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MHA summons West Bengal DGP, Chief Secretary again after they didn’t attend meeting on Mamata Banerjee’s order

OpIndia Staff
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MHA summons West Bengal DGP, Chief Secretary again after they didn’t attend meeting on Mamata Banerjee’s order

Days after West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee snubbed Union Home Ministry’s summons to send the state’s chief secretary and police chief to New Delhi in the wake of a mob attack on BJP chief JP Nadda’s convoy last week, MHA has yet again summoned the two officials to Delhi. In an obvious indication that he had been just obeying the state government’s order, Mamata Banerjee’s CS had written to MHA last week saying that he has been directed by the state government to not attend the meeting convened on December 14. 

Now, the Union Home Secretary has written to the Bengal government last evening, asking the state’s Chief Secretary and police chief to attend a meeting at 5.30 pm today. In reply, the state government has suggested a video meeting citing the pandemic. However, the centre has not responded yet.

Centre summoned state officials last week for a meeting with the Home Secretary over the law and order situation in the state 

This is the second time the Union Home Ministry has summoned the WB state officials. Union Home Minister Amit Shah had on December 11 (Friday) summoned state CS Alapan Bandopadhyay and DGP Virendra asking them to present themselves on December 14 for an explanation on the law and order situation in the state, following Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar’s report on the attack on Nadda’s convoy by alleged supporters of the ruling TMC.

While there is uncertainty whether the DGP and CS will travel to Delhi as summoned by MHA, reportedly the centre and the state govt will hold a meeting over video conferencing today evening to discuss the deteriorating law and order situation ion West Bengal.

Mamata Banerjee refuses to send 3 Bengal IPS officers for central deputation

Meanwhile, Mamata Banerjee on Thursday attacked the Central government saying that her government would not bend before “expansionist” and “undemocratic” forces. In what could be called a complete disregard of the government of India, the West Bengal CM also refused to send the 3 officials MHA had recalled from central deputation and hit out saying that seeking the deputation of three senior police officers from the state is a blatant misuse of power by the centre.

In a series of Tweet, Banerjee said that it was a deliberate attempt by the Centre to encroach upon the state’s jurisdiction and demoralise the serving officers in West Bengal.

Banerjee’s statement came within minutes of information about a letter, sent by the Home Ministry to the chief secretary of West Bengal, was made public.

The central government asked Mamata Banerjee to immediately relieve the three IPS officers for joining the central deputation, saying all of them were already given new assignments, according to officials.

The MHA on December 12 (Saturday) summoned three IPS officers of Bengal, who were responsible for providing security to BJP national head J P Nadda, to serve in central deputation following the attack on his convoy on Thursday which left several BJP leaders including Kailash Vijayvargiya injured in the process. However, the CM is refusing to send back the IPS officers to the centre.

MHA mulling legal action

According to reports, the Ministry of Home Affairs is seeking legal advice to take action against five officials after they defied MHA summons on Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government’s order. The Centre may also suspend these three IPS officers and two others.

After Pakistani credit card found with Pratap Sarnaik, Uddhav Thackeray comes to his defence: Here is what he said

OpIndia Staff
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After Pakistani credit card found with Pratap Sarnaik, Uddhav Thackeray comes to his defence: Here is what he said

Speaking in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on the last day of winter session on Tuesday, Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray came out in defense of Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik and questioned the action of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against him. Thackeray took at dig at the ED for summoning Sarnaik’s son and said that ED action against Sarnaik and his family was ‘pervert politics’.

“You speak of undeclared emergency. What are you doing? Will you put ED behind Pratap (Sarnaik) for filing a breach of privilege motion against your favourite person? we cannot tolerate this We will not take it lying down”, Thackeray told Devendra Fadnavis, the leader of Opposition in the state Assembly.

Thackeray alleged that Sarnaik’s family was being targeted by the ED. “After he was sent a notice, his family members too were dragged into it. When he wen to the Supreme Curt for relief, the ED sent a notice to his other son. Thankfully he does not have a grandson yet. Else, he would have been issued a notice. Even now, the ED may issue a notice to the unborn grandson, saying he should be presented in front of the agency as soon as he is born”, said Thackeray.

A Pakistani credit card was recovered from Sarnaik’s house registered on his address

On December 12, a credit card registered under the name of a Pakistani national was recovered from the premises of Sarnaik. The credit card was registered on his address. The Shiv Sena legislator’s name had also come in a money laundering case. The ED had raided residences and official premises of Sarnaik recently. His close aide was arrested by the ED last month in connection with a money laundering case linked to the legislator.

Recently, the ED had summoned Sarnaik’s son Purvesh Sarnaik to record his statement in relation to a high-profile money laundering case involving a private security firm named Tops Group. Last month, his eldest son Vihang was summoned by the ED in connection to the case. Sarnaik had threatened to break the mouth of actress Kangana Ranaut if she visited Mumbai.

Baba Ka Dhaba owner Kanta Prasad receiving death threats, suspects Swad Official’s Gaurav Wasan

OpIndia Staff
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Baba Ka Dhaba owner Kanta Prasad receiving death threats, suspects Swad Official’s Gaurav Wasan

Baba Ka Dhaba owner Kanta Prasad, an 80-year-old man who rose to prominence on social media platforms after his heartrending video of struggling to make ends meet went viral in October, has now alleged that he is receiving death threats and has filed a complaint at the Malviya Nagar police station citing threat to his life.

The 80-year-old Kanta Prasad has hinted that he suspects Swad Official YouTube channel’s Gaurav Wasan’s involvement behind the threats that he has been receiving. Wasan had uploaded the ‘Baba Ka Dhaba’ video on YouTube that instantly catapulted the eatery to fame.

In his complaint with the police, Prasad alleged that people were envious of him as he became famous overnight and stated that he received a first threat call on December 8, when an unknown caller threatened to set his shop ablaze and kill him. Prasad had reportedly received another threat call on December 14, as per a report by ABP News. On the same day, when he went to his shop in the morning, he encountered a group of boys who had ordered tea from his shop. One of the boys in the group threatened him and said that he did not right by filing a complaint against YouTuber Gaurav Wasan. Reportedly, the boy threatened to kill the octogenarian owner of ‘Baba Ka Dhaba’, saying “Chatka Doon Kya?”

Though Prasad’s lawyer has attributed the death threats received by his client to Swad Official’s Gaurav Wasan, the later has rubbished the allegations, stating that the Baba Ka Dhaba owner is being misled. Showing faith in the police, Wasan said, “The police will now reveal the truth in this matter.”

The Delhi Police has initiated a probe in the matter after a complaint was filed by the Baba Ka Dhaba owner. The Police are also vetting CCTV footage from the area where the shop is located to identify men who had gone to the Dhaba that day.

The ongoing dispute between Kanta Prasad and Gaurav Wasan

Earlier in October, Baba Ka Dhaba shot to fame after Swad Official’s Gaurav Wasan uploaded a video on YouTube, highlighting the struggle suffered by Kanta Prasad and his wife in running the eatery. In one segment of the video, the 80-year-old man, Kanta Prasad, was also seen weeping, claiming that his income had been less than Rs 100. Towards the end of the video, Gaurav Wasan provided the location of ‘Baba ka Dhaba’ and urged the residents of Delhi to give a visit to the eatery and help the old couple. He also exhorted people to donate money online so that more financial assistance can be extended to the couple.

However, days later, Prasad alleged that he had not received any donation that was sought under his name. YouTuber Lakshay Chaudhary uploaded a video, alleging Wasan of cheating and running online donation campaigns by uploading emotional videos. Wasan responded, refuting the allegations and stating that he had transferred all the money that he had received from the campaign to Prasad’s account.

Subsequently, Kanta Prasad had filed a complaint with Delhi Police over misappropriation of donations against Food Blogger and Youtuber Gaurav Wasan of Swad Official. The complaint was filed under sections of cheating, mischief, criminal breach of trust, criminal conspiracy, misappropriation of funds and other relevant sections of IPC.

In his video, the Gaurav Wasan allegedly said that the eatery owner Kanta Prasad does not have any mobile number and asked for donations in his own account instead of giving Prasad’s bank details. The videos went viral on social media platforms on 7th October, after which people started contacting Gaurav for donations. “He intentionally and deliberately shared his and his family/friends’ bank details/mobile number with them and “collected a huge amount of donations through different mode of payments”, the complaint alleges. It also says that while Prasad mentioned his account details while shooting the video, Wasan only published his and his family/friends’ account details to collect donations.

Contempt of Court case: Supreme Court issues notice to ‘comedian’ Kunal Kamra over his tweets insulting the Judiciary

OpIndia Staff
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Contempt of Court case: Supreme Court issues notice to ‘comedian’ Kunal Kamra over his tweets insulting the Judiciary

On Friday, the Supreme Court of India took up the petitions, seeking contempt of court proceedings against ‘comedian’ Kunal Kamra and ‘cartoonist’ Ranchita Taneja.

The Court noted that the Attorney General KK Venugopal had already granted notice to initiate contempt proceedings against Kamra. The apex court, headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan, issued a notice to Kamra and Taneja and has granted them the liberty to not appear-in-person.

It must be mentioned that the notice is returnable in 6 weeks. The Supreme Court had earlier decided to take up three contempt petitions against Kunal Kamra for hearing on the 17th of December. However, the court announced that it will pass its order on Friday.

AG KK Venugopal, granting his consent to initiate proceedings against Kamra said the tweets by Kamra, where he referred to the Supreme Court of India as Supreme Joke India, and said that humour has left the SC long ago, “were highly objectionable.” 

Kunal Kamra and his contemptuous tweets

Kunal Kamra has been making contemptuous remarks against the Judiciary in his bid to become a liberal ‘hero’ or a ‘martyr’. In one of his tweets, he had shown CJI Arvind Bobde the middle finger and in another, he had painted the Supreme Court in saffron colour to allege that it had become a puppet of the NDA Government.

In the first tweet, Kamra compared the Supreme Court to a Supreme Joke. In the next tweet, he wrote, “The pace at which the Supreme Court operates in matters of “National Interests” it’s time we replace Mahatma Gandhi’s photo with Harish Salve’s photo.”

In the third tweet, he compared DY Chandrachud to “flight attendant serving champagne to first-class passengers after they’re fast-tracked through, while commoners don’t know if they’ll ever be boarded or seated, let alone served.” In the last tweet, he provoked lawyers to stop using the prefix “Hon’ble” while referring to the Supreme Court or its judges. He said, “Honour has left the building long back.”

Kamra had also posted a morphed image of the Supreme Court building giving it an Orange shade with the BJP flag hoisted in the Supreme Court’s entrance. Mumbai-based lawyer Rizwan Siddiquee said that if the court did not take action based on the derogatory statements made by Kamra, his millions of followers will follow the same path and make reckless allegations when judgment is not in their favour.

Delhi anti-Hindu riots: While a man was killed for Jai Shri Ram sticker on his bike, accused conspirator’s lawyer cites Ramayana in court

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi anti-Hindu riots: While a man was killed for Jai Shri Ram sticker on his bike, accused conspirator’s lawyer cites Ramayana in court

Amidst the hearing of the bail petition of Pinjra Tod ‘activist’ and conspirator of the Delhi anti-Hindu riots Natasha Narwal, the accused and the police relied on references from Hindu epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata to emphasise the merits of the case.

The counsel for the accused, Adit Pujari, argued before the Court that the comprehensive 17,000-page Delhi police charge sheet was the second biggest document in the world after Mahabharata that had 22,000 pages. The special public prosecutor (SPP) Amit Prasad responded, “The accused’s counsel argued that the Mahabharata was 22,000 pages and the charge sheet was 17,000 pages. I would like to point out that Mahabharata was the story of a conspiracy and this case is also that of a conspiracy. In Mahabharata, Sanjaya was the one who was able to see everything.”

Prasad told Additional Sessions, Judge Amitabh Rawat, that the contentious Whatsapp group used to co-ordinate the riots, Delhi Protest Support Group (DPSG) was similar to the character of ‘Sanjaya’, who had narrated the war of Mahabharata to the king Dhritarashtra. He emphasised, “The Sanjaya of this conspiracy was DPSG. Sanjaya was narrating everything to Dhritarashtra. The Dhritarasthra here is yet to be identified. We have seen that their intent was not protest, but a disruptive chakka jam and clear indications that the end result was violence.”

Counsel of Natasha Narwal relies on Ramayana even as she is accused of orchestrating a riot where a Hindu was killed for a Jai Shree Ram sticker on his bike

While arguing for Natasha Narwal, advocate Adit Pujari argued that his client has been trapped in the case just like Arjuna’s son, Abhimanyu, was trapped in a ‘Chakravyuh’ (battle formation) in Mahabharata.

Drawing instances from Shri Ram’s exile in Ramayana, Adit Pujari said, “Let’s be very clear that the reason this is being done is because the charge sheet does not really contain a prima facie case. This is not going to be a Ramayana where we are going to wait 14 years to see if we can finally come out… It is happening here and now; we are arguing this now.”

He alleged that the Delhi police chargesheet revolved only around the deaths of Rahul Solanki, IB officer Ankit Sharma and head constable Ratan Lal, even though a total of 53 people died in the deadly riots of North-East Delhi. “Are we living in a society where the life of one policeman is more important than 48 civilians? You name 53 persons having died. However, the chargesheet is surrounding Ratan Lal… According to the prosecution, it was a conspiracy to create disaffection against India in order to attract UAPA,” he claimed.

It is rather interesting that the counsel for Natasha Narwal equated her incarceration to the Vanvaas of Lord Ram in a case where she has been accused of orchestrating a riot that targeted Hindus. It becomes even more grotesque when one recalls the chants of ‘Hinduon se Azadi’ and ‘Maaro Kafiro ko maaro’ and the fact that a Hindu man was murdered during the anti-Hindu Delhi riots because he had a sticker of Lord Ram on his bike.

Vinod Kumar was mercilessly murdered on the night of 24th February. On his way to the medical shop on a bike along with his son, who escaped narrowly with serious injuries, Vinod Kumar was beaten and killed. Videos emerged where Vinod’s lifeless body was being dragged away from the spot where his bike was up in flames. In the distance, one could hear the chilling chants of a mob – Allah Hu Akbar, Nara e Taqbeer.

Vinod was killed by a murderous Islamist mob, according to his son, because of the Jai Shree Ram sticker on his bike. He said he saw no other reason for this unprovoked attack on his father and him.

In another video, one can hear the person shooting the video say, “Dekhiye, Muslimo ka ye haal, Hinduon ka kar diya jeena behaal. Ek laash bheji gayi hai Musalmano ki taraf se hamare Hindu bhai ki. Bhahampuri gali number ek mein. Le jao laash, aisi laashein uthengi poori raat, aisa sandesh diya hai…”. 

Role of DPSG and Pinjra Tod activist Natasha Narwal

The Special Public Prosecutor informed that the Whatsapp group monitored and controlled all Anti-CAA protests sites. He stated that the intention was not to protest against the humanitarian act but to engage in the blockade, and ‘chakka jam’, culminating into unprecedented violence.

Accusing Pinjra Tod ‘activist’ Natasha Narwal of orchestrating protests at Seelampur, Amit Prasad reiterated that she was made a part of the DPSG group, following her success in Seelampur. He added that she was a part of a meeting on February 16 and February 17 during which the Anti-CAA conspiracy was hatched. Prasad pointed out that the Whatsapp chats revealed their nefarious agenda of inciting violence.

He stated, “She was privy to the principal conspirators. She was coordinating with the Jamia coordination committee. Detailed elaborations are not required on the merits at this point. The prima facie case stands established.”

The bail plea will be further heard on December 22.

Narwal associated with The Wire, Newslaundry

On May 23, the Special cell of Delhi police had arrested Natasha Narwal. She, along with co-accused Devangna Kalita, was one of the founding members of far-Left group Pinjra Tod, which was established in 2015. Pinjra Tod was started primarily in opposition to hostel curfews at Delhi’s colleges and universities, however, their far-left agenda had been evident since long.

Natasha Narwal was also a columnist with several Left-leaning online portals in the past. She had written three articles for the far-left propaganda portal The Wire. Harbouring deep-seated hatred and Hinduphobia, Natasha Narwal had also written for NewsLaundry during the release of the movie ‘Padman’.

Interestingly, in all her writings on the two platforms, while Natasha displays substantial hatred for Hindus and their traditions, even misrepresenting and lying about what the place of women is in the Hindu society, she seems to have stayed clear from any targeted criticism of women’s place in Islam and the Muslim community.

The Print tries to brazen it out after quietly editing their report, gets called out again by IIT professor: Here is what happened

OpIndia Staff
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The Print tries to brazen it out after quietly editing their report, gets called out again by IIT professor: Here is what happened

A day after veteran ‘journalist’ Shekhar Gupta’s ‘The Print’ attempted to mislead the readers by misquoting an IIT Professor about India’s response to COVID-19, the publication tried to brazen it out by defending its misreporting of professor’s observations.

On Wednesday, the Print had published an article explaining how India ‘missed’ about 90 infections for every COVID case to propagate that the country bungled up in its response to the pandemic. In an attempt to further their narrative, the Print had misquoted Manindra Agrawal, who is the member of the Department of Science and Technology committee and professor at the Department of Computer Science at IIT Kanpur.

The report by The Print had claimed that India had ‘missed’ 90 infections on every one reported case. However, the report had completely failed to mention that the ‘unreporting’ is because most of these cases were either asymptomatic or showed mild symptoms. 

Shekhar Gupta’s Print misreports Professor’s observations

Following the publication of the article by the Print, Professor Agrawal had taken to Twitter to clarify his observation and also point out how the reporter from The Print had misinterpreted his statements. He said he had mentioned that according to their model, only one in 90 cases had been reported and the ‘unreported’ ones are primarily due to being asymptomatic.

He further said that Delhi may have ‘unreported’ 25 cases for every one reported case while the number rises to 300 in the case of UP. He said that the reporter took his words in a different direction and implicated that the Indian system “somehow goofed up by not detecting them” by replacing his words ‘unreported’ with ‘missed cases’.

Agarwal revealed that the Print had deliberately changed ‘unreported’ cases, he had mentioned in his interview to mean “missing ones”. According to the professor, the implication being that our system had erred by not detecting these case for various reasons.

Manindra Agarwal, expressing disappointment over the misrepresentation by The Print, said that nowhere in the report, The Print actually conveyed the original point he had made to the reporter that the virus seems to be affecting India less severely than many other countries.

It is important to mention the difference between ‘missed’ cases of reporting and ‘unreported’ cases. The ‘missed’ cases are the ones, which has been not detected/documented by the state deliberately to keep their numbers low. This phenomenon was allegedly observed in states like Kerala, West Bengal where the state government was reportedly documenting a reduced number of cases to depict that they had effectively handled the pandemic in a better way. It is alleged by researchers that Kerala had missed reporting cases to the extent of 43 per cent to hide the deaths.

Contrary to it, ‘unreporting’ of cases meant state’s inability to test or trace the positive cases due to various underlying cases such as asymptomatic nature of the infected persons, lack of infrastructure, etc.

Continuing, the professor further explaining the details pertaining to the survey that was carried out by his team, he said though his team had not done any survey, their results to arrive at the above outcome on ‘unreporting’ of the case was purely based on a mathematical model run on publicly available data.

“Although the model has been predicting the trajectory for the pandemic very well for past 3-4 months, it is still only a model,” he added.

The professor had also said that one aspect of their model has also been verified and its conclusions for pandemic trajectory have been confirmed by actual progression in the cases.

Essentially, Prof. Agarwal accused The Print of misinterpreting by giving a spin to his original observation to imply that India had deliberately ‘missed’ reporting cases. However, Prof Agarwal, speaking to the Print had only insisted that the cases could have gone unreported due to various factors.

Print brazens it out, defends misreporting of observation

After the professor pointed out the Print’s dishonesty in reporting his exact observation and its attempts to misreport to suit its narrative, the Print tweeted a clarification on Thursday defending its report. In its tweet, thanking the Professor for his ‘feedback’, the Print went on to brazen it out by saying that their report had made a distinction between ‘reported cases’ and ‘undiagnosed infections’.

The Print also claimed that the report did not talk about ‘missed cases’ but ‘missed infections’. It also added that the report quoted the professor who had said India was among countries less affected.

However, The Print did not clarify why it altered Agarwal’s observations by replacing ‘unreported’ cases to ‘missed’ cases. The Print’s claims that it had made a distinction between ‘reported cases’ and ‘undiagnosed infections’ also falls flat that there has been no such clarification in the original report.

Responding to the tweet put out by The Print, Prof Agarwal took a dig at the publication for defending their misreporting. He also added that all the responses put out by The Print was similar to their report and did not mean anything new. He also pointed out how The Print had altered its report to add a quote only after he had called the reporter up and complained about the article.

After Professor had voiced his disappointment over the misreporting his observation, The Print had silently edited to add his quote at the fag end of the report, he stated.

Kidnapped Odisha girl rescued after family approaches HC, was being tortured, forced to convert to Islam: All you need to know

OpIndia Staff
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Kidnapped Odisha girl rescued after family approaches HC, was being tortured, forced to convert to Islam: All you need to know

A 21-year old girl who was allegedly kidnapped for forceful conversion and marriage has finally been rescued by the police in Dharmashala town of Jajpur district after 13 days. On December 15, the father of the girl had approached the Odisha High Court, seeking directions to the police stating that despite repeated complaints and FIR, the police had failed to rescue their daughter.

Sehmat Khan had been forcing the victim to convert to Islam: Girl’s family

A 21-year-old girl was allegedly kidnapped from VN College, Jajpur on December 5 when she had gone there to collect her migration certificate. As per reports, the family of the girl had approached the police to trace her, stating that a man named Abdul Sehmat Khan alias Bobby has been pursuing her and forcing her to marry him, but the police had neglected the issue. As the local police ignored his complaints, the girl’s father had approached the SP in Jajpur, seeking his intervention.

The father’s letter to Superintendent of Police, Jajpur

Recently, the victim girl had reportedly made a frantic phone call to her mother, alleging that Sehmat Khan had kidnapped her and has been forcing her to convert to Islam. The girl stated in the phone call that she is being threatened and assaulted and Abdul Sehmat Khan had told her that if she refuses to convert, she will be killed and her body will be thrown away.

The girl had also informed her mother that she has been kept at a hotel in Puri and will be taken later to a Mosque in Cuttack for the Islamic marriage. An audio recording of a conversation, allegedly that of the girl with her mother seeking help and informing that Abdul Sehmat has been planning to do a forceful ‘Nikah’ with her, is going viral on the social media.

Girl’s family had to approach High Court as police failed to rescue her

Failing to get help from the police, the girl’s father had approached the Odisha High Court on December 15, seeking direction to the police to help rescue their daughter. In his petition to the Odisha High Court, the victim’s father had stated that despite repeated complaints, request letter, FIR and several visits to the police station, the police had not been taking any steps to rescue his daughter. In his petition, the father had cited that the accused Sehmat khan had long been forcing the victim to convert to Islam and marry him. When the girl refused to convert, he had finally kidnapped her.

The petition by the girl’s father

The copy of the letter and petition has been provided to use by a Twitter user @Defence_360. The user also helped in obtaining additional information regarding the case.

After HC petition, girl rescued, arrests made

The police then arrested Sehmat Khan’s father Sheikh Abdul Hamid Khan for aiding his son Sehmat in abducting the girl and threatening the family. He was produced at the court and was remanded to 14 days of judicial custody. Finally, on the evening of December 17, the victim was rescued by the police. After police raids, she was rescued from the Jagatpur area of Cuttack city. The abductor Sehmat Khan has been arrested and has been sent to judicial custody, as per reports.

Yet another complaint against Kangana Ranaut, this time, for laughing on a meme: Details

OpIndia Staff
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Yet another complaint against Kangana Ranaut, this time, for laughing on a meme: Details

Bollywood artist Kangana Ranaut cannot seem to say much without a case slapped against her. After being hounded by the Maharashtra government for her comments criticising them and several others, another leader has filed a complaint against her for allegedly ‘defaming’ him. It is now being reported that a complaint has been filed against actor Kangana Ranaut in Gaya Civil Court for her alleged remarks on RLSP leader Upendra Kushwaha.

“It’s a crime to make derogatory comments against any leader. So, we’ve asked the court to take cognizance of our complaint,” said Shambhu Prasad, Lawyer, talking to the media about the complaint filed.

The tweet that RLSP leader Upendra Kushwaha and his followers have taken offence to seems to be rather benign, however. Evidently, the complaint against Kangana has been filed because she laughed a meme that involved a picture of RLSP leader Upendra Kushwaha.

On December 3rd, a meme was posted that used a picture of RLSP leader Upendra Kushwaha where he was marked as ‘Azad Kashmir’, and other leaders, who were squeezing themselves into the frame to get a picture with him were marked as ‘Khalistanis’, ‘Jihadis’, ‘Lutyens Liberals’ etc. The meme was meant to show how every anti-India element is trying to talk about ‘freedom for Kashmir’ for their own political benefits.

Kangana Ranaut had quoted the tweet and added 5 laughing emojis. This seems to have irked RLSP leader Upendra Kushwaha and his supporters even at that time.

It is pertinent to mention here that RLSP leader Upendra Kushwaha. It was merely a joke that used a picture where leaders were seen trying to squeeze themselves into a frame with him.

However, the social media culture of posting memes seem to be beyond the realm of understanding for political leaders and a complaint was lodged against Kangana Ranaut for simply laughing at the said meme.

Only recently, the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee had sent a legal notice to actor Kangana Ranaut over her tweets that allegedly targeted farmers, activists protesting against the new farm laws. The legal notice sent on behalf of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee President Manjinder Singh Sirsa said that the actress defamed the farmers, protestors and activists involved in the ‘farmer protests’ against the Modi government.

Similarly, another member of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee has also sent a legal notice to Kangana Ranaut for misidentifying an old woman at the farmers’ protest in the national capital as ‘Shaheen Bagh dadi’.The notice was sent by advocate Harpreet Singh Hora on behalf of the committee member Jasmain Singh Noni.

Before that, a writ petition was filed in the High Court demanding that Kangana Ranaut be barred from using her Twitter account. The fact that she called the Uddhav Thackeray govt ‘Pappu Sena’ was also mentioned in the petition.

Mumbai Police’s Sachin Vaze arrests BARC COO, who had resigned in July, after he was ‘caught’ with WhatsApp messages to Republic TV CEO

OpIndia Staff
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Mumbai Police’s Sachin Vaze arrests BARC COO, who had resigned in July, after he was ‘caught’ with WhatsApp messages to Republic TV CEO

The Mumbai Police on Thursday arrested former chief operating officer (COO) of the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) Romil Ramgarhia in connection with the alleged ‘Fake TRP’ scam, after almost 4 months of his resignation from BARC.

According to the reports, the special investigation team (SIT) of the Mumbai Police Crime Branch arrested former BARC Chief Operating Officer Romil Ramgarhia on Thursday. A team headed by controversial Police officer Sachin Vaze reached Ramgarhia’s residence at Dosti Acres in Wadala on Thursday morning. 

The SIT had initially brought Ramgarhia for questioning, however, he was taken into custody on Thursday noon by Vaze’s team.

The SIT later produced him in the metropolitan magistrate court and sought his custody for further interrogation. The prosecutors claimed that Romil Ramgarhia’s custody is necessary as it is essential for them to retrieve data from his laptop in connection with the ongoing investigation into the ‘Fake TRP’ scam.

According to the SIT, Ramgarhia was in contact with the director of Republic Media network and its CEO Vikas Khanchandani through WhatsApp and is “suspected to have passed on information to the channel”. It is, however, unclear what “information” they suspect the BARC COO passed on to Republic TV CEO.

The arrest of former BARC COO comes just days after Mumbai Police had continued its witch-hunt against Republic Media Network and had arrested CEO Vikas Khanchandani from his home in connection with the alleged ‘Fake TRP’ scam case.

Mumbai Police claims BARC COO leaked data to channels

The SIT also claimed before the court that Ramgarhia allegedly leaked confidential information aiding the accused in the case to fix TRPs for some channels. The SIT said that Romil Ramgarhia leaked this information during his tenure with BARC. Ramgarhia was rating agency BARC’s first COO and he remained in that position till his resignation in July 2020.

“While working with BARC, he guided and assisted some TV channels in manipulating TRPs. He was aware of the location of barometers across the country and we suspect that he shared this information too with some channels,” the officer added. The Police also stated that Ramgarhia’s mobile phone has been seized and will be sent to the forensic science laboratory for cyber analysis. 

Advocate Mrunmay Kulkarni, representing the former BARC official, argued that custodial interrogation was not warranted as Ramgarhia had already resigned from the organisation months before the alleged scandal broke out and had nothing to do with the alleged ‘Fake TRP’ scam. The defence counsel also argued that Ramgarhia had a very specific role in rating agency BARC and was in no way involved in any illegal activities.

After hearing both sides, the court granted the SIT custody of Ramgarhia till December 19. Romil Ramgarhia is the fourteenth individual to have been arrested by the Mumbai Police in connection with the ‘Fake TRP’ scam, where channels including Fakt Marathi, India Today, Republic TV have been accused of bribing sample households to shoot up their TRPs.

It is rather interesting to note that while the COO resigned on July 31st 2020, it was on June 17th that Hansa Research Group employee Vishal Bhandari had informed to BARC Vigilance Team that he had received a call from one Vinay in November 2019. As per the complaint, Vinay had asked Bhandari to visit 5-panel homes, where bar-o-meters are installed, and convince them to watch India Today news channel for 2 hours every day. He had received ₹5000 to execute the task and was also paid ₹1000 to equally distribute among the 5-panel homes. Bhandari, who had executed the plan on the behest of Vinay, continued it unabated from November 2019 to May this year.

During the 7-month period, Bhandari would meet different people at the Malad railway station to receive his cash reward. During their internal investigation, BARC cross-verified the claims of Bhandari. Several panel homes have admitted to receiving monetary compensation in lieu of watching ‘certain channels’ and ‘influencing the viewership’.

Pertinently, Hansa Research, that has now alleged that they are being forced to implicate Republic TV by Sachin Vaze and others in Mumbai Police had not named Republic TV at all and had only named India Today in their report, based on which an FIR was filed.

Fake TRP scam

In October, Mumbai Police had made some sensational claims against some TV channels saying that they were manipulating TRP ratings. In a press conference, Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh had said that three TV channels, including Republic TV, were involved in manipulating viewership data of BARC by paying those households where Bar-o-meters, the devices that track TV viewership, are installed.

Param Bir Singh had specifically mentioned that Hansa Research had filed a complaint with the police. Hansa Group is an organisation that regulated the devices to record TRP for BARC. Interestingly, in this FIR that was filed by Hansa Research, Republic TV was not mentioned even once. The channel that was mentioned several times was India Today.

During the investigation, several evidence and witnesses came forward that alleged Mumbai Police have been intimidating them to speak against Republic TV, including Hansa officials. Hansa has also complained that they are being harassed by the Mumbai Police to give statements against Republic TV.

BJP workers booked for unfurling Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and ‘Jai Shree Ram’ banner after Kerala polls: Here are details

OpIndia Staff
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BJP workers booked for unfurling Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and ‘Jai Shree Ram’ banner after Kerala polls: Here are details

On Thursday, a case was registered against some BJP workers for unfurling banners, carrying the image of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, PM Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and the slogan of ‘Jai Shri Ram’, ‘Vande Mataram’, atop the Municipal corporation building in Palakkad.

As per reports, the incident came to light on Wednesday evening after BJP won the local body polls, securing 28 seats out of 52 in the Palakkad Municipality, Kerala. The party workers were seen unfurling two banners, one carrying the image of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj with the slogan of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ in Malayalam and the other carrying the image of PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah with the slogan of ‘Vande Mataram’.

At the same time, other BJP workers gathered outside the Municipality complex and celebrated the party’s victory in saffron robes and slogans of ‘Jai BJP.’ A complaint was filed with the Palakkad Town South police by the Secretary of the Municipality, Balaram, alleging an attempt to ‘destroy communal harmony.’ Similar such complaints were filed by the Congress party and Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader T K Noushad.

While speaking about the incident, SP (Palakkad) S Sujithdas informed that a case was registered under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 153A (promoting communal disharmony) and that special branch deputy superintendent Krishnan has been asked to file a report. He said, “The special branch deputy superintendent has been asked to file a report with regard to the incident.”

Political reactions on the incident

The Congress party has alleged that the ‘act of rolling down banners’ atop the municipality building was ‘illegal.’ District Congress Committee President, VK Sreekantan, also alleged that the banners contained ‘communal content. He said, “A case has to be registered against those involved. The banners exhibited communal content. If the police hadn’t registered a case because of a lack of complaint, the Congress has lodged one with the district police chief on Thursday.”

CPI(M) leader T K Noushad also alleged that the banners were illegal and that they unfurled by the BJP workers, in collusion with the RSS. However, E Krishnadas, BJP President, had dismissed all such claims. He said that the party leadership was unaware of the actions of the workers. On learning about the incident, the BJP had directed to remove the banners.

He emphasised, “The controversy is much ado about nothing. There were more than 1,500 BJP supporters outside the counting venue. If a few had sneaked to the top of the municipal building, it was without the knowledge of the leadership. The police should have been more vigilant. As soon as the incident came to the notice of the leadership, directions were given to remove the banners. Accordingly, they were removed in a minute.”

Kerala local poll results

The CPIM-led LDF has emerged the largest coalition in gram, block and district panchayats. In a tweet, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan thank the people of Kerala for reposing faith in LDF. “We are humbled by the trust and the confidence of the people of Kerala. This is a victory for secularism and inclusive development. My warm greetings to all the elected representatives,” he said.

The CPI-M led LDF has won 7263 wards in gram panchayat, 1267 wards in block panchayat, 212 wards in district panchayat, 1167 in municipality and 207 wards in corporation. Gram panchayat has 15962 wards, block panchayat has 2080, district panchayat has 331, municipality has 3078 and corporation has 414 wards.

The BJP has also thanked people for supporting party in the civic polls. In a tweet, BJP General Secretary BL Santhosh said: “You gave us 1182 GP, 37 BP, 2 ZP, 320 Municipality, 59 Corporation wards. 25 GPs and 2 Municipalities ( Palakkad, Pandalam, main opposition in Thiruvananthapuram”

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