Horrifying details emerge as an investigation into the sexual abuse case of two minor girls at a state government-approved NGO, Mother Teresa Welfare Trust (MTWT) in Jharkhand gains pace.
As per a Hindustan Times report, the police have informed that other girls, apart from the two victims who have spoken up were subjected to sexual abuse for over four years and they are expanding the scope of the investigation.
Minor girls abused and tortured at the shelter home
The terrifying incident came to light when the two victims went missing and were later traced by the police.
On tracking the cellphones of the girls, they were found at a house in Birsanagar the following day.
During the interrogation, the girls revealed they decided to flee from the shelter home to avoid the continuous torture and sexual assault by the caretakers of the shelter.
The minors studied at a nearby all girls’ school but were sent to the institution after the school shut during the lockdown.
Jamshedpur senior superintendent of police Dr M Tamil Vanan informed that two minor girls, aged 16 and 17, have given video-recorded statements in which they reiterated all the charges made in their statements to the special POCSO court.
The girls revealed that they were physically and mentally tortured at the home shelter. They were even forced to give in to the sexual demands of the perpetrators.
The accused Harpal Singh Thapar, director of the NGO, his wife Pushpa Rani Tirkey, who is also the chairperson of East Singhbhum district child welfare committee (CWC), warden Geeta Singh, her son Aditya Singh, and another staff member Tony Singh are on the run.
As per the report, Thapar and other men assaulted the minors, while Tirkey used to beat them up.
An FIR under relevant sections of the POCSO Act and sections of the Indian Penal Code has been lodged on the complaint of two rescued girls by the police on Tuesday.
Apart from being sexually and physically abused, the girls were also made to do menial tasks
Dr Vanan revealing the horrifying details informed, “Investigation has found that Thapar allegedly had physical relations with the 19-year-old daughter of the warden, and he, along with others, used to sexually abuse and exploit the victims on a regular basis.”
Despite the girls complaining repeatedly to Tirkey, the CWC chief for the past four years, no action was taken by her against the perpetrators, informed the SSP.
Meanwhile, the police is awaiting medical reports of the two rescued girls to determine if they were raped.
The Trust made headlines earlier this week after a video of the girls made to do menial jobs, including working in a garbage dump, went viral on social media. This forced the district administration to take cognizance of the issue which led to the formation of a four-member team to investigate the matter further.
Death of a three-and-a-half-year-old also being investigated
Additionally, the police is also investigating the death of a three-and-a-half-year-old girl who died in the home 25 days ago due to a brain tumor.
In a report to the Jamshedpur deputy commissioner, SSP Dr Vanan stated, “This little girl was the daughter of a rape survivor who didn’t want to keep her. Thapar and his wife didn’t inform the police or the district administration about the death, which they were legally bound to.”
About the Mother Teresa Welfare Trust
The Jharkhand government-approved NGO allegedly has no links with Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity.
Located at Shamsher Tower in Kharangajhar, the shelter home has three floors with 23 girls living in two rooms on the second floor. The warden lived in another room on the same floor with her daughter and son. Thapar and Tirkey also resided in the same building occupying the first floor, while 22 boys lived on the ground floor.
The girls are now being rehabilitated with twenty-one of them being taken care of by the Seraikela-Kharsawan CWC as of now.
Government funds into personal accounts
Allegedly, Thapar and Tirkey used to transfer government funds and private donations into their personal accounts which is also being probed.
“The girls told us that they took away the money donated to them by many people for clothing, food and other items. All the five named accused will be arrested soon as different teams are raiding possible hideouts,” informed SSP Dr Vanan.
An audio clip from the chat app Clubhouse is recently doing the rounds on social media platforms, in which the so-called social media influencers were seen encouraging and making obnoxious remarks against women, especially those who espoused the Hindutva ideology.
In the audio clip that has now gone viral, a user who goes by the name Kadamboor Neeraj could be heard making crass remarks against “Sanghis”.
The so called creepy SM influencers are showing their b!goted mindset, they’re so obsessed with Sanghis that they want to do ‘hate sex’ with RW girls.
When Aishwarya Subramanyam, one of the moderators of the ClubHouse room, asked Neeraj if he dates only hot people, he responded, “No, I date all kinds of people but on the dating apps, I do sometimes thirst for these very hot Sanghi types, just for fun.”
To this Aishwarya responded that Sanghis are not hot, but Neeraj nevertheless defended himself saying he finds them hot. Neeraj further adds, “Just like the opposite of paper bag sex….”, to which a lady in the group remarked: “It is like having hate sex”.
Subsequently, another person in the group chimes in to make yet another unsavoury remark against people who supported Hindutva ideology. “I feel like Sanghis are people…like initially India was not too well off and opportunities did not come easy, so Sanghis were people who were hireable by…,” a user named Keshav Rai said.
However, these deeply problematic statements made by the woke liberals suggest that they are as hollow as their activism. They are openly asking to target Hindu women, just because their ideology does not match with theirs. They are perpetuating a culture that justifies and rationalises the culture of rape and sexual assault against opponents.
Subsequently, the people who had participated in the conversation justified Kadamboor’s remarks on ‘Sanghis’ saying that he is gay and hence the ‘jokes’ were not on women. Ex India Today journalist Aishwarya Subramanyam also said that gay man making jokes on gay ‘Sanghis’ is okay. The level of wokeness is quite high here.
The brazen sexual objectification by the so-called liberals and feminists
Besides Aishwarya, others in the room included self-described liberals and social media influencers such as Kusha Kapila, Janice Sequeira, Ankush Bahuguna, Santu Misra and others. Even as people in their ClubHouse room kept making egregious remarks, the so-called social media influencers, many of whom are women and feminists, heartily enjoyed the sexist remarks made against ‘Sanghis’.
The moderators of the room showed no intent to keep the conversation civil and stop the participants from making lewd comments against women with an opposing worldview. Instead, they enjoyed and sniggered at the comments where Hindus were degraded to a mere object of sexual lust. Ironically, these are the same social media influencers who pompously declare their unwavering commitment to the cause of feminism and women empowerment.
However, when it comes to Hindus, their commitment takes a temporary hiatus and they partake in the brazen objectification. Because they believe ‘Sanghis’ are not humans. They have reiterated this stand over and over.
While they argue that women should not be reduced to their hymens, they indulge in the exact same behaviour when the victims are ‘Sanghis’. This selective application of activism is why these feminists are not taken seriously by the people of the country. All their activism is reserved only for women who meekly subscribe to their ideology. Those who are maverick enough to not abide by their worldview, are condemned to sexual harassment and attacks.
The Clubhouse conversation reveals woke liberals’ visceral hatred for Hindus, especially their women
The audio conversation on Clubhouse also reveals the deep-rooted hatred these so-called social media influencers harbour for anyone who is proud of their Hindu roots and unabashedly wears their Hindu identity on their sleeves. Women who overtly manifest their support to Hindutva ideology are considered as fair game by these bunch of self-proclaimed liberals to be subjected to sexual objectification.
For years, the feminists like the ones who were part of the Clubhouse discussion ridiculed people belonging to the Hindutva fold as sexually deprived because they could not win arguments with them based on logic. When they realised their arguments against adherents of Hindutva ideology were bereft of logic and rationality, they threw labels at them such as Sanghi, Bhakts and mocked them on their sexual life.
However, if the audio clip released on Twitter is anything to go by, it reveals the depravity of the so-called left-liberal social media influencers, who perhaps seemed to be among those who are sexually deprived and want to use sex as a tool to score points over their ideological counterparts. Their fixation with having sex with nubile Hindu women provides a window into their perverted minds and their blatant disregard of commitments they had so passionately claimed to espouse.
Perhaps, it appears that their piecemeal allegiance to the lofty ideals of liberalism and feminism is meant only as a smokescreen, apparently to feign moral superiority while concealing their insecurities and inferiority complex against Hindu women. This inferiority complex is what compels them to rationalise and encourage even something as repugnant as predatory sexual behaviour against their ideological opponents.
The subtle promotion of sexually predatory behaviour and Grooming Jihad
Additionally, this brazen objectification of women is one of the defining characteristics of the mindset under which Grooming Jihad works. As a part of Grooming Jihad in India, Hindu women are entrapped by the assailants who pose as imposters, intending to have a sexual relationship, marrying them and later manipulating them into eschewing their beliefs and faith.
Ever since Hindus raised awareness about Grooming Jihad, the left-liberals and feminists have sought to dismiss the menace as non-existent and accuse Hindus of indulging in fear-mongering. They had roundly rejected the notion that Hindu women were targeted through a well-thought-out conspiracy as a part of the plan to wean them away from their Hindu roots, even though overwhelming evidence proved its rampant existence.
Historically, sex has also been used by men as a means to subjugate women and establish their supremacy over them. During medieval times, the Mughal kings kept Hindu women in their harems as sex slaves. They were raped and tortured continuously, only because their belief was at variance with the Mughal kings. More recently, ISIS codified sex slavery and its fighters extensively used it against their non-Muslim captives.
The concept of using sex as an instrument of ideological warfare is profoundly problematic because it often gives rise to more severe crimes such as rapes, acid attack and murder. So, when the liberals and feminists encourage and promote the unhealthy fetish of establishing sexual dalliance with women who support opposing ideology, they are not only degrading them as objects of sexual lust as ISIS did with their prisoners but also normalising using sex as a weapon against their ideological opponents. The Hindus must, therefore, call out the sham of these so-called social media influencers and expose them for what they are, Hinduphobic predators.
Recently, Haryana girl Nikita Tomar was murdered in broad daylight by one Tauseef who wanted to marry her. Tomar’s parents had gone on record to say that Tauseef wanted Nikita to convert to Islam and she had been rejecting his advances. Apparently, the ‘liberals’ had whitewashed Tauseef’s hate crime against Nikita by claiming that the ‘right wing’ was pushing a ‘love jihad’ narrative. They conveniently forget that Tauseef wanted Nikita to convert to Islam because he hated her Hindu identity. How will this be different from ‘hate sex’ the so-called liberals so easily normalise?
So when someone ‘thirsts’ for ‘hate sex’, where you have forceful, sometimes rough (read rape) sexual intercourse with someone you hate because of political ideology, you are actually perpetuating the concept of Grooming Jihad where the sexual relationship with the victim is based on the hate you have for their religious identity. Perhaps this is why the ‘liberals’ do not accept the concept of Grooming Jihad as real despite innumerable examples of sexual exploitation, rape, forceful religious conversion and sometimes even murder of Hindu women by Islamists.
Earlier today, Congress leader Jitin Prasada left his party and joined the BJP at the party headquarters in New Delhi. Prasada, who is the former union minister and Congress leader from Uttar Pradesh, paid a visit to Union Minister Piyush Goyal, and from there both of them went to meet home minister Amit Shah before going to the BJP headquarters. The development comes ahead of the Uttar Pradesh State Legislative elections that are scheduled to be held next year.
Before joining the BJP, Jitin Prasada has been a lifelong Congress member. He is the son of late Congress leader Jitendra Prasada, who served as the vice-president of the Indian National Congress and was also the political advisor to two prime ministers of India, Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 and PV Narasimha Rao in 1994.
A longstanding Congress supporter, Jitendra Prasada breathed his last on 16 January 2001 after he suffered from a cerebral haemorrhage. However, there is an interesting backstory behind the unfortunate demise of Jitendra Prasad.
Jitendra Prasad fought and lost the election for the post of party presidentship against Sonia Gandhi
Back in 1999, rebellion against Sonia Gandhi was brewing as senior party members, including Sharad Pawar, PA Sangma and Tariq Anwar openly spoke against her and asserted that the widow of Rajiv Gandhi did not have what it takes to become the Prime Minister of the country, primarily on account of inexperience and her Italian nationality.
This faction, which was openly challenging Sonia Gandhi’s control over the Congress party, was promptly shown the door. In their absence, the mantle of opposing Sonia Gandhi’s hegemony over the Congress party was challenged by two individuals, Rajesh Pilot and Jitendra Prasada, both of whom were struggling to make their mark in the party that promoted nepotism and stifled merit.
Soon after they had begun the campaign to yank the control of the party from Sonia’s grip, Pilot died in a car accident in the summer of 2000. This left Prasada alone, who ploughed along in his battle against Sonia Gandhi.
Prasada had confided in a journalist that Sonia Gandhi did not play “straight” in the elections
In November 2000, Prasada contested the party election for the presidentship against Sonia but was terribly defeated and outnumbered by the clique of Sonia supporters. Of the 7,542 votes that were polled, he could manage to garner a paltry 94.
Later, in an interaction with an India Today journalist in December 2000, Prasada split beans about her miserable defeat against Sonia Gandhi. At the sight of Sonia breezing in, Prasada reportedly said: “After giving me an innings defeat, my sight possibly makes her (Sonia) feel reassured. The match was fixed behind my back, but I don’t claim that I would have won if she’d played it straight.”
Two months after he was handed a severe pasting by Sonia Gandhi in the party elections, Prasada suffered a massive brain haemorrhage, and after being in a deep coma for days, he died on 16 January 2001.
In a shocking incident in Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, a man refused to conduct the last rites of her mother as they are from different religions. While the mother was Hindu, her son had converted to Christianity, and hence he refused to cremate his mother as per Hindu customs and insisted that she should be buried as per the Christian traditions.
According to the reports, an elderly woman from Gwalior identified as Saroj Devi recently lost her life. Dharam Pratap Singh, the son of Saroj Devi, who had converted to Christianity and had changed his name to David, arrived at her residence on June 2 and demanded that his mother, a practising Hindu, be buried to Christian customs.
After realising the sinister designs of David alias Dharam Pratap Singh, Saroj Devi’s granddaughter (daughter’s daughter) Shweta Suman travelled 1100 km from Jharkhand and took custody of the mortal remains of her grandmother.
धर्म परिवर्तन खतरनाक इसलिए है , बेटे ने धर्म परिवर्तन कर लिया तो अपनी ही माँ का अंतिम संस्कार करने से मना कर दिया । ब्यक्ति मत, मजहब, सम्प्रदाय के पीछे इतना पागल हो गया है जननी को ही भुला बैठा। धारण करने जो योग्य हो उसे ही “धर्म” कहते है। pic.twitter.com/hkZuQJ31BV
Shweta Suman opposed her uncle’s demands and asserted that Saroj Dev should be cremated since her grandmother remained a Hindu until her last breath, refusing to become a Christian. As her maternal uncle refused to perform the last rites, Suman took the responsibility of performing the final rites of her grandmother.
Suman had filed a plea with the Collector in this regard and sought the help of the Hindu Jagran Manch. Later, she conducted the cremation according to Hindu customs on Friday at Gwalior’s Lakshmiganj Muktidham.
According to Suman, her uncle David was pressurizing her grandmother to convert to Christianity. She further said that her uncle David had not allowed his mother to communicate with any other family members.
Suman has also requested the Superintendent of Police to initiate an inquiry into her grandmother’s death and her uncle’s attempts to pressurize her to become a Christian. Upon receiving a complaint, SP Amit Sanghi said that they would be investigating the same.
Actress-turned-politician Nusrat Jahan on Wednesday released a statement on the speculation of her separation from husband Nikhil Jain. In a detailed statement, the Bengali actress claimed that there is no need to divorce her ‘husband’ as their wedding in Turkey was not valid both in Turkey and India. She also revealed that she has separated from her husband Nikhil Jain a long back.
Saying that her marriage was not carried under any law, the actress said she does not need a divorce from him as the marriage is invalid in India. As it was an interfaith marriage, it needed to be registered in India under the Special Marriage Act. But the couple did not get their marriage registered under the Special Marriage Act, hence their marriage did not have any legal backing in the country, the actress claimed.
“Being on foreign land, as per Turkish Marriage Regulation, the ceremony is invalid. Moreover, since it was an interfaith marriage, it requires validation under Special Marriage Act in India, which did not happen. As per the court of law, it is not a Marriage, but a relationship or a live-in relationship,” the actress said on Wednesday.
Being on foreign land, as per Turkish Marriage Regulation, ceremony is invalid. It was interfaith marriage, it requires validation under Special Marriage Act, which didn’t happen. As per Court of Law, it’s not marriage but relationship/live-in: Nusrat Jahan, TMC issues statement pic.twitter.com/c9gi82vg8r
Hence, according to the actress, the question of divorce does not arise. “Our separation happened long back, but I did not speak about it as I intended to keep my private life to myself. Thus, my actions must not be questioned based on ‘separation’, by the media or anybody I am not related to. The alleged marriage is not legal, valid and tenable; and thus, was not a marriage at all in the eye of law,” a portion of her media statement read.
The couple had got married in 2019 in the Turkish town of Bodrum after Nusrat Jahan made her political debut by winning the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections.
What the laws say
Nusrat Jahan said that her wedding with Nikhil Jain in Turkey was not valid both in Turkey and India. Lets see what the relevant laws in the two countries say.
Due to the availability of picturesque locations like beaches, mountains, resorts etc that make a perfect wedding album, a large number of people go to Turkey to solemnise their weddings. According to the Turkish Marriage Legislation and regulations, a Turkish national and a foreigner, or two foreigners with different nationalities, or two foreigners with the same nationalities can get married in the country. However, such weddings must be conducted by Turkish marriage authorities, the Marriage Offices run by local municipalities. In the case of two foreigners of the same nationality, like in the case of Nusrat Jahan and Nikhil Jain, the same also can be conducted by their own Country’s Embassy or Consulate.
The Turkish laws specifically mention that religious marriages are not recognised by law, there has to be civil marriage with appropriate authorities.
While the reports and photographs of the famous wedding suggest that they had a wedding as per religious rituals, there was not report of them getting the marriage registered either with Turkish authorities or with the Indian Embassy. Therefore, it seems Nusrat Jahan is correct that her wedding is not valid in Turkey.
Now coming to the law in India, the Special Marriage Act can be used by couples of different religions to get married without one of them converting to the religion of the other. This act allows people to conduct civil marriage without religious rituals. It is clear that Nusrat Jahan and Nikhil Jain didn’t register their wedding in India under the Special Marriage Act. Neither of them also converted their religions to get married under religious rituals as per Hindu Marriage Act or Muslim Marriage Act. Therefore, it can be said that thy didn’t marry in India at all, and their wedding in Turkey was not valid.
However, this creates another issue, if their wedding was not valid, was Nusrat Jahan, a member of the parliament, violating laws by misrepresentation her marital status.
Lok Sabha records say she is married
The details of Nusrat Jahan on the Lok Sabha website says that her marital status is married. It says her husband’s name is Nikhil Jain, and the date of marriage is recorded as 19 Jun 2019.
Now that the TMC MP has said her marriage was not valid, and which seems to be correct, it means she had provided wrong details about herself in Lok Sabha. It is notable that while taking oath as the MP, she has used the name Nusrat Jahan Ruhi Jain, but the surname ‘Jain’ is missing from her details on the Lok Sabha website.
Netizens question her oath
As Nusrat Jahan began to distance herself from her marriage citing legal technicalities, social media users began to question the authenticity of her statements saying that the actress had openly flaunted her marriage all along and added that she cannot now claim that she was just in a relationship with Nikhil Jain.
Netizens reminded the actress about how she had taken her oath in the Parliament as “Nusrat Jahan Ruhi Jain”. After her victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the newly-elected Lok Sabha had taken her oath in the name of “Nusrat Jahan Ruhi Jain”. This clearly means that in her oath, she had said that she had married Nikhil Jain, which was not a valid wedding.
Citing the same, social media users have begun to ask whether she lied on the floor of the house.
Nusrat Jahan took oath in Parliament as “Nusrat Jahan Ruhi Jain”, now she says her marriage is not legal?
Another social media user noted that Nusrat Jahan had appeared with Nikhil Jain by adorning Sindhoor on her forehead in front of goddess Durga after her marriage. However, she now claims that Nikhil Jain was not her husband, said another user confronting the actor-turned-politician whether she was insulting Bengali people by uttering such lies.
Shubangi Sharma asked Nusrat Jahan whether the marriage with Nikhil Jain was just another ploy to seek political mileage in the state and questioned whether it was a project carried out by political strategist Prashant Kishor to woo Hindu voters in Bengal.
It is pertinent to note that Prashant Kishor was the advisor for Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress in the run-up to the 2021 Assembly elections.
Nusrat Jahan says her marriage with Nikhil Jain is invalid and not recognised under Indian law. It’s her private life but one cannot forget all the political mileage the TMC churned in PK’s project to win back Hindus and I wonder if all this was rushed for political gains only. pic.twitter.com/K60LAhZqGT
With Nusrat Jahan citing Indian laws to claim that she was ‘legally’ never married to Nikhil Jain, instead, she was just in relationship akin to ‘live-in’, the actress-turned-politician has now opened a pandora’s box in terms of interpretation of marriage laws in the country.
Former India Today journalist Aishwarya Subramanyam on Wednesday justified the rape culture of the ‘woke liberals’ after a Clubhouse conversation normalising rape culture went viral on social media.
Subramanyam’s justification
Subramanyam was part of the Clubhouse conversation along with other social media influencers like Kusha Kapila where ‘hate sex’ with Sanghis was being justified and ‘Sanghis’s were dehumanised.
Apparently, Kadamboor’s fantasising rapes on ‘Sanghis’ is okay because he’s gay and he was joking about ‘Sanghi men’ and not women.
The level of wokeness is too damn high.
The so called creepy SM influencers are showing their b!goted mindset, they're so obsessed with Sanghis that they want to do 'hate sex' with RW girls.
Approximately 8,000 people were listening to a conversation where one Neeraj Kadamboor was flaunting how he sometimes fantasises about ‘Sanghis’ and would like to have ‘hate sex’ with them.
‘Hate sex’ is sexual intercourse with someone you don’t like. It is on a very thin line of sexual abuse as hate sex is often forceful and more often than not without consent.
Soon, more people joined in in defending Kadamboor because he is gay and calling out his rape jokes is ‘targeted harassment’.
Aishwarya accusing those calling out Kadamboor of ‘targeted harassment’
Since as a ‘queer man’, Kadamboor was fantasising about raping ‘Sanghi types’, it is okay since it was about men and not women. Those raising objection to such thought process were accused of ‘targeted harassment’.
In multiple tweets, the former India Today journalist continues to defend Kadamboor for his rape jokes because he’s gay and people from gay community need to be ‘protected’.
In a 224-page judgment, the Madras High Court on Monday (June 7) issued a set of 75 directions to the Tamil Nadu government for the maintenance and protection of historical monuments and ancient temples. The suo motu case was initiated by the then Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan based on a reader’s letter called ‘The Silent Burial’ published in The Hindu newspaper.
The matter came up before a 2-Judge Bench of Justices PD Audikesavalu and R Mahadevan. The Court noted, “the custodians of grand and antique temples and ancient monuments are least bothered and the conservation of our valuable heritage is deteriorating not due to any natural calamity or catastrophe, but due to reckless administration and maintenance under the guise of renovation.”
The Bench slammed the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments and the Archaeology Department for its failure in safeguarding antique idols, and temples. The Madras High Court observed that 2000-year-old temples in the state are in ruins, which has facilitated miscreants to ‘lay their hands on the idols.’ The Court’s directions can bring about legislative reform Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act (HR&CE Act).
Temple lands must remain under the temple authorities, directs Court
The 2-Judge Bench ruled, “The State Government or the Commissioner of the HR&CE department, who are the Trustee/administrator of the temple lands, shall not alienate or give away the lands contrary to the wish of the donor. The lands shall always remain with the temples. The ‘public purpose theory’ shall not be invoked in cases of temple lands over which the interest of the community people of the religious denomination generally rests.”
The Madras High Court directed government officials to compile a list of encroachments over temple lands and recover them immediately from encroachers and defaulters. The Court had set aside a time period of 6 weeks for preparing the list and uploading the details on the website. It noted that the authorities must take necessary steps for the recovery of rent arrears, prevent illegal construction and encroachment of temple lands. The Court warned that appropriate action would be taken against the HR&CE Department officials for failing to remove encroachments within 8 weeks.
Temple funds must first be used for maintenance of temples : HC
The Madras High Court emphasised that temple funds must first be used in the maintenance of temples, conducting festivals, and making payment to the staff. “In case of surplus funds, the same shall be utilized for attending the repair and maintenance of other temples in the state as specified under the HR&CE Act and the Rules framed there under and for propaganda of the tenets of all or any of the religious institutions under the HR&CE Act,” the Court added.
Court directs authorities to form a Special Tribunal for temple disputes
The Judges issued directions to the HR&CE Department for auditing the temple assets. They noted that the Department might permit stakeholders of various religious denominations to participate in meetings conducted by the auditing Committees. The Madras High Court ruled that a Special Tribunal under the HR&CE Act must be constituted to deal with disputes over temple lands, tradition, culture, lease, rent arrears, and illegal encroachment. It added that the tribunal must be formed under the District Judge as Chairman with 2 or more members of retired Subordinate Judicial Officers. The Court has called for the setting up of a High-level committee to review and amend the HR&CE Act once in 3 years.
Courts directs formation of a Heritage Commission to oversee renovation/altercation work
“There is dire need to manage and conserve our ancient cultural heritage and monuments employing better-advanced technology in protecting, preserving and conserving the same”, the Madras High Court emphasised. It directed that the website of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department must include details of idols of historical importance, number of stolen idols, the number of idols retrieved, and the status of probe in theft cases.
The Court added that a 17-member Heritage Commission must be constituted within a period of 2 months and no renovation/alteration of idols, temples and other sculptures can be done without its approval. “The Heritage Commission shall identify all the structures, monuments, temples, antiques with historical/archaeological importance within the state of Tamil Nadu, formulate a list with age of such monuments by categorising them within their period group, issue appropriate notification, render periodical advice to the State, supervise the restoration, repair works etc., and maintain the same,” the Bench concluded.
Govt cannot use temple land for any purposes other than religious functions, says Madras HC
In a significant observation, the Madras High Court in November last year had said that the state government could not use temple land for any purpose other than for holding religious functions. The Madras High Court, responding to grievances raised by devotees regarding the alienation of temple land of two temples in Tamil Nadu, emphasised that temple land could be utilised only for the beneficial purposes of the temple.
The High Court also observed that temples in Tamil Nadu were not only a source of identification of the ancient culture but also a testimony of pride and knowledge of the talent in the fields of arts, science and sculpture. The court had also directed the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department to identify and protect all temple lands from encroachers with an officer in charge filing periodical reports.
Madhya Pradesh Congress’ Twitter account is back to its old tricks as party leader Jitin Prasada exited and joined the BJP earlier today.
MP Congress tweet
In a now-deleted tweet, MP Congress tweeted that Congress is happy with exit of Jitin Prasada as this is a ‘practice of throwing garbage into the dustbin’.
MP Congress, however, has since deleted the tweet.
This distasteful tweet does not quite come as a surprise since MP Congress is known to have a meltdown every time one of their leaders leaves the party.
In March 2020, when Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the party to join the BJP, thereby bringing down Kamal Nath led Congress government in the state, MP Congress Twitter account had a full-blown meltdown. In fact, at that time, MP Congress had nudged Scindia to be a ‘supporter’ and not a ‘slave’. In fact, even three days later after he politely quit the party to join the BJP, MP Congress account continued to whine.
That is not all, Madhya Pradesh Congress’ Twitter account likes to regularly goof up too. From logic-defying tweets to embarrassing faux pas, MP Congress account continues to be the garbage it talks about.
On June 9, Congress leader Jitin Prasada joined BJP, which sparked the never-ending debate on the trend of leaders changing their political parties. Since PM Narendra Modi started his tenure in 2014, many leaders from Congress and other political parties have joined the Party. In some cases, leaders in other parties are underutilized and when they shift their base, their true potential is revealed. One of the perfect examples of such leaders is Himanta Biswa Sarma, who recently became Chief Minister of Assam. Sarma had joined BJP in 2015. Notably, it is not a new trend for the leaders to leave their political parties and join or form a new one.
With Prasada joining BJP, a video of a 1996 interview of PM Narendra Modi has started to make rounds on social media. The clip was a part of an interview conducted during the 1996 Lok Sabha elections after voting was over in Haryana. During the interview, the reporter had asked PM Modi about his views on Narayan Rane, Naresh Agarwal etc., joining BJP.
A reply from @narendramodi_in himself (from 1996) for the Sanghis/RWs disgruntled/miffed over Narayan Rane , #NareshAgarwal etc. joining BJP
PM Modi, who was a prominent BJP leader at that time, replied that BJP had to fight a war and to win such wars, we have to take help from Vibhishans. He said, “In the beginning, Karyakartas get miffed about such leaders joining the Party. However, the Karyakartas in our Party understand that we have to fight a long war. We have to take help from Vibhishan sometimes, and we did it.”
He had further added, “It was a war and as a part of the strategy, we wanted to give a message to the citizens of India that the Congress party is breaking up and getting defeated. Congress leaders are running away from the Party. We succeed in spreading the message. In war, we have to show some decisive moves, and it was one of them. It was part of our strategy.”
25 years after the said interview, it is evident that the strategy has worked perfectly for BJP as it emerged as the single largest Party in two Lok Sabha elections in a row. Notably, five years after the interview, in 2001, Narendra Modi became the 14th Chief Minister of Gujarat. He won three assembly elections in a row before becoming the 14th Prime Minister of India in 2014.
The tales of World War II are replete with innumerable accounts of horror, atrocity and the absolute worst of human depravity. Among the kill count of tens of millions, there are stories that often go neglected. While Germany’s Holocaust against the Jews is well documented, there are stories of atrocity that have gone largely undiscussed. One of the lesser-known tales is that of Unit 731.
Unit 731 was the name of the Imperial Japanese Army’s covert biological and chemical warfare division. In the 1930s through the second China-Japan war and till the end of World War II, Unit 731 carried out horrific human experiments on the countless prisoners and villagers at Harbin, Northeastern China. The Unit was officially known as the Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Kwantung Army.
As per reports, Japan’s biological warfare program was started in the 1930s, after biological warfare was banned in the Geneva Convention in 1925. The Kwantung Army, which had at that time controlled large swathes of China, made the headquarters near the Pingfang district in Harbin and evicted around 8 villages to make their facilities. One of the main reasons for selecting Harbin was that ‘test subjects’ were readily available. The Unit 731 was led by General Shiro Ishii, a combat medical officer of formidable reputation.
Unit 731 members, image from 2017 NHK Documentary
“Wooden logs”
In the records of Unit 731, the test subjects were usually criminals, poor locals who signed consent forms for a small payment and Russian, Korean or Mongolian captives. One account, published in New York Times, narrates an experiment where a Russian mother and daughter were placed inside a thick glass chamber and had poisonous gas released inside. The mother sprawled herself over the child, as doctors outside gathered to record and study their convulsions, and time taken to die. Another account by a former Japanese medical worker named Takeo Wano narrates that a ‘western man’ was cut vertically in two pieces, and was ‘pickled in a six-foot glass jar of formaldehyde.
The test subjects were not named, there were just called Marutas, ‘wooden logs’ in Japanese.
Pathogen testing, studying ‘plagues’ on live human specimen
One of the most dangerous aspects of Unit 731 was the testing of biological warfare weapons, on live populations. Doctors under Shiro Ishii infected prisoners with live pathogens and studied how the diseases spread. To study infections, they sent infected persons among healthy prisoners. Some ‘logs’ got infected with multiple pathogens, to find out the cross-reactions of different diseases. Rats carrying the bubonic plague were let loose among cages of prisoners.
To study the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, Unit 731 doctors forced subjects to rape and impregnate female prisoners. Some women were forcefully impregnated to study disease progression during pregnancy and foetal transmission. Foetus, newborns were test subjects too.
Unit 731 experimenting on prisoners, image via SCMP
Vivisections
One of the most harrowing tales of the atrocities of Unit 731 was the accounts of vivisection, cutting open live prisoners, often without anaesthesia. In an NYT report, a former Unit 731 member, under the condition of anonymity, has described how they used to cut open prisoners while they screamed. The purpose of vivisection was to study the spread of pathogens into the internal organs of test subjects, while they were alive.
The intention was to develop ‘plague bombs’, using humans to spread diseases among Japan’s enemies. They experimented with plagues, anthrax and cholera.
vivisections being carried out, source celestialkitsune.com
Field trials
Unit 731 also dropped ‘plague bombs’ over nearby Chinese villages and towns, to see how many and how effectively they can kill populations. They were trying to see whether they could start major outbreaks, and as reports suggest, they could. There is no accurate estimate as to how many people the Unit killed, some say around 3000, but Chinese accounts say the number may be far greater, as there were numerous outbreaks in villages due to the ‘field trials’. Poisonous gas was already in use by Japanese forces against Chinese soldiers and Unit 731 often tested the potency of gases among prisoners.
Test subjects were also taken to a ‘test grounds’ called Anda, where subjects were bombarded with weapons to study the efficacy. Even aeroplanes were used to spray pathogens over villages, to see how many can be killed. Plague outbreaks were reported in Ningbo and Changde at that time. It was later found out that the outbreaks were Unit 731 experiments, where they had released disease vectors into populations.
In 1942, Unit 731 infected water bodies in Zhejiang province with cholera and typhoid cultures, but they soon stopped because the outbreaks went out of control, killing over 1700 Japanese soldiers along with the intended Chinese targets.
The ultimate goal of the extensive field trials was to use the ‘plague bombs’ to start disease outbreaks in enemy countries, particularly the USA.
Not a rogue unit
Unit 731 was by no means a rogue unit containing some ‘mad scientists’ who carried out horrible human experiments. The works of the Unit was sanctioned by the Japanese government and it had wide authority, carrying our experiments in several locations and publishing detailed reports. Many Japanese scientists and researchers also argued that ultimately the Unit’s experiments were intended to find scientific cures and enable their forces against biological deterrents.
Though the then Japanese Emperor Hirohito had never openly acknowledged Unit 731, his brother, Prince Mikasa had once toured the headquarters at Harbin, China. As per the NYT report, he had written in his memoirs that he was shown films on how Chinese prisoners were made to march in plains of Manchuria for poison gas experiments.
Ultimate goal: Starting epidemics in the USA
There are accounts of Japanese generals experimenting with balloons loaded with bombs and sending them with a prevailing wind to land on coastal US states. Though the US government had not released reports during the WWII, there were reports of bomb balloons killing six people in Oregon.
The bomb balloons were reportedly precursors, of balloons that would have eventually carried plague bombs. Many Japanese generals were pushing for such an attack, but as per reports, it was a former PM named Hideki Tojo, who fiercely argued against a biological warfare against USA in mid-1944.
The NYT report states that when USA was preparing to attack the island of Saipan, Japanese army had sent a submarine loaded with biological weapons, but the submarine was sunk in the pacific.
As Japan was almost at the verge of losing, a desperate plan was made to attack California, code-named ‘Cherry Blossoms At Night. Suicide pilots were to carry plague bombs in Japanese submarines that were equipped to carry planes (I-400 class submarines of Japan could carry 3 Aichi M6A Seiran planes). However, the operation was never carried out. Reasons remain unclear.
The aftermath: USA silenced the atrocities of Unit 731, bought the data and let the scientists go
Despite the despicable crimes against humanity, the main scientific and operational brains behind Unit 731 were never punished or even faced a trial.
When USA dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, making it clear that the war was over, Unit 731 used dynamites to destroy its headquarters in China. However, the work, the research and the scientists of Unit 731 were found to be too valuable for the USA. Just like Operation Paperclip, where notorious Nazi war criminals were secretly smuggled to the USA and were given facilities to carry out their work, Unit 731 scientists bought their freedom in exchange for the scientific data on an extensive and effective biological warfare program.
Shiro Ishii lived a comfortable life in Tokyo till old age. His faithful associates raised in ranks and were placed in important positions. So many years later, while China remembers its countless victims with a museum at Harbin, Japan’s acknowledgement has been reluctant. In later decades of the 20th century, many former unit 731 workers had come out to narrate their experiences and the discussions were opened. Books have been written about the Unit and its works. Russian media outlet RT had made a documentary movie, called ‘Death Factory’, detailing Unit 731’s atrocities.
As per reports, in 1945, US general Douglas McArthur had received intelligence about the Unit’s work from secret documents. He reported granted Ishii and his associates immunity from prosecution, in exchange for their scientific documents.
Many members of Unit 731 were arrested by the Soviet Red Army and were tried at the Khabarovsk War Crime Trials.
In 2017, Japanese national broadcaster NHK had released a documentary detailing the atrocities of Unit 731. It had caused a huge uproar in Japan at that time.
However, the atrocities and the countless tales of suffering of the victims are lost forever. They are now fleeting shadows of forgotten complicity, rendered to the obscure pages of history among a million others.
