‘Ichchhadhaari protester’ Yogendra Yadav has revealed that the so-called ‘farmer protesters’ will target Republic Day if their demands are not met. Krantikari Kisan Union President Darshan Pal also made the same announcement on Saturday.
Yogendra Yadav said, “If our demands are not met till Jan 26, then farmers will hold ‘Kisan Gantantra Parade’ in Delhi. We appeal to farmers from adjoining areas of national capital to be prepared and request every farmer family of the country to send a member to Delhi if possible.”
If our demands are not met till Jan 26,then farmers will hold 'Kisan Gantantra Parade' in Delhi. We appeal to farmers from adjoining areas of national capital to be prepared & request every farmer family of country to send a member to Delhi if possible:Yogendra Yadav,Swaraj India https://t.co/k9UmCQUk1cpic.twitter.com/a1olrK32Ko
Darshan Pal announced that the protesters will hold a ‘tractor Kisan Parade’ on the 26th of January in Delhi. They will also march towards governor houses in different states, he announced. It is pertinent to mention that Darshan Pal was one of the founders of People’s Democratic Front of India (PDFI). PDFI is a constituent of the Maoist movement, the left-wing terrorism in the country.
According to a study prepared by Dr Marri Channa Reddy Human Resource Development Institute in Hyderabad, PDFI was a part of Tactical United Front (TUF) formed by the Maoists, to consolidate and expand its position. Darshan Pal was the convenor of the 51-member executive committee of PDFI. Apart from Darshan Pal, other founder members of PDFI included known anti-National and anti-BJP names like Varvara Rao, Kalyan Rao, Medha Patkar, Nandita Haksar, SAR Geelani, BD Sarma etc.
Meanwhile, Yogendra Yadav has been constantly threatening the government. It is unclear precisely when he became a farmer leader. The government maintains that he is not and has not been allowing him to participate in the negotiations between the government and the protesters. On Friday, the ‘Ichchhadhaari protester’ announced that the protesters will hold a march at Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) on January 6. He also added that they will shortly announce a date on when they would move forward from Shahjahanpur border.
The government of India has said that Bonus announced by various state governments over and above the minimum support price fixed by the central govt for procurement of crops have been putting adverse impact on procurement from farmers. Sources in the union govt informed OpIndia about this after the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting for the central govt to pick up the paddy the state government has procured under the central pool.
CM Bhupesh Baghel writes to PM
The CM had written a letter to the PM on 30 December, informing the state govt has purchased around 47 lakh tonnes of paddy from 12 lakh farmers, out of the total amount of 60 lakh tonnes approved for Chhattisgarh. But, the Food and Public Distribution department of the Govt of India is yet to approve the transfer of the paddy to the Food Corporation of India under the central pool.
CM Baghel wrote that as they are unable to transfer the stock to FCI, the warehouses in the state are filled with paddy, and the stock may got damaged if it is not lifted soon, and the distribution of rice will also be delayed. Saying that livelihoods of 21.52 lakh farmers in the state will be impacted due to this, the CM requested the PM to approve the procurement of the paddy by FCI from the state govt.
Bonus above MSP increases subsidy burden
Responding to the letter by the Chhattisgarh CM, sources in the ministry informed OpIndia that the reason behind not-approving the procurement under the central pool is the additional bonus announced by the state govt above the MSP.
State Govts often declare state bonuses for procurement of crops, which is a monetary scheme to incentivise their farmers over and above MSP declared by the Government of India. In some states, the bonuses are crop-specific whereas in another these are of generic form.
According to the GOI, it is perceived that declaring a bonus over MSP distorts the market and cultivation patterns at the cost of other crops. Since the procurement under the price support scheme (PSS) is open-ended, procuring agencies like FCI are forced to procure quantity much more than the requirement under the central pool, thereby increasing the subsidy burden on the union government.
MOU with states limit purchase under central pool if bonus above MSP declared
The GOI has tried to contain such a tendency, and with a view to have a uniformity in procurement across the country, has devised an MOU to be followed by DCP (Decentralised Procurement) / Non-DCP States, as the case may be.
The provisions at Point No. 3 of MOU of DCP States mention that that “In the situation of the state giving bonus/ financial incentive over and above MSP, surplus stock exceeding the State requirement under NFSA/ OWS shall be treated to be outside the Central Pool”.
Similarly, the provision under point number 4 of the MOU of non-DCP states mentions that, If the State Government announces bonus/ financial incentive, in direct or indirect form, over and above MSP, FCI will not take part in the procurement operations in the State concerned; and State Govt. will have to mobilize resources and take care of the entire procurement operations in the State on their own, including the arrangements to be made for the storage of procured food-grains. With respect to such States, FCI in consultation with the Department of Food and Public Distribution, will decide the quantum of the rice and rate at which the stock to be taken from the concerned State in that Marketing Season and shall restrict the central pool procurement to that extent. The rest of the stock procured by the state shall have to be disposed off by the State Govt. concerned at its own risk and cost”.
These provisions make it clear that if any state declares Bonus for crop procurement, the FCI will not pick-up stock above the quantity specified for the central pool. The balance quantity will have to be purchased by the state governments on their own.
MOU provisions implemented for all states which have declared bonus
Accordingly, these provisions are being implemented for the states which have announced bonuses. For example, Madhya Pradesh had announced incentive of Rs 160 per quintal over and above MSP of wheat in Rabi Marketing Season 2019-20 under their own scheme named “Jan Kishan Samridhi Yojna”. Since the state govt had declared bonus without prior consent of GOI, a decision was taken by GOI to restrict the total procurement in central pool to 67.25 LMT which was the total quantity procured two years back, i.e., in RMS 2017-18, the year in which no bonus was given.
The same happened with Chhattisgarh, which has been consistently declaring bonus/incentive on Paddy over and above MSP since 2016-17. And due to this, the central pool procurement of paddy from the state in the previous years since 2016-17 has been limited to 24 Lakh tonnes. This is as per established rule which is applicable to all the states, as whenever the states give incentives or bonus, the central pool procurement gets limited.
In accordance with the MOU provision, the central govt had limited the central pool procurement of paddy from the state at 24 lakh tonnes, as the state had announced an enhanced MSP of Rs 2500 per quintal during Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2019-20, which is more than the MSP announced by GOI. The state govt had sought relaxation from the MOU provision for delivering the excess quantity to the central pool, but the ministry had declined the request.
As a result, the state govt had announced in November that for the KMS 2019-20, paddy will be procured at the MSP declared by the GOI, so that entire procured quantity can be delivered to the central pool. But, the state govt subsequently announced the Rajiv Gandhi Kisan Nyay Yojna, and under this scheme, crop-specific bonus to acreage was provided to farmers for various crops like paddy, maize, soybean, pulses, groundnut, seam seed etc for KMS 2019-20. State Govt has declared a similar incentive scheme for KMS 2020-21 also.
States like Kerala, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu etc have been also declaring bonus/ incentives over and above MSP of paddy.
Bonus Declared By State Governments (Wheat & Paddy)
FCI has been of the view that all sorts of such schemes or incentives have to be seen as bonus whether in direct or indirect form, as it is paid over and above MSP without prior approval of GOI. The Ministry is also of the view that giving bonus/ incentive leads to huge increase in procurement in the state leading to surplus stock in central pool and therefore any relaxation in MOU has not been agreed to, in general, on a number of occasions.
However, DBT transfer to all farmers without linkage to any crop is the only scenario which can be treated as crop neutral and not falling in the category of direct or incentive. But as the Rajiv Gandhi Kisan Nyay Yojna announced by Chhattisgarh govt is linked to 14 specific crops, it has been considered as just another form of Bonus, and hence it has attracted the provisions of the MOU.
‘Dalit activist’ Meena Kandasamy has been in the news recently. The entire episode was sparked by a tweet of hers where she went on a rant against ‘Brahmin d*cks’. That hateful comment set in motion a chain of events that has culminated with the activist crying victim and her comrades jumping in to provide cover for her atrocious conduct.
The tweet that started it all
After her hateful comment generated a lot of outrage, a statement made by her husband started doing the rounds on social media as well. According to a letter shared by independent journalist Deepika Bharadwaj, Dr Gunasekharan Dharmaraja, the former husband of Meena Kandasamy said that the activist had filed fake harassment against him after he had filed a case on her father for attacking him. Dharmaraja said he had proofs, emails written by her that disclose the real reason of separation between them.
Dr Dharmaraja also claimed that Kandasamy had faked her ‘Dalit’ credentials. He said, as per official records, the mother of Kandasamy belonged to the forward community while her father was an OBC. Naturally, those already calling her out on her hateful tweet latched on to the allegations made by Kandasamy’s husband. And amidst all of this, a statement by an obscure organization hardly anyone has heard of before, but being peddled by ‘journalists’ in the mainstream media, has voiced its support for Meena Kandasamy.
The ‘nuanced statement‘ by the Network of Women in Media (NWM) “strongly condemned” the alleged targeting and harassment of the supposed writer. It says, “She has consistently raised her voice against fascist forces, religious intolerance, and caste violence in her home state of Tamil Nadu and elsewhere.” The ‘fascist forces’ spoken of here is probably anyone that disagrees with the ideology of Che Guevera or Pol Pot.
The ‘fascist forces’ spoken of here are probably ordinary voters and supporters of the BJP who exercised their constitutionally guaranteed right in a manner not approved by the far-left. Kandasamy spends a significant deal of time on Twitter ranting against ‘Sanghi fascists’. She also resorted to calling people criticizing her anti-Brahmin comment as ‘Sanghi fascists’.
Kandasamy calls her critics ‘Sanghi fascists’
The statement further said, “Meena defended the piece and her right to be featured in it, enumerating her literary accomplishments. In response, aside from relentless trolling, some sections have sought to sully her reputation and muddy the waters by resorting to an attack on her character. She has been accused of misleading people about her caste and appropriating the struggles of Dalits in the process.”
NWM conveniently ignores the fact that Kandasamy has not been accused by people on social media of faking her Dalit credentials. The allegations were levelled by her former husband. It is a remarkable sleight of hand indeed. Allegations made by her former husband has been reduced to ‘trolling’ and somehow, has been linked to politics.
The statement states further, “Men’s Rights Activists have accused her of filing a false dowry harassment case against her ex-husband, and of trying to ‘extort’ him in order to drop the case. They have also accused Meena of delaying the case for six years. A perusal of the case status from 2014 to the present shows that the details of the case have been distorted. Such allegations and character assassination are some of the oldest tricks deployed to silence the voices of women.”
Again, it is not men’s rights activists who have made the accusations. It’s her former husband who has alleged that. One wonders why the NWM is attributing accusations made by her former husband to people on social media; unless, of course, the objective here is to muddy the waters so that the claims made by her former husband does not gain traction and in the process, portray her critics in poor light. It is dishonest on purpose.
Another sleight of hand is observed when the NWM claims, “The most egregious of accusations against Meena are that as a feminist she could not have been in an abusive marriage, and if she was in such a marriage, she could not be a feminist.” It is another deliberate twisting of the matter at hand. In reality, her former husband claimed that Meena Kandasamy gave dowry for her marriage and therefore, she could not claim to be a feminist.
“I also proclaim before the public that I neither demand nor support dowry. The claims you have made in the FIR concerning dowry, amongst others, is false. Therefore, by claiming to have given a dowry, you are either against the feminist ideals that you claim to stand for, or you are committing perjury by providing false information to the police and to the court of law,” stated Dr Dharamaraja.
Thus, it appears that NWM is commenting on the accusations made by Kandasamy’s husband but instead of addressing him as such, they are trying to brand him a troll. It is quite disgusting indeed. In the end, the NWM said, “Meena’s ideas and arguments should be countered with ideas and arguments. To harass, troll and character assassinate a woman for speaking her mind is to seek to silence her and the inconvenient truths she may speak.”
The statement by NWM suggests that a far-left feminist women can do no wrong under no circumstances. Every critic of Kandasamy has been branded a ‘troll’, legitimate criticism has been equated to harassment and allegations my her former husband has been transformed into ‘character assassination’ by people on social media.
It is bizarre and atrocious that Kandasamy’s rant against ‘Brahmin d*cks’ has been brushed under the carpet. But it also reveals that the coterie operates like a cabal and will always defend one of their own, no matter what.
Former Indian Cricketer and the BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has been admitted to a hospital in Kolkata after complaining of a heart issue on Saturday morning.
According to the reports, Sourav Ganguly was rushed to the Woodlands hospital in Kolkata after he suffered a mild cardiac arrest on Saturday morning while working out in the gym at his residence.
Sports Journalist Boria Majumdar confirmed that Ganguly will be discharged on Saturday itself after getting an angioplasty done. His condition is said to be stable and all tests are being conducted on him.
“He felt dizzy when he was in the gym and he went to Woodlands to get the Tests done. That’s when it came to light that there was a cardiac issue and the hospital has now created a 3 member board with Dr Saroj Mondal who will perform the procedure. @SGanguly99 get well soon,” Boria Majumdar tweeted.
He had a heart issue and is in Woodlands hospital. But is stable will need a procedure confirm hospital sources. Should be out of the woods in the next few hours. I wish him a speedy recovery. @SGanguly99
Even BCCI took to Twitter to confirm the news and wished a speedy recovery to the former Indian captain and current BCCI chief. BCCI secretary Jay Shah, in a tweet, said that Ganguly is stable and “responding well to treatment.
Reportedly, Sourav Ganguly was recently in New Delhi for the inauguration of the late Arun Jaitley’s statue at the Delhi cricket stadium, formerly known as the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, on the 68th birth anniversary of the former finance minister and the Delhi & Districts Cricket Association chief.
Ganguly is reported to be in a stable condition currently. All required tests are being performed on him.
A strange case of triple talaq has come to light in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh where a divorced Muslim woman is seeking justice against her former husband who has converted to Hinduism. According to Amar Ujala, a Muslim man had given triple talaq to his wife in 2017. The man, who works with Indian Railway, had married a Muslim woman in 2004. He has two sons with his Muslim wife.
After giving triple talaq to his Muslim wife, the man converted to Hinduism. He married a Hindu woman and is currently living with her. However, his former wife has invoked the triple talaq law (Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2019) against him. She has demanded maintenance from him under the law. The matter has come up for hearing before the Principal Judge RN Chand at Bhopal Family Court.
The woman came to know about triple talaq law from relatives
The Muslim woman’s counsel said that the woman came to know about the law against triple talaq from her relatives. She found out the law invalidates the practice of triple talaq and makes it a criminal offence. Therefore, the woman has sought maintenance under the law.
The Hindu wife of the man has reportedly claimed that her marriage with her husband is legal and valid. She said that her husband married after divorcing his first and only after converting to Hinduism. She said that the former wife of her husband had no right to live with her husband.
Triple Talaq law
The central government has enacted the law against triple talaq in 2019 after the Supreme Court declared the regressive practice as unconstitutional in 2017. The law criminalises the practice of triple talaq and prescribes punishment for up to 3 years. The woman is entitled to maintenance for her dependent children under the law.
With days left for US President Donald Trump to leave the Oval Office, the Islamic Republic of Iran had issued threats to him on Friday.
As per reports, Iranian Judiciary Chief Ebrahim Raisi tried to intimidate the incumbent US President for the assassination of Iran’s top military general Qaseem Soleimani on January 3 last year at the Baghdad airport. He claimed that the killers of Soleimani would ‘not be safe on Earth’ and that Donald Trump was not ‘immune to justice.’
“They will witness severe revenge. What has come so far has only been glimpses…Do not presume that someone, as the president of America, who appeared as a murderer or ordered a murder, maybe immune from justice being carried out. Never. Those who had a role in this assassination and crime will not be safe on Earth,” Raisi remarked at the Tehran University during the first anniversary of Qaseem Soleimani’s death.
Revenge may come from anywhere, threatens successor of Soleimani
Reportedly, several officials from Iran and neighbouring countries of Iraq, Yemen, Syria and Lebanon attended the event. Esmail Ghaani, the successor of Soleimani, also vowed to issue threats, saying that revenge might come from anywhere. “It’s even possible that there are people inside your home [the United States] that will respond to your crime,” he claimed.
At the same time, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Commander, Gen. Hossein Salami, warned, “Today, we have no problem, concern or apprehension toward encountering any powers. We will give our final words to our enemies on the battlefield.” Tensions between the US and Iran flared up after Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal and ordered sanctions against the Islamic country.
Will avenge assasination one day, warns Iranian President
On Thursday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani claimed that the US was ‘definitely harmed’ for killing Soleimani and that Iranians would move on the path of ‘resistance and independence’. He added, “All nations have realized that as long as the Americans are in this region, the region will never see a favourable and desirable [day], and the regional nations, God willing, will cut off the foot of these criminals and aggressors.”
Reiterating that he knew General Soleimani for 40 years and that one day Iran would avenge his assassination one day, he emphasised, “Trump committed many crimes and killed many people, but we will never forget these two cases (including the killing of al-Muhandis).” Rouhani concluded that Soleimani did not hesitate to carry out his ‘national, religious and revolutionary duty’ in the face of US aggression.
Donald Trump warns Iran over US embassy attack in Baghdad
Recently, United States President Donald Trump warned Iran saying he would hold the Islamic Republic accountable “if one American is killed” in rocket attacks in Iraq. Taking to Twitter, President Trump blamed Tehran for the rocket attacks on the American Embassy in Baghdad. After a meeting with senior officials at the White House, President Trump said that Iran was behind rocket attacks on the American Embassy in Baghdad on Sunday.
“Now we hear the chatter of additional attacks against Americans in Iraq,” he added, before offering “some friendly health advice to Iran: if one American is killed, I will hold Iran responsible. Think it over”. Meanwhile, Iran has dismissed the allegations made by the US and responded to US authorities on Monday asking not to provoke “tensions”. Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh condemned the latest rocket attack in a tweet on December 21, refuting US accusations saying that the allegations are being made to create tensions.
The assassination of Qassem Soleimani
The head of Iran’s Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani was killed in the US airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport early on January 3, 2020, a move that has provoked a major escalation in US-Iran tensions. Besides, trench mate Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of Iraq’s Hashd al-Sha’abi were also killed in the drone attack. Iran’s Supreme National Security Council had then issued a statement vowing to retaliate “in the right place and time”. Trump, on the other hand, had claimed that he did not seek war with Iran and the drone attack to eliminate Soleimani was to stop an “imminent” war with the Middle-East country
Expressing strong support for the farm reforms initiated by the Modi government, more than 850 academicians from different parts of the country have written a letter saying that the three farm laws brought by the government seek to free farm trade from restrictions and enable farmers to sell their produce at competitive prices.
According to the reports, the noted intellectuals, academicians, including a few Vice-Chancellors said that union government has repeatedly assured the farmers that these three farm laws will not do away with Minimum Support Price (MSP) “but rather free the farm trade from all illicit market restrictions, open the market beyond ‘mandis’ and further assists the small and marginal farmers to sell their produce at market/competitive prices”.
Image Source: Mukul Yadav/ Twitter
“The new laws also provide full autonomy for farmers to sell their produce. We strongly believe in the government’s assurance to the farmers to protect their livelihoods. The government is still firmly committed to delivering the principle of minimum government, maximum governance,” the statement said.
Reforms carried out after vibrant discussion: Experts, academicians
The noted experts also explained how the laws were brought under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as part of agenda for agro-reforms to benefit the farmers. The statement said that the bills were passed in the monsoon session of the parliament after having a vibrant discussion. The statement said India is a country where most of the population is still dependent on agriculture for livelihood.
“We stand in solidarity with both the government and the farmers and salute their intense efforts. We all will live, progress, and develop together and peacefully,” the academicians said.
The extension of support from the three major agricultural reforms by the academicians comes after several farmers’ groups have welcomed the three farm laws enacted by the Modi government.
Wide range of acceptance for farm laws initiated by Modi government
Ever since Modi government passed the three farm laws, farmers from across the country had come forward to thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi and requested the Centre to not bow down to the demands of the protestors. These farmers from various states, including Punjab, have said that the new farm laws have been beneficial to them, and said that these should not be repealed as demanded by the farmers mostly from Punjab.
Interestingly, apart from a few protesting farmers from Punjab, who have been picked up by Arhatiyas (middleman) to protest against the Modi government by camping along the Haryana-Delhi border, most of the farmers in the country have openly come out in the support of the three laws passed by the Modi government that has freed them from the earlier restrictions imposed by the APMC acts passed by respective state governments.
Several videos, testimonies in favour of the three farm laws have come up on social media platforms highlighting how the majority of the farmers, if not all, have welcomed the much-needed agro reforms.
Recently, around 1.20 lakh farmers from Haryana had expressed their support to the farm laws and had written a letter to the Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar demanding them not to succumb to the pressure and withdraw the farm laws.
Ever since the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance-2020 has come into force in the state, the UP police have registered as many as 14 cases and arrested 51 people under this law. Despite this, the perpetrators of Grooming Jihad (Love Jihad) continue to commit the crime unabated. In yet another case, a girl from Faridpur in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, has approached the police with a complaint against a Muslim youth named Abrar Khan who allegedly threatened her to convert to Islam and marry him on gunpoint.
Abrar Khan reaches Bareilly girl’s house with a gun and threatens to kill her and her family members
According to a report by Live Hindustan, the girl told the police that when her family came to know that Abrar Khan was harassing her and coercing her to convert to Islam and marry him, they approached Abrar’s family to complain against him. Miffed by this, Abrar along with his accomplice Israr and Mysore reached the victim’s house with guns and threatened to kill the victim and her family members if they did not yield to his demands.
Following this, the family approached the police and lodged a complaint against Abrar Khan accusing him of mounting pressure on their daughter to convert her to Islam. The police, in turn, registered a case of molestation and Love Jihad (Grooming Jihad) against Abrar Khan.
The victim who is a BSC nursing student told the police that Abrar Khan had been harassing her for quite some time. Whenever she use to go to college, Abrar Khan intercepted her path, harassed her and coerced her to convert into Islam and marry him. He openly molested and threatened her of dire consequences if she did not capitulate to his demands.
The Grooming Jihad (Love Jihad) victim from Bareilly narrates her ordeal
The victim confessed that due to the continuous badgering, she had gone into depression. She could not handle the mental agony and stress and developed tuberculosis. This also affected her studies, said the victim in her complaint.
The victim said that she was being harassed for a while, but she kept quiet thinking that if her family came to know, she would not be allowed to go to college and her studies would get hampered. However, one day when she was on her way to college, she stopped at a toll plaza to pay the toll fee when Abrar Khan and his friends intercepted her path.
The youth then dragged her out of the scooty and began to molest her on the highway. She somehow rescued herself and returned home. Fed up with the continuous persecution, the victim finally broke her silence and narrated her ordeal to her parents who, in turn, approached the police.
Victim threatens of suicide
While narrating her harrowing experiences, the victim broke down in front of the police. She cried and threatened to commit suicide if her persecutor is not punished. Bareilly Inspector Surendra Singh Pachauri has assured the victim and her family that the case would be investigated and strict and speedy action would be taken against the perpetrator.
The Delhi police have busted a crime syndicate involved in the theft and sale of more than 500 high-end luxury cars from Delhi and NCR. According to reports, the Delhi police have nabbed three key members of the syndicate that robbed high-end cars. The kingpin Waseem has been operating in Delhi, Jaunpur and Raipur in Chhattisgarh for the last five years and has been involved in the theft of more than 500 cars.
Waseem, assisted by a close associate Riyaz, had stolen fifteen luxury stolen vehicles such as Fortuner, Creta, Brezza, Skoda, Ertiga, with one Royal Enfield motorcycle have been recovered. The gang sold the vehicles in the Naxal-hit areas making it difficult for them to be recovered.
Reportedly, Waseem and his close associate Riyaz had formed a gang of auto-lifters about 5-6 years back. They purchased damaged cars’ scrap from the portals of different insurance companies and websites along with the original documents. Thereafter, they stole the cars of the same make, model and colour from Delhi/NCR and replaced it with the details of the scrapped cars by tampering with the engine and chassis numbers.
“These stolen cars would be sold later in small towns like Jaunpur, Raipur etc., through car dealers. They’d change the details so skillfully that even the transport authorities and finance companies could not detect the tampering. The gang then established its base in the Naxal-hit areas for selling the stolen vehicles to make it difficult for such vehicles to be recovered,” said Deepak Yadav, DCP East Delhi.
Rajikullah Khan, a 33-year-old resident of Raipur in Chhattisgarh became part of the gang in 2018. His role was to sell the stolen cars with tampered chassis and engine numbers in Raipur.
Another accused Satish Kumar, a resident of Nand Nagri in Delhi, is a car painter. Kumar had come in contact with Waseem who persuaded him to join them and asked him to deliver the stolen cars to the receivers at various places. Another accused Kunal Yadav, also came in contact with Waseem in 2018, who enticed him with the promise of easy money.
Kunal bought scrapped cars from the web portals of various insurance companies and car dealers and turned them over to Waseem. The kingpin Waseem, who has gone absconding is yet to be arrested and several teams have been formed to arrest him.
Since the Uttar Pradesh government approved the ordinance against forced religious conversions in November last year, the first charge sheet has been filed under the law by the state police in Bijnor in a case of Grooming Jihad. According to Indian Express, police have filed a chargesheet in a matter where a Dalit woman was abducted by a carpenter identified as Afzal. The charge sheet was filed before judicial magistrate earlier this week.
According to the report, the Dalit woman had shifted to Chandigarh a few years ago along with her parents. Afzal used to live near her house. In December last year, the woman accompanied by her parents had come to Bijnor to attend a wedding. She disappeared on December 6 while visiting a market near her home. Her father lodged an FIR against Afzal two days after her disappearance as the victim was last seen with him. A case was filed under the provisions of abduction and the new anti-conversion law. Police traced the woman in the district on December 9.
Afzal sexually assaulted and tried to convert her to Islam
In her statement recorded before the magistrate, the woman said that Afzal concealed his real identity and introduced himself as Sonu. She said that he used to visit her house and became friends with her. Narrating her ordeal, she said that Afzal tried to convert her and sexually assaulted her. The woman said that she came to know about the real identity of the accused only after she went with him. The accused allegedly promised to marry her after converting her.
Investigating Officer Kuldeep Kumar Gupta said that the charge sheet has been filed under section 366 of the Indian Penal Code, the relevant provisions of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020 and the SC-ST Act. On the basis of the woman’s statement before the magistrate, charges of rape have also been invoked. Afzal was arrested by police on December 10 and was produced before the court from where he was sent to judicial custody.
First case was filed under the anti-conversion law a day after it was passed
A day after the anti-conversion was passed by Yogi government last year, the first case was lodged under the law against one Uwais Ahmed for allegedly trying to forcibly convert a Hindu girl to Islam. The accused had allegedly lured the victim and had persuaded her to convert. He even threatened to kill the victim and her family is she did not comply with his demands.
