Pakistan has been grappling with economic woes and the situation is not likely to change anytime soon. As per reports, following the footsteps of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) might seek repayment of its $3 million debt from the Pakistani government.
As per a report in Hindustan Times, the UAE had announced a $3 billion package for Pakistan in December 2018. But, the Arab country has not indicated its plans to extend the $1 billion dollars, payable on January 24 this year as part of the original $3 billion package. As such, Pakistan is ‘apprehensive’ that the UAE might demand loan repayment as well, amidst souring bilateral relationships.
While the Pakistani Finance Ministry did not comment on the development by dubbing it as ‘confidential’, a source in the Ministry cited by The Tribune, “In case (the UAE) does not withdraw the facility, the loan would be considered extended for one more year.” It must be mentioned that UAE had also announced $3 billion worth of deferred oil payments from Pakistan but soon cancelled the facility.
Saudi Arabia had asked Pakistan last year to repay its debt of $3 billion, which the Arab country provided as a financial support package to the latter in 2018. Besides the package, Saudi Arabia had also announced a credit facility of $3.2 billion for deferred oil payments. Pakistan, which had attempted to form an alliance with Malaysia and Turkey as ‘alternative Islamic powers’, had drawn the ire of Saudi Arabia.
Pakistan borrows from China to repay Saudi Arabia debt
According to the Pakistani Ministry of Finance and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Pakistan had taken a loan from China to repay a $3 billion loan taken from Saudi Arabia. A desperate Pakistan did so because had it defaulted the payment, Saudi Arabia would have reduced its financial support.
According to the agreement between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, the assistance provided by Saudi Arabia was for one year. It had an option to roll over the amount at the end of the year for a period of three years. Pakistan was paying 3.2 per cent interest on the $3 billion loan. Pakistan had received the first tranche of $1 billion in November 2018, second $1 billion in December 2018 and third tranche of $1 billion in January 2019.
To repay the loan from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan had borrowed from China in three instalments of USD 1 billion, 1.5 billion and 500 million respectively.
A case of grooming jihad has come to light in Madhya Pradesh. A man named Sohail Mansuri alias Sunny has been arrested by Madhya Pradesh Police under Freedom of Religion Ordinance 2020 based on the complaint filed by a 22-year-old woman from Barwani.
As per the complaint, Sohail, who is already married and is the father of a child, sexually abused her for four years while keeping his real identity a secret.
When his real identity was revealed, he started pressurizing her to change religion for marriage.
Mansuri has been booked under sections 376 (rape), 506 (criminal intimidation), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 294 (obscene act) of the Indian Penal Code and Freedom of Religion Ordinance 2020.
The woman met Sohail in a wedding four years ago
In her complaint, the woman said that she met Sohail four years ago in Palsud town of Barwani district that is located around 170 KM from Indore. He works as a driver but also plays music at parties and events.
Barwani Station in-charge Rajesh Yadav has informed that as per the complaint, Sohail had introduced himself as Sunny and claimed he belonged to the victim’s own community. “They exchanged mobile numbers. Very soon, they entered into a relationship. He established physical relations with the girl.”
Sohail pressurized to change religion
As per the victim’s complaint, Sohail told the woman about his real identity and started pressurizing her to change her religion so that they could marry. When she refused to do so, he beat her several times. Yadav further added that the woman then started to gather more information about him and was shocked to learn that Sohail was already married and has a child from his first marriage.
After arresting Sohail on Monday, the case was transferred to Palsud police station as the crime took place in that region.
Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion ordinance 2020
The Madhya Pradesh government had recently passed the ‘Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion ordinance 2020’ on January 10. It is now an offence to forcefully convert someone or pressurising to convert for the sake of marriage. It is a non-bailable charge and the accused may face a jail term of two to five years and/or fine. Sohail is the first person to be arrested under the new ordinance in Madhya Pradesh.
Delhi woman Huma Hashim has approached court after her husband gave her triple talaq in June 2020. Her husband gave her triple talaq because she did not give birth to a male child. She has two daughters, aged 20 and 18.
He always wanted a son & made me undergo several abortions. He was hitting my daughter one day. When I tried to save her, he kicked & spat on me. He gave me triple talaq. We tried to file a complaint but Police paid no heed. We asked for allowance but he gave nothing: Huma Hashim https://t.co/0cEE5v1w35pic.twitter.com/80K3cM3UJo
She further added that she was severely tortured. Her husband also physically abused their daughter one day. When she tried to save her, her husband then kicked her and spat on her. According to Hashim, she was also forced to undergo several abortions.
Huma Hashim also alleged that her husband is not giving any allowance.
Seething after the recent exit of several Trinamool members led by the resignation of political heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari, CM Mamata Banerjee has decided to take her battle for West Bengal to the home turf of the former TMC stalwart.
In what could be seen as an open challenge to the now BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, Mamata Banerjee declared that she would be contesting the upcoming Assembly polls from Nandigram town in Purba Medinipur district, West Bengal. Banerjee is at present the MLA from Bhawanipore in south Kolkata.
Mamata Banerjee declares she will contest upcoming polls from Nandigram
“I have always started my campaign for the assembly polls from Nandigram. It is a lucky place for me. So this time I feel that I should contest the assembly polls from here. I request our state party president Subrata Bakshi to approve my name from this seat,” Banerjee said, addressing a public meeting in the town for the first time in five years.
Bakshi, who was on the podium, promptly accepted the request.
Mamata Banerjee urged voters of Bhawanipore, her current constituency, to bear with her. It was important for her to contest Nandigram as her party had to fight on all 294 assembly seats of Bengal, she said. “Bhawanipore, please don’t feel sad. I will give you a good candidate,” the 66-year-old promised.
Later in her speech, she indicated that she may contest from both constituencies and said, “Nandigram is my big sister, Bhawanipore is my younger sister… I will fight from both if possible. In case I am unable to contest from Bhawanipore, someone else would contest.”
Suvendu Adhikari galvanised the people of Nandigram
For the uninitiated, Nandigram is the epicentre of the 2007 farmers’ movement that propelled Mamata Banerjee to power in the state 10 years ago. And interestingly, Suvendu Adhikari, who is considered as one of the main architects of the Nandigram movement, had helped Mamata Banerjee led TMC to overthrow the 34-year left rule in the state. In fact, over the years Adhikari emerged as one of the Trinamool’s top brass because of his clout in Nandigram.
The Chief Minister’s return to Nandigram is being seen as a direct challenge to Suvendu Adhikari, who had led an exodus of Trinamool leaders to the BJP over the past few weeks. Over 40 Trinamool Congress leaders joined Adhikari as he defected to the BJP in a mega rally in December in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
“If I can’t defeat her by half lakh votes, I will quit politics”: Suvendu Adhikari accepts the challenge thrown at him by Mamata Banerjee
Responding to Mamata Banerjee’s dramatic declaration, Suvendu Adhikari, who had registered an emphatic win from Nandigram seat in West Bengal elections 2016 as a TMC candidate, turned the match on by accepting Mamata Banerjee’s challenge. “If I can’t defeat her by half lakh votes, I will quit politics,” he declared in Kolkata.
Meanwhile, speaking on the development, Amit Malviya, the BJP’s social media head and in-charge of Bengal opined that the WB CM’s decision was clearly a sign of nervousness. “Mamata Banerjee’s decision to shift seat from Bhowanipore to Nandigram, for the first time in 10 years, indicates her political nervousness… Will she explain why IPS Satyajit Bandopadhyay, charge-sheeted by CBI for firing on protesting farmers in Nandigram, was inducted in TMC?”, tweeted the BJP leader.
The Mumbai Police leaked the private WhatsApp chats of Arnab Goswami on the internet in order to embarrass the Republic TV Editor. This prompted the left-liberal lobby and the Opposition parties to allege that the media baron was aware of top-secret information pertaining to national security. All such claims were made based on selective portions of the chat about the Balakot airstrikes. The falsehood created such a storm that even Pakistan couldn’t help but salvage the situation for its anti-India propaganda.
In one snippet of the leaked Whatsapp chat, Arnab Goswami said, “Bigger than a normal airstrike. And at the same time something major on Kashmir. On Pakistan, the government is confident of striking in a way that people will be elated. Exact words used.” However, it must be mentioned that the said information was already out in the public domain. Even Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made it clear that Pakistan would pay for the terror attack in Pulwama.
But for the left-liberal ecosystem, the facts of the case are irrelevant. With the primary objective to target Arnab Goswami, they are hellbent on portraying his casual chat as a ‘compromise’ with national security and a ‘definitive’ tipoff by PM Modi. By applying the same ‘liberal logic’, we find that several people must have been tipped off by the Prime Minister for them to implore the possibility of a precision airstrike, prior to the actual strike.
‘Defence analyst’ Ajai Shukla and The Wire
10 days ahead of the Balakot airstrike on February 16, ‘defence analyst’ Ajai Shukla tweeted, “Boarding an Indian Air Force flight to Exercise Vayu Shakti in Pokhran to watch IAF fighters unload tens of tonnes of high explosive on dummy targets…200 km due south of Bahawalpur, the Jaish e Mohammed headquarters.”
The defence analyst was seen explicitly dropping hints about the possibility of a precision airstrike by India, and the training carried out as part of the operations.
Screengrab of the tweet by Ajai Shukla via @sssaaagar
In a video uploaded by the left propagandist website, The Wire, on its Youtube channel, Ajai Shukla was heard saying, “Everybody is talking about air strikes but it is a manned method of going in. And again, you are sending a manned pilot into the harm’s way. Not just escalate but with the risk that you might be captured or probably dead and made into a spectacle.”
It is pertinent to remember that the said video was posted on the same date as his tweet on February 16, 2019. Applying the ‘liberal logic’, it becomes clear that Ajai Shula was ‘well aware’ of the plans of the Indian Air Force and was in fact seen doing a risk-analysis of such a military exercise, 10 days prior to the actual event.
(Video Courtesy: Youtube/The Wire)
The Times of Islamabad warned about airstrike targeting terror camps
Not just The Wire, even the Times of Islamabad was found discussing military options available to India against Pakistan, in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack. It conceded, “The government is also looking at all military options available — from shallow ground-based attacks and occupation of some heights along the LoC to restricted but precise airstrikes against terror and training camps in Kashmir across the border.”
Screengrab of the tweet by Times of Islamabad via @attomeybharti
Given that The Times of Islamabad hit the bull’s eye when it talked about India undertaking a restricted but precise airstrike against terror camps in PoK across the border, is it safe to assume that PM Modi must have therefore passed info on military plans to the Pakistani side in advance on February 18? Or was it that the airstrikes happened to be the best option available to the Indian Air Force to seamlessly take out the training camps of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir?
Screengrab of the article by The Times of Islamabad.
‘The Hindu’ hints at airstrike but ponders over ramifications
Even the left leaning English daily, ‘The Hindu’ was found highlighting about the chances of India responding to Pakistan’s terror attack with a targetted airstrike. The article, by Happymon Jacob, dated February 19, 2019, was also seen pondering about India’s options after the terror attack.
While emphasising that the repetition of 2016 surgical strikes might lead to escalated tensions between the two countries, he opined, “The second option is to use strike aircraft to carry out precision strikes in locations across the Line of Control (LoC).”
Screengrab of the article published in The Hindu
Happymon Jacob, however, warned that the fighter jet might be intercepted by the Pakistani radar systems or result in the capture of pilots. “If an aircraft is shot down or pilots are captured, it could become a bigger headache for the government,” the article added.
India Today chips in with its expert panel, suggests unmanned airstrikes
India Today, too joined the raging conversation around India’s response to Pakistan, just a day after the terror attack in Pulwama. Journalist Rahul Kanwal claimed that the possibility of an airstrike was discussed even in the aftermath of 26/11 attacks. He claimed that a suggestion was made to then Prime Minister manmohan Singh by the then Air Chief Marshall fali Homi Major.
Kanwal went on to say that the Indian Air Force could use airborne precision-guided ammunition from the Indian side of LOC and attack key pakistani positions such as army establishments, terror hideouts or training camps, as a response to Pakistan’s aggression.
Screengrab of the tweet by India Today
‘Precision air strike most favoured option’, rules Times of India
TOI reported on the 16th of February, two days after the Pulwama Terror attack, that precision air strikes were the favoured option going forward. The report said, “The military options, short of going to war, could range from ‘shallow’ ground-based attacks and occupation of some heights along the LoC to restricted but precision air strikes against ‘non-state targets’ in PoK, senior military officers said.”
“There is growing agreement in the security establishment that carefully-calibrated airborne strikes are among the most viable and effective options to teach a lesson to Pakistan, with the ground-based ‘surgical strikes’ of September 2016 having somewhat lost their element of surprise,” it added.
The report went so far as to say, “Fighters like Sukhoi-30MKIs, Mirage-2000s and Jaguars, armed with ‘smart’ glide bombs and missiles, can be used to take out some terror camps and launch pads near the LoC from ‘stand-off ranges’ without even crossing into Pakistani airspace. “Preparation time for such air strikes is minimal,” said an officer on the condition of anonymity.”
Debunking the liberal logic behind victimising Arnab Goswami
As seen above, prior to India’s airstrike in Balakot, several news organisations such as The Wire, India Today, The Times of India and The Hindu were all discussing the possibility of an unprecedented air strike to retaliate against Pakistan’s support for terrorism. As explicitly stated by PM Modi himself, such a response from a strong government at the Centre was expected. This is the same reason as to why even The Times of Islamabad had also discussed about such a possibility, given that the precedent was set by the surgical strikes of 2016.
A closer look at the Whatsapp chats of Arnab Goswami makes it clear that he did not name target locations or the nature of the airstrike. In the runup to India’s military intervention on February 26, several news channels were talking about the same possibilities and none had any specific details about the Jaish-e-Mohammed training camps, or the highly valued targets or the fighter jets that were to be used.
The despicable act of the Mumbai police to selectively leak his private chats and for the left-liberal ecosystem to suggest that the casual chat was the result of a tip-off from the Prime Minister or a compromise of India’s national security is downright juvenile and ridiculous. To selectively tarnish Arnab’s image over information, already available in the public domain, goes on to highlight a sinister attempt at witch hunting.
California health officials on Sunday told providers across the state to pause administering doses of a huge batch of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine after several people, who received the dose, reportedly developed severe allergic reactions. In total, the batch of 330,000 doses has been distributed to 287 providers across the state. The shipments with this batch of the Moderna vaccine had arrived between January 5 and January 12.
Though the said incidents appear to be localised at a single community clinic, the California Department of Public Health said that the doses from Moderna Lot 041L20A that are suspected of causing a “higher-than-usual number of adverse events” should be put away before a probe is concluded.
“This week, a higher-than-usual number of adverse events were reported with a specific lot of Moderna vaccine administered at one community vaccination clinic. Fewer than 10 individuals required medical attention over the span of 24 hours,” read the statement.
Statement released by the California Department of Public Health
Meanwhile, providers were told to use doses from other available vaccine inventory until the investigation is complete. The pause applies only to one lot that came from Moderna, and not all the vaccine doses from the company.
The clinic that had the allergic reactions switched to another lot of Moderna vaccine after closing for a few hours, according to the state. Officials, however, didn’t disclose the clinic’s name or location.
The manufacturer, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are reviewing the lot and related medical information.
Statement released by the California Department of Public Health
First reaction due to Moderna COVID-19 vaccine reported from Boston
It is pertinent to note here that prior to this, a doctor in Boston had developed a severe allergic reaction after receiving Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine. On December 26th it was reported that Dr Hossein Sadrzadeh, a geriatric oncology fellow at Boston Medical Center, said he had a severe reaction almost immediately after being vaccinated. He complained of feeling dizzy with a racing heart. This was reported to be the first severe reaction publicly linked to Moderna’s vaccine, which was then in its first week of a nationwide rollout.
Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine dose leads to deaths in Norway
Moreover, twenty-three people reportedly died in Norway within days of receiving their first dose of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine with 13 of those deaths apparently related to the side effects of the shots.
Common reactions to the vaccine, including fever and nausea, “may have contributed to a fatal outcome in some frail patients,” New York Post quoted Sigurd Hortemo, chief physician at the Norwegian Medicines Agency, as saying in a statement on January 15 (Friday).
Reacting to the death reports, a Pfizer rep had said that the company is “aware of reported deaths” following the administration of the vaccine in Norway and is working with the Norwegian Medicines Agency to gather all the relevant information.
India also begins its nationwide COVID-19 vaccine programme
Meanwhile, India also began its nationwide inoculation programme on Saturday (16 January). AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria, who was among others to get vaccinated at the Delhi hospital on the first day of Covid vaccination drive, said on Monday that he didn’t experience any side effects because of the vaccine.
After getting the vaccine jab, “I didn’t experience any side effect. I have been working since morning and attending meetings as well. I’m all right”, Randeep Guleria said while speaking to media on Monday.
Randeep Guleria also urged people to get vaccinated in a bid to lower Covid-19 mortality rate in the country.
Actress-model Sherlyn Chopra has come forward and alleged that Sajid Khan, brother of filmmaker Farah Khan, took his penis out of his pants when she went to meet him in 2006 and asker her to ‘feel it’. The incident occurred a few days after her father’s death, recounts Sherlyn Chopra.
When I had met him in April 2005, a few days after my father’s demise, he had taken his penis out of his pants and had asked me to feel it. I remember having told him that I know how a penis feels like & that the purpose of my meeting with him was not to feel or rate his penis.. https://t.co/2gnGSdEIrU
Sajid Khan has been accused of perverse sexual conduct by other women as well. A journalist had accused him of taking out his penis in front of her during an interview in 2018 and molesting her. Actress Rachel White had accused him of sexual harassment as well.
The late actress Jiah Khan was the sixth women from the showbiz industry who have accused the film director Sajid Khan of sexual harassment in the wake of the Me Too movement that took the country by storm in 2018. Karishma, her sister, alleged in a BBC documentary on the deceased actress, that the filmmaker had asked her sister Jiah Khan to remove her top and bra while shooting for Housefull movie.
“When she was asked by Sajid Khan to take her top off, she came home and cried. She told me that I have a contract if I leave they can sue me and slander my name and if I stay I will be sexually harassed. So it’s a lose-lose situation. So she did the film,” Karishma said. Karishma said she was sexually harassed by Sajid Khan as well when she was 16.
Ali Abbas Zafar, the director of the recently released controversial web series Tandav, has issued an “unconditional apology” after an FIR was registered against the same in Uttar Pradesh for hurting religious sentiments. Zafar said in a statement on Twitter that the makers of the web series were contacted by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
“We have been closely monitoring viewer reactions to the web series ‘Tandav’ and today during a discussion, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting have informed us regarding a large number of grievances and petitions received on various facets of the web series with serious concerns and apprehensions regarding its content hurting the sentiments of the people,” Ali Abbas Zafar said.
Director of Tandav apologizes for hurt religious sentiments
The director said, “The web series ‘Tandav’ is a work of fiction and any resemblance to acts and persons and events is purely coincidental. The cast and crew did not have any intention to offend the sentiments of any individual, caste, community, race, religion or religious beliefs or insult or outrage any institution, political party or person, living or dead.”
“The cast and crew of ‘Tandav’ take cognizance of the concerns expressed by the people and unconditionally apologize if it has unintentionally hurt anybody’s sentiments,” added Ali Abbas Zafar.
FIR registered against ‘Tandav’
The Hazratganj Police in Lucknow has filed an FIR against Ali Abbas Jafar and Gaurav Solanki, the makers of the web series Tandav, for allegedly using derogatory language against Hindu Gods that can lead to religious disharmony. The FIR was lodged by senior sub-inspector Amarnath Yadav.
Amazon Prime’s India head of original content, Aparna Purohit, producer Himanshu Krishna Mehra and others have been named in the FIR. Notably, the Information and Broadcasting ministry had summoned the makers over the alleged Hinduphobic content.
Shalabh Mani Tripathi, Information Consultant CMO UP, said in a tweet that serious cases had been registered against the entire team of Tandav, and they will be arrested soon. BJP leader Ram Kadam has also filed a complaint against the series.
Earlier, netizens had slammed the makers of the show for its Hinduphobic content.
The Supreme Court on the 13th of January delivered a very significant judgment in a case involving the kidnapping of a minor. The Court observed that a ‘consensual affair’ is not a legitimate defense against the charge.
The Court said, “Perusal of Section 361 of IPC shows that it is necessary that there be an act of enticing or taking, in addition to establishing the child’s minority (being sixteen for boys and eighteen for girls) and care/keep of a lawful guardian. Such ‘enticement’ need not be direct or immediate in time and can also be through subtle actions like winning over the affection of a minor girl.”
“However, mere recovery of a missing minor from the custody of a stranger would not ipsofacto establish the offence of kidnapping. Thus, where the prosecution fails to prove that the incident of removal was committed by or at the instigation of the accused, it would be nearly impossible to bring the guilt home,” it said.
The judgement was delivered in a case where the defendant claimed that there was a consensual relationship with the minor. The apex court observed, “His core contention appears to be that in view of a consensual affair between them, the prosecutrix joined his company voluntarily. Such a plea, in our opinion, cannot be acceded to given the unambiguous language of the statute as the prosecutrix was admittedly below 18 years of age.”
Thus, quite clearly, the Court says that as per law, “winning over the affection of a minor girl” will be considered inducement in a charge of kidnapping.
The Court also stated, “Even more crucially, there is little to suggest that she was aware of the full purport of her actions or that she possessed the mental acuities and maturity to take care of herself. In addition to being young, the prosecutrix was not much educated. Her support of the prosecution version and blanket denial of any voluntariness on her part, even if presumed to be under the influence of her parents as claimed by the appellant, at the very least indicates that she had not thought her actions through fully.”
The judgement is particularly revealing regarding the manner in which the law interprets a relationship between a minor and an adult.
The verdict makes it clear that a minor in relationship with an adult is considered to have no agency, and with good reason, in decisions regarding elopement and marriage. The lack of maturity, which only comes with age, that makes a minor prone to brainwashing by the adult for exploitation and other sinister purposes contributes greatly towards this assessment.
There is also the influence and power dynamics that are to be considered. An adult can feign affection in order to trap the girl in order to exploit her at a later time. These are obvious realities that every sane individual is aware of and understands but liberals choose to disregard the obvious in order to peddle their political agenda at the cost of the safety and security of minors.
The case of the Muslim youth in Uttar Pradesh
Only recently, a Muslim youth from Bengaluru reached the home of a minor girl in Uttar Pradesh with a soft toy, chocolates and sweets. The poor girl could not even recognize him and he was thrashed, deservedly so one might add, before handing him over to the Police.
Our ‘esteemed’ liberals, meanwhile, defended the deranged youth and defended it using some weird ‘consensual relationship’ logic. Islamist Rana Ayyub, a darling of western liberal media, declared India a ‘sh*thole’ country because the Police did not take kindly to the creepy youth. Shehla Rashid, another ’eminent intellectual’, compared Narendra Modi to Saddam Hussein.
Even if there was anything consensual in the particular instance, hypothetically speaking of course, are we to encourage such conduct where the safety and security of a gullible minor is being jeopardized by her relationship with an adult? It is the responsibility of the state to empower parents who want nothing more than to protect their children from creepy adults but our liberals here wish to criminalize parents for wanting to protect their daughters.
‘Consensual relationships’ excuse invented to whitewash grooming of minors
It is the same phenomenon that we witness in numerous cases of Grooming Jihad. Minor girls are lured by feigning affection by Muslim adults and through other enticements with an aim to convert their religion. Liberals clearly wish to legitimize such perverse ‘relationships’ by importing the concept of consent into a situation where it does not belong.
As recent as November 2020, The Wire claimed that in Uttar Pradesh, the SIT formed to investigate such cases found that in 8 of the 14 cases, the ‘romance’ turned out to be consensual. In reality, the Uttar Pradesh found criminality in 11 of these cases and of the 11, 8 involved a minor. The Wire wants us to believe that these minors were involved in ‘romance’ with adults and on the basis, advocated that Grooming Jihad is a hoax when it is evidently not the case.
Quite clearly, there is every reason here for law enforcement authorities to crack down upon such criminal minded individuals. Liberals may not like it because of their perverse communal agenda but their preferences cannot be incorporated in such a manner that it jeopardizes the safety and security of minors.
The Grooming Gang phenomenon in the United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, scores of cases have emerged where primarily adult Muslim men of Pakistani descent groomed children of a different race or religion and exploited them sexually. It has been observed that these men targeted girls with a troubled background because it was easier to lure them into a trap.
In many of these cases, it became difficult initially to punish the culprits as the age of the minor girls used to be above the age of consent in the United Kingdom which is 13. Under such circumstances, charges cannot be brought in against the perpetrators without a statement of the girls themselves. In many cases, the girls were so traumatized that they could not bring themselves to deliver a statement.
Liberals in India are playing a dangerous game when they seek to import the concept of consent in relationships involving a minor and an adult. It could have devastating consequences and jeopardize the safety and security of children across the country.
BBC had recently come out with a three-episode documentary series titled ‘Death in Bollywood’ that traced the mysterious death of late actress Jiah Khan who allegedly died allegedly by suicide in 2013. The first episode of the docuseries was aired last Monday and subsequently, the other two episodes were released as well. The series has only been released in the United Kingdom.
In the second episode of the series, Khan’s sister Karishma made explosive revelations of sexual harassment of the late actor by filmmaker Sajid Khan. Jiah is the sixth women from the showbiz industry who have accused the film director Sajid Khan of sexual harassment in the wake of the Me Too movement that took the country by storm in 2018.
Jiah was one of the actors to be a feature in Sajid Khan’s Housefull movie which also included prominent actors such as Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone, Riteish Deshmukh, Arjun Rampal, Lara Dutta, Boman Irani, Randhir Kapoor, Chunky Pandey, and Malaika Arora.
A clip from the series where Karishma is seen narrating the horrifying ordeal Jiah was made to go through by Khan is doing the rounds on the social media websites. Karishma alleged that the filmmaker had asked her sister Jiah Khan to remove her top and bra while shooting for Housefull movie.
“When she was asked by Sajid Khan to take her top off, she came home and cried. She told me that I have a contract if I leave they can sue me and slander my name and if I stay I will be sexually harassed. So it’s a lose-lose situation. So she did the film,” Karishma said.
In the snippet, Karishma, who was just 16 then, also recounts how she was also targeted by the filmmaker. Karishma revealed that when she had gone to Sajid’s house with her sister, the film director had made sexual advances at her.
“I remember going to Sajid Khan’s house with my sister. I remember being around at Kitchen’s table, I was only 16 at that time. I was wearing a strappy top. He leaned on me, and started staring at me. Then he said, ‘Ohh she wants to have sex’. My sister Jiah immediately came in to my defence saying, ‘no what are you talking about’, and he said, ‘Look at the way she’s sitting’. My sister said no She said no she is innocent, she is young, it’s not what she wants. And then we left shortly after that. But I was feeling really cheap and shocked,” Karishma said.
Kangana reacts to the sexual harassment allegations levelled against Sajid Khan by Jiah Khan’s sister
Soon after the snippet started going viral on the internet, renegade actor Kangana Ranaut took cognisance of the clipped and slammed the Bollywood industry for allegedly victimising her, Sushant Singh Rajput, and Jiah. She reiterated her previous claim of the existence of mafia in the industry that is allegedly responsible for the death of Sushant Singh Rajput, actor Jia Khan and had even tried once to kill her.
They killed Jiah they killed Sushant and they tried to kill me, but they roam free have full support of the mafia, growing stronger and successful every year. Know the world is not ideal you are either the prey or the predator. No one will save you you have to save yourself. https://t.co/7QwHAr9BBv
Sharing the video, Kangana said, “They killed Jiah they killed Sushant and they tried to kill me, but they roam free have full support of the mafia, growing stronger and successful every year. Know the world is not ideal you are either the prey or the predator. No one will save you you have to save yourself.”
Model Paula had levelled similar allegations of sexual harassment against Sajid Khan
The revelations made Jiah Khan’s sister have raised several eyebrows, especially in the wake of the similar allegations of sexual harassment levelled by model Paula against film director Sajid Khan. Just like Jiah Khan was allegedly asked by Sajid to strip off in front of him, the film director had asked model Paula to take her clothes off.
In September 2020, Paula took to Instagram to bring to light Sajid Khan’s sexually predatory behaviour. In her post, Paula stated that he tried to sexually exploit her when she was just 17, under the pretence of getting her a role in Housefull. Paula claimed that Khan had spoken dirty and tried to touch her, asking her to strip in front of him to get a role in Housefull.
Sajid Khan—a repeat offender
Director Sajid Khan is not new to these accusations. In 2018, at least 3 women had come out and accused the Housefull director sexually harassing and preying on them. A freelance Bollywood journalist had taken to Twitter to narrate her ordeal.
In fact, ace tennis player, Mahesh Bhupathi had also come forward to give his take on the sexual harassment allegations levelled against filmmaker Sajid Khan. In an interview, Bhupati had revealed that his actor wife Lara Dutta had complained to him that her co-star was being subjected to “rude, vulgar” behaviour on the sets of Housefull by director Sajid Khan.
