The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday directed the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) and police to arrest Congress MLA Dharam Singh Chhoker if he fails to surrender within 24 hours.
The Congress MLA is facing a money laundering case registered against him by the ED in 2023.
He is considered a close aide of former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and is seeking re-election from the Samalkha constituency in the state assembly elections.
Haryana Advocate General Baldev Raj Mahajan said that a petition to take action against the MLA was filed in the High Court on Tuesday.
“Dharam Singh Chhoker is a sitting MLA from Samalkha and is contesting elections from there again. He has many criminal cases registered against him. Non-bailable warrants have also been issued, and ED action is pending against him. His anticipatory bail petition has been rejected, yet no action has been taken against him while he openly contests elections,” he told ANI.
“So because of all that, the court has ordered him to surrender or else be arrested by the police,” he said.
“The court also noted that his bail has been rejected and that action should be taken against him, which is why it ordered him to surrender or face arrest by tomorrow,” he added.
Voting for all 90 Assembly constituencies in Haryana will take place on October 5 from 7 am to 6 pm.
In 2023, ED investigated Chhoker and his son, Sikandar Singh Chhoker, after an FIR by Gurugram police alleged that both of them were involved in a real estate fraud.
Sikandar Singh Chhoker was arrested by the ED in March, 2024, for allegedly siphoning hundreds of crores of rupees and defrauding home buyers by booking fake construction expenditures in group entities.
(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)
Last month, on 21st September, the police recovered the body of an unidentified woman in an abandoned condition in Sultanpur district of Uttar Pradesh. The victim was later identified as Priyanka. She had gone missing from her house since 31st May. Salman, Shahenshah, Javed, and Sarwar were named as the accused in the case. Shahenshah was initially arrested, and the others were nabbed by the authorities on 1st October by UP Police after an encounter.
The case pertains to the Kadipur police station area of the Sultanpur district in Uttar Pradesh where the grandfather of the victim had registered a complaint to the authorities on 1st of June this year. The complainant stated that his granddaughter left the house on 31st May at around 10 pm to answer nature’s call but did not return home. The family searched extensively for their daughter but could not find her. The grandfather of the deceased suspected that someone might have lured her and taken her with him. The police then registered a First Information Report (FIR) on his complaint and started the investigation.
The probe was underway when an anonymous body was found in the Gosaiganj police station area of Sultanpur. The post-mortem revealed that the deceased was strangulated to death and her name was unveiled to be Priyanka. The police then added murder charges to the disappearance case and Salman, Shahenshah, Sarwar and Javed were found to be involved in the crime, during the inquiry.
The police learned that the girl and Salman had a long relationship. Salman even took her to Mumbai once. She went to meet him again after their return. Sarwar, Shahenshah, and Javed made arrangements for the two to stay in Gosaiganj where she started to push Salaman for marriage.
The girl even threatened to send Salman and his three friends to jail after he refused. Afterwards, the four came up with a plan to get rid of Priyanka after she threatened them. They eventually murdered her and dumped the corpse in a deserted place in the Gosainganj police station region.
The cops then started searching for the perpetrators. Shahenshah was the first one to be caught and the authorities continued to hunt for the rest. On 1st October, the police received information that the three offenders were in the Akhandnagar police station area and raided the place. The criminals started shooting as soon as they spotted the cops. Salman, Sarwar, and Javed were injured in the retaliatory fire by the Police.
All of them were captured and brought to the hospital for treatment. Cartridges and illegal weapons were discovered on their person, and they are scheduled to be brought before the court. Further inquiry and legal action into the matter is now underway.
On 18th September, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) ruled out the angle of religious conversion in the tragic suicide of a 12th-standard student at Sacred Heart Higher Secondary School in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu. The findings were presented to the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court in response to the petition filed by the main accused in the case, Sister Sagaya Mary. The CBI stated that Lavanya’s decision to end her life stemmed from stress due to administrative tasks she performed at her hostel and not because of pressure to convert to Christianity. However, in her dying declaration, Lavanya had said she was forced to convert to Christianity.
The case has been under public scrutiny since 2022 when the victim’s family accused the school authorities of forcing her to convert. An investigation into the matter was initiated, which was later transferred to the CBI. Several protests were held in the case. The CBI, in its final report to the court, stated the agency found no evidence supporting the religious conversion angle. The agency further emphasised that the mental stress Lavanya faced was due to her academic struggles and responsibilities at the school hostel, leading to her taking extreme steps.
Sister Sagaya’s plea to quash chargesheet
In the first week of September 2024, Sister Sagaya Mary, the sole accused in the case, filed a petition before the court to quash the chargesheet against her. She argued that the charges filed by the CBI were baseless and that she was being falsely implicated in the case. She emphasised that the allegations stemmed from statements made by Lavanya, referring to minor incidents of scolding and administrative work.
The matter was transferred to the CBI in 2022 after the victim’s parents accused the school authorities of forcing her to perform domestic chores and convert to Christianity. In her petition, the accused argued that there was no prima facie evidence against her and that the allegations lacked substance.
Lavanya’s dying declaration: a crucial piece of evidence
Though the CBI has said in its report that there is no forced conversion angle in the case, Lavanya’s dying declaration has been a pivotal element. On 9th January 2022, she allegedly consumed pesticides after being subjected to prolonged mental and emotional distress. A video of the victim surfaced, recorded before her death, in which she alleged that she was pressured by the school authorities to convert to Christianity. In the video, she was seen speaking weakly but clearly. She stated that the school administration asked her to convert. When she refused, she was harassed and forced to perform demeaning tasks, such as cleaning toilets and cooking for others.
She named a school warden, Rachael Mary, in her video as one of the individuals involved in the alleged harassment. The video was widely shared on social media, leading to outrage. It became the central point in the legal proceedings.
On 19th January 2022, Lavanya succumbed to her injuries after spending several days in intensive care. Her family and several Hindu organisations have pointed to the dying declaration as evidence of the school’s attempts to convert her. However, the CBI’s report has cast doubt on the conversion angle. The agency has attributed her suicide to the academic and administrative pressure she faced.
The legal standing of a dying declaration: Section 32 of the Indian Evidence Act
To understand the importance of a dying declaration, we should look into both the Indian Evidence Act and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam.
Under Section 32(1) of the Indian Evidence Act, of 1872, a dying declaration is a statement made by a person regarding the cause of their death or the circumstances leading to their death. Such declarations are admissible as evidence in court, even though they may not have been made under oath or subjected to cross-examination. The underlying principle is that a person on the verge of death is unlikely to lie, a concept known as “Nemo moriturus praesumitur mentiri,” meaning “a person who is about to die is presumed to speak the truth.”
In the case of Lavanya’s death, her dying declaration was made in the form of a video. That would typically be considered a strong piece of evidence in any criminal case. The courts have the authority to rely solely on a dying declaration to convict an accused if the court asserts that the statement was made voluntarily and truthfully.
Evidentiary value under Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023
Under the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 (Indian Evidence Act 2023), the legal provisions surrounding dying declarations have been retained, aligning with the principles outlined in the 1872 Act. Sections 26 and 27 state that any statement made by a person as to the cause of their death or the circumstances of the transaction leading to their death is admissible as evidence. The statement is considered relevant whether or not the person making it was under the expectation of death.
However, for a dying declaration to be accepted, it must be credible, voluntary, and untainted by external influence. The courts examine the mental and physical state of the declarant at the time the statement was made.
Dying declaration and judicial precedents
In the past, Indian courts have consistently upheld the importance of such declarations. For example, in the case of Sham Shankar Kankaria v. State of Maharashtra, the Supreme Court ruled that a dying declaration could serve as the sole basis for a conviction if it is found to be reliable.
Conclusion
As the CBI has dismissed the forced conversion angle, there is now a renewed focus on Lavanya’s academic stress and the administrative tasks she was allegedly assigned. However, questions remain about how fully her dying declaration, which is a crucial piece of evidence, has been considered by the investigating agency. Under Indian law, a dying declaration holds significant evidentiary value and can, in many cases, serve as the sole basis for a conviction.
The CBI has provided an alternative narrative that focuses on administrative pressure. It is essential to reflect on whether the emotional weight and clarity of the victim’s final words were given the attention they deserved by the investigative agency. Her statement, recorded under distress but with direct allegations, sheds light on the perception she had of the events in her last days. Such declarations have shaped court judgments in the past, and any attempts to downplay them may lead to questions about the thoroughness of the investigation.
In the upcoming hearings, the court should reconcile the CBI’s findings with Lavanya’s own account. It will ensure that every piece of evidence is weighed with the seriousness it deserves. It will reflect the court’s responsibility in interpreting the voice of a young girl who no longer has the opportunity to speak for herself.
The Democrats claim to fight for the heart of American democracy. But the party gives short shrift to democracy within its own fold. The upcoming presidential election and the two that precede it establish this conclusively.
Joe Biden faced Donald Trump in the first presidential debate in late June. His performance left people questioning the president’s mental acuity. Democrats panicked that he would not only lose to Trump but hurt them in Congress, too. The White House variously said that he just had “a bad day”, “a cold”, a “jet lag” and would resume his campaigning soon.
The knives were out for Biden, however. Leading the palace coup were Representative Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, former President Barack Obama and the megadonors.
“Nancy made clear that they could do this the easy way or the hard way,” an insider told Politico. The “easy way” for Biden was to end his r-election bid. “She gave them three weeks of the easy way.” He seemed nonchalant.
On Sunday, July 21, Obama called Biden after breakfast to inform him of the “hard way.” “Here’s the deal. We have Kamala’s approval to invoke the 25th Amendment (to the US Constitution),” he told Biden, according to veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh. The clause allows the president to be replaced by the vice president, in this case Kamala Harris, if the latter and others deem him unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.
Simply put, Obama threatened Biden with sacking if he did not bow out of the race. Not sure of Harris’ prospects, Obama advised Biden against endorsing her and suggested that the delegates elect the candidate in “a mini primary” at August’s Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago. Primaries aim to pick the best person capable of taking on the opposition.
Biden called it quits and swiftly endorsed Harris that same day. He was unfit to rerun for presidency, but could steer the ship of state for another six months! One phone call from Obama negated the will of 14 million primary voters and nearly 4,000 delegates pledged to Biden.
Kamala Harris had entered no primary and won no delegates. Earlier, the DNC had shut out Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Minnesota Representative Dean Phillips from challenging Biden in the primaries. New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, a Democrat herself, pulled no punches in calling Biden’s defenestration what it was: “a coup.”
In 2020, Democrats somewhat mysteriously crowned Biden as their presidential nominee. He faced humbling setbacks during the early primaries, finishing fourth in Iowa, fifth in New Hampshire, and second in Nevada.
Ahead of the crucial South Carolina primary, Representative James Clyburn, the highest-ranking African-American in Congress and a key political figure in the state, endorsed him. Biden registered his first victory, a resounding one.
On the eve of Super Tuesday (03 March 2020), when 15 states and territories held their primaries, three Democrats — Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg and Tom Steyer — suddenly withdrew from the race. Soon afterward, Elizabeth Warren and Michael Bloomberg followed suit.
The contest essentially narrowed to a race between moderate Biden and progressive Bernie Sanders. Fearful that Sanders would lose by a landslide if nominated, they quickly retreated and rallied around Biden. The goal was to stop the fractious infighting and ensure Sanders’ defeat in the primaries. Obama approved of this move.
Obama nudged Klobuchar and Buttigieg into endorsing Biden. To “accelerate the endgame” of bringing primaries to an early close, Obama “at least had four long conversations” with Sanders before the Vermont senator dropped his bid and backed Biden. Obama did “thumb the scale” for his “friend.”
The COVID-19 pandemic turned the world upside down, completely upending campaign and voting procedures. While campaigns moved to the virtual world with candidates canvassing from their homes, polling adopted mass mail-in ballots. Having “fortified” the election, as TIME magazine essayist Molly Ball put it, Biden defeated Trump in November.
Nothing comes close to the 2016 Democratic primaries though. Obama persuaded his Vice President Biden to stay out of the fray for his former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. “The President was not encouraging,” Biden later wrote in his memoir.
Clinton became the first female to lead a major party ticket. She shattered one glass ceiling; only one remained, being elected president. In her quest for the highest office, she manipulated rules at will.
DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz signed a pact with her campaign to keep the party financially afloat, ceding control of its operations. The agreement let Clinton exercise her hold over party’s finances, strategy, and all the money raised.
“Her campaign had the right of refusal of who would be the party communications director, and it would make final decisions on all the other staff,” wrote DNC interim chair Donna Brazile in her book Hacks.
“A candidate usually begins to wield more influence over the party only after being nominated. Not in Clinton’s case! She held sway over the DNC apparatus just four months after announcing her candidacy and nearly a year ahead of clinching the nomination. “…the agreement was not illegal, but it sure looked unethical,” Brazile wrote.
WikiLeaks exposed how Wasserman Schultz had sharply disparaged Sanders, Clinton’s challenger, and his campaign manager Jeff Weaver, despite her obligation to remain neutral during the primaries. Calling Weaver a “damn liar” and an “ASS,” she said the senator has “never been a member of the Democratic Party and does not know what we do.”
Wasserman Schultz was forced to resign. Brazile, an old party hand and longtime Clinton ally, replaced her. Brazile, for her part, lost her gig as contributor after WikiLeaks revealed that she had also leaked questions to Hillary’s campaign ahead of a CNN debate and a town hall during the primary.
Two of Clinton’s rivals, Sanders and Warren, accused the DNC of rigging the primary in her favour. Clinton campaign sponsored the infamous Steele Dossier, an ‘opposition research’ that falsely painted Trump as Putin’s puppet. She outspent Trump two-to-one, still lost to him, a political greenhorn.
All this in a party that swears by Democracy™, chides its opponents at home for undermining it, and slams other countries for democratic backsliding. Oh, the irony!
On Tuesday, 1st October, the Islamists attempted to give a clean chit to Samajwadi Party leader Moeed Khan who has been charged with raping a 12-year-old girl in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya. This is after the DNA reports in the case did not match the foetus of the victim. The DNA reports have sent a match for Raju Khan who is also accused in the case for gang-raping the girl.
Both, Moeed Khan and his driver Raju Khan are facing charges under various sections of the POCSO Act and the criminal laws for allegedly gang-raping a 12-year-old Other Backward Class (OBC) girl in Ayodhya and recording the incident to use as blackmail against her for more than two months. The victim’s pregnancy-related health problems brought the crime to light.
The filing of the First Information Report was delayed. Since 2012, the police station has been housed on Moeed Khan’s land. Arrests were made following public outcry and an investigation into the matter is currently underway. Amid this, several Islamists on social media attempted to give a clean chit to the SP leader saying that his DNA reports didn’t match the foetus. They claimed that the name of the SP leader was unnecessarily dragged in the case for politics when the real accused who raped the girl had been confirmed as Raju Khan.
“Do you remember the Ayodhya rape case? The same case in which Moeed Khan’s name was forcibly dragged and defamed. Yes, the same Moeed Khan whose bakery was crushed by the constitutional bulldozer. Now the news is that Moeed Khan’s DNA did not match with the girl. Rather, the DNA of Raju, who works at the bakery, has matched. Yes, the same Raju who had a love affair with the girl,” said ‘journalist’ Ali Sohrab, a claimed activist against ‘islamophobia’.
अयोध्या रेप वाला मामला याद है? वही मामला जिसमें मोईद खान का नाम जबरन घसीट कर बदनाम किया गया… जी हां वही मोईद खान जिनकी बैकरी को सांवैधानिक बुल्डोजर से रौंद दिया गया… अब खबर है कि मोईद खान का DNA लड़की से मैच नहीं हुआ… बल्कि बैकरी पर काम करने वाले राजू का DNA मैच हुआ है. जी… pic.twitter.com/VkcoNnK0St
“Aditya Nath was going around the state propagating that Moeed Khan is a rapist. Now who will give an account of the open defamation of Muslims?” said Anishur Rahman. Another one indicated that all the media personnel who declared SP’s Moeed Khan as accused shall now apologize.
आदित्य नाथ बिष्ट पूरे प्रदेश मे घूम घूम कर प्रचार कर रहा था की मोईड खान रेपिस्ट है, और मुस्लिमों की खुल के बदनामी किया गया उसका हिसाब कौन देगा? #up#मोईद_खानhttps://t.co/Glxs19lQvP
क्याAmanChopra_ माफी मागेगा ? की उसने एक बेकसूर इंसान कों आरोपी बना कर हिन्दु मुस्लिम रंग देने की कोशिश की । योगी ने भी बदनाम करने की कोशिश की अब क्या योगी माफी मांगेंगे।
Wasim Akram Tyagi, a foul-mouthed Muslim fundamentalist who refers to himself as a ‘journalist’ on X, almost exonerated Moeed Khan because the DNA report of the foetus matched with his driver Raju Khan and not his. Perhaps, as per Tyagi, the proof of fatherhood is the single most important factor that establishes rape, possibly even in cases when rape has not led to impregnation.
लेकिन मोईद ख़ान का क्या दोष था? यही कि आरोपी मोईद का ड्राईवर था! तब उसकी मकन, दुकान पर बुलडोज़र चलाया? @UPGovt अपने इस पाप का प्रायश्चित करेगी? मोईद की जिस प्राॅपर्टी पर बुलडोज़र चलाया है, उसका पुनिर्माण कराएगी? और हां! @news24tvchannel यह लिखने में क्यों शर्म आ रही है कि मोईद… pic.twitter.com/Ndqd7HZg9y
A similar display of low IQ was exhibited by another Muslim fundamentalist masquerading as a journalist. Zakir Ali Tyagi shared an interview with Moeed Khan’s family members, who would obviously be vouching for his innocence, to claim that Khan was being framed in the matter and the DNA report only confirms it.
अयोध्या रेप मामलें में जेल भेजे गये मोईद खान के परिवार ने उसी दौरान कहां था कि मोईद को फंसाया जा रहा है, लड़की का राजू से अफ़ेयर है, लेकिन प्रशासन ने मोईद को मुख्यारोपी बता उसकी संपत्ति पर बुलडोजर चला दिया, अब मोईद खान का लड़की से DNA मैच नही हुआ है! pic.twitter.com/IPjKHU8fn7
It is crucial to note that though the DNA reports have not found a match of the SP leader in the foetus of the victim, it does not make him less of an accused as the burden of proof in rape incidents may not mandatorily depend upon impregnation. Rape is any type of sexual assault that involves engaging in sexual activity with another person without their consent. It generally includes penetration (vaginal, anal, or oral) by force, threat, or coercion, or when the victim is incapacitated and unable to provide informed permission (due to drugs, intoxication, unconsciousness, etc). It is a serious breach of a person’s autonomy and dignity, and it is punishable by law in many countries.
Victim’s testimony names both Moeed Khan and Raju Khan as gang-rape accused
Earlier, the testimony of the victim was also recorded in which she confirmed that she was gang raped by both the named accused persons. According to the minor victim, around 75 days ago, when she was returning home, Raju, a servant working in Moeed’s shop, lured the victim to his shop by offering her a toast. Since she had been going to the shop earlier as well, she trusted him and went there. It is alleged that both the accused took turns to rape her inside the shop and also recorded obscene video of the entire incident. By threatening to leak the video, they continued sexually exploiting the minor for over 2 months. As a result of continued sexual exploitation, the victim got pregnant.
However, the family came to know about the crime when her health deteriorated and she became pregnant.
It is further alleged that the Bhadarsa Police Station didn’t file an FIR in this matter for more than 30 hours. It is also alleged that since 2012, this Police station had been running from the house of the accused SP leader Moeed Khan. The incident took place in the Pura Kalandar police station area of Ayodhya. The accused SP leader Khan had a bakery shop near the Bhadarsa Outpost. The minor victim lives with her mother.
The Islamists also whined about the bulldozer action that was taken against the bakery of the accused person, SP leader Moeed Khan. Islamists claimed that the action was unnecessarily initiated against the SP leader. However, the bakery was sealed by the food adulteration department and was found illegal. Hence, the demolition of the said illegal property was conducted.
#WATCH | Uttar Pradesh | The bakery of SP leader Moeed Khan, the main accused in the gang rape of a minor girl, in Ayodhya bulldozed by the administration after it was found to be illegal. pic.twitter.com/BwSGVvEXaP
On October 8, the charges against the accused will be framed, and the trial will begin. The bail applications of the accused are under consideration at the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court. Both accused are currently in district jail, and their bail applications had previously been rejected by the local court.
In Rajasthan, an alleged scam has been unearthed wherein 12th or intermediate pass students became ‘doctors’ by using forged documents. Shockingly, the Rajasthan Medical Council (RMC) is also accused of involvement in this. A Dainik Bhaskarreport says that fake doctors are being made in Rajasthan by registering with the Medical Council of the states of Bihar, Maharashtra, Haryana, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. The RMC did not even verify the degrees of people who passed the 12th standard.
98 such non-medicos became fake gynaecologists and surgeons in Rajasthan. The certificates, NOC, registration, and verification were done fraudulently. The listed candidates did not study medicine for a single day or even undertake an internship. While applying online, the fraudulent doctors uploaded fake copies of their registration certificates and NOCs from different state councils. Without checking, RMC created a fake verification email and attached it to the file.
It was found that none of the 98 fake doctors were found at the address mentioned in their RMC documents. The Bhaskar report has listed the fake doctors who fraudulently became gynaecologists etc by submitting fake documents and medical council certificates. The RMC reportedly attached fake emails of verification with the files.
In its sting operation, Bhaskar asked questions to Rajasthan Medical Council Registrar Dr Rajesh Sharma about the fake registration scam. Shockingly, Sharma admitted the fraud and gave an open offer of Rs 10 lakh bribe to the Bhaskar reporter. When asked about his official stand on the ongoing fraud, Sharma said that he just wanted to settle the matter and claimed that whoever may have orchestrated the scam, however, the government would blame him only and sack him. He then reportedly said that he would arrange Rs 10 lakh for the undercover Bhaskar reporter and they both can ‘settle’ the profits.
Meanwhile, Rajasthan’s Medical & Health Minister Gajendra Singh Khimsar took cognizance of the alleged fraud and said that it is a serious matter and he would ensure an investigation into it. He further assured stringent action and said that if required, the RMC office would be sealed and the matter would be handed over to the Anti-Corruption Bureau.
On 29th September the authorities arrested four Pakistani nationals from the outskirts of Bengaluru. They have been residing in India for ten years under fake identities. The accused have been identified as Rashid Ali Siddiqui (48), his wife Ayesha (38) and her parents Hanif Mohammed (73) and Rubina (61). They stayed in Rajpura village under the aliases Shankar Sharma, Asha Rani, Ram Babu Sharma and Rani Sharma.
The raid was conducted in Jagani on the outskirts of Bengaluru. The action transpired based on information provided by intelligence personnel after two Pakistanis were nabbed at Chennai International Airport. The Pakistani nationals were apprehended when immigration officers discovered they were using forged passports when they landed at Chennai International Airport from Dhaka. An investigation indicated that they were Siddiqui’s relatives. A police enquiry led the authorities to Rashid Ali Siddiqui.
The couple reportedly travelled to Delhi in 2014 before relocating to Bengaluru. The family had previously resided in Dhaka, Bangladesh where Siddiqui and Ayesha were married.
The Siddiqui family was packing to leave the residence when a police squad showed up to take them into custody. When questioned, Siddiqui admitted that he had been residing in Bengaluru since 2018. He also showed the Indian passports and Aadhaar cards belonging to the family, which had Hindu names. Cops found “Mehdi Foundation International Jahsan-e-Younus” written on the walls of the house. They further discovered images of Islamic clerics as well.
How Siddiqui landed in India
As per an Indian Express report, Siddiqui confirmed that he and his family were from Pakistan, during questioning. His wife and her family were from Lahore and he was from Liaquatabad in Karachi. He disclosed that he was married virtually in 2011 while Ayesha was in Bangladesh with her parents. Siddiqui added that he had to move to Bangladesh due to the persecution of religious leaders in Pakistan. He worked as a preacher in Bangladesh and was financially supported by the Mehdi Foundation, according to the First Information Report.
However, Siddiqui faced attacks in Bangladesh in 2014. As a result, he made contact with Parvez from the Mehdi Foundation in India and relocated to the country illegally. Afterwards, Siddiqui, his wife, in-laws and relatives Mohammed Yasin alias Karthik Sharma and Zainabi Noor alias Neha Sharma travelled from Bangladesh to India through West Bengal’s Malda with the assistance of intermediaries.
He decided to go to Bengaluru when Wasim and Altaf, two locals, requested him to preach there in 2018 while he was visiting Nepal. The Mehdi Foundation compensated him for his Islam-preaching broadcasts on Alra TV, while Altaf handled the rent. Additionally, he sold food items and supplied oils to garages. His in-laws even opened bank accounts in Bengaluru. Siddiqui informed the police that he had been dispatched to Bengaluru to “promote religious teachings of his leader” by his “handlers” from Bangladesh.
What the police said
A police official informed, “Our Jigani Inspector investigated a matter and registered a case. Four people of a family were residing here illegally with the help of fraudulent documents. Now, a case has been registered and those four people are being interrogated. Based on the outcome of the interrogation, we will take further action.” According to the officers, the family obtained fake documents and spent the previous six years renting an apartment in Jigani.
A police official stated that they obtained duplicate driving licenses, passports, and Aadhaar cards under a false identity as the “Sharma” family while they were living in Delhi initially where Siddiqui delivered sermons on behalf of the Mehdi Foundation.
The cop added, “We have collected details about them and are investigating the case. They were supplying materials to a garage but that needs to be investigated.” According to the authorities, Siddiqui might be a member of a sleeper cell. “After coming here, I used to call my relatives in Pakistan,” he unveiled to the cops.
A case has been filed under sections 468 (forgery committed with the intent to deceive), 471 (using a forged document or electronic record as real) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as well as under the Passport Act. The racket surfaced recently when immigration officers apprehended Mohammed Yasin, his wife Zainab Noor, Altaf Ahmed and his wife Fathima Gohar, who had gone to Bangladesh to meet their religious leader and were returning via Chennai.
Weeks after SP leader Moeed Khan and his driver Raju Khan were arrested in the gang-rape of a 12-year-old OBC girl in Ayodhya, the DNA reports have sent a match for Raju Khan, tightening the noose around the accused in the case.
Though Moeed Khan’s DNA has not been matched with foetus, he nonetheless remains under the scanner of probe agencies on account of the strong testimony of the victim.
Both, Moeed Khan and his driver Raju Khan are facing charges under various sections of the POCSO Act and the criminal laws for allegedly gang-raping a 12-year-old Other Backward Class (OBC) girl in Ayodhya and recording the incident to use as blackmail against her for more than two months. The victim’s pregnancy-related health problems brought the crime to light.
The filing of the First Information Report was delayed. Since 2012, the police station has been housed on Moeed Khan’s land. Arrests were made following public outcry and an investigation into the matter is currently underway.
It is alleged that Samajwadi Party leader Moeed Khan and his servant Raju Khan gang-raped the minor girl a few months ago. They also recorded the video while committing the heinous crime, to blackmail the minor victim. By threatening to leak the obscene video, they continued sexually exploiting her for over 2 months. However, the family came to know about the crime when her health deteriorated and she became pregnant.
It is further alleged that the Bhadarsa Police Station didn’t file an FIR in this matter for more than 30 hours. It is also alleged that since 2012, this Police station had been running from the house of the accused SP leader Moeed Khan.
The incident took place in the Pura Kalandar police station area of Ayodhya. The accused SP leader Khan had a bakery shop near the Bhadarsa Outpost. The minor victim lives with her mother.
On October 8, the charges against the accused will be framed, and the trial will begin. The bail applications of the accused are under consideration at the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court. Both accused are currently in district jail, and their bail applications had previously been rejected by the local court.
A case of religious conversion has come to the fore from Ranchi, the state capital of Jharkhand. A woman has filed a complaint at the police station accusing her husband of religious conversion. The case pertains to Bariatu Sattar Colony in Ranchi.
Paulina Hemrom has accused her husband Feroze Alam of forcing her to convert her religion. The accused is also reported to have been using casteist words and harassing the victim. As per the reports, he has also thrown the woman out of the house.
The victim, while filing the complain,t mentioned that she married her husband Feroze Alam in the year 1992. She stated that she was the second wife and that the accused had promised her love and respect during the marriage but the situation changed post-marriage. Feroze had four wives at home and constantly harassed Paulina.
The victim woman stated that her accused husband had been involved in converting non-Muslim women. She said that Feroze had converted around twelve women. Paulina was also repeatedly pressured to convert her religion. She stated in the complaint that after her son died, she advocated for the rights of her daughter-in-law and grand kids. Feroze and his family members then assaulted Paulina and threw her out of the house.
Paulina has filed a police complaint against Feroze, his sisters Shahnaz Khatoon and Nikhat Parveen, as well as Rahnuma Khatoon. Paulina stated that she now seeks justice and does not want any other women to suffer in this way.
On Monday, the popular US-based satire website Babylon Bee sued the Government of California over the new laws brought up by the Democratic government to combat ‘misinformation’ and ‘deepfake’.
The lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California states that in July of this year, Governor Gavin Newsom tweeted that a parody video of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris should be “illegal”. “The legislature heard the call and passed two laws that forbid political expression under the label of ‘materially deceptive content,” stated the complaint.
According to the complaint, one of California’s new regulations will obligate social media platforms to become “state snitches” and compel them “to field reports about user posts with ‘materially deceptive content’ and then remove or label them.”
“The second law (AB 2655) converts social media platforms into California state snitches by requiring them to field reports about user posts with “materially deceptive content” and then remove or label them. Newsom eventually signed the bills, proudly tweeting that the laws now outlawed the political parody video that upset him earlier. For Newsom, it was mission accomplished,” the complaint reads.
Alleging that Governor Gavin Newsom and the California government disregarded the First Amendment while framing the new laws and said: “Their laws regulating “materially deceptive content” forbid anyone from posting or reposting content that harms a candidate’s “reputation” or “electoral prospects,” “influences an election in California,” undermines “confidence in” an election’s “outcome,” and more.”
The complainants alleged that the government is using terms like reputation, electoral prospects etc, as code words allowing the government officials and political opponents to sue people and companies over the content they dislike. “These broad and vague laws will chill speech and debate that criticizes politicians and their platforms,” the complaint reads.
In addition to highlighting the history and relevance of satire and parody, The Bee stated that it intends to continue creating and publishing digitally created or modified satire and parody content on its own website, X, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube about politicians like Donald Trump, Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom, presidential and vice presidential candidates for office “who appear on the ballot in California, other candidates who appear on the ballot in California, elected officials saying or doing something in connection to an election in California, and ballots, voting machines, and voting sites related to an election in California.”
Criticising the ‘Defending Democracy from Deepfake Deception Act of 2024’, Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillion said that one of the provisions of the law specifically targets satirists including writers at the Babylon Bee. Dillion emphasised that adding explicit disclaimers to let readers know that this is parody content would stifle the essence of the joke. He added that the new law is problematic in both ways as, if parody content is required to include disclaimers, then it would make the content devoid of its intended comic essence and if they do not add disclaimers, the company would face legal penalties.
“By requiring them to put disclaimers to let you know that this is parody that you’re reading right now – which completely stifles and kills the joke. If we’re unable to publish satire without putting disclaimers all over it, and we’re going to face potential penalties if we don’t do that, then that’s a very serious issue too. So we’re fighting back in every way that we can against laws that clamp down on speech,” the Babylon Bee CEO told DailyWire.
Notably, the lawsuit is filed against California Attorney General Rob Bonta, California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, and Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Soto.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk backed the Babylon Bee in its lawsuit against the state of California and said: “Great”.
The controversial AB 2655, AB2355 and AB 2839 laws
California has recently passed three new measures aimed at reducing the dissemination of ‘disinformation’ and ‘fraudulent’ electoral content. The laws (AB 2655, AB 2839, and AB 2355) claim to seek to bolster protections against digitally manipulated material in political communications and commercials. While the first two legislations do not specifically reference artificial intelligence (AI), the spread of AI deepfakes, mainly those associated with election material, was the impetus for their enactment.
Excerpt from AB 2655: Defending Democracy from Deepfake Deception Act (Source: Digital Democracy)
In a nutshell, AB 2655 (Defending Democracy From Deepfake Deception Act of 2024) puts specific removal obligations on significant web platforms in the 120 days preceding up to an election, as well as transparency rules that go beyond that time frame. AB 2839 (Elections: Deceptive Media in Advertisements) in a broader way restricts the distribution of election communications containing certain materially deceptive content. AB 2355 (Political Reform Act of 1974: Political advertisements: Artificial Intelligence) requires disclaimers on AI-generated commercials published by political committees.
The Defending Democracy From Deepfake Deception Act of 2024 (Defending Democracy Act) requires large online platforms to implement “state-of-the-art” procedures for identifying and removing materially deceptive content, as well as provide disclaimers about the inauthenticity of such content during election periods.
The law explains “large online platform” as “a public-facing internet website, web application or digital application, including a social media platform as defined in Section 22675 of the Business and Professions Code, video sharing platform, advertising network, or search engine that had at least 1,000,000 California users during the preceding 12 months.”
Under the Business and Professions Code, Section 22675, any public online service or application that has users in California and facilitates social interaction by allowing users to create profiles, compile a list of their social connections, and share content is considered a social media platform. This classification, however, does not include services and applications that solely provide direct messaging or email facilities.
While on the face of it, the three new laws do not seem problematic and seem to be an effort to regulate misinformation, hate speech, and AI-generated deepfakes, especially in the context of election, however, as the lawsuit filed by The Bee asserts, the laws are designed in a manner that allows the government officials and the political opponents to use them against content they deem unfavourable.
California’s new laws force platforms to report or remove “materially deceptive” election-related content, such as AI-generated videos or altered photos, even if it is intended to be satirical and devoid of ‘malicious intent’. The most contentious law of the three, AB 2839, requires AI-generated parody content to contain a continuous disclaimer running across the whole video or image, significantly restricting the ability to engage in political satire. Is it so difficult for the democrats to comprehend that the purpose of satire is killed if it is revealed beforehand that the content is indeed satire? Evidently, the three new laws are deliberately crafted to stifle unfavourable voices, particularly in the wake of elections.
Excerpt from AB-2839 Elections: deceptive media in advertisements (Source: California Legislative Information)
In fact, the controversy has been ongoing since last year, over another similar law that was criticised as a violation of First Amendment rights. Notably, The Bee had filed a similar lawsuit against the state of California last year over the government’s law AB 587 requiring tech platforms to provide reporting on hate speech and misinformation. However, as the Babylon Bee and podcaster Tim Pool contend, these regulations give the government disproportionate power over online expression of views by requiring platforms to report on “misinformation” and “hate speech”, these concepts, however, are highly subjective and could be used for censorship.
The ‘second phase’ of the ‘democratic’ attempts at stifling freedom of expression started in July this year when Governor Gavin Newsom published a post on X announcing that he would be signing a bill saying that electoral Ad parodies should be deemed “illegal”. In his post, Newsom shared a news article image which stated that X Corp owner and Trump supporter Elon Musk reposted the ‘manipulated’ Kamala Harris campaign ad posted by a conservative social media user, @MrReaganUSA, who is also challenging California’s three new laws. “Manipulating a voice in an “ad” like this one should be illegal. I’ll be signing a bill in a matter of weeks to make sure it is,” Newsom had posted on 29th July 2024.
Manipulating a voice in an “ad” like this one should be illegal.
To this, Elon Musk retorted: “I checked with renowned world authority, Professor Suggon Deeznutz, and he said parody is legal in America.” It is interesting that in just matter of a few months, parody and satire have become almost illegal in California.
I checked with renowned world authority, Professor Suggon Deeznutz, and he said parody is legal in America ?♂️ https://t.co/OCBewC3XYD
US and its past of censoring and ‘controlling’ speech while delivering sanctimonious sermons to India
The three new laws and last year’s censorship law AB 587 have been a continuation of the legacy of the Biden administration controlling speech in the country while conveniently colluding with select social media giants to curtail free speech and weaponize censorship. In August this year, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg admitted to assisting the Biden-Harris administration in weaponising political censorship to curtail free speech on its platforms, Facebook and Instagram, during the COVID-19 pandemic. He revealed that the United States government, prodded by the White House, interfered in Meta’s content moderation process and coerced its management to censor ‘certain’ Covid-19-related information. On one hand, the Biden government preaches the sanctity of free expression (FoE) across the world, on the other, feels at ease twisting the arms of social media giants at home.
Similarly, X Corp published ‘Twitter Files’ exposing the deep entanglement between Twitter and various government agencies to control the narrative and suppress stories that served against the interests of the Democrat government as seen in the case of the Hunter Biden laptop story, which was wiped from Twitter and other social media platforms, apparently to save President Joe Biden’s government.
Ironically, the democrats love to portray themselves as the champions of democratic values, press freedom and freedom of speech for the common people, however, it take delight in stifling the same ‘legally’ when they are at the receiving end of criticising. This hypocrisy, however, is not confined to the periphery of the US, the Biden administration also loves to lecture countries like India on free speech and hate speech by relying on dubious reports by biased sources. It is tragic and funny at the same time that a parody/satire website like The Babylon Bee has to approach the court to protect its freedom of speech because the Democrats cannot handle criticism, especially when it is blended with humour. The next time, the US contemplates delivering sermons to India on free speech, it should first take a look at the deplorable state of free speech at home.
