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Unnao rape case: Delhi court sentences Kuldeep Sengar to life imprisonment, imposes Rs 25 lakh fine

On Friday, a Delhi court awarded life imprisonment to rape accused former MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar for raping a minor girl in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh in 2017.

According to the reports, the District Judge Dharmesh Sharma also imposed a fine of Rs 25 lakh in the case and directed the rape survivor be paid Rs 10 lakh as compensation. The four-time MLA will remain in jail for the rest of his life.

On December 16, Former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar was convicted in the Unnao rape and kidnapping case by Delhi’s Tis Hazari Court. The court had convicted Sengar under the sections of IPC and the POCSO Act for raping a minor.

The CBI’s counsel and the complainant had sought maximum punishment for Sengar, saying that the court must consider the prolonged ordeal faced by the victim. The counsel of the victim had additionally sought sufficient monetary compensation for the rape survivor.

However, Sengar’s counsel had urged the court to give him minimum punishment of 10-years jail term, saying he had no prior criminal record. The counsel of the victim also supported the CBI’s submission and additionally sought sufficient monetary compensation for the rape survivor.

Former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar was the prime accused in the 2017 high profile rape case. The case pertains to kidnapping and rape committed by Sengar and his plot to silence the victim and intimidate her relatives by framing them in police cases based on flippant charges.

Read: Accident involving Unnao victim was not planned, finds CBI: Drops murder charges against suspended BJP MLA Kuldeep Sengar

In August this year, the victim of the Unnao rape case was travelling to Rae Bareli with her two aunts, and her lawyer Mahendra Singh when their vehicle was hit by a truck, rendering them critically injured. The vehicle had collided with a truck going in the opposite direction towards Lalganj in UP. The victim survived the near-fatal accident.

Two of her aunts were killed in the accident while her lawyer also sustained serious injuries. The woman’s family has filed a complaint alleging “conspiracy” behind the car crash.

Anti-CAA protests: Sharmistha Mukherjee, other Congress members detained near Home Minister Amit Shah’s residence

The chief of Delhi Mahila Congress, Sharmistha Mukherjee was today detained near Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s residence in Delhi during a protest against the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act.

Sharmistha, who is the daughter of former President of India Pranab Mukherjee, said that she along with 50 other Delhi Mahila Congress members were taken into the Mandir Marg police station by Delhi Police.


The police have claimed that they had detained Mukherjee along with others for organising a protest march “very close” to Shah’s residence.

In the last few days, the National Capital of the country witnessed a series of violent protests as rioters went on a rampage destroying public properties and vandalising scores of the vehicles. The riots in the Seelampur neighbourhood of Delhi also saw intense stone pelting and bomb explosion.

PM Modi had earlier issued an appeal to the citizens to maintain calm and accused the Congress party leaders of fanning falsehoods and misinformation about the Citizenship Amendment Bill. PM Modi had alleged that politicians with vested interests were firing off from the students’ shoulders. Union Home Minister Amit Shah too had warned protesting students to first understand the provisions of the Act instead of being tricked into by the opposition leaders.

A concerted attempt to spread misinformation about the Citizenship Amendment Bill triggered violent protests across the country following the passage of the law in the Upper House of the Parliament. From Delhi to West Bengal and Assam, violence gripped the country. Buses have been torched, trains have been burnt and massive loss has been caused to public property.

‘Shame shame’ slogans: Lawyers request Delhi HC judges to take contempt of court action against Jamia lobby

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The Delhi High court on Friday agreed to form a committee to look into the unprecedented incident of the lawyers’ lobby shouting ‘shame on you’ at the judges in the courtroom yesterday after the bench refused to provide any interim protection to Jamia’s student rioters from any coercive action, including arrest by Delhi Police.

This decision came after several senior advocates, heads of bar associations and central government lawyers mentioned before a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar the need for contempt action against those who “disrespected the judiciary”.

One senior advocate while pressing the bench to take action against those lawyers who disrespected the court said that a strong message needs to go out that such incidents will not be tolerated. He also informed the bench that the lawyers’ lobby which appeared yesterday and their clients had also resorted to vandalism outside the court.

He furthered that the people who create ruckus outside should not be allowed to do the same inside the court and intimidate the judiciary.

Another advocate, RP Luthra informed the court that he had fallen prey to the angst of the lawyers’ lobby after he raised objections for their behaviour in court. It was only due to police intervention that he got rescued, said Luthra.

After hearing all the advocates, the bench agreed on referring the matter to one of its relevant committees to undertake an inquiry.

On Thursday, as the Delhi HC turned down the petition for protection to Jamia rioters and refuse to set the next hearing at an earlier date, the situation in the courtroom took an unprecedented turn and the lawyers representing the petitioners allegedly started hooting the judges by shouting ‘shame shame’ as they moved towards their chambers.

Hearing petitions requesting the formation of a judicial commission to investigate the violence at the Jamia Millia Islamia on Sunday, the Delhi High Court bench comprising of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar, yesterday refused to provide any interim protection to student rioters from any coercive action, including arrest by Delhi Police.

The court also issued a notice to the Centre, the Delhi government and the police, asking them to file a response on a plea over Jamia Milia University incident. The court posts the matter for further hearing on February 4.

Read: ‘Just because they are students, they can’t take law into their hands,’ CJI Bobde tells petitioners seeking judicial inquiry in Jamia incident

The court’s decision came while hearing six petitions seeking medical treatment and compensation for injured students in the protests against CAA over the past few days.

Delhi witnessed violent scenes on Sunday when several buses, motor-bikes and private vehicles were set ablaze during anti-CAA riots near south Delhi’s Jamia Nagar area. The Delhi police in a bid to control the frenzied mob, later entered the Jamia campus and fired tear gas shells, baton-charged and detained several rioters.

Anti-CAA Seelampur riots: Police arrest Raees who got injured after the bomb he was trying to hurl at police exploded in his hand

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Bomber Raees was arrested by the Delhi police today after he injured himself while hurling a petrol bomb during the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) riots in Seelampur, Delhi on December 17, 2019.

Shortly after the explosion, a video had gone viral in which one can see how the accused Raees got himself injured while trying to throw a petrol bomb to further instigate the riots. In the video, the crowd can be heard shouting “Uska haath gaya” (his hand has gone) after the explosion.


Raees was hospitalised after the bomb he had tried to throw at the police forces prematurely exploded in his own hands. He was undergoing treatment at Geru Tej bahadur (GTB) Hospital, but had remained incognito to evade arrest. Joint CP Alok Kumar informed that the police looking for the rioter got wind of his whereabouts and he was subsequently arrested from the hospital.

According to the police, Raees is still in the hospital, but today he will be taken before magistrate for hearing. The police is yet to reveal about the seriousness of his wound.

Read- Seelampur violence: Announcements for mobilisation were made from local Mosques, says report

Delhi was in the grips of unprecedented violence after the ‘peaceful’ anti-CAA ‘protestors’ resorted to vandalism, arson and stone-pelting. Many vehicles were torched while public property was extensively damaged by the lumpen rioters.

Besides, police have said that Section 144 has been imposed in some sensitive areas of northeastern and eastern Delhi following the violent protests and they continuously counselling people for restoration of peace in the region.

The police have so far arrested 21 people on the charges of rioting and vandalism in the Seelampur riots case while many others have been identified. The police believes that there might be a possibility of another wave of rioting after the protestors called for a ‘bandh’ on Friday.

Muslim radicals set Delhi ablaze: What explains the behaviour of these Indian Muslims

The past week in India has seen enraged mobs burning buses, setting alight trains in protests that seem to be engineered to falsely depict the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of having an anti-Muslim agenda.

The current rampaging began soon after the Indian parliament enacted the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) on December 11, which grants easy access to Indian citizenship to non-Muslims of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh who faced religious persecution and sought refuge in India prior to December 31, 2014.

The CAA does not affect any Indian citizen of any religion, yet Islamist groups active in India’s Jama Islamic University in Delhi and the Aligarh Muslim University came onto the streets claiming discrimination on the basis of religion.

Read: Modi government dispels myths about CAA: Here are 19 FAQs and their answers

Indian Muslim leadership’s outrage seemed to be based on their fear that allowing citizenship to persecuted Pakistani Christians, Hindus and Sikhs would increase the non-Muslim population of the country and thus dilute the veto power they’ve exercised in India for the last 70 years. Therefore, to maintain the balance they insist that Muslims from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan too should be allowed to become Indians.

Never mind the fact that the genesis of Pakistan that was carved out of India in 1947, was based on the Islamist argument that Muslims cannot live in a land with a non-Muslim majority. As a result, Hindus and Sikhs faced genocide in Pakistan, a million died and close to 10 million were displaced to meet the whims and fancy of the founders of the world’s first Islamic State.

Read: Khilafat 2.0: How Useful Idiots in the media and political parties were fooled by Jamia students associated with the ‘blood brother’ of a banned Radical Islamic outfit

As I did the rounds on Indian TV networks on Wednesday, that threatening Muslim attitude was palpable. While Islamic clerics did not shy away from their hostility towards me, one threatened me, saying “Your turn will come soon.”

This as residents and students of Muslim districts in the capital demonstrated their street power by blocking roads and chanting such hate-filled slogans as “Hinduon se lenge azadi” (We’ll snatch our freedom from the Hindus).

Read: Facebook removes The Quint’s “fact-check” where they had declared the ‘Hinduon se Azadi’ video as fake

Instead of clarifying to the community that the CAA is not against Muslims or Islam, the opposition political parties have poured fuel on the fire in their attempt to appease the Islamist agenda and garner votes in the Jan 2020 elections for the Delhi State Assembly.

On Thursday, the Communists Parties and other Left-wing groups have also thrown their weight behind the Islamists and plan a ‘nation-wide’ protest today against the new Citizenship Act, according to a statement issued by these parties.

Read: Who is instigating violence in colleges: Congress, NSUI, a sinister WhatsApp group and anti-CAA protests

To understand the behaviour of Indian Muslims and their leadership, one needs to read what India’s leading Muslim politician and nationalist and first education minister had to say about Muslims and their politics. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad told a Kolkata audience on 27th October 1914:

“This biradari (community of Muslims) has been established by God… All relationships in the world can break down, but this relationship can never be severed. It is possible a father turns against his son, not impossible that a mother separates her child from her lap… But the relationship that a Chinese Muslim has with an African Muslim, an Arab Bedouin has with the Tatar shepherd, and which binds in one soul a neo-Muslim of India with the right-descendant Qureshi of Mecca, there is no power on earth to break it, to cut off this chain…”

Meanwhile, the International Business Times quoting intelligence sources reported that banned extremist and militant Islamic fundamentalist organisations – the Students Islamic Movement (SIMI) and the Popular Front of India (PFI) were behind the CAA violence.

Read: CAA exposes nexus between Congress and Islamists: Intelligence report says PFI, SIMI behind violent protests

In addition, a hijabi woman depicted as a hero of the anti-CAA movement was reported by IANS – Indian Asian News Service as having links with the Indian wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, the radical Jamaat-e-Islami-Hind.

Sitting in Delhi and watching the Islamists play their cards to bring disrepute to the Indian Republic, I can see the parallels in Canada where despite the evidence, we keep appeasing the Islamists who have a foothold in every party and every urban municipality.

The menace is real; the response unreal.

Pakistan based Islamic terror groups may try to assassinate PM Modi at Ramlila Maidan rally: Intelligence reports

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The Intelligence agencies have informed the Special Protection Group and the Delhi Police that the Pakistan-based terror groups plan to target PM Narendra Modi at the Ramlila ground on December 22 where he will be addressing a mega rally organised by the BJP on the issue of the Centre’s move to regularise unauthorised colonies in Delhi.

According to reports, the central agencies have directed the security establishments to fully implement instruction contained in the Blue Book for the protection of the Prime Minister while making the security arrangements.

The intelligence agencies stated that they have fresh inputs that terror organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed operatives have been mobilised in India to assassinate Prime Minister Modi at Ramlila ground, where a huge gathering and presence of media persons in huge numbers are expected.

“The recent enactment of the Citizenship Amendment Act (December 12), the Ram Janmabhoomi verdict (November 9) and abrogation of Article 370 (August 5), besides pre-emptive air strikes on non-military targets inside Pakistan by Indian Air Force have added fresh dimensions to the threat scenario,” the intelligence report stated.

The Special Protection Group along with the Delhi Police will be responsible for the security at the Ramlila ground. PM Narendra Modi will be present at the rally along with various NDA Chief Ministers and cabinet ministers.

The agencies said in “the given situation reprisal action by Pakistan based terrorist groups cannot be ruled out”. The agencies stated that Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) continues to provide infrastructural and other financial/logistical assistance to terror groups.

“In October 2019, letter received by National Investigation Agency (NIA) purportedly published by Lashkar-e-Taiba, threatened to target Indian dignitaries, including the Prime Minister, to avenge the alleged excesses by the Indian Armed Forces in Jammu and Kashmir,” the agencies have flagged.

In September 2019, Shamshe Wani of the Jaish e Mohammad (JeM) had written a letter threatening to avenge PM Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and NSA Ajit Doval following the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.

An input in July 2019, indicated that Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AguH), an al-Qaeda affiliate group in the Jammu and Kashmir warned India of terror attacks and had threatened PM Modi.

Similarly, according to input on May 28, 2019, a group of Pakistan based Lashkar e Taiba and JeM terrorists having Pakistan and Afghani passports aided and abetted by a Delhi-based individual planned to execute terrorist attacks in India and around Eid-ul-Fitr festival.

“According to another May 2019 input, the Indian Mujahideen has been instructed by Dawah Academy in Pakistan to target Old Delhi, Ghaziabad and Lucknow in a bid to instigate communal violence,” the agencies mentioned.

They also stated that an online article title “Lone Wolf – to carry Global Jihad” suspected to have been published in March 2019 by an operative Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), urged Bangladeshis to carry out lone-wolf attacks against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and other right-wing Hindu leaders.

In a message in February 2019 to his followers, JeM’s Masood Azhar issued threats to take revenge on the Indian Prime minister for alleged killing Kashmiri Muslims.

The agencies also flagged that past inputs also indicated a threat to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Delhi region from these outfits. “It would be essential to put in place stringent access control measures, appropriate security law and order arrangements and crowd control mechanism at the venue and route of the Prime Minister,” the agencies said.

Anti-CAA riots: Muslim mob led by Jignesh Mevani in Gujarat that attacked a police van carried ‘Jai Bheem’ flags

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A Muslim mob protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act went violent in Jignesh Mevani’s Vadgam constituency and had blocked the Chhapi-Palanpur highway. The anti-CAA mob had turned violent and attacked a police van and shook the van in one of the most terrifying visuals that emerged from Gujarat. This is the same place where Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani was leading the protests. He had even referred to this hooliganism as ‘way to go’. A new set of visuals have now emerged that shows the hooliganism from various different angles.


In the visuals that emerged, one can see that the elements in the crowd seem to be holding a blue-ish flag.

Blue flag seen in the Muslim mob

The blue-ish flags were visible in several other frames in the video of the anti-CAA riots shared by Congress Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani himself as well.

Blue flags in Muslim mob
Blue flags in Muslim mob

The blue flags that one can see several Muslims carrying here is that of ‘Jai Bheem’.

Jai Bheem flag

Jai Bhim is a greeting used by followers of Ambedkarism. Jai Bhim literally means “Victory to Bhim” referring to B. R. Ambedkar. Jai Bhim is also used as a slogan by some political parties like the BSP.

One recalls when in 2016, Mayawati, the BSP supremo had asked Dalits to raise the ‘Jai Bhim-Jai Bharat’ slogan instead of ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’.

Read: 25 crimes that prove that the Dalit-Muslim unity is nothing but a farce

OpIndia could not verify whether these flags were being held by functionaries of any political party or average Muslims who were a part of the mob.

However, it is pertinent to note here that the Left has often tried to peddle the bogey of Dalit-Muslim unity in order to create a divide in the Hindu community. The narrative often is that Dalits and Muslims have been equally oppressed by Hindus in India. However fallacious that argument is, it has been a tool in the hands of Islamists and political parties that stand to gain with fissures in the Hindu community.

Read: Khilafat 2.0: How Useful Idiots in the media and political parties were fooled by Jamia students associated with the ‘blood brother’ of a banned Radical Islamic outfit

The current protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act have been fuelled by several political parties including Congress and SP. In the Sambhal anti-CAA riots, SP lawmaker has been arrested whereas for the riots in Ahmedabad, where a Muslim mob went on a rampage, a Congress Corporator has been arrested.

Anti-CAA riots: Samajwadi Party’s MP Shafiqur Rahman, Firoze Khan booked by UP Police for violence and arson in Sambhal

The Uttar Pradesh police have registered a case against several accused persons including Samajwadi Party (SP) leaders Shafiqur Rahman Barq and Feroz Khan for indulging in violent protests in Sambhal district of Uttar Pradesh, reports ANI. Burq is the sitting MP from Sambhal.

Reportedly, over 250 unnamed persons have been booked for violent protests in Sambhal district. At least 30 people have been arrested in connection with the anti-CAA protest violence in the district.

As per reports, over 3000 people have been named in FIRs by UP Police for violence and riots. Mobile internet service has been suspended in over several districts in the state.

On Thursday, Sambhal, a stronghold of Samajwadi Party, witnessed a large-scale protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act as four buses of UPSRTC and six police vehicles were vandalised by protesters who also hurled stones at security personnel and media persons.

Sambhal SP Yamuna Prasad had said that the protest was called by Samajwadi and most of the rioters were SP workers. DM AK Singh said that the internet services had been suspended again in the district till December 21 morning.

Pre-empting largescale violence in the state, the Uttar Pradesh administration had imposed section 144 of the CrPC, which bans assembly of people. However, violent protests occurred in many parts of the state against the Citizenship Amendment Act.

Here is how PTI lied about Yogi Adityanath’s stern message to anti-CAA rioters who went on rampage in Uttar Pradesh

A fresh round of protests against the amended Citizenship Act gripped various parts of India on Thursday. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, in a strong warning to the anti-CAA rioters, has said that the authorities would seize the properties of those who indulge in violence in the state. However, as the media has been trying to whitewash the anti-CAA rioters, PTI chose to twist Yogi Adityanath’s stern warning to the miscreants.

Press Trust of India (PTI) which is a news agency tweeted that Yogi Adityanath had “vowed to take ‘revenge’ against those involved in the violence over the amended Citizenship Act by auctioning their property to compensate for the losses”.


This fallacious interpretation of what Yogi Adityanath said was then picked up by several media houses including NDTV.

NDTV headline (PTI feed)

With the ample quotations marks that adorned the words ‘Revenge’ and ‘Auction’, the misinterpretation of what Yogi Adityanath said changed the meaning of his words completely. With this headline, it almost seemed like Yogi Adityanath was on a crusade to extract a pound of flesh from those who were opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act by the Modi government.

Read: Will seize property of guilty and compensate damage to public property: Yogi Adityanath talks tough with anti-CAA violence in UP

In fact, Times Now too ran the same version with the word “revenge” casually strewn on their screen.

Times Now tweet

However, this is not what Yogi Adityanath had said. Here is the video.


While in the latter part of his statement, Yogi Adityanath does use the word ‘badla’, the context of the usage has been completely distorted by the media.

Yogi Adityanath had said that these elements had caused damage to public property and after identifying the guilty party, their properties would be auctioned to ‘compensate’ (bharpayee) for the loss to public property. He had further said that the miscreants have all been captured on CCTV and videos and the government would seize their property and take ‘badla’ for the loss to public property.

Read: Violence erupts during 19th Dec protests: Here is why imposition of section 144 was necessary during Anti-CAA protest

In this context, the word ‘badla’ would not mean ‘revenge’ but merely ‘compensation’. The word ‘revenge’ has a different connotation completely and the meaning is lost in translation, whether deliberately or otherwise.

When statements are made in Hindi, English language media often misinterprets certain word and translate them literally, losing the meaning of the statement completely.

The most concerning part is that despite several people pointing out the mistranslation, PTI, Times Now and other media networks have simply refused to rectify or change their headlines accordingly. Whether that is to be attributed to sheer ignorance, nonchalance or malice is anyone’s guess.

UAPA case against CPM members in Kerala: NIA to take over investigation against Alan Shuhaib and Thaha Fazal

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has decided to take over UAPA cases against two Kerala students and members of ruling CPM, who were arrested from Kozhikode for distributing pro-Maoist pamphlets.

According to the reports, the NIA will take up the case in which two students – Alan Shuhaib and Thaha Fazal from the Kannur University were arrested after they were found distributing pro-Maoist propaganda materials in Kozhikode.

“We have re-registered the case on Wednesday and will take over the investigation in the coming days,” said an NIA official.

The two accused, who hailed from Thalassery, were handing out pro-Maoist pamphlets and shouting pro-Maoist slogans when they were arrested by from the Pantheerankavu market. The two accused were protesting against the gunning down of alleged Maoists by the Thunderbolt force in the forests of Palakkad.

The Kerala police had booked the two accused under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) by the Pantheerankavu police station in Kozhikode district. Alan Shuhaib is the local Kozhikode Kallai Thiruvannur branch member of the party while Thaha is the DYFI unit secretary of the Pantheerankavu local branch.

On November 27, the Kerala High Court had dismissed the bail petitions of the two students, who were also CPI(M) activists. The court had admitted the evidence submitted by the police to prove the arrested students had Maoist links and denied them bail.

The arrest of the two students and charging them with the UAPA law had created an uproar against the CPI(M)-led LDF government. Facing severe protests over the arrests of two CPI(M) workers, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had taken a u-turn to say that his government would examine the slapping of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) charges against the two CPI(M) party workers.

Read: Kerala CM Vijayan says UAPA charges against his party workers arrested over Maoist links will be scrutinised

However, the Kerala police have time and again stated it has solid evidence against two Communist party workers. The police had asserted that the duo had maintained contact with Maoist functionaries.