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Gauhati HC refuses interim relief to Youth Congress president Srinivas BV on sexual harassment charges by Angkita Dutta

OpIndia Staff
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Gauhati HC refuses interim relief to Youth Congress president Srinivas BV on sexual harassment charges by Angkita Dutta

On Wednesday, April 26, the Gauhati High Court denied interim relief to Youth Congress national president Srinivas BV in the sexual harassment case. Srinivas BV in his plea sought the quashing of the FIR against him by Assam Pradesh Youth Congress president Angkita Dutta, who was expelled from the party after she levelled allegations against Srinivas BV.

Before the petitioner’s interim request was taken into consideration, Justice Ajit Borthakur noted that a review of the case diary, including the victim woman’s statement under Section 164 Cr.P.C., was absolutely necessary for a fair decision.

Consequently, the Court refused to grant the interim plea to quash the FIR, noting that it would only be taken into consideration once it had received the scanned copy of the case diary and service of notice on the complainant.

On April 18, Angkita Dutta had posted a series of tweets wherein she opened up about facing harassment at the hands of Congress leader Srinivas BV and also accused the Congress high command of a lack of interest in her case.

In a complaint filed at the Dispur police station in Assam on April 19, Angkita Dutta accused Srinivas BV of being “sexist, chauvinistic, and outraging a woman’s modesty.” She claimed that over the past six months, Srinivas BV had been mentally and physically harassing her, making sexist comments, and threatening to take legal action if she complains to prominent Congress leaders. 

Congress party instead of taking the allegations made by Angkita Dutta seriously and acting accordingly decided to serve a legal notice to Dutta. Following this, on April 22, the Congress party expelled Assam Pradesh Youth Congress President, Angkita Dutta, from the primary membership of the Congress party for six years for ‘anti-party activities.’

‘Trust me, you will reach home safely, that is our job’: India’s Defence Attache to Saudi Arabia assures Indians returning from Sudan, asks them to not panic

ANI
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‘Trust me, you will reach home safely, that is our job’: India’s Defence Attache to Saudi Arabia assures Indians returning from Sudan, asks them to not panic

India’s Defence Attache to Saudi Arabia, Col GS Grewal, assured countrymen being evacuated from strife-torn Sudan through Saudi Arabia that they will be safely taken back to their homeland. 

In a viral video, Col Grewal is seen urging people to cooperate with the agencies involved in the evacuation process. Further, in the video, which is being widely circulated on social media, India’s Defence Attache to Saudi Arabia is heard assuring fellow Indians, who fled the ongoing violence in the African nation, that they will be back home at the earliest. He further exhorted the evacuees “to work as a team with the agencies” involved in the rescue operation. 

“We have reached here (Jeddah) safely. We faced a very tough time, All of you are here safely with your families,” Col GS Grewal says in the video. 

“Trust me, from this moment onwards, all of you will reach home safely. That is our job,” he says further. 

“In this, I need your cooperation as well. Everybody will be taken out safely (from Sudan). Even after the last persons here is evacuated, we would stay here, don’t worry. Ships and planes are lined up,” he assured fellow Indians evacuated from Sudan. 

“Don’t panic, let’s just make a priority list from today, starting with women and children who are sick. You may be facing a shortage of food and water. Be assured that all your concerns will be addressed and everything will be sorted out. We will take care of everything,” he added. 

“We are here. I am going to be here. We want to take you back to India at the earliest. This is our aim,” Col GS Grewal said while assuring the people. 

Further, in the viral video, people can be heard thanking him again and again and his words of assurance were followed by chants of “Vande Mataram” from the crowd. 

As part of ‘Operation Kaveri’, the first flight carrying Indian nationals evacuated from violence-hit Sudan landed in the national capital on Wednesday. 
As the Indians arrived in Delhi, they raised slogans like ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’, ‘Indian Army Zindabad’, and ‘PM Narendra Modi Zindabad’.

(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)

Operation Kaveri: First batch of 360 Indians rescued from Sudan reaches Delhi, evacuated Indians chant ‘Indian Army Zindabad’, ‘PM Modi Zindabad’ on arrival

OpIndia Staff
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Operation Kaveri: First batch of 360 Indians rescued from Sudan reaches Delhi, evacuated Indians chant ‘Indian Army Zindabad’, ‘PM Modi Zindabad’ on arrival

The first group of 360 Indians evacuated under “Operation Kaveri” left the instability-ridden Sudan and arrived in New Delhi in the evening on 26th April 2023. The Union External Affairs Minister Dr s Jaishankar posted pictures of the rescued Indians from his Twitter handle to inform this.

Dr S Jaishankar wrote, “India welcomes back its own. Operation Kaveri brings 360 Indian Nationals to the homeland as the first flight reaches New Delhi.”

As the Indian nationals arrived in Delhi from Sudan, ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’, ‘Indian Army Zindabad’, ‘PM Narendra Modi Zindabad’ slogans were chanted by them. The New Delhi-bound flight with 360 Indians onboard left Jeddah Airport earlier today. The Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan was present at the Jeddah Airport to oversee the rescue operation.

“Happy to see off 360 Indians at Jeddah Airport in a flight bound for New Delhi They will be reaching the motherland soon, reuniting with their families Under #OperationKaveri the Government is working relentlessly to evacuate Indian nationals from Sudan & bring them home safely,” Muraleedharan tweeted earlier today after seeing off the 360 Indians.

The evacuation came just days after Mr Jaishankar spoke with his Saudi counterpart. In order to assess the security situation in Sudan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi presided over a high-level meeting on Friday.

“Operation Kaveri” is a government-launched rescue endeavour to bring back endangered Indian residents from Sudan, where the Sudanese Army and paramilitary groups are fighting with each other.

According to person who arrived from Jeddah, around 1000 Indians are present in Jeddah at present. He said that the Indian embassy and the govt helped a lot, and govt is doing fast evacuation.

The Indians were evacuated from Sudan to Saudi Arabia using the opportunity of a 72-hour armistice between the main army and a rebel paramilitary group. Some Indians were evacuated on Saudi ships, while the others were evacuated onboard Indian Navy’s patrol ship INS Sumedha to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. Other vessels of the Indian navy, including INS Teg and INS Tarkash, are also in the region to transport Indians from Port Sudan to Jeddah, from where they are being airlifted to India.

India had stationed two C-130J military transport planes to bring the Indians to India from Jeddah. Today a Boeing C-17 Globemaster was also sent to Jeddah as part of the rescue mission.

After forces loyal to Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, commander of the Sudanese army, and his adversary Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, the head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), agreed to a cease-fire, evacuation operations gained momentum. Armed skirmishes have been reported elsewhere as well as in the capital city of Khartoum, but the security situation is still tenuous.

India witnessing massive growth in economy, changes visible on the ground: PM Narendra Modi at Republic Summit

OpIndia Staff
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India witnessing massive growth in economy, changes visible on the ground: PM Narendra Modi at Republic Summit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated in the Republic Summit on 26th April 2023. Addressing the summit, he underlined the eagerness of India to transform as the summit’s theme was the time of transformation which refers to the Amrit Kaal that is between 2022 and 2047 – from the 75th anniversary of India’s independence to the centenary year of India’s independence. PM Modi said that the participation and contribution of every Indian are of utmost importance for realising the dream of a developed Bharat.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi started by praising the improved Hindi conversation skills of Arnab Goswami and congratulated Republic TV which is about to complete its six years soon. PM Modi also praised Republic TV for its commitment towards ‘Nation First’ despite various hurdles.

During his address, PM Modi recalled his previous address at the Republic Summit 2018 with the theme ‘India’s Moment’ and thanked the organisers for inviting him to the summit that revolves around the topic of ‘time of Transformation’. PM Modi said that the speed of expansion and development of the economy is one of the most important parameters to measure the transformation.

PM Modi said, “When BJP came to power in 2014, India was sure that the country will not witness the transformation and that is now visible on the ground. The country is not witnessing change, we are doing great in terms of economy.”

He said, “In the last 9 years, India took a leap from the 10th largest economy to the 5th largest economy, jumping to 3.5 trillion economy. And India did it despite the pandemic challenges. First order impact of any policy is visible. But second and third-order impacts of policies take time to manifest. We need to go back to a few decades to compare these policies. License Raj economy policy adopted after independence made the government a controller, prohibiting private players and MSMEs from flourishing.”

He added, “As a result, we went on to become poor. The second-order and third-order impacts of this policy were graver. It affected the manufacturing sector, reduced jobs, killed innovations, caused a brain drain and crushed entrepreneurial abilities in the country. We have prioritized not only first-order impacts but also focus on second and third-order impacts.”

PM Modi said, “In the PM Awas Yojana, we have given houses to 3.75 Cr families, half of which are registered in the names of women. This is the first impact. The schemes created employment opportunities in rural areas. Persons having their own house have different confidence. They tend to take risks. Recently, the MUDRA scheme completed 8 years. It has given more than 40 Cr loans. 70% of them are given to women. We are seeing a change in society due to these schemes which have ensured a strong role of women in the decision-making process of households. These are second and third-order impacts.”

PM Narendra Modi also underlined how first, second, and third-order impacts of the PM Swamitva Yojana. He said, “Property cards are given to people after resolving disputes. This not only empowered people holding their properties but also saved many efforts of policemen. Direct benefit transfer schemes ensured the security and dignity of the poor. Those who were referred to as the hurdle in development are now becoming wheels of development.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi further said, “We have also changed the mindset of power. We have made a mindset of service. We have abandoned appeasement and focussed on the contentment of the people. We are working in the direction of prohibiting the poor from becoming poorer. For example, Ayushman Bharat Scheme saved 80000 Cr rupees for poor people so far. This is not the only scheme of this kind. There are similar schemes for insurance, accident cover, crop insurance, generic medicine, free vaccination, and food security during the COVID-19 pandemic. One Nation One Ration and Jan Dhan-Mobile Phone-Aadhar trinity is an important part of this shield. A recent paper from IMF has concluded that despite the pandemic, extreme poverty in India is on the verge of vanishing. This is the transformation that is brought through these schemes.”

PM Modi said, “I had once called MNREGA a live monument of the failure of UPA governments. Earlier, very few permanent assets were developed by spending money on MNREGA. After 2014, we made so many permanent assets through MNREGA including houses for the poor, livestock sheds, lakes, canals, etc. Also, we ensured that the people working in this scheme get their payments because we incorporated direct benefit transfers. This saved Rs 40000 Crores from going into the wrong hands.”

Exploring Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan he said, “Earlier, it was a trend that any advanced technology would come to India after a few decades. We changed this trend. For this, we freed technology-related businesses from government clutches, focussed on developing technologies in India, and were involved in futuristic technology with a mission mode. Our advancements in 5G developing our own technology is its live example. No one can forget the vaccine story during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite various speculations about getting vaccines from other developed countries, we chose to become self-reliant. I risked a big political capital while taking the decision of going for Made in India vaccine. I did it only for my countrymen. There were people who denied Made in India vaccine. I don’t know why these people were batting for foreign vaccines.”

Detailing India’s journey to become a digital economy, PM Modi said, “Our Digital India Mission is also a topic of discussion in the global diaspora. I have seen it in G-20. People even asked us “Do you want food or data?” But now, your bank is at your fingertips. There were some pseudo-intellectuals who asked how the poor will buy tomatoes and potatoes with digital payments, and how digital payments will take place at a fair in a rural area. Isn’t it happening on every tea stall now? It is benefitting people so much. Still, there are a few people who have problems with Modi.”

Emphasising on government’s strict approach against corruption, he said, “Let me tell you, this so-called dissent is because Modi closed the doors of corruption for some people. We have integrated an institutionalized approach against corruption. Why won’t they spew venom against me whose corrupt income is now stopped? For example, we have removed 10 Cr names of fake beneficiaries from various schemes for which Congress was giving money. These people were never born. We did this by giving constitutional status to Aadhar and then connecting it to Direct Benefit Transfer ensuring zero commission and zero corruption. This single step ensured transparency in dozens of schemes. Similarly, government procurement is also made transparent. The taxation system is also made faceless. Taxpayers will not come across any officer. GST is also prohibiting black income in many ways. We are working honestly. Therefore some people are aggrieved. They will blame me for this because they want to destroy the honest system once again. They are not succeeding in their plans because they don’t realize that they are fighting against a common man. Let all the corrupt and dynasty come together, I will not stop my work. I need your blessings countrymen.”

PM Modi concluded, saying, “If everyone puts his efforts into this Amrut Kaal, we will soon accomplish our dream of a developed Bharat. My best wishes to Republic for its upcoming global media network. An increasing number of honest Indians is a guarantee of Bhavya Bharat. Thank you.”

CBI opposes bail plea of Manish Sisodia, says he misused his position and changed Delhi excise policy to benefit the South Group

ANI
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CBI opposes bail plea of Manish Sisodia, says he misused his position and changed Delhi excise policy to benefit the South Group

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday opposed the bail plea moved by Delhi’s former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in Delhi High Court and said that the AAP leader “misused” his official position and dishonestly introduced changes to the Excise Policy under the influence of the South Group, through his close associate Vijay Nair.

CBI further added that the changes introduced by the applicant in the Excise Policy not only facilitated the cartelization of the liquor trade in Delhi by the South Group but also enabled the South Group to recover the kickbacks paid by them upfront. As a part of the said conspiracy, the Applicant increased the wholesale profit margin from 5 per cent to 12 per cent without any cogent reason or justification. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju also submitted that the applicant misused his powers and introduced favourable provisions in the new policy.

“This was done to facilitate the monopolization of wholesale and retail liquor trade in Delhi for the accused persons of the South Group for siphoning off 6 per cent out of 12 per cent windfall profit margin for wholesalers provided in the policy in lieu of upfront money/ kickbacks of Rs 90- 100 Crores paid by the South Group. Out of the said amount, INR 30 crores was paid through Hawala channels using Dinesh Arora. Further, cash payments through Hawala channels were made by Vijay Nair, close associate of the Applicant, to vendors engaged by Aam Admi Party for Goa Assembly Election 2022 through Chariot Media of Rajesh Joshi,” he said.

CBI also submitted that It is a “deep-rooted conspiracy”. It is not as simple as depicted by them. Yesterday, we have filed the chargesheet in the case naming four fresh accused including Manish Sisodia and cognizance is yet to be taken on the chargesheet.

ASG SV Raju and Special Public Prosecutor DP Singh appeared for the CBI in the matter and Senior Advocates Dayan Krishnan and Mohit Mathur appeared for the Manish Sisodia, in Delhi High Court.

The Bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma on Wednesday after taking note of the lengthy submissions made by CBI, fixed April 27, 2023 date for further hearing.

In its reply, the CBI also said, “The applicant (Sisodia) enjoys close nexus with the executive, offices and bureaucrats and his influence and clout is evident. His party colleagues holding high ranks continue to make factually wrong claims in order to influence the investigation and also claiming the applicant to be victim of a political vendetta.”

A perusal of the said statements by this political leader (s) during the press conferences would reveal how the entire efforts of not only the Applicant but his party colleagues as a whole are to shield the accused, stated CBI in its reply opposing bail plea of Sisodia in Excise case.

Earlier, Manish Sisodia through Senior Advocate Dayan Krishnan submitted that the Central Bureau of Investigation has no evidence to show his involvement in the alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy of the Government.

The lawyer submitted that every accused in the CBI case has been released on bail except Sisodia. Sisodia was arrested on February 26, 2023, after more than six months after the Registration of FIR in the matter. And during the entirety of said investigation of six months before the arrest of the applicant, there was not a single that Applicant extended any threat to any witness.

“Sisodia (Applicant)in his bail stated that the possibility of a threat to witness cannot be said to arise without there being any material or antecedents of the Applicant. The witnesses in this case against the applicant are primarily civil servants, over whom the Applicant exercises no control, especially now since he has resigned from his official post,” he said.

Earlier the Delhi HC had issued notice to CBI on a bail plea moved by Manish Sisodia challenging a trial court order denying bail to him in a CBI case related to Excise.

Sisodia was arrested by the CBI on February 26, 2023, and is presently in Judicial custody. His bail plea was on March 31, 2023, by the trial Court in the case.

The trial Court while dismissing Sisodia’s bail plea said, “The court is not inclined to release him on bail at this stage of investigation of the case as his release may adversely affect the ongoing investigation and will also seriously hamper the progress”.

Sisodia was arrested by CBI and ED in an ongoing investigation of a case related to alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy of the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. 

(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)

‘They kept their guns on our heads and chest and looted us’: Indians rescued from conflict-torn Sudan narrate their ordeal

OpIndia Staff
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‘They kept their guns on our heads and chest and looted us’: Indians rescued from conflict-torn Sudan narrate their ordeal

India evacuated more than 530 of its residents using military aircraft and a warship a day after Sudan’s military and paramilitary leadership decided on a 72-hour nationwide ceasefire allowing countries to start the evacuation procedure. In light of the ongoing turmoil, more are expected to be removed from the country in northeastern Africa.

The citizens who left Sudan and came back to India talked about the circumstances as well as the difficulties they encountered there.

One of the citizens recounted how there were riots-like situations in Sudan. He mentioned that the Indian government set up a ship to transport them. He added that the Indian army feed the rescued people.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) flew citizens from Port Sudan to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as part of Operation Kaveri, while numerous others were transported there by sea from the port of Sudan.

The person went on to say that the degree of warfare in Sudan was really high. He expressed that it was occurring just outside of their homes and that they were having difficulty finding food. Another told that they had gone two to three days without eating.

“The RSF, paramilitary force in Sudan, was close to our company. Early morning at 9 am, they entered our company and began firing and looting us. They kept us hostage for eight hours. They kept their guns on our heads and chest and looted us. They destroyed everything in the company. They destroyed files and stole our laptops and mobile phones,” a citizen disclosed.

“We then contacted the embassy. We didn’t have any food and we then hid in a village. We arranged for diesel and asked the embassy to arrange buses for us to be evacuated,” he unveiled.

They also thanked the Indian government for the wonderful arrangement for the people rescued from Sudan. “The arrangements made in Saudi Arabia are excellent,” complimented one individual. “We couldn’t get a better arrangement than this. We really appreciate it,” lauded another. “Everything was fine here. Everything went smoothly. We got a good flight and also a ticket to leave,” praised one more.

V Muraleedharan, minister of state for foreign affairs, visited Jeddah on Tuesday to supervise repatriation operations and welcomed the Indians when they arrived in the port city of Saudi Arabia.

Up until Tuesday, most of the Indian people who had assembled in Port Sudan had been evacuated to Saudi Arabia. The utilisation of military airbases close to the capital city is one option that Indian authorities are still looking into for getting trapped Indian citizens out of Khartoum and other places. When the battle started, there were roughly 3,000 Indian citizens in Sudan, most of them in Khartoum.

The battle has resulted in 459 fatalities and more than 4,000 injuries, according to United Nations organisations. Food shortages have been reported in the capital and other towns, while many sections of Sudan lack water and electricity.

ED arrests Sukanya Mondal in Delhi in cattle smuggling case, her father and TMC ‘strongman’ Anubrata Mondal was arrested last year

OpIndia Staff
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ED arrests Sukanya Mondal in Delhi in cattle smuggling case, her father and TMC ‘strongman’ Anubrata Mondal was arrested last year

Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is probing the multi-crore cattle smuggling scam in West Bengal, arrested Sukanya Mondal on Wednesday (April 26) in Delhi. Sukanya Mondal is the daughter of Mamata Banerjee’s close aide and Trinamool Congress ‘strongman’ Anubrata Mondal, who was also arrested by CBI in November last year for his alleged involvement in the same case.

Sukanya Mondal was called by the ED to its headquarters in Delhi in connection with the case due to large unaccounted properties and bank accounts directly related to her and arrested after hours of questioning. Reportedly, she was interrogated for several hours, but as the officers didn’t get satisfactory answers, she was arrested. She said that she does not know anything when she was asked about the huge amounts of money traced by the ED and numerous properties registered in her name. Sukanya Mondal said that her father knows about these matters.

Sukanya Mondal arrived at the ED office in Delhi in the morning, and after a daylong questioning in which she evaded most of the questions, ED arrested her. She will be produced before a Rose Avenue Court in Delhi tomorrow by the ED. ED will seek her custody for further questioning.

Notably, Sukanya Mondal has, for all this while, evaded ED summons. She skipped the first summons in which she was asked to be present at ED’s central headquarters in New Delhi on March 15. After that, the ED sent a second notice directing her to be present on March 20, but she had communicated to the ED through her counsel that owing to health reasons she would need seven days.

The agency, last month, hinted at taking stern action against Sukanya Mondal if she made renewed attempts to dodge ED’s summons.

Interestingly, while Mondal is a teacher at a state-run primary school, she has a large number of assets registered in her name.

TMC leader Anubrata Mondal arrested by CBI

Notably, the CBI, in a rather dramatic arrest, picked up the heavyweight leader of Trinamool Congress (TMC) from his house in Bolpur, West Bengal, at around 10 in the morning of August 11, 2022 in connection with the multi-crore cattle smuggling case. As per reports, a team of the CBI went to his residence with the CRPF being deployed outside and arrested Mamata Banerjee’s top aide Anubrata Mondal. The CBI team was accompanied by a team of 100 CRPF personnel, who had surrounded the residence while the CBI officials entered the house and arrested the TMC leader. 

Anubrata Mondal is currently lodged at Tihar Jail in Delhi.

Calcutta HC summons Sukanya Mondal in WB SSC scam case

Apart from being accused of involvement in the cattle smuggling case, Sukanya Mondal is also being probed for her alleged involvement in the West Bengal SSC scam.

In fact, last year, Calcutta High Court asked Sukanya Mondal to produce her Teachers’ Eligibility Test (TET) certificate before the court. It also asked her to submit her mark sheet for all further hearings to take place in the TET case.

The order was issued in response to a petition alleging that Sukanya and others were illegally hired in state-run schools despite failing to pass the mandatory Teacher Eligibility Test (TET).

Sukanya, according to the petition, has never worked since she was hired, despite the fact that her school is in the Bolpur circle, close to where she lives. Another shocking allegation made by the petitioner was that the school’s attendance register was sent to her house for her to sign.

Actor and Islamist Sameer Khan spreads fake news maligning Hindus with allegations of hate crime: Here’s the truth

OpIndia Staff
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Actor and Islamist Sameer Khan spreads fake news maligning Hindus with allegations of hate crime: Here’s the truth

On April 26, actor Sameer Khan shared a fake report on his Twitter handle that accused two Hindu brothers of committing hate crime against a black man.

Sameer, a religious zealot and a washed-up actor by all accounts was quoting a Twitter handle, sooraj_sb00, which shared a video of a black man beating two men with sticks. The tweet read, “Two Hindu extremists in America attacked a Black man with weapons. Luckily the victim was easily able to disarm them and defend himself. Both Hindu extremists were arrested. The police are investigating it as a hate crime.”

Quoting the tweet, Sameer said, “Two Mob lynchers with sticks couldn’t stand one black man outside India.” However, his “happiness” did not last long. Twitter user Befitting Facts dug out the actual report on the video in question.

It was revealed that the incident was from 2015, and it was not a hate crime, as the tweets presented. Befitting Facts said, “This is not any hate crime. Those two brothers were trying to protect their shop from robbery. And the accused, Domnick Smith, was arrested and charged by the court. That happened eight years ago.”

OpIndia accessed the original report shared in 2015 by WISN 12 News. The report mentioned that the two gas station clerks charged another person with baseball bats who was trying to steal from their store.

The truth about the incident

The incident took place at 4950 W Lisbon on February 21, 2015. Interestingly, right across the street, there was a police station.

Reports suggested that the argument between the clerks and the accused started after they accused the latter of shoplifting. The eyewitnesses said the accused was taunting them and tried to reenter the store. The accused got hold of one of the bats and attacked the clerks with it. One of them got unconscious due to the injuries. The accused then escaped but was later captured by the police the next day.

The accused was identified as 21-year-old Dominick Smith. He pleaded guilty to two felony counts of second-degree recklessly endangering safety. He was sentenced to serve 18 months in prison and 24 months of extended supervision on each of the charges. In total, he was sentenced to spend 36 months in prison and 48 months of extended supervision. Furthermore, he was ordered to pay USD 14,000 in restitution and over USD 3,000 to the Crime Victim Compensation Program.

Smith’s public defender initially claimed during the hearing that his client suffered from mental illness, and he was diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and ADHD. A medical examination was ordered by the court, and the case was put on hold. However, after the medical report came back from the doctor’s office, Smith told the court he was competent to contest the case. At that time, he was out on USD 10,000 cash bail.

‘Gandi bimari’: How Arvind Kejriwal just stigmatised an autoimmune disease for his political gains

Nirwa Mehta
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‘Gandi bimari’: How Arvind Kejriwal just stigmatised an autoimmune disease for his political gains

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Aam Aadmi Party national convenor on Wednesday took to Twitter to claim that he had gone to meet wife of former AAP minister and liquor scam accused Manish Sisodia in the hospital.

While tweeting about his hospital visit, Kejriwal said he met Seema Bhabhi (Manish ji’s wife) in hospital and she has been admitted to hospital from yesterday. “She has multiple sclerosis. It is a dirty illness,” he said and that he prays for her good health.

On the face of it, may feel that it is a regular wish for better health for a woman who is suffering a very painful disease that is very difficult to live with. However, the usage of the word ‘gandi bimari’ (dirty illness) is highly inappropriate. You see, ‘gandi’ (dirty) as a description for any illness gives rise to a lot of social stigma. It creates fear amongst people. And often times the term ‘gandi’ is used to describe illnesses that are sexually transmitted.

Remember those ads about AIDS awareness? How Shabana Azmi went and met patients suffering from AIDS and touched them and informed everyone that AIDS does not spread via touching? It was social stigma because ‘AIDS is gandi bimari’. While in reality, someone can get HIV positive even with a used needle of a blood transfusion. The disease had to be destigmatised so that those who suffer from it can live with dignity.

Similarly, syphilis and other such STDs are often referred to as ‘gandi bimaris’ in the rural areas where there is note enough awareness. On similar lines, calling multiple sclerosis a ‘gandi bimari’ adds one more disease in the list of illnesses that are stigmatised.

What if people start getting prejudiced and discriminate against those who have multiple sclerosis because it is ‘gandi bimari’? Arvind Kejriwal is the chief minister of a state and convenor of a national party. He is an IITian and has cracked the UPSC. He takes immense pride in being well educated. Surely he knows importance of words. He knows how much weight words, especially hurtful ones, could carry.

That he would willingly put Seema Bhabhi in a vulnerable position in her illness and when her husband is in prison under investigation in a corruption scam, says a lot about his own character than those who have ‘gandi bimaris’. This is extremely shameful and as a woman, I condemn such words that could stigmatise Seema Bhabhi. I urge the Delhi Commission for Women to take cognisance and take necessary action against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

“Pakistanis fears another surgical strike by India after Poonch terror attack”: former Pakistan diplomat Abdul Basit

OpIndia Staff
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“Pakistanis fears another surgical strike by India after Poonch terror attack”: former Pakistan diplomat Abdul Basit

Former Pakistani ambassador Abdul Basit believes that India may attack Pakistan again after the Poonch terror assault. Now, Pakistanis have begun to fret over a potential counter-strike, according to Basit.

“Now people in Pakistan are talking about another surgical strike or air strike by India. I do not think that now they will do the same because they are holding the SCO meet and G20 presidency this year. I don’t see any misadventures from India till the time they hold presidencies. But next year during elections, India may do this again. This may happen just before the elections in India,” he stated in a recent video.

“Whoever has done it, be it Mujahedeen or whosoever, they have targeted the military, not civilians. They are engaged in a legitimate struggle. If you are conducting a movement, you are targeting the military but not civilians, international law allows it,” he remarked while trying to justify the ghastly act. “India knows where we stand,” he added.

Five soldiers of Rashtriya Rifles were killed on April 20 when unidentified terrorists lobbed grenades at an Army truck going through Bhimber Gali and Poonch in the Rajouri sector. Fruits and other things were being transported in the vehicle for an iftar celebration that was going to happen in Sagiote later that day.

MI helicopters, drones and sniffer dogs were pressed into service in a massive manhunt for the perpetrators of the attack. The unnamed terrorists are reported to have used Chinese-made 7.62 mm steel core bullets.

The outlawed terror organisation People’s Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF), a front for the Pakistani terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed, is responsible for the attack. According to some reports, Lashkar-e-Taiba, another terrorist outfit based in Pakistan, may also be culpable.

“The Army and security agencies have received inputs about the presence of 6-7 terrorists operating in two groups in the Rajouri-Poonch sector near the area where the incident took place,” defence sources revealed. 

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