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‘You too get married thrice,’ JSP chief Pawan Kalyan takes a dig at Andhra CM Jaganmohan Reddy over personal remarks

OpIndia Staff
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‘You too get married thrice,’ JSP chief Pawan Kalyan takes a dig at Andhra CM Jaganmohan Reddy over personal remarks

Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan lashed out at Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy for making personal comments on his marital life. Asking Reddy to refrain from such ugly political discourse, Kalyan snapped at the CM for dragging his personal life into politics, asking him what problem he has due to his three marriages.

“Every time I criticise, they launch a counter-attack by talking about my three marriages. You too get married, who is stopping you?’ lashed out Pawan Kalyan at the CM.

Addressing the National Education Day celebrations on Monday, Reddy had dragged Pawan Kalyan’s family. “Sir, actor Pawan Kalyan garu. You have three wives, four-five children. What is the medium of instruction of the schools they are studying in,” Reddy had asked.

Offended by this gibe, Kalyan said it was unfortunate that Reddy was resorting to personal attacks for questioning the government. He also wondered as to how the government would introduce English as a medium of instructions in the state government schools without training the teachers.

Referring to Jagan Reddy’s imprisonment in connection with the alleged illegal assets case, the Jana Sena leader wanted to know whether he (Reddy) was jailed because of his three marriages?

Pawan said that he and his party were criticising the policy decisions of the government, and expect only healthy criticism in return.

Clarifying his opposition to English being made the medium of instruction in state government schools, he said, “Nobody is denying that English is a global language. But there should be a proper method behind its implementation.”

This counterblow came a day after the chief minister, criticising the opposition for chiding his decision to introduce English as the medium of instruction in all government schools, invoked Pawan Kalyan’s three marriages.

Meanwhile, YSRCP supporters have been sharing a video of Pawan Kalyan promoting Oakridge International School – where his son studies.

Kerala: Two Bangladeshi nationals suspected in elderly couple’s murder

OpIndia Staff
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Kerala: Two Bangladeshi nationals suspected in elderly couple’s murder

An elderly couple was found brutally murdered in their home allegedly by two Bangladeshi nationals at Venmony in Chengannur on Tuesday.

According to the reports, the deceased elderly couple has been identified as 75-year-old AP Cheriyan and his wife 68-year-old Lillykutty Cheriyan. The local police have now issued a lookout notice for two Bangladeshi men Labilu and Juwel in connection with the murder.

The Venmony police have registered cases against under the IPC 302 – punishment for murder and IPC 394 – voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery.

As per reports, the neighbours discovered the bodies of the two at 7:30 AM on Tuesday and thereafter informed the police. The couple were staying alone as their children are living in the Middle East.

According to the ward member Ajitha Mohan, the couple was introduced to two men identified as Labilu and Juwel by a local contractor. They were hired to clean the couple’s house and to pluck coconuts on Friday and Saturday. The Bangladeshi nationals also offered to work on Sunday but the couple refused as they wanted to go to Church.

As per reports, the workers did not turn up to work on Monday. By Monday afternoon, it started raining heavily. Though the milk supplying woman of the area placed a milk bottle on the sit out of their home on Monday evening at 5 pm, it was seen the same place on Tuesday morning. Hence, it is believed that the couple were murdered before 5 PM in the evening.

Reportedly, the deceased Cheriyan usually used to go for an evening walk with his two neighbouring friends. On Tuesday morning, the two friends reached Cheriyan’s home after they felt something was not right. There they saw that the front door of the house was found locked and windows doors were open.

The two neighbours entered through the back door and found Lillykutty dead on the kitchen floor. According to the police, her face was smashed with a spade. A part of the spade was found next to her body.

The neighbours immediately alerted the police, who later found Cheriyan’s body in a room where spare equipments were kept. He is suspected to have been killed using an iron rod. Though a cupboard was forced open, the police are waiting for the couple’s children to arrive and ascertain if any valuables were stolen.

“Cheriyan and family were in Nagaland and they returned to Venmony around 15 years ago. Their one daughter Bindhu and one son Dipu are in the Middle East with their families. The funeral will be held after they reached here,” said the ward member.

Reportedly, the lock of the almiraha in the home was found broken and clothes scattered all over the rooms. But the police could not confirm the stolen items and they are waiting for the arrival of the children of the deceased. The bodies were shifted to the morgue of Alappuzha Medical College Hospital and it will be handed over to their kin on Wednesday.

Karnataka: Supreme Court upholds disqualification of 17 ‘rebel’ MLAs, allows them to contest elections

OpIndia Staff
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Karnataka: Supreme Court upholds disqualification of 17 ‘rebel’ MLAs, allows them to contest elections

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court has upheld former Karnataka Speaker’s order to disqualify 17 ‘rebel’ Congress and JD(S) MLAs. However, the apex court has allowed them to contest in the upcoming Karnataka by-polls.

According to the reports, the Supreme Court has quashed the order of former Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar, who had disqualified the disqualified MLAs from contesting elections until the term of current assembly term 2023. Fourteen rebel MLAs of the Congress and three of the JDS were disqualified under the anti-defection law by the Speaker in July.

A three-judge Supreme Court Bench of Justices NV Ramana, Sanjiv Khanna, and Krishna Murari delivered the judgement on Wednesday after the bench had reserved orders in the case on October 25.

“We are of the opinion that scope of duty under Article 193 has been discussed, Not making nay observation regarding the merits of disqualification. As such, there is no doubt that disqualification relates to the date when the act takes place. The speaker in the exercise of powers does not have the power to indicate the period for which a person is barred from contesting an election,” the three-judge bench of SC said in its verdict.

Read: Ex Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah threatens of ‘bloodshed’ if any attempts are made to change Constitution

“We uphold the order of speaker of disqualification. But strike out the period of disqualification,” it added.

Reportedly, the Supreme Court further added that once the Speaker is satisfied that the member has tendered resignation freely, speaker bound to accept it. Interestingly, the Supreme Court also observed that there is a growing trend of the Speaker acting against the Constitutional mandate, which leads to citizenry being denied stable governments.

Advocate Sandip Patel, representing the disqualified MLAs said that the Supreme Court has upheld the disqualification. He added that the Supreme Court, however, did not say anything on the resignation of MLAs. “Till rebel MLAs are re-elected, they can’t hold any posts in the government including ministerial berths,” added Patel.

Read: “Give me majority, I will teach Modi how to govern”: Former Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy

Seventeen disqualified Karnataka MLAs belonging to Congress and JD(S) had filed petitions after former Karnataka Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar had passed an order to disqualify them ahead of the trust vote in July.

The by-polls to 15 out of 17 Karnataka assembly seats, which became vacant following the disqualification of MLAs, are scheduled to be held on December 5.

5% reservations to Muslims to be part of Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress govt in Maharashtra, journalist claims

OpIndia Staff
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5% reservations to Muslims to be part of Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress govt in Maharashtra, journalist claims

As the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress gear up to form an alliance government in Maharashtra, there are several reports suggesting the probable workings of the alliance.

Sudhir Suryavanshi, a senior journalist and political analyst based in Mumbai who was earlier associated with DNA, has claimed that the Sena-NCP-Congress government will bring back the 5% reservations for Muslim as part of the common minimum programme in Maharashtra.


As per the report Suryavanshi shared, apart from the 5% Muslim reservation, other proposals, like waiving farm loan completely, conducting a review of the crop loan scheme, strengthening agriculture produce market committees etc will also be a part of the coalition government’s agenda.

It is notable here that the 5% Muslim reservation was scrapped by the BJP-Sena government when they had assumed power in the state in 2014.

Muslims in Maharashtra are already among the beneficiaries of the OBC reservation and the recently included EWS quota.

NCP chief Ajit Pawar has just stated that talks are being held between party leaders over the proposed alliance with the Sena. He asserted that they will first talk it through with the Congress as they were the alliance partners and both NCP and Congress had a common manifesto. Since Sena had a different manifesto, they will need to discuss on a common programme.


The Sena has been vehemently against many of the NCP-Congress schemes, especially the Muslim quota over the years. It will be interesting to see whether it will now agree to the re-introduction of the 5% quota to quench its thirst for power or will try to stand on its ideological ground.

The report Suryavanshi has shared has quoted NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik as saying the Sena should not have a problem with the 5% Muslim quota as it is no longer a part of the NDA. Malik has further been quoted as saying that the Sena should also drop its demand of the Bharat Ratna for Savarkar if they want to be a part of the alliance government.

After ‘Dalit’ journalist of ThePrint gets blue tick, Muslim editor Shahid Siddiqui too complains to Twitter about religious bias

OpIndia Staff
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After ‘Dalit’ journalist of ThePrint gets blue tick, Muslim editor Shahid Siddiqui too complains to Twitter about religious bias

Twitter, a platform which identifies itself as having left-leaning political ideology, is now being accused by Indian Muslims of having anti-Muslim religious bias. This move comes days after ThePrint journalist Dilip Mondal bullied Twitter into giving him a blue tick after accusing the platform of being casteist.

Journalist and former Member of Parliament, Shahid Siddiqui has accused Twitter of not ‘verifying’ him and giving him a blue tick. Despite mentioning that he does not ‘care’ about such ‘caste system’, he appended ‘#VerifyMuslimActivists’ hashtag.


Soon, he was joined by other Muslim Twitter users who despite being ‘fundamentally against pleading for verification blue tick’ but said that the blue tick is needed because of ‘bias of state’.


Low IQ Congress supporters also joined in in demanding blue tick for Muslims because Jay Shah, BCCI Secretary, has one despite ’10-20 followers’.


Jay Shah is Board of Control for Cricket India Secretary and not just a regular ‘non-Muslim’ and has over 13,000 followers.


Here people are forgetting that there are various prominent Muslim leaders and activists whose Twitter handles are verified. Like Congress leader Ahmed Patel and Salman Khurshid. Various Muslim activists have also been verified by Twitter around the world like freelance protestor Shehla Rashid.

Read: Accusing Twitter of being an agent of ‘Brahmanvad’ shows the hollowness of leftist Dalit activism

Prominent political parties like Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD), which had earlier lent its support to accusing Twitter of casteism also attacked the platform for not ‘verifying’ Muslims.


RJD Youth leader who identifies himself as Lalu Prasad Yadav’s ‘soldier’ also joined in for demanding blue tick for Muslim ‘activists’.

Read: After KRK, another Indian decides to take on Twitter legally for suspending his account

The Muslims on Twitter have threatened that till the time Twitter verifies these accounts, they will spam Twitter with the hashtag.


After being accused of casteism by the Left, Twitter bowed down and gave clarification that the political ideology of their employees does not reflect on the platform which they say is free of bias. At the time of this report, Twitter has not been bullied into giving clarification on allegations of being ‘anti-Muslim’.

I hate you, I hate you not: Uddhav Thackeray hints Sena still ‘open’ to the BJP option

OpIndia Staff
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I hate you, I hate you not: Uddhav Thackeray hints Sena still ‘open’ to the BJP option

After facing a huge embarrassment for failure to garner enough number to form a government, the defeated Shiv Sena is now hoping for a reconciliation with its pre-poll alliance partner BJP.

According to the reports, Shiv Sena after being dumped by both Sharad Pawar led NCP and Congress on Tuesday, seems to have a learnt the lesson the hard way and has now decided to keep its door open for BJP over a possible government formation in the state.


As per reports, the Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamna’ has today blamed the BJP for the political mess, claiming that the situation has been avoided had they ‘kept their promise’.

This is one of the many flip-flops displayed by the Sena in the recent days exposing its utter desperation to form a government and grab the CM’s post, despite winning just 58 seats, as opposed to the BJP’s 105 seats.

Read: Maharashtra Tragicomedy: Shiv Sena digs itself a hole and jumps right in, state possibly headed towards President Rule

As Maharashtra governor refused to give further time to Shiv Sena to form the government, the party had approached the Supreme Court against Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari’s decision. It was reported that Sena is going to rope in senior lawyer and Congress leader Kapil Sibal to present its case in court.

Following this development, party chief Uddhav Thackeray addressed a press conference on Tuesday in which he stopped short of saying that the alliance with the BJP was over. Responding to a question whether the party’s tie-up with BJP is completely over, Thackeray had said, “Why are you in such a hurry? It’s politics. President has given us six months’ time.”

Putting the blame on the BJP, Thackeray had said it was BJP who refused to form the government with Shiv Sena by not keeping the promise that it had made before the Lok Sabha polls. “If the option has been exhausted, it would have been done by them and not me. If the alliance has ended, it is BJP that ended it,” Thackeray said.

Uddhav Thackeray further claimed that BJP was in a situation before the Lok Sabha polls, that it could not win more than 200-220 seats in Parliament. “It was I who went along with BJP in those dark times. So the option of going with BJP again may have been ended by them,” he said.

It is notable here that the Sena’s insistence on the CM post had caused the failure of the pre-poll alliance with the BJP. The BJP had stood on its ground that no 50-50 formula was agreed upon the parties and only Devendra Fadnavis will be the CM.

This comes a day after Shiv Sena had pulled out its MP Aravind Sawant from the NDA government hoping that they would form a government with support from the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress. Soon, the Shiv Sena had rushed to the Governor to inform that it is willing to form the government.

Read: Maharashtra: Shiv Sena stakes claim to form government without enough numbers as Congress yet to decide on supporting them

However, both NCP and Congress backtracked regarding their support to Shiv Sena and clarified that they have not sent any letter of support for Shiv Sena. A press release issued by the Congress mentioned that the party was talking to Sharad Pawar, without mentioning anything about Shiv Sena.

A tale of two Sanjays: The Maharashtra conundrum

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A tale of two Sanjays: The Maharashtra conundrum

On 24th October when the Maharashtra state assembly elections were declared, nobody would’ve imagined that President’s rule will be imposed in the state. In an assembly of 288 constituencies, the BJP won 105 seats, emerging as single largest party and its pre-poll alliance partner Shiv Sena got 56 seats. But owing to Shiv Sena’s stubbornness, not only did it put an entire state into uncertainty, it also paved way for its own oblivion.

In this entire political drama, one cannot forget the role of Sanjay Raut, who is the Rajya Sabha MP from Shiv Sena representing Maharashtra. He is also the executive editor of Shiv Sena mouthpiece, ‘Saamana’. His extremely vocal politics reminded people of the executive editor of Saamana’s Hindi version, ‘Dopahar Ka Saamana’, Sanjay Nirupam. It was said that whatever Sanjay Nirupam is saying, it is endorsed by Bal Thackeray, the Shiv Sena founder and father of current Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. Hence when Sanjay Raut repeatedly said that Maharashtra chief minister would be from Shiv Sena, it was believed that it was endorsed by Uddhav Thackeray.

Read: Grab power or we will be finished in the state: Maharashtra Congress leaders urge Sonia Gandhi to agree for an alliance with Sena and NCP

In 1993, Bal Thackeray made Sanjay Nirupam executive editor of ‘Dopahar Ka Saamana’. Nirupam soon became Thackeray’s blue-eyed boy. He got awarded for his loyalty too. Sanjay Nirupam was sent to the Rajya Sabha by Shiv Sena in 1996. But as soon as he established himself in politics, Sanjay Nirupam jumped ships and ditched Shiv Sena for Congress.

As Sanjay Nirupam moved on to Congress, Sanjay Raut started to gain prominence in Shiv Sena. He may have started his political career in Shiv Sena after Sanjay Nirupam left, but he was the executive editor of Saamana since 1992. Some even say that he was the one who brought Nirupam to Matoshree. Nirupam’s wife is a Marathi and an old acquaintance of Sanjay Raut. After the 1992 riots and 1993 Mumbai blasts, when Bal Thackeray decided to launch a Hindi paper, it was Sanjay Raut only who had recommended Sanjay Nirupam to Bal Thackeray.

After Nirupam left, there was a void of big leader in Shiv Sena. To fill that void, Raut entered active politics. But, Bal Thackeray’s Hindutva politics has taken a blow because of this one step. Matoshree is now dependent on ‘Matashree’. Shiv Sena has tried to form government by forging an alliance with a party whose government was once referred to as ‘a rule of eunuchs’ by Bal Thackeray. Uddhav Thackeray has put trust in the politics of Sonia Gandhi and Sharad Pawar. On their command, he got his central minister to resign from Modi cabinet. Even then, Sonia Gandhi and Sharad Pawar did not welcome him with open arms.

Read: Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut invokes fictional Dawood in current Maharashtra crisis

After Sanjay Nirupam left Shiv Sena, Bal Thackeray had once famously said that he has stopped having a pet dog. Uddhav, however, neither has the attitude of Bal Thackeray nor power. So, he may not be able to express his feelings. He perhaps forgot that in the Hindu epic Mahabharat, it was Sanjaya who had relayed the scene from Kurukshetra to Dhritarashtra. These are the Sanjay of today. They will not leave a chance to throw their leader under the bus with their high promises. Whether it is Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha or Bihar Chief Minister’s close aide and Bihar minister Sanjay Kumar Jha.

Note: You can read the above article in Hindi here.

Grab power or we will be finished in the state: Maharashtra Congress leaders urge Sonia Gandhi to agree for an alliance with Sena and NCP

OpIndia Staff
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Grab power or we will be finished in the state: Maharashtra Congress leaders urge Sonia Gandhi to agree for an alliance with Sena and NCP

As the drama continues in the state of Maharashtra over the formation of the government, Congress leaders from the state have reportedly warned interim president Sonia Gandhi that the party will be finished in Maharashtra if they fail to take this opportunity of forming an alliance government.

According to a Times of India report, the Congress leaders in the state have predicted a doomsday scenario for the party if they fail to tie up with Shiv Sena and NCP to form the next government in Maharashtra.

Reportedly, senior Congress leaders from the state, Ashok Chavan, Prithviraj Chavan, Balasaheb Thorat Manikrao Thakre and Rajani Patil has explained Sonia Gandhi the need of joining hands with the Shiv Sena to form the government and stressed the need to seize the opportunity offered by the collapse of the saffron coalition after the polls.

Following the meeting of Congress Working Committee in New Delhi on Monday, there was a slight indication that Sonia Gandhi may give up her firm opposition to a tie-up with Shiv Sena. Senior leaders from the state have communicated the restlessness among the elected Congress MLAs and urged the high command to take a decision on forming the government soon.

Reportedly, the newly elected Congress MLAs in Maharashtra are reportedly getting ‘aggressive’ as they have ‘won on their own’. The Congress MLAs are currently housed at a resort in Jaipur to prevent them from defection and probable poaching attempts.

Read: 10 days ago, Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana had mocked BJP leader’s assertion of a possible President’s rule in Maharashtra

However, the coalition with Shiv Sena is not a cakewalk for the Congress party as some senior AICC leaders have expressed their strong opposition, including veteran AK Antony, Mukul Wasnik and former home minister Shivraj Patil. These senior leaders are reportedly apprehensive over the political ramifications of a tie-up with an ideologically opposite party, given the Sena’s ‘Hindu’ image.

Citing the failure of the alliance with JD(S) in Karnataka, KC Venugopal has also expressed his reservations regarding an alliance with Sena. Importantly, Antony and Venugopal met Sonia on Tuesday morning again.

Even Sonia Gandhi was initially stated to be against an alliance with Sena but changed her position after state leaders warned her. She spoke to NCP chief Sharad Pawar to discuss the modalities of the alliance.

Reportedly, Sonia was upset after Maharashtra leaders were pushing her for an alliance on one side while Pawar was sitting on his decision stating that details had not been finalised yet. It was then that she decided a team of three leaders be sent to talk to Pawar and NCP leaders.

Earlier, Congress MLAs who are currently residing in a resort in Jaipur had expressed their support to an alliance with Shiv Sena to ‘keep BJP out of power’ in the state. The Congress MLAs had even written a letter to NCP urging to support the Shiv Sena- Congress-NCP alliance.

Shiv Sena had also hinted at the possibility of joining hands with the Congress to form the next government in Maharashtra. Speaking on the government formation in Maharashtra, Sanjay Raut had said, “If nobody is ready to form the government (in Maharashtra), then Shiv Sena can take the lead.”

The situation in the state of Maharashtra was in limbo as Shiv Sena failed to produce the majority needed to form a government in the state. After being assured of supporting the Shiv Sena-NCP government from outside, the Congress party, in a last-minute volte-face, denied extending their support to the Shiv Sena.

Even NCP also didn’t send the required letter of support to Shiv Sena. The Sena then sought 48 hours from the governor to prove the majority by procuring the letter from NCP and Congress.

The Governor then asked the third-largest party in the state-NCP to prove majority. Although they have been given time till 8.30 PM on Tuesday, the NCP failed to produce the requisite number of MLAs to stake a claim to the government.

As it became clear that no party will be able to form a government in the state of Maharashtra, the Governor of the state, Bhagat Singh Koshyari recommended the centre that President’s rule should be imposed in the state. Following the Governor’s recommendation, the centre has imposed President rule in Maharashtra.

Interestingly, though the Sena has now approached the Supreme Court against the governor’s decision, NCP and Congress have clarified that they had made no promises to Sena.

Read: Shiv Sena approached us only on 11th November, no decision taken on supporting them yet: NCP and Congress

On Saturday, Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari had invited Devendra Fadnavis of BJP to form the next government in the state, if they are willing to do so and have required numbers.

Devendra Fadnavis had resigned from the post of the chief minister a day ahead of his term was scheduled to end on Saturday. The governor had him asked to continue as acting-CM following his resignation.

In the October 21 polls, the BJP won 105 seats while ally Sena won 56 seats. The majority mark in the 288-member state Assembly is 145. NCP and Congress won 54 and 44 seats each.

Nepal: Angry protestors burn effigies of Chinese President Xi Jinping over border encroachment

OpIndia Staff
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Nepal: Angry protestors burn effigies of Chinese President Xi Jinping over border encroachment

Nepal is on the boil as angry protesters in the country this week burnt the effigies of Chinese President Xi Jinping in a protest against encroachment by China of large swathes of Nepalese land. 

According to the reports, the protestors hit the streets of Saptari, Bardiya, Kapilvastu district on Monday and chanted slogans against China after a recent government report suggested that China had encroached on 36 hectares of land belonging to Nepal.

Young protestors with placards with messages like “Go back to China!” and “Return Nepali land” were spotted in various districts during the protests held on Monday, November 11.

Earlier this month, Nepal’s Survey Department had released data which showed Beijing attempted to encroach land for its road projects in at least four districts that share a border with China – Sankhuwasabha, Rasuwa, Sindhupalchowk and Humla. The government data suggested Nepal stood to lose a further several hundred hectares of land to Beijing.

Reportedly, the documents showed that around six hectares of land in the Bhagdare river in Humla district and four hectares of land in Karnali district have been encroached upon, which now falls in Tibet’s Furang area.

Read: China destroys 30,000 world maps showing Arunachal Pradesh as part of India

Likewise, China has also encroached six hectares of Nepali land in Sanjen river and Jambhu Khola of Rasuwa.

In Sankhuwasabha, nine hectares of land have been encroached due to the road expansion in the autonomous region of Tibet where areas around Kamukhola, Arun river and Sumjung river have now fallen into Tingisyan County area.

According to the ministry’s data, Nepal would lose several hundred hectares of land to encroachment by China. The survey data further showed that some places near Arun Khola, Kamu Khola and Sumjung are now parts of Tibet’s Tingisyan area.

Bhima Koregaon violence: Pune court rejects Urban Naxal Gautam Navlakha’s anticipatory bail plea, says custodial interrogation a must

OpIndia Staff
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Bhima Koregaon violence: Pune court rejects Urban Naxal Gautam Navlakha’s anticipatory bail plea, says custodial interrogation a must

A Sessions Court in Pune today refused to grant anticipatory bail to activist Gautam Navlakha, who is accused of having links with Maoists, Kashmiri separatists, Pakistan’s ISI and banned terror organisation Hizbul. It also rejected Navlakha’s application seeking a three-day extension in protection from arrest.


While rejecting the bail application the court observed that there is prima facie enough material to show Navlakha is not only a member of the banned organisation- Hizbul “but an active leader” also.

The court’ observation is as follows:

It is clear that there is prima facie sufficient material to show that the applicant is not only a member of a banned organization but an active leader. Prima facie it can be noted that the organisation of Elgar Parishad at Pune was part of a larger conspiracy of the banned organization and Bhima Koregaon episode is one of the instances of execution of the said conspiracy. Therefore, the question of jurisdiction either of Pune Police or of this Court cannot be said to have merits, at least at this stage.”

Navlakha had moved the sessions court here on November 5 to seek anticipatory bail.

On November 6, the sessions court had also rejected bail application of all the nine alleged ‘Urban Naxals’ namely, Surendra Gadling, Varavara Rao, Sudha Bhardwaj, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut and Rona Wilson, accused of instigating the Bhima-Koregaon violence that took place on 1st January 2018 in Pune.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had granted interim protection from arrest to Navlakha who had appealed against an earlier Bombay HC order refusing to quash his FIR.

Bharadwaj, Gonsalves and Ferreira had been locked in Pune’s Yerawada Jail for almost 14 months. They had moved to the Bombay HC after a special judge in Pune had rejected their bail petitions last year.

On October 15, the Bombay HC had also rejected the bail pleas of alleged Urban Naxals Sudha Bharadwaj, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira in the Bhima Koregaon violence case. The bail plea was moved in the month of August and the court had begun hearing on August 27. The court had reserved the judgement on October 7. The three were booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act by the Maharashtra police after it began raids in the Bhima Koregaon violence case.

Read: The logical fallacy of celebrating ‘Dalit victory’ at Battle of Koregaon

The five suspected ‘Urban Naxals’, identified as Delhi based activist Rona Wilson, advocate Surendra Gadling, professor Shoma Sen and Mahesh Raut from Nagpur and Mumbai’s Sudhir Dhavle were arrested by the Pune police on 6 June 2018, over charges of organising the Elgaar Parishad held at Pune’s Shaniwarwada on 31 December 2017, which is believed to have instigated the Bhima-Koregaon violence a day later.

The Pune police had filed a 5,000-page charge sheet, which had names of 10 persons, including Nagpur-based lawyer Surendra Gadling, Nagpur University professor Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut, Rona Wilson and Sudhir Dhawale of Republican Panthers. Addition to these five, absconding underground Maoists Milind Teltumbde, Prakash alias Ritupam Goswami, Prashant Bose alias Kishan da, Manglu and Deepu have also been named in the charge sheet.

Apart from these ten alleged ‘Urban Naxals’, in a nation-wide crackdown, the police had arrested activist P Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, ‘human rights activist’ and ‘journalist’ Gautam Navlakha in Delhi, ‘activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Pereira in Mumbai, ‘civil rights’ lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj in Delhi, civil rights ‘activist’ Anand Teltumbde in Goa and ‘activist’ Stan Swamy in Ranchi in relation with Elgar Parishad violence and plot to kill the Prime Minister Modi.

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