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Watch: Delhi residents gather to protest outside Yogendra Yadav’s house, raise slogans

OpIndia Staff
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Watch: Delhi residents gather to protest outside Yogendra Yadav’s house, raise slogans

On Thursday, several citizens of Delhi reportedly gathered outside the residence of ‘Ichchhadari protestor’ Yogendra Yadav to protest against him for allegedly instigating riots in the national capital on Republic Day.

Some videos have been shared on social media, where dozens of people can be seen raising slogans against Yogendra Yadav. A woman named Divya Rastogi shared two videos. She shared that Yadav lives in her neighborhood and the residents of the neighboring housing societies have been protesting against Yadav for his role in the Republic Day violence.

The videos of the protests outside Yogendra Yadav’s house has now gone viral on social media platforms. Thousands of people can be seen shouting slogans against the ‘farmer’ leader, demanding his arrest for plotting an insurrection against the state.

The people were seen raising slogans saying, “Dilli ke gaddaron ko, joote maaro saalon ko”. (The persons who betrayed Delhi should be hit with shoes).

Another Twitter user named Gautam Aggarwal shared that the residents of the locality where Yadav lives have been demanding that the housing society asks Yadav to vacate his house.

Amidst the chants of ‘Vande Mataram’, the residents of the housing society burnt the pictures of Yogendra Yadav and shouted slogans of “Yogendra Yadav Murdabad”.

It is pertinent to note that the Delhi Police have registered FIRs against ‘farmer’ leader Yogendra Yadav in the Republic Day rioting case. Along with the other 20 alleged farmer leaders, cases have been filed against Yogendra Yadav under dacoity (section 395), 397 (robbery, or dacoity, with an attempt to cause death or grievous hurt), 120 b (punishment of criminal conspiracy), and other sections.

The Delhi Police have also named ‘farmer’ leaders Darshan Pal, Rajinder Singh, Balbir Singh Rajewal, Buta Singh Burjgil, Joginder Singh Ugraha have been named in FIRs. FIR has also mentioned the name of BKU spokesperson Rakesh Tikait. 

‘Farmer’ protest turns into caste rally as Rakesh Tikait incites more people to join at Ghazipur, refuses to back down

OpIndia Staff
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‘Farmer’ protest turns into caste rally as Rakesh Tikait incites more people to join at Ghazipur, refuses to back down

Three days after protestors disguised as farmers unleashed mayhem on the streets of New Delhi, tensions continue to rise near the national capital as ‘farmer’ leader Rakesh Tikait and his brother Naresh Tikait continued to incite farmers to join the protests at the Ghazipur border.

The support for the alleged farmer protests continues to dwindle as most organizations have deserted the rally after protesters resorted to rioting on Delhi’s streets. The Modi government had acted swiftly to register cases against the alleged farmer leaders, including Yogendra Yadav and Rakesh Tikait, for instigating farmers and warned the remaining protesters to vacate the areas.

On Thursday, the Uttar Pradesh administration also gave an ultimatum to protesting farmers to vacate the border by Thursday midnight, failing which they would be removed. The UP government had also ordered all its DMs and SSPs to ensure the end of all farmers’ protests in the state. The Ghazipur protests site has a heavy police deployment.

After fomenting trouble, Rakesh Tikait had earlier brazened it out, saying that he will not surrender and will even call more people to join the protest if needed. Tikait had even cried on national television to garner sympathy and slapped a fellow protestor even as he insisted that the laws be repealed.

Addressing farmers at the Ghazipur Border, Rakesh Tikait had said they would not surrender before the police and demanded that a Supreme Court-appointed committee should investigate the January 26 violence in Delhi.

“There won’t be any surrender. BJP wants to create a different scenario. Call details of those responsible for the Red Fort incident should come out in public,” Rakesh Tikait said.

Farmer protests now turns into a caste parade

The protests that started as a farmer rally has now turned down to a caste showdown as farmer leaders are now trying to mobilize protestors on caste lines. In what seems to be the last push, Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait, accused of instigating the Republic Day violence, has now farmers from Western UP to reach Ghazipur site to support his protests against the government.

Following Tikait’s emotional appeal, a few followers gathered outside Rakesh Tikait’s house in UP’s Sisauli, chanting slogans in his support. They have reportedly traveled to the Ghazipur border in support of Rakesh Tikait.

His brother Naresh Tikait, the head of the BKU who had earlier agreed to clear out the Ghazipur site, has announced a ‘Mahapanchayat’ in stronghold Muzaffarnagar to decide the future course of action. Naresh is the leader of Balian Khap Panchayat, one of the Jat bodies in Western UP.

Reportedly, the Rashtriya Jat Mahasangh has also now reached Ghazipur to support Rakesh Tikait. “This is a fight against the death of our farmers. By morning, thousands of farmers will be here,” Rohit Jakhar, a Jat leader said.

In Haryana, Tikait’s supporters and a few Jat leaders have blocked the Jind-Chandigarh road in protest.

Meanwhile, the Delhi police have booked over 30 ‘farmer’ leaders for inciting violence during the tractor rally on January 26. Rakesh Tikait, Yogendra Yadav, and Darshan Pal have all been named in the FIR for instigating the crowd to unleash mayhem on the streets of the national capital.

Delhi Court rejects bail plea of Pinjra Tod activist Natasha Narwal, says prima facie case against her is true

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi Court rejects bail plea of Pinjra Tod activist Natasha Narwal, says prima facie case against her is true

On January 28, a Delhi Court has rejected the bail plea of Far-Left Pinjra Tod activist Natasha Narwal. The court observed that intentionally blocking roads leading to disruption of essential services, attack on police personnel, and eventually culminating in riots falls within the scope of the terrorist act under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). Natasha was booked under UAPA in May 2020.

The court noted that the entire conspiracy began in December 2019 by intentionally blocking roads to cause inconvenience and disruption of supplies of services that are essential to the life of the community of India. It resulted in violence with various means and led to the February incident. The court said, “[The conspiracy led] to the February incident with the focus being targeted blocking of roads at mixed population areas and creating panic and attack on police personnel with facade of women protesters in front and leading to riots would be covered by the definition of terrorist act.”

The case against Natasha is prima facia true, said the court

Additional Judge Amitabh Rawat said that there was sufficient incriminating evidence against Natasha, and there were reasonable grounds to believe that the accusations against her are prima facia true. “Hence the present application for bail of accused Natasha Narwal is dismissed,” he added.

This was the first bail plea filed by Natasha since Delhi Police filed a charge sheet against her. Advocate Adit Pujari representing Natasha, claimed in the plea that there were no offences under UAPA made out against her. She claimed that the protests in which Natasha participated were organic and secular in nature. However, the prosecution said that the case is a “multi-layered, multi-organizational” and “deep-rooted conspiracy” and prima facie. Thus the case under UAPA was registered.

The right to protest is not absolute

During the hearing, the court stated that the citizens have the right to protest. However, these rights are not absolute. There should be reasonable restrictions. “What actually has to be seen in the context of the present case is whether there was a conspiracy which led to riots under the guise of the protest against CAA or not, in terms of the contents of the charge sheet and the accompanying documents,” the court added.

The court further said that even if the court takes the argument that only one side of the road was blocked into consideration, it would have prevented entirely the ingress and egress for the people who were surrounded and for whom panic and terror was created. The court further said that we find “sufficient incriminating material against the present accused” after observing the statement of protected witnesses under Section 164 CrPC.

Red chilli powder was distributed to women

After reviewing the WhatsApp group’s chat under scrutiny, the court said that there was a specific reference to Narwal and the distribution of red chilli powder to women so that they could attack police and paramilitary on February 23. The court also noted that Narwal was linked to other accused in the case. “There is contemporaneous record which cannot be wished away at this stage of bail,” the court said.

UP police lodges FIR against Shashi Tharoor, Rajdeep Sardesai and others for instigating riot in Red Fort by spreading fake news

OpIndia Staff
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UP police lodges FIR against Shashi Tharoor, Rajdeep Sardesai and others for instigating riot in Red Fort by spreading fake news

UP Police has lodged an FIR against several politicians and journalists for sharing fake news during the tractor rally in Delhi on 26th January. The FIR under the section 154 of CrPC has been lodged at the Noida sector 20 police station.

The FIR names Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, India Today journalist Rajdeep Sardesai, National Herald’s Senior consulting editor Mrinal Pandey, Quami Awaz editor Zafar Agha, Caravan magazine’s editor and founder Paresh Nath, Caravan editor Anant Nath and its executive editor Vinod K Jose, and one unnamed person.

All of them have been booked for spreading the fake news that one protestor was shot dead by Delhi Police during the tractor rally on Republic Day, who had actually died due to an accident. Rajdeep Sardesai had tweeted the fake news on Twitter, and later had repeated the same on India Today, claiming that bullet injury was seen on the head of the deceased.

Shashi Tharoor and others named in the FIR had also circulated the fake news, which had instigated the protestors to indulge in violence.

The Caravan had also spread the fake news, claiming that “An eyewitness told The Caravan that he saw the police firing from behind the grills of the Andhra Education Society.” They had also reported that eyewitnesses said they saw police personnel fleeing from the spot after Navneet was shot.

While most others had subsequently deleted their social media posts after it was emerged that the farmer had died after tractor had overturned while he was attempting a stunt, the tweets of Caravan still remain.

The FIR says that the accused persons are responsible for the riots on 26th January, as it was instigated by their digital media posts. It says that despite the large scale attack on the police causing injuries to hundreds of policemen, the accused persons circulated fake news in a coordinated and well-planned manner that police have shot a person dead. ‘It was done deliberately so that it cases a large-scale riot and communal violence among various communities’, the FIR alleges.

The UP police says that the accused persons knowingly circulated fake news for their political benefits and to instigate the protestors for violence. ‘Due to their tweets, the protestors reached the Red Fort and hoisted religious and other flags in the place of national flag’, the FIR notes.

The claim that police deliberately shot a person dead can cause a feeling of fear and insecurity among various communities, and it can become a threat to the national unity in these sensitive times. The tweets have been forwarded to a large number of people, and it has caused an adverse effect on the law and order situation in the country. Therefore, it is necessary to remove the misleading tweets, the FIR states.

Through the FIR, charges under sections 153(A), 153(B), 295(A), 298, 506, 505(2), 124(A)/34/120(B) of the Indian Penal Code, and under section 66 of the Information  Technology act.

Watch: ‘Farmer’ leader Rakesh Tikait slaps a youth after breaking into tears and threatening suicide earlier in the evening

OpIndia Staff
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Watch: ‘Farmer’ leader Rakesh Tikait slaps a youth after breaking into tears and threatening suicide earlier in the evening

Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait slapped a youth at the Ghazipur Border today after a emotional breakdown earlier in the evening. The events come at a time when multiple farmer unions have exited the protest in light of the violence during the Tractor Parade on Republic Day.

Rakesh Tikait claimed that the youth was not a member of their organization and was misbehaving with the media to justify his assault.

He has also claimed that the youth was a BJP supporter. He did not provide any evidence for his claims.

Earlier in the evening, Rakesh Tikait had broken into tears claiming that the protests will go on and kept insisting that the laws must be repealed. He also threatened to commit suicide and also said that there was a conspiracy underway to murder farmers.

Multiple videos have gone viral on the internet where the farmer leader can be seen inciting violence. Despite his claiming that others were responsible for the violence, law enforcement authorities appear to have sufficient evidence of his involvement in the violence as he has been slapped with UAPA.

Sources claim Aroon Purie has stepped in to ‘manage’ the resignation of Rajdeep Sardesai, he may exit at a more ‘honourable’ time later

OpIndia Staff
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Sources claim Aroon Purie has stepped in to ‘manage’ the resignation of Rajdeep Sardesai, he may exit at a more ‘honourable’ time later

After speculations were rife that Rajdeep Sardesai has resigned from India Today after he was suspended for two weeks, new speculations say that it has been put on hold for some time.

According to insider sources from India Today, the group head Aroon Purie has stepped in to “manage” the resignation of the controversial journalist. Poorie is trying to “manage” the embarrassing situation both the media house and the controversial journalist are facing following he was caught spreading fake news multiple times in this week.

Sources say that as per this plan, Rajdeep Sardesai will stay on with India Today for the time being, and he will leave the network sometime in future, so that his resignation is not linked with the controversies he has created this week. According to sources, channel is unhappy with Rajdeep because he not only posted fake news about the death of a farmer protestor on 26th January in Delhi, but he also made statements on air making completely false allegations. He had said on air that he was shown the body of the farmer with bullet injury on the head.

Rajdeep Sardesai had claimed that the farmer was shot dead by Delhi police, while the fact is that he had died after his tractor had overturned while he was trying to do a stunt with the vehicle. It was confirmed by the video footage of the incident, accounts of journalists who witnessed the event, and the post-mortem report of the farmer. It was also reported that when the police had tried to rescue the farmer after the accident, they were prevented from doing so by the protestors, causing the death.

Not just this, Rajdeep Sardesai had invited lots of humiliation onto himself and the channel just a few days ago, when he had joined the fake controversy over the portrait of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. When the portrait was unveiled on 23rd January on the occasion of 125th birth anniversary of Netaji, a large number of opposition leaders and journalists had claimed that the portrait actually depicts actor Prosenjit Chatterjee, who had played the role of Bose in a movie. But later it was revealed that the portrait was based on a photograph of Bose, which was supplied by his grand-nephew. Rajdeep Sardesai was one of the journalists to spread the fake news on Twitter, along with others like Barkha Dutt, Sagarika Ghose, Rohini Singh etc.

With ED closing in on India Today over the fake TRP case, the channel may be looking for a more honourable time for the eventual exit of Sardesai. Therefore, the resignation of the journalist may be managed for the time being, according to the speculations.

News Minute publishes false information in the TRP manipulation case, corrects it after receiving legal notice from Republic TV

OpIndia Staff
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News Minute publishes false information in the TRP manipulation case, corrects it after receiving legal notice from Republic TV

Online news portal News Minute was forced to issue a corrigendum after Republic TV sent them a legal notice for spreading fake news on the TRP manipulation case. On 26th January, the portal had published a report on the ongoing case, quoting a BARC audit report on the issue.

The News Minute article by Sanyukta Dharmadhikari had said that BARC had found manipulation of ratings of Times Now and Republic TV. It claimed that the Times Now channel was removed from panels to bring down its viewership, to benefit Republic TV. The report also said that television viewership ratings were changed from 2016 to 2019 to favour certain channels.

The report had claimed that the audit report had determined fraud in viewership manipulation by BARC from email exchanges between former BARC CEO Partho Dasgupta and Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami. The report had said, Naming Partho Dasgupta and citing his exchanges with Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, the audit report states, “We can conclude that Mr Partho Dasgupta was aware of the manipulation of the ratings and violation of the processes that was happening in BARC during his stint as CEO. We can also infer that he may be directly involved in these mala-fide actions.”

However, now News Minute has said that their report had mistakenly stated that the BARC Audit report came to a conclusion on the basis of Partho Dasgupta’s exchanges with Arnab Goswami, and actually it was based on “Partho’s exchanges with several of his colleagues at BARC”. They have accordingly made changes to the report, and tweeted that the error is regrated.

After News Minute posted the regret for the error in their report, Republic TV posted a tweet informing that they did this after getting a legal notice from Republic. They informed that they have sent a legal notice to the porting over false reporting by News Minute “trying to falsely and maliciously concoct a story about findings on Mr Dasgupta to any specific “exchanges” with Mr Goswami.”

Earlier today, Republic TV had also filed a defamation suit against Times Now anchor Navika Kumar, and sent a legal notice to Indian Express, over their comments and reporting on the leaked WhatsApp chats of Arnab Goswami and Partho Dasgupta.

The report was also published in another portal Primetimes, which still carries the false in formation.

Republic TV files defamation suit against Times Now anchor Navika Kumar, sends notice to Indian Express. Details

OpIndia Staff
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Republic TV files defamation suit against Times Now anchor Navika Kumar, sends notice to Indian Express. Details

The ARG Outlier Media Pvt. Ltd, the parent company of news channel Republic TV has filed a defamation suit against Times Now anchor Navika Kumar for making defamatory statements against Republic TV and Arnab Goswami in connection with the Whatsapp chats related to ‘Fake TRP’ scam.

According to the reports, the defamation complaint was filed against Navika Kumar before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Patiala House court in Delhi.

The petition stated that Republic TV had taken exception to Kumar’s statements on January 18, 2021, on her show – Newshour. Navika had allegedly made false claims relating to Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami’s Whatsapp chats, which Republic TV said were distorted and misconstrued.

The plea alleged that Navika Kumar spewed reckless and grossly defamatory material and telecast the same on TV and published them on the internet. The complaint also stated that in an attempt to colour the public’s minds, Kumar accused the complainant of “building its success” on “TRP manipulation”.

“By misusing, misconstruing and distorting the documents from the Mumbai Police’s charge-sheet in the TRP Scam, mainly the WhatsApp Chats, and without regard to the matter being sub judice both before the lower courts at Mumbai and the Hon’ble Bombay High Court, the Accused Person has gone on a reckless spree to spew grossly defamatory material mentioned below that has been telecast, published, circulated and disseminated on the TV Channel Times Now as well as the internet in various portal such as the Youtube,” the complaint reads.

Navika Kumar made “rabid and unfounded claims” against Arnab Goswami, says the petition

The petition has alleged that Navika Kumar made “rabid and unfounded claims” accusing Republic TV chief Arnab Goswami of “endangering national security” and “leaking state secrets”.

The plea alleged that Navika Kumar was jealous and the defamatory content aired by her was a consequence of such professional jealousy. It mentions that Goswami had launched Times Now in 2006 and had taken it to the number 1 position in a year. It claimed that Times Now and Kumar are now harboring professional jealousy against Republic TV because of its success.

“The Accused is currently still part of the company Times Now. The said fact is in itself enough to show the motive of the Accused Persons to unnecessarily defame the Editor in chief of the complainant company and in turn to impact the reputation of the complainant company. It is in fact for the reason that the Complainant company in itself has now gathered attraction that the Accused is jealous and the lack of ability of the Accused to match the success of the Complainant company, has caused this defamatory show to be aired,” the petition said.

Although Article 19 (a) of the Constitution guarantees freedom of expression but clause 2 puts an embargo on derogatory speech, it is argued.

The petition says that Navika Kumar had falsely claimed that Republic TV had access to unauthorized official secrets to the Balakot airstrikes before the strikes took place. It says that many media outlets had published reports speculating a major retaliation by India after the Pulwama attacks and there was a lot of public discussion over the same.

Republic TV sends legal notice to Indian Express for story on Arnab Goswami

Earlier, Republic TV had slapped a legal notice to left-wing media outlet Indian Express for its story titled ‘Arnab Goswami paid me $12,000 and Rs 40 lakh to fix ratings: Partho Dasgupta’.

In its notice, Republic TV had accused Indian Express of carrying out malafide, vicious and vexatious campaign to tarnish the reputation of its Editor-in-Chief, Arnab Goswami.

“Despite the pendency of the matter before a court of law, which is well known to you, the above news report has attributed guilt to our client in relation to the alleged TRP scam. The news report has sought to impute guilt on our client without paying any heed to the true facts and to the indeterminacy of the issues and pending court action by our client before the Hon’ble Bombay High Court”, read the notice.

Republic further accused Indian Express of manipulating its readers with ‘squarely deliberate and mischievous’ headlines.

Republic TV asked Indian Express to cease and desist from publishing such news and demanded an unconditional apology and a proposal on monetary compensation for the news report.

Speculations rife, Rajdeep Sardesai quits India Today after channel took him off air for spreading fake news

OpIndia Staff
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Speculations rife, Rajdeep Sardesai quits India Today after channel took him off air for spreading fake news

Hours after India Today put its Consulting Editor Rajdeep Sardesai off-air for two weeks over spreading fake news during the Tractor Rally riots, he has reportedly quit the channel. According to sources, Rajdeep Sardesai was found guilty of spreading two major fake news in just one week, after which he was suspended for two weeks by the media house.

Earlier in the day, media reports suggested that he was taken off-air by India Today and also faced one-month salary cut. Reportedly, India Today has taken the unprecedented step to penalise the senior journalist violated social media policies of the media house several times.

Sources claim that termed his suspension and salary cut a big humiliation for him, and he decided to submit his resignation from India Today. However, in the absence of any official confirmation from either India Today or Rajdeep Sardesai, this remains a speculation.

On Republic Day, during the Tractor Rally that went violent, Sardesai had tweeted an image of the protestor Navneet and declared that he was shot at by Delhi Police. He had tweeted, “one person, 45-year-old Navneet killed allegedly in police firing at ITO.” In a bid to pump up emotions, he had added, “Farmers tell me: the ‘sacrifice’ will not go in vain.” He had also tweeted a picture of the deceased’s body covered in the Indian tricolour.

Rajdeep Sardesai’s now-deleted tweet

However, Navneet had died after the tractor he was driving to break police barricades turned turtle. He died instantly, as per reports. After it was pointed out to him on Twitter, he had deleted the tweet.

Rajdeep Sardesai did not stop there. Later, when he went live on India Today, he repeated the lie and said that the farmer was shot in the head by police. He claimed that Navneet Singh was driving the tractor and he was “shot in the head” and suffered a bullet injury that resulted in his death.

Earlier on 23rd January, Sardesai had also joined to accuse the President of India of unveiling the wrong portrait of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. After the official Twitter handle of the Rashtrapati Bhavan had posted the image of portrait on the occasion of 125th birth anniversary of the freedom fighter, several journalists and opposition leaders had alleged that the portrait was of actor Prosenjit Chatterjee, who had played the role of Bose in a movie. But later it was revealed that the portrait was based on a photograph of Bose, which was supplied by his grand-nephew. Rajdeep Sardesai was one of the journalists to spread the fake news on Twitter, along with others like Barkha Dutt, Sagarika Ghose, Rohini Singh etc.

‘Kiran ki na ka matlab?’ UP Police gets innovative while spreading awareness about consent of women

OpIndia Staff
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‘Kiran ki na ka matlab?’ UP Police gets innovative while spreading awareness about consent of women

As the reports of crime against women continue to emerge from Uttar Pradesh, the UP police have decided to taken an innovative approach to spread awareness on the issue. The Twitter handle of UP Police has been very active in recent times, using popular themes to spread awareness on various issues.

Today they decided to spread awareness about respecting the opinion of women, and used the reference from 90s hit movie Darr. Using a clip of the song ‘tu ha kar ya na kar tu hai meri Kiran’, the Twitter handle asked, ‘Kiran ki na ka matlab?’ (the meaning of Kiran’s no?). The answer was also given in the video clip, in a form of a dialogue by Amitabh Bachchan from the movie Pink, where he says, ‘No means no’.

The message here the UP is trying to spread that, when a woman says no to advances made by a man, that man should taking it as a final answer, and stop chasing her. It is not correct to keep stalking a woman even after she has said ‘no’ to a proposal.

The 1993 movie Darr featuring Shahrukh Khan, Juhi Chawla and Sunny Deol revolved around the same theme, where Rahul (played by Shahrukh) an obsessive lover of Kiran (played by Juhi), continued to follow and stalk her even after marriage with Sunil (Sunny).

While other movies in that time had glorified such stalking as pure love, where the ‘love’ was shown to win at the end, Darr was different as Rahul was portrayed as villain in the movie. In the climax, Rahul tried to forcefully marry Kiran after stabbing her husband, but he was eventually killed by Sunil.

Therefore, the choice of the movie is perfect to conveying the message of ‘no mean no’ in the awareness campaign on violence against women. Yesterday, the UP police had used a clip from the movie Sholay to spread a message on road safety. Just a week ago, they had similarly used another clip from Sholay to spread awareness against spiting in public places.

It is notable here that police forces in different states have been finding unique ways to promote awareness among the public on issues ranging from traffic rules, masks, social distancing and covid restrictions. Last year, police officials in Chennai were seen wearing ‘coronavirus helmets’ to educate people about social distancing and lockdown rules.

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