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Hyderabad gang rape: Accused had misbehaved with another girl on the same day, their families pressurising victim’s kins to drop charges

OpIndia Staff
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Hyderabad gang rape: Accused had misbehaved with another girl on the same day, their families pressurising victim’s kins to drop charges

Nine days on, the police are still trying to nab the Hyderabad gang rape fifth accused-the son of an AIMIM leader, who is still at large. Meanwhile, India Today has reported that the politically influential families of the five accused involved in the rape of a 17-year-old girl that happened on the night of May 28th in the city’s Jubliee Hill area, are using their political clout and influence to pressurise the victim’s family to drop charges against the accused.

According to the report, the accused’s family attempted to negotiate with the victim’s family through a few influential people, but the survivor’s family has been steadfast. The victim’s family has refused to give in to the pressure and has urged that the rapists be punished severely.

Accused of the Hyderabad gang rape had misbehaved with another girl in the pub the same day

In another important development in the Hyderabad gang rape, reports have emerged suggesting that the accused had misbehaved with another minor girl in the same pub on the same day, where the gang-rape victim had gone to attend a party on May 28.

As per a report by Telangana Today, on Monday, Hyderabad police checked the footage from the pub’s CCTV cameras again as part of their investigation and discovered that the accused had misbehaved with another girl as well. The police are attempting to locate and speak with the girl, who appeared to be a minor.

BJP outrage against Hyderabad police apathy, burn Telangana CM’s effigy

Meanwhile, the police’s inability to nab the fifth accused Umair Khan, despite the fact that nine days had gone since the crime, has sparked major protests in Hyderabad. Several members of the Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took to the streets on Monday to protest against Telangana Chief Minister and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief K Chandrasekhar Rao. His effigy was burnt. The BJP leaders were outraging against the police’s apathy in handling the Hyderabad gang rape case where the accused belonged to the families of AIMIM and KCR’s party leaders. The protestors demanded a CBI investigation into the rape case. However, the police teams soon reached the spot and detained some of the workers taking them away in police vans. 

Waqf board leader’s car was taken to a farmhouse and was wiped clean to destroy evidence

On June 6, OpIndia reported how the Hyderabad police revealed that the accused had tried to destroy evidence of the crime by cleaning the white Innova car, in which the 17-year-old girl was raped. However, the police team found some crucial evidence from the car, and a detailed forensics report is awaited.

The police, meanwhile, have invoked Section 201 of the Indian Penal Code (causing the disappearance of evidence of the offence or giving false information to screen the offender) against the accused. Notably, the Innova car that was used for the crime was being used by the Waqf Board functionary as his official vehicle. It did not have a registered number plate and was found hidden in a farmhouse in Moinabad that belonged to a close relative of a political family.

Maharashtra: 22-year-old Nusrat Imran Qureshi killed for dowry in Jalna, in-laws arrested, 7 others booked

OpIndia Staff
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Maharashtra: 22-year-old Nusrat Imran Qureshi killed for dowry in Jalna, in-laws arrested, 7 others booked

A 22-year-old newlywed woman named Nusrat Imran Qureshi was allegedly tortured and murdered by her in-laws for dowry in the Hasnabad area of Jalna, Maharashtra. Qureshi was taken to a local Dargah by her in-laws where they stuffed her mouth with lemon, fluttered peacock feathers on her head, assaulted and later choked her throat. Reportedly, the victim died after they all returned home.

According to the reports, Nusrat, a resident of Roshangaon, Badnapur got married to Imran Qureshi in March 2022. After a month or so, the victim’s in-laws began to harass her for dowry. The victim’s husband Imran Qureshi had demanded Rs 1 lakh from Nusrat’s family for setting up a business.

Meanwhile, Nusrat also discovered that Imran was involved in an extra-marital affair. She informed her parents about Imran’s affair and also sent them recordings to prove her claim. Later Nusrat’s in-laws began to spread rumors that the victim was psychologically unstable and that she had begun behaving absurdly.

On May 31, Imran’s family members took the victim to the local Dargah and stuffed her mouth with lemon. As a part of Islamic practice, they also fluttered peacock feathers on her head and then choked her throat. After they returned home, Nusrat breathed her last. The Police took cognizance of the incident and recovered the dead body from Imran’s residence.

The victim was then taken to the hospital where family members of Nusrat said that the victim was murdered by her in-laws. In the police statement, the family members of the girl said that she was tortured and harassed for dowry. “Nusrat’s husband Imran had an extramarital affair. She had sent us the recording”, they confirmed.

API Santosh Ghodke, Hasnabad Police Station informed Opindia that Nusrat’s husband Imran Mahmood Qureshi, mother-in-law, and father-in-law Mahmood Qureshi have been arrested in the case. Ghodke added that the victim’s other relatives have also been booked.

According to the reports, FIR has been filed against Imran, his parents, both the sisters, and other relatives named Shahrukh Qureshi, Javed Qureshi, Shabanabi Nasir, Nasir Qureshi, and Khatunbi Qureshi. Further investigation in the case is underway.

Samajwadi Party sacks Student Wing leader Ankur Yadav for supporting Nupur Sharma

OpIndia Staff
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Samajwadi Party sacks Student Wing leader Ankur Yadav for supporting Nupur Sharma

On June 6, Samajwadi Party Student Wing (Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha) leader from Bhagpat Ankur Yadav was sacked by the party for supporting former spokesperson of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Nupur Sharma. The suspension orders were issued after Ankur Yadav published a post supporting Sharma.

In his post, Yadav has written, “The matter of supporting or opposing a party is different. However, Nupur Sharma has my full support, and every Hindu should stand by sister Nupur. How would she even listen against Mahadev? Any religion or scripture does not teach you to leave the women of your house alone in the times of trouble.”

Ankur Yadav
Ankur Yadav said the religion and scriptures do not teach to leave women of the house in trouble. Source: Facebook/Ankur Yadav

The post in favour of Sharma did not go well with the senior leaders, and Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav issued an order to sack Ankur Yadav from his post. Following his orders, Party’s state student wing Chief Digvijay Singh Deo issued a suspension letter to Ankur and removed him from the post. Ankur himself shared the suspension letter and said, “[pig emoji] stay away from the post. Thank you.” The letter read, “Shri Ankur Yadav, resident of Village Shankarnagar, District Bagpat, has been relieved from his post in the party.” It did not mention the reason for the action against Ankur. It is unclear why Ankur Yadav added ‘pig emojis’ in the post.

Ankur Yadav
Ankur Yadav’s suspension orders. Source: Ankur Yadav/Facebook

Notably, this was not the first time Samajwadi Party removed a leader for supporting Hindus. Earlier, controversial SP leader Rubina Khanam surprisingly came in support of the Hindu side in the Gyanvapi disputed structure case and urged Muslims to hand over the land to Hindus if it is proved in court that the disputed structure was built after demolishing a temple.

Speaking to ABP News, Khanam had said Islam does not allow building religious structures on land that has been acquired forcefully. Khanam, who had given provocative statements during Hijab and Loud Speaker rows, was sacked by the party after she supported Hindus. After the suspension from the party, Khanam alleged SP leaders do appeasement politics.

Nupur Sharma was suspended by BJP

On June 5, Bharatiya Janata Party suspended Nupur Sharma and expelled Naveen Jindal for alleged derogatory remarks on Prophet Mohammed. Sharma later issued an apology saying she had no intentions to hurt anyone’s sentiments and took back her words. She will remain suspended from the primary membership of the party pending inquiry in the matter.

Canada: Ex-NHL player calls Toronto Pearson Airport ‘worst place on earth’, was stuck for a day due to delays and mismanagement

OpIndia Staff
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Canada: Ex-NHL player calls Toronto Pearson Airport ‘worst place on earth’, was stuck for a day due to delays and mismanagement

Former National Hockey League (NHL) Player and former ice hockey defenseman from the US, Ryan Whitney was found lashing out at the authorities of the Toronto Pearson International Airport after he was stuck at the terminal for a day due to delayed flights. Whitney lent out his frustration through a series of tweets and a video of him making his way through the struggles at the airport.

The Toronto International Airport has been witnessing flight delays and long waits for passengers since April, which has resulted in overcrowding of passengers at the airport who have to face administrative hurdles during their travel. According to the airport authorities, the problem has arisen due to understaffing of management at a time when the terminal is seeing approximately 45,000 international arrivals in a day.

The latest victim of the delayed flights is American ice-hockey player Ryan Whitney who had planned to travel from Edmonton in Canada to Boston in Massachusetts the last week. On Sunday, he faced a barrage of flight delays that made him stuck at the airport till the next morning. In the video uploaded on Twitter, which has gone viral, Whitney explains his helplessness to push through the hassles at the airport.

“I don’t even really know where to explain. I landed in Toronto around 3 PM on Sunday and spent three hours in line to get through customs, only to find that my flight to Boston has been cancelled. At this point now, I go and see that there’s about a ‘400-person line’ with about two Air Canada workers. There were a million cancelled flights and everyone was just panicking,” Whitney informed.

After this, the player informed that he had to wait in line for six hours in getting assistance from Air Canada. However, in the midway, the counter was closed and the people were asked to seek help elsewhere. When Whitney, at 1 AM on Monday, got hang of the customer service from the company, he was refused to retrieve his bags. While he had planned to drive across the USA-Canada border as his next option, the flight operator informed that he had been booked for a new flight that was scheduled to leave from Toronto at 8 AM on Monday to Boston.

However, when Whitney reached to check-in through his rescheduled flight, he was informed at the counter that the company had in turn booked a different flight from Toronto to Montreal that would connect to Boston. While the flight was supposed to leave 50 minutes after reaching the counter, Whitney was thus denied access to it as he was ‘late’. The company had already failed to inform the player about the change in the schedule of the flight, which was already a replacement journey for him.

Whitney’s departure from the airport was again delayed until 10 AM on Monday. Finally, he was able to board a flight on Monday morning, after spending a day at the airport. He published a video on Twitter thanking his fans for the support and expressed his happiness while finally boarding a flight to Boston saying, “I’ve never been this happier!”

While speaking to Canadian news broadcaster CTV News Toronto, a spokesperson for Air Canada said, “long processing times at airports and other restrictions have resulted in flight delays and in some instances cancellations and these can have knock-on effects not only for our customers but can also impact our employee resources and operations. These factors, along with an issue with the airport’s baggage system Sunday, are what caused Mr Whitney’s original flight to be cancelled.”

Meanwhile, frustrated Ryan Whitney has said that the Toronto Pearson Airport has become ‘the biggest disgrace known to the man ever.”

West Bengal: Sariful Sheikh chops off wife’s hand to prevent her from taking up a government job, hides severed body part so that doctors cannot re-attach it

OpIndia Staff
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West Bengal: Sariful Sheikh chops off wife’s hand to prevent her from taking up a government job, hides severed body part so that doctors cannot re-attach it

In the wee hours of Monday, June 6, a 26-year-old man identified as Sariful Sheikh alias Sher Mohammed chopped off his wife’s right hand in West Bengal to prevent her from taking up a government job. Sariful Sheikh then went on to hide the severed body parts at his residence to make sure that the doctors are unable to reattach it. 

The brutal incident took place in Ketugram village in East Burdwan, West Bengal. Sariful Sheikh has been absconding after the incident. Soon after that, his family members too went into hiding.

The victim, Renu Khatun was reportedly sleeping when Sariful Sheikh alias Sher Mohammed, along with his two friends used a machete to chop off her hand. The police said that Renu was rushed to a private hospital in Durgapur after two government hospitals referred her to Kolkata. Her condition is said to be stable, but critical.

Based on a complaint lodged by Renu Khantun’s father, the police have initiated a probe and launched a search operation to nab the accused.

While some media reports suggest that Sariful Sheikh alias Sher Mohammed was unemployed and he took the drastic step out of the fear of abandonment because he was afraid that she would leave him or get posted in a different city. Other reports said that he and his family were opposed to the idea of the house maker going out to work and thus tortured her.

Meanwhile, Dhruba Das, the additional superintendent of police in East Burdwan’s Katwa said, “We have received a complaint from the father of the woman and started a case of attempt to murder. All the accused, including the husband of the woman and his friends, are absconding. Raids are on to arrest them.”

According to the police, Khatun married Sheikh, who owns a grocery store in Kojalsa village in the district’s Ketugram area, in October 2017. Khatun enrolled in a nursing programme in 2018 and was hired in a private nursing home in Durgapur, West Burdwan. She later applied for a government job against Sheikh’s wishes.

Khatun was appointed to the government job on May 28 this year, prompting a fight between the couple.

Finally, on the intervening night of Sunday (June 5) and Monday (June 6), Sheikh resorted to this drastic act. Ripon Sekh, Renu’s elder brother, told the media, “Ever since my sister got the state government’s appointment letter, Sher had been insisting that she rejects it. However, Renu always dreamt of pursuing a nursing career and she refused. We never knew Sher’s insecurity would take such a tragic turn.”

Maharashtra: ‘Nupur Sharma deserves the same fate as Kamlesh Tiwari, needs to be silenced’, say MDP chief and Islamic leaders

OpIndia Staff
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Maharashtra: ‘Nupur Sharma deserves the same fate as Kamlesh Tiwari, needs to be silenced’, say MDP chief and Islamic leaders

On Sunday, the Minorities Democratic Party (MDP) in Maharashtra’s Nagpur district issued death threats to the former spokesperson of BJP Nupur Sharma for her statement on Islam and the Prophet Muhammad. While speaking at a press meet organized by the Minorities Democratic Party, an Islamic leader named Mohammad Hamid said that Sharma had committed a ‘crime’ by speaking against the Prophet and that she deserves the punishment of death.

Mohammad Hamid, who is the president of an Islamic organization named Iman Tanjeem was speaking at a press event organized by MDP in Nagpur. He stated that Sharma by ‘attacking the character’ of Prophet had herself signed on a suicide note. “There’s only one punishment for this ‘crime’ and that is death. Kamlesh Tiwari was executed five years after he made objectionable comments on Prophet Mohammad. People stabbed him to death. Don’t think you’ll (Sharma) be forgiven. Do not ever play with the 1100 volt current”, he threatened. (Time Stamp: 01:30)

Hamid also accused Sharma of allegedly using Islam for rising in politics. He said, “People like these (Sharma) have no credibility to work for the betterment of the society. They only know how to criticize Islam for their political benefits”, he blatantly stated demanding strict action against the former BJP spokesperson.

On June 4, the Minorities Democratic Party (MDP) members staged a protest in Nagpur against Sharma and demanded death punishment for her. The protesters raised slogans like ‘Huzur ki Shaan me gustakhi karne wale ko maafi nahi (no forgiveness to persons who speak against Prophet)’. Hundreds of Islamists who joined the MDP protest in the city also yelled ‘Nupur Sharma Murdabad’ slogans.

Imran Raza, MDP’s vice president said that several FIRs have been filed against Sharma in Mumbai but nobody is taking any action against her. He demanded the immediate arrest and the ‘silencing’ of the former BJP spokesperson. “Is Nupur Sharma ko giraftar kare aur uspar viram lagaye (Arrest Nupur Sharma and silence her). Otherwise, lakhs of Muslims will gather and continue to protest against her”, he said.

Meanwhile, another protester demanded a Parliamentary Act to prevent ‘atrocities’ and ‘hate crimes’ against Islam. “You can’t speak anything wrong against the Dalits, right? Because there is the SCST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 to prevent atrocities and hate crimes against scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. Similarly, the government should enact laws to prevent atrocities against Islam and other religions also. Government can get Triple Talaq, why can’t it enact such Act then”, he pondered blatantly criticizing Sharma for her alleged remarks.

It is important to note that it is not only the MDP who has issued death threats to Sharma saying that she’ll meet the same fate as Kamlesh Tiwari. A video posted by popular activist Anshul Saxena revealed that the Islamists and their supporters were openly saying to the media that Nupur Sharma will meet the same fate as Kamlesh Tiwari.

Kamlesh Tiwari was a former Hindu Mahasabha leader who was brutally stabbed to death in his house in 2019 for his 2015 remarks on Muhammad. As reported earlier, in October 2019, he was brutally stabbed, and shot inside his own house by 2 Islamists who had hatched an elaborate plan to disguise as Hindu men and had managed to meet him.

In the year 2015, Tiwari had courted controversy by allegedly making objectionable comments about Prophet Mohammad. He was booked under the National Security Act (NSA) and jailed on the charge of stoking communal unrest.

Reportedly, the threats from the MDP leaders appeared on the day when the Bharatiya Janata Party suspended National Spokesperson Nupur Sharma and Naveen Kumar Jindal. In its suspension letter, the BJP told Sharma that she had expressed views contrary to the party’s on various matters which violate the party’s constitution. “The party respects all religions and is against any ideology that insults or demeans any sect or religion”, it stated.

Sharma has been facing threats including death threats from Islamists since she made some comments as per the Islamic texts on Prophet Muhammad that irked the Muslims. She argued that since people are mocking the Hindu faith repeatedly, the Hindus can also mock other religions by referring to Islamic beliefs and the life of Prophet Muhammad. Her statement was taken out of context by Alt News co-founder and alleged fact-checker Mohammed Zubair, who released an army of trolls and Islamists after Sharma. Multiple FIRs have been registered against Sharma after the remarks and open calls for her death have also been made.

Tamil Nadu YouTuber threatens Delhi Police after spreading fake news on HM Amit Shah and former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma

OpIndia Staff
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Tamil Nadu YouTuber threatens Delhi Police after spreading fake news on HM Amit Shah and former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma

On June 7, a YouTuber identified as Savukku Shankar from Tamil Nadu threatened Delhi Police after he was called out for spreading fake news. In a tweet, he had said, “Dear Delhi Police,  TN is neither UP, Haryana or Kashmir. Do not get into any misadventure here. Consult your counterparts here before contemplating any misadventure.”

Savukku Shankar
In a tweet, YouTuber Savukku threatened Delhi Police (Image: Twitter)

Savukku was quoting OpIndia’s editor-in-chief Nupur J Sharma who had called him out for spreading fake news about the interview Sharma had with the former spokesperson of BJP Nupur Sharma before she got suspended from the party. In her tweet, Nupur J Sharma shared a screenshot of a tweet posted by Savukku where he had drawn apprehensions over a clip from the interview saying the suspension was just a façade. He also claimed BJP’s Nupur Sharma said HM Amit Shah “congratulated her (for her remarks on Prophet).

She tagged Delhi Police and said, “Fake news being spread by @/savukku. 1. The interview was days before her suspension. 2. She said HMO was in touch with her about the threats she was getting (the question was what support is she getting against threats). 3. She NEVER said she was congratulated.” Savukku, who has a habit of posting misleading and fake news, got irked by Nupur J Sharma’s tweet and went to the extent that he threatened Delhi Police.

Nupur Sharma’s suspension from BJP

Following alleged derogatory remarks against Prophet Mohammed, BJP’s spokesperson Nupur Sharma was suspended from the party. Several Islamic nations had reacted to Sharma’s comments after Alt News’ co-founder Zubair ran propaganda against her on social media. Days before the suspension, Nupur Sharma had a conversation with OpIndia’s Nupur J Sharma and shared details of what had happened and how she was getting all the necessary security and support from the party leaders.

Several FIRs were registered against Sharma, and Mumbai Police recently said they would summon her to participate in the investigation. Meanwhile, Sharma continues to get life threats. So far, no action has been taken against Zubair for initiating a witch-hunt against Sharma by using her statement out of context.

Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders supports Nupur Sharma, cautions India against appeasement of Islamic countries

OpIndia Staff
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Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders supports Nupur Sharma, cautions India against appeasement of Islamic countries

Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders, who has often taken a firm stand against Islamic fundamentalism in his country, has spoken in support of BJP’s former spokesperson Nupur Sharma. Wilders, in a series of tweets, stated that Nupur Sharma’s statement about Prophet Muhammad is a fact and not some false allegations.

Geert Wilders’ tweet

“It is ridiculous that Arab and Islamic countries are angered by Indian politician Nupur Sharma’s statement for speaking the truth about Prophet Muhammad who indeed married Aisha when she was six years old and consumed the marriage when she was nine. Why does India apologize?”

In another tweet, Wilders stated, “Appeasement never works. It’ll only make things worse. So my dear friends from India, don’t be intimidated by Islamic countries. Stand up for freedom and be proud and steadfast in defending your politician Nupur Sharma who spoke the truth about Prophet Muhammad.”

Wilders also shared the screenshot of a threat message by a Pakistani Muslim man who had threatened to murder him and ‘destroy America and the EU’. Wilders stated that he gets such death threats every single day from Pakistani and Turkish Muslims who want to kill in the name of the ‘so-called Prophet Muhammad’ and he will never stop speaking the truth.

It is notable here that Nupur Sharma’s statement about Prophet Muhammad’s life was deemed as ‘blasphemy’ and an insult to the Prophet by several Islamic leaders after Alt News’ Mohammad Zubair dog whistled against it. Online campaigns and social media targeting culminated in controversy and eventually, Islamic nations from the Gulf started condemning the statement. Since then the Indian government has clarified that the statement was her own and the government has no part in it. Sharma has been suspended from the BJP after the controversy.

Geert Wilders and his stand against Islamic fundamentalism

Geert Wilders has long been vocal against Islamic fundamentalism and radicalism in his country. As an MP he had been opposed to mass migration and had stated inside the parliament that through mass migration, the government was importing “a monster called Islam into the country”.

In an interview, Wilders had stated earlier, “I don’t hate Muslims, I hate Islam.” He said in the same interview, “Islam is not a religion, it’s an ideology, the ideology of a retarded culture.” In June 2018, Wilders had announced a ‘Prophet Muhammad cartoon competition’ to be held at his party’s parliamentary offices. Later in August, he was forced to cancel the event after threats of terrorist violence became too significant. A number of Islamic leaders had issued Fatwa for his murder.

In 2019, a Pakistani Muslim man named Junaid was sentenced to 10 years in jail for an assassination plot against Wilders. Junaid had posted a Facebook video saying he wants to send Wilders to hell.

Wilders, the 58-year-old Dutch MP is the chairman of the Party for Freedom in The Netherlands parliament. He is a right-wing leader who has been vocally opposed to the Dutch government’s immigration policies, especially from Muslim countries, and has even stated that he wants his country to leave the EU. He has worked with other conservative European leaders like France’s Marine Le Pen to form a parliamentary group in the EU parliament that now has parties from 9 EU countries.

Crossover we never imagined: Indonesian filmmaker shares Jethalal gif while speaking about S S Rajamouli’s RRR, read details

OpIndia Staff
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Crossover we never imagined: Indonesian filmmaker shares Jethalal gif while speaking about S S Rajamouli’s RRR, read details

It is just one of those days. American screenwriter and podcast host C. Robert Cargill on Monday took to Twitter to hail S S Rajamouli’s Telugu blockbuster RRR.

He said that his friends had come over and he saw the film RRR and was now ‘initiated’ into the cult that RRR has been. RRR has been a super blockbuster film released earlier this year.

To that, Timo Tjahjanto reacted with a Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashma gif of Jethalal dancing happily.

Tjahjanto is an Indonesian filmmaker and screenwriter who usually works on horror and action genre.

This is not the first time Jethalal has gone international.

Earlier in November 2021 Spanish chess journalist David Llada had tweeted an Instagram post by Levon Aronian, Armenian chess player, who had shared a meme on his own Instagram where he had juxtaposed himself with Jethalal Gada wearing a colourful shirt with fancy prints, Gada is known for.

Just this tweet of his earned the Spanish journalist 200 new followers, mostly Indians, within hours.

Who is Jethalal Gada?

Jethalal Gada is the character in popular television series Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashma, played by actor Dilip Joshi. The show is based on a weekly column by Gujarati writer Taarak Mehta by the name Duniya Ne Undha Chashma, which was published in Gujarati magazine Chitralekha. The show is set in a fictional residential society in Mumbai, Gokuldham, where Gada lives with his family – his wife Daya Bhabhi (Disha Vakani), son Tipendra alias Tapu alias Tapudo (Bhavya Gandhi) and father Champaklal (Amit Bhatt). The neighbourhood has people from different parts of India and one of the most popular theme of the series is Jethalal simping for his neighbour’s wife Babita ji (Munmum Dutta).

Jethalal supremacy.

Washington Post reporter who got away with racism against Indians gets suspended over sexist tweet

OpIndia Staff
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Washington Post reporter who got away with racism against Indians gets suspended over sexist tweet

On June 6 (local time), The Washington Post’s reporter David Weigel was suspended for one month without pay for retweeting an allegedly sexist tweet. Weigel has removed the RT and issued an apology for the same. Interestingly, Weigel has a long history of publishing racist tweets targeting Indians, but no action was taken against him.

Weigel’s sexist RT that started a storm at WaPo

On June 3, Washington Post’s correspondent Felicia Sonmez posted a screenshot of the RT by Weigel. The tweet read, “Every girl is bi. You just have to figure out if it’s polar or sexual.” The “joke” was published by YouTuber Cam Harless. It essentially stated that all women are either mentally unwell or are bisexual.

NIHM says Bipolar is a mental disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, concentration, and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks. A Bisexual is a person who is sexually interested in both men and women.

Quoting the RT, Sonmez sarcastically said, “Fantastic to work at a news outlet where retweets like this are allowed.” Washington Post mentioned that Sonmez did not limit her reaction to Twitter but confronted Weigel on the internal Slack channel of the company. While questioning why the RT was done, she wrote it sent “a confusing message about what the Post’s values are.”

Sonmez sarcastically posted a tweet saying ‘Fantastic to work at a news outlet where retweets like this are allowed.’ Source: Twitter

As more employees of WaPo chipped in on the internal channel, national editor Matea Gold stepped in and wrote, “I just want to assure all of you that The Post is committed to maintaining a respectful workplace for everyone. We do not tolerate demeaning language or actions.” The issue was being discussed online as well, which prompted the company to issue an official statement.

Kris Coratti, chief spokesperson of the company, issued a statement and said, “Editors have made clear to the staff that the tweet was reprehensible and demeaning language or actions like that will not be tolerated.”

Sonmez continued to receive abuses on social media

Following the tweet by Sonmez pointing out the problematic tweet by her colleague Weigel, a storm of abuse found a way to her. She posted a long thread on June 6 (local time) with screenshots of the abusive tweets she was receiving in retaliation to the question she raised over the sexist tweet.

Sonmez was called a bitch, the face of the evil, a person with nazi tendencies, depressed, miserable, bully, toxic personality, and ironically ‘bipolar.’

Weigel’s racist tweets toward Indians

In May 2021, OpIndia reported how David Weigel had posted a hate-filled tweet toward Indians. In a now-deleted tweet, Weigel had said, “Got two scam calls today, and I swear to God, my first thought was, “this is good, covid-19 cases in India must be low enough for people to go back to the office.” Weigel implied that Indians are the ones who make ‘scam calls’ to the people residing in the US.

When he was called out for the tweets targeting Indians, he went on a blocking spree. It is noteworthy that WaPo has a long history of having anti-India reporters on board which include columnists like Rana Ayyub.

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