On Thursday (December 9), the Enforcement Directorate (ED) apprehended an aide of conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar in connection to a money laundering case.
As per reports, the aide has been identified as one Pinky Irani. The accused did not co-operate with the ED officials, following which the central agency took Irani into custody. She was arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). India Today reported that Irani had introduced Jacqueline Fernandez to the conman and that she was aware of the nature of their relationship.
As per the report, Irani was paid crores by Sukesh Chandrashekhar for introducing him to the actress. Investigators had gathered incriminating evidence, including Whatsapp chats of Irani in connection to the case. She was grilled extensively this week and the previous week.
ED interrogates actor Jacqueline Fernandez
On Wednesday (December 8), the central agency grilled Jacqueline Fernandez for about 8 hours during multiple sessions of interrogation. The actor’s statement was recorded under PMLA. As per ED, Fernandez had benefitted from the crime proceeds of Chandrashekhar, which he acquired by conning high profile individuals. The actor’s spokesperson, however, claimed that she was testifying as a witness before the Enforcement Directorate.
“Jacqueline Fernandez is being called to testify as a witness by the ED. She has duly recorded her statements and in future will also be completely cooperating with the agency in the investigations. “Jacqueline also categorically denies alleged slanderous statements made about relationship with the involved couple,” the spokesperson had earlier said. The Enforcement Directorate had informed that Chandrashekhar was probed by the Delhi police for involvement in cheating, conspiracy and extortion of up to ₹200 crores.
“Chandrasekhar is the mastermind of this fraud. He has been part of the crime world since the age of 17. He has multiple FIRs against him. He (using a cellphone procured illegally in prison) with the help of technology made spoofed calls to dupe people as the numbers displayed on the called party’s phone number belonged to senior government officers. While speaking (from prison) to these persons, he claimed to be a government officer offering to help people for a price,” the ED had earlier emphasised.
Actor Jacqueline Fernandez stopped at Mumbai Airport from leaving India
On December 5, Bollywood actor Jacqueline Fernandez was stopped at Mumbai Airport from going abroad. According to reports, she was leaving for Dubai for a program but was stopped at the airport by authorities as the Enforcement Directorate had issued a lookout notice against her. India Today claimed that she was not detained, and was asked to return home.
Jacqueline Fernandez was scheduled to participate in Salman Khan’s Da-bangg tour to be held on December 10 in Riyadh. Jacqueline was named in a ₹200 crore money laundering and extortion case, where she was accused of receiving several expensive gifts from the main accused Sukesh Chandrasekhar. Some pictures of Jacqueline Fernandez with conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar went viral on social media, which suggested that they were in a relationship.
The gifts given to the actor by Sukesh included diamond-studded jewellery sets, crockeries, four Persian cats worth 36 lakhs and a horse worth ₹52 lakh. According to ED, they had found evidence of financial transaction between the two, and he had given gifts worth Rs 10 crore to her. Sukesh used to chat with Jacqueline over mobile from jail. When Sukesh had received bail in April-June this year, he booked a chartered flight for himself and also arranged for chartered flights for actress Jacqueline Fernandes to meet her in Chennai.
A Delhi court has rejected a petition filed that sought the restoration of temples situated in Quwwat Ul-Islam mosque located at the Qutub Minar complex in Mehrauli. The suit was filed on behalf of Hindu deity Lord Vishnu, Jain deity Tirthankar Lord Rishabh Dev and others, seeking the restoration of 27 Hindu and Jain temples “dismantled, desecrated and damaged under the command and orders of Qutub-ud-din-Aibak”.
Rejecting the petition, the Court said that it agrees that wrongs have been committed in the past, but such wrongs cannot be the basis of disturbing peace of our present and future.
“India had a culturally rich history. It has been ruled over by numerous dynasties. During arguments, the counsel for plaintiff has vehemently argued on the point of national shame. However, nobody has denied that wrongs were committed in the past, but such wrongs cannot be the basis for disturbing peace of our present and future”, observed Civil Judge (South) Neha Sharma at Saket court.
The plaintiffs had argued, “the right to worship has been bestowed under Article 25 and 26 as a fundamental right”, which the court held was “devoid of merits”. The court held that “fundamental rights enshrined under Article 25 and 26 of the Constitution are not absolute in nature”. It further said, “It is an admitted fact that the suit property is a mosque built over temples and is not being used for any religious purpose, no prayers/namaz is being offered in the suit property”.
The court held that the plaintiffs did not have the right to demand the restoration of the temple due to the Places of Worship Act 1991 which was enacted to preserve the “secular fabric” of the nation.
“Our country has a rich history and has seen challenging times. Nevertheless, history has to be accepted as a whole. Can the good be retained and bad be deleted from our history? Thus, harmonious interpretation of both the statutes is required to give full force to the objective behind the Places of Worship Act, 1991,” the court said.
It further said that “such ancient and historical monuments cannot be used for some purpose which runs counter to its nature as a religious place of worship, but it can always be used for some other purpose which is not inconsistent with its religious character”.
Interestingly, the Court admitted that the Mosque was indeed built over the desecrated ruins of temples. The Court said that it is an admitted fact that the suit property is a mosque built over a temple but it is not being used for any religious purpose and no namaz is being offered there. “Hence, in my considered opinion, once a monument has been declared to be a protected monument and is owned by the government, then the plaintiffs cannot insist that the place of worship must actually and actively be used for religious services,” the court said.
Qutubudin Aibak destroyed Hindu and Jain temples, along with their deities: Petition
“Qutubdin Aibak, a commander of Mohammed Gauri dismantled/ destroyed Shree Vishnu Hari temple and 27 Jain and Hindu temples along with constellations of respective deities and raised some inner constructions within the temple complex,” the plea said.
The petition further stated that Qutubdin Aibak did not completely demolish the existing temples and build Quwwatul Islam Masjid by using materials from the temples, adding that there are still pictures of Hindu gods and deities like Ganesh, Vishnu, Yaksha and symbols like Kalash, temple wells and sacred lotus in the mosque.
“Only the faces of gods and deities are defaced, the rest of the sculptures are identifiable. The corridor is completely of Vedic style having rectangular galleries with the holy symbol engraved pillars,” the petitioner said.
Petitioner demanded the court to create a trust to hand over the management and administration
The petitioner has sought a mandatory injunction directing the Central government to create a trust, according to the Trust Act, 1882, and hand over the management and administration of the temple complex situated within the area of the Qutub complex.
“Decree be passed in the nature of mandatory injunction, directing the Trust, to be created by Central government, to manage the affairs of 27 Hindu and Jain temples with iron pillar, in accordance with the scheme of administration framed by the Central government,” the petition said.
The litigant also sought a decree to be passed in the nature of a permanent injunction, restraining the defendants permanently from interfering in making necessary repair works, raising construction and making arrangements for pooja, darshan and worship of deities.
The court has essentially agreed that a historic wrong was committed and that indeed the mosque was built over desecrated temples, however, the court refused to admit the petition because it was scared of “disturbing peace”. In this scenario, the only thing that would “disturb peace” is the Muslim community running riots or committing violence if the historic wrongs were indeed rectified. One has to ask the question as to why the current Muslim community would commit violence if established historic wrongs, like mosques being built by desecrating temples.
The lack of law and order and the fact that the state cannot control an intolerant minority should not mean that Hindus and the other, real minority, Jains, should not have the right to demand that wrongs committed against them and their faith be rectified. The law enforcement agencies, the government and the judiciary should ideally focus on maintaining law and order and not denying the rectification of historic wrongs.
West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee gave a stern message to party MP Mahua Moitra in public today, and warned her not to create divisions in the party. While addressing an administrative meeting in Krishnagar ahead of municipal elections in the state, the CM acknowledged that there are internal rifts in the party.
During an administrative meeting of municipal officials and elected representatives, while talking to the district president of the party Jayanta Saha, Mamata Banerjee questioned about internal conflicts in the party in Krishnagar, and slammed Mahua Moitra in that context. The CM made it clear that candidates for the upcoming municipal elections in West Bengal elections will be decided by the party, and everybody will have to agree with the same. This indicates that there are clashes between Moitra and party leaders over candidate selection.
The CM said, “Mahua I am giving a clear message, who is for or against whom I am not concerned about that. (You will) prepare some people and send them to YouTube, or digital (media) or papers, this politics can work for a day but it will not work forever. And it is also not correct to assume that the same person will be in the same position forever. And when the election comes party will decide who will contest and who will not. Therefore, it is not correct to keep any difference of opinion. Everyone will have to work together, which I have instructed. I am aware of the things.”
Notably, Mahua Moitra was seated on the stage when Mamata Banerjee slammed her in public, who could not do anything apart from nodding in agreement, and she was visibly shocked at this public humiliation by the party chief.
Mamata Banerjee’s comments on Mohua Moitra came after reports of internal conflict in the party in Krishnagar, the Lok Sabha constituency represented by Moitra. Reportedly, the MP is in conflict with other party leaders like minister Ujjal Biswas, Nadia North district president Jayanta Saha, party leader Naresh Saha etc.
It has been alleged that Mahua Moitra does not maintain any contact with the other party leaders in the district, and works on her own. A senior party leader had visited the district recently to talk to the local leaders, and they made allegations against the MP. They say that the problem started after Moitra was given the responsibility of the entire Nadia district after 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
CM Mamata Banerjee ordered the party leaders to work together ahead of municipal elections. She also instructed the BDOs, district administration officials, and other officials to maintain communication with each other.
Last month Mahua Moitra was appointed as the party’s state in charge of Goa for the upcoming Goa elections.
YouTuber Maridhas was arrested by the cybercrime police in Madurai, Tamil Nadu on December 9, Thursday, following his social media post where he remarked on the Coonoor chopper crash in which the Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and 13 others were killed on Wednesday.
Correction | Tamil Nadu: A YouTuber, Maridhas has been arrested in Madurai for posting an alleged defamatory tweet, says Madurai City Police Commissioner
Maridhas, who has 488 thousand followers on YouTube, inquired if Tamil Nadu was “becoming into Kashmir” under the DMK’s control in a tweet that he later deleted.
According to reports, the YouTuber allegedly claimed that the state gives freedom “to create a group that can do any level of treason against the country.” He also apparently claimed that “it is possible for any kind of plot to be hatched here.”
Insinuating foul play in the IAF chopper crash, Maridas said that there was a risk of a conspiracy forming when those who were disloyal to the country come together. He also remarked that the separatist forces had to be stopped.
In another tweet, Maridhas claimed that many DMK supporters have been posting emojis mocking the death of an army commander in the accident. “They do this every time”, wrote the YouTuber adding that DMK is the “best choice for separatist forces”. This Tweet was available at the time of writing this report.
திக திமுக ஆதரவாளர்கள் பலரும் இராணுவ தளபதி விபத்தில் மரணத்தைக் கேலி செய்யும் விதமாகப் பதிவுகள் இடுவதும், சிரிப்பதுமாக emoji போடுவதைக் காண முடிகிறது. ஒவ்வொரு முறையும் இதைச் செய்கிறார்கள்.
பிரிவினைவாத சக்திகளுக்கு திமுக சிறந்த தேர்வாக இருந்துவருகிறது என்பது மறுக்க முடியாத உண்மை.
Following his social media post, the Madurai police went to his house in Surya Nagar of K Pudur in Tamil Nadu to arrest him.
While Islamists and many so-called liberals have brazenly been posting celebratory Tweets on the death of the CDS, reports suggest that Maridhas has been booked under sections 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot) and 505(2) (making statements with intent to cause public mischief, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public) of the Indian Penal Code, for pointing out the same through his Tweet.
According to reports, as the Madurai police reached the YouTuber’s house to arrest him, some BJP members gathered at the spot and refused to allow police to detain him. After the police took him away, these supporters reached the police station to demonstrate against the arbitrary arrest.
Deputy Commissioners TK Rajasekaran and Thangadurai, who reached the spot, brought the situation under control.
On December 8, an Indian Air Force Mi-17 V5 helicopter carrying General Bipin Rawat, India’s first Chief of Defence Staff, and 13 others had a tragic crash that killed 13 persons on board. The mishap happened deep in the Nilgiris, some distance away from Wellington where the CDS was to deliver a talk.
The mortal remains of General Rawat and his wife Madhulika will be taken to their official residence on 3, Kamaraj Marg at 11 am on Friday. Around 2 pm, the military bands of all three services will escort the bodies to Brar crematorium in Dhaula Kuan. The funeral is scheduled for 4 pm. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had announced in the parliament today that the CDS will be cremated with full military honour.
This is not the first time the YouTuber was targeted by the DMK government. In June 2020, the party had filed an FIR against him for calling M Karunanidhi the ‘father of corruption’. The man behind the Youtube channel Maridhas Answers has been taking aim against some very powerful lobbies, notably the foreign-funded Christian lobby and the entrenched power in the State, the Dravidian movement.
There is no end to Islamists celebrating the death of Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and left liberals saying there is no reason to mourn his death because they didn’t agree with him. In another such incidence, the Kerala government’s standing counsel in Kerala High Court Resmitha Ramachandran, who is also a Supreme Court lawyer.
In a Facebook post, Resmitha Ramachandran listed several reasons why General Bipin Rawat was not holy, and made several accusations against him. Kerala BJP has strongly objected to the post, and demanded that the CM should sack her from the government post.
In the highly objectionable post posted yesterday after the death of General Rawat was confirmed, the Kerala govt’s advocate had claimed that General Bipin Rawat was appointed as the first joint chief of defence staff bypassing the constitutional concept that only the President of India is the supreme commander of the armed forces.
After that she made further comments about the deceased general, saying he had awarded Major Leetul Gogoi for counter-insurgency operations, who had tied a Kashmiri stone pelter in front of a jeep to deter other stone pelters. She also mentioned that Gen Bipin Rawat had warned soldiers against calling themselves disabled falsely to get disability pension, and had believed that women in combat roles might complain about men peeping while they change clothes.
Resmitha Ramachandran claimed that General Bipin Rawat had wished that stone-pelters fire weapon, so that army could retaliate, and alleged that he had made acidic remarks against the protestors against CAA.
Giving these reasons, the leftist advocate said that death doesn’t make a person holy.
Reacting to the post by Ramachandran, BJP leader advocate S. Suresh said that she is a traitor who has no humanity. He said that it is an insult of the supreme soldier of the country after his death, and demanded that the Kerala govt should remove her from the post of govt advocate at the High Court.
In February 2020, The central government issued fresh guidelines for social media and OTT platforms. The government said that these guidelines were being introduced to “establish a soft touch progressive institutional mechanism with a level playing field featuring a Code of Ethics and a three-tier grievance redressal framework for news publishers and OTT platforms on the digital media”.
The guidelines that were issued by the central government had several provisions and code of ethics for the functioning of OTT platforms, Digital News websites and Social Media behemoths like Twitter, Facebook etc.
For the purpose of this article, we will focus only on the social media platforms, the guidelines that were meant to govern them, how they had resisted the implementation of these regulations and how they continue to stealthily skirt the guidelines issued.
What were the IT guidelines that applied to social media platforms
One of the most significant provisions of these guidelines is that if the social media platforms don’t comply with the provisions prescribed in the guidelines, this will attract penal provisions as per the Information Technology Act. The new guidelines say that the social media intermediaries must follow the due diligence mentioned in it, and if any intermediary does not follow the due diligence, the safe harbour provisions will not apply to them.
The section 79 of the Information Technology Act defines this safe harbour, which basically makes them not liable for any content posted by users on their platforms. It says that an intermediary shall not be liable for any third-party information, data, or communication link made available or hosted by them, provided they themselves didn’t initiate such communication, and observes due diligence under the IT act.
Now, this due diligence to be observed by the social media companies have been defined in the new guidelines. It includes various measures they have to perform, like identifying the first originator of any information that appears on social media, not allowing content that is defamatory, obscene, pornographic, paedophilic, inciting violence, against national integrity, misleading, false etc. The platforms also have to remove any such content within 36 hours of receiving a court order or a government direction to remove such content.
According to the guidelines, if the social media sites allow such objectionable content to be hosted on their platforms, and don’t remove them even after receiving such orders from courts or the government, it will mean that they are not observing due diligence. As a consequence, they will lose the safe harbour in the IT Act that isolates them from content posted on their platforms.
This means, if the social media companies do not comply with the guidelines, they will be held responsible for any content which is not allowed as per the guidelines. And, the officials of the social media companies will be liable to be prosecuted for such content. This implies that the social media officials will also be punished according to the nature of the offence, which is defined in the IT Act for various kinds of offences. The punishment defined in the act includes imprisonment for three years for most offences, but life imprisonment for some like cyber terrorism, and also includes fines of various amounts.
When the IT guidelines were issued, one of the most important compliance requirements imposed on social media companies was the grievance redressal mechanism that they had to put in place.
Following are the guidelines related to the appointment of grievance officer and the redressal mechanism they were required to put in place:
Social media intermediaries shall register the grievance within 24 hours and dispose of the complaint within 15 days.
The Intermediaries will have to publish a compliance report once a month where they detail the complaints they received and how they redressed the complaint.
The resident grievance officer shall perform all functions under the grievance redressal mechanism.
All grievance officers should have a physical address and that address should be published on the website and the mobile app.
The person appointed as the chief compliance officer shall be a resident of India.
The nodal contact person will be responsible for 24×7 coordination with Indian law enforcement agencies.
While one of the most important provisions in the IT guidelines was the denial of safety net if the rules are not adhered to, in the realm of compliance, social media behemoths were supposed to appoint a grievance redressal officer who would cater to complaints raised in real time and most importantly, it is clear that the grievance officer had to be a real individual with a real address in India.
How social media companies tried to work around the guidelines issued
After the IT guidelines were issued by the central government, Twitter and Facebook attempted to sidestep the guidelines as much as they could. Months after the guidelines were issued, Twitter had failed to comply.
Twitter Inc. was in the middle of a tussle with the Indian government over the new IT rules and had failed to comply with the compliance requirements.
As Twitter did not comply with the rules, the Indian government sent a barrage of notices to the tech giant to follow the Indian laws. As usual, Twitter asked for more time to follow the Indian laws. In addition to the non-compliance, the Uttar Pradesh Government had initiated action against Twitter India for failing to take down tweets that spread misinformation about a crime in the state. An FIR had been lodged against the social media platform in connection with the Loni incident after Twitter failed to flag the fake news put out by alleged fact-checkers. At that time, when the ‘interim grievance officer’ was summoned for questioning, Dharmendra Chatur had promptly quit. Twitter and Chatur had both declined to comment and, in fact, Chatur had also deleted his social media accounts.
This had left Twitter without a grievance officer at the time.
Post that, in July 2021, the Court had come down heavily against Twitter for failing to comply with the guidelines and lying in court. When the court was informed that the social media giant has no full-time resident grievance officer in accordance with the new IT Rule as of date, the Delhi HC rebuked the microblogging platform for its inability to appoint a grievance officer from June 21, when the existing officer was removed, until July 6. “After 21 June, till July 6, the least you could have done was appoint another person. How long does your process take? If Twitter thinks it can take as long it wants in our country, I will not allow that”, said Justice Palli. The court had also said that Twitter needs to come up with a reasonable response or “they would be in trouble”.
It was only on the 6th of August that Twitter had then managed to appoint a nodal officer in compliance with the IT guidelines.
Facebook had also tried to avoid complying with the guidelines. At that time, Facebook had said that they “aim to comply with the guidelines” but they need “more engagement with the government”. A Facebook spokesperson had informed, “We aim to comply with the provisions of the IT [Information Technology] rules and continue to discuss a few of the issues which need more engagement with the government. Pursuant to the IT Rules, we are working to implement operational processes and improve efficiencies.”
Eventually, they had complied with the guidelines by, on paper, appointing a grievance officer. However, while they claimed to comply, we will now analyse how they are essentially hoodwinking the government.
OpIndia’s tryst with Facebook “grievance redressal mechanism” and how the tech giant is hoodwinking the government
OpIndia has long been involved in a battle with Facebook with several of our posts being taken down without adequate reason. For example, it was only recently that OpIndia Hindi published a report on the Direct Action Day and how Hindus were massacred in the thousands. The headline was one that indicated the historicity of the incident accurately. This was right after Prime Minister Modi had announced that India would celebrate Partition Remembrance Day.
Article by OpIndia Hindi
In the choice between the truth and feelings, Facebook chose feelings. This post was taken down and our Facebook reach was restricted for weeks.
We proceeded to find the email address of the Grievance Officer, since the Guidelines mention that the officer needs to be an Indian citizen with a physical office address, implying that there has to be human intervention in resolving grievances.
How to contact Facebook grievance officer
We sent an email to the email address mentioned – [email protected]. Interestingly, when we sent a detailed email about our grievance, we again got a completely automated response.
The response OpIndia got
When we clicked on the link given by the “automated response” to our detailed email to the grievance officer, we were taken to a form that we filled out.
The Facebook form
Thereafter, we were directed to the in-app appeal that is supposed to direct to the grievance officer. Interestingly, the in-app appeal to the Grievance Officer did not have the option that we needed. There was no option to contest that the pulling down of a post was unfair and that reporting history could not be termed “hate speech” by any stretch of the imagination.
We still selected the last option and submitted our appeal to the company.
In response to this, we yet again got an automated response with the links of the community guidelines.
The response OpIndia got
The response OpIndia got
It is interesting to note that Facebook, by Indian law, is required to have a Grievance Officer that resolves the complaints raised. Facebook, however, while has appointed an officer on paper, in practice, it is evident that they are skirting the process of the law. There is no human intervention as far as resolving grievances are concerned and when users raise a complaint, they are encountered with an automated response.
The Instagram process – same as Facebook
As is known, Instagram has been taken over by Facebook. When one looks at Instagram and their page where they detail how the Grievance officer is to be contacted, they have added the same email address as Facebook.
How to contact Instagram grievance officer
The email address used by Instagram was “[email protected] – the same email that we had used to raise our grievance with Facebook, to which, we had got automated responses.
Several individuals from Instagram have attested to the fact that they get automated responses as well when they email their grievances to Instagram, the same as we did when we emailed the Facebook grievance officer.
Twitter grievances – the same story
A few months ago, journalist and activist Deepika Bhardwaj’s account was suspended without providing any reason it.
OpIndia spoke to Deepika. She told us that her first appeal went unanswered by Twitter. She then sent a second appeal which was also unanswered. It was after 4 days that her account was reinstated after she had raised another complaint.
However, she also said that she got no response from the Twitter grievance officer.
Deepika is not the only one saying this.
Others have claimed that Twitter grievance officer, like Facebook, only sends automated responses without any human intervention.
This is interesting.
Even after appointment of Resident Grievance Officer by @Twitter for @TwitterIndia, the automated reply is coming from @TwitterSupport US and griveance cell of Twitter India.
In September 2021, a popular political satire handle, Eminent Intellectual, was suspended from Twitter.
In an audio clip posted by the account ‘Eminent Intellectual (total_woke_), the satirist could be heard as saying, “Namaste everyone, this is Princess Woke Liberal. If you are listening to this, I’m already dead on Twitter. Sadly I got suspended, no email, no warning, just suspended. I have appealed it, but we all know that’s the same as appealing to Taliban for casual Friday. Not happening! What’s interesting is that I knew this was coming two days ago.”
She emphasised, “I made a tweet about Rana Ayyub’s promotion by Elle magazine over many years, and exposing that her brother Arif Ayyub is the publisher of the magazine. Interestingly, the tweet didn’t get published. Yes, you heard that right. Only I could see it. After an hour of figuring out what was happening, I deleted it”.
“As I am aware the Totalwoke account had also got suspended (in the past) after Rana Ayyub had targeted it. I knew I had committed Twitter blasphemy and my account deserved baas ek hi saza (only one punishment)… You know what that is! Anyway, I and Totalwoke are looking at ways to keep in touch with our friends here. You will hear from me after a few days and I’m sure we will get your support as always. Till then, follow total.woke on Instagram and stay safe. Jai Shri Ram,” ‘Princess Woke Liberal’ concluded.
Speaking to OpIndia, Eminent Intellectual said that repeated emails to the grievance officer had no result and that nobody responded to emails to the email address mentioned by Twitter.
Some other cases
Neha Shree is an actress working in Bhojpuri films. She has also worked in Rajasthani cinema and many TV serials. In November 2021, she had filed a petition in the Delhi High Court. In this, the Delhi government and social media company Facebook were made parties. The court had been requested to give directions to restore her Facebook page and give her access to the page. Neha has claimed in the petition that her Facebook page is followed by more than 4 million users and was hacked.
The hacker was reportedly posting lewd messaged and pictures from her account.
Neha Shree had said that she also complained to the Cyber Cell of Delhi Police. But they also did not take any action. The petition said, “Serious damage to his image has been caused by his Facebook page and objectionable post”. An FIR was also filed but no action was taken.
Interestingly, Neha in her petition said that after no action was taken on her complaint, she went to the Facebook office address in Delhi mentioned on their page, however, there was nobody there and no office was found per se. The guard told her to drop her complaint in the dropbox. Thereafter, she got a response saying that action will be taken in 30 days, however, nobody from Facebook acted on it.
YouTube as well has been accused of bias. “Sab Loktantra”, the YouTube channel was founded by Rachit Kaushik. He had posted a video reviewing Farhan Akhtar’s “Toofan” in which he raised objection to the promotion of Love Jihad. As was expected, YouTube took down the video calling it “hate speech”. Another video by the channel was removed by YouTube citing that it violated “Child Safety Policy”. Interestingly, that video that was removed was about analysing the Uttar Pradesh elections.
On the 5th of July, YouTube even informed that the videos were being taken down due to mass reporting of the content. On the 14th of July, Sab Loktantra appealed the take down of the videos and on the same day, YouTube emailed back saying that the UP election video did not violate any of their community guidelines.
Then, in August, YouTube took down a video where the channel spoke about certain Rohingya criminals being arrested. Thereafter, YouTube suspended the entire channel without an adequate explanation.
According to the IT guidelines, intermediaries become publishers if they arbitrarily decide the content that can or cannot be allowed on their platform. The entire chronology of events points to the fact that YouTube is not adhering to the IT guidelines and actually acting as a publisher, not an intermediary.
What are the problems and what the government can do
It is evident from the case studies that while social media giants have claimed that they have adhered to guidelines issued by the central government, in practice, they have tried everything to subvert the process. While the law requires Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc to have human intervention and the appointment of a grievance officer, social media giants have resorted to simply adding the name and email of the officer, however, the responses that users are receiving are automated.
In essence, big tech is hoodwinking the government into believing that the guidelines are being followed.
The mainstream media has failed to report this issue, due to their inherent biases, the government, therefore, needs to speak to users of these social media platforms who can adequately apprise the government of the issues being faced and how the guidelines are not being implemented in practice. There is no mention in the end that IT Rules allowed Govt step in if grievance officers fail to resolve the issue, and the govt should now
Jammu and Kashmir Police arrested a shopkeeper from a village near Rajouri for posting objectional content against Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat on social media.
Police have not disclosed his identity but said that an FIR has been lodged against him at Rajouri police station and further investigation and legal proceedings against the accused are going on. According to police, the social media post by the shopkeeper was “sensitive in nature and highly objectionable”.
The OpIndia spoke to Sameer Jilani, the officer-in-charge of Rajouri police station. But Jilani refused to reveal any detail about the accused and sections of IPC under which the person was booked.
This is among many instances of Islamists and anti-nationals celebrating the death of Bipin Rawat who along with his wife Madhulika Rawat and 11 other army officials and personnel lost their lives after their chopper crashed near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu on December 8.
Police said that as soon as the objectional post on Facebook was noticed, the accused was taken to the police station for questioning and was arrested subsequently.
Earlier, Rajasthan police arrested a 21-year-old Jawwad Khan from Tonk who made a social media post to celebrate the death of Rawat.
On Wednesday, shortly after the tragic news of the IAF helicopter’s crash with CDS General Bipin Rawat on board broke, the regular coterie of ‘liberals’ and Islamists came scrambling out of their holes to rejoice the unfortunate death of the first chief of defence staff in India. Several Islamists were notably laughing and rejoicing at the crash.
In fact, even before any official announcement of the demise of the CDS was made, the leftists started wishing for the death of the decorated officer. Many celebrated calling the death ‘good news’, while some opined that they would have been sad if Bipin Rawat survived. Ashlin Mathew, journalist and news editor of Congress party’s mouthpiece, posted a tweet saying ‘Divine Intervention’, which he deleted later.
Even at the time when there was no confirmation on the condition of the helicopter passengers or the number of injured or dead, Retd army man Lt Gen Panag shared a ‘RIP’ tweet for the CDS.
While the entire nation was mourning the ill-fated death of CDS Bipin Rawat and sending in their unstinted support to the families of the bereaved during these arduous times, the Islamists and the left-liberal ecosystem came together to celebrate the demise of CDS General Rawat solely because his political ideologies clashed with theirs.
It’s worth noting that this is a paradigm that Islamists and the left-liberal intelligentsia are both religiously following. Constantly spew hatred and celebrate the deaths of individuals who do not share their political ideologies while virtue signalling to non-leftists when they do not mourn the deaths of those who wish to see Hindus and our civilisation annihilated.
Hindutvavadi politicians like BJP stalwart and former external minister Sushma Swaraj, former Union Finance Minister of India Arun Jaitley, BJP stalwart and former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Goa CM Manohar Parrikar are just to name a few whom these so-called liberals started scorning immediately after their deaths. Not to forget the ghastly terror attack on the CRPF convoy in Pulwama on February 14 which claimed the lives of 44 Indian soldiers. As the nation mourned, some floated conspiracy theories while few celebrated the deaths of our soldiers.
Islamists and ‘liberals’ celebrate the BJP stalwart and former external minister Sushma Swaraj
When former external minister Sushma Swaraj breathed her last in August 2019, the usual section of ‘liberals’ and Islamists could not contain their happiness. Some of the social media users reacted to the death news with joy smiles indicating that they welcomed the death of the former external minister who is revered across the political parties. From Congress troll, Ali Sohrab to Ashok Swain, a serial abuser and purveyor of fake news, all had taken to social media to rejoice Swaraj’s death claiming that she was the same woman who advocated ‘Hindutva fascism’ of her peers.
Union Finance Minister of India Arun Jaitley
Likewise, these hatemongers engaged in similar behaviour on the death of former Union Finance Minister of India Arun Jaitley. Jaitley died peacefully in AIIMS, New Delhi, in August 2019, after a life filled with great accomplishments. While the country mourned the demise of a beloved leader, ‘liberals’ and Pakistanis had appeared to be celebrating in particular.
While a columnist at The Quint and The Hindu, one who goes by the name Quentin Tarantulino on Twitter, said that he ‘loves’ it when ‘fascists’ die, there were some others who said calling Jaitley ‘dignified’ is a stretch and he was a Modi-Shah ‘clone’.
Former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s death rejoiced by radical Islamists and so-called liberals
Basically, according to these radical Islamists and leftists, any individual who does not pander to their Hinduphobic and anti-national ideologies, their deaths are not worth being mourned. Such was the case with BJP stalwart and former PM of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee breathed his last on August 16, 2018, leaving behind a legacy that gave India the much-needed economic boost along with a mini cultural renaissance.
While the less sophisticated trolls started celebrating death and badmouthing Vajpayee even as he was admitted in the hospital in critical condition, the more sophisticated trolls like Siddharth Varadarajan, founding editor of the leftist propaganda website The Wire, waited for Vajpayee to breathe his last before launching his calumny. Siddharth Varadarajan had then maliciously edited Vajpayee’s speech which he had supposedly delivered on April 12, 2002 in Goa, to paint Vajpayee a bigot.
This was, however, the second lie being repeated about Vajpayee after his death. Despite him having clarified about both of them when he was alive, the so-called journalists were not willing to give even the dead his dignity.
Many had then used the occasion to repeat the lie of Rahul Gandhi that Manohar Parrikar had files of the Rafale deal in his bedroom.
Anti-BJP accounts celebrate death of Manohar Parrikar
On March 17, 2019, as the sad news of the passing away of Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar came in, social media was filled with condolence messages from people in every spectre of life, from politicians to celebrities to ordinary netizens, irrespective of their political affiliation. However, many people on social media had celebrated the death of the BJP leader. And obviously, these comments came from such people who were opposed to the political ideology of BJP.
Some people had openly declared that anyone who joins BJP is ‘Hindutva Thug’, and actually slammed others for condolence messages reacting to the sad news.
The Pulwama Attack
The hate for the incumbent BJP government and for all those who support the Narendra Modi lead government’s political ideologies of so deep-seated in the hearts of these leftists and radical Islamists, that leave aside ideological opponents, they even get excited whenever any adversity befalls India. Such was the case when 44 Indian soldiers were killed during the ghastly terror attack on the CRPF convoy in Pulwama on February 14, 2019.
For time immortal, the Indian liberals and Indian opposition parties had stuck to the rhetorics of Pulwama being an inside job while sparing the terror state of Pakistan from any blame. Following the Pulwama attack, many Congress supporters had floated conspiracy theories that Pulwama was an ‘inside job’ carried out on the behest of Prime Minister Modi.
It is not just limited to the Congress party. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had stated that PM Modi knew about the Pulwama attack earlier and did not do anything to stop it.
In fact, these liberals had gone an extra mile to humanise the Pulwama suicide bomber Adil Dhar, who made it clear that his attack was against ‘cow piss drinkers’, a derogatory slang against Hindus.
It may be worth noting here that while these ‘liberals’ and radical Islamists posseted by an agenda to berate the incumbent Narendra Modi lead government, have no qualms in celebrating the death of their ideological opponents but they get deeply unhappy and angry if people refuse to mourn the deaths of people like Stan Swamy, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, as he too adhered to the same leftist ideologies like them.
The Indian liberals and opposition parties have gone far beyond pity tactics of blame-game to seek vengeance against Narendra Modi and the BJP. They have openly used the deaths of their political opponents to scorn the incumbent BJP government.
People can have different political ideologies, but expressing their hatred on the occasion of a political leader’s death demonstrates how low political discourse can sink and this definitely is a concerning sign for society.
On December 9, one of the ambulances carrying the mortal remains of the Indian Air Force’s chopper crash victims met with an accident. The body of the deceased was shifted to another ambulance. The police officers accompanying the remains in the ambulance sustained minor injuries, as shown in the video of the aftermath of the accident.
In the video shared by Asianet, the ambulance seems to have lost its balance and hit the mountain on the side of the road. Four police personnel could be seen sitting on the road receiving first aid. While one of the officers stood up, the other officers seemed to have got injuries in the legs. After the mortal remains were shifted in another ambulance, the convoy of ambulances left for the airport from where the remains would be shifted to Delhi.
While the ambulances were passing through Coonoor, the locals stood on the sides of the roads and paid floral tribute while chanting ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ to pay respect to CDS General Bipin Rawat and other deceased soldiers.
The chopper crash
On December 8, a helicopter of the Indian Air Force with CDS Bipin Rawat onboard met with an accident in Tamil Nadu. All except Capt Varun Singh died in the crash, including CDS Bipin Rawat, his wife and 11 soldiers who were accompanying him on the flight. Capt Varun Singh is currently undergoing treatment.
General Bipin Rawat, who served as the Indian Army chief before being named the CDS, and his wife were among 13 people killed when an Indian Air Force helicopter crashed in Tamil Nadu. Since the news of his tragic chopper crash broke, tributes have been pouring in from all quarters. One which especially captured attention on social media was that from a humble cobbler spotted near a pavement near Navrangpura police station in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
Yes i definately come from two India, one where a roadside shoemaker pays tribute to late CDS with his hard earn money and second where some anti national elements rejoice demise of CDS. My brother @Nagetive_Jordan spotted this on a footpath near navrangpura police station(1/2) pic.twitter.com/ALnM1ilpof
A Twitter user going by the handle @righteous_monk_ shared a picture of a cobbler from the streets of Ahmedabad. He was seen sitting on the footpath mending shoes. Beside his makeshift shop, he had placed CDS Bipin Rawat’s picture on a chair covered with a piece of saffron cloth. A garland was put around the General’s picture. In front of his picture, the cobbler had placed some flowers and agarbattis (incense sticks) to pay tribute to the fallen soldier.
An Ahmedabad cobbler pays tribute to CDS Bipin Rawat
According to the Twitter user, his brother noticed this and asked the cobbler how much he had spent because he wanted to pay for it, but the shoemaker refused and replied in Gujarati, “I earn enough that I can spend a bit for my countrymen.”
This heartfelt gesture of the cobbler received a lot of appreciation on social media.
On one hand, there are people like these, who are exhibiting their love for the country by carrying out such small but unfeigned gestures, and on the other hand, there are a bunch of Islamists and the so-called ‘elite’ who have been unable to hide their glee over the death of CDS Bipin Rawat.
In fact, even at the time when there was no confirmation on the condition of the helicopter passengers or the number of injured or dead, many individuals, some ex-Army officers like Panag, another Col Baljit Bakshi, National Herald editor Ashlin Matthew, and others had posted brazen and insensitive tweets over the tragic demise of Gen Rawat and others in the chopper accident.
When the tragedy occurred, General Rawat was on his way to the Defence Services Staff College in Wellington to address the professors and students. The chopper crashed shortly after taking off from the Air Force facility in Sulur, Coimbatore at 11.45 am on Wednesday, December 8. In another few minutes, it would have landed.
According to reports, around noon today, a plane with General Rawat’s body will take off for the national capital from Sulur airbase in Tamil Nadu. The military plane is scheduled to land in Delhi’s Air Force Technical Airport around 4 pm. The body will then be taken to Army Hospital in Dhaula Kuan.
The mortal remains of General Rawat and his wife Madhulika will be taken to their official residence on 3, Kamaraj Marg at 11 am on Friday. Around 2 pm, the military bands of all three services will escort the bodies to Brar crematorium in Dhaula Kuan. The funeral is scheduled for 4 pm. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had announced in the parliament today that the CDS will be cremated with full military honour.
