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Goa: Two Congress MLAs go missing, fly abroad even as the power tussle with BJP rages on

OpIndia Staff
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Goa: Two Congress MLAs go missing, fly abroad even as the power tussle with BJP rages on

Amidst the ongoing tussle for power in the state of Goa, two Congress MLAs have flown abroad on Thursday creating tensions in the Congress camps. Legislators Jennifer Monserrate and Filipe Neri Rodrigues left for China and Europe respectively, as reports have emerged that they may join to BJP.

The ongoing power tussle in Goa started after the Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar took ill and has been busy in travelling for his treatments. The ruling party has been searching for a suitable candidate to replace the Chief Minister and has been under pressure from alliance partners for a bigger share in power.

State Congress President Girish Chodankar, however, said “Rodrigues and Monserrate have gone out of the station with the knowledge of the party as per pre-scheduled programmes. They will be in Goa at 48-hour notice whenever the party needs them.”

The 40 membered Goa Legislative Assembly was constituted in March 2017, after the BJP showed the strength of 23 member coalition support to the governor. The Congress had secured 16 seats, becoming the single largest party but failed to garner the support of the other small parties like Goa Forward Party and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party. The NCP secured the win in one seat while independents won in three other constituencies.

Manohar Parrikar, the most popular leader from the state, has been suffering from advanced stages of an ailment. He has been under medical treatment and often travels to the US, but had kept a control over the governance of the state. But, things seem to be bad for Parrikar, as he is shifted to AIIMS, Delhi for further treatment while a power tussle has broken out in the state, as Congress stakes claim to form the government in his absence.

Kumaraswamy unhinged: Instigates people to ‘riot’ against BJP, says BJP using military planes to poach MLAs

Shashank Bharadwaj
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Kumaraswamy unhinged: Instigates people to ‘riot’ against BJP, says BJP using military planes to poach MLAs

The Karnataka Chief Minister on Thursday issued a warning statement against the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party to let the government function or he would instigate the people of the state to ‘riot’ against the BJP if it continues to destabilise the government.

The visibly angry Chief Minister issued this shocking statement while he had visited Channarayapatna Taluk of Hassan district to launch various development works.


“You have been observing the developments in the state for over a fortnight, BJP leaders have been disturbing the smooth functioning of the coalition government. If the BJP continues to destabilise the government, I will give a call to the people to riot against it,” threatened Kumaraswamy.

According to the reports, The Karnataka Chief Minister issued these threats after he accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of using military planes to poach his coalition government MLAs in a recent speech.


The Chief Minister also threatened to revive all the old cases against BS Yeddyurappa by ordering investigations into alleged scams committed during the latter’s tenure as Chief Minister. “If you (Yeddyurappa) dig too much (into our affairs), then we too have many things at our disposal. Do not instigate me to lose my patience. I have my government and can take the extreme decision. Don’t I have the authority to do whatever I can? I caution him to be careful”, said the angry Chief Minister.

The opposition BJP reacted to Kumaraswamy’s threats saying that Kumaraswamy is the only politician in the history of the nation who asked his supporters to go on riots and referred to him as a “disgrace” to the state. They also urged the police officials to register a Suo moto case on Kumaraswamy.


The JDS-Congress coalition government was formed in Karnataka after the BJP failed to form the government despite being the single largest party. It seems that everything isn’t going well for the Kumaraswamy government, as cracks have appeared to be widened in the alliance.

Delhi sewer death case: What we know so far

Editorial Desk
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Delhi sewer death case: What we know so far

The death of Anil, the man who died due to asphyxiation while cleaning sewage in Delhi, shook everyone’s conscience. A viral image of a young boy standing next to Anil’s body broke people’s hearts and thousands came together to help the young child in a bid to help the young children have a better future. Amount to the tune of almost Rs. 50 lakh was crowdsourced from Good Samaritans, till an ABP News story emerged with newer details that the little boy in the image that had gone viral may not really be Anil’s son and the woman posing as his wife may not be his wife. That she was, in fact, Anil’s maternal aunt and the three kids were from her estranged husband.

The story also mentioned that 27-year old Anil was unmarried and that his parents are upset they were not even allowed attend the last rites of their son by the maternal aunt pretending to be his ‘wife’. While Uday Foundation, the NGO which has collected around Rs. 27 lakh out of Rs. 50 lakh raised, has said the money will be released only after proper investigation, there are a lot of missing pieces in the puzzle.

Indian Express story from 19 September confirms the fact that Rani was not his wife, but his partner, and they were about to be married soon. They lost their four-month-old child to pneumonia a week back. That is not to take away from the child who considered and called Anil his father, because a loved one lost is a loved one lost. However, there are discrepancies in reporting.

Most reports have claimed that Anil was 37 years old, but ABP News report claims he was 27. ABP News reporter claims to have talked to the parents of Anil, whereas a Times of India report from 17th September mentions that his parents died a few years ago. Some reports refer to Rani as Anil’s wife while ABP News report claims that she is her aunt and they accuse her of pretending to be his wife for the money raised by social media.

While the woman in question, Rani, is yet to respond to the allegations put on her by Anil’s parents, it does not take away the fact that the family does indeed need money. In the end, one can only hope that people’s faith in humanity is not broken.

Madhya Pradesh CM says no arrest under SC-ST act without probe in the state

OpIndia Staff
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Madhya Pradesh CM says no arrest under SC-ST act without probe in the state

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan took to Twitter today and said that no arrest will be made in the state under SC ST Atrocities act without preliminary investigation.


The Chief Minister’s comment is significant in the context of recent developments in the act. In the aftermath of mounting allegations of misuse of the act, the Supreme Court had ruled in March this year that no person can be arrested without a fair procedure. The top court had said that the act was being used for blackmail, and a preliminary inquiry should be conducted before an FIR under the act is registered to check whether the case falls within the parameters of the SC-ST Atrocities Act and if it is frivolous or motivated.

While the top court had ‘diluted’ the act, most of the outrage on it was directed towards the Union Government. Before the matter could go out of hand, a bill was introduced in the parliament to overturn the Supreme Court judgement. On 9th August the bill was passed by parliament, which rules out any provision for anticipatory bail for a person accused of atrocities against SC/STs, regardless of any court order. The act passed by the BJP led government says that no preliminary inquiry will be required for registering a criminal case and an arrest under this law would not be subject to any approval.

Given this backdrop, the tweet by MP CM is very significant, as it seems the state government is not agreeing with the central government in the matter. It may be noted that people of upper castes in the state are protesting the amendment to the act which has reversed the SC order. During such a protest recently, a shoe was hurled at the CM. Ahead of upcoming assembly elections, it has become tough for the BJP government in the state to maintain a balancing act in the matter.

Delhi sewer victim’s parents claim he was never married, son in viral picture not his son: ABP News

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi sewer victim’s parents claim he was never married, son in viral picture not his son: ABP News

In a shocking revelation by ABP News, the viral image of the young boy standing next to the dead body of the Delhi sewer worker who died due to asphyxiation last week, may not be of his son. The woman posing as his ‘wife’ Rani, may also not be his wife, claims ABP News. She is, in fact, his maternal aunt and the young boy is one of her sons from her estranged husband, said parents of Anil.

Viral image that managed to raise about Rs. 50 lakh

As reported by ABP News, Anil’s parents have said that the woman who has been posing as Anil’s wife is actually his mausi (aunt) and are upset about not having clarified with them. They have accused her of putting up the drama for getting the money. Yesterday, the ‘wife’ Rani had also thanked people for raising funds for her and her three children over social media.


As of now, Rs. 50 lakh (and counting) have been raised over social media for the ‘wife and children’ of Anil, who, according to ABP News report, may not even exist.

It all started when a journalist with Hindustan Times, Shiv Sunny, tweeted the heartbreaking image of the child next to the dead body of Anil on 17th September.


In his tweet, he had claimed that the family did not even have money to cremate him. With over 17,000 retweets, the image touched a chord in the hearts of netizens and help poured in from across the globe. Soon, bank account details of Rani, the ‘wife’, was put out and even a Ketto, the crowdsourcing website, was set up.

Ketto account set up for the ‘wife’ and ‘children’ of Anil
Bank details of the ‘wife’

Through Ketto alone, Rs. 27 lakh were raised.


The reporter who had originally tweeted the picture had quoted the ‘son’ who had recounted his experience of having accompanied his father to the sewer.

On Monday, the boy recounted how he would often accompany his father to work, but hadn’t yet entered a sewer. “My father would enter the sewer in his underpants and I would wait outside guarding his clothes and shoes from thieves. My father would say it still wasn’t yet time for me to enter the sewers,” he said.

On days he stayed back home, he would eagerly wait for his father to return. “My sisters are too young to play with me. My mother is always busy with work. My father would take me out to the street to play with me. Sometimes I would fight with him, but he wouldn’t get angry,” said the boy.

The Delhi government, too, had pledged Rs. 10 lakh to the family.

However, as per ABP News’ revelation that Anil was actually unmarried, but some neighbours said that he lived with his aunt. Anil’s parents are upset because no one from the media bothered to clarify with them and the money will now to go the beneficiary, who according to them, is not deserving.

Update: Uday Foundation, the NGO which helped crowdfund almost Rs. 27 lakh through Ketto for the family of the deceased sewer worker has released a statement that the funds will be transferred once thorough verification is done.

Along with @shivsunny and Ketto, we’re looking into the news report and will share an update soon. No funds have been transferred uptil now and the funds raised will only be transferred to the beneficiary (the boy in the picture) following a thorough checking of the facts and completion of the verification procedure.
– Uday Foundation

We will update the story as we get more information.

Jaunpur patilaa, Aligarh locks, Bhopal phones: While Rahul Gandhi talks, Make In India is delivering results

Sanghamitra
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Jaunpur patilaa, Aligarh locks, Bhopal phones: While Rahul Gandhi talks, Make In India is delivering results

Rahul Gandhi has a great vision for India. If voted to power, he will make India the golden destination for manufacturing and trade. If the Congress comes to power, there will be no lack of employment. If the Congress comes to power, industrial progress, entrepreneurship and exports will be taken to new heights. If the Congress comes to power, the whole world will look towards India as a global manufacturing hub. Speaking at a rally in Rajasthan’s Dungarpur today, the Congress president made this promise to the locals:


The ‘Made in Dungarpur’ mobile phones came just a couple of days after a similar promise was made in Bhopal. Rahul Gandhi has promised the people in Bhopal that all the mobile phones with ‘Made in China’ tag will soon be converted to ‘Made in Bhopal’. While this time he was kind enough not to ask BHEL to make mobile phones, Rahul Gandhi’s obsession with making cities of India the global manufacturing hub of mobile phones was listed out by one Twitter user.


One also wonders if Rahul Gandhi is just laying the groundwork so he can later claim credit for increased manufacturing of cell phones if he comes to power. After all, the Prince will have to say something to substantiate his ‘achievements’.

Not just mobile phones, as readers will very well remember, Rahul Gandhi wanted Mrs Obama to use pans made in Jaunpur. He wanted Aligarh to be the global leader in making locks too, all of these will be possible when the Congress comes to power. But, wait, wasn’t Congress in power all these years?

Surprisingly for a political leader who keeps hailing entrepreneurship and talks of boosting manufacturing abilities of the country, Rahul Gandhi was very much sceptical about the Make In India campaign launched by PM Modi in September 2014. He even mocked it in the parliament calling it a failure.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cdz3QzX129I]

Congress has remained in power in India for the major part of the country’s history after independence. Yet, Rahul Gandhi offers no explanation for why the cities he mentioned never became a manufacturing hub in all these years of Congress rule.

On the contrary, the Make In India campaign that Rahul dismisses as a failure might be on track to taking all these political dreamings to fruition. Launched in 2014 by PM Modi, the campaign has been a major boost to the Indian manufacturing sector. When it comes to made in India mobile phones, global manufacturers like Foxconn, ZTE, Oppo and Samsung have started their units in India. Recently, Samsung had launched in Noida what is supposed to be the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturing facility with a capacity of shelling out 120 million mobile phones a year. Recently, it was revealed that ‘Made in India’ mobile phones have helped India save Rs 3 lakh crores and has created 4 lakh 50 thousand jobs in the country.

Rahul Gandhi conveniently ignores the fact that when his party was ruling India during the 60s and the 90s, India had registered a dismal 3% GDP growth rate, mocked all over the world as the ‘Hindu rate of growth’, when other Asian countries like Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea dramatically increased their manufacturing capabilities and sprinted with a 7% growth.

While Congress is repeating its old tirade of where are jobs, where is growth in every election rally, Make in India has brought global giants like Boeing, Saab, Alston, Lockheed Martin, Volvo and many more to India. So while Rahul Gandhi keeps making promises, Make in India is already delivering, playing a major part in taking India’s GDP growth rate to be ranked among the world’s best.

In a glaring blooper, TRS leader’s name appears in Congress’ office bearer list

OpIndia Staff
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In a glaring blooper, TRS leader’s name appears in Congress’ office bearer list

The name of former Congress speaker K R Suresh Reddy, who joined the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in September this year, has appeared in the Congress’ office-bearer list. The list was announced on Wednesday for the forthcoming polls in Telangana, as reported by The Times of India.

Suresh Reddy’s name figured in the manifesto committee list, election committee and coordination committee list of the party which was put up by the Congress party national General Secretary, Ashok Gehlot.

Screenshot of the list of Congress’ Coordination committee courtesy TOI
Screenshot of the list of Congress’ election committee courtesy TOI
Screenshot of Congress’ manifesto committee courtesy TOI

A TRS leader commenting on the error said, “This shows the disconnect between Hyderabad and Delhi. This is an epic error”.

Suresh Reddy had joined the TRS officially on 7th September this year in the presence of chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao. KT Rama Rao while addressing a meeting at Telangana Bhavan had welcomed senior Congress leader and former speaker K.R. Suresh Reddy along with his followers from Nizamabad district on joining TRS. Reddy’s decision to leave the Congress and join TRS had come as a shocker.

Reddy had, however, said that he joined the party, not for any “political gains” but to be part of the “silent revolution” for the progress and development of Telangana State.

This colossal blunder made by the Congress party was soon picked up by the mindful social media observers, giving Congress’ ruling rivals, the TRS and others an opportunity to mock the party.


Almost immediately after the list was put up by the party’s national General Secretary, Ashok Gehlot, people on social media pointed out the glaring mistake, but still, the Congress party has not come out with any clarification on the error.

‘Clown Prince’ is polluting public discourse with concocted falsehoods: Arun Jaitley

OpIndia Staff
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‘Clown Prince’ is polluting public discourse with concocted falsehoods: Arun Jaitley

Continuing with use of social media for replying to allegations of opposition, union finance minister Arun Jaitley has posted another blog of Facebook today. On 29th August, Jaitley had posted a blog titled “15 Questions that Expose Congress Party’s Falsehood on Rafale”, where he answered opposition’s questions regarding the Rafale fighter deal and also had asked the Congress party 15 questions. Continuing after that, the finance minister has posted another blog titled “Falsehood of a ‘Clown Prince’”, launching a scathing attack on Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

Jaitley writes that the strategy of Rahul Gandhi is to concoct a lie and repeat it as many times, as the party has become issueless and this provides him with some concocted material for his statements and speeches. He says that generally political career of people caught lying does not last long, but this does not apply to a dynastic organisation like Congress party.

After the ‘Rafale concoctions’, the second lie from the Congress president is that PM Modi has waived off rupees two lakh fifty thousand of fifteen industrialists, writes Jaitley.

The finance minister informs that all these amounts were lent to industrialists by banks before 2014 before Modi became PM. And, despite the industrialists defaulted on repaying the loans, those were kept rolling over by banks. The loans were ever-greened, means new loans were issued to cover repayment of earlier loans so that those loans do not show up as NPA in the books. The actual amount of NPA during UPA government rule was much more than what was reported, as a large amount of unpaid loan was concealed under the carpet.

Jaitley informs that actual amount of NPA was found to be ₹8.96 lakh crores after a review of the books by Reserve Bank of India. opposed to ₹2.5 lakh crore as reported earlier. He also writes that no real steps were taken to recover the money. The reason the amount of NPA has increased after 2014-15 is not that more monies have been lent, but because of increasing interest on the overdue amount from the UPA era.

He then informs about the steps the current government has adopted to resolve this problem. He says that the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) that has been established by NDA government is the only effective method in this regard. This code has changed the debtor-creditor relationship in India. Now creditors can replace the management of the defaulting company and after that can invite bids for the takeover of the company. The creditors recover a significant portion of outstanding debts through such a takeover.

Jaitley informs that RBI had identified 12 major defaulters in its first instalment of review. These 12 debtors owe around ₹3 lakh crores in principal interest and penal interest to various banks. The UPA regime took effort for the recovery of this debt. He writes that the UPA government allowed the banks to be looted, and the NDA government has enabled the banks to recover their loans through IBC.

Adequate security was not provided for loans given, and UPA government was complicit in it, Jaitley alleges. And only now banks have started to make recoveries.

The finance minister says that Rahul Gandhi can’t change the reality by repeating the same lie again and again. Jaitley then raises a question regarding Rahul Gandhi – ‘do people whose natural preference is falsehood deserve to be a part of the public discourse’. He says that public discourse is a serious activity and it is not a laughter challenge. He ends the blog by saying ‘It cannot be reduced to a hug, a wink or repetition of falsehood. The world’s largest democracy must seriously introspect whether public discourse should be allowed to be polluted by the falsehood of a ‘Clown Prince’.

Rafale deal: Even during the UPA era, Dassault did not want to partner with HAL

OpIndia Staff
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Rafale deal: Even during the UPA era, Dassault did not want to partner with HAL

Congress President Rahul Gandhi has been repeatedly telling the world that the Modi government bypassed the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in favour of Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence, insinuating kickbacks were received by the Modi government for the deal.


Today morning Congress President took things one step further and tweeted a link where former HAL chief T S Raju claims that the Rafale jets could have been built in India.


In the article by Hindustan Times, T S Raju claims that while HAL may not have been able to build the jets at the desired cost, the company did have the ability to make fighter jets. While it is important to note what T S Raju said, it is also equally important what he has not said. Scientist and columnist Anand Ranganathan put out a thread of tweets with articles busting the myth that state-owned HAL had the ability to make fighter jets.

Back in 2015, NDTV had reported that Dassault Aviation had raised concerns about the technical inadequacies of HAL.

2015 NDTV report speaking of technical incompatibility of Dassault and HAL

Dassault had flagged a concern that modernization of HAL’s technology could be a time-consuming process since they would need to upgrade the labs to meet the French standards.

Another April 2015 Outlook article speaks about one of the reasons the Rafale jets deal was being stalled.

French describing HAL as ‘unprofessional and unreliable in the extreme’.

An April 2013 article in India Today, from the time UPA 2 was in power, states how ‘HAL’s poor track record overshadowed IAF plans to buy the Rafale jets’.

2013 report saying HAL not technologically capable of handling Rafale

It is thus clear, that as far as Rafale is concerned, the capabilities of HAL have been in question since the Congress has been in power. One wonders then why Rahul Gandhi has been raising this issue over and over again. Is Rahul Gandhi unaware of what the situation was while his own government ruled, or ignoring facts and focussing on rhetoric serves a political agenda even if the Nation’s interests aren’t being served?

While the facts are for all to see, this is not an attempt to put down HAL, which has made the country proud. Recently, Tejas LSP-8, a single-seat, single-jet engine, a multirole light fighter designed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy, successfully completed wet (actual) engagement by transferring 1,900 kg fuel from IAF IL78 mid-air refuelling tanker. With this, India joined the elite group of countries who have developed the Air-to-Air (AAR) system for a military class of aircraft. In August, India joined the select club of US, Europe, Russia and China for having the capability of Deck Landing of fighter aircraft.

Jharkhand: BJP worker who washed MP’s feet, sues media for harassment

OpIndia Staff
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Jharkhand: BJP worker who washed MP’s feet, sues media for harassment

On 17th September 2018, a bizarre video had surfaced on social media which showed a BJP worker washing the feet of BJP MP  Nishikant Dubey and after that drinking that water. Nishikant Dubey, who is Lok Sabha MP from Godda constituency in Jharkhand, was attending an event to lay the foundation stone for a bridge on Tajia river between Kanbhari and Kalali village in Godda. During the ceremony, BJP worker from the area Pawan Shah washed Dubey’s feet with water and later drank a bit of the water used for the washing, to express his gratitude to the MP. Shah recalled how the villagers have been demanding the bridge for a long time, and they were grateful of Dubey for fulfilling his promise of building the bridge.


When the video surfaced on media, it attracted immediate criticism from all. But both the concerned persons had defended the act. Pawan Shah had told media that what he did was his personal choice, and there should not be any hue and cry over it. Dubey also defended it saying it is part of Indian tradition, and he could not refuse the demand of his party worker. He said that Pawan is a veteran party worker and he had threatened to kill himself if he is not allowed to wash Dubey’s feet, remembering how the same Pawan Shah had cut is own thumb to put a tilak of blood on the forehead of Dubey after he won the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. He said, “I had two choices: a man washing my feet, or a man threatening to kill himself. Pawan is not a young worker. He has been an RSS/BJP worker since the 1990s.”

Now, fed up with constant media coverage about the matter, Pawan Shah has sent a legal notice to several media personnel for their critical coverage of the incident. The notice sent through his advocate is addressed to Rohini Singh, Aroon Purie, Aveek Sarkar, Chief Editor of ANN, Rahul Joshi, Sudhir Chaudhary, Sudhir Agarwal and Chandan Sharma.

The notice recounts that due the absence of proper roads and bridge over Tajia river, villagers were facing hardships. They had to travel an extra 7 km to cross the river, instead of the distance of 2 km. And during the 70 years of independence, no public representative took the matter seriously. During the 2014 election campaign when Dubey came to the village, he assured villagers that he will try to get the bridge built. Hearing this, Pawan Shah had publicly made a promise that on the day the foundation of the bridge is laid, he will wash the feet of Dubey and drink the water.

So, when finally Dubey came to lay the foundation for the bridge on 16th September, Pawan reminded him about his promise. Although Dubey had vehemently refused to allow Pawan to do so, Pawan and other villagers demanded that he must allow it. The legal notice mentions that Pawan threatened to harm himself with his own knife if he is not allowed to do this. At last Dubey had to concede and the act was recorded by some people, which was subsequently shown on various channels, after distorting the facts about the matter, the notice says.

The notice also alleges that wrong reporting about the matter has caused mental harassment of Shah. It also says that everyday channels are calling him and using abusive words for him and they are trying to damage his image in society.

The notice states that Shah washed the feet on his own and he was not forced by anyone to do it. He says that the Constitution gives him the independence to live his life the way he wants, there is no restriction on how he wants to express his feelings, how to greet guests. The act done during the foundation laying program does not violate any law and media is harassing him as if he has committed a grave crime.

He also mentions that misinformation about him is being spread on social media sites like WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter etc. Due to this, his mental status is being disturbed and his family is very worried. He is even thinking of committing suicide as it has become difficult for him to step out of the house. The notice than adds if any untoward incident happens to Shah, the people mentioned in the legal notice will be solely responsible for the same.

The petition seeks to prosecute the mentioned media persons under sections 504 and 506 of IPC and section 67 of IT act.

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