A case of sexual assault against a minor girl has come to light in Delhi. On 22nd August, a man identified as 53-year-old Sanjay Kumar has been arrested by the police for raping a minor girl multiple times. The victim, who is now 18, studies in class 12.
As per a report in Live Hindustan, the victim told the police that his father was a clerk in the Delhi Secretariat. Her father passed away five years ago, and before that, her mother had passed away, too. The victim lives with her younger brother.
Kumar was friends with the victim’s father and often visited their place. After her father’s death, Kumar took the children to his house. Kumar, who is a property dealer, convinced the children to sell their property in Zakir Nagar for Rs 21 lakhs and took away the money in the name of investment.
Kumar has a real estate business. In February 2022, he sent the victim and her brother to live in a rented house, saying he had paid the landlord Rs 15 lakh as security. He got an agreement on his name and gave it to the children.
Kumar visited the rented house several times and allegedly raped the minor girl. As per the FIR, she visited the police station at Aman Vihar several times but could not gather the courage to file a complaint. Some time ago, when the landlord came to collect the rent, the victim learned about the cheating. She called the PCR van, and the police arrested the accused.
Kumar had tried to rape the victim’s friend too
As per the victim’s complaint, on 21st February, the victim’s friend was with her at the rented house. Kumar visited them and gave both cold drinks. They got sick and started vomiting. The victim said she fainted in the bathroom, after which Kumar allegedly raped her. When she gained consciousness, Kumar threatened to kill the victim’s brother and fled. Her friend told her that he tried to molest her as well.
Deputy Directory in Delhi Government arrested for raping a minor girl
On 11th August, Delhi Police booked Premoday Khakha, a deputy director posted at the Women and Child Development Department of the Delhi Government for raping a minor girl. The incident came to light after the victim was admitted to St Stephen’s Hospital to treat an anxiety attack. During counseling at the hospital, the victim revealed that the deputy director raped her several times.
The hospital informed Burari Police Station and an FIR was registered. The victim is not in a position to submit her statement in front of a Magistrate under Section 154. The police have now arrested the accused. An FIR has been registered under Sections 376(2), 506, 509, 323, 313, 120B, 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and POCSO Act.
In the FIR, the 14-year-old victim accused the deputy director’s wife of involvement as well. As per the police, the victim’s parents were principals in government schools. She is currently studying in class 12th in a school situated in the civil lines area. The victim said in her statement that she often visited the Church with her family, where the deputy director used to come as well with his family. As they were from the same state, the families became friends.
On 1st October 2020, the victim’s father passed away, after which she used to stay stressed. The deputy director brought her to his house. During her stay at his house, he raped her multiple times between November 2020 and January 2021. When the victim got pregnant during that period, his wife asked her to keep quiet. The couple’s son allegedly brought medicine from the market to abort the child, which Khakha’s wife gave to the victim.
In a bizarre development, Times of India today used a photograph of noted economist Bibek Debroy in one news report on the arrest of Canada Canada-based businessman in an espionage case in in Delhi. After the matter was pointed out by Debroy himself on X (Twitter), TOI issued an apology on the microblogging platform and removed the image from the report.
The report titled ‘Canada-based bizman held in espionage case’, which said that CBI has arrested Canada-based businessman named Rahul Gangal in connection with a ‘defence espionage’ case, used an image of Bibek Debroy as the featured image.
After the report was posted on X by the Times of India with the image of Debroy, he spotted it and immediately responded to it. He said, “Times of India journalism. ?? @TOIIndiaNews Why have you got my picture? I am not Canadian. Nor a businessman. Nor guilty of espionage.”
He then posted another tweet demanding an apology from the Times of India.
But there was no response from the media house after the mistake was pointed out, prompting Debroy to post another tweet, saying, “What happened @TOIIndiaNews ? People who make a honest mistake, say sorry. Dishonest ones are chary.”
Following this tweet, an apology was posted from the X handle of Times of India Editor, saying that the image was added ‘mistakenly’. The post said, “In the story “Canada-based bizman held in espionage case”, we mistakenly added picture of noted economist @bibekdebroy. We are sorry for the error.”
In the story "Canada-based bizman held in espionage case", we mistakenly added picture of noted economist @bibekdebroy. We are sorry for the error.
However, Bibek Debroy was not impressed with the response, calling it lame and tame. He replied to the TOI Editor’s tweet: ‘Sounds lame and tame, as if said grudgingly. But I guess, admitting an error, deliberate or inadvertent, doesn’t come easily to TOI.’
Sounds lame and tame, as if said grudgingly. But I guess, admitting an error, deliberate or inadvertent, doesn't come easily to TOI.
He also reposted several tweets criticising the Times of India, some of which said he should sue the media house.
While the image now no longer appears in the report, it still appears in social media sites where the report was shared earlier, because social media platforms keep cache versions of news reports, and keep them even if the original report is changed.
Bibek Debroy is the chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India, and also the Chairman of the Finance Ministry’s ‘Expert Committee for Infrastructure Classification and Financing Framework for Amrit Kaal’. Apart from being a noted economist, he has also translated several Sanskrit scriptures into English, including the unabridged version of the Mahabharata in a series of 10 volumes, Ramayana, Bhagavata Purana and others.
While Times of India may escape after the apology this time, when its TV channel Times Now wrongly used the image of a judge earlier, it cost it dearly. The Bombay High Court had ordered Times Now to pay Rs 100 crore for mistakenly showing the image of former Supreme Court Judge, Justice P B Sawant, in a report in September 2018. The mistake was caused by the fact that the name of the actual accused in a scam case, Calcutta high court judge, was similar to the name of the former SC judge.
Even though Times Now had apologised for the mistake, Bombay High Court had ordered it to pay the amount after Justice P B Sawant sued the channel, and the Supreme Court had refused to stay the order.
Allahabad High Court stated in a judgement that a government servant would not be dismissed from service even if he remarries while the first wife is alive. The court ordered the reinstatement of an employee named Prabhat Bhatnagar who was removed for the same reason, according to a report in Live Law. The case was heard before Justice Kshitij Shailendra.
The court also noted the Uttar Pradesh government’s laws which only mention modest sanctions for such personnel. The petitioner, appointed by the Bareilly District Development Officer’s office in April 1999, reportedly appealed his dismissal at the High Court.
Petitioner’s first marriage took place on 24 November 1999. He was later accused of a second marriage to a female colleague, Anju Khandelwal by the first wife. She had presented the land records as evidence in which he had referred to the woman as his wife.
Bhatnagar’s attorney, Sanjay Kumar Om submitted, “The allegation against the petitioner was to the effect that during the subsistence of the first marriage with Anuradha Saxena, he performed a second marriage and, therefore, he committed misconduct. A charge sheet was issued to the petitioner raising the same charges. A reply was submitted by the petitioner, in which, the factum of the performance of the second marriage was denied by him.”
His promotion was halted by the department. He denied the allegations but he was removed from his position in July 2005 after being dissatisfied with the response. The department did not hear the appeal against the action whereas no measure was taken against the female coworker who was charged with tying the knot with him.
The court asserted, “Having heard learned counsel for the parties, I find that conditions of a valid Hindu marriage are narrated under Section 5 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 i.e. to say that, in case, anybody alleges performance of any marriage, whether first or second, it has to be established before the Court or even administrative authorities that marriage was lawfully performed as per the provisions of law, which in the present case, is the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.”
The court mentioned that the officers who ordered Prabhat Bhatnagar’s discharge could not provide any concrete proof of his second marriage. The court determined that the department’s findings were insufficient to support a conviction under the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955.
The judge referred to Rule No. 29 of the Uttar Pradesh Government Rules, 1956, for government servants entering into second marriages without official permission. There is a provision of punishment of 3 years, but the sentence is only delivered if there is strong evidence of a second marriage.
The termination of Prabhat Bhatnagar on the same allegation and the leniency shown to the female coworker were both questioned by the court. It instructed that the petitioner be restored with all prior financial benefits added since it deemed his removal to be unjust.
On 23rd August 2023, India achieved an incredible milestone as the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Chandrayaan-3 successfully landed on the South Pole of the Moon. India is the first country to make a successful landing on the South Pole of the Moon and the fourth country to achieve a soft landing on Planet Earth’s natural satellite.
The achievement, however, did not go well with a large number of people from the West. Many of them whined again over the imaginary aid Britain sends to India. Interestingly, most of the claims were made by those who call themselves “journalists”.
GB News’ Patrick Christys is one of the Britishers who are yet to come out of their self-centered and racist shell and get updated about the information on the desk about India. Christys, a GB News presenter, ranted against India and demanded Britain get the 2.3 Billion Pounds that it has sent to India since 2016.
‘India, give us back our £2.3 BILLION!’@PatrickChristys congratulates India on their successful moon mission, but says ‘as a rule, if you can afford to fire a rocket at the dark side of the moon, you shouldn’t be coming to us with your hand out for foreign aid!’ pic.twitter.com/fNMLY5RCok
Hilariously, GB News’ post about the UK giving aid to India got ‘fact checked’ by Community Notes, which added that the claims are misleading.
In his so-called congratulations message to India, Christys said, “I would like to congratulate India on landing on the dark side of the moon. I would also like to invite India to return 2.3 billion Pounds for aid money that we sent between 2016 and 2021.” He also claimed that Britain is set to send 53 million Pounds to India next year.
He said, “If you can fire rockets to the moon’s dark side, you should not be coming to us with your hand out.”
Another presenter of GB News, Nigel Farage, also made a similar statement, claiming that Britain has been giving aid to India. He said, “I don’t think we should be giving a penny of your money in foreign aid to a country with enough resources to land on the moon!”
'I don't think we should be giving a penny of your money in foreign aid to a country that has enough resources to land on the moon!'@Nigel_Farage reacts to India landing a craft on the south pole of the moon and asks whether the UK should still be sending them foreign aid. pic.twitter.com/efgZmD5ymR
He accused India of not caring for its people, saying, “Well, good for India as they spend their money on space probes. As they spend their money on the military. As they spend their money on nuclear weapons. Still, half of the country lives below the poverty line.
Another GB News panelist, Adam Brooks, wrote, “India sends space rockets to the moon, but we, the taxpayer still fund foreign aid to the Country. So so wrong.”
It appears there is fundamentally wrong with the people employed by GB News as they all seem to be living in some weird colonial hangover, deluding themselves that the British empire brings kindness and prosperity to the rest of the world and exists solely to civilize the heathens, by poring money on them.
The fact is, the Government of India is not getting any aid from Britain. Period. “Britain gives aid to India” is a pointless statement as outdated as the British empire itself.
Source: X
Express quoted former Brexit Party MEP Ben Habib claiming the aid Britain gives to India does not get recognition. He said, “It is odd, to put it mildly, that the UK gives increasing amounts of aid to India, a country with a space program and an economy bigger than our own. Kemi Badenoch (Secretary of State for Business and Trade since 2023, President of the Board of Trade, and Minister for Women and Equalities) may think the aid will make her job getting a trade agreement easier, but it will not. They will take the aid, bank it, and drive negotiations without any recognition of our generosity.”
He added, “Neither can the UK afford it. It should not have escaped the FCDO that we are in the grip of a cost-of-living crisis. Our finances stretched. Instead of spraying aid around the world, perhaps HMG could instead cut our taxes?” “People speak of the soft power that providing aid gives the UK. It is a quaint but wrong notion. The £100 million given to India over three years will do nothing for India, will not be recognised and will not improve the UK’s standing one jot. Like so much of government expenditure, our foreign aid is being wasted,” he said.
Journalist Sophie said, “India has become the first country to successfully land a spacecraft near the south pole of the moon so why did we send them £33.4 million in foreign aid which is set to rise to £57 million in 24/25 Time we get our money back.”
Source: X
This is not the first time Brits came up with the idea of imaginary aid to India. When Chandrayaan3 was launched, seemingly jealous, British politician and leader of the British First political party, Paul Golding raked the rhetorical issue of the UK’s “foreign aid” to India. Taking to Twitter, he said, “Well done India on the success of your space program. And shame on UK politicians who keep unnecessarily giving India tens of millions of pounds in ‘foreign aid’.”
What the Britons have missed is that the so-called aid they send to India is not sent to the Indian government or any government organizations, it is sent to private charities and NGOs which largely work against India’s interests.
The elephant in the room – UK’s “aid” to India
In 2012, India’s former finance minister, Pranab Mukherjee described Britain’s annual aid of £280 million (Rs 2,798 crore) to India as “peanuts.” This irked many British politicians who questioned the continuation of this so-called “aid” to India. They argued that India funds its own space program and has its own foreign aid budget, thus it doesn’t require foreign aid from the UK.
In 2015, the UK aid to India was supposed to stop after the Indian government expressed its disinterest in it. Later, in 2017, the Indian government reminded several analysts and colonial-mindset-driven political commentators that India has been giving more foreign aid to countries than it received.
However, in March 2023, the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) released a report claiming that the UK is still giving aid to India, however, it added that its nature and purpose have changed now.
Notably, the ICAI scrutinizes UK government aid and is independent of the government. The report stressed that approximately £2.3 billion (Rs 23,000 crore) of UK aid was sent to India from 2016 to 2021.
The report stated, “We calculated that the UK provided around £2.3 billion in aid to India between 2016 and 2021. This figure includes £441 million in bilateral aid, £129 million in development investment via the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), £749 million of aid through multilateral organizations, and £1 billion in investments through British International Investment (BII), the UK’s development finance institution.”
As per the ICAI report, BII is the world’s oldest development finance institution and was established in 1948 as the Colonial Development Corporation. Its mission is to do good without losing money. The report added that the BII has a portfolio of 389 investments in India valued at £2.3 billion in 2021, by far its largest country portfolio at 28% of the total.
The ICAI report made it clear that the British funding was not going to the Indian government but to various programs in India, including investments. The report said, “While there are still substantial volumes of UK aid to India, it is now very different in nature and purpose.”
The report categorically highlighted that UK aid to India is now largely focused on climate, infrastructure, and economic development, rather than the provision of basic services such as health and education to the poorest states in India.
Additionally, one spokesperson from FCDO categorically highlighted that the UK has given no financial aid to the Indian government since 2015.
The spokesperson said, “Since 2015 the UK has given no financial aid to the government of India. Most of our funding now is focused on business investments which help create new markets and jobs for the UK, as well as India. UK investments are also helping tackle shared challenges such as climate change.”
UK government’s official response to ICAI’s report
On the 25th of April, 2023, the UK Government officially responded to the ICAI’s review ‘UK aid to India’ released in March 2023. The UK government added that it accepted 3 recommendations completely, and it partially accepted its other two recommendations on UK’s aid review to India since 2016. The UK government categorically maintained that its investment portfolio in India has a strong “development rationale”.
As per the 2023 Integrated Review Refresh (IRR) published recently, the UK government prioritizes the Indo-Pacific region. It stated that developments in this region will have a disproportionate influence on the global economy, supply chains, stability, and norms of state behavior. Therefore, the UK government asserted that it is investing and offering Official Development Assistance (ODA) in this region for its own strategic interest.
Reiterating its position, the UK government said that it has ended direct bilateral financial assistance to the Indian government since 2015. This decision was taken because India has made substantial development gains and has increased investment in its own development.
The official response said, “The bulk of our bilateral offer is investment with the dual objective of development impact and preserving our capital.”
The imperative part here is that the UK government maintained that it is preserving its capital which directly negates smear campaigns and insinuations in the name of the UK’s “foreign aid” to India. The claim that the United Kingdom is dolling out money in the form of “foreign aid” to India can’t be further from the truth. The UK govt is investing in various projects in India, but it is not giving ‘aid’.
The UK government noted India’s increasing global stature and financial prowess. The UK government further asserted multilateral financing to India has evolved because the country is at par with emerging economies of the world.
It stated, “During the review period (since 2016), the World Bank and Asian Development Bank finance has also evolved, and they have stopped providing concessional loans and India instead borrows on the same terms as other emerging economies. We are providing a guarantee to the World Bank to enable them to provide an additional $1 billion of climate finance to India.”
It is worth noting that lower and middle-income countries have been accusing the Western nations of falling short of their pledge to climate financing and atoning their climate sins. After repeated persuasion, these nations are compelled to partner with developing nations like India on the issue of climate change and step up for climate financing, out of their dark record in the past.
Both the ICAI review and the UK government noted that it is economic growth that has driven the reduction in poverty in India. Apparently, recently the World Bank highlighted that India has successfully pulled 415 million people out of poverty in the last 15 years.
In its response, the UK government emphasized India’s ongoing efforts to reform the international finance institutions to better respond to current development challenges and extended support to India’s bid in its G20 Presidency on this matter.
The claim that the UK releases foreign aid to India has no merit
Before moving ahead, let’s clearly demarcate a few things first. Developmental assistance/loans, investments facilitated by multilateral financing institutions, and climate financing, among other forms, are different from financial handouts, charity/donations, humanitarian assistance, or emergency aid that do not necessitate repayment from the recipient country.
The latter forms of aid are the ones that are frequently highlighted in rhetorical claims surrounding foreign aid and mostly with the mindset of a superiority-inferiority complex. Driven by a colonial mindset, British political commentators frequently attempt to insinuate that substantial progress and development in India are largely funded by handouts from the United Kingdom to its former colony, a notion that lacks both logical basis and factual evidence.
The recent insinuation regarding India’s successful Chandrayaan-3 mission, suggesting it was financed through British handouts or donations, serves as yet another manifestation of this entrenched perspective. Apart from the recent display of self-aggrandization, earlier in March 2022, British journalist Alastair Stewart sermonized that India should not receive any penny in aid from the United Kingdom, as if it were the case. Such sermons and White-man-burden type commentary are factually wrong.
In fact, the Indian government has time and again rejected “foreign aid”, humanitarian assistance, or any form of donations/charity. India has maintained that the country can cope with the situation on its own.
For example – the Indian government officially refused to accept foreign aid for disasters as early as 2004. That year, during the Indian Ocean tsunami, India not only refused any humanitarian assistance from Japan but also turned down emergency aid offers from the US and Israel. Similarly, in 2018, when Kerala faced its worst floods in over 100 years, India again refused any external aid, even from one of its closest trade partners, the United Arab Emirates. The UAE had offered almost $100 million in aid.
However, the fact is that India has not been completely averse to the idea of accepting foreign aid. The only thing is that India has changed the terms for receiving foreign aid. Now, India is only inclined to accept aid on a long-term basis and is open to accepting long-term aid from multinational institutions like the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) among others.
Moreover, India welcomes foreign investment in the country, which is completely different, as the investor will gain from the investment.
With British watchdog ICAI review reports, the UK government’s official response in this matter, and the Indian government’s stated stance, it is clear that the UK has not been giving any foreign aid to India. The fact is that it has either invested in India for its strategic interests, profitability, or for climate financing, to account for climate sins done earlier.
As per the British government’s response, a small portion of its “investment/aid” in India goes to Non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The response stated, “The volume of ODA spent on open societies and democratic standards will remain relatively low as a proportion of total spend.”
However, this particular investment/aid is under constant scrutiny by the government of India as it is seen that it is harming Indian interests in many ways. Many foreign-funded NGOs are working against the interests of India, like opposing development projects, meddling in politics, supporting religious conversions, etc.
Earlier, in January 2022, the UK Parliamentarians were rattled and asked the Indian government to reverse its decision to not renew the FCRA license of more than 6,000 organisations, including the charity founded by Mother Teresa.
In totality, the claim that the UK is giving foreign aid to India is factually incorrect and it will be of great help for India if these voices of UK politicians end up helping India in solving the menace of rampant NGOs drawing illicit funds from foreign sources for anti-India activities like forced conversion.
On 24 August, the Enforcement Directorate raided different locations at Ludhiana and Nawanshehr linked to former Congress Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu and his close aides in connection to an alleged food scam under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Apart from Ashu, former Congress councillor Sunny Bhalla, former LIT chairman Raman Subramanium, Pankaj Meenu Malhotra and his Inderjit Indi, and many officers connected to the Food and Supplies Department came under ED’s radar.
As per reports, around 20 locations were raided by the ED in the morning. Paramilitary forces accompanied ED’s teams during the raids. Around 150 officials were involved in the raids at Ashu’s house at Kochar Market and other locations. Heavy police force was deployed at the former minister’s house, and the area was cordoned off to maintain law and order.
Ashu is a two-time former MLA from Ludhiana West. During Congress’s rule in the state, Ashu was the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister. ED conducted the raids based on a Punjab Vigilance Bureau FIR. He was arrested in a corruption and cheating case of multi-crore foodgrain transportation and labour cartage tender scam in August 2022. In March 2023, he was granted bail by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Reportedly, the Vigilance Department has handed over possession of several documents linked to the alleged scam to the ED.
The Supreme Court on 24 August rejected submissions against the bail granted to the former chief secretary of Andaman and Nicobar Islands named Jitendra Narain in a gangrape case. The bail granted to him by the Calcutta High Court bench in Port Blair on 20 February was challenged by the state and the complainant woman in the appeals.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Ahsanuddin Amanullah ruled, “We have dismissed all the petitions.” According to the apex court, it has ordered the trial court to accelerate the hearing in which the respective sides would extend their cooperation.
The appellant woman has alleged that the accused and others raped her after luring her to the residence of the former chief secretary with the prospect of a government position. The appeals against his bail in the case brought by her were still pending when the Supreme Court issued its decision on 1 August.
The victim went to the highest court and charged that “unless the bail order of February 20, 2023, is quashed and/or set aside and stayed, unless the principal accused is directed to surrender before the Chief Judicial Magistrate at Port Blair and unless the police authority is directed to take the principal accused (Narain) into custody” he might destroy evidence and misuse the bail.
The accusation that the Calcutta High Court Circuit Bench in Port Blair granted bail to the accused IAS official “in a very casual manner” without taking into account her objections prompted a notice from a bench of Justices Krishna Murari and Ahsanuddin Amanullah on the 21-year-old’s plea.
Her attorney Pathick Chandra Das argued, “Narain was given conditional bail. Among the conditions is that he cannot enter Andaman and Nicobar Island unless called for, he will not use officers to influence the witness, he cannot make phone calls to any officers and the victim party, he will deposit his passport and cannot leave India.”
When he was appointed chairman and managing director of the Delhi Financial Corporation on 1 October 2022, a First Information Report was initiated and the centre suspended him on 17 October. He was apprehended on 10 November of that year.
This past Monday, the Delhi High Court voiced its concern over the impending closure of the 2020 Delhi University’s Gargi College sexual harassment case, in which the police have submitted an “untraced report” before a trial court.
Notably, the Delhi police had, after an extensive investigation into the case, established the arrested persons “barging into the college premises by damaging a gate” but not their involvement in molestation and also that the perpetrators were not affiliated with BJP, RSS or any political party, as it was alleged then.
The HC had notably passed the aforesaid order on August 17, however, it was made available on the high court’s website only on Tuesday, August 22.
A two-judge division bench of CJ Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Narula said, “This Court voices its unease regarding the impending closure of a grievous incident without holding any individual accountable. While some testimonies have been collected, the lack of definitive evidence under Section 164 of CrPC poses challenges”.
The court stated in its order that media reports suggesting the arrest and subsequent release of specific individuals called for a thorough follow-up and directed the local deputy commissioner of police to look into the matter and supervise the investigation.
“To let go such potential leads without meticulous scrutiny would be a miscarriage of justice,” it said.
Notably, the Delhi police informed the bench that no witnesses had shown up to give a statement. To this, the court ruled that the law enforcement authorities must encourage victims and witnesses to come forward and provide the required details about the incident.
In order to stop similar occurrences from happening again, the court further ordered the head of the Delhi Police and the vice chancellor of the Delhi University to “bolster police visibility” at campus events.
What was the case and how the allegations fell flat
On February 6, 2020, students of all-women Gargi College, New Delhi alleged that they were subjected to mass molestation and sexual harassment at the college campus during their annual Festival, ‘Reverie.’ The students alleged that around 200-400 people entered the premises without showing any ID and indulged in the mass molestation of girl students. Many students had alleged that those men masturbated, groped and even followed some of them to the Green Park metro station.
Further, amidst all these allegations, an anonymous account on Instagram, claimed that the heinous act was done by BJP ‘goons’ carrying Saffron flags, who were also chanting Jai Shree Ram at the college premises.
Students also accused the acting principal, Promila Kumar of negligence. The Delhi Police registered an FIR in the matter on the basis of a complaint filed by the Principal.
As soon as the anonymous account uttered the magical words of ‘Saffron’, ‘BJP’ and ‘Jai Shree Ram’, the usual propagandists in the ‘liberal-secular’ media lapped it up and began to hurl accusations against the right-wing nationalists without even cross verifying the claims made by the anonymous account on the shameful incident that happened at Gargi college.
The Delhi police carried out a thorough investigation into the alleged incident and the accusations that were meted out. The Inspector of Crime Against Women (CAW) Cell was designated as the investigation officer in the case and the Additional DCP of South Delhi was designated as the inquiry officer.
In fact, not only the police but the college also created a fact-finding committee to gather relevant information on the alleged incidents.
The Delhi police arrested as many as 17 suspects who were later released on bail. Police said the CCTV footage that they have only established the arrested persons “barging into the college premises by damaging a gate” but not their involvement in molestation.
As mentioned earlier, the Delhi police also said that no witnesses had shown up to give a statement.
Ultimately, the allegations regarding the political affiliations of the perpetrators also fell flat when the Delhi Police stated after an investigation that the evidence from CCTV footage did not show any of the accused carrying flags. It was also revealed that the investigations had not hinted towards the political affiliations of the perpetrators.
“They all are either college students or their friends,” the Delhi Police had said while rejecting allegations that the attackers were from BJP and RSS.
As was made clear by the facts presented by the Delhi Police during the course of its investigation, the allegations that were meted out, pinning the blame on BJP supporters and right-wing forces, which were in turn, quickly lapped up by the left-wing influencers and Islamists, turned out to be completely false and concocted. The evidence gathered by Delhi police did not even slightly indicate that the perpetrators were associated with the BJP or RSS.
In fact, a month later, several female students of Gargi College, who reported sexual harassment, either refused to record their statements or withdrew them.
Throughout these three years, neither the police nor the college administration were able to gather any significant evidence in the case. It is only logical to draw the conclusion that the case was never persuasive in these circumstances. Considering our police administration and judicial system are already overworked, it makes no sense to continue with unjustified cases like this when there is no actual proof. Therefore, the only option left in cases like this is to close the case, which the Delhi police intended to do.
On Wednesday, Kolkata Police who is investigating the case of death of the undergraduate student at Jadavpur University, revealed that the 17-year-old student was forced to run naked from one room to another in the hostel building before his death. The officials confirmed that he was ragged and ran from one room to another to hide before his unfortunate death.
The police have pieced together the sequence of events that took place at the JU Main Hostel on the evening of August 9 just before the 17-year-old’s tragic fall from the second-floor balcony of the four-story hostel structure led to his death.
Investigators claim they have proof of ragging against the 12 accused who have been arrested so far, and they believe that the 17-year-old student was “disrobed, bullied, and abused with homosexual slurs.”
Around 9 p.m. on August 9, the 17-year-old was called to Room No. 70, which is on the second floor, by his seniors, according to the police, who reconstructed the incident three times at the hostel building using information from the accused during questioning as well as hostel residents. The second-floor room number 68 was allotted to the newcomer. He was then instructed to proceed along the hallway on the second floor of the hostel building. He was supposedly stripped off by his superiors as he was moving.
The 17-year-old, who was now naked, walked to Room No. 65 and attempted to lock himself out but was unsuccessful. Senior students began pursuing him as he began to run between rooms on the second level, according to the police. The cops said that this went on until 11 p.m.
The deceased told other residents that he was not gay, police probing what provoked him to say so
Around 11.45 pm, he reportedly fell from the second-floor balcony of the hostel building, between Rooms 59 and 68. “We have prima facie evidence that he (the 17-year-old student) was ragged. He was asked to walk down the corridor and then disrobed. So far, the investigation has found that he ran from one room to another before he died,” said a police officer.
“Some residents of the hostel have said that the 17-year-old told them that he was not gay. What provoked him to say so is now the focus of our investigation,” the officer added.
However, the mystery surrounding the 17-year-old’s tragic fall from the hostel building’s second level remains unsolved.
13 people, all of whom are Jadavpur University students or alumni, have been arrested by police thus far in connection with the death. Twelve people—six current students and six alumni—have been apprehended on charges of murder and ragging, but a 2021 graduate has been detained on suspicion of impeding authorities from doing their job.
Despite reporting that the victim was a minor and forced to walk naked, police have not yet filed sexual assault charges against the accused persons under the POCSO Act (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act).
13 arrested accused identified
Sourabh Chowdhury, a 2022 graduate of the mathematics department, is the prime suspect, according to officials. On August 11, Chowdhury, who was living in the hostel illegally, was the first person arrested.
The others detained include Deepsekhar Dutta, a second-year Economics student; Manotosh Ghosh, a second-year Sociology student; Md. Arif, a third-year Civil Engineering student; Md. Asif Azmal, a fourth-year Electrical Engineering student; Ankan Sardar, a third-year Civil Engineering student; Satyabrata Rai, a fourth-year Computer Science student; former students Saptak Kamilya, Asit Sardar, Suman Naskar, Sk Nasim Akhtar, and Himanshu Karmakar.
“Nasim Akhtar and Monotosh shared Room No. 108 on the third floor, while Satyabrata Rai lived in Room No. 110 (third floor), and Arif in Room No. 74 (second floor). There was a dedicated room for these former students where they used to call freshers to introduce themselves,” the Police said.
Junior residents meanwhile informed to the police that there was no restriction on entry of the former students to the University.
Death of a student at the Jadavpur University
On 9th August, Swapnodeep Kundu, a Bachelor of Arts in Bengali student from Hanskhali in Nadia district, fell off the second floor of the hostel building at midnight. Swapnodeep was in room number 68 on the second floor of the A-2 block of Jadavpur University Main Hostel.
As students arrived at the scene after hearing a loud noise, they discovered Swapnodeep lying in a pool of blood. Swapnodeep was transferred to KPC Medical College for treatment, where he died on Thursday at 4:30 AM.
Ramprasad Kundu, the deceased’s father, filed a complaint saying that some of the hostel residents were responsible for his son’s murder. Following the complaint, investigations began and several arrests were made.
Ending all speculations of expanding the BRICS group, six nations have been formally invited to join the group during the summit meeting in South Africa. The expansion of BRICS, a group of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, was the top agenda at the three-day summit in Johannesburg.
The six nations invited to join BRICS as full members in the first phase of expansion are Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and UAE. The membership will come into effect from the first of January 2024.
This was announced by South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa at a joint press conference after the summit meeting. “As five BRICS countries, we have reached an agreement on the guiding principles, standards, criteria, and procedures on the BRICS expansion process which has been in discussion for quite a while,” Ramaphosa told a joint media briefing.
“We have consensus on the first phase of this expansion process and other phases will follow,” he added while issuing the Johannesburg Declaration of 15th BRICS Summit.
#BRICSza | H.E. President Ramaphosa . Johannesburg II Declaration adopted . The XV Summit has adopted guiding principles on the BRICS EXPANSION.Following countries invited to join .
With this expansion, six of the world’s nine largest oil producers are now part of BRICS.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated President Cyril Ramaphosa for the successful summit and said that India has always fully supported the expansion of BRICS membership.
“India has always believed that the addition of new members will further strengthen BRICS as an organisation and it will give our shared efforts a new impetus. This will also strengthen the belief of many countries in the multipolar world order,” PM Modi said.
He said that there have many positive outcomes at the 15th summit meet of the BRICS. PM Modi said that he is happy that the teams arrived at a consensus on the guiding principles, standers, criteria and procedure of the expansion. And based on this, today we have agreed to invite Argentina, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and UAE to join the BRICS.
PM Modi hoped that with the inclusion of the new members, BRICS will be able to infuse new momentum and new energy into the bloc’s cooperation. He noted that India has had very deep and historic relations with the new BRICS members, adding that new dimensions will be also added to the bilateral cooperation.
The Indian Prime Minister added that India will work in building consensus for inducting other nations that have expressed interest in joining the bloc.
PM Modi said that the expansion and modernisation of the BRICS shows that every global organisation must adapt as per changing times. This is an initiative that can be an example of reforms in other global institutions that were established in the 20th century,” he added, clearly referring to the growing demands to reform and expand the UN Security Council.
He also used the opportunity to thank all those who have congratulated India on the successful soft landing of the Chandrayaan-3 mission on the moon yesterday.
The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has been suspended by United World Wrestling (UWW), the organisation that oversees wrestling, for failing to hold its elections on time. As a result, Indian wrestlers will not be able to play under the Indian flag at the coming World Championships.
The ad-hoc body, headed by Bhupender Singh Bajwa, did not adhere to the 45-day deadline for holding elections, and thus the Indian wrestlers will have to compete at the Olympic-qualifying World Championships beginning September 16 as “neutral athletes.”
The ad hoc panel was appointed by the IOA on April 27 and elections were to be held by the committee within 45 days. Earlier, the United World Wrestling warned the WFI that if the elections were pushed back, they would be suspended.
On August 12, there were to be elections for the 15 posts on the WFI’s governing board. Four candidates submitted their nominations for the position of president at the Olympic Bhawan in New Delhi on Monday, including Sanjay Singh from Uttar Pradesh, a close aide of outgoing Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
Meanwhile, Darshan Lal of the Chandigarh wrestling body was nominated as general secretary, and SP Deswal of Uttarakhand as treasurer.
Following a plea filed by the Haryana Wrestling Association (HWA), the Punjab and Haryana High Court on August 11, the day before the scheduled WFI elections, stayed the highly anticipated elections until further orders.
Notably, the WFI was suspended twice—first in January, then again in May—after India’s top wrestlers challenged its operation and claimed that Brij Bhushan, the organisation’s then-president, had harassed female wrestlers. As reported earlier, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh was granted bail by Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court on July 20th in a case pertaining to the alleged sexual harassment of women wrestlers. Currently, the WFI’s daily operations are supervised by the Indian Olympic Association-constituted ad-hoc committee led by Bhupender Singh Bajwa.
