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Vienna terror attack: Austria shuts down ‘radical’ mosques frequented by the terrorist, to close more if deemed threats to national security

OpIndia Staff
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Vienna terror attack: Austria shuts down ‘radical’ mosques frequented by the terrorist, to close more if deemed threats to national security

Days after an ISIS sympathiser Islamist terrorist had killed four people and injured several in a terror attack in Vienna in Austria, the Austrian govt has decided top shut the mosques which were frequented by the terrorist. The terror attack was conducted by 20-year-old Austrian Macedonian, Kujtim Fejzulai, was killed by police during the assault.

According to reports, the authorities are shutting down two in Vienna with immediate effect, as it is suspected that these institutions had played vital roles in radicalising Fejzulai. The two mosques are identified as Melit Ibrahim mosque in the Ottakring district and the other being the Tewhid mosque in the Meidling area. During the probe, it was found that the terrorist had visited these two places frequently.

It is reported that only one in these two mosques are officially registered as a mosque, while the other is registered as an Islamic Association.

“We are dealing with a violent perpetrator who was evidently intensely involved in the network of political Islam, of sympathisers, who took on their ideology,” Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said.

Confirming the development, the Islamic Religious Community of Austria said that in discussion with the relevant authorities, they are closing one officially recognised mosque. The statement by the organisation said that the most was being shut down after it was found to have broken rules over religious doctrine and its constitution. The mosque had also violated well as national legislation governing Islamic institutions.

The Ministry of the Interior said that the govt will close more mosques if found to be having links radical Islamists. The ministry said that the Austrian govt will order the closure of mosques that it deems a threat to national security.

Austria has arrested 15 people so far in relation to the terror attack. Interior Ministry officials of Austria have confirmed that all these 15 people are part of the radical Islamist scene in the country. The authorities also said that seven of them have criminal convictions, and four among them were convicted for terrorism charges.

Staffer in Joe Biden’s campaign staff is a strong supporter of Narendra Modi: Read Details

OpIndia Staff
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Staffer in Joe Biden’s campaign staff is a strong supporter of Narendra Modi: Read Details

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is on the verge of being declared the winner of the US presidential elect 2020. There is significant speculation with regards to what the new administration’s policy be towards India given the fact that significant sections of the Democratic base has been overtly tilted against the current Indian government on significant matters such as Kashmir and the CAA.

As it so happens, a prominent staffer of the Joe Biden campaign, Amit Jani, is an avid supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. According to the official website of the NJ Leadership Program, he currently serves in Governor Phil Murphy’s Administration in New Jersey. He is also the Director of the National Asian American Pacific Islander as per his profile on Twitter.

Amit Jani has served as an adviser to the presidential campaign team of Joe Biden. In May 2019, after Prime Minister Modi secured a second term in office, Amit Jani posted a series of photos on Facebook with the caption, “Loved the energy and jubilation throughout the state on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s victory in the Indian national elections! Proud of Deepti Jani for all the work you did during the campaign!”

Deepti Jani is the mother of Amit Jani according to a report on News India Times from 2018. The Intercept reported that the Facebook post, which appears to have been deleted since then, had photos where Deepti Jani was identified as “Community Activist, BJP Supporter” during an appearance on TV Asia.

Amit Jani also apparently met Prime Minister Modi during the latter’s official visit to the USA in 2017. His father is reportedly one of the founders of the Overseas Friends of the BJP in the USA. Suresh Jani, who has passed away, is from the same village in Gujarat as Narendra Modi and the two met at a gathering of the RSS, The Intercept reported. A photograph in a ToI report shows Suresh Jani receiving a much younger Narendra Modi during a visit to the United States in the 1990s.

Suresh Jani receiving Narendra Modi during one of the latter’s earlier visits to the USA

“My mother liked Modi so much that when he was leaving, she blessed him and predicted that one day he would become a great man. She gifted Modi $51 as a shaghun (an auspicious symbolic gift). Around eight years later, when he was about to be sworn in as chief minister, Modi called and asked me to connect him with my mother. He said he still remembers the shaghun and her blessings. Then my mother told him ‘You will become bigger’,” Suresh Jani told Rediff in 2014.

The appointment of Amit Jani in the Joe Biden campaign staff caused a lot of outrage from the far-left section of the Democrat party due to what they claimed were his links to a ‘far-right Hindu Nationalist party’. He was subsequently removed as the Muslim outreach coordinator but he was retained in his position as the campaign’s Asian-American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) national vote director.

Major reforms announced by Modi government, eases Work From Home norms and liberalises regulations for Other Service Provider sector

OpIndia Staff
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Major reforms announced by Modi government, eases Work From Home norms and liberalises regulations for Other Service Provider sector

In a significant move aimed at reforming the BPO and ITeS Sector, the government of India has announced liberalisation of the regulatory regime for the ‘Other Service Provider’ Industry in the sector.

‘Other Service Provider’ an entity providing Application Services like tele-banking, tele-medicine, tele-education, tele-trading, e-commerce, call centre, network operation centre (NOC) and other IT-enabled services to its clients. The OSPs provide their services using Telecom Infrastructure provided by authorised telecom service providers, and there are guidelines on how such telecom resources can be used by the OSPs. The reforms have been brought to these guidelines of the Department of Telecom, simplifying the norms.

The government has removed the requirement for registration of Other Service Providers. The BPO industry engaged in data-related work have also been taken out of the ambit of OSP regulations. In addition to this, requirements such as deposit of bank guarantees, requirement for static IPs, frequent reporting obligations, publication of network diagram, penal provisions etc. have also been removed entirely.

Along with this, the govt has also removed several provisions which had prevented companies from adopting ‘Work from Home’ and ‘Work from Anywhere’ policies. Plus, Additional dispensations to enhance flexibility for the Industry have been allowed.

– Registration requirements for OSPs have been done away with altogether
– Requirement of Bank Guarantee done away with
– Requirement for static IPs withdrawn
– Frequent reporting obligations removed
– Requirements for publication of network diagram removed
– Penal provisions eliminated
– Enhanced flexibility for Industry has been introduced

These provisions are expected to boost the IT/ITeS/BPO industry in India with several restrictions and requirements removed. This will make India an even more attractive destination for the IT/ITeS industry.

According to earlier norms, Other Service Providers (OSPs) were required to make a security deposit of Rs 1 crore for each office to let its employees work from home. Companies were also required to obtain prior permission if large number of employees need to work from home. The companies were also required to obtain a “provider-provisioned” (virtual private network) VPN connection with static IP. Further, the companies were required to provide a “network diagram” with a list of components to the DoT, and such diagrams were needed to be counter-signed by the service provider they are using. Now these requirements are withdrawn.

OSPs were also required to obtain permission from DoT for starting work from home, but now that won’t be required.

Hailing the reforms, PM Modi tweeted, “Committed to furthering ‘Ease of Doing Business’ and making India a tech hub! GoI has significantly simplified Other Service Provider (OSP) guidelines of the Telecom Department.”

Ravi Shankar Prasad, the Electronics & Information Technology Minister, said that this move will boost the IT/ITeS/ BPO industry and create a friendly regime for Work from Home in India.

With the Coronavirus pandemic, Work From Home has become a norm across the world. After the revised norms, companies would be able to continue with WFH even after the pandemic is over.

Some of these measures, like relaxation from bank guarantee and disclosure requirements for employees working remotely were already announced temporarily due to Coronavirus. Now, those relaxations have been made permanent.

The IT industry was already demanding these measures, and the TRAI had also recommended to make the relaxations permanent.

Munger Shooting: Complaint filed against SP Lipi Singh and several other police officials, alleges police brutality when devotees were about to perform Aarti

OpIndia Staff
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Munger Shooting: Complaint filed against SP Lipi Singh and several other police officials, alleges police brutality when devotees were about to perform Aarti

A complaint has been filed against former Munger SP Lipi Singh and several other police officials in a local court over the incident of police brutality on the occasion of Vijaya Dashami, Hindi daily Prabhat Khabar has reported. The complaint mentions seven police officials by name including Lipi Singh and current SDO Khageshchand Jha.

The complaint has been filed by one Kelu Yadav aka Dayanand Kumar through advocate Nirmal Kumar. The complaint names SP Lipi Singh, SHO Khageshchand Jha, Krishna Kumar, Dharmendra Kumar, Kotwali officer-in-charge Santosh Kumar Singh, Kasim Bazaar officer-in-charge Shailesh Kumar and Mufassil officer-in-charge Brajesh Kumar as accused.

The complainant said that on 26th October, the murthi of Maa Durga was carried along pre-decided paths and was kept at Teenabatiya on the ACN channel. The aarti ceremony was being carried out by the devotees when the accused came and allegedly threatened to unleash destruction while being abusive. Then the accused allegedly proceeded to brutally thrash the devotees with lathis.

A stampede ensued and everyone ran helter-skelter. Then, in light of the letter from the SDO, the devotees gathered and managed to reach Bata Chowk with the Murthi of Maa Durga. The Mahaarti ceremony was supposed to occur there. But soon, sounds of gunfire came from Deendayal Chowk and another stampede ensued.

Then, the accused proceeded to brutally thrash the devotees again. The victims sustained several serious injuries as a consequence of the assault. The devotees went to register a complaint with the Police but since it was related to the police itself, they were abused and chased away. After the vacation for the Court got over, the victim proceeded to register a judicial complaint.

The Munger Shooting

The violence that gripped the town of Munger in Bihar during the Durga Puja immersion ceremony led to the death of one participant. SP Munger Lipi Singh defended the police brutalities on the devotees, claiming that the stone-pelting from devotees provoked the ensuing violence. She also asserted that 20 policemen were injured by stone-pelting from the crowd. Singh further added that one of the members of the crowd opened fire which led to the death of the 18-year-old devotee.

Later, a CISF report from a local unit to police headquarters says that the first shot was fired by the police on the attendees of the Durga Puja procession ceremony. The report is in stark contrast to what the SP Munger Lipi Singh had claimed earlier while justifying the police action against the Durga Puja attendees. Singh had alleged that one of the members of the crowd opened fire which led to the death of the 18-year-old devotee.

As stubble burning in Punjab reaches 4-year high, police launches “major crackdown” against “illegal crackers” ahead of Diwali

OpIndia Staff
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As stubble burning in Punjab reaches 4-year high, police launches “major crackdown” against “illegal crackers” ahead of Diwali

While the Punjab government has failed to check the rising cases of stubble burning in the State causing huge pollution in the region, it has now launched a ‘major crackdown’ on what it deems as ‘illegal firecrackers.’

On Friday, Jalandhar Police Commissionerate informed that they have unearthed two godowns in Pakka Bagh locality of Jalandhar wherein illegal firecrackers and Chinese kite-flying strings were stocked. In a Twitter post, the Punjab police stated that it is acting strongly against illegal hoarding and selling of firecrackers ahead of Diwali as per the policies of the Supreme Court, Punjab High Court and the State government. As such, the Punjab police is conducting surprise raids to unearth more such godowns with illegal stockpile of firecrackers.

The Punjab police have informed that they have nabbed one history-sheeter named Gurdeep alias Gora. According to the police, Gora and his father Khazan Singh was responsible for a blast in October 2019 at a plot in Mohan Das Nagar. The cops have recovered 44 boxes of illegal firecrackers and 15 boxes of Chinese kite-flying strings. Gora has been booked under the Explosives Act and Indian Penal Code Section 286 (negligent conduct with explosive substance). A special investigative team has also been constituted to probe the source of the explosive substances and unearth the motives behind hoarding them.

Stubble burning incidents record 4-fold rise in Punjab

Stubble burning incidents in Punjab has increased by nearly four times in 2020 as compared to last year. According to Anil Sood, Head of ACM division, Punjab Remote Sensing Centre, Ludhiana, they have recorded 2,873 incidents so far between 21st September and 12th October. Last year, during the same period, 755 cases were recorded. In 2018, 510 cases were recorded in Punjab.

Hansa officers being summoned by Mumbai police and being forced to give false statements against Republic TV: Hansa Research tells Bombay HC

OpIndia Staff
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Hansa officers being summoned by Mumbai police and being forced to give false statements against Republic TV: Hansa Research tells Bombay HC

The Bombay High Court, while hearing a habeas corpus petition moved by Republic TV Editor in chief Arnab Goswami seeking revocation of the 2018 abetment of suicide case in which he has been arrested, briefly heard Hansa Research Group Private Ltd, the original complainant in the TRP manipulation case, which has filed a writ petition in the Bombay High Court against Senior officer Sachin Vaze, Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh and the state of Maharashtra. 

When the hearing commenced in the HC today, one lawyer requested the bench that the case filed by Hansa Research against TRP scam FIR may be taken up first. As the bench gave permission, Senior Advocate C S Vaidyanathan appearing in the Hansa petition apprised the court that Hansa employees are being summoned by the Mumbai police and being coerced to give false statements against Republic TV.

The lawyer representing Hansa furthered that the company’s aim behind filing a complaint was to simply unearth the TRP scam and it was not against any particular channel, insinuating that the Mumbai police has given it a completely different direction to the case in order to settle its scores with the Republic TV.

However, they are now being forced to appear and give statements against Republic TV, alleged Vaidyanathan.

Furthering that his client (Hansa Research Group Private Ltd) cannot be compelled to implicate anyone, Advocate C S Vaidyanathan said that they were ready to share any proof of evidence with the Mumbai police. “If they want any documents let them issue summons under Sec 91 CrPC”, said Vaidyanathan.

Placing these arguments before the two-judge bench Senior Advocate C S Vaidyanathan appearing in the Hansa petition sought an independent investigation by CBI or any other agency into the TRP manipulation case.

Asking the State to take instructions on Hansa petitions, the bench after this went back to hearing the habeas petition of Arnab Goswami, which too has now been adjourned until tomorrow.

The company which operates the Bar-O-Meters of BARC (Broadcast Audience Research Council), has moved the Bombay High Court seeking transfer of the probe into the case from Mumbai Police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The company has said that Mumbai police is putting pressure on them to declare that the document displayed by Republic TV claiming to be Hansa Research report on the TRP scam is fake. They have said that their officials are being threatened with detention if they don’t give this false statement alleging Republic TV is showing a fake document.

The petition has been moved by Hansa group Director Narasimhan K Swamy, CEO Praveen Omprakash and Nitin Kashinath Deokar. It says that it has already explained to the Mumbai police that it is in position to adjudge whether the document shown by Republic is genuine or not. They have said that Republic never applied to them for a copy of the report, and the channel has shown only extracts of the document. The petition filed by Hansa also says that their officials are being questioned without written notice, and they are given no time to produce documents.

The company has informed that since October 12 onwards, Hansa Research employees have been repeatedly called to the Crime Branch office and made to wait for hours, and they have been questioned for over 200 hours, only to make them issue a false statement.

The company says that its employees have been harassed by Mumbai Police because they declined to give a false statement against Republic TV by saying that the channel had displayed a fake document.

Mumbai police Commissioner of Police Param Bir Singh, Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Vaze and ACP Shashank Sanbhlor have been named as respondents in the petition. 

Unhappy with Thackeray govt over political posting and transfer of police officers, Maharashtra DGP Subodh Jaiswal takes up central deputation

OpIndia Staff
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Unhappy with Thackeray govt over political posting and transfer of police officers, Maharashtra DGP Subodh Jaiswal takes up central deputation

The Director-General of Police (DGP) in Maharashtra, Subodh Kumar Jaiswal is reportedly unsatisfied with the Thackeray government regarding the recent reshuffle of some IPS officers. According to reports, around 50 senior police officers were transferred in the month of September followed by transfers of lower-level officers. DGP Jaiswal’s opinion was reportedly neglected by the Maharashtra government while reshuffling the officers which strained the relations with the DGP and the state government. Following this, the IPS officer has decided to leave the state police and take up a central deputation.

“He was not comfortable with Uddhav and Deshmukh over postings and transfers of IPS officers. The DGP felt there should be fixed policy on postings and transfers, while the political leadership took a different view. The political leadership contended that the DGP should not interfere with police transfers”, a senior police officer told Times of India.

Unwilling to continue to work with the state govt, DGP Jaiswal had sought NOC from the state government for a central deputation, which was immediately granted by CM Thackeray and state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh. According to reports, DGP Jaiswal is likely to join the National Security Guards (NSG) as the Director General (DG) in the following weeks. DGP Jaiswal, who is a 1985 batch IPS officer, is set to retire on September 30, 2022.

Jaiswal had joined as Mumbai police Chief on July 1, 2018 after working with the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) for a long time. He was promoted as the DGP on March 1, 2019 after he predecessor Datta Padsalgikar retired on superannuation.

DGP Jaiswal had reportedly had written to the state home department suggesting that in place of revamping the police force, the officers having completed two years should only be shunted out. Pointing out that there were 22 IPS officers who never worked in a naxal-affected area, Jaiswal had suggested that naxal-affected area should be made mandatory.

Cops facing murder charges reinstated in Mumbai Police

Last month, the Commissioner of Mumbai Police Param Bir Singh had reinstated former encounter specialist API Sachin Vaze who was suspended 16 years ago for custodial death. Vaze’s suspension was revoked by a review committee headed by Param Bir Singh. Vaze had resigned in 2007 after being suspended in 2004. He joined Shiv Sena after resigning. Param Bir Singh re-inducted Vaze in Mumbai police in June this year, 4 months after taking up the post of Commissioner of Police in the month of February. Vaze has been entrusted with the investigation against media channel Republic TV.

Uttar Pradesh: Posters shaming anti-CAA rioters back in Lucknow, reward announced for information against culprits

OpIndia Staff
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Uttar Pradesh: Posters shaming anti-CAA rioters back in Lucknow, reward announced for information against culprits

The Uttar Pradesh Police under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has re-enforced a crackdown on rioters who indulged in rampant violence in the state under the garb of protests under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and have again put up posters with names and photographs and details of the rioters.

The recent posters have the pictures and addresses of eight rioters who were booked under the UP Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986 and have been declared absconders. One of the ‘accused’ is Shia cleric Maulana Saif Abbas. The eight are Mohammad Alam, Mohammad Tahir, Rizwan, Rafat Ali, Ahsan, Irshad, Hasan and Irshad. All the accused are from the Thakurganj area of old Lucknow. Mobile numbers of senior police officials of the Thakurganj police station have also been provided in the posters so that information could be forwarded to them.

The other poster has pictures of those who are absconding, but action against them under the act has not been initiated. A police spokesperson said the posters with photographs had been put up at public places in the Uttar Pradesh capital. 

Yogi Adityanath Govt announces cash reward for informant, put poster outside the houses of the absconders

The Uttar Pradesh government has also announced a cash reward of Rs 5000 for anyone who provides information about the absconding rioters. An announcement regarding them was also made on a loudspeaker in the old city areas. The posters have also been pasted on the walls outside the houses of the accused, said the police.

According to police, all these people had participated in a protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in Lucknow on 19 December and instigated violence. They had indulged in damage to public and private properties and are liable to compensate for the same.

Uttar Pradesh govt adopts tough measures against rioters

Earlier, in a similar move, the Yogi Aditynath government had put up hoardings of the anti-CAA rioters in prominent intersections in state capital Lucknow, including their names, addresses and photos. This move had irked the so-called ‘secular’ gang which has termed it as ‘unethical’ and ‘misuse of law’ saying it would encourage lynch mobs. However, the state government had persisted.

The Uttar Pradesh government has also promulgated the Uttar Pradesh Recovery of Damages to Public and Private Property Ordinance, 2020 to recover damages from rioters. The Ordinance states that the state will set up claims tribunals to investigate the damages caused during protests and to award compensation, and also to cover the cost of action taken by police and administration for prevention of damage to public properties.

Following the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act, violent mobs had descended on to streets to protest against the law. The Islamist mobs had resorted to vandalism and had gone on a rampage on streets, vandalising properties and attacking police officials. However, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had announced tough measures to combat violent riots and arson. He had promised to seize the property of every rioter and use the funds to repair the damaged public property. The Uttar Pradesh government had also identified at least 498 properties to seize them, which belonged to rioters who vandalized public properties in the state during the anti-CAA protest.

Bhopal: Mysterious death of girl gives rise to allegations of Love Jihad, accused Tahir had allegedly kidnapped her when she was minor

OpIndia Staff
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Bhopal: Mysterious death of girl gives rise to allegations of Love Jihad, accused Tahir had allegedly kidnapped her when she was minor

The mysterious death of a girl in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh has led to allegations of Love Jihad by the family of the deceased. The girl is apparently from Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh but was living with the family of a man in Bhopal. As per reports, she had run away sometime around one and a half years ago and was converted to Islam.

The Police has reportedly arrested two accused and has initiated an investigation into the matter. There are cases related to kidnapping and other matters registered against the accused, Tahir, in Jhansi, as per reports. The Police had visited Bhopal as well in search of the accused but had not been able to locate him.

A couple of days earlier, the girl, Bharti, was admitted to a hospital in Chunabhatti, Bhopal under the name Tarannum. However, following treatment for liver and low hemoglobin issues, she passed away. The Police has ordered a post-mortem into the matter and UP Police has also been informed regarding the incident.

The Police have said that the name of the girl is Meena Bharti, however, she was registered at the hospital under the name Tarannum. In addition, her age was reported to be 19, which means that at the time of her alleged abduction, she was a minor. Hindu organisations have gotten involved into the matter and demanded that charges of murder be slapped against Tahir and his family. The deceased’s family has alleged that Bharti was being held by the accused against her wishes.

Bihar: RJD leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui calls PM Modi ‘Dangewala CM’ during election campaign

OpIndia Staff
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Bihar: RJD leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui calls PM Modi ‘Dangewala CM’ during election campaign

Amidst the ongoing Bihar elections, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui has stirred a new controversy. While addressing an election rally ahead of the third phase of the polls, he referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a ‘Dangewala CM (riot accused CM).’

While drawing analogies with late BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he said, “We have seen stalwarts like Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Even though we differed in terms of ideological inclination, he would understand the people, country and its culture. This is why minorities, whom the BJP is targeting today, had respect for him. However, Modiji does not realise that he is the Prime Minister of India. He still thinks that he is the riot-accused CM of Gujarat.”

The RJD leader, who is the Vice-President of the Badminton Association of India and the Chairman of Public Accounts Committee of the Government of Bihar had stirred the hornet’s nest amidst the ongoing polls. On Saturday, polls will be conducted across 78 constituencies in Bihar. A total of 2.35 crores are eligible to cast their votes. The third and final phase of polls will determine the fate of 1200 candidates, contesting the elections.

PM Modi got a clean chit from Supreme Court

On 27 February 2002, a compartment in Sabarmati Express train returning from Ayodhya was set on fire by a Muslim mob in Godhra. 59 people, including several women and children, returning from Ayodhya were burnt alive. Following the carnage, communal riots broke out in Gujarat.  It is pertinent to remember that PM Modi was given by a clean chit by the Supreme Court in the Gujarat riots of 2002, which took place in the aftermath of the burning of Sabarmati Express in Godhra.

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