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Warner Bros. and its HBO content to be exclusively available on JioCinema in India, Viacom18 signs multi-year agreement with the Hollywood giant

OpIndia Staff
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Warner Bros. and its HBO content to be exclusively available on JioCinema in India, Viacom18 signs multi-year agreement with the Hollywood giant

Viacom18, Reliance’s broadcasting arm in India, has inked a contract with Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. to stream their content including popular Hollywood movies and shows in India on JioCinema. After acquiring the rights to IPL, this is another big move by the Reliance group company which will bring Hollywood content to the platform, competing with Netflix and Amazon Prime.

As per the deal, content from Warner Bros. including HBO Original, Max Original and Warner Bros. Television will be available on Jio Cinema in India.

It is notable that both Warner Bros. and HBO are owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns several media and entertainment assets, including CNN, DC Studios, Turner Broadcasting, Discovery+, HBO Max etc. On the other hand, Viacom18 is owned by Network18, which in turn is owned by Reliance Industries headed by Mukesh Ambani.

The move means that HBO content will return to India which was earlier available on Disney Hostar. HBO content became unavailable on Hostar from 31 March this year, which included blockbuster titles such as Game Of Thrones, House of The Dragon and others. After the HBO-Hotstar tie-up ended, it was speculated that HBO content will move to Amazon Prime in India. But in a surprise move, JioCinema has emerged as the platform to stream HBO shows and movies, along with Warner Bros content.

Reportedly, the deal would make Warner Bros. and its HBO content available on Reliance’s JioCinema app, even though the deal has been signed by Reliance subsidiary Viacom18, which has a separate streaming app Voot. At present, Voot mainly streams content broadcast on satellite TV, from Colors TV, MTV, Nickelodeon and other Viacom18 channels.

It is not known whether the Hollywood content will be available on Voot also or not. On the other hand, there are speculations that a revamped JioCinema app will be relaunched with a new name Jio Voot, which seems to indicate that Jio Cinema and Voot could be merged to create a new app. Screenshots posted on a community post on OnlyTech also show that the subscription price will start from Rs 99. These details were fetched from the source code of the current JioCinema APK which revealed the new JioVoot name and also the subscription price. At present, Jio Cinema is free.

Citing an inside source, Reuters reported that most of Warner’s marquee content will be available on JioCinema with this exclusive partnership. The source added that with this exclusive partnership, JioCinema will become the ‘house of Warner, HBO in India’. “HBO Original, Max Original and Warner Bros. Television series are set to premiere on JioCinema on the same day as the U.S.,” the companies said.

This means that Warner content will be available only on JioCinema in India, and it can’t be streamed by rivals like Netflix, Amazon and Disney Hostar in India. At present, a large number of content by Warner Bros. is present on these platforms. If the exclusive provision for JioCinema is true, this means that those movies and shows will become unavailable from those platforms. The Viacom-Warner deal will see a consolidation of the Warner Bros library which is at present distributed among several streaming partners in India and will include HBO, Max and Warner content, among others.

“It’s a deep exclusive arrangement which will make JioCinema the house of Warner, HBO in India,” a source quoted by Reuters said.

Indian subscribers will have access to current and upcoming seasons of some of HBO’s most popular shows on JioCinema, including “Game of Thrones”, “House of The Dragon” (a “Game of Thrones” prequel spin-off), “The Last of Us,” “Succession,” and “The White Lotus,” as well as returning seasons of “True Detective: Night Country,” “Euphoria”. The platform will also offer the “Lord of the Rings” and the upcoming “Harry Potter” series. Moreover, the HBO Orginal, Max Original and Warner Bros. TV series will premiere on JioCinema on the same day as the United States. 

While the financial details of the said deal are yet to come out, it has been reported that it is a multi-year agreement starting from next month onwards. 

According to Warner Bros. President for India, Southeast Asia, and Korea Clement Schwebig, the partnership is a part of the studio’s commitment to the South Asian market as it works to expand the scope of its regional operations.

In January this year, Viacom18 won the media rights of the Women’s Indian Premiere League (WIPL) for Rs 951 crores. In June last year, Viacom18 won the digital streaming rights of men’s IPL from 2023 to 2027 for around Rs 23,758, which was earlier streamed by Disney Hotstar.

After the IPL, HBO content is the second major content to move from Hotstar to JioCinema.

Supreme Court seeks Centre’s response on grant of social benefits to same-sex couples

ANI
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Supreme Court seeks Centre’s response on grant of social benefits to same-sex couples

The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the government to give a response on social benefits that can be given to same-sex couples even without legal recognition of their marital status.

The five-judge Constitution Bench comprising of the Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Justice S Ravindra Bhat, Justice Hima Kohli and Justice PS Narasimha is dealing with a batch of petitions pertaining to ‘marriage equality rights for LGBTQIA+ community.

CJI DY Chandrachud suggested that there are ministries dedicated to this purpose like social justice and empowerment such as Ministry for Women and Child Development.

The court asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to see if there can be separate legislation taken which would protect the rights of same-sex couples.

Solicitor General expressed his acknowledgement that concerns such as having a joint bank account, nomination in insurance, etc are all human concerns and there can be deliberation to find a solution thereto. Solicitor General indicated that he can attempt to undertake this exercise since the suggestion has come from the Bench.

During the hearing, CJI Chandrachud remarked that the government must recognise and secure cohabitor relationships.

During the hearing, Justice Narasimha said, “When the bench says recognition, it may not always be recognition of marriage.”

Justice Bhat remarked, “Recognition must be something which gives them benefits.”

Justice Kaul opined that social ministries would have possibly studied how to tackle problems that would arise after giving social recognition to the LGBTQIA+ community.

The court also remarked that once it is recognised that there is a right to cohabit, then it is the obligation of the state that all social impact of cohabitation has legal recognition.

The court also noted that there will be social requirements such as banking, insurance, admissions etc where the Centre will have to do something.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta assured the court that he will assist the court on these issues raised by the court.

These issues were raised by the court when Solicitor General Tushar, appearing for Centre, argued and said, “The right to love, the right to cohabit, the right to project sexual orientation and the right to choose a partner are fundamental rights.”

“But there is no fundamental right to seek recognition of that relationship as a marriage,” he argued.

Chief Justice of India Chandrachud remarked, “Such issues on the administrative side can be handled by the ministries to find real solutions to these problems and the court can act as facilitators.”

The court remarked that the relationship between the court and the government is not really an adversarial relationship.

CJI Chandrachud also said, “The law in the country has gone a long way observing that the country has the Transgender Act with a grand vision.”

Justice Bhat mentioned about Vishakha and Domestic Violence Act were also enacted because of some movement.

The hearing remained inconclusive today and will be continued on May 3.

Various petitions are being dealt with by Supreme Court seeking legal recognition of same-sex marriage. One of the petitions earlier raised the absence of a legal framework which allowed members of the LGBTQIA+ community to marry any person of their choice.

According to one of the petitions, the couple sought to enforce the fundamental rights of LGBTQ+ individuals to marry any person of their choice and said, “The exercise of which ought to be insulated from the disdain of legislative and popular majorities.”

The petitioners, further, asserted their fundamental right to marry each other and prayed for appropriate directions from this Court allowing and enabling them to do so.

One of the petitions was represented by Senior Advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Saurabh Kirpal briefed by a team of advocates from Karanjawala & Co.

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

As Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other ‘liberals’ outrage about PM Modi cracking a “suicide joke”, here is how it was anything but that

Amit Kelkar
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As Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other ‘liberals’ outrage about PM Modi cracking a “suicide joke”, here is how it was anything but that

Earlier yesterday, at the Republic summit, Prime Narendra Modi regaled the audience with an amusing joke about a professor fussing over the spelling of a word after his daughter pens a suicide note saying she will end her life at the Kankariya Lake.

PM Modi’s lighthearted comment was in response to a speech in Hindi by Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, which was unexpected since he typically prefers English. He expressed pleasant surprise and joked that he was so surprised by Goswami’s use of Hindi that he found himself more focused on searching for mistakes in his speech than actually listening to its content. Essentially, it was a self deprecating joke and not one that mocked suicide victims or those who are depressed.

And quite predictably, the joke was lost on low-IQ liberals, including opposition politicians, who tried to seek political mileage out of it, feigning outrage and attacking the Prime Minister for what they claimed was a suicide joke.

Priyanka Gandhi took to Twitter to hold forth on how suicide and depression are not matters to laugh at. If there ever was an example of how some people cannot comprehend jokes, it is this. The Gandhi scion cited suicide numbers from 2021 and pontificated the audience of creating awareness of ‘mental health issues’.

Ms Priyanka Chaturvedi, who shares not just her first name with Ms Gandhi but also her appallingly low levels of IQ, also jumped on the bandwagon of faux outrage, attacking the Prime Minister over a joke that she manifestly appeared hard-pressed to comprehend and make sense of.

And quite naturally, the loyal sycophants of the Gandhi family followed suit as they fell over themselves to corner the Prime Minister over his self-deprecating humour at the Republic TV summit.

The loud and boorish Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate cited a report that shone the light on the alarming figures of suicide reported in the country in 2021.

Similarly, other Congress leaders and ‘pliant’ journalists too partook in the effort to middle the context, shift the narrative, and project the Prime Minister as insensitive toward the scourge of suicide and self-harm afflicting the society.

Far from mocking suicide or depression, PM Modi’s joke was a self-deprecating take on his own obsession with checking someone’s Hindi rather than focusing on the content. In a sense, it was an honest confession on PM Modi’s part that he, like many others, was more vulnerable to scrutinising one’s language than concentrating on the substance of the matter.

In fact, on social media platforms too, there have been numerous occasions when people have mocked about fussing over the grammatical errors in a suicide note.

So essentially what PM Modi said at the Republic TV conclave was not a new joke, but a variation of an old joke that is on the internet since time immemorial.

Screengrab of a tweet by @mister_ade5

Moreover, the ‘joke’ PM Modi recalled at the Republic TV summit did not mock suicide or treat the serious issue of self-harm with levity. Rather, it was a poignant reminder of how, as human beings, we are prone to focusing too much on small details and miss the larger picture or main point of something. Human beings, by their nature, get so preoccupied with minor details or individual parts of a situation that they fail to see or understand the entire situation as a whole. In essence, it refers to the act of getting lost in the minutiae and losing sight of the big picture.

In this case, PM Modi tried comparing his fixation with Arnab’s Hindi, which admittedly took the Prime Minister by surprise, to a professor who is so punctilious and attached to his teaching profession that he fails to grasp the gravity of the situation and instead laments on the spelling mistake made by his daughter in her suicide note. The object of ridicule in such jokes is not the victim but the man who was more concerned about correcting the grammar and spelling mistakes than the suicide.

While one may be inclined to dismiss the allegations against PM Modi as a figment of low-IQ brains, they, nevertheless, reveal the extent of desperation among the opposition ranks to dislodge PM Modi from his office that they don’t mind taking a leave of their senses and capitulating to the irresistible lure of attacking their opponent, even if it that renders them as brainless dafts.

But more significantly, the opposition’s conduct in the case is a scathing indictment of its inability to dazzle voters with an alternative political vision, a clear, definite, and unambiguous roadmap to take the country forward if chosen to power. PM Modi’s popularity, on the other hand, continues to soar as he fulfils promises made to the people, and charts out confident, coherent, and quantifiable milestones his government intends to achieve in the foreseeable future, thereby inspiring confidence and trust from the people.

Ajju Sheikh, Raju Sheikh brutally rape a 17-year-old in Maharashtra’s Karjat, threaten to kill her family

Siddhi Somani
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Ajju Sheikh, Raju Sheikh brutally rape a 17-year-old in Maharashtra’s Karjat, threaten to kill her family

On April 20, the Maharashtra Police filed an FIR against two persons identified as Ajju Samsuddin Sheikh and Raju Samsuddin Sheikh for brutally raping a 17-year-old girl in Karjat town of Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra. The accused trapped the girl when she was alone at her home and sexually assaulted her one by one.

The accused have been booked under sections 376, 376 D, 452 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and also under sections 3A, 4, 5G, 6, 3(1)(r) and 3(2)(v) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. The duo are believed to be absconding, as informed to OpIndia by the victim girl.

As per the FIR copy obtained by OpIndia, the incident is said to have happened on April 7 this year. However, the FIR in the case was registered only on April 20. The victim stays with her mother and brother in Karjat town. She and her family are believed to be daily wage labourers.

FIR copy obtained by Opindia

As per the FIR, on April 7, the mother and brother of the victim had gone to the market. The accused, whom the victim knew already, grabbed the opportunity and barged into her home. The duo then happened to brutally rape the victim one by one.

“My mother and brother had gone for the weekly market fair in the nearby area. Ajju and Raju Sheikh then arrived on the motorbike and they first asked me for water. I knew them so I offered water. Later Ajju pushed me and closed the door from inside. He tore my clothes, tied me, filled my mouth with cloth pieces and established sexual relations with me without my will. Then he went out and sent Raju in. He also raped me,” the girl mentioned in the complaint.

According to the FIR, the accused, Ajju and Raju Sheikh are brothers and own a small business of mutton trading. The victim knew the duo as she would usually buy mutton from their shop.

FIR copy obtained by OpIndia

The accused threatened the girl after raping

The duo, after raping the minor girl, threatened to kill her family members if she would utter a word about the incident. The girl was reportedly scared and so she decided to remain silent. She also burnt the clothes that she was wearing that day when the incident happened. However, the matter came to the fore when she began to complain about severe stomach ache.

FIR copy obtained by OpIndia

The girl and her mother travelled to their native place in the Yavatmal district where she revealed that she was brutally raped by the two men in Karjat. She also indicated that the complaint was late filed as she was threatened to keep shut and that she was scared to lose her family.

The victim confirmed to OpIndia that the accused are absconding

Team OpIndia contacted the 17-year-old victim to know about the recent updates in the case. The girl said that she has resumed her daily wage job with her mother and that no arrests have yet been made by the Police in the case. “We have come back to Karjat and have resumed our jobs. We are poor and will die of hunger if we don’t work. The Police have booked the duo but no arrests have been made so far,” the girl said.

On asking about her safety in Karjat, she said that the two accused are not there and that they have not been seen in the area since the complaint has been filed. The girl indicated that the accused were absconding since the day they were booked in the case.

Meanwhile, OpIndia also tried to contact the Inspector of Police, Karjat, Chandrashekhar Yadav. But the calls remained unanswered. The report will be updated once the updates from the Police are obtained.

‘5 years later someone may challenge provisions prohibiting incest’ – SG Mehta argues in same-sex marriage case in Supreme Court

OpIndia Staff
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‘5 years later someone may challenge provisions prohibiting incest’ – SG Mehta argues in same-sex marriage case in Supreme Court

On Thursday, April 27, the arguments in the matter related to same-sex marriage continued in the Supreme Court. During the hearing, Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta argued against the petitioners’ claim to have the right to choose their sexual orientation.

Giving a hypothetical situation, SG Mehta questioned what would happen if, five years down the line, someone approached the court and challenged provisions prohibiting incest. SG Mehta, who is representing the central government in the case, said if unbridled personal autonomy is permitted in terms of sexual orientation, someone may use it to challenge the provisions prohibiting incest in the future.

SG Mehta said that hypothetically, someone may get attracted to a family member and claim autonomy in engaging in such relationships in private. He argued that if sexual orientation is considered a valid reason for autonomy, prohibition on incest might be challenged.

He said, “Please visualise a situation five years down the line. I am attracted to someone in the prohibited (degree of) relationship. Incest is not uncommon across the world, and it is prohibited. Someone is attracted to their sister, claims autonomy, and does something in the private domain. Now cannot this (provisions against incest) be challenged saying, ‘How can this be prohibited’?”

Replying to SG Mehta, CJI clarified that petitioners have argued that sexual orientation is not “a matter of choice” but an “innate characteristic”. CJI called the scenario presented by SG “far-fetched”. He added that sexual orientation could not be exercised in all aspects of the marriage. Furthermore, “It cannot be argued that sexual orientation is so strong that incest be allowed,” CJI added.

SG further talked about full-blood and half-blood relations. He said two persons are related by full blood when they are descendants from a common ancestor by the same wife and half blood when common ancestor but have different wives. Such provisions cannot happen in the case of homosexual couples. “Merely making man and woman as persons will completely make this provision redundant,” he said.

Furthermore, SG questioned, in the case of homosexual couples, who will be deemed as a wife and who will become a husband in case the couple gets a divorce. He said, “We cannot just say decide the issue and leave individual cases for future adjudication. Issues will arise all across the country. Who will be the wife in a gay marriage and who will be the wife in a lesbian marriage where rights are granted to her? For maintenance, when the wife can establish she has no means to maintain herself, then the husband has to provide maintenance pendente lite. In gay marriage who will be the wife.” Listening to his arguments, the bench discussed but before muting the mic, Justice Narasimha was heard saying “That will be an impossible thing to do”.

The next date of hearing in the same-sex marriage has been set for May 3, 2023.

Watch: UP CM Yogi Adityanath speaks in Kannada in Karnataka’s Mandya, says reservation based on religion not possible after religion-based partition of India

OpIndia Staff
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Watch: UP CM Yogi Adityanath speaks in Kannada in Karnataka’s Mandya, says reservation based on religion not possible after religion-based partition of India

On Wednesday, Yogi Adityanath, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, spoke a few lines in Kannada seeking support for the Bharatiya Janata Party candidates during his election campaign in the state. He addressed an election campaign rally in Mandya in Karnataka, apart from participating in a road show. Mandya MP Sumalatha Ambareesh and BJP candidates from all seven assembly constituencies from the district were present in the roadshow. 

Netizens appreciated the gesture and praised the BJP veteran for his attempt to speak a few lines in Kannada in Karnataka.

A user complimented Yogi Adtiyanath for managing to speak in a non-native language.

One commented that the CM knows all the languages.

Yogi Adtiyanath, according to Bilkul Sahi, makes people understand in the language they speak. 

In his address, Yogi Adityanath said the country was split in the name of religion in 1947 and BJP will not allow the nation to be divided again on reservation based on religion. He further asserted that since the country was split along religious lines in 1947, reservations for Muslims were impossible, referring to to the promise of Congress of bringing back the 4% reservation for OBC Muslims in Karnataka which was recently revoked by the BJP govt in the state.

The UP CM said, “We have given reservations based on castes but there has been a division of the country based on religion in 1947 and, as a result, reservation cannot be provided based on religion. We are not ready for an internal division. Only the vision of ‘One India and Excellent India’ will take the country forward.”

The BJP stalwart also accused the Congress of backing groups like the Popular Front of India (PFI). He was on a day-long election campaign visit across regions in Karnataka that are considered to have some amount of Hindutva sway.

“In the last six years, there has been no rioting and no curfew in UP. I want to congratulate the double-engine government for banning outfits like the PFI, and the outfit’s spine has been broken in Karnataka. Please think about it, the double-engine government bans the PFI and on the other side, the Congress promotes the PFI. The Congress gives reservations based on religion. Reservation based on religion is against the constitution of India,” he asserted.

Congress leaders have openly sought the support of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), the student wing of the banned terrorist group PFI in the forthcoming Karnataka elections.

“We have given reservations based on castes but there has been a division of the country based on religion in 1947 and, as a result, reservation cannot be provided based on religion. We are not ready for an internal division. Only the vision of ‘One India and Excellent India’ will take the country forward,” the UP CM remarked.

Congress has repeatedly reaffirmed the party’s commitment to restore 4% Muslim reservation if the party come to power in the election-bound state.

Recently, the BJP has made an effort to portray the relationship between Yogi Adityanath’s Natha Panth organisation and the Vokkaligas’ Adichunchungiri Mutt as a sign of their strong links. The BJP leader has frequently stated that the southern state and Uttar Pradesh have a close connection and that Bhagwan Shree Manjunath and the Adichunchungiri Mutt’s customs have brought the Gorakhnath tradition there.

In addition to Mandya, which has a Hindutva undercurrent because of the religiosity of the Vokkaligas, Yogi Adityanath also campaigned in north Karnataka’s Vijayapura district.

“Jagajyothi Basveshwara introduced the democratic system to the whole world. India is not only the world’s biggest democracy but also the mother of democracy. I pay obeisances to this holy land where the great Jagadguru Basaveshwar was born,” he declared.

“Congress and JDS divide people and foster corruption. They lack any principles or convictions. They are visionless. The leadership and vision of PM Modi are quite evident. He adheres to his “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas,” slogan,” he observed.

The chief priest of the Gorakhnath Math also extended an invitation to attend the Ayodhya Ram Temple upon the prime minister’s inauguration in January 2024. “I have come to invite you as well. You have contributed to the Ram Janam Bhoomi movement, and a grand temple is being built in Ayodhya. In January 2024, the mandir will be completed and with the efforts of PM Modi, the temple will have its Ram Lalla idol in its place.”

“It will be the first time in 500 years that Lord Ram will be seated in his own temple. It is going to be a proud moment for all Indians. I have come to invite all devotees of Bajrangbali (Lord Hanuman) for the event of seating the Ram Lalla idol,” he announced. He also mentioned that Lord Hanuman, who was a close associate of Lord Ram, had origins in Karnataka.

“India has everything but there was no leadership before 2014. It was after 2014 that India got the leadership of PM Narendra Modi. The Congress talks about development, but the Congress’s legacy in development is the five-year plans. Projects were never completed. This is the reality of the Congress,” BJP’s star campaigner charged. He also voiced that Karnataka’s prestige has to be restored by embracing progress.

“Today, you can see that railway projects, airport projects, IITs and IIMs are being built, IT cities are being built, and work is happening in the agriculture sector. The day the foundation stone is laid for a project, the inauguration date is also fixed. PM Modi, who lays the foundation stone, will also carry out the inauguration,” he noted.

He proclaimed, “Only our double-engine government can guarantee progress and security. India under the able guidance of PM Modi works as a team. Karnataka has to decide how many players it wants to send to Team India. The more seats BJP win, the stronger leadership you will get. Congress has a failed engine but our double-engine government will bring prosperity under the captainship of PM Modi which every Indian is proud of.”

The CM of the northern state also held a massive roadshow before his rally.

Yogi Adityanath enjoys a significant following in Mandya due to his reputation as “Bulldozer Baba.” Thimappa, a farmer from Maddur who attended the gathering, explained, “He has instilled fear among criminals in UP, but over here, the government is very soft.”

“He eliminated all of the thugs in his region. The bulldozer talks in UP,” opined Ramesh N, another farmer at his rally. “For the BJP, it is a now-or-never moment in Mandya. In the village areas, they are weak, but in the city, they have a following,” he added.

‘Maut ka Saudagar’ redux: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge calls PM Modi a ‘poisonous snake’ ahead of Karnataka elections

OpIndia Staff
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‘Maut ka Saudagar’ redux: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge calls PM Modi a ‘poisonous snake’ ahead of Karnataka elections

On 27th April 2023, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge called PM Modi a poisonous snake. He made these remarks in a speech he gave in Kalaburagi of Karnataka in a public meeting arranged as a part of the campaigning for the state’s assembly elections.

Mallikarjun Kharge said, “PM Modi is like a ‘poisonous snake’, you might think it’s poison or not. If you lick it, you’re dead.” Mallikarjun Kharge also enacted licking as he mentioned it in his speech.

This is not the first time that the Congress president took a jibe at PM Modi during an election rally. During the run-up to the Gujarat assembly election of 2022, he compared PM Modi with the demon king Raavan.

On 29th November 2022, Mallikarjun Kharge remarked at a public event in Narendra Modi’s home state Gujarat that Modi has 100 heads since he is present in every election. “We see your face everywhere in corporation elections, MLA elections, and MP elections. Do you have 100 heads like Raavan?” Mallikarjun Kharge said at a gathering in Ahmedabad’s Behrampura.

Interestingly, such comments that are passed by Congress luminaries have seldom helped them electorally. The Raavan jibe cost Congress the Gujarat Assembly Elections just like the “Maut Ka Saudagar” comment by Sonia Gandhi in 2007 had cost Congress the Gujarat Assembly Elections at the time.

The 16th Karnataka state assembly election polling would be held on 10th May 2023. The results of the election will be declared on 13th May 2023. The 224-member assembly of the Karnataka state will complete its fifteenth tenure on 24th May 2023. At present, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has a total of 119 seats, while the Congress has a total of 75 and its ally JD(S) has a total of 28 seats. The campaigning for the elections is going on in full swing. Congress, however, has reached a new low as the party president has called PM Modi a poisonous snake.

Karnataka Elections: PM Modi to address 22 rallies across the state in 6 days

ANI
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Karnataka Elections: PM Modi to address 22 rallies across the state in 6 days

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hit the BJP campaign in the battleground of Karnataka this weekend.
The major highlight of PM Modi’s busy campaign schedule will be the massive roadshow in Bengaluru on Saturday. However, over the next fortnight, or so, PM Modi is expected to hold as many as 22 rallies across the state.

While the final schedule is being drawn up, sources have told ANI that during his six-day visit for the campaign, the BJP’s biggest star campaigner will hold close to 22 rallies. On each visit, PM Modi will be holding more than three rallies.

“BJP is extremely confident of doing well in the Karnataka election but the moment Prime Minister Narendra Modi hits battleground. It is a different game altogether. There is no bigger momentum for our party campaign to peak,” A senior party official tells ANI.

As per the sources on 29th April, Modi will address rallies in Humnabad, Vijayapura, Kudachi and Bengaluru North. The following day on 30th April Modi will be doing rallies in Kolar, Channapattna and Belur.

The prime minister returns back to the state next week for a two-day visit. On 2nd May he is scheduled to hold public meetings in Chitradurga, Vijayanagara, Sindhanur, and Kalaburgi. Public meetings are to be held in Moodabidri, Karwar, and Kittur on 3rd May.

As per the sources on 6th May PM Modi is to be in Chittapur, Nanjangud, Tumakuru Rural, Bengaluru South. On the penultimate day before the close of the campaign, 4 rallies will be addressed Modi on 7th May. These will be in Badami, Haveri, Shivamogga Rural and Bengaluru Central.

The saffron party which is seeking a win again in the southern state will be pitching on the formula of double engine growth government- state and centre as it seeks votes for the Assembly polls. Karnataka has been one of the oldest organisations for the BJP.

In the run-up to the state polls, BJP has announced central minister Dharmendra Pradhan as its election incharge. Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and TN BJP chief Annamalai are the co-in charges.

CM Basvaraj Bommai is heading the party’s campaign committee. The election management committee is being convened by union minister Shobha Karandlaje.

On 29th March, the election commission of India announced the schedule for the Karnataka elections. The polls for the 224-seat assembly are slated to take place on 10 May and the counting will take place on 13th May.

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

RSS ideologue and senior journalist S Gurumurthy refuses to file 2nd affidavit tendering ‘unconditional apology’ in Delhi HC’s contempt of court case 

OpIndia Staff
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RSS ideologue and senior journalist S Gurumurthy refuses to file 2nd affidavit tendering ‘unconditional apology’ in Delhi HC’s contempt of court case 

On Thursday, April 27, RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy told the Delhi High Court that he will not submit another affidavit tendering ‘unconditional apology’ in the 2018 Contempt-of-Court case. The court ruled that the case will now be heard on merits. 

A petition filed by the Delhi High Court Bar Association seeking criminal contempt proceedings against Gurumurthy was scheduled for consideration on 6 July by a division bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Talwant Singh.

Senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, who is representing Gurumurthy, stated today that he will not file another affidavit offering an unconditional apology for his tweet because he had already filed his response in 2018. Jethmalani stated that Gurumurthy had deleted that contentious tweet right after he came to know about the factual error.

But Justice Singh verbally informed Jethmalani that Gurumurthy’s prior affidavit was just a “reply on merits” to the contempt claim and that he needed to submit a new affidavit expressing an unconditional apology. Justice Singh asked Gurumurthy’s counsel to submit a two-line affidavit and allow the court to place a quietus on it. However, Jethmalani reiterated that the bench may proceed to hear the case on merits. 

The issue pertains to a tweet that Gurumurthy posted in which he questioned whether Justice Muralidhar was Senior Advocate P Chidambaram’s junior. The tweet was posted following a division bench led by Justice Muralidhar’s decision to award temporary protection to Karti Chidambaram in the INX Media case. 

In a suo motu criminal contempt case that includes names Gurumurthy as an alleged contemner and involved comments made against Justice Murlidhar on Twitter in 2018, the court discharged director Vivek Agnihotri recently. Agnihotri expressed regret and offered an unconditional apology saying that he has “utmost respect” for the judiciary as an institution.

Meanwhile, Anand Ranganathan, author and scientist who was added as a party to the contempt case brought against Vivek Agnihotri and Gurumurthy, has volunteered to personally appear before the bench at the upcoming hearing on May 24. Ranganathan had earlier refused to apologize before the court. 

It all began when Senior Advocate Rajshekhar Rao wrote a letter to then Chief Justice Rajendra Menon about an article written by S Gurumurthy accusing Justice Muralidhar of bias in granting bail to Urban Naxal Gautam Navlakha in the Bhima Koregoan case. On Desh Kapur’s blog ‘Dhristikone,’ Gurumurthy wrote the article “Why has Delhi High Court Justice Muralidhar’s relationship with Gautam Navlakha not been disclosed?” The article was retweeted in a tweet by filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri, who received a contempt of court notice as well. Anand Ranganathan had condemned this action by the High Court in a couple of tweets.

Gujarat: Another minor Hindu girl targeted in Morbi, accused Hasan Sandhi threatened the minor victim to make her photos viral and raped her

OpIndia Staff
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Gujarat: Another minor Hindu girl targeted in Morbi, accused Hasan Sandhi threatened the minor victim to make her photos viral and raped her

An incident of raping a minor girl has surfaced in Morbi of Gujarat where the accused Hasan Sandhi threatened the victim girl to make her photos viral and raped her in the Meter room of the Dev Fun World amusement park of Morbi. The accused is arrested after a complaint was filed by the victim girl’s family.

This is the second incident appearing in the last two weeks in which a Muslim accused has threatened a minor Hindu girl of making her photos viral and committed rape. The incident has angered the Hindu community of the Morbi area.

According to reports, Hasan Sandhi, a resident of Kalika plot in Morbi city, lured a Hindu minor girl, who lives in a posh locality and is studying in Class 10, into a love trap and clicked objectionable photos of her. This minor girl was then raped by Hasan Sandhi in the meter room of the Dev Fun World amusement park in Morbi, as he threatened her of making the photos viral. The victim’s family revealed these details in the police complaint that the accused Hasan had raped the victim on June 22, 2022, and April 13, 2023.

According to the complaint, the accused used to make frequent calls and call the victim to meet and threaten her. The victim later stopped talking to him and switched off her mobile phone. Yet Hasan somehow threatened the victim and took her to a closed shop and tried to rape her in the shop as well. The minor, who was fed up with Hasan, told the entire matter to her mother.

Hindu minor girls are trapped by the same modus operandi: Hindu Organisations

The OpIndia team contacted local Hindu organisations to get more information on the matter. While talking to OpIndia, these local leaders of various Hindu organisations made shocking revelations. According to them, Bilal, who raped a minor Hindu girl a few days ago, and in the latest case, the accused named Hasan, are all members of the same community. They use the same modus operandi to trap minor Hindu girls. Bilal raped and threatened a minor girl and trapped around 7 to 8 other girls, a Hindu organisation leader claimed.

Giving information about the matter, the Hindu Yuva Vahini leader told OpIndia, “Initially, the victim’s family was scared to file a police complaint, but with the Hindu Jagran Manch and the Hindu Yuva Vahini giving courage to the family, they agreed to file a complaint. The victim came in contact with the accused Hasan when she was on her way to tuition classes. He then befriended the victim and took her into confidence. He then raped the minor girl in Dev fun world on the pretext of taking her to the amusement park.”

According to him, there is a group of 7 to 8 people including the accused, who exploit the Hindu minor girls by luring them and trapping them in a love trap in this way. He said, “This whole racket is going on here. Hindu girls are being trapped and threatened to defame by making their photos and videos. These accused target students studying in school and colleges with the help of each other, just as Bilal exploited the victim’s sisters by threatening to kill them. Similarly, it has come to our notice that the members of this gang are trapping one girl and then blackmailing the other girls in her photos in various other ways to trap them.”

Hindu organizations to hold awareness programs in Morbi

Giving more information on the matter, the leader of the Hindu organization told OpIndia, “Most of the victims are of minor age, and it has become very important to create awareness in the society about this. Therefore, local Hindu organizations of Morbi are planning to hold awareness programs in school colleges in and around the city under which information will be given through speeches to the students to be aware of love jihad and other such evils.”

A case of rape and POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) has been registered at the A Division police station in Morbi city against Hasan Sandhi, accused of raping a minor Hindu student. The police have arrested the accused Hasan and produced him before the court and are seeking his remand for further investigation.

Earlier, one Bilal had repeatedly raped a Hindu minor girl in Morbi

This is not the first time that a Hindu minor girl is raped in Morbi. Earlier, a Muslim youth named Bilal had repeatedly raped a Hindu minor girl by luring her and threatening her. The accused took away the victim and raped her and then threatened her. The accused has been identified as Bilal Adam Manek (age 22). The victim’s mother lodged a complaint at Morbi’s A division police station after which an FIR was lodged and the accused was arrested.

In the complaint, the victim’s mother said that when her daughter was going to school, the accused Bilal used to follow her and keep on roaming around. One day he lured her to his house in Visipara and raped her.

According to the police complaint, Bilal raped the minor girl several times in four years. He also threatened the minor girl that he will take away her sister and cousin. Bilal threatened her by saying that ‘I will come home with my men and see her’.

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