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Man abducted by family of Muslim girlfriend who were planning to extort money from him to finance her marriage to someone else

Aditi
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Man abducted by family of Muslim girlfriend who were planning to extort money from him to finance her marriage to someone else

In a strange incident that took place in Thane, Maharashtra, a 20-year old man was reportedly abducted by the family of his Muslim girlfriend on October 31, 2020, as reported by Times of India. The man named Abhishek Gupta had recently moved to Thane and joined an IT firm there. According to Assistant Commissioner (Wagle Estate Division) Jayant Bajbale, Gupta was in a relationship with a girl named Nargis Javed.

As per the TOI report, on October 31, Nargis Javed, who is from Varanasi, called Gupta to meet her in a restaurant in Vasai. When Gupta reached the place, he was abducted by a group of seven persons who first drove him to Manor and then to a flat situated at Virar in Baluchnagar. They assaulted Gupta and called his brother demanding a ransom of Rs 4 lakh.

Upon the complaint by Gupta’s family, the police began searching for Abhishek on the night of November 1. Gupta was rescued by police on November 2, from the flat where he was held captive. Police have arrested the culprits including two women.

Her father planned to extort money for her marriage to someone else

According to reports, the girl’s family was unhappy with her relationship with Gupta as they had already found a match for her. Nagis’ father reportedly hatched a conspiracy to abduct Gupta to teach him a lesson and extort money from him. The money was to be used to finance the woman’s marriage to the person they had chosen for her.

US Presidential Elections 2020 vs 2016: Things feel the same as they did four years ago and yet, they are very different

K Bhattacharjee
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US Presidential Elections 2020 vs 2016: Things feel the same as they did four years ago and yet, they are very different

Four years have passed since Donald Trump pulled off one of the greatest upsets in the history of American politics when he defeated Hillary Clinton to become the 45th President of the United States. And now, only hours remain for voting to end in the 2020 US Presidential Elections and for counting of the votes to begin. A lot has changed since then but a lot remains the same.

Truth be told, the obstacles that Donald Trump has to overcome in 2020 are the same that he defeated in 2016. It is only that there is much better coordination among his rivals now, operating with laser focus to oust him from the White House. Furthermore, certain quarters which had struggled hard to maintain the charade of neutrality are now openly hostile to the prospect of another four years of his Presidency.

Thus, as it was in 2016, Donald Trump is once again up against the nexus between the Democrat party and mainstream media. In addition, almost the entirety of the entertainment industry and Big Business is lined up against him as well. Then there are the Universities which have been working over time to spread garbage propaganda against the US President. But this time, there are two added components into the mix.

The ‘Intelligence Community’, prominent sections of which attempted to enforce a coup of the democratically elected president of the USA, are openly hostile to Donald Trump now. And then there is Big Tech which has long since abandoned even the pretense of neutrality. Twitter, Facebook and Google are all censoring pro-Trump voices with varying degrees. Twitter has gone to the extent of censoring the US President for promising to enforce law and order in the wake of violent riots by left-wing thugs.

Thus, the essential nature of the alliance of the forces arraigned against him have not changed. However, the intensity with which they have been functioning is several times higher than what was witnessed in 2016. Another similarity is the polls which have been regularly predicting a terrible loss for Donald Trump in 2020.

But the polls ought to be taken with a pinch of salt as the overwhelming majority of them were horribly off target in 2016. Multiple news networks believed Hillary Clinton had more than 90% chance of winning the elections with some rating her chances as high as 98%. But eventually, when votes were counted, the Business tycoon pulled off what was unthinkable even hours earlier.

This time, however, things are slightly different with respect to polls. The polls have consistently showed a definitive edge for Joe Biden, a much bigger and more stable lead than they showed for Hillary Clinton. Therefore, if it were even possible, polls demonstrate an even worse scenario for Donald Trump than they did the last time around.

Thus, things as they stand today in terms of his chances of victory are quite similar to how they were in 2016. Almost every establishment figure, excluding Republicans, are convinced that Joe Biden is headed for a landslide victory. The mainstream media and Democrats would have citizens convinced that there is no chance in hell for Donald Trump to repeat his feat for a second time.

Even so, there are voices outside the halls of the left-leaning political elite which believe that Donald Trump will comfortably win the elections. They do not have any solid data to back their claim nor can they base their opinion on a sound basis of fact. But a lot of them are the same people who had correctly predicted the results of the 2016 elections as well based on enthusiasm among voters.

They are relying on their gut feeling that Donald Trump will pull off a massive upset yet again. Donald Trump, meanwhile, appears far more relaxed and comfortable than he did four years ago. It was widely reported, and this journalist is inclined to believe them, that the ‘MadMan-in-Chief’ was himself resigned to the fact that he would lose. But this time around, he can be spotted dancing at his rallies. And one thing that hasn’t changed even now is the massive crowds he continues to attract to his rallies.

It has to be considered, however, that these lone voices on the internet are not the only ones predicting a Trump victory. According to a Gallup poll, 56% of Americans believe Trump will win the elections. All these things considered, things are a lot different now than they were four years ago. In 2016, there was not the looming threat of a civil war across the country. Businesses were not boarded up in anticipation of riots. Months of rioting had not preceded the polling either. Therefore, the atmosphere is much darker now as clouds of uncertainty continues to gather across the horizon.

What has been happening in the United States is much like the movie Parasite, winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture, that gets progressively darker as the story progresses. Turns out, running conspiracy theories such as the Russian Collusion Delusion and comparing a democratically elected president to Adolf Hitler has debilitating effects on the mental health of citizens. As Michael Tracey, who happens to be a progressive himself who is opposed to Donald Trump, correctly pointed out, a Trump defeat is a “win for the lunatics who’ve spent four years subjecting the rest of us an unceasing tsunami of freakish nonsense.”

Furthermore, we have the Wuhan Coronavirus crisis that has thrown the entire world into chaos, the USA being no different. Until the advent of the pandemic, with a booming economy, every poll showed Donald Trump was set to win reelection comfortably. But then, the manner in which the pandemic struck the United States threw all equations into a flux. Trump himself floundered quite a bit in responding to the crisis, like all other heads of state, and that has put his position in extreme jeopardy, making him the underdog.

Then again, Donald Trump is at his best when he is running as the underdog. The greatest difference from 2016, however, is the personal characteristics of his opponent. Everyone will agree, regardless of their political orientation, that Hillary Clinton was a horrible candidate by any measure. And Joe Biden, simply, does not give those evil vibes even though he may be just as corrupt as the Hunted Biden emails reveal.

Case in point, prior to the 2016 Presidential Elections, there was the Pizzagate scandal that created a storm where it was alleged that powerful individuals in the establishment were involved in human trafficking and pedophilia. Links of Hillary Clinton to the whole affair was also suspected as Bill Clinton is infamous for his dalliances. Then, there was the ‘Clinton body count’ which documented people close to Hillary who tended to end up dead in mysterious circumstances.

There was no hard evidence to link Hillary Clinton to any of these incidents but she was herself so corrupt and her husband was so evil that people considered well under the realm of possibilities that they would be involved in such crimes. We were told that Pizzagate was a hoax but then the same people would have us believe that noted pedophile Jeffery Epstein, with deep links to the US political establishment, actually committed suicide. But as we all know, Epstein did not kill himself.

Joe Biden is simply not such a person. He may be a geriatric with early onset dementia who cannot always identify his wife from his sister and often, he does not even know which state he is in, but people would have a hard time convincing others that he is involved in the creepy and evil stuff that they suspected Hillary’s involvement in. Joe Biden himself has a habit of behaving inappropriate around women and minor girls but even so, he emanates the vibes of the neighbourhood grandpa who is far past his sell-by date.

Joe biden may be a fool and a clown but people have a hard time believing that he is evil, which is not the case with Hillary Clinton. And that makes Donald Trump’s job much more difficult. That is perhaps the reason why the Trump Campaign has focused so much on Kamala Harris, who gives off the same vibes as Hillary Clinton and is a certifiable sociopath, and the fact that Joe Biden may be too weak to stamp his authority over the radical left section of the Democrat voter-base.

Thus, the 2020 US presidential elections has the same dynamics as 2016 but the atmosphere is much darker, the stakes are much higher and Donald Trump has a much higher mountain to climb. Could he do it? If there was ever someone who could, then it is Donald J Trump.

China obstructed WHO from investigating the origins of coronavirus: Reports

OpIndia Staff
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China obstructed WHO from investigating the origins of coronavirus: Reports

Beijing has effectively blocked the World Health Organisation(WHO) from investigating the origins of coronavirus. As per the internal documents accessed and reviewed by the New York Times, China has prevented the team sent by the premier health agency in February from conducting an independent probe of the matter to determine the source of the coronavirus pandemic.

The incriminating documents in possession of the Times revealed that not only the senior officials at the World Health Organisation negotiated the terms of investigations with China, sidelining their own experts, they also relinquished the control of the probe to Beijing. Neither was the team allowed to question China’s initial response to the coronavirus outbreak nor was it allowed to visit the live-animal market in Wuhan where the virus seemed to have originated.

China controls the essential part of the investigation into the origins of coronavirus

It has been over nine months and the investigation into the origins of the coronavirus outbreak has largely dragged, with little progress being made. On the surface, the probe is progressing. China has recently approved a list of outside investigators. But this is just an eyewash if documents accessed by the Times are to be believed. According to them, the key parts of the inquiry—the first patient of the coronavirus and the market’s role in the coronavirus outbreak—will be led by Chinese scientists. The secret documents show that WHO experts will review and “augment, rather than duplicate” studies carried out by Beijing.

Though WHO officials have been outwardly lavishing praises on China for its cooperation in helping the world agency tackle the coronavirus outbreak, they have complained privately that Beijing has not granted them full access to materials relevant to the probe which could help deter such pandemics in the future, as per reports.

The documents reveal that the modus operandi of covering up the coronavirus outbreak is starkly similar to how Beijing had kept the SARS outbreak hidden for months. However, once the Chinese officials had officially acknowledged it, they had soon allowed international teams to investigate the source. But this time around, China has been unforthcoming in sharing crucial details of the outbreak and has laid impediments in the way of international teams, preventing them from thoroughly carrying out the investigation.

Interview with 50 officials suggested that WHO has spectacularly failed in both of its endeavours—seeking cooperation from China to combat coronavirus—and getting access to information to determine the source of the virus. The details of the documents hint that the prospects of an impartial investigation into the coronavirus origination are diminishing. China has also been able to extract sizeable concessions from the WHO that has helped the country in delaying important research work and afforded the country to do away with the potentially mortifying assessment of its bungled initial response.

Latest revelations vindicate accusations of WHO-China partnership in covering up the coronavirus pandemic

The latest revelations made through the internal documents accessed by the Times only vindicates the stand taken by many against the World Health Organisation as to being too deferential to China in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. Some of them had even accused the WHO of being in cahoots with China to cover up the rampaging coronavirus while others had accused the WHO chief Tedros Adhanom of taking whatever Beijing said on face value.

WHO had declared the Wuhan coronavirus, which emerged from China and swiftly spread to other parts of the world, a pandemic only on March 11. According to a US-based publication The Hill, critics are raising questions as to why, despite repeated warnings from many experts, health officials and governments of various countries, did the World Health Organisation take so long to declare the deadly disease a pandemic.

According to the report published in The Hill earlier this year, it was alleged that Tedros, the WHO chief, not only turned a blind eye to what happened in Wuhan but also, after meeting with Xi in January, helped China to play down the severity, prevalence and the amplitude of the deadly COVID-19 outbreak. It is also being alleged that the WHO Director-General defended China despite its gross mismanagement of the highly contagious disease.

American President Donald Trump had accused the WHO of being the “puppet of China” and had pulled the rug out for its contradictory and delayed handling of the coronavirus outbreak. The US Health Secretary Alex Azar had also lambasted against the premier health organisation, noting that the agency had failed in obtaining the critical information that the world needed.

The WHO’s blanket whitewashing of China’s complicity and its misleading decisions have been criticised widely by many experts around the world.

Deepika Padukone’s absconding manager Karishma Prakash gets anticipatory bail in drug abuse case

OpIndia Staff
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Deepika Padukone’s absconding manager Karishma Prakash gets anticipatory bail in drug abuse case

Actor Deepika Padukone’s manager Karishma Prakash, who remained elusive after coming into the radar of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in the drug probe related to the Sushant Singh Rajput case, has been granted anticipatory bail by a special NDPS court on Tuesday. In response to the absconding KWAN Talent Agency’s employee’s anticipatory bail application, the court ordered that Karishma Prakash would not be arrested until November 7, but she would need to appear before the NCB.

Karishma Prakash termed ‘untraceable’ by NCB

Deepika Padukone’s manager Karishma Prakash was termed ‘untraceable’ after she failed to appear before the NCB or reply to the two summons issued to her. Post her failure to appear, the NCB had handed over the summons to her mothers and employees of KWAN Talent Agency.

Karishma was summoned on October 27 for questioning in the drug angle that came to fore in the investigation of actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death. On the same day, the NCB officials had conducted a raid at Karishma’s residence and retrieved charas (cannabis) and three vials of CBD oil during the search. The officials even pasted the copy of the summons on the door of her house. However, neither she was found at her house nor did she respond to the summons. 

Deepika Padukone’s manager resigns from KWAN Talent Management Company

Now, amid this ongoing drug probe, there are reports, that Karishma Prakash has resigned from her position at KWAN Talent Management Company. The source confirmed that she has resigned from her position on October 21, 2020. Speaking about the resignation, a source close to the talent agency said: “Her association with Deepika and few other actors was only as a KWAN employee. So naturally, those associations would also be severed.”

Why is Karishma Prakash under NCB lens?

According to the NCB sleuths, one of the arrested drug peddlers in the Bollywood drugs probe case had named Karishma Prakash in the interrogation. This came after NCB had recorded the statements of Karishma and Deepika in the drugs probe linked to the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. Karishma was reportedly in regular touch with the drug peddlers.

It is pertinent to note that Karishma Prakash was summoned by the central investigative agency earlier after a series of WhatsApp conversations had gone viral where Deepika Padukone was found allegedly asking for hash (or hashish, drug made from the cannabis plant) from a certain person named ‘K’, who many believe is her manager, Karishma Prakash.

Reportedly, the conversations, believed to have happened in 2017, were a part of a group called ‘DP+Ka+KWAN’ for which Deepika Padukone was the admin. The group was formed by Jaya Saha and its admins were Deepika Padukone and Karishma Prakash.

IIT grad who created ‘faster app’ to book Tatkal tickets got arrested because of Railways’ history with touts. Here are the details

Anurag
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IIT grad who created ‘faster app’ to book Tatkal tickets got arrested because of Railways’ history with touts. Here are the details

On 25th October 2020, officers from the Railway Protection Force (RPF) arrested 32-year-old S Yuvarajaa for allegedly swindling around Rs 20 lakh via two fraudulent mobile apps for IRCTC ticket booking. As per the reports, in 2016, Yuvarajaa developed an app named Super Tatkal and an updated version of the app Super Tatkal Pro in 2019. He gained up to one lakh users during this period and made around Rs 20 lakh using in-app purchases.

Yuvarajaa was arrested under Section 143(2) of the Railway Act under which unauthorized continuation of a business of procuring and supplying of railway tickets is a punishable offense. Any person found using illegal ways to procure tickets or provide services to procure railway tickets without adequate permissions and licenses can be punished as per the law.

Indian Railways, touts and Operation Dhanush

Ticketing touts have been a major issue for Indian Railways. Touts, as a term, refers to a person who tries to persuade people to buy a certain product or services from him, rather than going to the authentic source. Ticketing touts are the private agents who use certain illegal software to book tickets in bulk and then selling them further to the customers at a higher price.

Indian Railways took numerous steps in the last few years to control this menace and put an end to the problem of ticketing touts. In July 2019, Indian Railways issued a press release in which they mentioned that they had arrested 1261 touts in 2017 and 2391 in 2018. A total of 11,500 illegally obtained tickets were recovered in 2017, and 78,001 were recovered in 2018.

As per the press release of March 2020, here are the steps that Railways took to give a fair chance to everyone while booking Tatkal tickets:

  • Restriction of only 2 Tatkal tickets per user from 1000 hours to 1200 hours.
  • Introduction of Random Security Question for Tatkal ticket bookings.
  • Restriction of only one tatkal ticket per day per train to retail service providers (agents).
  • Regular checks on user IDs and deactivating those found using malpractices like fast booking of tickets. It has to be noted that Indian Railways blocked 1.26 lakh such user Ids between 1st April 2018 and 31st May 2019.
  • Restriction of only one booking in one user login session except for return/onward journey between 0800 and 1200 hours.
  • Dynamic CAPTCHA introduced at three places- registration, login and booking page to check fraudulent booking through automation software.
  • Checks on the minimum time required to enter passenger details and display of CAPTCHA at the time of e-ticket booking by users.
  • Restriction on authorized agents of IRCTC for booking tickets during the first fifteen minutes of opening of Advance Reservation Period (ARP) booking and Tatkal booking.
  • RPF is conducting regular drives against persons/agencies found involved in unauthorized carrying on of the business of procuring and supplying of railway tickets. The offenders are booked under section 143 of the Railways Act.
  • Use of PRABAL query-based application for verification of IRCTC IDs to detect the cases of illegal E-ticketing with follows up action.

As the steps mentioned state, Indian Railways restricted the use of any application to quickly fill out the user form. Later in October 2019, Indian Railways launched ‘Operation Dhanush’ to further prevent touts from booking tickets. They nabbed 23 agents and seized 287 live tickets worth Rs.9,43,725/- and 1008 journey performed tickets worth Rs.21,18,097/-.

In May 2020, RPF started a nation-wide drive to identify and act against touting activities. In the press release, Indian Railways said, “The IRCTC agents were using personal Ids to corner tickets and then sell them unauthorizedly at a premium. Action has been initiated to get them blacklisted. One tout was found using autofill software called Super Tatkal Pro.” Railways had mentioned in May itself that touts were using the said software to quickly book Tatkal tickets reducing the chance for the general public to get access to the Railways services.

In May, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal warned touts that Railways is taking strict action against agents who use software to book tickets. He also requested the travelers to inform Railway at 138 if anyone approaches them to book tickets.

Difference between authorized and unauthorized booking agent

There are several schemes under which companies or firms can become authorized agents for IRCTC. There are many regulations [PDF] in place to ensure no fraudulent activities are happening while booking railway tickets. As per the regulations, there is a penalty for any software tempering that may provide an advantage to the vendors’ customers for using their platform over others. Companies like Make My Trip, Paytm, etc. are IRCTC’s authorized agents, among several others. IRCTC regularly updates the list of authorized principal service providers, commonly known as agents [PDF].

These service providers either use IRCTC’s platform or integrate IRCTC services into their platform using APIs. Anyone who indulges in booking tickets for customers and charges them for the services without the license provided by Indian Railways gets subject to punishment as per the law.

The Print’s attempt to whitewash the illegality of the apps

Shekhar Gupta’s The Print has published a report on Yuvrajaa’s arrest calling it India’s policy-makers’ attempt to ‘kill innovation’. In the report, Print stated that while the Indian government talks about ‘fancy technical terms’ like AI, machine learning, and blockchain, in reality, innovators like Yuvarajaa get arrested for creating ‘useful’ apps.

Article in The Print

The Print said that the app developed by the IIT-Kharagpur grad only facilitated the customers in buying tickets quickly on IRCTC’s platform. “One might think Indian Railways would be on board with this innovation, especially since the enhanced user experience on the margin likely contributes to greater ticket throughput (and hence greater revenue). Nope, no such luck,” the report added.

Though The Print got the functionality of the application correctly as it mentioned that the app asked users for in-app purchases to auto-fill the IRCTC form for a quicker transaction, it completely failed to understand the illegality of it.

The reply from Indian Railways

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor quoted the article by Print and called the arrest a “national embarrassment.” Indian Railways has refuted the claims and released a press statement explaining why the application was illegal and against the customers’ interest. It said, IRCTC already had all the features that were listed in the application made by the accused. “However, they were disabled to ensure a level playing field for all the users. There is nothing new in Computer Application made by the said accused,” it further added.

As far as the ‘innovation’ aspect is concerned, Yuvaraja’s App was no ‘innovation’ since the autofill features were already there in IRCTC platform, though they were later disabled to allow a level playing field for the thousands of users who try to book Tatkal tickets in the website.

It said that anyone could book tickets using the IRCTC website or application without using any illegal application. Indian Railways has imposed several measures to prevent the use of illegal software available in the market, such as imposing a time limit to complete the transaction and captchas. Railways regularly monitor the traffic on its servers to check for any fraudulent activities.

It further added that the faster app mentioned in the reports was not, in fact, a faster app. He was illegally facilitating the application users to book e-tickets and was making money in the process. “Jumping the Tatkal queue and denying equal, a fair opportunity to all other travelers is not tenable. By this application, an unfair opportunity was being fraudulently given to those limited few who had access to the application. Any activity that leads to providing an unfair advantage to some and for illegal charges will be against the Railway rules,” it further added.

Bihar: Family beaten by RJD goons for not voting for the party, victim narrates ordeal in viral video

OpIndia Staff
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Bihar: Family beaten by RJD goons for not voting for the party, victim narrates ordeal in viral video

In the midst of the second phase of polling in the Bihar elections, a man named Kavindra Mahto and his family was allegedly brutally thrashed by goons, associated with the Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD), for not voting for the party.

As per reports, the incident took place in the Fatuha Vidhan Sabha constituency. The family, which was returning home after casting their vote, was stopped by the goons and assaulted after learning that they did not vote for RJD. Following the assault, a complaint was filed by the victim at the Fatuha police station against the unnamed accused.

In a video shared by social media activist Ankur Singh, the victim could be heard narrating his ordeal. Mahto had his vest ripped apart while his father, mother and son sustained injuries during the assault.

He recounted, “A few people wanted that we do not vote…They knew we would not vote for their party. They were angry at us and had come to harass us. We have just come after casting our vote. They wanted us to vote for the lantern symbol (election symbol for RJD).” His mother, who stood in the background, narrated, “They told us that we cannot vote for the lotus symbol (BJP) by staying in a Yadav-dominated area.”

JDU condemns the attack on the victim by RJD goons

Janta Dal (United) leader Ajay Alok hit back at the Rashtriya Janta Dal and condemned the attack on Mahto and his family.

He tweeted, “This is the true character of the party. These incidents show why people don’t vote for them.”

PM Modi slammed the ‘Yuvraj’ from ‘Jungle Raj’ era

While addressing a public gathering in Chhapra, PM Modi stated, “Today, Bihar has a government with two engines (referring to the BJP and the JDU). On the other side, there are two ‘Yuvraj’. One of them is from the ‘Jungle Raj’ era (referring to Tejashwi Yadav). ‘Jungle Raj’ refers to the dark phase in the history of Bihar under the rule of Lalu Prasad Yadav wherein hooliganism was at its peak and the RJD goons determined what’s right or wrong for people.

Voting for the second phase of three-phase election is currently underway in Bihar. The third and final voting will take place on 7th November. Results for the elections will be declared on 10th November.

Day after Nagpur court granted him bail, Mumbai Court sends Sameet Thakkar to police custody till November 9

OpIndia Staff
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Day after Nagpur court granted him bail, Mumbai Court sends Sameet Thakkar to police custody till November 9

A day after Mumbai police re-arrested popular social media user Sameet Thakkar, a Mumbai Court has now sent him to police custody till November 9. He was granted bail by a Nagpur Court yesterday but moments later he was arrested again by the Mumbai police.

Sameet Thakkar was earlier arrested on October 24 in Nagpur for allegedly making ‘objectionable’ comments on Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and his son, Aaditya Thackeray.

Earlier last week, an unsettling video of Sameet being tied with a rope and his face was covered with a black cloth and being led by police officials had surfaced on the internet. The video was from October 30, when Sameet was being taken to the court which extended his police custody till November 2.

Aaditya Thackeray called Baby Penguin

Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s son and MLA Aaditya Thackeray is referred by some as ‘baby penguin’. In 2016, on Aaditya’s insistence, 8 penguins were brought to Mumbai’s Byculla zoo from Seoul, South Korea. The administration spent around 2.5 crores on the project that included the cost of an artificial environment built for the flightless birds.

 It was known as a ‘pet project’ of Aaditya Thackeray, as he had led the project to bring penguins to Mumbai. But a few weeks later, one penguin “Dory” died due to bacterial infection, triggering a massive controversy.

The experts said that the bird died due to sudden change in the environment, and the zoo administration did not have the training and knowledge to handle such exotic birds. Several experts had also said that it was a bad idea to bring penguins to hot and humid India. Later, the first baby penguin hatched in India had also died.

Highlights of the case

Multiple FIRs have been registered against Sameet Thakkar in Nagpur and Mumbai for his remarks where he has referred to the Maharashtra Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray as “baby penguin”.

He submitted a plea in Bombay High Court seeking protection from arrest and quashing of FIRs against him. Court directed Thakkar on October 1, 2020 to cooperate with police in investigation and record his statement VP Road police station. Thakkar had escaped from police station when he went there to record his statement on October 5 fearing arrest. He told this before the Bombay High Court after which the Court ordered the police not to take any action against him.

He was ordered to appear in police station on October 16 but he did not comply. His lawyer Abhinav Chandrachud refused to appear for Thakkar and returned his brief. Advocate Raspal Singh Renu informed the court on record that Chandrachud has returned the brief and asked for time to appoint new counsel. The hearing in the matter was scheduled for November 3, 2020.

A court in Mumbai today sent him to police custody till November 9.

Dead people show up to vote to help Joe Biden in his ‘battle for the soul’ of USA, pointing towards voter fraud: Report

OpIndia Staff
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Dead people show up to vote to help Joe Biden in his ‘battle for the soul’ of USA, pointing towards voter fraud: Report

Dead people appear to be showing up to vote for Joe Biden at New York City in the US Presidential Elections, the New York Post has reported. As per the report on the NYP, election records show that ballots have been received in the names of people long since dead, confirming that voter fraud as a very real possibility in the ongoing elections.

An absentee ballot was received from one Frances Reckhow of Staten Island, a registered Democrat, would have been 105 if she were alive today but unfortunately, she passed away eight years earlier. However, her spirit appears keen on assisting Joe Biden in his “battle for the soul of this nation”. Her daughter is a registered Republican and is registered at the same address as her mother, the report said.

Intriguingly, however, the NYC Board of Elections received the ballot on the 8th of October and declared it valid. Another such incident transpired when someone pretending to be Gertrude Nizerre, with an address in Brooklyn, requested an absentee ballot in September. But her ballot was declared invalid on the 30th of October after it was discovered that the voter was deceased. Since both these instances involved registered Democrats, it is safe to assume that the votes were cast in favour of Joe Biden, the Democrat candidate.

The Staten Island Republican Party is reportedly referring the matter to the police and Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon’s office. “People should be on the alert for dead people voting. There are people using the names of dead voters to cast ballots,” said chairman Brendan Lantry. “I believe this is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Lantry. “We’re requesting that the NYPD and the Staten Island District Attorney’s office investigate.”

Donald Trump has often warned about possible voter fraud with mail-in ballots, however, the mainstream media has pretended that it does not exist despite overwhelming evidence. Social media giants like Twitter then proceeded to censor the US President for his tweets citing mainstream media reports which have an unreserved animosity towards Trump. Joe Biden, on the other hand, has always brushed all such allegations under the carpet.

Over 50 Islamic terrorists aligned to Al-Qaeda killed in an airstrike by French forces in Mali

OpIndia Staff
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Over 50 Islamic terrorists aligned to Al-Qaeda killed in an airstrike by French forces in Mali

Coming as a significant blow to the dreaded Islamic terrorist organisation, over 50 Al-Qaeda linked terrorists have been killed in a French airstrike in Mali. The operation is said to have taken place on October 30 (Friday). The French Army has confiscated arms and ammunitions. Almost 30 motorcycles were destroyed in the offensive.

The airstrikes are believed to have happened in border areas of Burkina Faso and Niger.

Meanwhile, Colonel Frederic Barbry, the French Military spokesperson also informed that “four terrorists have been captured”. Explosives and a suicide vest had been found, Barbry told reporters in a conference call, furthering that the terrorist group was preparing to attack (an army) position in the region.

Referring to the French-led anti-jihadist Operation Barkhane, the French Defence Minister Florence Parly said: “On October 30 in Mali, the Barkhane force conducted an operation that neutralised more than 50 jihadists and confiscated arms and material.”

The French Defence Minister, who had met Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou and her Nigerien counterpart Issoufou Katambe before heading to Bamako, informed that the operation was launched after a drone detected a “very large” motorcycle caravan in the “three borders” area.

French force sent in two Mirage jets and a drone to carry out airstrike, leading to the “neutralisation” of over 50 terrorists in border areas of Mali

When the Islamic terrorists moved under trees to try and escape surveillance, the French force sent in two Mirage jets and a drone to launch missiles, leading to the “neutralisation” of over 50 terrorists, Parly said, calling this operation a “significant blow” to the Ansarul Islam group which she said was linked to Al-Qaeda via the GSIM alliance led by Iyad Ag Ghaly.

Barbry also said that another operation, this time targeting the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, was also underway, with a total of 3,000 soldiers.

The results of the operation, launched about a month ago, would be announced in the coming days, he said.

Islamic insurgency in Mali, Africa

Mali, a landlocked country in West Africa, has been struggling to contain the Islamic terrorism which first emerged in the north of the country in 2012, overtaking a rebellion by mostly ethnic Tuareg separatists. Attacks have since spread to neighbouring Burkina Faso and are threatening other neighbouring countries. The entire region remains unstable.

France, which had earlier ruled these regions, had launched a military operation to drive back the Islamists in 2013. Over the years, fighting and civil unrest have engulfed the country and spread to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger leaving thousands dead in recent years. Hundreds of thousands of people remain internally displaced, many seeking ways to flee to other countries for survival.

The United Nations has some 13,000 troops deployed in Mali as part of its peacekeeping mission, known as MINUSMA, while France has 5,100 personnel deployed in the Sahel region.

Is the US gearing up for civil war after Antifa rioters make it clear there will be violence if Donald Trump is reelected president?

K Bhattacharjee
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Is the US gearing up for civil war after Antifa rioters make it clear there will be violence if Donald Trump is reelected president?

The United States of America is on the verge of the conclusion of their presidential election and the declaration of results is only hours away. Citizens in Democrat controlled cities, meanwhile, are already boarding up properties in anticipation of riots by violent left-wing thugs should Donald Trump win the elections.

CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer shared news of the development on his Twitter account and said that it was occurring not only in Washington but also in New York, Los Angeles and other cities across the country. He expressed sadness with the turn of events which is a bit surprising given the fact that CNN is on record describing left-wing rioting as ‘mostly peaceful protests’.

Salesforce Tower in downtown San Francisco was boarding up as well in order to protect its property. Democrat Mayors and Governors have been extremely reluctant to crack down on the thugs rampaging across the streets as they are expected to vote blue during polls. Conventional wisdom suggests that people are much less likely to vote for parties if the said party cracks down on them.

All of this points towards an unprecedented series of events in the aftermath of the declaration of results. The Joe Biden camp does not expect a peaceful transition of power. The Transition Integrity Project, consisting of Biden supporters, said that it expected Donald Trump to attempt to continue in his position despite not having the mandate to do so.

The TIP also said that it does not expect results to be known by the end of the election night. As the number of people voting with mail-in ballots have increased exponentially in the wake of the Wuhan Coronavirus crisis, the counting is expected to take much longer than expected. It said, “This period of uncertainty provides opportunities for an unscrupulous candidate to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the process and to set up an unprecedented assault on the outcome. Campaigns, parties, the press and the public must be educated to adjust expectations starting immediately.”

The US Military has also had to come forward on several occasions and make it clear that they will play no part in deciding the outcome of elections. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley said that he does not foresee a situation where the military may play a role in the election process or resolve disputes.

“In the event of a dispute over some aspect of the elections, by law U.S. courts and the U.S. Congress are required to resolve any disputes, not the U.S. military,” Milley had told Democratic Congresswomen Elissa Slotkin and Mikie Sherrill. “I foresee no role for the U.S. armed forces in this process… We will not turn our backs on the Constitution of the United States.” Earlier, the Pentagon had stated that the Military had no constitutional role “as arbiter of political or election dispute.”

The USA is currently extremely polarised as it heads off into election night. Donald Trump has warned regularly that the Democrats will attempt to rig the elections through ballots and there’s a fair amount of evidence available that suggests that the integrity of mail-in ballots can be compromised. Joe Biden and the Democrats, on the other hand, with the help of the mainstream media, have all but declared that a Trump victory is a statistical impossibility barring any large-scale electoral malpractice.

It is also pertinent to mention that Democrats have still not come to terms with their defeat in the 2016 presidential elections and for four years, they have every tried every trick in the book to delegitimise the election of Donald Trump as the President of the United States. They peddled the Russian Collusion Delusion, without the slightest bit of evidence, then they attempted to impeach Donald Trump and there are indications that they would attempt similar tricks should they lose this time around.

In their lust for political power, they have spread malicious propaganda that has half the country convinced that Donald Trump is a Russian puppet and a fascist. It is even acceptable in significant sections of the Democrat camp to suggest that Donald Trump is literally Hitler, or worse. For instance, ‘rational’ atheist Sam Harris claimed that Donald Trump is more reprehensible and despicable than Osama bin Laden, then went on to defend that utterly ridiculous claim.

To top it off, Antifa and Black Lives Matter goons have been rioting on the streets ever since George Floyd died during a confrontation with the Police. Their violence seems to be showing no signs of stopping and it is almost a certainty that their rioting will exceed every boundary should Donald Trump manage to secure a victory.

One remembers Kyle Rittenhouse who is currently in jail after killing Antifa rioters in self defense. Therefore, things could get very bad very quickly. And there appears to be a tension in the air as the nation waits with bated breath for the results of the 2020 Presidential Election. Will there be a civil war? It depends entirely on the election results and the reaction of the Democrat establishment. But violence on election night appears to be a certainty. And American citizens appear to be preparing accordingly.

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