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Kerala nun rape case: Church warns the nun who protested against Bishop Franco Mulakkal

OpIndia Staff
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Kerala nun rape case: Church warns the nun who protested against Bishop Franco Mulakkal

After warning the whistleblower priest who supported Bishop Franco’s victim of disciplinary action, the church has now warned the nun who protested against the rape accused Bishop. The Catholic Church has sent a warning to Sister Lucy Kalapura for ‘attending channel discussions’, writing articles in ‘non-Christian newspapers’ and ‘making false accusations’ against the Catholic leadership.

Sr Ann Joseph FCC, Superior General of the Franciscan Clarist Congregation (FCC) has threatened her with dismissal from the congregation. Sister Lucy has been asked to appear before the mother superior at the FCC generalate Aluva on Wednesday. Sister Lucy has said that she has no intention of appearing before mother suprerior as she believes she has done nothing wrong.

Franco Mulakkal, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Jalandhar, is accused of raping a 44- year-old nun at a guest house in Kuravilangad in May 2014 and subsequent sexual exploitations afterward. The nun had registered a complaint in June this year and has also claimed that despite her complaints, the church took no action on the bishop. The congregation had also stood by the rape accused and referred to him as an “innocent soul”.

Bishop Franco Mulakkal, Archdiocese of Jalandhar, Punjab, was arrested by the police officials on September 21st after the investigating team finally found evidence that linked him in the sexual harassment case. However, The Kerala High court had granted him conditional bail on October 15 after asking him to appear before the investigation team once every two weeks and had also ordered to surrender his passport.

Tax notice of Rs 100 crores slapped on Sonia and Rahul Gandhi over AJL income, Rahul had declared income of only Rs. 68.1 lakh

OpIndia Staff
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Tax notice of Rs 100 crores slapped on Sonia and Rahul Gandhi over AJL income, Rahul had declared income of only Rs. 68.1 lakh

In a major embarrassment to Congress party, the Income Tax department has stated that UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress President Rahul Gandhi have “escaped” a tax liability of around Rs 100 crore, reported Times of India.

An income tax order following the reassessment of their incomes regarding Associated Journals Limited (AJL) states that the mother-son duo had “escaped” incomes the tune of hundreds of crores in 2011-12, said a report on Wednesday.

The amount of tax liability on both Sonia and Rahul Gandhi was pegged at Rs 155.4 crore and Rs 154.96 crore for the same year. This staggering amount is reportedly over the stated income of both Sonia and Rahul Gandhi. Rahul Gandhi had filed a return of income declaring Rs 68.1 lakh while Congress leader Oscar Fernandes had declared Rs 48.9 crore.

The Supreme Court is hearing an appeal of Congress leaders against the reopening of their tax assessment. Appearing for Sonia, P Chidambaram said a tax liability of Rs 44 crore against her had been erroneously imposed after reassessing her income. He said that assessing officers had concluded that Rs 141 crore of her income relating to AJL “escaped” as she did not declare it in filing her return.

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, who is also being investigated in the INX scam, challenging the reopening of the tax assessment before a bench headed by Justice A K Sikri, he had said that Income Tax officials’ decision defied “common sense” after they had concluded that Sonia Gandhi had an “escaped income” of Rs 141 crore in exchange of 1,900 shares in Non-profitable Organisation ‘Young Indian’ (YI).

Chidambaram contended that the only asset of the company was the debt of Rs 90 crore but the I-T department erroneously fixed that as Rs 407 crore.

The mother-son duo has submitted that they have no legal obligation to give details of their shares in Young India as they do not form any “interest” in a company. They had also claimed that the shareholding in Young India will not result in any interest that needs disclosure as the shareholder and also does not yield dividends or interest in the property of such a company as it a non-profit and charitable company.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court granted one week’s time to the Gandhi family to file their affidavit following which the I-T Department will file its response in the National Herald case. The next hearing of this case is on January 29 and they will have to file the affidavit on their claims that the CBDT on 4th January wrongly withdrew a 31st December circular that would have led to their exoneration in the National Herald tax assessment case.

Lok Sabha passes the 124th Constitution amendment bill providing 10% reservation to economically weaker sections

OpIndia Staff
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Lok Sabha passes the 124th Constitution amendment bill providing 10% reservation to economically weaker sections

After a debate that extended up to midnight, the Lok Sabha today passed the 124th Constitution amendment bill providing 10% reservation in jobs and higher education to economically backward sections from all communities.

In a surprise move, the cleared by the union cabinet on 7th December, which seeks to extend to benefit of reservation to those people not covered under existing reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs. The bill was presented at the Lok Sabha on 8th January 2019 for debate, and the House voted on it on the same day.

323 members of Lok Sabha supported in support of the bill, while only 3 MPs opposed the bill. The Congress party too supported the bill.

The bill amends the articles 15 and 16 of the Constitution of India, making provision for reservation for educational institutes and jobs respectively. This reservation will be added to the existing 50% reservation provided for people from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Castes. The economical backward has been defined as a family with an annual income below ₹8 lakhs, apart from clauses on landholding. The ₹8 lakh limit is at per with the existing limit for the creamy layer of OBCs.

The reservation in higher educational institutions will be extended to private institutions also, whether aided or unaided. But the minority educational institutions will be exempt from the reservation as per provisions of article 30 of the constitution.

It may be noted that a large section of media has labelled the bill as upper caste bill, which is a completely wrong interpretation of the bill. Although the bill will benefit economically backward people from the upper caste, it is not limited to upper caste alone. The bill says that it will cover everyone not covered by existing reservation laws. This means not only upper caste, but the bill will also cover people from all other communities and religions, including Muslims, Christians etc, where the concept of caste does not exist.

The bill will be presented in the Rajya Sabha on 9th January 2019, where the ruling 2019 does not enjoy a majority. It will be interesting to see the reaction of opposition parties in Rajya Sabha, because if they oppose the bill, BJP will use this to paint them as anti-poor. And if the support the bill in converting it into law, they risk BJP getting all the credit for the bill. Most parties in opposition have been taking a pro-reservation stance, which has become an integral part of electoral politics in India. Given that the Congress party voted for the bill in Lok Sabha, most probably the bill will be passed by the Rajya Sabha also.

After Bihar Court’s order of FIR, a PIL filed against the movie The Accidental Prime Minister

OpIndia Staff
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After Bihar Court’s order of FIR, a PIL filed against the movie The Accidental Prime Minister

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed against the movie ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’ in the Delhi High Court. The PIL has been filed by a Delhi-based fashion designer Pooja Mahajan through her lawyer Arun Mattri claiming that the film will harm the reputation of the office of Prime Minister. The movie is based on the book ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’ written by Sanjaya Baru, who was the media advisor of former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh during the UPA government.

The petitioner had earlier filed a plea in the Delhi High Court on Monday which was rejected by a single-judge bench of the court. The court had asked the petitioner to file the plea as a PIL as the petitioner has no personal interest in the case. The petitioner is seeking a ban on the trailer of the movie which is available on Youtube. The plea states that as per the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) guidelines on films based on real-life characters, a ‘No-Objection Certificate’ (NOC) is required but the producers of the film have neither taken the consent of Former PM Manmohan Singh, Congress President Rahul Gandhi and his mother and Former Congress President Sonia Gandhi to perform their characters nor have they obtained the NOC.

The petitioner has sought the directions to the Centre, Google, Youtube and the CBFC to take necessary steps to stop the display of the trailer. This comes after a lawyer named Sudhir Kumar Ojha filed a case on Jan 3 in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Mujaffarpur in Bihar against the actors of the movie for damaging the image of some top people. An FIR was ordered to be filed against the actors in the film based on Ojha’s plea by the Sub Divisional Judge (East).

10% seats in educational institutions to be increased to accommodate the reservation for economically weaker section

OpIndia Staff
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10% seats in educational institutions to be increased to accommodate the reservation for economically weaker section

Today BJP president Amit Shah informed that the government will increase seats in educational institutions by 10%, to ensure that meritorious students do not get harmed by the government’s decision to provide 10% reservation to economically weaker sections.


On 8th January 2019, the union government tabled a constitution amendment bill to provide 10% reservation in jobs and education to economically backward sections from all communities. This reservation will be in addition to the existing 50% reservation provided for people from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Castes. The 124th Constitution amendment bill was cleared by the union cabinet on 7th December, which seeks to extend to benefit of reservation to those people not covered under existing reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs.

The economical backward has been defined as anyone with an annual income below ₹8 lakhs, apart from clauses on landholding. The ₹8 lakh limit is at per with the existing limit for the creamy layer of OBCs.

It had been feared that due to this additional 10% reservation, which brings the total reservation to 60%, fewer seats and job will be available for meritorious jobs who do not come under any category of reservation. With the announcement by Amit Shah, the worry about education institutions has been taken care of, as the existing level of unreserved seats will be maintained, and the government will create additional seats to accommodate the newly reserved seats.

It may be noted that a large section of media has labelled the bill as upper caste reservation bill, which is the completely wrong interpretation of the bill. Although the bill will benefit economically backward people from the upper caste, it is not limited to upper caste alone. The bill says that it will cover everyone not covered by existing reservation laws. This means not only upper caste, but the bill will also cover people from all other communities and religions, where the concept of caste does not exist.

Congress’ Shashi Tharoor caught lying on cow-related violence in an interview with Swati Chaturvedi

OpIndia Staff
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Congress’ Shashi Tharoor caught lying on cow-related violence in an interview with Swati Chaturvedi

‘Paradoxical intellectual’ Congress leader Shashi Tharoor who has major comprehension issues, began his new year giving an exclusive interview to a troll, Swati Chaturvedi for a publication called ‘gulfnews’. Apart from referring to Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s 57-day mysterious holiday in 2015 as ‘vipassana’ course, Tharoor was caught blatantly lying about cow-related violence in India.

Shashi Tharoor on cow-related crimes

Shashi Tharoor claims that 97% of all cow-related violence in Independent India took place since 2014. He credits Rajnath Singh’s Home Ministry to be the source of this information.

He is lying on both the aspects. We had demolished the ‘97% of cow-related violence in India taking place after 2014’ claim back in July 2017. The claim was actually based on media reports which had credited IndiaSpend, the faulty data website which relies on fake data and biased reportage to spread anti-Hindu propaganda.

The ‘97%’ dubious data on crime was compiled not by looking at police records, but by running Google searches with certain keywords! Worse, they had decided to stick to English language media only, taking pride in saying that a “cursory search” through Hindi media “appeared” to throw up the same incidents.

The mainstream media, at a furious pace, fanned up this piece of fake news and it was soon reported in international publications including BBC and New York Times. We had also systematically demolished IndiaSpend’s fake report on lack of cow-related crimes prior to 2014 elections.

Tharoor’s second claim that this information is provided by Rajnath Singh’s Ministry of Home Affairs is also wrong. In fact, the very report of IndiaSpend which made this bizarre, factually incorrect claim, mentions how National Crime Records Bureau by the Home Ministry does not collect cow-related crime records.

So, not only did a Congress leader (other than Congress President Rahul Gandhi) lie, but the interviewer, the delusional, abusive troll Swati Chaturvedi, did not correct him either.

This is not the first time either Shashi Tharoor or Swati Chaturvedi have lied. In his attempt to shield Rahul Gandhi, Tharoor had lied and goofed up about French President’s interview. He had also shared a fake news from an Islamist website to attack Modi government. He had also lied about Indian government blocking Internet archive website.

Plagiarism accused Swati Chaturvedi, on her part regularly indulges in spreading fake news.

Bihar court orders FIR against Anupam Kher and others associated with movie The Accidental Prime Minister

OpIndia Staff
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Bihar court orders FIR against Anupam Kher and others associated with movie The Accidental Prime Minister

The trailer of the upcoming movie The Accidental Prime Minister, which was released last year in December, has invited wide criticism for allegedly showing Congress government and the Gandhi family in ‘bad light’. This had led a lawyer named Sudhir Kumar Ojha to file a case against the actors of the movie for ‘damaging the image of some top people’. The case was filed in Muzaffarpur’s Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court on January 3.

According to reports, the Sub Divisional Judge (East) Gaurab Kamal has ordered the Kanti police station in the Muzaffarpur district to lodge an FIR against the actors mentioned by Ojha in the plea. The FIR will be lodged against Anupam Kher portraying Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Akshay Khana essaying the role of Singh’s media advisor Sanjaya Baru, on whose book the movie is based on.

Besides Kher and Khanna, FIRs will also be launched against other actors and actresses who have performed the roles of UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra along with the movie’s producers Sunil Bohra and Dhaval Gada and director Vijay Gutte.

Ojha had filed the complaint under IPC sections 295, 153, 153A, 293, 504 and 120B relating to promoting enmity between different groups, the sale of obscene objects, insult with intent to provoke breach of peace and criminal conspiracy.

A similar plea was submitted in Delhi High court, citing an alleged violation of section 416 of the Indian Penal Code. Section 416 of the IPC prohibits impersonation of a person with intent to harm. Court has asked petitioner Pooja Mahajan (represented by Arun Maitri) to convert her plea into a PIL.

The petitioner had also cited the fact that, movie makers had not obtained any NOC (No Objection Certificate) from Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi etc., which is a prerequisite according to the laid norms Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) for making a biopic, involving real-life people.

The movie is based on a book authored by Sanjaya Baru, Manmohan Singh’s media advisor during UPA-regime, of the same name. Several Congress leaders have spoken against the movie, and the Maharashtra unit of Youth Congress had sent a letter to the producers of the movie asking for a special screening for them before the theatrical release of the movie, so that they can censor it.

They had also threatened to prevent the screening of the movie if it is not screened for them and edited as per their demands. The movie will hit the theatres on January 11. The movie will release along with another movie Uri: The Surgical Strike, based on 2016 covert surgical strikes launched by Indian forces.

Supreme Court constitutes five-judge bench to hear the Ayodhya case from January 10

OpIndia Staff
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Supreme Court constitutes five-judge bench to hear the Ayodhya case from January 10

The Supreme Court has formed a Constitution Bench to hear the Ayodhya case comprising of Justice S A Bobde, Justice N V Ramana, Justice U U Lalit and Justice Chandrachud, headed by CJI Ranjan Gogoi. The five-judge bench will commence the hearing of the case from January 10.


On October 29, 2018, the Supreme Court had passed an order fixing Jan 4, 2019, as the next date of hearing in the Ayodhya case. On January 4, a bench of CJI  Ranjan Gogoi and Justice S K Kaul had said that an appropriate bench will pass further orders on the hearing of the case on Jan 10.

The newly constituted Constitution Bench will hear the appeals on the 2010 judgement of the Allahabad High Court which had held that Lord Ram was born in the disputed premises.

Last year on September 27, the court had refused to refer the Ayodhya case to a larger bench upholding the verdict in the 1954 Ismail Faruqui case which held that offering namaz at a Mosque was not an integral part of Islam as long as the Masjid did not have any particular significance in Islam.

At that time, the 3-judge bench headed by then CJI Dipak Mishra had ruled that a 3-judge bench is competent enough to hear the Ram Janambhumi case, and a 5-judge constitutional bench is not needed. Today’s order marks a reversal of that ruling by the Supreme Court.

Amidst protests in Assam, Lok Sabha passes the Citizenship Amendment Bill

OpIndia Staff
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Amidst protests in Assam, Lok Sabha passes the Citizenship Amendment Bill

The Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 has been passed in the Lok Sabha today. Home Minister Rajnath Singh moved the Bill today and after a discussion, it was passed by the Lower House of the Parliament. the Congress party and the TMC staged a walk-out during the discussion on the Bill.


The Bill seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 to make illegal migrants who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, eligible for citizenship. The bill will have to be passed in Rajya Sabha before it turns into a law, where the ruling NDA does not have a majority.

Singh stated in the Parliament today that the scope of the Bill is not limited to Assam alone but also for the migrants who have arrived through the Western border and settled in Rajasthan, Punjab, Delhi and Gujarat.

Meanwhile, there have been protests in Assam over the Bill that seeks to grant citizenship rights to non-Muslims who have arrived in the country prior to December 31, 2014.


Yesterday, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) had walked out of its alliance with the BJP in protest against the Bill. There have been plenty of protests going on against the Bill in Assam. The Congress, too, has opposed the Bill.

With the added impact of the NRC, Assam is headed towards tumultuous times. There is a great fear among the Assamese people, and with good reason, that their culture and way of life is under threat due to the rapidly changing demography of the state. Therefore, a significant chunk of the population wants the ouster of even Bengali Hindus in the state who have come over from Bangladesh fleeing persecution.

As we have explained in an earlier article, there is a very real possibility of a three-way communal strife in the state in the near future. The Assamese community is divided on the matter of Bengali Hindus. While some consider Bengali Hindus to be a threat to their culture, others believe they do not pose any threat and the threat comes only from Muslims who they regard to be overzealous in their attempt to enforce their culture in regions where they gain a demographic advantage. There is a fear that the indigenous language and culture of Assam will reduce to a minority if Bengalis are allowed to settle the state, no matter their religion.

Himanta Biswa Sarma, the architect of BJP’s rise in the North-East, tweeted something very significant today which strikes at the heart of the debate. One Assamese citizen asked the Minister in the Assam Cabinet to choose between his Religion or Language. The Minister replied saying that he will choose his Religion as it guarantees his language. The conversation very succinctly describes the debate raging within the Assamese community that our article described.

Speaking of the political fallout of this, the Congress party will seek to fan Assamese hardliner sentiments while the BJP will seek to form a coalition between the Bengali Hindu and Assamese communities. To achieve its objective, the BJP has granted ST status to 6 OBC communities in the state.

The state is passing through a very critical phase and with Lok Sabha elections around the corner, security agencies will have their task cut out.

Congress and TMC walk out of the Citizenship Amendment Bill debate in the Lok Sabha

OpIndia Staff
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Congress and TMC walk out of the Citizenship Amendment Bill debate in the Lok Sabha

As the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was tabled in Lok Sabha today amid the uproar by the opposition parties, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that the Bill is not applicable to the State of Assam alone but will apply to the whole country. The Bill will also cover the immigrants which have settled in other parts of the country. The Bill will allow the immigrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities to be eligible for the Indian citizenship if they came to India before December 31, 2014.  [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG2p-uhBreQ]

The Union Minister assured that the government is willing to take all necessary steps to deal with illegal immigrants. He said that illegal migrants are a shared burden of the country and not just the burden of the State of Assam alone.

Congress and Trinamool Congress walked out during the debate on the Bill in the Lok Sabha. TMC leader Saugata Roy said that Muslims should be included in the Bill to make it secular. “Muslims are not included among the six religions mentioned in the bill. Make it secular. Anyone who comes out of religious persecution should be included if they seek asylum in India,” he said. He urged the Speaker to intervene terming the Bill a threat to the Constitution.

The Bill has been facing a lot of opposition from certain quarters. State-wide protests are being organised by the groups opposing the Amendment Bill. The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) called for an 11-hour bandh in Assam protesting against the tabling of the Bill in the Lower House. Incidents of violence are also reported to have taken place at several places.


The Assam police urged the people not to support the anti-social elements indulging in violence.


The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), an ally of the BJP in Assam withdrew from the alliance on Monday over the Bill. The other allies of the BJP in the North Eastern States, National People’s Party (NPP) and the Mizoram National Front (MNF) have also opposed the Bill and have supported the protests.

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