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It’s raining gifts! Burqa clad person who shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ gets iPhone from Maharashtra Congress MLA, earlier got ₹5 lacs from Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind

OpIndia Staff
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It’s raining gifts! Burqa clad person who shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ gets iPhone from Maharashtra Congress MLA, earlier got ₹5 lacs from Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind

Amidst the ongoing controversy over the refusal of permission to some female Muslim students to wear burqa in the classrooms of a Pre-University College (PUC) in Udupi in Karnataka, Islamists have been showering one Muskan Khan with gifts and rewards

Khan, who is a student of PES College of Arts, Science and Commerce in Mandya in Karnataka, came to the limelight after yelling ‘Allahu Akbar’ while wearing a burqa as camera strategically captured the ‘brave moment’. On Friday (February 11), Maharashtra Congress MLA (Bandra) Zeeshan Siddique paid a visit to her residence in Mandya and handed Khan an iPhone and a smartwatch for her ‘courageous act’.

While speaking about the matter, Siddique commented, “I came from so far to meet the girl from our community who showed exemplary courage. I am happy for her courageous act. Today whole of Karnataka, entire country is taking pride of her act. She has shown what is the real power of woman. After seeing her brave act, other women who are being pressurised, subjected to harassment and whoever is meted with injustice, they can also confront such acts.”

The Congress MLA referred to the Hindu students as ‘zaalims’ (cruel) and claimed that wearing hijab is a constitutional right. “One can wear clothes of her choice. You have problem with her hijab or with the fact that she is getting educated. There are crores of brothers behind Muskaan to protect her right of wearing hijab. I felt happy after meeting her family.”

Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind announces Rs.5 lakh reward for Burqa-clad protesto

Earlier on Wednesday (February 9), Islamic outfit Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind had stoked a controversy by announcing a cash reward of ₹5 lacs to Muskan Khan. In a tweet, the Deoband based Islamic organisation claimed that Bibi Muskan Khan had stood up amid heated protests for her constitutional and religious rights.

A video of Bibi Muskan Khan had gone viral on February 8 after she was seen shouting “Allahu Akbar” at a group of students inside PES College in Mandya, Karnataka. The students, who were protesting against the Muslim students in Hijab and Burqa, was seen at the receiving end of Muskan Khan’s theatrics on Tuesday.

The Hindu students chanted “Jai Shree Ram” in response to Islamic slogans raised inside the PES college campus. Bibi Muskan Khan later claimed that “outsiders” troubled her and added that her classmates and authorities at the PES College in Mandya supported her. 

‘Muslims took Rupesh Pandey away and lynched him’: Ex-CM Raghubar Das meets victim’s family, slams Hemant Soren for encouraging Jihadis

राहुल पाण्डेय
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‘Muslims took Rupesh Pandey away and lynched him’: Ex-CM Raghubar Das meets victim’s family, slams Hemant Soren for encouraging Jihadis

Rupesh Pandey’s murder by Islamists during the procession of Saraswati Visarjan in Hazaribagh is condemned by the people of Jharkhand. Protest marches have been carried out in many towns and cities of the state. Meanwhile, the former CM and BJP leader Raghubar Das has met the family of the deceased 17-year old minor boy on Friday 11th February 2022 and assured them to help in their battle for justice. Raghubar Das has accused the Hemant Soren government of Muslim appeasement.

Raghubar Das has termed the murder of Rupesh Pandey as a case of a planned mob lynching. He has posted on his Twitter handle “Rupesh Pandey’s mob lynching is a conspiracy executed. I met his family members and shared the grief. No BJP worker will be at peace until justice is done to Rupesh. Hemant government must understand that the Hindu community of the state is not weak. We will not be afraid at any cost.”

Pandey family denies the theory of murder during Sarswati Visarjan

In the video tweeted by Raghubar Das, he is seen listening to the Pandey family members. They are heard denying the theory of murder during the Saraswati Visarjan procession as peddled in the media. Instead, in this video, they are saying “He was called there by a phone call. A Mohammedan boy called him on phone. He took Rupesh forcefully on a motorcycle. The things are being said that Rupesh was killed during the Saraswati Visarjan procession. All of this is a lie. It is false news. Rupesh was working on a mobile shop.” Some mobile shop owner called Uday was also mentioned there.

As per a report by the Punjab Kesari, Manoj Ratan Chauthe, SP Hazaribagh, has also denied the connection between the murder and Saraswati Visarjan procession.

SP ignored the phone while the station in-charge denied to talk

It must be noted that earlier reports published by OpIndia about this issue were based on media reporting. In these reports, it is said that the murder took place due to a ruckus that emerged during the Saraswati Visarjan procession. To confirm the claims made by the family of the deceased boy, OpIndia called Manoj Ratan Chauthe, SP Hazaribagh. He did not receive the phone call. The station in charge of the Barhi police station was also called. He denied speaking anything on this issue until the investigations are over.

OpIndia also talked to the former CM Raghubar Das

In a brief talk with OpIndia, the former CM of the state and BJP leader Raghubar Das said, “People are enraged due to this incident. The 16-year old only child of the family was mob lynched and killed by a few people of the specific community. Ever since the Jharkhand state had a coalition government of JMM, RJD, and the Congress party, run by Hemant Soren, the Jihadi and antinational forces are becoming stronger every day. This is the 10th mob lynching incident in the last 26 months.”

Raghubar Das further said, “We demand government everyday trial in a fast track court and earliest punishments to the culprits in this case. This is the duty of the government. The boy was learning and he was working as well. Therefore his family must be helped by giving them Rs. 50 lakhs and providing a government job to one of the family members. The accused have filed a case against other villagers as well. This should be investigated and the case must be taken back. The culprits must be punished as soon as possible to avoid more such incidents in the future. And all this is happening after the government has made a law against mob lynching. No one in the state fears or respects the law and order of the state. At 5 PM in the evening, we along with our delegation of BJP will go and meet the Governor of the state. We will inform him of the situation.”

Raghubar Das said, “The mother of the deceased boy has told me that the procession had already passed ahead. The boy was in the mobile store. He was called from the shop and then was mob lynched.”

Raghubar Das with the victim’s family

Raghubar Das was accompanied by the local and state-level workers of BJP and all the Hindu organizations. The BJP leader Suman Sourabh who was present there has informed that amidst the heavy police force deployed on the spot, the former CM Raghubar Das reached the village of the deceased Rupesh Pandey at around 12:45 PM.

Locals informing Raghubar Das about the incident

Suman Sourabh talked to OpIndia about Rupesh Pandey

Suman Sourabh is the state coordinator of the Jharkhand State Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha IT cell. While talking to OpIndia, he said, “I was with Raghubar Das throughout his visit to the village of the deceased boy Rupesh Pandey. I also happen to be a relative of Rupesh Pandey. I was the first one to raise this issue. Rupesh Pandey belonged to the village Nai Taand. 5 people have been arrested in this case so far. The family of the deceased boy has made a few demands to the government and administration which include arresting the other 21 culprits, conducting the trials of this case in a fast track court, capital punishment to all the culprits within one year, a compensation of minimum Rs 50 lakhs to the family and raising a statue of Rupesh in the adjoining village Kariyatpur.”

Suman Sourabh further said, “Raghubar Das has declared a help of Rs 51 thousand to the family. Hemant Soren has not given any statement about this matter so far.” According to Suman Sourabh, no minister and not even any MLA of the Jharkhand government has given any statement about this issue so far.

‘The Muslim boy took my son away.’

The distraught mother of Rupesh Pandey said, “My son used to work in the shop. He used to leave the home at around 9 AM. That day he came back at 2 PM for lunch. He went back to the shop at around 3:30 PM. At around 5:30 PM we were informed that our son is lying unconscious there. The Muslim boy took him away. They killed him there. Pappu Miyaan has murdered him. The police have been unable to investigate so far.”

Other women present in the mob also bolstered the claim. They said, “Pappu sat on Rupesh’s chest. Now he is accusing us back. He set his locality on fire. He himself burnt the vehicle too. Broke the house on his own. No one came to the house and bothered to ask what happened to your son. He must be hanged. Nothing happened till now. Now we will block the roads so that the government knows what is happening here.”

Union Minister questions Hemant Soren Government

Annapurna Devi, Minister of Education (States) in the Union Government has written on her Twitter handle “The silence by the Jharkhand government and the idle police administration is adding worse pains to the wounds of these people. The public boiling with outrage. We will not be silent spectators anymore. Jharkhand government must initiate the procedures to give strict punishments to the inhuman killers of the innocent boy Rupesh.”

Former CM Babulal Marandi slams the bad law and order situation in the state

Former CM of Jharkhand, Babulal Marandi has written on his Twitter handle, “The brutal lynching of a young boy in Barhi’s Lakhna Dulmunha last night is a vivid picture of Jharkhand’s deteriorating law and order situation. The deceased Rupesh was the only earning son of his family. After the incident, there is news of unilateral action by the administration and internet shutdown in 4 districts including Hazaribagh. Now imagine how capable the helpless administration and incompetent government are of providing security to the people? Identifying all the culprits, the government must impose on them the Mob Lynching Act and take strict action. The government should give compensation of at least Rs 1 crore to Rupesh’s family members.”

Hazaribagh police registered a case against those spreading fake news in social media

Meanwhile, the Hazaribagh police have registered a case against 15 people for spreading false information about this case on social media. According to the Hazaribagh police “Action has been taken against the following 15 persons by the Sadar police station for spreading rumors, creating hatred in the society through false, misleading videos on social media. Action will also be taken against those who maliciously post many old, edited videos on social media claiming to be from Hazaribagh district.”

The Hazaribagh police have also published the list of the names mentioned in this case.

From Zakat by Muslims in Ramzan, blaming Keto to playing victim: Rana Ayyub accepts almost all charges, makes bizarre defence

OpIndia Staff
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From Zakat by Muslims in Ramzan, blaming Keto to playing victim: Rana Ayyub accepts almost all charges, makes bizarre defence

A day after the Enforcement Directorate attached assets worth Rs 1.77 crores of Rana Ayyub, the controversial journalist-activist has issued a statement putting her side of the story. In extensive reporting done by OpIndia in the past few months, it was established that while Rana Ayyub had collected substantial amounts of money through three fundraising campaigns on Ketto, she failed to utilise most of the funds, which was lying unutilised in her personal bank accounts, and also had to pay a substantial amount as income tax due to her own error.

In the detailed explanation issued by Rana Ayyub, while denying any wrongdoing, she has agreed with all the abovementioned points, that she didn’t utilise the fund for the purposes they were intended for, and also, she wasted a lot of donated money towards income tax payment.

Personal Bank Account

Explaining why the amounts were deposited in the bank accounts of her father and sister, Rana Ayyub claims that she could not use her own account as she didn’t have the physical copy of her PAN card. Therefore, she furnished the documents of her father and sister to start receiving donations.

This is a bizarre justification, as it is difficult to comprehend how someone can’t have the ‘physical copy’ of the PAN card. Does it mean she does not have a PAN card, that is uncertain.

Moreover, Rana Ayyub fails to answer why she used personal bank account, either her or her family members, for the three fundraisers, when the campaigns should have been run through dedicated bank accounts, to keep accounts of campaign money separate from their personal money.

Because she used personal bank accounts, she had to pay over Rs 1 core in income tax. This means money donated for specific purposes were paid to the exchequer. Had she used a registered NGO to receive the funds, the entire fund would have been tax exempted, and the entire money could be spent on the intended purposes.

Utilisation of collected money

After that she explain why she could not utilise the total amount of around Rs 2.7 crore she had collected in three different campaigns for three different purposes. She says that as she was hospitalised after contacting Covid-19, and some of her team members also were infected and two of them died, she could not run relief work using the money she had collected.

Rana Ayyub accepts that out of Rs 2.69 crore she had collected through Ketto, she could utilise only Rs 40 lakh. However, she does not give break up where this Rs 40 Lakh were spent, as they were collected through three different fundraising campaigns.

The three campaigns that she had run on Ketto were, Funds for slum dwellers and farmers during April- May 2020, Relief work for Assam, Bihar and Maharashtra during June- Sept 2020, and Help for Covid-19 impacted people in India during May-June 2021. All three were for distinct purpose, and two of them were intended for specific states.

But Rana Ayyub fails to mention how much was spent on each purpose, and says a total of Rs 40 lakh was spent.

Lies of cheque for hospital

She further accepts that she diverted funds from one campaign to another, as she says that she had paid Rs 90 lakh to Tilak Hospital in New Delhi for its paediatrics department to build a Covid-19 field hospital. She says that however, the cheque was returned to her without giving any reason.

She had  made this claim earlier also, in an article she wrote on Washington Post in September 2021, she had claimed that she had given a cheque of $130,000 to a New Delhi hospital that was building a children’s ward. And she had claimed that the hospital had returned the cheque under political pressure. She had further written, “All the money, including the amount returned from the hospital, has now been redirected to other causes”.

However, now she refrains from claiming any ‘political pressure’.

We had earlier already showed how her claims of cheque paid for hospital does not add up, as at time, she had claimed that she had completely utilised the funds raised in her first two campaigns for slum dwellers and flood victims. But now it has become clear that all of them were lies, she didn’t utilise all the money in the first two campaigns as she had claimed in the Ketto fundraising pages.

Moreover, building a Covid-19 hospital was never the stated purpose of any of the three campaigns. And other than her own claims, there is no other source confirming that she had actually given Rs 90 lakh either to a hospital or SDMC. Therefore, she collected money in the name of three different purposes, could not use it, and probably made up a story that she had given it to build a hospital but it was returned.

Foreign donations

Rana Ayyub vehemently denies receiving foreign donations, saying all money she received was in INR. However, this is a blatant lie, as Ketto, the fundraising platform she used, had already said that out of Rs 2.69 crore collected by her, $ 1.09 lakh were foreign donations. The ED attachment notice also mentions that Rs. 80,49,856/- was received in foreign currency.

Moreover, Rana Ayyub herself had said that as she could not tie up with a FCRA licenced NGO to receive foreign donations, she has decided to refund the foreign donations the three campaigns had received. It is notable that only NGOs with FCRA registrations can receive foreign money as donations, and Rana Ayyub’s campaigns were violating the law by receiving foreign donations.

Rana Ayyub makes another strange argument in this regard, she claims that as all the donations, including the foreign donations, were received first at Ketto bank accounts, and Ketto had transferred the fund to her bank accounts in Indian Rupee, it means she didn’t received any foreign donations. But this is completely baseless argument, Ketto is just an intermediary, the fact is that Rana Ayyub received foreign donations without FCRA licence. It does not matter if the foreign currency was deposited at Ketto and Ketto had transferred the amount to her in India Rupee, it is still considered foreign money.

Income tax

Rana Ayyub has accepted that she had to pay income tax amounting to Rs 1.05 crore, as she received the donated money in personal bank accounts. She informs that her bank accounts, including a fixed deposit of Rs 50 lakh, were frozen by the I-T dept. They have been released now, after the payment of the demanded tax.

Although she might claim victory in getting the accounts released, the fact remains that the accounts were de-frozen only after she paid that tax amount. After the tax is paid, the Income Tax department will naturally release the frozen accounts, that is the normal procedure.

However, it can be reiterated that had Rana Ayyub used a registered NGO, she would not have to pay the tax, and the entire amount could have been spent for the stated purposes. Therefore, it can be considered as a diversion of the amount.

PM Cares and CM Cares fund

The most intriguing revelation in the ED notice was that Rana Ayyub had donated the leftover money to PM CARES fund and CM CARES fund, which she had accepts now. She says that she couldn’t utilise the money she had collected, she donated INR. 74.50 lakhs to the CM CARES Fund of Maharashtra, for relief work in her home state, and to the PM CARES Fund, for relief work across India. Surprisingly, she added this amount as ‘utilisation’ for relief work.

Like all Islamists and liberals, she had been a vocal critic of PM CARES fund. Therefore, everyone was surprised to see that she had donated the money of her donors to the fund started by PM Modi. By accepting that she had done this, she betrayed her own donors, as most of her donors are Modi haters, like herself.

Therefore, it can be seen that while Rana Ayyub claims innocence, she has accepted all the allegations made against her. She collected donations for three specific purposes but didn’t spend on those purposes, collected and parked the money on personal back accounts of family members, received foreign donations, had to pay income tax, and donated the rest to PM CARES fund and Maharashtra CM’s fund.

Out of the total Rs 2.69 crore collected, she utilised only Rs 40 lakh for relief work. Rs 1.05 crore was paid as income tax, Rs 74.50 lakh paid to PM CARES and CM CARES fund, and Rs 50 lakh is in Fixed Deposit in the bank, still unutilised, as per her own statement.

Biden to split $7 billion frozen Afghan assets between compensation for 9/11 victims and ‘humanitarian aid’ for Afghanistan

OpIndia Staff
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Biden to split $7 billion frozen Afghan assets between compensation for 9/11 victims and ‘humanitarian aid’ for Afghanistan

According to sources, United States President Biden is slated to release an executive order on Friday directing the transfer of $7 billion of Afghan assets blocked in the US economic system to support humanitarian aid in Afghanistan and compensation for 9/11 victims.

The decision would oblige US financial system to divide the assets into two parts with one to set aside $3.5 billion in assets for Afghan relief and basic necessities and the remaining $3.5 billion would be maintained in the US and used to support continued litigation by the 9/11 victims.

The White House’s National Security Council, according to the New York Times, led months of discussions on central bank funds including top officials from departments such as Justice, State, and Treasury.

When the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August, there was more than $7 billion in central bank funds with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The funds were made inaccessible for withdrawal since it was no longer clear who had legal permission to have access to that account.

After the Taliban took over Afghanistan, they nominated their own person to oversee the national bank and demanded that the money stored in New York be released immediately. However, they were not able to access the funds because they are still on international sanction lists.

Notably, the Taliban has repeatedly requested the release of Afghan assets blocked in the United States following their takeover of the nation, claiming that economic instability at home may lead to unrest internationally.

Several governments committed hundreds of millions of dollars in help but did not commit funding because they are apprehensive that the Taliban will agree to a more inclusive government.

Since the Taliban assumed control, the country’s long-struggling economy has been in a nosedive. Since August, the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated significantly.

‘What is poor?’: Nirmala Sitharaman slams Rahul Gandhi for his 2013 ‘poverty is just a state of mind’ remark

Siddhi Somani
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‘What is poor?’: Nirmala Sitharaman slams Rahul Gandhi for his 2013 ‘poverty is just a state of mind’ remark

On Friday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman lashed out at former Congress President Rahul Gandhi for his allegations that the Budget this year failed to focus on the poor. She recalled Gandhi’s ‘poverty is just a state of mind’ remark from 2013 and asked him which kind of poverty was she supposed to address.

“What is poverty? Please be clear, is this the poverty that you wanted me to address, the poverty of mind?”, she said during the discussion on the Budget in the Rajya Sabha. She also sharply hit at Shiv Sena’s Priyanka Chaturvedi who interrupted Sitharaman and said that the Finance Minister was mocking the poor people. “I am not mocking the poor people. The person who had mocked the poor people, you are in alliance with his party”, she roared.

Further hitting out at the Rahul Gandhi without directly mentioning him, the Finance Minister stated that former Congress president had said that poverty does not mean scarcity of food, money or material things. If one possesses self-confidence, then one can overcome it. “He said poverty is a state of mind. I’ve not named the person but we know who it is”, she slammed. (video pause 1:02:14)

As the opposition began to protest the scene, the Finance Minister cleared that the ‘poverty is just a state of mind’ comment was said by someone else and that she was just quoting it. Rahul Gandhi in 2013 had quoted the controversial comment at a function of Dalit Resource Centre (DRC) organised by the Gobind Ballabh Pant Social Science Institute in Allahabad. Later the DRC had covered him up saying that his statement regarding poverty was misinterpreted.

Nirmala Sitharaman in the Upper House also said that India needs to have vision for next 25 years, the Amrit Kal. If there is no vision for India at 100, the country will suffer in the same way it has been suffering for last 70 years under the Congress regime. The only vision Congress had is to support, built and benefit one single family, she added. (video pause 9:44)

Further hitting out at the Congress’ MGNREGA scheme, Sitharaman affirmed that the scheme was infested with ghost accounts and turned out to be the source of corruption at that time. “MGNREGA was an act because of UPA. But they (UPA) misused it. The scheme was infested with ghost accounts. Its misuse it to their credit”, she said. (video pause 27:15)

The Congress Party members in the Parliament also passed comments on Central Government’s policies being ‘remote controlled from Nagpur’. Sitharaman in response to that, reminded the Congress of ‘one general secretary who tore the bill in public’. “The respected Dr Manmohan Singh was going to meet the US President after two hours. And the Congress General Secretary tore the bill in public here. Wasn’t that remote control?”, she questioned. (video pause 1:19:00)

The Finance Minister added that the national policies during the Congress regime were decided at 10 Janpath (Sonia Gandhi’s residence) and were announced at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg (Dr Manmohan Singh’s residence then). She reiterated that the Congress party till date is being remote controlled and that it lacks the party democracy.

The first part of the Budget Session that began on January 31, concluded today. The second part is slated to take place from March 14 to April 8.

SC directs UP govt to withdraw recovery notices against Anti-CAA rioters and issue orders under new legislation

OpIndia Staff
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SC directs UP govt to withdraw recovery notices against Anti-CAA rioters and issue orders under new legislation

On Friday (February 11), the Supreme Court directed the Uttar Pradesh government to withdraw recovery notices that were issued to Anti-CAA rioters in the State.

A petition was filed before the Supreme Court by one Parwaiz Arif Titu wherein he sought the quashing of notices issued to alleged rioters for damaging public properties during the violent Anti-CAA protests in Uttar Pradesh.

During the hearing, Assistant Advocate General Garima Prashad informed the apex court that all cases pertaining to the notices had been pending before tribunals, which are headed by a retired district judge, in Meerut, Lucknow and Prayagraj.

Advocate Anjum Parvez, representing the petitioner, had claimed that the Uttar Pradesh Recovery of Damages to Public and Private Property Act, 2020 was not in force at the time of issuance of notices to the alleged rioters. He also alleged that the notices violated guidelines that were laid down by the Supreme Court on issues of destruction of public property.

The Assistant Advocate General informed the Court, “Now the new act has come into place and there is a savings clause which saves earlier decisions.” The Supreme Court noted that the Uttar Pradesh government had issued a total of 256 recovery orders.

“You can withdraw these orders with liberty to initiate new proceedings under the new act,” remarked Justice Surya Kant. Justice Chandrachud added, “We will quash these notices then and you are at liberty to take action as per new act.”

Before adjourning the hearing, the Supreme Court pointed out that the notices issued by the UP govt to alleged rioters for recovering losses were in contravention to SC guidelines. “So you have to show how the errors can be rectified by you,” Justice Kant concluded.

Last month, the Supreme Court sent a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government seeking explanation on a plea for quashing notices sent to the anti-CAA rioters by the district administration for recovery of damages caused to public property during the riots against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA)  which had gripped the state last month.

Violent Anti-CAA protests in Uttar Pradesh

It is pertinent to note here that Uttar Pradesh was one of the worst-hit by the anti-CAA riots in which Muslim mobs ran amok damaging public property and injuring police personnel and innocent civilians. During the clashes, several minors were seen throwing stones at the policemen and vandalizing properties.

The Uttar Pradesh government had earlier promulgated the Uttar Pradesh Recovery of Damages to Public and Private Property Act, 2020 to recover damages from rioters. The law states that the State will set up claims tribunals to investigate the damages caused during protests, award compensation, and also cover the cost of action taken by police and administration for prevention of damage to public properties.

‘What was emergency to curtail fundamental rights of citizens’: Bombay HC questions Maharashtra govt for banning unvaccinated people from local trains

OpIndia Staff
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‘What was emergency to curtail fundamental rights of citizens’: Bombay HC questions Maharashtra govt for banning unvaccinated people from local trains

On Friday 11th February 2022, the Bombay high court instructed the Maharashtra government to submit all files and records pertaining to three Covid-19 standard operating procedures issued in July and August 2021. These orders of SOPs included the restriction on the use of local trains by unvaccinated people. The court also asked the state government what was the need to ban the local trains for unvaccinated people.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice M S Karnik heard a bunch of public interest litigations challenging the prohibition on the use of local trains in the city by unvaccinated persons. The petitioners had put forth in their argument that the move was illegal, arbitrary, and in breach of the citizen’s fundamental right to move freely across the country as guaranteed by Article 19 (1) (d) of the Constitution. The three SOPs issued by the state government on July 15, August 10 and August 11 of 2021 were challenged in these PILs.

Advocate Niles Ojha, the counsel for one of the petitioners, had previously argued that the state govt had failed to apply its mind to the SOPs and discriminated between the vaccinated and unvaccinated persons, as vaccination was not made mandatory by either state or central govt.

In its argument, the state government told the high court bench that the restriction on local train travel had been invoked by the then state chief secretary Sitaram Kunte considering the Covid-19-related emergency at that time. In response to this argument, the bench asked the government to produce the corresponding files.

The court asked the government counsel Anil Anturkar, “What was the emergency that enabled the chief secretary to take a decision all by himself and the fundamental rights of the citizens were curtailed?”

Anturkar said, “At that time, people were dying (of Covid-19), and the chief secretary considered the situation to be that of an emergency.” He further informed the court that the August 10, 2021 SOP had been signed by the state government, which means that the decision was taken by the state executive committee while the other two orders had been signed by Kunte since he was the chairperson of the committee.

On this argument by the government counsel, the high court bench underlined the fact that as per the state’s own records, the secretaries of departments such as home, revenue, finance, and relief and rehabilitation were also among the members of the state executive committee. The court further went on to ask “They (secretaries of the departments mentioned above) probably have offices in the same premises. If it was such an emergency then couldn’t the chief secretary call at least one or two of them?”

The court added, “We need to look into the relevant records and files pertaining to the SOPs under challenge. Let the entire records/files be placed before us on February 21.” The court said that decision of whether to call the chief secretary or not, will be taken only after going through those files.

Rift widens in Punjab Congress, former Punjab chief Sunil Jakhar slams veteran Ambika Soni for ousting him from CM race

OpIndia Staff
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Rift widens in Punjab Congress, former Punjab chief Sunil Jakhar slams veteran Ambika Soni for ousting him from CM race

The Congress party appears to be fracturing further as the sorrow and disappointment of former Punjab Congress president and campaign committee leader Sunil Jakhar’s inability to become CM candidate spills out once more. Sunil Jakhar has slammed Congress veteran Ambika Soni for opposing him for the role of Chief Minister of Punjab.

In a news conference on Friday, Jakhar said that Rahul Gandhi was swayed by Soni’s warning that “Punjab would be lit on fire if Sunil is made CM.” “On September 20, I said that I had got votes of 42 MLAs. I told Ambika Soni ji ‘you have backstabbed Punjab, just like the Akalis’.” Jakhar said in the conference.

“If you were in Rahul ji or Sonia ji’s place and 3-4 senior leaders with 35 years experience in Rajya Sabha says ‘If you make Sunil CM, Punjab will be set on fire,’ then what decision will you take? But Rahul Ji said ‘I know Sunil well’. To prevent even an iota of doubt or anxiety in Punjab, the decision (to make Channi CM) was taken – for Punjab’s good and brotherhood” further said jakhar targeting Soni.

When Charanjit Singh Channi was first picked as the CM to succeed Capt Amarinder Singh, Jakhar was a contender. After Rahul Gandhi named incumbent Charanjit Channi as the Congress’ Punjab CM candidate on February 7, Jakhar announced to quit electoral politics.  Jakhar was also irritated by Navjot Sidhu’s appointment as PCC president, which came after Congress gave down to the wayward politician.

Recently, five of Punjab’s eight Congress Lok Sabha MPs allegedly snubbed Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the state on January 27 this year. According to reports citing sources, the five MPs did not find Rahul Gandhi’s leadership sensible and have vowed to leave the party unless Rahul Gandhi surrenders his unofficial presidency.

Punjab politics has been in disarray for a long time. Captain Amarinder Singh resigned as Chief Minister, accusing the Congress party of humiliating him and dubbing Navjot Singh Sidhu a national security danger. Following that, Captain Amarinder Singh launched his own political party in readiness for the forthcoming Punjab Assembly elections.

The Punjab Legislative Assembly elections for 2022 will be held in a single phase on February 20, 2022, with results declared on March 10.

Samajwadi Party supporters peddle fake news claiming a woman died after her ambulance was stopped due to PM Modi’s Saharanpur visit

OpIndia Staff
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Samajwadi Party supporters peddle fake news claiming a woman died after her ambulance was stopped due to PM Modi’s Saharanpur visit

As the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh has started, a false claim was made on social media that a person died on Thursday after the ambulance in which she was travelling was stopped to allow Prime Minister Modi’s convoy in Saharanpur.

Several social media handles associated with the Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal posted social media platforms claiming that the Uttar Police officials kept the ambulance waiting, despite the fact that the woman in the ambulance was at a critical stage. They claimed that the person’s daughter kept on screaming and crying in front of the police, however, they did not let the ambulance go. The patient died in agony in the ambulance itself, their posts said.

Dr Arjun Singh Kashyap, a very influential supporter of the SP-RLD alliance, posted a misleading tweet to make the unverified claim. He posted a video showing a woman approaching some policemen in a police vehicle on the road. From the voices in the video, it is apparent that the cops had stopped the movement of the traffic due to PM Modi’s convoy. However, there is nothing in the video to show that a woman died in an ambulance while being blocked by cops.

The post went viral on the left-liberal social media circles, which have been tweeting the same information to vilify both the Uttar Pradesh police and Prime Minister Modi.

Uttar Pradesh police denied the claim

As the misleading tweet went viral, the Uttar Pradesh police issued a clarification saying that the claim alleging the death of a person in an ambulance during the Prime Minister’s visit to Saharanpur is baseless.

In a tweet, the Uttar Pradesh police said that the daughter informed the policemen on duty about her mother’s dead body in the ambulance and requested passage for it, which was promptly facilitated. UP police quoted a tweet by Saharanpur police, who had issued a detailed rebuttal. Saharanpur police said that during PM Modi’s Saharanpur visit, policemen were on law and order duty at the Dehradoon chowk.

At that moment, an ambulance arrived at the spot and a girl got off from it and approached the cops on duty. She told her that her mother, who was undergoing treatment at the hospital, passed away and her mortal remain is being taken to the home from the hospital. She requested that the ambulance carrying her mother’s body be allowed to let go. The policemen on duty readily accepted this request, and made way for the ambulance through the traffic jam at that location, said Saharanpur police.

Hence, the misleading tweet of a person dying on the streets due to a stoppage during the PM’s convoy is outrightly misleading.

Gujarat: FIR lodged against Hidyat, Jabir and others for threatening, assaulting youths who demanded justice for Kishan Bharwad

OpIndia Staff
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Gujarat: FIR lodged against Hidyat, Jabir and others for threatening, assaulting youths who demanded justice for Kishan Bharwad

Days after the brutal murder of Kishan Bharwad by Islamists on accusations of blasphemy, two Hindu youths were threatened and assaulted for social media posts about the deceased. Two First Information Reports (FIRs) were registered in connection to the cases, reported Desh Gujarat.

A 19-year-old Hindu youth by the name of Akshat Rakeshbhai Sathwara was attacked at his residence by a frenzied Muslim mob of 10-15 people. Sathwara, a resident of Mahesana district of Gujarat, had posted a status about the deceased Kishan Bharwad on Instagram about 2 weeks ago. Aggrieved by his social media post, Islamists named Hidyayat Bahelim, Jabir Bahelim and 10-15 others laid siege on the victim’s house.

Sathwara was brutally thrashed by the mob and his house was vandalised. Desh Gujarat reported that the Islamists broke his toilet door and damaged properties worth ₹4000. They also abused the victim with the choicest of expletives and threatened him with murder if he dared to post again about Kishan Bharwad on social media. Sathwara was rescued by his parents, uncle and aunt.

The victim had filed a complaint with the Khedalu police, following which a First Information Report was registered against Hidyayat, Jabir and others under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 427 (mischief causing damage of ₹50), 447 (criminal trespass), 504 (provocation) and 506 (2) (criminal intimidation).

Minor Hindu boy threatened for social media story on Lord Ram

In a separate case, a 17-year-old minor Hindu boy was threatened with physical harm by an Islamist named Bahelim Hamid for a social media post on Lord Ram. Desh Gujarat reported that Hamid called the victim on February 9 at around 5 pm in the evening. The accused threatened the minor boy to remove his Instagram story about Hinduism and Lord Ram or warned him of a ‘huge fight.’

He had asked the victim to meet him at night. Hamid had called him several times but the boy was too scared to pick up the call. On informing about the matter to his parents, a complaint was lodged at the Kheralu police station. Hamid, who is a resident of Hatadiya in Kheralu was then booked by the police under IPC Section 507 (criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication).

Kishan Bharwad murder case

Kishan Bharwad, a Dhandhuka youth, was shot and killed by two bike-borne assailants on January 25, 2022, after he published a social media post with a visual image of Prophet Muhammad. Muslims find the image of Prophet Muhammad insulting, and Islamists accept and promote the execution of individuals who commit such “blasphemy.”

At least six clerics have been arrested across India in the aftermath of Kishan Bharwad’s murder. So far, eight persons have been arrested in connection with the case. Multiple agencies are looking into the matter, and they believe it is part of a broader plot.

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