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‘The observations virtually exonerate the Udaipur beheading’: Retired judges, bureaucrats, and armed officers slam SC Judges over remarks on Nupur Sharma

On Tuesday, 15 retired judges, 77 retired bureaucrats, and 25 retired armed forces officers issued a statement against the two Supreme Court Judges for passing ‘indiscreet remarks’ against ex-BJP Spokesperson Nupur Sharma. The bench led by Justice Surya Kant and Justice Pardiwala, while hearing the petition by Nupur Sharma last week had held her responsible for Kanhaiya Lal’s beheading in Udaipur.

The statement signed by 15 retired judges, 77 retired bureaucrats, and 25 retired armed forces officers called the comments made by SC judges ‘unfortunate and unprecedented’. The list of 117 signatories includes Former Chief Justice Mumbai High Court Kshitij Vyas, Former Rajasthan High Court judges RS Rathore and Prashant Agarwal, Former Judge Delhi MC Garg, Former DGP Jharkhand Nirmal Kaur, Former DGP Manipur Mirnal Kanti Das and Veterans Sanjay Kulkarni, PK Roy, SP Singh and more.

“Unfortunate and unprecedented comments emanating from the two-Judge Bench of the Hon’ble Supreme Court-Justice Surya Kant and Justice J. B. Pardiwala, while being seized of a petition by Nupur Sharma, have sent shockwaves in the country and outside,” the letter said.

Criticising the comments made by the SC judges, the letter read, “By no stretch, these observations, which are not part of the judicial Order, can be sanctified on the plank of judicial propriety and fairness. Such outrageous transgressions are without parallel in the annals of Judiciary.”

The letter also read that observations made by the Supreme Court judges had no jurisprudential connection with the issue raised in the petition, and it transgressed in an unprecedented manner all canons of the dispensation of justice. The letter said Nupur Sharma was defacto denied access to the judiciary, which led to the outrage on the Preamble, spirit and essence of the Constitution of India.

“By such observation perceptionally, there is a virtual exoneration of the dastardliest beheading at Udaipur in broad daylight. The observations also graduate to the most unjustifiable degree that this was ‘only to fan an agenda’, the letter further read.

“In the annals of the judiciary, the unfortunate comments have no parallel and are an indelible scar on the justice system of the largest democracy,” the open letter lambasting the oral observations made by SC judges further added.

The 115 signatories to the letter also commented on the order passed by the Supreme Court denying Nupur Sharma to club the FIRs filed against her. “Hon’ble Supreme Court instead of safeguarding the fundamental right of the Petitioner, refused to take cognizance of the Petition and forced the Petitioner to withdraw the Petition and approach appropriate forum (High Court) knowing fully well that High Court does not have jurisdiction to transfer or club the FIRs/cases registered in other States,” it said.

Retired Delhi HC SN Dhingra criticises SC judges for their oral observations against Nupur Sharma

This comes days after SN Dhingra, retired judge of the Delhi High Court slammed SC judges for passing comments on Nupur Sharma and said that if a judge wants to deliver a speech, he should become a politician. “Supreme Court itself cannot hold anyone guilty without any investigation. The case was put in front of the Supreme Court only for transferring the FIRs and not for proving any charges against her. I don’t understand how the Supreme Court can make such oral observations? If the Supreme Court had guts, it would have given those comments as a part of the written order”, he had added.

He also said that the incident gave a very bad message in the country that ‘the Supreme Court itself is high on the power it has and nobody can stop the Supreme Court from saying anything at its own will’. Also, the Jammu-based human rights forum had written to the CJI seeking withdrawal of the indecent remarks made by Justice Surya Kant and Justice JB Pardiwala.

The forum labelled the remarks made by the judges as unconstitutional and said that the observations made by the Judges would justify the inhuman act undertaken by the murderers of Kanhaiya Lal in Udaipur. Kanhaiya Lal was murdered by two radical Islamists named Riaz and Ghous Mohammed.

The duo disguised as customers and entered the tailoring shop of the deceased. While Kanhaiya Lal was busy taking the cloth measurements, one of the accused attacked him with a long sharp knife. According to the post-mortem report, he was stabbed 26 times on his body from his neck to shoulder. Kanhaiya Lal was killed for uploading a social media post in support of ex-BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma.

Enforcement Directorate raids 44 locations during the probe against Chinese mobile manufacturing company Vivo under provisions of PMLA

On Tuesday, July 5, The Enforcement Directorate conducted raids at as many as 44 locations across the country linked to the Chinese mobile company Vivo. The searches are being conducted in a money-laundering investigation against the Chinese smartphone manufacturing company.

Among the states where searches are in progress are Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, and Haryana.

The searches are being carried out under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

In May, the Indian units of ZTE Corp., a Chinese partially state-owned technology company and Vivo Mobile Communications Co. had come under the scanner for alleged financial irregularities.

Chinese mobile company Xiaomi’s India unit slapped with three show cause notices worth Rs 653 crores

Vivo is not the only Chinese mobile company under the scanner for financial irregularities. In January this year, the Finance Ministry issued three show-cause notices to Chinese phone maker Xiaomi’s India unit ‘Xiaomi Technology India’ for evading customs duty by way of undervaluation. With the notices, the tax authorities are demanding Rs 653 crore in tax from the company. This development came after a detailed investigation was initiated by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) against Xiaomi India and its contract manufacturers.

This development came a month after the Income Tax Department had conducted searches on leading Chinese mobile companies across the country on December 21. The searches were conducted in offices of Oppo, Xiaomi, and One Plus in Delhi and 11 states including, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Assam, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Bihar, and Rajasthan.

The search revealed that two major companies had made remittances in the name of royalty, to and on behalf of its group companies located abroad, which aggregates to more than Rs 5500 crore.

After OpIndia and Nupur J Sharma, AG gets letter to initiate contempt proceedings against retired Justice Dhingra and two others

An advocate by the name of Jaya Sukin has fired off a letter to Attorney General KK Venugopal, seeking permission to initiate criminal contempt proceedings against retired Judge SN Dhingra, and advocates Aman Lekhi and Rama Kumar.

The trio had made scathing remarks on the disturbing statements issued by Justice Surya Kant and Justice JB Pardiwala over the recent beheading of Hindu tailor Kanhaiya Lal in Udaipur.

As per Law Beat, advocate Jaya Sukin claimed that the remarks made by Justice Dhingra and advocates Lekhi and Kumar caused ‘irreparable injuries’ to the Indian Judiciary and the nation.

The letter also alleged that the use of unparliamentary and derogatory language against the Judiciary fell within the scope of the Contempt of Courts

The development comes days after Trinamool Congress spokesperson Saket Gokhale had sought consent from AG to falsely implicate Opindia and its Editor-in-Chief Nupur Sharma for questioning the contentious remarks of Justices Kant and Pardiwala.

OpIndia, in an article, had stated that the statement of the judges has emboldened the Islamists.

If they want to deliver speech, they should become politicians: Retired judge SN Dhingra

In a recent interaction with a news channel, retired justice SN Dhingra said that if a judge wants to deliver a speech, then, he should become a politician. SN Dhingra also asked why the Supreme Court did not include its oral comments in the written order.

“If the Supreme Court had guts, it would have given those comments as a part of the written order. The Supreme Court has only written in the order that the petition is dismissed as withdrawn. Why?” he had asked.

SN Dhingra further said, “This gives a terrible message in the country that the Supreme Court itself is high on power and nobody can stop the Supreme Court from saying anything at its own will.”

It is notable here that the Supreme Court judges Justice Surya Kant and Justice JB Pardiwala had held Nupur Sharma ‘single-handedly responsible’ for the Udaipur murder that was committed by Islamists for a mere social media post. They had stated that Sharma should have apologised to the ‘entire nation’ on TV and had addd that the chaos and violence that have been unleashed across the country by Islamic organisations are because of Sharma.

The statements, however, did not make it to the official order that refused to grant Nupur Sharma permission to club all FIRs against her to Delhi.

UP: Talib Hussain sells chicken wrapped in paper with images of Hindu deities, attacks the police team that went to arrest him

On Sunday, July 3, a shopkeeper named Talib Hussain was arrested for selling chicken wrapped in paper bearing images of Hindu deities. He is also charged with attacking the police officers who reached his shop to arrest him. The incident came to the fore after some locals complained to the police in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal district.

The Sambhal police have taken to Twitter to inform about the same.

According to the Police, the action was taken after some locals complained that their religious sentiments were hurt due to Hussain’s action.

When the police reached Hussain’s shop to investigate the matter and arrest him, he reportedly attacked the police team with a sharp knife. The police, however, overpowered him and nabbed him. The FIR filed against him read that Talib Hussain attacked the cops with an intention to kill.

The accused has been booked under IPC Sections 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 307 (attempt to murder).

The police are currently investigating the matter in detail.

Prevailing communal tensions and killings over ‘blasphemy’ after Mohammed Zubair’s dog-whistling against Nupur Sharma

The incident occurred amidst prevailing communal tensions that flared after Mohammed Zubair of Alt News dog-whistled against former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma for her comments on Prophet Muhammad derived from authentic Islamic Hadiths. Since then, Islamists across the country and those in the Gulf have fulminated against the beleaguered leader, calling for her beheading for what they perceived to be ‘blasphemy’.

At least two individuals—Kanhaiya Lal and Umesh Kolhe—have had their throats slit for merely extending support to Nupur Sharma on social media in protest against the death threats and unwarranted hounding she had been receiving for standing up against insults meted out on her faith and its Gods.

Rajasthan: Rajkumar, Pavan, and three others arrested by Police for circulating Kanhaiya Lal’s murder video

On July 4, Rajasthan Police arrested Rajkumar, Pavan, and three other people in separate cases related to circulating the beheading video of Hindu tailor Kanhaiya Lal from Udaipur. The arrests were made by different Police Stations in the Hanumangarh district. Notably, the Rajasthan Police had urged the public not to share the video of the murder.

Superintendent of Police, Ajay Singh, said that 36-years-old Sirajjudin Hussain was arrested from Hanumangarh town. Sangaria Police arrested Tarsem Puri, Sadar Police arrested Rajkumar Jat and Mohammad Shakur, and Nohar Police arrested Pavan Kumar. All of them were arrested by the Police for sharing the video of the murder and photos or videos with arms on social media. SP said the images and videos were shared allegedly with an intention to create terror among people.

Murder of Kanhaiya Lal

On June 28, a Hindu man named Kanhaiya Lal was brutally murdered in Udaipur, Rajasthan, over an alleged post in favour of former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Nupur Sharma. The post was allegedly made by accident from Kanhaiya Lal’s phone by his 8-years-old son while playing a video game.

His neighbour Nazim filed a complaint against Kanhaiya Lal, following which he was arrested. Nazim also leaked Kanhaiya Lal’s number, photograph, and address to his community groups. After being released on bail, he continued to receive threats.

Fearing for his life, Kanhaiya Lal shut his shop for six days and approached Police for protection. Instead of giving him protection, the Police asked him to compromise with the Islamists who were threatening him. After six days, when he opened his shop, two Islamists came as customers and beheaded him. The two attackers, identified as Mohammed Riyaz Akhtar and Mohammed Gos, were arrested by the Police. The case has been taken over by NIA under the Ministry of Home Affairs’ direction. So far, four people have been arrested in the case. Further investigation is underway.

Uttar Pradesh: Kanpur Police arrests builder Haji Wasi, accused of funding prime suspect Zafar Hayat Hashmi in Kanpur violence

In the Kanpur violence case, the Kanpur Police apprehended another suspect, Haji Wasi. Haji Wasi, a builder, is one of those accused of sponsoring the June 3 Kanpur riots. According to police, Haji Wasi was the primary financier of the chief accused, Zafar Hayat Hashmi. Kanpur Police had already arrested his son Rahman.

According to reports, the SIT had already secured a Non-Bailable Warrant (NBW) from the court against him and 18 other defendants in the case. Haji Wasi’s name was also highlighted during the anti-CAA protests, as reports suggest.

Haji Mohammad Wasi is also accused of erecting unlawful buildings valued at 100 crores. According to the reports, the police officers have requested papers from the registrar’s office. The police have details about 31 such buildings in the city, all of which are unlawful. Eleven of these buildings’ plans were not filed. Land investments have been undertaken in the names of family and close friends. The Income Tax Department will now look into the income of crores of rupees over a ten-year period.

Kanpur violence

Days after BJP Spokeswoman Nupur Sharma got death threats for allegedly committing “blasphemy” against Prophet Muhammad, horrific violence occurred in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur district, with Islamists calling for a district-wide shutdown to protest against the statement and demanding her arrest. After Friday prayers, thousands of Islamists joined the rally and began pelting stones at the police and the public.

Later, the police detained over 40 miscreants in the case and demolished unlawful properties possessed by primary accused Hayat Zafar Hashmi and his cronies. The police also discovered damning communications on Hashmi’s phone and investigated his bank accounts in order to track down money received from Gulf nations to allegedly support the violence.

Karnataka: ACB books Congress MLA BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan in a disproportionate assets case, raids his 2 offices and 3 residential properties

On Tuesday, July 5, the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) conducted raids on the residence and office of Congress MLA BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The ACB officials also registered a case against Khan in the disproportionate assets case and booked him based on Enforcement Directorate’s report.

According to the reports, the ACB officials raided 2 offices and 3 residential properties of Khan which include his residence in the Bengaluru Cantonment area, a flat in Silver Oak Apartment, a guest house at Sadashiv Nagar, GK Associates office at Banashankari, and National Travels Office in Kalasipalya in Bengaluru.

The officials have recovered several documents from the office and residential premises of Khan pertaining to the case. Reports mention that the officials are verifying the documents and are examining their relevance. BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan has been a 4-time MLA of Chamrajpet Constituency and has served as the Minister of Food and Civil Supplies during the HD Kumaraswamy government.

It is important to note that Congress MLA BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan has been on the ED’s radar for a long time, and has been raided in the past. In the year 2021, the Congress leader was raided by the ED in Rs 4,000 crore IMA Ponzi scheme in which thousands of investors were allegedly cheated in the name of halal investment that went bust in June 2019.

Reportedly, as the ACP officials raided the premises belonging to Khan on Tuesday, supporters of the MLA gathered in front of his residence in Bengaluru and staged a protest. They also accused the government of deliberately targeting Khan. However, the Police dispersed the protesters citing Karnataka High Court directions against protests within city limits.

Karnataka: Islamists share a stabbing incident at Chitradurga with a fake communal angle, here is the truth

On Monday (July 4), a piece of news about the stabbing of a 38-year-old Muslim man named Samiullah began doing the rounds of the internet.

The story was tweeted by several handles with Muslim names with the hashtag #JusticeForSamiullah. It was alleged that the man was a resident of the Chitradurga district of Karnataka and stabbed by a 22-year-old Hindu man named Nutan Gowda.

It was also claimed that the accused was a member of the Sangh Parivar and that the stabbing incident was a hate crime. “He is not the first victim and won’t be the last. As long as BJP (is) in power, Sanghparivar members lynching Muslims with impunity becomes the norm under BJP government,” wrote one Mohammed Shoaib.

Screengrab of the tweet

Tipu Sultan Party President, Shaikh Sadeque, claimed that the lynching of Muslims is somehow increasing every day in the absence of a law.

Screengrab of the tweet

“Karnataka Police is not showing any interest to take action against the accused. Will no action be taken against those who oppress Muslims”, wrote one Khan.

Screengrab of the tweet

One Sana claimed that a bloodthirsty attacker from the majority community (Hindu) attacked Samiullah for the virtue of being a Muslim. The Twitter user also cast aspersion on the integrity of the police and said that no action was taken against the attacker.

Screengrab of the tweet

The Truth behind the stabbing incident

The Chitradurga district police had debunked the ‘communal angle’ theory even before #JusticeForSamiullah began trending on Twitter.

In a statement, the cops informed, “On 02nd July 2022, a boy by the name Nuthan(22) stabbed Samiulla at Alur village, Hiriyur Tq, Chitradurga Dist,
Injured Samiulla is being treated at Basaveshwara Medical college & hospital (in) Chitradurga and he is out of danger.”

“Police have arrested Nuthan and he is being questioned. Investigation is on,” the police stated.

Additional Director General of Police( Law & Order) Alok Kumar clarified that there was no communal angle and that the incident was the fallout of a minor altercation between the victim and the accused.

“Wrongdoers will not go unpunished. Unconfirmed information should not be circulated,” he emphasised.

For the sake of disseminating real facts of the case, the Karnataka State Police published a fact-check on their website. It stated, “Upon verification, it is found that the incident has happened due to personal enmity between two individuals and there is no communal angle as such.”

The police further added, “The public is advised not to circulate such unverified/suspicious & misleading information on Social media platforms.”

Allgeations about police laxity in arresting ‘Hindu’ Nutuan Gowda and his crime being motivated by religion, as alleged by Muslim handles, turned out to be false and misleading.

CM Eknath Shinde narrates the ‘worst’ 2.5 years with MVA, says ‘Shiv Sainiks could not speak about Hindutva, Veer Savarkar’

Comfortably winning the crucial confidence vote in the Maharashtra State Assembly yesterday, CM Eknath Shinde slammed the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena for disrespecting the policies of Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray in the last 2.5 years. He said that Shiv Sainiks could not raise voice for Hindutva and could not even speak about Veer Savarkar as Shiv Sena was in alliance with the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

“Shiv Sainiks had the worst experience in the last 2.5 years. Shiv Sena was with Congress and NCP. We Shiv Sainiks were barred from speaking about Hindutva or Veer Savarkar. During the 2.5 years, Congress had once insulted Veer Savarkar but we were not allowed to speak against the Congress. We Shiv Sainiks have suffered a lot in the last 2.5 years”, he said while addressing the assembly.

Taking a jibe at the NCP and Congress leaders, Shinde also added that Shiv Sainiks were also forced to keep quiet and were barred from taking action against those who had connections with Dawood. He reiterated that those Shiv Sena leaders who rebelled against the MVA government were a part of Shiv Sena, part of Balasaheb’s Shiv Sena.

“We have been staunch followers of Balasaheb’s and Anand Dighe’s principles who have always thought of people and not power. We will never rebel against their thoughts”, he said. Meanwhile, CM Shinde also stated that he never wanted the power but always wanted Shiv Sena and BJP to be in an alliance. He said that in 2019, BJP had agreed to elect the state Dy CM from Shiv Sena but the party led by Uddhav Thackeray wanted the CM’s chair.

Also, he said that after the MVA alliance was formed, the party had proposed his name for the CM’s chair but former Dy CM Ajit Pawar and his party had refused the proposal, and then Uddhav Thackeray was made the CM. “I didn’t utter a word even then. I supported Shiv Sena. But whatever happened later was not a good experience”, he said. He added that he tried 5 to 6 times to convince Uddhav Thackeray to rejoin hands with BJP but all his attempts failed.

He slammed the Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray and said that it had disrespected Balasaheb Thackeray who himself had allied with BJP in the past. It is important to note that Shiv Sena Supremo Balasaheb Thackeray had said that Shiv Sena would never ally with Sharad Pawar’s NCP. He had used the term scoundrel while rejecting the possibility of any alliance with Pawar. But Shiv Sena joined hands with NCP and Congress in the year 2019 to rule over the state of Maharashtra for 2.5 years.

Yesterday, the Eknath Shinde led government strolled past the majority mark and won the vote of confidence in the state Assembly. The new BJP-Shiv Sena alliance bagged 164 votes in the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly during the floor test conducted on Monday, July 4 and in a major setback, the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA was able to secure only 99 votes.

After winning the floor test, Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis congratulated CM Eknath Shinde for winning the trust vote and thanked all the MLAs who supported the alliance. Meanwhile, Shinde also expressed gratitude to all the MLAs and lauded BJP for extending massive support. “Our numbers were less (than BJP’s) but PM Narendra Modi blessed us. Modi saheb told me before the swearing-in that he will extend all possible help to me. Amit Shah saheb also said he will stand behind us like a rock,” Shinde was quoted.

BJP leader Kapil Mishra receives death threats days after he visits slain Hindu Kanhaiya Lal’s family, one Akbar Alam threatens to shoot him dead

On Monday evening, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kapil Mishra posted on Twitter a screenshot of an email threatening to assassinate Mishra. In the tweet, the BJP leader tagged the Delhi Police Commissioner, indicating that action must be taken to identify the person and protect him.

The email has a subject written, “Kapil Mishra Aatankwadi Tumko Jyada Din Tak Jeene Nahi Denge Mere Aadmi Ka Ban Gaya Hai Planning Tumko Goli Maarne Ke Liye.” (Kapil Mishra, you terrorist, you’re not going to live long. My men have planned to shoot you.)

The name of the sender of the e-mail is Akbar Alam with the email ID [email protected]. From the screenshot, it can be seen that the mail has been sent at 07:48 PM on the 3rd of July. Mishra had raised funds for the slain Hindu tailor Kanhaiya Lal and had gone to meet his family in Udaipur.

It is worth noting that ex-BJP leader Naveen Jindal received beheading threats a few days earlier, with a video of the Udaipur beheading included in two subsequent emails from one Akbar Alam, who vowed to come and cut his head off. The viral clip of Udaipur Hindu man Kanhaiya Lal being butchered by Islamists was included in both emails. Kanhaiyalal was beheaded for his support of ex-BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma.

It is not yet clear whether the e-mails to Mishra and Jindal were sent by the same person. Both the e-mails have their senders named Akbar Alam. However, the email addresses of both the senders could not be matched because, in the screenshots shared by Jindal, the email IDs were hidden.

The uproar that erupted in response to ex-BJP spokeswoman Nupur Sharma’s statements has taken a deadly turn, with individuals being murdered and threatened with death by Islamists from all over the world.

Nupur Sharma has been receiving murder and rape threats for almost a month now, following a clip from a Times Now discussion in which she asked her Muslim co-panellist if she could make fun of their God the way Hindu gods were being mocked. During the argument, she made certain remarks about Prophet Muhammad that are described in Islamic texts. Mohammed Zubair, the co-founder of the Islamist apologist website Alt News, published the piece calling Sharma names, inciting an online mob to threaten her.