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‘The child’s dying declaration can’t be ignored’: Madras HC slams TN police, hands over Lavanya suicide case to CBI

OpIndia Staff
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‘The child’s dying declaration can’t be ignored’: Madras HC slams TN police, hands over Lavanya suicide case to CBI

While transferring Tamil Nadu’s M Lavanya suicide case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court said, “…there is nothing inherently improbable in the allegation that there was an attempt at conversion. It could be true or false. The matter called for an investigation and not outright rejection.”

The bench of Justice GR Swaminathan while passing orders on Lavanya’s father’s plea seeking a CB-CID inquiry into his daughter’s death, slammed the Tamil Nadu police for trying to suppress the conversion angle in the case.

“Instead of ordering the investigation officer to take the additional materials to account, the SP directed the local police to register an FIR against the person who had taken the video. The Superintendent of Police wanted to silence any discussion regarding the conversion angle. The SP virtually threatened the person who shot the video. Instead, she should have goaded the investigation to take the religious angle into account”, stated the Madras HC while transferring the case to the CBI on January 28.

It may be recalled that M Lavanya’s father had submitted the petition, claiming that they had lost faith in Thanjavur police’s investigation and requesting an investigation by the CBI-CID or another investigating body.

Lavanya M attended Sacred Hearts Higher Secondary School, a boarding school in Michaelpatti, Thanjavur. On January 19, she passed away after consuming pesticides. A video of Lavanya was released after her death, which was shot when she was admitted to the hospital two days before her death. Lavanya can be seen in the 44-second video explaining that two years ago, a woman named Raquel Mary approached her and encouraged her to convert to Christianity, which she and her parents declined.

Pointing out Tamil Nadu police’s impassivity in handling the case, the Madras HC bench of Justice GR Swaminathan added that the apprehension of the petitioner, that if the investigation remains with the Tamil Nadu police he will not get justice, is justified.

Justice GR Swaminathan said that instead of finding out the truth of the allegations made by the deceased victim, the state police had been trying to bolster the counter-narrative. “It is too early in the day for the police or the politicians to jump to conclusions. But they have done so”, opined the bench.

The court slammed the state police for their indifference to the issue, stating that despite having the child’s dying declaration in front of them, whose authenticity could not be questioned, the District Superintendent of Police tried to fully suppress the conversion aspect.

“The foregoing circumstances cumulatively taken will definitely create an impression that the investigation is not proceeding on the right lines. Since a high ranking Hon’ble Minister himself has taken a stand, investigation cannot continue with the State Police”, stated the bench of Justice GR Swaminathan while transferring the case to the CBI, adding that the court has a “duty to render posthumous justice to the child.”

The court, while doubting Sister Saghayamary and Sister Rachel Mary’s motives, hoped that the CBI probe would bring out the truth in the case.

Madras HC hands over Lavanya suicide case to CBI

The case was transferred to the CBI on the day when the NCPCR team is visiting Thanjavur to conduct a probe into the case and enquire with officials involved. The NCPCR had earlier alleged that the Tamil Nadu government was not cooperating with the enquiry presided over by their state team and therefore they had to get a team from the Centre to conduct the inquiry.

Notably, the Madras High Court had in the previous hearing ordered the person who shot the video of the girl — a VHP leader named Muthuvel — to give his phone to the police so that the video could be investigated and ordered the state police to refrain from ‘harassing’ the VHP leader over the video.

A video of the victim’s call for help was published on social media where she was seen in a critical condition in the hospital, talking about her torture. The video, originally in Tamil (translated by The Commune) said, “They (school) had asked my parents in my presence if they can convert me to Christianity and help her for further studies. Since I didn’t accept, they kept scolding me.” She had named one Rachael Mary, who allegedly tortured her.

The girl, a student in standard 12th Class in Sacred Heart Higher Secondary School in Thirukattupali in Thanjavur in Tamilnadu was reportedly coerced by her missionary school into accepting Christianity. After she had refused to convert, the school authorities had prevented her from leaving the hostel during the Pongal holidays and instead forced her to clean the entire premises including toilets. Due to the constant harassment, the 17-year-old took her life by consuming pesticides used in the school garden.

Maulana Usmani, arrested in Kishan Bharwad murder case, says Muslims must continue to defend the honour of Prophet without fear, terms it ‘peaceful mission’

OpIndia Staff
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Maulana Usmani, arrested in Kishan Bharwad murder case, says Muslims must continue to defend the honour of Prophet without fear, terms it ‘peaceful mission’

Prior to his arrest by the Gujarat Anti-terrorism Squad (ATS) in connection to the gruesome murder of Kishan Bharwad, Maulana Qamar Gani Usmani had urged Islamists to continue to ‘defend’ the honour of Prophet Muhammad without any semblance of fear.

In a video that has now surfaced on social media, the radical Islamic cleric can be heard as saying, “I am being taken into custody. I will co-operate if the cops want to conduct an inquiry…You, Muslims have nothing to be fearful of. Hold steadfast to Tehreek-Farogh-E-Islam and continue to use ‘constitutional means.'”

“We cannot let them succeed. Come forward with all your strength and might. Even if I stay in jail, you should not abort the mission,” he ordered. At this point, a man in the background alleged that the said mission was that of ensuring ‘peace, brotherhood, and security in the country.

“Whatever is happening in India right now must stop. We must co-exist peacefully like in old times,” the cleric who instigated the murder of Kishan Bharwad claimed. He then made an appeal to other Islamic clerics to not ‘live under the illusion of safety.’

“If you think that you are safe, then, you are mistaken. No one is safe. They have chalked out plans for everyone. Today, if we cannot stand to defend the honour of Prophet Muhammad using ‘legal means’, then, remember that everyone’s time will come. They will not spare anyone and have made plans accordingly,” he cautioned.

The Islamic cleric suggested, “It is important that we stand for our rights and use them today. And we must stop those who are planning to use illegal means to achieve the objectives.”

Maulana Usmani wanted to avenge ‘blasphemy’, was greeted with chants of ‘Sar Tan Se Juda’

A video from August 2021 was earlier shared on Twitter by journalist Swati Goel Sharma. In the video, Delhi police personnel were seen desperately trying to stop Maulana Usmani from holding anti-blasphemy protests. “We will go anyhow (to protest) since we have made a call to the public,” he was seen announcing.

“We will not listen to you. Insults have been hurled against our Prophet. We will not keep calm. What do you think? You will intimidate us by filing cases”, the radical Islamic cleric said.

“On August 8, it was said that Allah will be cut down and you have come here to teach me the law. What happened to the implementation of laws then? I don’t want to talk about it further. You can do whatever you want”, Maulana Usmani told the Delhi police.

In another video shared by journalist Swati Goel Sharma, the Islamist, who abetted the gruesome murder of Kishan Bharwad, was greeted by his co-religionists with slogans calling for the beheading of ‘blasphemers’.

“Nabi ke hum Ghulam hai. Gustaak-e-Nabi ki ek ki saza sarr tann se juda (We are the slaves of Prophet Muhammad. There is only one punishment for blasphemy – decapacitating the head from the rest of the body),” yelled his supporters.

Maulana Qamar Ghani Usmani of Tahreek-Farogh-E-Islam was garlanded, showered with petals and cheered on by Islamists as he walked the streets of Mumbai.

Islamic cleric had justified the murder of Kamlesh Tiwari

In February 2021, Usmani had justified the murder of Kamlesh Tiwari. He had said, “There is a conspiracy to ruin the lives of Muslims. There is an attempt to make India just like Spain. To achieve it, they are testing how much Muslims in India love their Prophet. This is why Kamlesh Tiwari was asked to do blasphemy. If you remember, that time people had come to roads to protest. There was fear someone would kill Tiwari, so he was sent to prison.”

He added it was not a punishment but an attempt to save Kamlesh Tiwari from getting killed. Tiwari was killed in cold blood by two Islamists in Lucknow on October 18, 2019. They had posed as Hindu activists and had carried weapons inside boxes of sweets.

‘No virus will be spared, Insha Allah’: Peace Party’s Shadab threatens journalist Aman Chopra for highlighting hooliganism of opposition parties in UP

OpIndia Staff
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‘No virus will be spared, Insha Allah’: Peace Party’s Shadab threatens journalist Aman Chopra for highlighting hooliganism of opposition parties in UP

Journalist Aman Chopra was on Monday threatened with dire consequences by the chief spokesperson of Peace Party, Shadab Chauhan, after he weighed in on the threat received by journalist Ashok Shrivastav from Arun Rajbhar, National General Secretary of Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party(SBSP), an ally of Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party.

Taking to Twitter, Chopra shared the picture of the threat he had received from Chauhan. The Network 18 editor tweeted that the threat issued by opposition leaders have gone a few notches and now they are openly threatening that dissenters won’t be spared. “After #KishanBharvad their threat needs to be taken seriously. The difference is that earlier they used to plan secretly, now they openly talk about killing,” Chopra tweeted.

“All will be treated, no virus will be spared, Insha Allah,” Chauhan had replied to a tweet by Aman where the latter pointed out the hooliganism of the Samajwadi Party and its allies even when they are not in power.

Quoting a tweet posted by Ashok Shrivastav, who shared a screenshot of a tweet from Arun Rajbhar wherein he threatened the journalist of beating him up, Chopra tweeted, “The point to be noted here is that it is not in power yet, only then the matter is limited to ‘beating’ only.”

DD News journalist Ashok Shrivastav threatened by SBSP leader for writing against an assault on another journalist

In his tweet, Shrivastav said, “Today Akhilesh Yadav’s security personnel beat up a journalist, I wrote against it, OP Rajbhar Ji’s son Arun Rajbhar Ji threatened to beat me up.” He further urged Home Minister, UP Police and Election Commission to take action against Rajbhar. “Please take action in this matter. This is an attack on the media on journalists,” he added.

Rajbhar, whose party is an ally of the Samajwadi Party (SP) for the upcoming UP Assembly elections, in the now-deleted post, had said, “Journalists like you should be thrashed. You should get a reward for the bootlicking.”

Rajbhar’s threat was in response to a tweet posted by Shrivastav where he had condemned the incident in which Akhilesh Yadav’s bodyguards had thrashed journalist Khalid Chaudhary. He had said, “When SP was in power, journalist Jagendra was burnt alive for writing against a minister. Today, bodyguards of Akhilesh Yadav thrashed journalist Khalid Chaudhary in front of him. New SP or same SP?”

The tweet had irked opposition politicians, including Rajbhar, who responded with a threat stating that Ashok should be thrashed as well.

Akhilesh’s bodyguard thrashed journalist

On January 29, during a press meet, journalist Khalid Chaudhary was thrashed by the bodyguards of former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav when he was trying to ask questions. In the video, the journalist could be heard saying, “Don’t thrash me”, but the bodyguards and SP workers kept pushing him.

This was not the first time journalists were thrashed in Yadav’s presence. In March 2021, a ruckus broke out between a group of journalists and the supporters of Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav at a hotel in Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh. During the ruckus, a reporter named Fareed Shamsi (identified as the one with a dark blue shirt) took a severe blow to his nose from Yadav’s security guard’s rifle. He was also pushed aside by a Samajwadi party supporter, who stood adjacent to him.

Kishan Bharwad, murdered after Muslims took offence to a social media post: Here is how media covered it with watered down headlines

Jhankar Mohta
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Kishan Bharwad, murdered after Muslims took offence to a social media post: Here is how media covered it with watered down headlines

In a perfect world of journalism and reporting, all crimes done by individuals would be reported as they are, with no attempt to distort the issue. However, it is abundantly evident that the Indian media does not operate in an ideal society. One of its numerous transgressions is its ability to whitewash crimes committed by Muslims against Hindus, as evidenced this time too, by its biased coverage of the heinous murder of the 27-year-old Hindu youth Kishan Bharwad on January 25.

Earlier this week, a horrifying tragedy befell a 27-year-old Hindu man, Kishan Bharwad, when Islamists murdered him over a social media post that they believed was against Islam. Kishan had reportedly shared a video that had an image of Prophet Muhammad. The Gujarat police arrested the two bike-borne assailants-Shabbir (25) and Imtiaz (27), who shot the Hindu youth.

Apart from the two killers, Gujarat Police also arrested a cleric, Maulvi Ayyub, from Ahmedabad. Maulvi Ayyub is accused of providing weapons to Shabbir and Imtiaz and is also related to Maulana Qamar Gani. The Gujarat ATS, which has been tasked to investigate the case, on Sunday also detained Maulana Qamar Gani Usmani from Delhi. Usmani has been accused of inciting Shabbir to kill Kishan.

Ever since the news of the brutal killing of Kishan Bharwad surfaced several media houses have extensively reported the heinous crime. From the very beginning, it was clear that the Hindu youth was shot dead as some Muslims took offence to his social media post that they deemed insulting.

Still, there were these usual ‘left-liberal’ media houses that totally whitewashed the murder since clearly in this case too, the victim was a Hindu and the perpetrators belonged to their favourite ‘minority’ section of the society.

The Indian Express in its report dated January 28, reported the murder of the Hindu youth with the headline: “Communal tension after 27-year-old’s death: VHP bandh uneventful in Dhandhuka; two murder suspects held”.

How The Indian Express chose to report about the murder of the Hindu youth by Muslim men

What impression does The Indian Express’s carefully worded headline about the crime provide to a reader who is unfamiliar with the incident? Nowhere in the headline nor in the excerpt of the article the name of the victim or the perpetrators has been mentioned. In a clear attempt to downplay the crime since the accused here are Muslims, the media house has purposely ignored such vital details.

In fact, The Indian Express has not only carefully crafted its headline to shield the Islamist perpetrators but has been extremely cautious while wording the entire report. To dilute the offence, it has used the term “people of another religion” instead of terms like Islam, blasphemy, or Muslims.

How Indian Express reported Kishan murder

Likewise, Shekhar Gupta run ThePrint, a publication that has a history of whitewashing crimes against Hindus, published a report on the incident on January 30 with the headline: “Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad to probe murder of a man killed over Facebook post, three arrested.”

A report published by The Print on January 30

Here, even though the article does mention the specifics, a casual reader would not understand the context based on the watered-down headline.

Here are some other instances where the media proceeded to water down the heinous murder of the Hindu youth by Muslim assailants as they took offence to a social media post.

The Times of India, which is infamous for its proclivity to ‘secularise‘ a crime when Hindus are at the receiving end, published numerous reports on the incident, all with ambiguous headlines in order to downplay the murder of Kishan Barwad by radical Islamists.

Times of India headline
Times of India headline

Interestingly, TOI is so meticulous with its plotline that it does not even reveal the victim’s name in the headline, since it is a Hindu in this case, let alone the names of the Muslim perpetrators.

Even vernacular media have been caught using the same tricks:

Hindi daily newspaper Patrika, for some reason, decided to leave out basic details like the name of the victim, the reason for the murder and obviously the name of the accused from its headline while reporting the murder of the Hindu youth Kishan Bharwad.

Report on Kishan Bharwad’s murder as reported by Patrika

Likewise, Aaj Tak also carefully tweaked its headline to water down the heinous murder of Kishan Bharwad by bloodthirsty and intolerant Muslim fanatics.

Aaj Tak’s report on Kishan Bhardwaj’s murder

Earlier too, Opindia has reported on the media’s ability to give a ‘Hindu spin’ to crimes committed by Muslims. Be it the Hauz Qazi incident or the menace of forced religious conversions, leftist media has always tried to whitewash crimes when the perpetrator has belonged to their favourite ‘minority’.

Kishan Bharwad murder case: Old videos show how arrested Maulana Usmani wanted to avenge blasphemy, was greeted with chants of ‘Sar Tan Se Juda’

OpIndia Staff
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Kishan Bharwad murder case: Old videos show how arrested Maulana Usmani wanted to avenge blasphemy, was greeted with chants of ‘Sar Tan Se Juda’

A day after Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrested Maulana Qamar Gani Usmani from Delhi in connection to the murder of Kishan Bharwad, old videos have now surfaced on social media which show the Islamic cleric vying to avenge ‘blasphemy’.

A video from August 2021 was shared on Twitter by journalist Swati Goel Sharma. In the said video, Delhi police personnel were seen desperately trying to stop Maulana Usmani from holding anti-blasphemy protests. “We will go anyhow (to protest) since we have made a call to the public,” he announced.

“We will not listen to you. Insults have been hurled against our Prophet. We will not keep calm. What do you think? You will intimidate us by filing cases”, the radical Islamic cleric said.

“On August 8, it was said that Allah will be slithered and you have come here to teach me the law. What happened to the implementation of laws then? I don’t want to talk about it further. You can do whatever you want”, Maulana Usmani told the Delhi police.

In another video shared by journalist Swati Goel Sharma, the Islamist, who abetted the gruesome murder of Kishan Bharwad, was greeted by his co-religionists with chants of beheading for blasphemers.

“Nabi ke hum Ghulam hai. Gustaak-e-Nabi ki ek ki saza sarr tann se juda (We are the slaves of Prophet Muhammad. There is only one punishment for blasphemy – decapacitating the head from the rest of the body),” yelled his supporters.

Maulana Qamar Ghani Usmani of Tahreek-Farogh-E-Islam was garlanded, showered with petals and cheered on by Islamists as he walked the streets of Mumbai.

Maulana Qamar Gani Usmani is the chief cleric of Tahreek-e-Farogh Islami or TFI. He was arrested in connection to the Tripura riots along with three associates in November 2021. He was booked under relevant sections of IPC and UAPA. He had spent 21 days in jail before getting bail in the case. After getting bail, Usmani said in a speech he never asked Allah to free him from jail. He said, “It was Allah’s grace that I got bail in 19 days even though people do not get bail even after six months if they are booked under UAPA.”

In February 2021, Usmani had justified the murder of Kamlesh Tiwari. He had said, “There is a conspiracy to ruin the lives of Muslims. There is an attempt to make India just like Spain. To achieve it, they are testing how much Muslims in India love their Prophet. This is why Kamlesh Tiwari was asked to do blasphemy. If you remember, that time people had come to roads to protest. There was fear someone would kill Tiwari, so he was sent to prison.”

He added it was not a punishment but an attempt to save Kamlesh Tiwari from getting killed. Tiwari was killed in cold blood in Lucknow on October 18, 2019.

Bollywood kept portraying South Indians only as people who say ‘Aiyo kaisa ji’, things are changing now: Actress Priyamani

OpIndia Staff
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Bollywood kept portraying South Indians only as people who say ‘Aiyo kaisa ji’, things are changing now: Actress Priyamani

Tamil actress Priyamani has stated that Bollywood keeps portraying ‘South Indians’ in stereotypical roles, as people who just speak Hindi with an accent. Discussing how the Hindi movie industry had failed to provide a proper representation of the county’s south in movies so far, the ‘Family Man’ actress has stated that in Bollywood movies, there has been a dearth of proper representation of characters from the country’s southern half.

Priyamani further stated that there was a time when actresses from the South like Sridevi, Hema Malini, Rekha and Vyjayanthimala used to rule the silver screen in the Hindi film industry, but it all stopped. She added that over the years, the representation of ‘South India’ in Bollywood has been reduced to portraying characters who just do not speak Hindi the normal way, characters whose job is to say things like “Aiyo, kaisa ji, kya bolta ji”.

Speaking to an entertainment portal, Priyamani also expressed pleasure in the fact that slowly, things are changing. She added that eventually, it started with South industry technicians being brought to work on Hindi movies. Many of them made their mark successfully.

“Right now, I’m very happy that finally South talent is also getting recognised here in Bollywood and South stars are also getting their due,” the actress said.

Priyamani stated that finally, the South film industry is getting its due, as the Bollywood audiences are appreciating content from the South and popularising South Indian movie stars.

Priyamani is a popular and successful actress. She has acted in dozens of movies in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. She was seen in Aishwarya-Abhishek starrer Ravan and had done an item song in Shah Rukh Khan-Deepika starrer Chennai Express.

Priyamani also appeared in the popular web series Family Man, where Manoj Bajpayee and Samantha Ruth Prabhu had also played key roles. It streams on Amazon Prime. Priyamani’s upcoming movies are ‘Maidaan’ with Ajay Devgan and Viraat Parvam’ with Rana Daggubati and Sai Pallavi.

Madras HC hands over Thanjavur suicide case of a 17-year-old girl to CBI

OpIndia Staff
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Madras HC hands over Thanjavur suicide case of a 17-year-old girl to CBI

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Monday transferred the Lavanya suicide case to the Central Bureau of Investigation after the victim’s parents had filed a petition seeking a CBI probe into the matter.

The case was transferred to the CBI on the day when the NCPCR team is visiting Thanjavur to conduct a probe into the case and enquire with officials involved. The NCPCR had earlier alleged that the Tamil Nadu government was not cooperating with the enquiry presided over by their state team and therefore they had to get a team from the Centre to conduct the inquiry.

The girl, a student in standard 12th Class in Sacred Heart Higher Secondary School in Thirukattupali in Thanjavur in Tamilnadu was reportedly coerced by her missionary school into accepting Christianity. After she had refused to convert, the school authorities had prevented her from leaving the hostel during the Pongal holidays and instead forced her to clean the entire premises including toilets. Due to the constant harassment, the 17-year-old took her life by consuming pesticides used in the school garden.

A video of the victim’s call for help was published on social media where she was seen in an unconscious situation talking about her torture. The video, originally in Tamil (translated by The Commune) said, “They (school) had asked my parents in my presence if they can convert me to Christianity and help her for further studies. Since I didn’t accept, they kept scolding me.” She had named one Rachael Mary, who allegedly tortured her.

Victim’s parents had filed a petition seeking CBI investigation into the matter

The decision to hand over the case to CBI comes in the wake of a petition filed by the victim’s parent seeking a thorough investigation into the death of their child by the premier central agency. In the plea, the petitioner stated that they had lost the trust in Madras Police as confidential information about the girl and the evidence had got leaked in the media.

Seeking a thorough investigation by some central agency, the petitioner’s lawyer said “By releasing confidential information, they are trying to stir up a debate on the death of the girl. We have lost faith in the police. For fair investigation, the case has to be transferred to CBI.”

The petitioner’s counsel further said, “It is a matter to be investigated how the girl could obtain poison in the hostel. Statements made by the victim to third parties shortly before her death are to be taken as direct evidence. The principle of res gestae applies. So those statements cannot be questioned.”

SP ally SBSP politician threatens journalist Ashok Shrivastav for condemning incident where Akhilesh Yadav bodyguard thrashed another journalist

OpIndia Staff
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SP ally SBSP politician threatens journalist Ashok Shrivastav for condemning incident where Akhilesh Yadav bodyguard thrashed another journalist

On January 30, Ashok Shrivastav, journalist, DD News, demanded action against Arun Rajbhar, National General Secretary, Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP), after he threatened Shrivastav on social media platform Twitter.

In his tweet, Shrivastav said, “Today Akhilesh Yadav’s security personnel beat up a journalist, I wrote against it, OP Rajbhar Ji’s son Arun Rajbhar Ji threatened to beat me up.” He further urged Home Minister, UP Police and Election Commission to take action against Rajbhar. “Please take action in this matter. This is an attack on the media on journalists,” he added.

Rajbhar, whose party is an ally of the Samajwadi Party (SP) for the upcoming UP Assembly elections, in the now-deleted post, had said, “Journalists like you should be thrashed. You should get a reward for the bootlicking.”

Now=deleted tweet by Arun Rajbhar. Source: Archive.org

Shrivastav, in a tweet, had condemned the incident in which Akhilesh Yadav’s bodyguards had thrashed journalist Khalid Chaudhary. He had said, “When SP was in power, journalist Jagendra was burnt alive for writing against a minister. Today, bodyguards of Akhilesh Yadav thrashed journalist Khalid Chaudhary in front of him. New SP or same SP?”

This tweet by Shrivastav irked the politician and SP ally who said responded with a threat saying the journalist should be thrashed.

Akhilesh’s bodyguard thrashed journalist

On January 29, during a press meet, journalist Khalid Chaudhary was thrashed by the bodyguards of former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav when he was trying to ask questions. In the video, the journalist could be heard saying, “Don’t thrash me”, but the bodyguards and SP workers kept pushing him.

This is not the first time journalists have been thrashed in Yadav’s presence. In March 2021, a ruckus broke out between a group of journalists and the supporters of Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav at a hotel in Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh. Yadav was in the city to attend the wedding of an MLA and had conducted a press conference at the said hotel on Thursday evening. During the ruckus, a reporter named Fareed Shamsi (identified as the one with a dark blue shirt) took a severe blow to his nose from Yadav’s security guard’s rifle. He was also pushed aside by a Samajwadi party supporter, who stood adjacent to him.

28 Instagram influencers, including Ranveer Singh and Jacqueline Fernandez, found in violation of ASCI guidelines: Details

OpIndia Staff
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28 Instagram influencers, including Ranveer Singh and Jacqueline Fernandez, found in violation of ASCI guidelines: Details

The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has issued a list of 28 influencers on Instagram who were found violating the guidelines issues. These influencers include Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh and actress Jacqueline Fernandez.

According to the ASCI website, these 28 influencers violated guidelines that require these influencers to add “disclosure labels” on the first instance and on subsequent routine checks when promoting paid content.

ASCI guidelines

Jacqueline Fernandez was found violating the guidelines and failed to add the disclosure label on a post where she was promoting Colorbar cosmetics.

Post that violated guidelines

If one notices, there is no tag disclosing that she was promoting paid content or posting a brand advertisement. This goes against ASCI guidelines.

Ranveer Singh on the other hand was promoting brand Manyavar, but failed to add the disclosure tag.

Post that violated guidelines

These also included MasterChef India 4 finalist Karishma Sakhrani and tech blogger Shlok Srivastava. 

Manisha Kapoor, general secretary, ASCI said that the non-compliant cases are routinely escalated to the government. “We hope this signals to the industry that we are serious about consumer protection and pushing the agenda around misleading ads. And that we will continue to educate, collaborate to reach out to more and more influencers and brands to spread the message of responsibility and transparency in advertising.” 

These influencers have millions of followers on Instagram, in fact, Ranveer Singh and Jacqueline Fernandez have a total of over 96 million followers put together.

Last year in June, ASCI made it mandatory for influencers to label their promotional posts to ensure transparency and safeguard the interests of consumers. The guidelines say that the influencers must label branded posts if there’s a material connection between them and the advertisers, failing which, both parties shall be held accountable.

According to the guidelines, the disclosure tags must be prominent so it is not missed by the consumers.

ASCI guidelines

Following are the tags that the influencers are supposed to appropriately used:

Advertisement

Ad
Sponsored

Collaboration

Partnership

Employee

Free giftpage14image14416704

The guidelines further say:

Responsibility of disclosure of material connection and also of the content of Advertisement is upon the Advertiser for whose product or service the advertisement is, and also upon the Influencer. For clarity, where Advertiser has a material connection with the Influencer, Advertiser’s responsibility will be to ensure that the posted Influencer advertisement is in line with the ASCI code and its Guidelines. While the Influencer shall be responsible for making disclosures required under the Guidelines. The Advertiser, shall, where needed, call upon the Influencer to delete or edit an advertisement or the disclosure label to adhere to the ASCI Code and Guidelines.

According to a report on Economic Times, between July and December 2021, 5,000 posts, stories and feeds from influencer handles were screened for complaints including those from end consumers. Out of all the complaints, 719 were in violation of the guidelines. 80% of influencers voluntarily amended or withdrew their posts and out of the remaining posts 86% complied after ASCI asked them to withdraw or modify their posts. The violations predominantly fell in the following categories: fashion and lifestyle (29%), cosmetics (19%), food and beverage (13%), and personal care (12%). Beauty etailer Nykaa showed up thrice on the list. 

Punjab: Bank of India writes to ECI, asks to reject the nomination of Congress candidate for defaulting on loan worth Rs 6.35 crores

OpIndia Staff
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Punjab: Bank of India writes to ECI, asks to reject the nomination of Congress candidate for defaulting on loan worth Rs 6.35 crores

The Bank of India (BOI) has written to the Election Commission against the Congress candidate from Punjab’s Khadoor Sahib seat, Ramanjeet Singh Sikki. The bank has stated that Sikki has defaulted on his loan worth Rs 6.35 crores. The bank has also notified the returning officer of Khadoor Saheb and the SDM of the Tarn Taran district regarding the same.

The letter by BOI to ECI

The BOI has written that Ramanjeet Singh Sikki had availed a loan worth 6.35 crores from the bank. Despite several visits by bank officials to his residence and subsequent follow-ups, Sikki has not paid back the amount and the outstanding amount with interest was declared NPA by the bank in December 2020.

The letter also mentions that the bank, after failing to get Sikki to pay back the loan, had filed a lawsuit against him in 2021.

The bank has written that Congress Party has declared Sikki as their MLA candidate from the Khadoor Sahib constituency. They have requested the Election Commission of India to not allow Sikki to file his nomination for the upcoming state assembly elections.

CEC forwards letter for further action, Congress MP’s brother to contest for the same seat

The CEC has forwarded the letter to the district election officer, the All India Congress Committee, and the Pradesh Congress Committee for further action. Tribune India has reported that the SDM has been asked to take appropriate action on the issue.

As per reports, Punjab Youth For Change leader Harbans Singh has stated that it has become common in Punjab to avail a bank loan and then not pay it back. He added that many farmers suffer crop loss and hence fail to pay back the loans. But Sikki is affluent, he should have paid the loan amount back. Singh added that the ECI should consider the request by BOI and stop Sikki’s nomination because it will send a strong message to loan defaulters.

In the latest development, disgruntled Congress MP Jasbir Singh Dimpa’s brother Harpinder Singh aka Ranajn Gill has announced that he will contest the elections for the Khadoor Sahib seat, despite the party naming Ramanjeet Sikki, a two-time MLA.

Though it is not yet clear whether Gill will contest as an independent candidate, there are some reports that he is in talks with the BJP. Sikki’s candidature may get rejected if the ECI prevents him from filing a nomination.

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