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Journalist brutally killed in Tripura while covering clash between CPM and IPFT workers

OpIndia Staff
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Journalist brutally killed in Tripura while covering clash between CPM and IPFT workers

Shantanu Bhowmik a 28 year old journalist working for a local news channel named Dinraat was beaten to death on Wednesday while covering the clash between Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) and the Tripura Rajaer Upajati Ganamukti Parishad (TRUGP) which is also known as Ganamukti Parishad (GMP).

The IPFT is a tribal based party of Tripura which has demanded the formation of a state called Tipraland. GMP on the other hand is the tribal wing of the CPI(M).

Shantanu had reportedly gone to a place called Mandai which is 35 Kms from Agartala for covering a clash between the IPFT and GMP activists. When the police there resorted to a lathi-charge, the mob proceeded to attack Bhowmik.

Another journalist described the gruesome details of his death where he was hit with a stick on his leg and after he fell down, blows were struck to his head. The mob later dragged his body and hid it behind a stadium. The whole incident happened at about 12:30 PM.

His body was later recovered by the police and was brought to the government run Govind Ballabh Pant Medical College and Hospital.

This clash between IPFT and TRUGP seems to have begun as a result [PDF] of unruly IPFT activists’s efforts to try and ensure that the CPM cadre and workers didn’t participate in GMP’s rally in Agartala on Tuesday. This resulted in at-least 130 GMP supporters getting injured in an attack allegedly carried out by the IPFT.

Later, the GMP, SFI and DYFI launched a retaliatory offensive where they attacked IPFT workers and destroyed their flags. The IPFT too decided to respond and then on Wednesday created a roadblock and attacked CPM’s Mandai local committee. It was while covering this whole violence, Shantanu was attacked and subsequently murdered.

This incident elicited a very strong reaction in Tripura with journalists from both the print and electronic media blocking the road near the official residence of CM Manik Sarkar from 6:30 PM Wednesday to demand the immediate arrest of all the culprits. Even though the DGP tried to quell the crowd, they kept their agitation going and only later after assurances form the CM, they withdrew.

Reports have now indicated that 4 IPFT activists have been arrested in connection with the murder and violence which also saw 16 police personnel get injured.

The situation in Tripura continues to remain tense with the imposition of section 144 and the suspension of mobile internet services following the IPFT-GMP clash. The Agartala press club the Tripura Working Journalists’ Association is scheduled to hold a silent funeral procession for Shantanu in Agartala.

This death was unfortunately soon given a political colour by some CPM leaders. According to a local newspaper which slammed such actions, the Tripura’s PWD minister gave a “Red Salute” to the body of the journalist. It also slammed CPM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury for his tweet blaming the death on BJP-RSS’s approach to journalists and silencing voices.

What can also be noted is that even though a young fearless journalist had been killed in broad daylight, it failed to elicit a similar amount of nationwide outrage which was seen after the Gauri Lankesh murder. Unlike the Lankesh murder where various media persons outraged immediately and endlessly blamed the Right Wing without proof, such a response was clearly missing.

Even though a condolence meet has been organised by the Press Club of India on Friday at 2 PM people might call it to be a clear case of tokenism. Some might try to explain such a reaction away with their tyranny of distance narrative but it certainly doesn’t bode well for the integrity of the media at large.

Delhi govt instructed by the NGT to inspect Mosques and check their noise levels

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi govt instructed by the NGT to inspect Mosques and check their noise levels

The National Green Tribunal (NGT), has reportedly directed the Kejriwal led Delhi government to inspect the mosques in East Delhi to check if the noise levels generated during the daily Azaan were exceeding the permissible limit.

This direction given by a bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar, also directed the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) and the AAP government to take appropriate action against the Mosques if they are found guilty.

This direction, was a result of a petition filed by an NGO named Akhand Bharat Morcha with the tribunal alleging that the illegal use of the loudspeakers by the Mosques were adversely affecting the health of nearby residents. The plea had alleged that some of the Mosques were violating the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000.

The plea further claimed that some of these violating mosques were even located in silent zones, near schools and hospitals. It also claimed that the residents of the area had complained to the authorities about the noise but no action was taken. Thus the petition also asked the tribunal to direct the police for ensuring that no noise pollution is caused by the respondent mosques.

The counsel for various Mosques on the other hand claimed that they were using the loudspeakers, without exceeding the prescribed parameters. They also claimed that they had no intention to disturb the public or violate the norms.

The counsel for the National Capital Territory of Delhi and the DPCC submitted that they would be conducting inspections to check the noise levels of the Mosques mentioned in the petition, to check the ambient air quality and noise levels. The also claimed that action would be taken if violations are found.

Use of loudspeakers by Mosques has always been a hotly debated topic in the country. Recently Sonu Nigam was viciously attacked by the radicals after he complained about early morning Azaan being played by mosques near his Mumbai home. Some Muslim leaders were so offended by his statements that they even announced a Rs 51 crore bounty on his head.

A similar barrages of abuses were also meted out to actress Suchitra Krishnamoorth after she too complained about “ear shattering” Azaan near her home at about 4:45 AM.

After Vipassana, Kejriwal returns to Delhi but leaves again for Chennai to meet Kamal Haasan

OpIndia Staff
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After Vipassana, Kejriwal returns to Delhi but leaves again for Chennai to meet Kamal Haasan

Chief Minister of Delhi and Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal has concluded his 10 day long Vipassana session and claimed that some day he wishes he and his wife could fully immerse themselves in medidation.

However, instead of getting back to work on returning to Delhi, he has chosen to go to Chennai to meet superstar Kamal Haasan today. Speculations are rife that Kamal Haasan might join an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party.

Soon, Twitter was abuzz with jokes of the two meeting.

AAP rebel leader Kapil Mishra, too, took digs at him.

Two years back, Delhi CM Kejriwal had met Kamal Haasan to discuss ideas related to promotion of the film industry and easing the process of shooting in the capital.

3 Muslim clerics and 8 Arab Sheikhs arrested as Hyderabad Police busts another marriage racket

OpIndia Staff
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3 Muslim clerics and 8 Arab Sheikhs arrested as Hyderabad Police busts another marriage racket

In a major crackdown on recent spurt of child marriages in the city, the Hyderabad police arrested 5 Omani and 3 Qatari nationals. The police also arrested 3 Qazis which include Farid Ahmed Khan, a chief Qazi of Mumbai. Farid Ahmed has been accused of preparing forged marriage certificates and Nikahnamas which resulted in the creation of a international human trafficking ring. The police has also arrested 4 lodge owners and 5 “brokers” in connection with this case.

According to the city Police Commissioner M. Mahender Reddy, these Arab Sheikhs were marrying minor girls with the help of Qazis, brokers and lodge owners. He also claimed that the girls were even sexually assaulted by the Qazis. He stated that charges under the Indian Penal Code like Sections 420 (cheating and dishonest), 370 (exploitation), rape and POCSO Act have been filed.

This crackdown closely follows a complaint by a woman in August against her husband for allegedly “Selling off” their minor daughter to a 70-year-old Omani national named Ahmed Abdullah. The girl is still believed to be stuck in Oman.

The Deputy Commissioner of Police V Satyanarayana stated that, poor families with minor girls were targeted by the accused who promised the families money and a marriage in the gulf countries. The sheikhs used to reported spend Rs 3-10 lakh for each marriage and the majority of the money was taken by the Qazis and the brokers.

According to the report, the work of these so-called brokers (who also lived in gulf countries) was that they used to acquaint themselves with local Arab nationals and connect them with Indian girls and their families. They also arranged the visas, passports and fake documents like birth certificate etc for the girls.

In order to stop such incidences, the police has now asked foreigners who want to marry a city girl to bring an NOC from their country and also submit an application with the Police Commissioner. The police has also asked the age gap between the bride and the groom to not be more than 10 years.

Over the years, Hyderabad has been plagued by many such marriage trafficking instances. In 2015 too the police had busted such a racket and arrested several people including brokers and 3 Qazis. In 2011 incidentally people including two Sudanese nationals and three Qazis had been arrested by the police while cracking down on such rackets.

Propagandists target private citizen just because he is followed by PM Modi

OpIndia Staff
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Propagandists target private citizen just because he is followed by PM Modi

A teenage girl was allegedly kidnapped by four men, Saleem, Aslam, Akram and Ayub, in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffaranagar and gang raped for ten days. It was also reported that the girl was forced to eat meat and given drugs while she was repeatedly raped for ten days. A Twitter user tweeted the details and Muzaffarnagar Police’s Twitter handle refuted the claims of the girl being forced to eat meat.


Meanwhile, so-called fake news busters and liberals on Twitter latched on to the response by Muzaffarnagar Police and ganged up against the Twitter user for ‘spreading rumours’.


Suddenly, the focus went on to the fact that the four men mentioned in the tweet were accused of rape of a girl to the fact that the person who posted the ‘rumour’ was followed by the Prime Minister. This overlooks the fact that it was reported in news that the victim was forced to eat meat by her perpetrators.

Soon Aam Aadmi Party’s mouthpiece Janta Ka Reported developed a story on how Anshul, the Twitter user, was followed by the Prime Minister, instead of focusing on the fact that he tweeted about a girl being allegedly raped by four men.


Please not that in the tweets, Muzzaffarnagar Police has not denied allegations of rape. They have denied the allegation that the girl was forced to eat meat.

Soon, they got called out for making being followed by PM Modi a bigger issue than the fact that a girl was allegedly raped by four men.


Indian mainstream media has displaced sense of importance and gravity of news on what should be focused on while reporting a story. The ideological wars have often seen private citizens, especially those considered to be right-leaning, as being the cannon fodder.

Journalist alleges plagiarism by Swati Chaturvedi in an article discussing ‘journalistic integrity’

OpIndia Staff
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Journalist alleges plagiarism by Swati Chaturvedi in an article discussing ‘journalistic integrity’

Stanley Pignal a journalist with The Economist, today accused abusive social media troll cum Journalist Swati Chaturvedi of plagiarising excerpts of his tweets. Pignal put out a tweet to provide proof for his accusations:


The article in question by Swati is ironically about Journalistic integrity where she writes about the episode of Arnab Goswami allegedly lying about covering the 2002 Gujarat Riots.

Pignal via his tweets uploaded two images which detailed the allegedly plagiarised portions:

Image 1 via Stanley Pingle
Image 2 via Stanley Pingle

As seen from the above images, the allegedly plagiarised phrases were:

If as a journalist you don’t report facts truthfully, then nothing else matters

Journalists who lie about what they claim they saw have no place in the profession

Soon a few people noticed the tweet and started to call Swati out. She as a possible defence feigned ignorance by claiming that she didn’t even follow Pignal:


Via this defence, she tried to insinuate that if she never followed Pignal, she never saw his tweet thus the charge of Plagiarism didn’t have any basis. Pignal didn’t taken take this response too kindly tried to question her further:


He also asked her to apologise and give proper attribution. Which he stated shouldn’t be a problem as the dispute was only about two tweets:


Swati still didn’t apologise but stated that she would make changes to her article:


Since then it seems she has removed those sentences from the article but it remains to be seen if “DailyO” which carried the article, questions her about the incident.

This isn’t the only time Swati has been in the news for the wrong reasons. We had recently reported how BJP Delhi spokesperson Tajinder Bagga had filed a defamation case against her for allegedly spreading falsehoods about him on twitter. Plus apart from tweeting abusive things to people who don’t agree with her, she has also filed fake stories and resorted to targeted harassment in the past.

Anti-Modi cop Sanjiv Bhatt spreads muck about other Modi haters on social media

OpIndia Staff
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Anti-Modi cop Sanjiv Bhatt spreads muck about other Modi haters on social media

Sacked IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who is popular amongst the “liberals” for his vicious anti-Modi and anti-India propaganda has now taken to spreading muck about his fellow Modi-haters themselves.

In a Facebook post written yesterday, without naming anyone, Sanjiv Bhatt took potshots at a female journalist and author who wrote a book on Sohrabuddin encounter case and alleged that she had “amorous” relationship with one IPS officer investigating the encounter cases and with an activist-lawyer who was fighting the 2002 riots victims’ case.

Twitter immediately got into action and theories were spun on who could Bhatt be talking about.


While Bhatt has neither confirmed nor denied if the post was about Rana Ayyub, who wrote a book titled “Gujarat Files” which was supposed to be an exposé on Sohrabuddin encounter case and 2002 riots, he has given enough hints to imply he has written about her.

Soon, more people speculated whether the lawyer Bhatt talks about in his muck was Mukul Sinha, who passed away few years back after losing battle with cancer.


However, Bhatt has been more explicit in writing details about the woman having an affair with the IPS officer than the lawyer activist. But with Mukul Sinha’s son, Pratik, who also runs the left-leaning propaganda website altnews, prominently present on social media, Twitterati took digs at them based on Bhatt’s report.

Neither Ayyub nor Pratik Sinha, Mukul Sinha’s son, have reacted to Bhatt’s post yet.

Jailed Maoist leader claims their organisation bore an irreconcilable grudge against Gauri Lankesh: Times Now

OpIndia Staff
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Jailed Maoist leader claims their organisation bore an irreconcilable grudge against Gauri Lankesh: Times Now

Ever since the news of the Gauri Lankesh murder broke, various so-called left liberals and eminent media personalities started to almost directly blame the Right Wing and Hindutva for the murder.

Their resolve was so strong that they even resorted to attack the brother of Gauri after he alleged that there could be a Naxal angle behind the murder. According to him, Gauri had been facing threats from the Naxals for helping the government in trying to convert and bring them into the mainstream.

Now it seems that the propaganda peddled by the left might suffer another blow, if a Times Now report is to be believed.

The report claimed that Special Investigative Team questioned a Maoist leader currently lodged in Bangalore Central Jail. This Maoist leader reportedly claimed that the ultra-left bore an irreconcilable grudge against Gauri Lankesh. According to the report, the Maoist leaders were particularly unhappy with Gauri Lankesh for urging them to surrender.

The reason being was that, they took her possible assurances at face value and surrendered. But after the surrender they reportedly remained languishing in jails with no hope in sight. The report pointed fingers if this sense of betrayal among the left-wing terrorists could have caused the murder of Lankesh.

The news anchor also during the report posed the question as to whether such facts are being deliberately suppressed. This isn’t the only time aspersions have been cast over this whole affair as questions were also raised over the type of probe being carried out by the Karnataka police.

Another Times Now report has now claimed that Gauri Lankesh had met a few Maoists a couple of months ago in Kerala. This revelation also seems to have been made by a Jailed Maoist Leader and the report later questioned as to whether the whole Right Wing murder theory was motivated for political gains.

Even as these reports claimed that there might be a sizeable chance of a Naxal involvement in the whole matter, other reports have categorically claimed that the SIT has found no evidence to establish the role of Naxals in the case. It seems that only time will reveal the truth behind the matter, or will it?

Rohingya row: Bengal cleric threatens to overthrow Central Government

OpIndia Staff
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Rohingya row: Bengal cleric threatens to overthrow Central Government

In an outrageous move, a Bengal cleric, to show solidarity with the Rohingya Muslims has allegedly threatened to overthrow the central government over deportation of the Rohingya Muslims. Shia cleric Maulana Shabbir Ali Azad Warsi allegedly threatened the government at a rally on 18th September in Kolkata and said, “If the Muslims are in minority, are we weak? You don’t know the history of the Muslims. We are Hussaini Muslims. Even if we are 72, we can kill lakhs.”

In the video he could be heard saying,”This is our memorandum to the Delhi Government that Rohingyas are our brothers. Don’t think that the Rohingya Muslims are different from the Muslims of India. We all Muslims are brothers. Don’t try to evacuate the Rohingya Muslims from Bengal. This is Bengal, not Assam, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Muzaffarnagar or Muzaffarpur.

It is imperative to note that confidential government reports have said Rohingyas have terror links and an Al Qaeda man was arrested in Delhi trying to recruit Rohingyas. Government of India has made its stand very clear regarding the Rohingyas that they are illegal immigrants and need to be deported as per law.

We had reported in the past how the erstwhile UPA government had in 2012 turned a blind eye to the illegal immigration, due to domestic political pressure and international concern over human rights. As a result of this inflow, their numbers have been pegged at about 40,000 which was excluding the 14,000 odd Rohingyas who are registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Husband gives wife Triple Talaq after she tries to stop him from forcibly selling her land

OpIndia Staff
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Husband gives wife Triple Talaq after she tries to stop him from forcibly selling her land

On August 22nd the Supreme Court in a historic judgement, had deemed the practice of instant triple talaq as unconstitutional.

Even though some clerics had opposed this judgement, the general consensus approved the judgement and it was expected that the practice would soon start to fizzle out from the Muslim society. But that doesn’t seem to be the case just yet.

Now almost a month after the judgement, reports have come out about a Triple Talaq incident. The incident pertains to the Barahpur Kuwar village in Basti district of Uttar Pradesh.

Here according to reports, a 50 year old woman named Asma Khatun reached the police station on Monday to lodge a complaint against her husband. There she alleged that her husband gave her her triple talaq and she was left wondering as to where she would go with her 7 children. She had come to the police station along with her son, grandson and daughter-in-law.

She claimed that she had sacrificed her whole life towards serving her husband and after she tried to stop him from doing an immoral thing, he gave her a triple talaq. The 62 year old husband named Mohammed Naseem had reportedly given her the instant divorce about 20 days back based on a false allegation of her not serving him during his sickness.

She claimed that the true reason behind it is that, he was forcibly trying to sell the land which was owned by her. According to reports, she used to own 4 bighas of land out of which the husband had already sold 2 bighas. When he allegedly wanted to sell the remaining 2, she tried to stop him. He as a result became angry and gave her triple talaq.

She now claims that he is not allowing her to stay at their home and is insistent on selling the land. She claims that the land forms a part of their livelihood and the kids won’t have anything to eat if the land is sold.

She also claimed that after getting the talaq she had tried to seek justice from the members of her community but nobody came to her aid.

The Circle Officer confirmed the complaint of Asma and stated that a station house officer would be carrying out the probe. If the husband is found guilty then action will be taken against him.

Another report quoted the Station officer who stated that even though the instant talaq has been banned by the Supreme Court, they haven’t yet received any instructions as to how they should proceed with the investigation.

 

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