Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed an authoritarian law that expands the government’s power to regulate media groups and journalists in the country, a report published by The Kyiv Independent said.
The law was signed on Thursday after protests from media unions and journalist associations that described it as an authoritarian move that would have a chilling effect on free speech.
As per the new law, the National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council, a statutory body whose members are selected by the president’s administration and members of parliament, will have sweeping authority over controlling Ukrainian media organisations and journalists.
The body will have the power to effectively shut down unregistered news sites.
Last month, the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine said the bill would undermine press freedom in the country.
In a statement released by the organisation, the union described powers vested by the bill as “clearly excessive” and said that it will oppose it. “No one has yet managed to tame freedom of speech in Ukraine. It won’t work this time either,” the organisation said.
However, this is not the first time that Zelensky has been accused of suppressing press freedom. He first tried to draft a new law to boost media regulation in 2019, the year he entered office.
The bill was enacted into law along with several other new statutes lawmakers claim are required in order to become eligible for European Union membership, which Ukraine applied for last year.
However, the bill that was passed for legislation on December 13, was watered down after strident criticism.
The earlier draft had accorded greater control to the National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council to impose fines on media groups, cancel licenses from printed media and prevent online outlets from publishing restricted information.
Blunt force trauma led to the injuries, reveals post-mortem report of Anjali Singh, the 20-year-old Delhi woman who was killed in the accident in Kanjhawala.
Kanjhawala death case | Delhi: All injuries occurred due to blunt force impact and possibly with a vehicular accident and dragging. Also, the report indicates that there is no injury suggestive of sexual assault: Sagar Preet Hooda, Special CP Law & Order, Delhi
Her post-mortem was carried out that Maulana Azad Medical College and the report suggests that the provisional cause of death is shock and haemorrhage because of antemortem injury to head, spine, left femur as well as both lower limbs. The report has also indicated that there are no injuries that suggest to sexual assault.
As reported by ANI, it has come to the fore that the girl, now identified as Nidhi, who was accompanying Anjali on the scooty when the accident took place, was her colleague at the hotel. The manager of the hotel has said that the two of them had a fight before they left the hotel on the scooty.
“Both of them were arguing. When I told them not to fight, they went downstairs and started fighting, after which both of them went on a scooty,” said Hotel Manager of the hotel from where the deceased and her friend left was quoted by news agency ANI. According to the Delhi Police, some boys who were seen with these girls have also been detained for questioning.
ANI further reported that the boys had a separate room booked and the hotel staff saw them talking to the girl.
The 20-year-old woman, who was killed in an accident was not alone at the time of the incident, said the Delhi Police Special Commissioner (Law and order), Sagar Preet Hooda, during a press conference on the Kanjhawala accident case. The Special Commissioner while addressing the media said that another girl was present with the victim at the time of the accident. However, she walked away after the incident. Reports suggested Nidhi, the other girl, had also sustained injuries but they were not major injuries.
Police is saying that now they have an eyewitness to the accident and her statement is being recorded under section 164. She is also cooperating with the police. The investigation regarding the same is still on and at a primary stage.
A 20-year-old woman, named Anjali was killed in the early hours of New Year after her scooty was hit by a car and she was reportedly dragged for 13 kilometres under the vehicle on the city’s roads. Five accused have been arrested in the case till now and sent to judicial custody.
A German YouTuber named Christian Betzmann has recently courted controversy for abusing street vendors in India and patronising his Indian audience about social etiquette in the West.
In one of his Instagram stories, he had claimed, “The audacity to drive through a street and scream to buy their freaking fruit.” In another Instagram story, he said, “How is this not banned? Every day 20 dudes scream in front of my Airbnb to sell their sh*t. I should buy all his pineapples and shove it up his a**. Bi*ch.”
His ‘privileged’ and insensitive rant on the social media platform drew the ire of his Indian audience. Christian Betzmann then went a step ahead and claimed that Indians would probably also justify rape as it had been happening for a long time.
The German Youtuber has been controversy’s favourite child for quite some time now. Prior to abusing underprivileged street vendors in India, he had pulled off a similar stunt in the neighbouring country of Pakistan.
Having realised the fandom a ‘white Christian man’ would generate by converting to Islam, Betzmann used the archaic mindset of Pakistani society to his advantage.
On February 6, 2021, he took to Instagram to inform his Pakistani audience that he had converted to the ‘religion of peace.’ He had claimed, “My best childhood friends were Muslims and deep inside we are all human beings in the same simulation we call life.”
Christian Betzmann further asserted, “Islam is the religion of peace and I felt a deeper connection and something I want to experience and explore deeper for myself.” As expected, his social media following surged with his ‘conversion story’ drawing over 1 lac likes in just 15 hours.
Screengrab of the Instagram post of Christian Betzmann
During his stay in Pakistan, he also managed to woo a Muslim Pakistani actress by the name of Zoya Nasir. When Betzmann converted to Islam, Nasir was elated and so were the average Pakistani Muslims.
“Welcome to peace…May Allah give you all that you desire and more,” she remarked about the German influencer’s decision to change his religion. Soon after, the couple got engaged and had a ‘dreamy proposal’ in the Bahamas.
However, things took a drastic turn in May 2021 after Israel came under attack from rockets fired from Gaza Strip. Given that the brute majority in Pakistan support pro-Palestinian forces including terror outfits such as Hamas, they expected the ‘white convert from Germany’ to follow suit.
Come on!!!!!!!what he said is totally right he highlights the dark side of our country one time but every time he highlights the good face of pakistan it’s really sad to see the reaction of Zoya Nasir towards him…. #ChristianBetzmannpic.twitter.com/L76U3j7N0q
After being bombarded by his Pakistani audience to post pro-Palestinian propaganda, Christian Betzmann lost his mind and rebuked the same people that he had pandered to for clout. The German blogger then attacked Pakistani society for its duplicity and for not standing up for their own basic rights.
“Social media will never win against government and politics. Sharing something which is all over mainstream media won’t make any difference. Stop feeling guilty for others when you’re littering your own country, not helping your own people and community,” he had stated.
With his statement, Betzmann stirred the hornet’s nest. He received flak on social media and even his Pakistani Muslim fiancée broke ties with him.
In an Instagram post, Zoya Nasir remarked, “It’s with a heavy heart I’m announcing that Christian Betzmann and I are no longer engaged to be married. His sudden change in stance towards my culture, my country, my people, and insensitivity towards my religion has led me to take this difficult and irrevocable decision.”
She further continued, “There are certain religious and social boundaries that can’t be crossed no matter what, hence, the decision to part ways. Humility, tolerance, and respect towards each other are the virtues that we must always adhere to.”
We should improve ourselves by acknowledging or mistakes rather criticizing a person who makes us aware of our errors. These are the hard realities which we have to face. Look at his stories on Insta.#ChristianBetzmannpic.twitter.com/QWdarhLIno
Soon after, Christian Betzmann took to Instagram to try and undo the damage. He thanked the Pakistani society and hoped that they would accept his ‘culture of honest criticism’ for their own betterment.
“For my new video, I went to Orangi Town in Karachi, which is the biggest slum in the world. I was shooting in extreme pollution [and] heat to show you that even people in the slums are good people,” he cited examples to prove his dedication to the Islamic Republic.
Screengrab of the comment by Christian Betzmann
When one of his fans tried to console him about his estranged relationship with actress Zoya Nasir, Christian Betzmann clarified, “I left her but that’s a different story.”
Nonetheless, the German influencer had been trying to woo his Indian fans by playing the ‘religion card’ as well. However, just like his track record in Pakistan, he displayed his ignorant behaviour and ended up upsetting the masses.
The caterwauling in the name of Allah, holding up posters, coordinated crying and victim playing, women and children out in the cold protesting against ‘state brutality’ and the online shills spreading fake news – the Haldwani issue has all the makings of snowballing into a Shaheen Bagh like situation. Since the 28th of December 2022, the residents of Haldwani, Uttarakhand, mostly Muslims, have been protesting against the authorities, who in accordance with a High Court order, launched a drive to clear encroachments from Railway land in the area.
The protesters have been making insinuations about how the State is persecuting them because they are Muslim. According to the reports, around 4000 families, the majority of whom are Muslims have been staying in the area for decades on the 29 acres of railway land that has been encroached upon by the residents. For years, railway authorities have contended that encroachment is impeding growth and expansion efforts.
However, on December 27, a strategy was developed to eliminate encroachments on railway land in the Banbhoolpura district. The master plan was developed during a high-level meeting involving administrative authorities and ADRM railways in response to a recent Uttarakhand High Court ruling for the elimination of encroachments.
The Uttarakhand High Court had recently ordered the authorities to evict forthwith the unauthorized occupants to vacate the premises from the railway land adjoining Haldwani Railway Station, commonly called Gaffur Basti. Accordingly, the action was initiated on December 29 after providing residents with a one-week prior notice.
Further, in accordance with the court ruling, residents of the Banbhoolpura area in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani who live on encroached railway land were also asked to surrender their licensed weapons and guns with the administration before the process of removing encroachments began.
The issue over railway land encroachment in the Haldwani area dates back to 2007 when railway officials conducted eviction operations for land segmentation and clearance of encroachment. It did, however, result in fights and arson, as well as demonstrations and stone-pelting.
On July 27, 2021, the North Eastern Railways delivered over 1,000 eviction notices to Banbhoolpura residents, instructing them to vacate their homes within 15 days. In April, over 500 people received similar notices, while 1,581 people received identical notices in January. The tenants then contended that the continuous distribution of eviction notices was done only to annoy them while the case was still in court.
The Uttarakhand High Court had previously asked the North Eastern Railway administration to remove encroachments on railway land in an order dated November 9, 2016. In the aftermath of the ruling, about 4,365 notifications were issued that year. After dismissing the state’s review plea, the court ordered the expulsion of informal settlers within four weeks in January 2017. The Supreme Court, however, postponed the ruling for three months, citing the fact that the High Court had not heard the petitioners before issuing the eviction order.
From the brief history of the issue, some facts become evident:
This is not an eviction drive that is being carried out at the whim of the administration. The authorities have been trying to evict land encroachers since 2007 – that is 15 years.
The eviction drive is a result of a High Court order, therefore, it is safe to say that the legal process has been followed by the authorities in order to carry out this demolition drive.
When an eviction operation was conducted in 2007, the residents of Haldwani, who are today wailing and crying, indulged in arson and rioting against the eviction drive.
There were several eviction notices furnished to the residents of Haldwani, who today seem to be insinuating that they are in a state of shock that their illegal houses, constructed on Railway land, are being demolished.
The Supreme Court, when approached by the residents, had asked them to go back to the High Court. SC had asked HC to decide their pleas in 3 months – this was in 2017. It was a couple of weeks ago that the High Court passed the judgement to remove encroachments from Haldwani.
After the High Court order, Rajendra Singh, Railway PRO, Izzat Nagar had said that there were 4365 encroachments and the eviction notices were served through the local newspaper. He said that the residents were given 7 days to shift, after which, the demolition would take place.
It is pertinent to note that after the High Court judgement and the eviction notice being served for the residents to shift in 7 days, the residents have spent their time protesting, blocking roads, talking to the media, crying ‘persecution’ and playing victim, with sympathetic voices in the media trying to build a narrative about a grave injustice being meted out to the Muslim residents.
From the facts of the case, it is evident that this eviction drive was 15 years in the making, with the residents being given ample hearing in a court of law and sufficient time by the authorities to move out of the illegal residences.
But the narrative that is now being built has all the marking of a protest being crafted to mirror the 2019-2020 Shaheen Bagh protest that ultimately led to the Delhi anti-Hindu Riots in February 2020. The ongoing protests in Haldwani, the imagery being used and the narrative being weaved by Islamist allies have uncanny parallels to what we saw unfolding in 2019-2020.
The unmissable Congress hand
Congress has taken a special interest in the Haldwani eviction drive. On the 2nd of January, Congress leader Imran Pratapgarhi tweeted that represented by Salman Khurshid, he had approached the Supreme Court against the eviction drive. He said he had approached the court against the demolition of the homes of the “oppressed”. So far, we have been given no context by Pratapgarhi as to how the residents of Haldwani were being “oppressed”.
Tweet by Congress leader
Interestingly, Aarfa Khanam, a Congress politician and prominent attorney from Delhi, had gone live on Facebook to discuss the issue. She said that the state’s Bharatiya Janata Party administration is targeting the region because the majority of the population in the area is Muslim. “We respect the judiciary. But what kind of justice is this that you make fifty thousand people homeless but you didn’t make any arrangements for their rehabilitation” Khanam said.
It is also reported that the demonstrators are being supported by Congress MLA Sumit Hridayesh and Samajwadi Party in-charge Abdul Matin Siddiqui and general secretary Shoeb Ahmad. Notably, the matter in which Zubair and several other Muslim leaders have raised their voices is the matter of illegal encroachment of the railway land in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani area.
Interestingly, during the anti-CAA protests in 2019, which morphed into the Shaheen Bagh protest and later the anti-Hindu riots in Delhi, the Congress hand was also unmissable. First and foremost, the misinformation about Citizenship Amendment Act was fanned by Congress itself. It is pertinent to note that Sonia Gandhi held a rally where she had said made “do or die” calls from the stage on the 14th of December 2019. She had also said that sacrifices will have to be made to ensure that CAA is not implemented – the narrative which was being peddled, was that CAA was somehow anti-Muslim when it actually had nothing to do with Muslims, let alone Indian Muslims.
On the 16th of December 2019, OpIndia exclusively reported how Whatsapp groups were being made by Congress leaders and workers to spread misinformation about CAA and fan violence. From the Whatsapp conversations, it was evident that the group was run by Congress workers and leaders, that the anti-CAA protests were spearheaded by Congress but they wanted to appear politically neutral and organic and the aim of the protest was an Arab Spring-like protest. There were then other Whatsapp groups that pointed towards a specific Congress and foreign NGO nexus in the anti-CAA protest.
In the anti-Hindu violence itself, which broke out in February 2020, there were several Congress leaders who were involved in the violence and the conspiracy to commit violence. Ishrat Jahan, a Congress leader, for example, is directly accused of inciting and conspiring to commit violence in Delhi during the riots. There are several other Congress leaders who have regularly extended support to Umar Khalid, who is a prime conspirator of the Delhi anti-Hindu violence.
With the Congress tentacles being evident in the 2020 violence, the involvement of Congress yet again, this time in Haldwani, should raise several red flags for the authorities given that protests like these with political patronage can soon turn exceptionally ugly – as evidenced by the anti-CAA protests and Shaheen Bagh protests in 2020.
The maa-behen, biting cold trope in the protests
One of the defining characteristics of the Shaheen Bagh protest was the use of old women and children to drive home the point about how Muslims were supposedly being persecuted in India. We now see the same pattern being repeated in the Haldwani protests.
Muslim journalist from NewsClick tweeted a video about how the residents of Haldwani were out, protesting in the biting cold. He also said that he would stand in solidarity with them against the state.
In the video, the man delivering a speech to the protesting residents could hear invoking the name of Allah and crying, in a synchronised manner with the crowd. Apart from the obvious religious overtones, what stood out was the man talking incessantly about how women and children were being rendered homeless by the state’s action.
हल्द्वानी का मज़बूर और बेबस मुसलमान सर्द मौसम के बीच ठिठुरती सड़को पर बैठा है,हम रज़ाई और कंबलों में भी खुद की सर्दी नही उतार पा रहे है लेकिन @RailMinIndia का क्या उसने तो क़सम खाई है इन बस्तियों को उजाड़ लोगों को बेघर करने की!#Haldwani के लोगों के साथ हम एकजुटता से खड़े रहेंगे pic.twitter.com/EfXK7ko07s
Out-on-bail fact-checker of AltNews, Mohammad Zubair posted several pictures of the protest where it was evident that children were being used in the Haldwani protest, just like they were being used in the Shaheen Bagh protest, to invoke sympathy.
The other trope that we see getting repeated is that of “poor, destitute, helpless Muslims” protesting in the biting cold of December. This is the same trope we saw during the Shaheen Bagh protests.
In Uttrakhand, thousands of Muslims are out on the roads asking the government to stop the demolition of their houses. They are crying, praying helplessly. In the peak of the winter season, they will all soon become homeless. #Haldwani
It is pertinent to note that the Shaheen Bagh protests also started in December – on the 15th – and the Haldwani protest has also erupted in December itself.
Misinterpretation and misrepresentation of the issue to peddle a trope about state persecution of Muslims
As elucidated above, this issue is not about the state going out of its way to persecute Muslims, however, that is what the narrative that is being created suggests.
Mohammad Zubair, who habitually dog whistles, took to Twitter to claim that it is the media’s responsibility to speak for the helpless, however, the media has become the mouthpiece of the ruling government and therefore is not becoming the voice of Haldwani Muslims.
While Zubair acknowledges that the eviction drive is pursuant to a High Court order, he somehow, slyly, peddles the narrative that the media is silent because they are enslaved to the ruling government, essentially signalling that the ruling government is maliciously trying to demolish the house of the Muslim residents and therefore, they were a victim of state persecution. In fact, he even says that the demolition is happening “at the pretext of encroachments”, somehow insinuating that the Muslim residents were actually not illegally occupying the land but were being evicted maliciously by the government.
In fact, even the corporate media jumped on to the bandwagon in trying to paint the Haldwani residents as victims.
Rajdeep Sardesai in his segment on India Today said that several residents of Haldwani were protesting because they risked losing their homes to the demolition drive to clear encroached land. However, he also says that the India Today report was meant to explore the “truth” – “Where does the truth lie”, he asks, essentially seeding doubt that the fact that these were illegal buildings and the authorities were clearing encroachments legally could be a lie and the truth could lie elsewhere.
In the video itself, one resident of Haldwani clearly says that they were served repeated eviction notices. Her version is that they were served these notices because the authorities wanted to harass them, however, as we have seen, the facts of the case point towards a truth that India Today failed to elucidate. The fact is that several notices have been serviced to the residents in accordance with the law and it was the court that evaluated the facts before passing the judgement. Further, in this 15-year-old issue, it is also true that the Haldwani residents indulged in arson and rioting in 2007. With the clear knowledge that their homes were illegally built and encroached on Railway land and with several notices being served, the residents had ample time to find alternate accommodation.
Even after the latest judgement by the High Court and the authorities giving the residents 7 days to move out, the residents seem to have decided to spend that time protesting, crying in a synchronised manner, invoking Allah and talking to the media.
During the CAA issue in 2019-2020 as well, there was a substantial twisting of the narrative with the media and Muslim “activists” claiming that the CAA was a law against the Muslims of India. The truth was far from it. CAA had nothing to do with Muslims at all and was merely extending citizenship to persecuted minorities of neighbouring Islamic nations. In fact, during the CAA fiasco, the politicians, Islamists and the media went a step ahead and claimed that the CAA coupled with NRC would ensure that Muslims lose their right to citizenship. While CAA had nothing to do with Indian Muslims, a nationwide NRC had not even been drafted for them to fearmonger on the basis of it.
Problematic Muslim elements who were active during the CAA violence have also come out of the woodworks during the Haldwani issue.
The #Haldwani issue is purely govt vendetta. Over 50,000 people, at least 1/3rd of the entire population in the city, is to be made homeless by HC order no less. They’ve govt schools, tanks and registration papers since generations. How were these made on railway land?
It is evident that the aim of the misinformation campaign in this issue is the same as that during the Shaheen Bagh – to twist an issue to somehow give the impression that the state is persecuting Muslims in a coordinated, malicious manner with the world looking away. The victim narrative serves the larger purpose of not only showing the central government, which has been deemed as “pro-Hindu” and “anti-Muslim” by the global order, in a bad light but also handing over the perpetual victim card to the Muslim community. In this case, it is clear that the Muslim residents encroached on Railway land and the authorities were trying to evict them for 15 years. After due process of the law, the High Court gave the go-ahead to evict the illegal occupants. After the residents were served with a notice and given 7 days to relocate, they chose to protest and cry victim instead of accepting the ruling of the court. The ecosystem which flourishes on using the Muslim victim card to claim that “minorities are under attack”, immediately sprung into action to claim that the “truth could be different” and that the media is not speaking up for the illegal occupants because they are sold to the ruling government, insinuating that the state is persecuting its Muslim population.
Now, with the Haldwani protest having all the makings of Shaheen Bagh 2.0, and the Congress petition coming up for hearing in the Supreme Court on the 5th, there are a few ways that this could proceed.
If the Supreme Court, as it should, throws out the petition saying that the eviction is being carried out after the due process of the law, we would see spurious protests in Haldwani and shill cacophony by the ecosystem, but chances are, that the situation would be assuaged and the motivated protestors-for-hire would go home, looking for the next cause they can exploit.
However, if the Court decides to repeat the shenanigans that it pulled off during Shaheen Bagh, the situation could snowball before we realise it. During the Shaheen Bagh protest, the High Court had summarily refused to hear a petition that called for the protestors to be removed, citing inconvenience being caused to the general public. When the matter went to the Supreme Court, instead of acting in a decisive manner, the Supreme Court appointed interlocutors to beg the Islamists to move their protest to another location. What followed was elements like Teesta Setalvad coaching the protestors of Shaheen Bagh and the protestors furnishing a list of demands to the Supreme Court itself. With the lack of intervention of the court and the Government summarily pushing the ball in the Judiciary’s court, the protests raged on, culminating in the Delhi anti-Hindu riots.
In this case, if the Court decides to toe the liberal line and make statements “upholding the right to protest”, and the government refuses to act decisively, it is not too far from the realm of possibility that Haldwani would be Shaheen Bagh 2.0 – a breeding ground of Islamism, anti-India narrative, misplaced Muslim victimhood, fake news, instigation to violence and finally, violence.
Amid growing security threats in Pakistan, Chinese engineers have suspended work on hydropower projects in Swat and Shangla districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in July 2022, reported The Nation.
Amid the deteriorating condition of law and order in the country, security agencies were told to make a foolproof security arrangement for Chinese engineers. The Chinese engineers have still not resumed their work on the aforementioned hydropower projects.
A meeting, under the chairmanship of Energy and Power Secretary Nisar Ahmad Khan, took place on Monday wherein the security agencies were directed that an integrated strategy would be adopted for the timely completion of hydropower projects worth billions of rupees, reported The Nation.
Notably, the team of Chinese engineers working on the 84 megawatts Mitiltan hydropower project in Swat suspended the work and moved to Islamabad in July 2022 due to the security situation.
The meeting was informed that a Chinese expert team had also stopped working on the 11.8 megawatts Karora hydropower project in Shangla district since May 2022, reported The Nation.
The construction work on the project had come to a standstill and it was feared that the security threat situation and the delay could cause heavy losses to the province.
The participants of the meeting discussed various options to improve the security arrangements. Bullet-proof vehicles for foreign engineers would be arranged and fool-proof security arrangements ensured, reported The Nation. At the end of the meeting, the secretary of energy said that the provincial government should adopt a well-planned security strategy including establishing close contacts with the relevant district administration, police and other agencies so that work on the energy projects may not suffer.
Meanwhile, Gwadar Rights Movement leader, Maulana Hidayat ur Rehman, issued a warning to Chinese nationals to leave the Gwadar port area, reported The Maritime Executive.
Maulana issued a threat to the Chinese nationals living in Gwadar, according to reports, warning that if the government “ignores” their peaceful protests, the participants have a right “to pick up and use weapons to protect our rights.”
Media reports suggest that there are fewer than 500 Chinese in Gwadar, all based in the Gwadar Port compound, reported Asian Lite International.
Protests on the expansion of Pakistan’s Gwadar Port, a key asset for China’s BRI (Belt and Road Initiative) in Asia, continue to escalate, potentially jeopardizing economic ties between China and Pakistan, reported The Maritime Executive.
Last week, the events took a new twist after a protest leader warned Chinese nationals to leave Gwadar by the end of the week.
Chinese citizens are facing increasing threats from different militant groups in Pakistan, with a rise in recent incidents of targeted attacks on China nationals. The growing anti-China sentiment in Gwadar may adversely impact the progress of key CPEC projects.
The protests led by Rehman, affiliated with the Gwadar Rights Movement, have been going on for about two months.
Participants are demanding an immediate ban on illegal trawling in Balochistan’s maritime boundaries, recovery of missing Baloch people, closure of unnecessary security checkpoints, primacy to local workers over Chinese citizens, maximum concessions in border trade with Iran, and end to narcotics, among other Gwadar-related issues.
(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)
Two Senegalese MPs were jailed for six months, fined 100,000 CFA francs ($150), and ordered to pay five million francs in damages for assaulting a pregnant legislator during a chaotic session in the National Assembly last month.
During a high-voltage debate about democracy in Senegal, pro-government legislator Amy Ndiaye was slapped and then kicked in her belly, allegedly by MPs Mamadou Niang and Massata Samb, who were each given six-month prison terms after a trial that began on December 19.
As can be seen in the above video, Senegalese MPs exchanged blows during a chaotic session of parliament that took place on December 1 last year.
“They are going to remain in prison pending an appeal,” one of their lawyers, Abdy Nar Ndiaye, was quoted as saying by AFP.
While they pleaded not guilty and denied hitting the legislators, the video evidence suggested to the contrary.
The layers representing the duo said they were immune from prosecution, given their status as lawmakers, but the court rejected their contention.
The incident took place on December 1, during a routine vote on the justice ministry’s budget. Ndiaye was assaulted after she made remarks about Serigne Moustapha Sy, an influential Muslim leader who supports the opposition but is not a lawmaker, leading to commotion and chaos.
Ndiaye had fainted and was given hospital treatment, her lawyer Baboucar Cisse said, highlighting that she was pregnant and there were fears that could lose her baby.
Cisse, who has demanded a two-year jail sentence for the accused, said Ndiaye is out of hospital but “remains in an extremely difficult situation.”
Nonetheless, the incident triggered a vigorous debate about parliamentary discourse and the treatment of women, incidentally coinciding with an awareness campaign against domestic violence.
Senegal, a country in Western Africa, is regarded as a symbol of stability and democracy in a region wracked by bloody coups and military dictatorships.
In July last year, legislative elections resulted in a virtual tie, with President Macky Sall’s party required to enter into an alliance to remain in power. Sall was elected to power for a seven-year term in 2012 and re-elected for a five-year tenure in 2019. He has not yet disclosed his plans for the next presidential vote, which will take place in 2024.
Sony Entertainment Television (SET) ran into a controversy after it televised a Crime Patrol episode which had striking resemblance to the Shraddha Walker murder case that shook the nation’s conscience recently. In the televised version, the name of victim and perpetrator were Anna Fernandes and Mihir Kanchwala respectively. Netizens had registered protest and accused the channel of switching religious identities of the victim and perpetrator in such a horrifying crime. In reality, one Aftab Amin Poonawala has been accused of murdering his live-in girlfriend Shraddha Walker.
As soon as the episode aired on SET India’s YouTube page, viewers were quick to notice the uncanny resemblance between the episode on Sony TV’s criminal drama series Crime Patrol and the grisly murder of Shraddha Walkar. The episode resulted in a huge uproar on social media. The makers were chastised for distorting the facts while changing the religious identities of both the victim and accused. In no time, ‘boycott Sony TV’ began trending on Twitter.
Following the outrage, Sony LIV, on January 2, deleted the said episode of the true crime anthology series ‘Crime Patrol’ from the app. On the same day, Sony Liv also issued a statement on Twitter in defence of the episode after it was deleted. It asserted that the occurrence was unrelated to any recent incident and was based on events that occurred in 2011.
“Some viewers are commenting on social media regarding the recent episode of Crime Patrol. Viewers say that this episode bears resemblance to a recent murder case. We want to inform that this episode is based on a fictional story. Its story is inspired by a murder case that took place in 2011. It has nothing to do with any recent case. We take full care that our content is as per broadcasting standards. We fully respect the sentiments of our viewers. We are sorry if any viewers’ sentiments were hurt by this episode. We have removed this episode,” read the Tweet which was posted on January 2.
Though the channel has stepped in to defend and denied any resemblance to the brutal murder of Shraddha Walker, one cannot ignore the fact that the snippets of the show revealed some uncanny similarities between the now-deleted episode and the murder of Shraddha Walker.
Similarities between Shraddha Walker murder case and Crime Petrol 2.0’s ‘Ahmedabad-Pune’ murder case
In the now-deleted episode of ‘Crime Petrol’, it was shown that a boy who was named ‘Mihir’ kills his partner in a fit of rage and then cuts her body into several pieces and wraps it in multiple plastic bags before storing it in the fridge, exactly what happened in Shraddha Walkar’s case. On November 14, reports emerged that a man identified as Aftab Amin Poonawalla allegedly killed his live-in partner, a Hindu woman identified as Shraddha, in May this year. He allegedly chopped her body in 35 pieces, stored them in a newly brought fridge, and disposed of them one piece at a time for several days.
Furthermore, in the Crime Patrol 2.0 episode named ‘Ahmedabad-Pune’ murder case, the accused consumed wine after stacking the dismembered body parts in the fridge. He was also shown receiving a food parcel from a food delivery executive wearing red t-shirt shortly after killing his partner. This was also consistent with what was reported in the Shraddha Walkar murder case. Aftab Amin Poonawalla had also confessed to the police that he drank beer after dismembering his live-in partner’s body and then ordered food from Zomato.
In the episode, one could also see incense sticks lit in the room where the fridge with the chopped body parts was kept. This is also similar to the case of Shraddha Walker. The police who were probing the gruesome murder of Shraddha Walker had confirmed that after brutally dissecting his live-in partner’s body into 35 pieces, the accused Aftab Ameen Poonawala reportedly lit incense sticks in his apartment to counter the foul smell emitted by the dismembered body parts stored in the refrigerator.
On Monday (January 2), actress Pooja Misra courted controversy after she claimed that actor Shatrughan Sinha and his daughter hacked her phone so as to prevent her from booking a cab ride.
The ‘Big Boss Season 5’ participant took to her Instagram to make the sensational allegations. “I have been trying to book a cab for the past one and half hour from the phone that has been hacked by Shatrughan Sinha and Sonakshi Sinha,” she wrote.
“As my driver is on off…But I am not able to book an uber as these mentally retarded bunch of green-eyed losers want to stress me, want to age me and suck my blood daily the way they have been for 18 years…” Pooja Misra said in her Instagram story.
Screengrab of the Instagram story of Pooja Misra
The actress further claimed that Shatrughan Sinha and his daughter Sonakshi Sinha are now scared of her and want to pay compensation to dispose of the matter.
She added, “When my allies are stronger then they get scared and start talking compensation for wrecking my life… That too-small servitude mentality wannabes talk 25 lakhs…Excuse me, (even) 18 crores for 18 years is less going by how much you leeches have harrassed me…”
“So stay within your mediocre limits and FUCK OFF!” Pooja Misra threatened the father-daughter duo. It must be mentioned that the actress came to the limelight, following her participation in the Season 5 of the reality show ‘Big Boss’ in 2011.
When Pooja Misra became a meme material
During one episode, Pooja Misra had an ugly fight with another contestant named Shonali Nagrani. Misra broke a plastic broom in a bid to scare Nagrani, prompting the latter to ask, “Pooja what is this behaviour?”
She then claimed that the broom broke by mistake. When Nagrani told her that her act was deliberate, Misra suggested that she should pick up the broken broom in case the incident bothered her too much.
Since then, Pooja Misra has been the subject of several memes. In fact, she even wrote a book about it in 2021 titled, ‘Yes, You Can Be A Viral Reality Showstar.’
Actress accused Shatrughan Sinha of carrying out a ‘Sex Scam’
In May last year, Misra alleged that Shatrughna Sinha and his wife Poonam Sinha targeted her with black magic and orchestrated a ‘sex scam’ while she was a rising star in Bollywood. She alleged that the Sinha family often made her unconscious and used black magic on her.
“By selling my virginity, Shatrughan Sinha made his daughter Sonakshi a star who was about to become a fashion designer,” Mishra has complained. She claimed that Shatrughan Sinha and his wife allegedly harassed her for 17 years and destroyed her career during her stay in Mumbai.
Pooja Mishra went on to describe how her father helped Shatrughan Sinha and his friends several times with ‘crores of rupees’ but the same people then duped her when it came to her career. According to Mishra, her father and Sinha used to be good friends once upon a time.
She said that in Mumbai, Shatrughan Sinha’s wife Poonam Sinha brainwashed her father by telling him that only prostitutes work in Bollywood, and that notion kept her away from entering the industry.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA and former Maharashtra Minister, Jitendra Awhad, has stoked a new controversy by calling Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb “not a Hindu hater”.
In a bid to defend Maharashtra Leader of Opposition, Ajit Pawar’s Friday remarks on Chhattrapati Sambhaji, Awhad brought up the Mughal ruler during his interaction with the media on Monday. Awhad said that in the earlier days Maratha was not a caste but a “dharma that was followed” and taken forward by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, after Pawar had in the state assembly said that the Maratha king (Sambhaji Maharaj) had never upheld dharma or religion in his life.
“Sambhaji Maharaj laid the foundation of dharma and it was not a caste,” he said.
“He (Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj) was brought to Bahadurgad where his eyes were removed. Close to Bahadurgad Fort, there was a Vishnu Temple. Aurangzeb was cruel but not anti-Hindu. If he was anit-Hindu he would have demolished that temple too (Vishnu Temple),” Awhad addressing a press conference on Monday said.
He referred to history and said Aurangzen had killed his brothers, and father. He was cruel. However, he said regular historical references should be avoided
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said that Aurangzeb destroyed many temples in Maharashtra and tortured women.
“NCP is insulting Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj and praising Aurangzeb. Aurangzeb destroyed many temples in Maharashtra and tortured women,” said Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
Last year, Maharashtra Governor BS Koshyari caused an uproar as he referred to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj as an “old icon”.
In December, the tripartite coalition of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) launched a protest march, across Mumbai, against the ruling Eknath Shinde government and Governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari’s remarks on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, and senior leaders from Congress, and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray faction) led a march from Navi Mumbai, Raigadh, Pune and other parts to Mumbai attacking the Eknath Shinde government.
They also said: “The people of Maharashtra will not tolerate anything said against Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Dr Savitribai Phule and other great personalities. Our message to the Shinde govt is that they shouldn’t try to change the history of the state.”
(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)
On Sunday, the president of the All India Muslim Jamaat, Maulana Shahabuddin Razvi, stated that any Muslim reciting prayers for a departed non-Muslim’s soul is ‘haram’. The cleric was responding to a question about the organisation about a condolence meeting in Moradabad by members of the Muslim community for PM Modi’s mother Heeraben, who died on Friday.
The cleric had said, “Those who have organised the condolence meeting and participated in it, need to seek forgiveness from Allah”. He had termed the act ‘haram’ (that which is prohibited in the holy Quran and thus a sin for Muslims).
The Maulana added that the recitation of prayers by a Muslim for a departed soul, was only acceptable when the deceased was a Muslim. “It is essential to be a Muslim for this right. To pray for a non-Muslim deceased is najayaz (unauthorised) and should not be done”, he had said.
However, after facing harsh criticism for his words, the Maulana on Monday released a video in which he stated that his remarks were misunderstood to make it appear as if they were made for the PM’s deceased mother. Though he did not retract his remarks, he claimed that they were not directed at Prime Minister Modi’s mother.
“It was a local matter on which I spoke. I request that my statement not be used in connection with the PM’s mother”, he said.
Heeraben Modi, the mother of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, breathed her last on Friday (December 30) at the UN Mehta Institute of Cardiology & Research Centre in Ahmedabad. She was 100 years old. She was hospitalised on December 28 after her health situation deteriorated, and while she had started to recover initially, she passed away on the next day at 3.30 AM. Condolence messages from world leaders poured in for Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the demise of his mother.
PM Modi had paid tributes to his mother on Twitter, saying that he always felt the holy Trinity in his mother, which included the journey of an ascetic, the symbol of a selfless Karmayogi and a life committed to values. ‘A glorious century rests at the feet of God,’ he said. After carrying out his mother’s cremation in the morning, PM Modi was back to work on the same day.
