After the Tanishq ad controversy, another ad for the festive season is likely to put Tata on the dock. While the former normalised Love Jihad and had to be removed following outrage on social media, the latter denigrates the ancient Hindu spiritual practice of Yoga and meditation. The ad was uploaded to the YouTube channel of Tata Cliq on the 14th of October. It is pertinent to mention here that the ad was uploaded to YouTube two days after the Tanishq ad was pulled down.
The controversial Yoga ad calls Yoga ‘boring’ and portrays a Christian marriage through online services as fun and ideal. The theme of the ad is that Yoga is an old practice and ought to be discarded for the new and ‘hip’ trend of a Christian e-marriage. The ad follows the now familiar trope of denigrating Hindu traditions and exalting non-Hindu practices as the ideal to follow.
“So many made 2020 truly ‘epic’, not living like a reliQ (relic), it’s the year to learn a new triQ,” the ad says before continuing, “Let’s be minimalistiQ, idealistiQ, simplistiQ, know someone who made 2020 CLiQ? Celebrate them with a perfect gift.” Tata Cliq, like Tanishq, is also a Tata brand.
YouTube screengrab
The Tanishq Love Jihad ad had caused a huge controversy. However, that does not appear to have deterred Tata from coming up with another ad denigrating the Hindu faith. It has also ben observed that denigrating Hinduism and portraying Hindus in a negative light appears to be a dominant theme across the advertising industry. There have been numerous ads and short films over the years that target the Hindu community.
The TRP scam has become a raging issue, specifically since Republic TV’s name was dragged into the controversy after the research report by Hansa Research, the FIR filed and the witnesses actually named India Today as the channel trying to manipulate the TRPs. However, in a curious case, it is now being reported that three witnesses have suddenly, in front of a magistrate, named Republic TV as the channel that gave them money to watch their channel, so as to spike the TRP in favour of the channel.
According to Times of India, Mumbai Police Commissioner Parambir Singh has told the platform that three witnesses have deposed before the magistrate and blamed Republic TV for paying them to watch the channel. The report says that the commissioner has ‘refused to comment further’ saying that the investigation is still on.
“Three of them have deposed before a magistrate saying Republic TV made payments to them, while the fourth witness made a similar statement against Box Cinema. Mumbai police commissioner Parambir Singh confirmed three witnesses had named Republic’s officials as being involved in the rigging of viewership. He refused to elaborate, saying investigations were at a crucial stage and any disclosure at this stage would hamper the probe”, the report said.
Curiously, the police have offered a preemptive explanation as far as the statement of the witnesses go. The Times of India Report says:
“The statements were made by the witnesses under Section 164 of the CrPC, which deals with recording and confession of statements by a metropolitan magistrate or judicial magistrate during the course of the investigation, police said. The magistrate records the statements only after he is convinced that they are being made voluntarily. Police officers said that now it could not be alleged that the cops had extracted these confessions from the witnesses”.
It is important to note that the police offer a preemptive explanation about how they have not extracted the confessions from the witnesses. But it is, in fact, true that the entire TRP scam case and how it has progressed since the beginning has left several questions unanswered.
The TRP scam saga: How it all began
On the 8th of October, Mumbai Police Commissioner Parambir Singh held a press conference where he categorically stated that Mumbai police have been alerted about a new racket involving false television rating points (TRP). He said that three channels, including Republic TV and two other Marathi channels- Fakt Marathi and Box Cinema have been reportedly involved in distorting the apparatus used by BARC to rate television channels. The commissioner said that arrests have also been made in this regard. He further added that Republic TV’s bank accounts were under scanner and that their officials would be summoned soon.
Interestingly, in the press conference, the Commissioner mentioned Hansa Research and how, to measure TRPs, BARC has installed 2000 barometers in Mumbai to monitor TRPs which is strictly confidential. Parambir Singh further said that the confidential contract was given to a company called Hansa Research which has filed the complaint against some former employees who misused the data on households where the TRP monitoring systems are installed.
It is to be noted here that during the press conference, the police commissioner specifically mentioned that his assertions were based on the Hansa Research complaint that was filed with the police.
FIR by Hansa Research emerges – had named India Today and not Republic TV
As mentioned earlier, in his press conference, Parambir Singh had specifically mention that Hansa Research had filed a complaint with the police. Now, after he implicated Republic TV in his press conference, the complaint that was filed by Hansa Research on the 6th of October, just 2 days before the press conference by Parambir Sing, emerged.
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.
The FIR filed in the case was accessed by Republic TV on the 8th of October itself, which showed that India Today was named in the FIR, not Republic TV as alleged by Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh.
The FIR alleging manipulation of Bar-o-meters installed by BARC was filed by Hansa Research Group Private Limited, the company responsible for installing and maintaining the Bar-O-Meter of the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC). Following the complaint, Relationship Manager of the company Vishal Bhandari was arrested by Mumbai police. During the investigation, he revealed that India Today and other channels instigated him and offered money to households with the meters to keep their TV tuned to those channels.
Moreover, he revealed that a person named Vinay asked Bhandari in November 2019 to approach 5 homes and ask them to watch India Today daily for 2 hours. The FIR filed in the case reads “Today on 6lh October 2020, Assistant Police Inspector, Mr. Kazi, has informed me that, Basis on the secret information received, they arrested Vishal Ved Bhandari, House no.6, Kashinath Khandu Bhandari Chawl, BMC Quarters, Chincholi, N B Road, Malad (W), Mumbai 400097, During the inquiry, he informed that he is working with Hansa Research Group Private Limited as a Relationship Manager, he also informed that to increase the TRP of India Today and several other channels, he used to instigate and offer money to panel homes, where BAR-o-Meter installed with the help of other several people. They asked me to visit their office for more understanding.”
In the entire FIR, Republic TV was not named even once. It was thus curious that the Mumbai Police Commissioner would name this FIR to allege that Republic TV was guilty.
Further, while reporting this FIR, Republic TV had revealed that even before the press conference, India Today reporters were in front of Arnab Goswami’s house and Parambir Singh had ensured that Republic TV journalists were not allowed to attend the press conference.
All-out war – Parambir Singh ties himself up in knots, Witness statement surfaces
After the initial celebratory tones of India Today, after the FIR surfaced, India Today went into damage control mode. Talking to Mumbai Police, Rajdeep tried to get a statement saying that India Today was not named in the FIR.
Rajdeep took to his channel to question the Joint Commissioner of Police. He asked, “an attempt has been made to suggest that India Today was mentioned in the FIR” and then, went on to demand clarity to exonerate himself and implicate Republic TV.
The Joint Commissioner, however, interestingly admitted that it was indeed India Today that was named in the FIR. This revelation itself leads the Mumbai Police to tie itself up in knots since once this admission is out in the open, not much else makes sense.
Interestingly, Parambir Sing said that while the FIR mentioned India Today, as ‘the probe progressed’ no evidence was found against India Today and instead, evidence was found against Republic TV.
It is to be noted that the FIR was filed on the 6th. By the 7th, Mumbai Police had already sent a notice to BARC to get viewership data of Republic TV. And by the 8th, Parambir Singh had enough evidence to do a press conference and implicate Republic TV.
By the end of the day, Republic journalist spoke to Tejal Solanki who specifically implicated India Today. She said that her son was asked to watch India Today specifically. However, she did appear scared. She kept asking the journalist if nothing would happen to them and they would be safe.
The scared witness was then spoken to by India Today where they twisted her statement completely to implicate themselves. In fact, the scared witness kept repeating that no channel had paid her and she watched no channel to increase the TRP. That statement was then taken by India Today to say that she had admitted being paid money to watch Republic TV.
While the witness was being manipulated by India Today, interesting visuals started to appear on Republic TV. They had got footage where it showed how Mumbai Police personnel were guarding the house of Tejal Solanki.
The footage is from the 9th of October accessed by Republic that showed how Tejal Solanki, witness in the TRP scam case was being guarded rather closely by Mumbai Police and was allegedly not allowed to speak to the media.
Explosive information emerges – India Today had already been implicated of manipulating TRP
On the 9th of October itself, OpIndia exposed that a show-cause notice was sent to TV Today Network Ltd and BARC regarding viewership malpractice on 27th April 2020, according to our sources. The response by TV Today Network Limited, who is a subscriber of BARC, was not found satisfactory by the BARC Disciplinary Council and the BDC had ruled that the response by India Today “does not satisfactorily explain the buoyancy of India Today channel, in particular, geographies (Mumbai and Bangalore)”.
Further, the BARC Disciplinary Council had ruled that “the statistical data provided by BARC Measurement Science Team showed an abnormal and inexplicable ??increase in viewership”. Continuing in their order BDC said, “furthermore subscribers reply and/or representations do not provide satisfactorily explain the abnormal increase in the viewership”. Here, subscriber means India Today that had responded to the show-cause notice furnished to them and BARC by BARC Disciplinary Council.
What followed in the order was even more startling.
The order further said that since it was the first offence of India Today, they were left with a warning and their license was not cancelled, however, TV Today Network Limited was asked to pay Rs 5,00,000 penalty to BARC.
Clearly, India Today had a pattern. What is more intriguing is that India Today was caught manipulating TRP in Bangalore and Mumbai according to this order. In that case, when India Today was caught manipulating TRP in Mumbai and the Hansa Research FIR also mentioned India Today, it was becoming increasingly clear that India Today was involved in this scam – the question remained – why was Republic being implicated then?
Hansa Research report, on the basis of which FIR was filed, emerges – No mention of Republic, multiple mentions of India Today there too
On the 10th of October, Republic TV has accessed the 7-page Hansa research Group complaint, on the basis of which an FIR was registered in the TRP scam case. Contrary to the narrative put forth by the Mumbai Police, the complaint categorically mentioned India Today on two occasions but did not make any reference to Republic TV or other channels.
The Hansa Research Group Pvt Ltd. had filed the complaint against unknown persons and two of its employees, namely, Vishal Bhandari and Dinesh Vishwakarma. The company informed that they undertake the Panel Home Operations for a metering company MDL to collect raw data of TV viewership for BARC.
The details of the 7 page Hansa Research report can be read here.
Republic TV CEO and CFO questioned, asked how they acquired Hansa Report that implicated India Today in TRP scam
Interestingly, by the 11th of October, Republic TV CEO and CFO were questioned for a total of over 20 hours. The questions largely included how Republic TV managed to acquire the Hansa Report that had implicated India Today and not Republic TV. Essentially, the report that busted holes in the claims made by the Mumbai Police and the Mumbai Police Commissioner.
Their journalist Pradeep Bhandari was also summoned and booked in non-bailable offences. He later got anticipatory bail.
Witnesses magically name Republic TV on 16th October
From the very beginning to the end, the only mention of Republic TV as an accused in the TRP scam case was made by the police commissioner Parambir Singh. The Hansa Research report, the FIR that followed and the Witness statement while talking to the media made absolutely no mention of Republic TV but instead, implicated India Today.
In fact, it is to be noted that the witness who named India Today while talking to a reporter was also guarded closely by the Mumbai Police since the 9th of October.
On the 16th, magically, the witnesses have named Republic TV according to the Times of India and the paper claims that Parambir Singh has confirmed that news.
How evidence turned after the Mumbai Police’s conduct was rather questionable in the entire case is a mystery. In fact, while there is mounting evidence against India Today, there is absolutely no evidence that has come forth against Republic TV so far. On the 9th of October, a remand notice issued by the Mumbai Police had also named India Today several times and detailed their involvement in the scam. Republic TV was almost forcefully mentioned in the remand notice against the accused in the case with no evidentiary backing.
In fact, while evaluation of this case, one also has to keep in mind how the Maharashtra coalition government has hounded Republic TV and its chief, Arnab Goswami for the past few months misusing its state machinery including the Mumbai police. The over 200 FIRs after the Palghar coverage, the physical attack on Arnab and his wife by a Congress goon, the police refusing to name the Congress goons in the FIR after the attack and the repeated questioning and the multiple cases lodged. It is evident that the coalition government in Maharashtra has an axe to grind with Republic TV and its editor-in-chief, Arnab Goswami.
The Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal had announced in August that the state government is ready to allow local train services from September in the state. However, BJP MP Swapan Dasgupta, today, shared copies of letters sent to Mamata Banerjee government by the Eastern Railways on September 1 and then again on October 13 asking the govt to spare some time to discuss the modalities to resume the local train services. Since almost one and a half months, Eastern Railways has repeatedly been sending reminder letters to the WB Govt, but these letters have still not been acknowledged by the Mamata government, alleged the BJP MP.
It is apparent that Govt of @MamataOfficial is deliberately delaying resumption of local trains in WBengal. Railways cannot restart services unless there is clearance & logistical support of state govt. But Nabanna is not even scheduling any meeting. This is duplicity. pic.twitter.com/1SOcFCrbvW
In the letter dated September 1, the IRTS officer urges the Mamata Government to convey a suitable date for the co-ordination meeting so that the decision regarding the running of suburban trains may be considered.
Letter to Mamata Banerjee govt dated September 1, 2020
In the second letter dated October 13, the IRTS officer specifically mentions that it had previously urged the WB government to spare some time, but a meeting was not arranged till date. Annet Dulat on behalf the Eastern Railways wrote how the common people had been agitating at platforms trying to board the trains meant for Railways staffs. He had informed how this was leading to disruption of traffic and seriously impacting other railway operations. Saying so, he Dulat wrote: “A quick revert is solicited”.
Reminder letter sent to Mamata Govt on October 13, 2020
BJP MP Swapan Dasgupta said that Mamata Banerjee knows that the prolonged suspension has caused enormous hardships to people who need to commute by local trains on a daily basis for their livelihood. She is also aware that without the required clearance and logistical support of state govt it is impossible to resume services, still, she has until today, not bothered to hold a meeting with Eastern Railways. The BJP MP opined that “it is apparent that Govt of Mamata Banerjee is deliberately delaying the resumption of local trains in West Bengal”.
On August 26, in a press conference held in the state secretariat, Nabanna, Banerjee had said local trains and Metro services could be resumed and the Railways should talk with the state government over this issue. Interestingly, on one side the Mamata Banerjee expresses her urge to resume the metro and local train services in West Bengal, while on the other side pays no heed to letter sent to her by the Eastern Railways requesting the WB government to spare some time to discuss the modalities and logistics to ensure the smooth operation of these services.
A day after Odisha Police picked up senior OTV journalist Ramesh Rath, today the police surrounded the premises of Odisha TV. The assault on the Odia media house by Odisha police came after OTV had published a report based on RTI replies that questioned the aerial survey of flood hit areas done by CM Naveen Patnaik in August this year.
According to reports, a team of police has been parked in front pf the premises of OTV since last night. The police arrived for a search operation, but when asked they said that they do not have a warrant for the same. When officials in the media house asked the police if they have a warrant, the Inspector of Keonjhar police station said that Police have powers to enter and search as part of an investigation without warrants.
The police also said that they leave only after searching the premises.
Speaking to Republic TV, R Mishra, News Editor of OTV said, “This is not the first time that OTV is being targeted. Ramesh Rath was the journalist who broke the news about the RTI response on CM Naveen Patnaik’s aerial survey. After a day, while he was on his way to the office, Keonjhar police picks him up in a van and they cease his two mobile phones and drags him to the Police station. No one is informed why is he been booked, whether they have an FIR lodged against him. Our anchor informed us about the incident, so we confirmed from the Commissioner of Police.” He alleged that OTV is being targeted individually.
Obscene clip case
Keonjhar police have said that Ramesh Rath was picked up for questioning in a case related to the circulation of an obscene clip during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, and not due to the OTV story on the CM’s aerial survey. Police said that Rath’s name came up in the probe, alleging that he is the one who provided video details. Police also said that Rath was released within a few hours after questioning.
Talking about the 2019 case, R Mishra said that the case pertains to an obscene video clip of a female BJD leader. Two OTV journalists and few BJP leaders were involved in it, and the media house had cooperated during the investigation, he said. But now the Keonjhar police came to the OTV office yesterday and said that they will search the office premises without warrant.
The RTI expose
On 14th October, OTV had aired a report questioning the aerial survey of the flood-hit areas by the CM. Based on replies to an RTI query, the media house had claimed that the official records of helicopter operations does not support the claim that CM had conducted the aerial survey.
CM Naveen Patnaik had conducted an aerial survey of the flood-hit districts in the state on 31st August, and had announced financial assistance to the affected families. However, RTI replies accessed by OTV had shown that only one helicopter of OSS Air Management had taken off from the Bhubaneswar Airport and it was in the air for only 19 minutes.
They had also mentioned that there was no VVIP movement on that particular day, as per the response to the RTI query. Based on these observations, OTV had raised question on the aerial survey done by the CM.
OTV report refuted by AAI
However, the OTV’s claims were rejected by the Airport Authority of India (AAI), saying the CM indeed conducted the aerial survey on that day. AAI said that contrary to the claim by OTV, 19 minutes was the actual flying time, and it didn’t include warm-up time, startup time at apron and taxi time to runway and return to apron after landing. It also said that as per SOP for the handling of VVIP flights, VVIP means the President, Vice President, Prime Minister of India and Foreign Heads of state/Govt. Chief ministers are not classified as VVIPs, and therefore Naveen Patnaik’s aerial survey was not categorised as VVIP travel, AAI said.
‘Eminent’ NDTV news anchor Sanket Upadhyay posted pictures of the channel’s newsroom on social media on Friday where it could be seen that Republic TV was playing on one of the television screens on the room. It has opened a can of worms as people across the political spectrum are perplexed as to why was NDTV, the epitome of ‘secular neutral journalism’, was watching Republic TV, which ‘secular neutral journalists’ do not even consider a media network.
India Today’s Data Intelligence Unit has calculated that theoretically, the probability of NDTV watching Republic TV was 176.4% lesser than Rahul Kanwal developing a spine and Rajdeep Sardesai quitting boxing. However, 2020 has been that kind of a year. Reliable sources have also informed us that India Today has forbidden its employees from expressing personal opinions on social media because Aroon Purie does not want people to know that 87.8% of India Today employees have a photograph of Arnab Goswami on their personal desk.
AajTak, meanwhile, claims that Republic TV has paid NDTV 500 rupees to increase its TRP. Sanket Upadhyay has strongly denied such allegations. He claims that NDTV employees will never sell their integrity for that amount. The price is much higher. However, reliable sources, who do not wish to be named, confirmed that AajTak ‘s report is accurate. They told us that while NDTV was initially unwilling to accept the money but a call from their chief accountant at precisely that moment about the state of their finances convinced them to change their minds.
Bald Man of FaultNews was spotted dancing in the streets as he was convinced that NDTV will finally hire them for fact-checking the reports submitted by their own journalists before they are published and FaultNews will earn a hefty amount in the process. Bald Man was also desperate for the money as his colleague is facing charges of harassing little children. And, thus far, trends suggest that the colleague is not willing to stop anytime soon despite the rising costs.
We were reliably informed that Bald Man implored his colleague to explore fixing-punctures as a hobby as an alternative to harassing children online but his colleague took offence to it due to unstated cultural reasons. The Wire, on the other hand, is exploring ideas on how they can portray NDTV’s editorial choices as a consequence of Brahminical Patriarchy and oppression by Heteronormative Cis-Gender Savarna Fascism. Unable to strike a breakthrough, they have invited their friends at Scroll for a brainstorming session.
Arnab Goswami, meanwhile, is touting this as a success of Republic News Network and called Mumbai Police to inform that the news coverage of other channels is so poor that not even their employees watch it in their newsrooms. He used the pictures released by Sanket Upadhyay as evidence of his claim. The Republic TV Editor-in-Chief said, “Tak waale are so bad even their own employees would rather watch Republic TV!” Arnab Goswami was also heard boasting that more NDTV employees watch Republic than the total number of viewers NDTV attracts.
The actual reason for Sanket Upadhyay watching Republic TV during his working hours has been found to be far mundane. Top officials at NDTV informed us that the employees were instructed to watch the channel as a tutorial on how to run a news channel successfully. The instructions came after NDTV ‘journalists’ ended up with huge eggs on their faces after falsely claiming that a Tanishq showroom at Gujarat was attacked by a mob for its ad normalising Love Jihad.
Top officials at NDTV had to call up their anchors to inform them that if they had to issue multiple clarifications and offer numerous justifications to prove that there was an attack when nobody else could see it with their own eyes, then most probably, there had not been any attack and it was foolish of them to pretend otherwise. It was then that NDTV employees were instructed to watch Republic TV.
Sanket Upadhyay reportedly told his friends in private that the top bosses of NDTV have assured that all medical expenses that could be required to treat diseases of the heart and disorders of the ears due to excessive exposure to the high decibel coverage of Republic TV would be covered by the company itself.
Furthermore, the mystery behind Republic TV’s high TRP appears to have been solved. US President Donald Trump is apparently an ardent fan of Republic TV because of its ‘high energy’ coverage. “Republic is the secret of my energy!” Trump reportedly told ‘Low Energy’ Jeb Bush, informed Marco Rubio. John Bolton, too, confessed that he wanted to bomb Iran after he became too excited following an episode of Arnab Goswami’s debate.
This is a work of satire and should be taken with a pinch of salt.
As Congress leader Udit Raj criticised the Uttar Pradesh government for using public funds in financing a religious event such as Kumbh, a Times Now report reveals that Congress leaders in Rajasthan and the Ashok Gehlot government want to spend public funds for developing madarsas in the state.
As per the report, the Rajasthan government has asked state-wide madrassas to file an application from October 14 to October 29 in order to receive grants for their infrastructural development.
Document emerges showing Congress funding Madrassas in Rajasthan.
As per the Times Now report, the Rajasthan government will bear 90% of the cost incurred in the development of madrassa while the remaining 10% will be given by the madrassa board. An outlay of Rs 15-25 lakhs per madrassa has been earmarked by the state government.
Nevertheless, the Rajasthan government’s decision to financially support the modernisation drive of the state-wide madrassas has exposed the Congress party’s duplicity over the public exchequer being used for funding religious activities.
The modernisation of madrassas was also mentioned in the Rajasthan government’s Budget 2019. The item number 116 of the Ashok Gehlot government’s Budget 2019 mentioned “Chief Minister’s Madrassa upgradation scheme” and about Rs 7 crores were allocated by the government for the same.
Earlier the Congress supported MVA government in Maharashtra had allocated funds for the salaries of madarsa teachers in the state.
Congress leader Udit Raj stokes controversy by opposing government funding of Kumbh Mela
Earlier yesterday, Congress leader Udit Raj kicked up a massive political furore after he criticised the Uttar Pradesh government for spending crores in organising Kumbh. The former Lok Sabha MP said that the state should not fund any religious teachings or rituals as the state doesn’t have its own religion.
“No religious teachings and rituals to be funded by the Govt. The state doesn’t have its own religion. UP govt spent 4200 crores in organising the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad and that too was wrong,” Udit Raj had tweeted. He, however, had failed to mention that the ‘secular’ government controls the funds of the Hindu temples and also taxes the donations collected, while other religious institutions are free of government’s control.
मै ट्वीट को बहाल कर रहा हूँ & संवाद के लिए तैयार हूँ।जब भी राजनैतिक मामला होता है तो INC को टैग करता हूँ, इसमें नही किया था क्योंकि व्यक्तिगत विचार है।बिना वजह पार्टी को घसीटा जा रहा है।डॉ अम्बेडकर मानते थे कि राजनीति&धर्म का मिश्रण नही होना चाहिए। pic.twitter.com/60AG1z56Qj
After massive outrage, Raj pulled down the tweet but later reinstated again.
The BJP hit back at the Congress leader stating that he doesn’t understand that when crores of people attend an event, it is the government’s responsibility to develop infrastructure and ensure world-class facilities that create jobs and boost earnings for locals. Such events provide opportunities to develop infrastructure and help local economy, Union Minister Anurag Thakur said.
A court in Maharastra Thursday sent Congress minister Yashomati Thakur to three months of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 15,500 in an 8-year-old cop assault case. The Congress leader is the Minister of Women and Child Development since 2019 in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra.
Thakur, her driver and two workers have been held guilty of beating up an on-duty policeman who stopped her vehicle on a one-way lane. The incident had taken place around 4.15 pm on March 24, 2012, in the Chunabhatti area under Rajapeth police station in Amravati district, informed the prosecution.
Along with Congress minister Yashomati Thakur, her driver and two other aides also sent to jail
Along with the cabinet minister, three others have also convicted in the case which includes the Congress leader’s driver. They too have been awarded three months a rigerous imprisionment by the district and sessions court here on Thursday. They were also fined Rs 15,500 each by the district and sessions court judge Urmila Joshi, who also said that Thakur and the three others who have been convicted would have to spent one month extra in jail if they fail to pay the fine.
Reportedly, Judge Joshi examined five witnesses in the case and one of them, a cop, turned hostile during the trial. Accepting the deposition of the witnesses and arguments of the prosecution, the district and sessions court judge found all the four accused guilty.
While sending the four to jail, the court directed the city police commissioner to take action against the cop who turned hostile.
Congress Minister Yashomati Thakur said she challenge the district and sessions court’s verdict in Bombay HC
Reacting to the verdict the Congress leader, who is also guardian minister of Amravati district, said she will move the Bombay High Court against the lower court’s verdict. “I have always respected the judiciary as I am myself a lawyer. As such, it will not be proper for me to comment upon the judgement. But we are going to move to the High Court for justice. I can only say at this moment that truth shall prevail,” said Thakur.
The 2012 incident
According to the charge sheet, Thakur, her driver Sagar Suresh Khandekar, workers Sharad Kashirav Jawanjal and Raju Kisan Ingle had allegedly beaten up traffic policeman Ulhas Raurale, when he had tried to stop the minister car from entering a one-way lane.
When the on-duty traffic police officer had stopped the Congress minister and told her that her vehicle could not use the road stretch as it was for one-way traffic and the car was entering from the wrong side, the minister along with her aides had got into an argument with Raurale. They allegedly held him by the collar and beat him up, the prosecution said.
Raurale had lodged a complaint with the Rajapeth police station against the cabinet minister her driver and two others. A case was registered under IPC sections 353 (assault on or use of criminal force against a public servant in order to deter him from discharging his duty), 332 (causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 186 (obstructing any public servant in discharge of his public functions and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) against the four.
Congress Minister’s past controversies
The Congress minister, who had last year, stirred up a controversy by saying that she has just become a minister after her party managed to form a government in Maharashtra and they are ‘yet to warm their pockets’, was also caught on July 20, 2019, creating a ruckus at a hospital. Before the Maha Vikas Aghadi govt came to power in Maharashtra, she had once been recorded on camera screaming, abusing and threatening a cop at the St George Hospital. “Paise khate ho saale Haramkhor“, she was heard yelling as she manhandled the hospital staff who tried to pacify her.
The charge-sheet filed by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) in connection with the Bengaluru riots case states that the Congress leader Sampath Raj joined hands with radical Islamic organisation such as SDPI to target his own party’s Dalit MLA Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy.
According to the reports, the charge-sheet filed by the Bengaluru CCB said that members of the Muslim community were already upset over the issues of the Citizenship Amendment Act, triple talaq, NRC and Ram Mandir. The charge-sheet adds that the Congress leaders used these angry mobs to create unrest in DJ Halli and KG Halli areas on August 11 to settle political rivalry against their own party MLA Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy.
The social media post allegedly put up by Congress Dalit MLA Akhanda Srinivas Murthy’s nephew P Naveen acted as a spark for the violence. The alleged post was against beliefs of the Muslim community, word of it spread among members of the community, which resulted in violent protests in the city on August 11, the charge-sheet says. It is pertinent to note that it was alleged at the time that P Naveen had used derogatory language against the Prophet of Islam.
“Using the social media post by Naveen, groups of people along with the sitting MLA’s political rivals spread contents of the post on their Whatsapp groups which went viral. Groups were mobilised quickly, they were instructed that their community should be protected and people like the MLA and his nephew should be taught a lesson for such acts,” the charge-sheet reads.
Shockingly, the Congress party leader Sampath Raj used this opportunity to settle his political rivalry against his own party MLA Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy and joined hands with SDPI leaders to unleash violence on the streets of DJ Halli and KG Halli, the CCB charge-sheet accessed by Times Now reads.
Congress leaders instigated Muslim mobs, used their anger to target Dalit MLA
The charge-sheet accessed by Times Now reveals the Congress leaders Sampath Raj and another accused Congress leader Abdul Rakeeb Zakir were plotting against Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy for almost three months since May 2020. Reportedly, the Congress leaders were waiting for an opportunity to create an issue to direct Muslim community’s anger towards Murthy.
Sampath Raj had periodically mobilised these mobs to protest over issues such CAA, NRC, triple talaq, Ram Mandir etc.
Congress leader Sampath Raj and his associates had hatched a plot and held a meeting with Muslim youths at Haseena Hall at DJ Halli. “To cause a commotion by instigating Muslims, some of the accused used to hold meetings often. They got an opportunity when Murthy’s nephew Naveen made an objectionable social media post,” states the charge-sheet according to a TNM report.
“They used the alleged social media post, made other wild allegations against pertaining to targetting of Muslims, to carry out the attack on his house. A mob led by A 14(Syed Naeem), 15 (Syed Imran) and 35(Mujahid Khan) went to the location and joined another group of people there. There was already a large mob were at the MLA’s house that is located barely 500 meters from the police station,” the charge-sheet filed by the CCB says.
The charge-sheet also reveals that Muslim mob had the intention to ‘murder’ Murthy even as the two Congress corporators were conspiring to ‘politically finish’ Murthy.
Reportedly, Congress leaders Sampath Raj and Zakir coordinated the attacks and incited the Muslim mob to go on a rampage. The charge-sheet says that the duo had left their phones at their homes so that the police could not track them near the riots.
The investigating agency has named Congress corporators Sampath Raj and Zakir Hussain as accused number 51 and 52, respectively in the Bengaluru riots case. Earlier on Tuesday, the NIA also grilled two Congress MLAs from the city – Chamrajpet MLA Zameer Ahmed Khan and Shivajinagar MLA Rizwan Arshad in connection with the violence that erupted in the DJ Halli and KG Halli areas of Bengaluru on August 11.
The state of Uttar Pradesh, especially the eastern region has been plagued by the deadly disease Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES), and Japanese Encephalitis (JE) for decades. CM Yogi Adityanath, since he was a young MP in the Lok Sabha has been constantly raising this issue, asking for better awareness programs and better preparedness by the government to tackle the deadly disease that has been claiming thousands of lives every year, mostly little children.
Since he became the CM of the state in 2017, Yogi Adityanath has launched a multi-pronged, organized, and well-managed approach to tackle the disease in the state. With widespread immunization initiatives, awareness campaigns that go door-to-door, cleanliness drives, and better-equipped healthcare facilities, the state of Uttar Pradesh has finally achieved what was unthinkable just a few years back. As per the latest data, the encephalitis deaths in the state have fallen by a massive 95% in just 3.5 years of Yogi sarkar in UP.
भोजपुर का हर संवेदनशील शख्स इंसेफ़लाइटिस के दर्द को बखूबी जानता,समझता और महसूस करता है,1977 से चली आ रही ये बीमारी हर साल या तो हज़ारों मासूमों की जान लेती या उन्हें ताउम्र अपंग बना देती,विपक्ष में योगी जी बतौर MP भी इस बीमारी से खूब लड़े और सरकार आने पर बतौर CM भी,नतीजा सामने है pic.twitter.com/fPKrTpsyaW
As reported by Bhaskar, on his last visit to Gorakhpur, CM Yogi Adityanath had stated that AES is in its deathbed in the state. Since 2016, the number of Encephalitis deaths have been reduced by 95% in the state, and in just two more years, it can be completely eradicated from the region. Praising the teamwork of healthcare professionals, vaccine, sanitation, and administrative workers, the CM said that it is the result of an organized approach that the BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur, which used to see 500-600 cases of hospitalization of children afflicted with Encephalitis in the month of August since the last 40 years, has now seen only 86 cases in August this year.
The steps taken by the Yogi government to tackle Encephalitis
After Yogi Adityanath became the CM, he started the ‘Guidelines for Prevention and Treatment of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome’. A large scale immunisation programme that included door-to-door awareness campaign, named ‘Dastak’ was launched. 15 Block-level Encephalitis treatment centres, mini-pediatric care centres were opened in rural areas. Block-level hospitals were given the facility of at least 3 ventilators. Moreover, over 3.5 lakh officers and employees were provided with training to equip them to respond and deal with AES prevention and treatment.
image courtesy: Govt of UP Twitter handle
As per the latest data, Gorakhpur district, the worst AES affected district in all these decades, has registered a massive fall in the number of deaths due to AES and JE. In 2016 and 2017, there were 127 and 114 AES deaths respectively. In 2018, the deaths came down to just 41, in 2019, just 15 AES deaths were recorded and in 2020, upto the month of July, just 5 AES deaths have been recorded in the district.
Similarly, the cases of JE had reduced from 51 in 2017 to just 6 cases in 2020 so far. only 1 death due to JE in Gorakhpur has been recorded in 2010 up to now.
Dastak program was praised by UNICEF
The UP government had launched the Dastak programme in February 2018, with an aim to immunise every child under 15 years of age and carry out widespread sanitation and awareness programmes. The campaign was planned as a holistic programme to educate and provide facilities to the families, not only for vaccination but also for the prevention and treatment of the disease.
With regards to the drive, Yogi Adityanath had stated that for the 38 districts of UP affected by the disease the state health department would be made the nodal agency and other departments like urban development, Panchayati Raj, Women, and Child Welfare, Rural Development, Medical Education, Animal Husbandry and basic education departments would work under them.
The United Nations Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) had praised the Uttar Pradesh government led by CM Yogi Adityanath for successfully immunizing all children of the state against Japanese Encephalitis and Acute Encephalitis Syndrome.
On Wednesday, the Maharashtra Assembly has sent a second notice to Arnab Goswami in connection with the breach of privilege motion notice that was sent to him earlier. The breach of privilege motion was brought against Arnab Goswami in the Assembly after the government accused him of using derogatory language against Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and NCP chief Sharad Pawar.
In the second notice issued to Arnab Goswami, he has been given time till the 20th of October to respond to the notice.
“Arnab was asked to clarify in writing till October 5th on the privilege motion which he did not. If he does not send the written reply by October 20th, then action will be taken against him as per the rules”, the notice said, according to reports.
Reportedly, the Legislature had also taken objection to the fact that Arnab Goswami had submitted the details of the Assembly proceedings in the Supreme Court without former notice and informing the Secretariat. It is to be noted that Arnab Goswami had approached the Supreme Court against the privilege motion.
In this regard, Maharashtra Legislature Secretariat issued a notice to Arnab Goswami, chief of Republic TV, for breach of privilege for submitting a copy of the proceedings of the Assembly in the Supreme Court without the Speaker’s permission. The notice was served on October 13 and a written clarification has been sought from Goswami by October 15, the secretariat said in a statement on Wednesday.
A notice was sent to Arnab Goswami by legislature secretariat on the 16th of September over breach of privilege
The Maharashtra legislature secretariat had earlier sought a clarification from Arnab Goswami on September 16 over a breach of privilege motion against him during a two-day monsoon session of the state legislature.
The motion had been tabled by Shiv Sena MLA Prapap Sarnaik, taking offence to the way Republic TV chief Arnab Goswami referred to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and other ministers during his coverage of Sushant Singh Rajput death case.
Since reportedly, no response was sent by Arnab Goswami by the deadline of 5th October, a second notice was sent to him seeking response to that notice by October 20.
Arnab Goswami approaches Supreme Court, sent back to High Court
While hearing a plea challenging Mumbai Police summons to the Republic TV officials for reporting on the TRP scam, the Supreme Court on 15th October asked Republic TV to go to Bombay High Court first before approaching the apex court. Justice Chandrachud pointed out that the office of Republic TV is in Worli, which is closer to Flora Fountain, where the High Court building is located.
A bench comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud, Indu Malhotra and Indira Banerjee heard the petition jointly filed by ARG Outlier Media Pvt Ltd and Arnab Goswami, and rejected the petition. Arnab Goswami and his media house had approached the Supreme Court against the summons issued by Mumbai Police to the officials of the channels, demanding to know the source of the complaint by Hansa Research which was accessed and broadcast by the channel. This complaint had exposed the lies of Mumbai Police Commissioner, as it shows that India Today was accused of manipulating TRP data, not Republic TV as alleged by the Commissioner.
The Supreme Court on Monday had also observed that it can entertain journalist Arnab Goswami’s plea challenging the show-cause notice issued by Maharashtra assembly only after any action is taken.
The Supreme Court had also raised concerns over Mumbai Police Commissioner Parambir Singh giving interviews to news channels. “We are concerned of this observation that as of late, Commissioners have the tendency of giving interviews”, said the court.
Before the proceedings could commence, the Mumbai Police had submitted a short advance reply in the court. They said that Article 19(1)(a) could not be used as a shield to prevent any investigation into the alleged fudging of TRPs. Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India guarantees to all its citizens the right to freedom of speech and expression.
