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Covid-19 outbreak: Delhi govt shuts all malls, Maharashtra govt orders closure of non-essential shops and offices till March 31

OpIndia Staff
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Covid-19 outbreak: Delhi govt shuts all malls, Maharashtra govt orders closure of non-essential shops and offices till March 31

On Friday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted that all malls, except grocery stores, pharmacies and vegetable shops, would remain closed in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. On Wednesday, the Health Ministry informed that the total number of people who tested positive for Covid-19 has risen to 10 in Delhi.

On March 13, the Delhi government had announced that IPL and other sports events will not be allowed in the city-state. In a press conference, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister, Manish Sisodia had announced that all social and sports gatherings including the coveted Indian Premier League (IPL) will not be held in Delhi in the wake of coronavirus outbreak.

On Friday Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray also announced that all non-essential shops and offices in Mumbai, MMR Region, Pune, Pimpri Chinchwad and Nagpur will remain closed till March 31 due to coronavirus scare. He said that the attendance of employees in government offices would be brought down to 25%. Thackeray also urged people to not step out of their houses unnecessarily.

Earlier, one of the organisers of the anti-CAA protests in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri had shown symptoms of the COVID-19 and was undergoing tests after he met his sister, who was earlier tested positive. His sister had returned from the Umrah pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia on 11th March. The 35-year-old protestor said he had been to the anti-CAA protest site in Delhi “a couple of times” after meeting his sister on 13 March.

Protestors at Shaheen Bagh are defying rules to lead mass protests at the protest site despite warnings from the government that the virus could affect them. They also claimed that the protests were a call from Allah and they do not fear the Coronavirus. Instead, they asked to repel all the laws if they cared for the ‘protestors’ at the Shaheen Bagh.

The Indian Council of Medical Research has confirmed that the novel Coronavirus cases in India have climbed to 206 on Friday. ICMR said in its report that a total of 14,376 samples have been tested from 13,486 individuals for testing the presence of SARS-CoV2 as on March 20, 2020. Finally, 206 people are found positive of COVID-19 novel coronavirus among suspected cases and those who were in contacts of known positive cases.

Coronavirus: Vasundhara Raje, son BJP MP Dushyant Singh go into quarantine after Kanika Kapoor, who attended a party with them tests positive

OpIndia Staff
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Coronavirus: Vasundhara Raje, son BJP MP Dushyant Singh go into quarantine after Kanika Kapoor, who attended a party with them tests positive

Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and her son BJP MP Dushyant Singh were among the attendees of a party hosted by singer Kanika Kapoor, who was tested positive for the Coronavirus on Friday.

The singer has been found positive for coronavirus and health officials are in a fix as a number of other celebrities and politicians were present in Kanika Kapoor’s party.

Reportedly, Former Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje Scindia and her son Dushyant Singh were also present at the party, which is also believed to have been attended by high-profile politicians, including Uttar Pradesh’s health minister Jai Pratap Singh.

Taking to Twitter, former Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje confirmed that she had attended the party in Lucknow along with her son. She also said that she and her son Singh have now quarantined themselves and are taking all necessary precautions.

BJP MP Dushyant Singh had attended the Parliament the next day and interacted with fellow MPs raising serious concerns about chances of lawmakers being contracted with the deadly virus. Reportedly, Singh had sat next to TMC Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien and had a long chat with him.

Reportedly, Singh was also sitting with Surendra Nagar Nishikant and Manoj Tewari in the Central Hall on Thursday. Former Union Minister and Congress leader Jitin Prasada was also believed to have been present at the party.

Kanika Kapoor travelled from London to India and returned to Lucknow on March 15. She had reportedly refrained from informing authorities about her travel history. Upon arriving in Lucknow, Kanika hosted a lavish party for her friends and family at a five-star hotel.

What happened to the juvenile rapist of the Nirbhaya gang-rape case: Here are the details

OpIndia Staff
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What happened to the juvenile rapist of the Nirbhaya gang-rape case: Here are the details

More than seven years after a 23-year-old medical student was gang-raped in a moving bus in Delhi, four men convicted for the brutal assault were hanged on early Friday morning. The four convicts – Akshay Kumar Singh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Mukesh Singh were hanged at 5:30 am at Delhi’s Tihar Jail, hours after the Supreme Court refused to grant them relief and stay their executions.

Six men were accused of gang-raping and murdering the 23-year-old medical student, who came to be called Nirbhaya. Of the six, four were convicted, one was a juvenile, who got convicted by the juvenile justice board. Accused Ram Singh committed suicide in jail even before his conviction. The juvenile later served three years in a reformation home and was released.

The juvenile belonged to a village some 240 km away from the national capital where his elder sister looks after the family of six. He left home at the age of 11 and worked with Ram Singh as a cleaner in his bus

After the heinous incident, the juvenile was arrested and sent to a rehabilitation home for three years in North Delhi’s Majnu Ka Tila as he was less than 18 years of age. The reports suggested that the juvenile was ‘one of the most brutal’ among all the accused as he attacked the victim with an iron rod. However, a Juvenile Justice Board brushed aside all the allegations and called it ‘media hype’.

The juvenile’s case was one of the most debated topics across the country as citizens had demanded that the juvenile rapist be tried in the case an adult since it was a heinous crime. However, he was never charged as an adult. Later, due to the public outcry, the possibility of booking juveniles as adults in case of a heinous crime emerged. Subsequently, Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2015 was passed in which juveniles in the age group of 16–18, involved in heinous offences, can be tried as adults.

In 2015, according to intelligence officials, it was suspected that the juvenile had been radicalised because he shared his cell with another juvenile who was involved in the Delhi High Court blast case. An inquiry was undertaken by the Intelligence Bureau after BJP leader Subramanian Swamy wrote to PM Narendra Modi that he had learnt from police sources that the Nirbhaya convict had become an “Islamic fundamentalist/jihadi.

In November 2015, a month before he was going to be released, Nirbhaya’s family demanded that the juvenile’s identity be made public, keeping in mind the safety threat posed by him. “From what we have learnt from the media, he has shown no signs of improvement so far. He was getting indoctrinated in jihad inside his juvenile home. The police had said he has become street smart and learnt to abuse the system,” Nirbhaya’s father had said. However, the identity of the juvenile rapist was never revealed.

On December 20, 2015, despite massive public outcry, the juvenile was released from the correction home after he completed three years. A day before his release, he was sent to a secret location due to security reasons.

Just days prior to the release of the juvenile, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government had unveiled a rehabilitation plan for the juvenile under which the AAP government had decided to give him a one-time financial grant of Rs 10,000 and arrange for a sewing machine so that he can rent a tailoring shop. The move had provoked objections from the civil society and the government, who remained apprehensive about his mental condition and wanted his detention extended.

After his release, the juvenile was taken to an NGO which rehabilitated him in South India. A Hindustan Times report from 2017 states that he was working as a cook in South India at that point in time.

Singer Kanika Kapoor tests positive for Coronavirus: Reports say after landing from the UK, she stayed in a five-star hotel and threw a party

OpIndia Staff
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Singer Kanika Kapoor tests positive for Coronavirus: Reports say after landing from the UK, she stayed in a five-star hotel and threw a party

Bollywood singer Kanika Kapoor is one of the four latest confirmed cases infected by a novel coronavirus in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh reported four more positive cases of the deadly virus on Friday taking the toll to 23. The new patients of coronavirus have been taken to isolation wards in King George Medical University, Lucknow.

Some reports have claimed that the singer had evaded screening. As per claims, she returned from London this Sunday, stayed in a five-star hotel in Lucknow and threw a dinner party. Her dinner party was attended by at least a hundred people who are being contacted to be quarantined, as per the statement of the singer.

As per reports, she allegedly tried to hide her travel history, had defied self-isolation protocols and even evaded screening.

The Singer said in an official statement, “For the past four days I had symptoms of flu. I got myself tested and it came positive for COVID-19. My family and I are in complete quarantine now and following medical advice on how to move forward. Contact mapping of people I have been in touch with is underway as well.”

Recently the Yogi Adityanath government had warned to take strict action against those who will not cooperate with the authorities to control the novel coronavirus outbreak and spread misinformation and panic among the people.

The health minister of Uttar Pradesh Jai Pratap Singh clarified that concerned authorities have been given power under section 3 of the Epidemic Diseases Act to take all necessary actions in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak.

So-called human rights activists claim “moral high ground” to denounce justice to Nirbhaya by classifying it as an act of revenge

Dibakar Dutta
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So-called human rights activists claim “moral high ground” to denounce justice to Nirbhaya by classifying it as an act of revenge

Following the execution of the convicts involved in the brutal gangrape and murder of 23-year-old physiotherapy student in 2012 who was named “Nirbhaya” by the media, several self-proclaimed human rights activists assumed moral high ground and dubbed the death penalty handed out to the convicts as an act of revenge.

One such woke activist happened to be a man by the name of Jayanta Bhattacharya. He accused Nirbhaya’s mother, Asha Devi, of having a “slum mentality” and “lust for blood” for seeking justice for her daughter.

How supposed human rights activists claimed, "moral high ground" to denounce justice to Nirbhaya by classifying it as an act of revenge?
Screengrab of the Tweet

Another Twitter user, Prakash Sastry, engaged in virtue signalling said that one cannot rejoice the execution of rapists. He claimed that if the death penalty is not taken off the table, then, India will become a “regressive society.”

A Twitter user by the name of Mohammed Mojahid who claims to be a student of Aligarh Muslim University wrote that capital punishment was “escapism” and a symptom of a “culture of violence”.

Citing the report of Justice Verma Committee, Amnesty India, which is renowned for selective outrage and fake propaganda, claimed that death penalty is never the solution and that Friday’s execution allegedly added “another dark stain” to India’s human rights record.

On Thursday, the Caravan Magazine known for its vicious propaganda wrote an article whitewashing the perpetrator, Mukesh Singh, while lacking empathy for the real victim, Nirbhaya.

Earlier, controversial Supreme Court Judge (retired) Kurian Joseph asked whether heinous crimes such as rape would stop if the convicts were hanged. He said that capital punishment should be reserved for “rarest of rare cases”, implying that the brutal gangrape and murder was not a rarest of rare case.

It begs a counter-question: If their death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, then would it have eradicated rape from the country? Possibly no.

The last time a rapist, Dhananjoy Chatterjee, was hanged to death was way back in 2004. Only 3 other people (Afzal Guru, Ajmal Kasab and Yakub Memon) have been executed on charges of terrorism and inciting war against the nation in the past 20 years. If you compare the numbers with the world’s oldest democracy aka the United States of America, then, you will be surprised to know that 22 people were executed in 2019 alone. Comparatively, India has been using the death penalty more cautiously than it should.

Nirbhaya was brutally raped by 6 men, her intestines were ripped out and an iron rod was shoved in her private parts. Does this heinous crime not qualify as the “rarest of rare” crime? It does.

The case shook the conscience of the society as observed by the apex court. The convicts were given the opportunity to utilize all legal remedies available to them so much so that they were successful in prolonging their death penalty. Three death warrants were issued and stayed, as the convicts approached the courts with petitions one after another, delaying the process. In just 24 hours prior to the execution, the convicts had approached the courts five times, 3 petitions were rejected by Supreme Court, while one each was dismissed by Delhi High Court and the trial court. They were awarded death sentence back in 2014 by the trial court, and therefore they got ample opportunities to defend themselves. The convicts were executed only after they had exhausted all legal remedies available for them under India’s legal system.

Nevertheless, a mother (Asha Devi) who have been fighting an agonising legal battle for 7 long years could finally have closure. The execution of the convicts on Friday morning also sent out a stern message to the society that such crimes would not be tolerated.

ICMR says 206 individuals have tested positive for coronavirus in India so far

OpIndia Staff
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ICMR says 206 individuals have tested positive for coronavirus in India so far

The Indian Council of Medical Research has confirmed that the novel Coronavirus cases in India have climbed to 206 on Friday. ICMR said in its report that a total of 14,376 samples have been tested from 13,486 individuals for testing the presence of SARS-CoV2 as on March 20, 2020. Finally, 206 people are found positive of COVID-19 novel coronavirus among suspected cases and those who were in contacts of known positive cases.

The Union Health Ministry’s website has so far confirmed 195 active cases of coronavirus in the country. The Ministry said that out of the total cases 32 are the foreign nationals. The state of Maharashtra is facing the worst crisis after the rapid growth of novel coronavirus cases in the state as the toll reached 47. The state has also reported a death due to contagion. After Maharashtra, Kerala is the worst-hit state after the toll of infected patients reached 28 rapidly. Delhi has reported 17 COVID-19 cases while bordering state Uttar Pradesh has reported 19 confirmed cases with 9 people recovered and discharged.

19 people have been cured, 4 people have died and 1 person is reported to have migrated.

The newly formed Union Territories of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir have reported 10 cases and 4 cases respectively. Apart from them, southern states of Karanataka reported 15 cases and Telanagana reported 16 positive cases.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation on Thursday on the issue of the health crisis due to novel coronavirus calling for “resolve and restraint” to fight the deadly contagion. The Prime Minister asked the entire country to observe a ‘Janata curfew’ on Sunday, March 22 as a test run for social distancing over the next few days. He requested people to maintain social-distancing and stay at home from 7 am to 9 pm on Sunday and abide by it while underscoring the dangers of coronavirus.

Delhi High Court junks ‘comedian’ Kunal Kamra’s plea challenging his flying ban, says “Kamra’s in-flight behaviour unacceptable”

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi High Court junks ‘comedian’ Kunal Kamra’s plea challenging his flying ban, says “Kamra’s in-flight behaviour unacceptable”

In a major setback to ‘comedian’ Kunal Kamra, the Delhi High Court has refused to consider a plea filed by him challenging the flying ban imposed on him by IndiGo, Air Vistara and other airlines after he heckled television journalist Arnab Goswami onboard an IndiaGo flight in January this year.

Disapproving of Kamra’s boorish conduct onboard a flight, the Delhi High Court said, “This kind of behaviour certainly can’t be permitted.”

The so-called comedian was banned by 5 airlines after he heckled Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami on an Indigo flight from Mumbai to Lucknow in January. He also recorded the video of his heckling Mr Goswami and later gloated on Twitter that he gave a ‘monologue’ to the Republic TV Editor-in-Chief by sharing the video on the microblogging website.

In an increasingly rancorous tone, Mr Kamra kept hectoring Mr Arnab Goswami while the plane was airborne, imperilling the lives of fellow co-passengers onboard. Despite Mr Goswami’s steadfast disregard of the badgering, the ‘comedian’ kept hurling abuses and expletives against the Republic TV Editor-in-Chief, deliberately flouting safety norms of the aircraft.

Following the incident, which many claims to be a propaganda stunt by Mr Kamra, Indigo banned him for flying for six months citing his unceremonious behaviour onboard. The Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Harshdeep Singh Puri lauded Indigo’s decision to put Kamra on the no-fly list and urged other airlines to follow the suit. Shortly thereafter, other airlines Spicejet, Air India and Go Air also banned Mr Kamra from flying on their airlines. Recently, Air Vistara too imposed the fly ban on the Mumbai-bases stand-up ‘comedian’.

Despite the ban from multiple airlines, Mr Kamra remained undeterred by the action initiated by the airlines and approached the Delhi High Court against the ban imposed against him. However, the court too refused to consider Mr Kamra’s plea saying his behaviour onboard was impermissible.

Barkha Dutt’s ‘sheroes’ support ‘journalist’ Rana Ayyub over her insensitive tweet on Indians dying of coronavirus

OpIndia Staff
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Barkha Dutt’s ‘sheroes’ support ‘journalist’ Rana Ayyub over her insensitive tweet on Indians dying of coronavirus

Controversial ‘journalist’ Ayyub’s anti-India rant has finally found some traction in the country as Barkha Dutt ‘Sheroes’ Ladeeda Farzana and Aysha Renna have decided to support her. On March 16, Ayyub had tweeted an insensitive tweet where she had tweet wishing the death of Indian citizens during the coronavirus epidemic.

On 16th March, Ayyub took to Twitter to say out aloud that everyone in India is so ‘dead’ from inside because of being morally corrupt, what can a virus kill. Rana Ayyub’s hate-mongering had come at a time when as many as 126 people including foreign nationals were tested positive in India for the COVID-19 coronavirus. 

The number has now climbed to over 200 positive coronavirus cases and five Indians, including one in Iran has died.

Rana Ayyub’s absurd tweet on the coronavirus did not go well across social media, which was evident with the fact that even those who are part of the ecosystem attacked the Islamist Ayyub for hate-mongering and for wishing the death of citizens of the country.

However, Rana Ayyub’s death wishes were welcomed by Islamists as Jihad apologists like Aysha Renna and Ladeeda Farzana openly supported her.

On Tuesday, Islamist Aysha Renna, a known Jihad apologist, stood in support of Rana Ayyub and her death wish. Expressing solidarity with Rana Ayyub, Renna claimed that Rana Ayyub was one of the few journalists of the recent times who had threatened and continued to threaten those at power with brilliant investigative stories.

Soon, another Islamist Ladeeda Farzana, one of the two Barkha Dutt ‘Sheroes’, also joined Aysha Renna to express her admiration for Islamic troll Rana Ayyub. “In solidarity with Rana Ayyub. No threatenings can back out fighters,” tweeted Farzana.

Read: Barkha Dutt’s ‘Shero’ Ladeeda Farzana expresses her unconditional solidarity with Shaheen Bagh mastermind Sharjeel Imam, urges Muslims to express their Islamic identity

It is not really a surprise to see the ‘sheroes’ of Barkha Dutt standing in support of Rana Ayyub as lately the duo themselves have been espousing such vicious thoughts. The craving for violence and death was evident in the past as the ‘Sheroes’ had called for ‘Jihad’ ahead of the Jamia protests which eventually turned violent and led to mob violence across the national capital.

Ladeeda, in one of her posts, had openly called for ‘Jihad’ and had said that people should “learn about our ‘Jihad'”. In another post of hers from April 2018, she was found disrespecting the country by showing ‘middle fingers’ to India. Similarly, Aysha Renna, the face of anti-CAA riots at Jamia, had called India ‘fascist’ for hanging the terrorist Yakub Memon for his involvement in the Mumbai Blasts that killed hundreds of people.

Ram Navami Mela at Ayodhya to be called off due to Covid-19 threat, formal announcement soon

OpIndia Staff
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Ram Navami Mela at Ayodhya to be called off due to Covid-19 threat, formal announcement soon

The grand Ram Navami Mela that was scheduled to be held in Ayodhya from 25th March to 2nd April, has been cancelled. VHP sources have confirmed to OpIndia that the mela will not be held on its scheduled dates, and a formal announcement will be made soon. The decision has been taken to avoid large gatherings in the view of coronavirus scare.

Grand Ram Navami celebrations in Ayodhya was planned this year as it is the first Ram Navami after the historic Supreme Court verdict that handed over the Ram Janmabhoomi site to Hindus, paving the way for constructions of a grand Ram Mandir at Lord Ram’s birthplace. But now those plans will be shelved due to the crisis posed by Covid-19.

It is expected that Sadhus in Ayodhya will announce that people need not come for Ram Navami rituals and will ask them to stay at home. Yesterday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister had appealed people to celebrate Ram Navami at home and avoid going to temples and fairs. He requested people to hold any religious ceremony they want to hold in their houses and avoid any religious gathering as the country battles the spread of the Covid-19.

“Chaitra Navratri is imminent and many devotees visit temples especially on the first, second, eight and ninth day. Fairs are also organised in many areas that see mass participation of people. In light of special circumstances, I appeal to the public to perform any religious ceremony at their homes so that the spread of the infectious virus can be prevented,” Yogi Adityanath said in a government press release on Thursday. According to reports, the state government has directed the district and police authorities to hold talks with religious leaders to spread awareness about avoiding mass gatherings during the Navaratri period.

Even though the organisers and the state govt are yet to make any formal announcement on the Ram Navami mela, several media houses had reported that UP govt is going ahead with the mela despite the threat of Covid-19. It was reported that around 10 lakh devotees from across the country will arrive at Ayodhya for the celebrations.

The UP govt also clarified they does not organise the fair, and neither do they invite devotees for the same. The govt only provides necessary arrangements which are generally done by govts in such large gatherings. Govt officials told that they are appealing the religious leaders to appeal to people to stay at home.

Although the fair is expected to be called off, the Ram Navami rituals will be performed by the priests, and the transfer of the Ram Lala from the current place to a platform inside Ram Janmabhoomi will take place as scheduled on 25th March, as that is required to start construction of the Mandir. CM Adityanath will attend the ceremonies on that day.

Madhya Pradesh government collapses as Chief Minister Kamal Nath resigns

OpIndia Staff
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Madhya Pradesh government collapses as Chief Minister Kamal Nath resigns

In a major political development, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath has resigned from the post as his government fell short of numbers. The Madhya Pradesh Congress government collapses with Kamal Nath stepping down as the Chief Minister.

Speaking at the press conference, Chief Minister Kamal Nath announced his resignation and stated that he will meet the state governor Lalaji Tandon to submit the same. His resignation comes ahead of the SC directed floor test by 5 PM today.

Addressing media, he said, “After today, comes tomorrow, and after tomorrow, another day. And that day will come.” He accused the BJP of trying to ‘destabilise’ his government and holding Congress MLAs captive in Karnataka to topple the state government.

The resignation comes after Supreme Court on Thursday had ordered Chief Minister Kamal Nath-led Congress government to face a floor test in the MP Vidhan Sabha by Friday. As per the apex court’s order, the trust vote was supposed to take place today at 2 pm. However, to save from another humiliation, Kamal Nath has now chosen to resign from the post of the Chief Minister.

The Congress-led government was pushed to the brink following of former Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia. The state assembly speaker Narmada Prasad Prajapati late Thursday night accepted the resignations of the remaining 16 rebel Congress MLAs who have been in Bengaluru since March 9.

Read: Madhya Pradesh Congress Twitter account has a prolonged meltdown after Scindia quits, gives a veiled death threat

The resignations of all 22 MLAs in Scindia’s camp had brought down the total strength of the assembly to 206 where the ruling Congress with 92 members and seven allied MLAs. The Congress was at least five short of a simple majority of 104. The opposition BJP with 107 MLAs is three more than the simple majority.

With the resignation of Kamal Nath, BJP is all set to form the government in Madhya Pradesh. Former Madhya Pradesh CM and BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chauhan will likely be elected as Chief Minister for his fourth term.

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