draupadimurmu thanked sand artist Sudarshan Patnaik for the creative way he gave best wishes to the presidential candidate of NDA.
Most of these accounts have put the photos in which Draupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are seen. In order to appear like a true account, these handles have also posted every little development in the election procedure. Besides, a few have also shared the updates on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official foreign visits.
There are also some accounts that are posting content that may provoke public sentiments and may lead to social disturbances. One such account with Twitter handle @DraupadiMurmu1 has posted, “It will be my first duty to make India a Hindu Nation after getting elected as the President. Jai Shri Ram.”
Not only this, but the fake account handler is also cautioning people to stay away from the fake accounts of Draupadi Murmu.
None of these fake accounts is verified and people are misguided by these accounts, so much so that the posts from the fake accounts are gaining multiple retweets and some of the fake accounts have thousands of followers.
It is notable that Draupadi Murmu is actually not present on Twitter, she does not have any account on the micro blogging site.
The recent filing of a case against so-called activist Teesta Setalvad, retired police officer Sanjiv Bhatt, and former Gujarat DGP & AAP leader RB Sreekumar exposes the network of entrenched interests that banded together to play politics and capitalise during the 2002 Gujarat riots. According to the FIR, the accused attempted to generate sensation by lying to investigators about the Gujarat riots. According to the FIR, the SIT thoroughly investigated their accusations and found them to be false. The same comments were also made by the Supreme Court while rejecting the plea of Zakia Jafri.
The three have been charged by Ahmedabad’s crime branch with violating sections of the India Penal Code 468 (Forgery for the Purpose of Cheating), 471 (Use of Forged Document or Record as Genuine), 194 (Giving or Fabricating False Evidence with Intent to Procure Conviction of Capital Offence), 211 (False Charge of Offence Made with Intent to Injure), 218 (Public Servant Framing Incorrect Record), and 120B (criminal conspiracy).
All of this came a day after the Supreme Court ruled that fraudulent statements of a “larger conspiracy” in the Gujarat riots case were made. The Supreme Court stated in its decision rejecting Zakia Jafri’s appeal that the testimony offered by Sanjiv Bhatt, Haren Pandya, and R.B. Sreekumar was solely aimed to sensationalise and politicise the issues. Regarding Teesta, the apex court had said that she has been vindictively persecuting the matter for her ulterior design by exploiting the emotions and sentiments of Zakia Jafri.
In addition, in a recent interview, Home Minister Amit Shah revealed that Teesta Setalvad was actively involved in characterising the establishment as irresponsible and fabricating testimony to influence the proceedings. Here’s a look at how they all came together to falsify testimonies and characterise the Narendra Modi-led Gujarat administration as dishonest and reckless.
Fake allegations by Sanjiv Bhatt
On March 23, 2008, the Supreme Court made a Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by former Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) chief R K Raghavan to inquire and examine charges related to the 2002 riots. The Court instructed the SIT to probe Modi’s conduct and those of 62 other persons identified in The plea by Zakia Jafri in 2009. It was at this juncture that, Sanjiv Bhatt was called as a key witness against Modi.
In 2009, Sanjiv Bhatt brought three allegations against Modi. The first was that Narendra Modi wanted Muslims to be taught a lesson. The second one was that CM was hesitant to call in the army on the morning of February 28th. The third one is that the CM planned to take the dead bodies of Godhra train fire victims to Ahmedabad and parade them across the city in order to incite riots against Muslims.
However, the SIT’s conclusions were diametrically opposed to Bhatt’s assertions. The SIT discovered that Bhatt was not present at the meeting that he claims Modi scheduled in order to teach Muslims a lesson. For the second charge, the SIT discovered that the government was quick enough to summon the army on February 28th. The fact that the 54 bodies had to be taken to Ahmedabad since the relatives of these people resided in and around the city refuted Bhatt’s last assertion. Bodies were transported in a van guarded by police officers who were replaced three times throughout the 130-kilometre travel.
Congress, E-mails, and ‘Blackberry’
Bhatt has a lengthy history of forgery and exploiting his authority for personal benefit. It is worth noting that while these investigations were ongoing IN 2008-2009, SIT was presented with evidence of Bhatt’s regular interactions with Congress Party leaders, affiliated NGOs, and media. In one such e-mail, Bhatt told Gujarat Leader of Opposition Shaktisinh Gohil that he was “eagerly awaiting both packages” and “still awaiting the Blackberry.” According to widely held views, “Blackberry” was a metaphor for the funds Bhatt used to get from Gohil. All of these discoveries and data openly point the finger at Bhatt for his cooperation in the endeavour to play dirty politics over the deceased.
The Gujarat government furnished the SIT team with a batch of emails exchanged between Sanjiv Bhatt, DIG, Gujarat Police, and specific persons in April and May 2011. These emails demonstrate that during the course of an investigation launched by the DG (Civil Defence), Gujarat into Sanjiv Bhatt, IPS for misusing government resources, several revelations were made that had a direct influence on the cases being examined by SIT. According to the findings, Sanjiv Bhatt used “Media Card” and “Pressure Groups” to persuade numerous NGOs and other interested groups to influence the Amicus Curiae and the Supreme Court of India.
Bleak record of Sanjiv Bhatt
Sanjiv Bhatt perpetrated atrocities against peaceful and innocent villagers who belonged to a certain group at a location named Jam Jodhpur while managing law and order situations during his appointment as ASP Jamnagar in the year 1990. One individual died as a result of the police beatings. A pregnant mother, two assistant irrigation engineers, and one circle officer from the revenue department were among the casualties.
Sumer Singh Rajpurohit, an Advocate practising in Pali, Rajasthan, filed another criminal complaint against Sanjiv Bhatt in 1996, while he was serving as SP; Banaskantha District. According to the criminal complaint, Sanjiv Bhatt and his junior police officers reportedly planted 1.5 kg of a narcotic substance in a hotel room in Palanpur, Gujarat, which was fraudulently shown as being inhabited by Rajpurohit, despite the fact that he was in Pali (Rajasthan) at the time. The Advocate was kidnapped at midnight on the orders of Sanjiv Bhatt by his subordinate Gujarat police officials, who travelled from Palanpur, Gujarat to Pali (Rajasthan) to abduct him.
Teesta Setalvad and RB Sreekumar, hatchers of the conspiracy
Teesta Setalvad, a self-described rights activist, was one of the co-petitioners who sought a criminal prosecution for then-Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and 62 other ministers for their alleged involvement in the riots. When the Supreme Court dismissed Zakia Jafri’s petition on June 24, it made a critical note about Setalvad’s role in the case. The Supreme Court ruled that ‘activist’ Teesta Setalvad used petitioner Zakia Jafri’s emotions for “ulterior motives.”
The court even said that there is a need for further investigation into Teesta Setalvad as she was using Zakia Jafri’s feelings in the case for her own benefit. The court noted, “It is submitted that Ms Teesta Setalvad, for reasons best known to her and out of vengeance, was interested in continuing with her tirade and persecution on the basis of unsubstantiated allegations in the complaint in the name of the quest for justice with real purpose to keep the pot boiling and sensationalise and politicise the crime.”
Former Gujarat DGP and currently Aam Aadmi Party politician RB Sreekumar was also among those who deliberately attempted to tarnish the reputation of Narendra Modi and the Gujarat government during the 2002 riots. Similar to Sanjiv Bhatt, Sreekumar had also claimed that CM Narendra Modi had ordered to go slow against Hindu mob after the Godhra massacre. But just like SIT had found that Bhatt was not present at the meeting where Modi was alleged to have made those comments, Sreekumar was also not present in that meeting. In fact, he had said that he had heard it from others later.
It is notable that RB Sreekumar is also an accused in the framing of ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan in fake espionage case. Sreekumar was the IB deputy director when the Kerala police had filed the false case based on doctored inputs provided by the IB. He was also in news for filing a defamation case against Narendra Modi and Rajnath Singh, which was dismissed.
RB Sreekumar and Teesta Setalvad are now in the custody of Gujarat police. Sanjib Bhatt is already in jail as he was convicted in a custodial death case.
