A blast occurred near an army camp at Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara today. A mysterious blasttook place on Sunday near the 21 Rashtriya Rifles camp at Zachaldara in the Handwara area of the north Kashmir district, according to the officials.
Mysterious blast near the Army camp (21 Rashtriya Rifles) at Zachaldara in north #Kashmir‘s #Kupwara.
While details of the blast are yet to emerge, it has been confirmed that no loss of life or injury has been reported. The officials are doing a recce of the location while the nature of the blast is being ascertained.
However, some reports have suggested that this was likely due to exploding of an old shell. However, detailed investigation into the cause of the blast has been launched. Until the investigation is complete, the area around the blast site in Kupwara has been sealed by the authorities.
On March 22, a man identified as 74-years-old Gurfan Ahmed was caught on camera sexually assaulting a 5-year-old minor on CCTV in Saharanpur. Later, he was caught by locals and handed over to the Police. In its statement on Twitter, Saharanpur Police wrote that the incident took place in Anand Nagar, which comes under Kutubsher Police Station. The accused has been arrested and sent to jail.
प्रकरण के संबंध में थाना कुतुबशेर, सहारनपुर पुलिस द्वारा तत्काल संज्ञान लेकर त्वरित कार्यवाही करते हुए अभियुक्त को गिरफ्तार कर जेल भेजा जा चुका है।
The video is dated March 22, and the time was around 12:23 PM. He left the girl alone for some time and came back after a minute while the girl waited alone on the Rikshaw. After talking to her for a few seconds, he grabbed her face with both hands and kissed her. The whole incident was caught on CCTV camera, which Gurfan was unaware of.
शांतिदूत रिक्शा चालकों के साथ अपनी बच्चीयों ट्युशन भेजने का नतीज़ा।
In the second video, he was caught by a few people who questioned him about what he was doing with the girl. When he did not give a satisfactory answer, the man, who was visibly angry over the incident, slapped him multiple times, after which he said that he was kissing the girl.
In the last video, he confessed to the crime. The man behind the camera asked him, “Speak up in the camera. What were you doing.” He said, “I kissed her what else?” When the person asked how old was the girl, he said, “5 years”. He further told he takes the girl to tuition and school.
The girl’s family refused to file a complaint
Speaking to OpIndia, Inspector Piyush Dixit said the victim’s family refused to file a complaint despite repeated requests by the Police. “The accused used to take the girl child to school on his Rikshaw. We requested the family to file a complaint. In some cases, Police take cognizance of the case and initiate an investigation. In these cases, even if the Police file a case on its own, a girl’s statement would be required at a later stage. But they did not agree on filing the complaint.”
The accused was presented in front of the court and sent to custody. Inspector Dixit said the Police would try its best to pursue the case further. With the evidence in hand, it would be up to the magistrate if the case could be continued in court without the statement of the victim.
On Friday, the Telangana high court directed Khammam district collector to remove a statue of Mother Teresa installed at the Mutualamma circle in Hyderabad within the next ten days.
According to the reports, a division bench of the Telangana High Court headed by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Abhinand Kumar Shavili ordered the district authorities to remove the controversial statue of Mother Teresa based on a petition filed by the Hindu activist organisation Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) questioning the installation of the statue.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP)’s district general secretary Allika Anjaiah had filed a petition saying the installation was done without proper permission from the authorities. Allika had sought a contempt of court against authorities for disobeying the Supreme Court’s guidelines.
The SC guideline says that states shall not grant permission to install any statue or erect any structure on public roads, pavements and sideways and other public utility places. Despite the order, the authorities had granted permission to erect the illegal statue, the petition said.
The VHP leader contended that some persons had tried to erect a cross symbol without proper permission. However, following the high court’s direction, the construction of the cross symbol was stopped, but instead of that, a statue of Mother Teresa was being installed, the petitioner informed.
Hearing the plea, the High Court ordered the collector to remove the unauthorised statue within the next ten days.
A video of a man allegedly offering Namaz at the Statue of Unity in Kevadia, Gujarat was met with raised eyeballs on social media platforms. In the video, from what can be seen, a person is offering Namaz in the crowded viewing gallery atop the Statue of Unity at the height of 135 meters from the ground.
The viewing gallery inside the world’s tallest statue can be accessed through an elevator, and often attracts many tourists. The gallery offers spectacular views of the Sardar Sarovar Dam, its reservoir and the Vindhyachal Mountain range. The video features a man offering namaz at the public site while the gallery is crowded with visitors. While the video is doing rounds on social media, not being sure when it is from, we tried to reach out to people sharing the video, but could not get any information.
The man’s public offering of Namaz has invited strong reactions from people on Twitter.
Just like France, India must adopt a policy of banning hijab in public places & praying in public places for people from all faiths… and most importantly it’s time to bring in the uniform civil code ASAP.
This is how they test the limits. Instead of stopping it other communities should follow suit and the govt will have to issue a blanket order to stop all
I visited SoU on 22.03.2022. In the Viewing Gallery area an elderly lady was sitting on floor, the security guard asked her to stand and move. Now we see this Namaz happening inside and no one cares..?@souindia must clarify its stand on it..@Bhupendrapbjp@Nitinbhai_Patel
— Saurabh Sinha (सौरभ सिन्हा) ?? (@MrSaurabhSinha) March 27, 2022
It is not yet clear when the video of namaz being offered inside Statue of Unity was taken. OpIndia cannot independently validate the authenticity of the video.
However, according to a post shared on Facebook, the video of namaz being offered inside the Statue of Unity is at least 8-months-old. The video thaT is doing the rounds recently was shared by a Facebook user on 11 August 2021, highlighting how public places were being used for offering namaz.
Source: Facebook
However, this was not the first time when people have opposed the offering of prayers like Namaz in public spaces. When in December 2021, members of the Muslim community trespassed an open space in Gurugram for the mass offering of Namaz, Hindu locals objected to this unjust takeover of public space for religious activities.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal stoked a controversy last week when he used precious time of Delhi assembly to criticize and mock Vivek Agnihotri’s film ‘The Kashmir Files’. While the film has been a blockbuster hit at the box office, obviously not everyone is a fan, particularly Arvind Kejriwal.
In response to the pleas to make Kashmir Files tax-free in Delhi, Kejriwal asked film’s makers to put the film up on YouTube for free. He went on to criticize BJP for supporting the film, and even went on to call the film “Jhoothi film“(full of lies).
This rant against a film from Kejriwal has surprised many, as he has been known to promote every film that comes out of Bollywood. Whether it was Hrithik-Katrina starrer Bang Bang, or the drug fueled Udta Punjab or Aamir Khan’s Secret Superstar, Arvind Kejriwal was always the first politician to review a film.
A social media user even compiled several such film reviews from Arvind Kejriwal where he had recommended films to public like a film reviewer.
He has all time to encourage and give review for movies like ?Bang Bang ?PK ? Gabbar ? Nil Batte Sannate ( Was made tax free in Delhi)
Apart from promoting movies via his Twitter account, Arvind Kejriwal has also been generous when it comes to making Bollywood films tax-free. Swara Bhasker’s Nil Battey Sannata, Taapsee Pannu’s Saand Ki Aankh, and Ranveer Singh starrer ‘83 were all declared tax-free by Kejriwal.
Kejriwal found pretty much every film “must watch”, but never recommended YouTube release to the producers of these films. However, the film he finds jhoothi, he wants the film’s makers to release it on YouTube so that everyone can watch it.
It is really surprising to see a film loving Chief Minister speaking so disparagingly about a film which has been loved by the masses and critics alike.
Meanwhile, The Kashmir Files continues to do well at the box office. The film based on the genocide of Kashmiri Hindus in late 1980s and 1990s has already grossed well over 200 Crores and continues to attract audience in the 3rd week of its theatrical run.
Russian movie theatres are all set to increase the number of screens and shows for Indian films as the western distributors limited their film sales to Russia and major Hollywood studios have boycotted Russia over the ongoing war against Ukraine.
After the coronavirus pandemic, movie theatres in Russia were hardly recovering when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Russia’s military operations in Ukraine on 24th February 2022. The operations soon took the form of war and since its beginning, Russia is facing various sanctions and boycotts from the western nations in various fields ranging from cinema to space technology. The Russian economy is the prime target of these sanctions.
As several major multinational companies have announced that they are withdrawing from Russia, several film studios have also decided not to release their movies in the country. Walt Disney, Warner Brothers, Sony Entertainment are among the big studios who have either delayed or cancelled their big releases in Russia.
According to the Russian daily Vedomosti, after the announcement by major Hollywood studios that new releases will be suspended in Russia, Russian cinema networks may turn to Bollywood blockbusters and films from other Asian and Latin American nations. Foreign films accounted for 75% of the Russian box office in 2021. Going to the movies is one of the most popular leisure activities among Russians. The report says that recently the special screening of the film ‘Radhe Shyam’ brought full houses and new viewers for the united cinema network Cinema Park and Formula Kino.
Olga Zinyakova, president of the Karo cinema chain, told Vedomosti that she didn’t believe the situation was hopeless. “People used to line up to see Bollywood in cinemas, so there is interest in these movies.” Cinema Park, Formula Kino, Premier Hall, Karo, Kinomax, and Cinema Star are major movie exhibition chains in Russia. They informed the Russian newspaper that they will show domestic fare, films from South Korea and Latin America, and the films of India’s Bollywood. These cinema chains account for 31.5 percent of the film distribution market in terms of movie halls as of January 2022.
Cinema chains will not raise ticket rates and will instead freeze them. However, theatres will continue to play Russian and South Korean films, as well as Indian films. Therefore, it is a good opportunity for Indian cinemas and Indian filmmakers may gain from the Russian market following the withdrawal of major studios from Hollywood.
On Saturday (March 26), a 32-year-old man named Alam Ansari was arrested for raping a female calf in Pipalkoti village in the Chamoli district of Uttarkhand, reportedThePrint. Ansari committed the heinous crime on Friday (March 25) after his night shift and was caught red-handed in the act by his co-worker Lalit Mohan.
The matter came to light after Mohan had filed a police complaint against the accused. Ansari, who is employed with a firm as a JCB driver, was arrested by the Chamoli district police on Saturday. He hails from Hazaribagh in Jharkhand and was living in Chamoli for the past 8 years.
While speaking about the matter to ThePrint, station-in-charge Rajesh Singh informed, “He has been booked under IPC sections 377 (having carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal) and 511 (attempt to commit offence not made punishable by other specific sections), as well as section 11 (3) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.”
The accused was produced before the court on Sunday (March 27). A probe has been initiated into the matter. Hindu rights organisations in Chamoli And Dehradun have demanded strict action against Ansari for sexually assaulting a female calf. They also asked the government to implement steps to fight the menace of land jihad (illegal encroachment).
Darshan Bharti, the head of the Uttarakhand Raksha Abhiyan, had lamented about the rapid demographic change in the State. “Cows are revered by Hindus across the world, and a Muslim man tried to insult the community as he sexually abused a year-old female calf while the Uttarakhand government is silent on our persistent demand for law against land jihad launched by Muslims,” he stated.
According to Uttarakhand Raksha Abhiyan activist Dhirendra Singh Rawat, the cops were unwilling to act against Alam Ansari. “It happened only after we persisted with our demand to arrest the accused,” he emphasised. Rawat added that Muslims from Uttar Pradesh were buying land in the hilly state and selling them at cheap rates.
He emphasised, “Muslims coming from Uttar Pradesh are purchasing land in our areas as locals are poor and willing to sell their properties at throwaway prices secretly. Hindus need to rise up and unite against the nefarious designs of the Muslims trying to intrude in the hills.”
Cases of ‘unnatural sex’ and animal brutality
In February this year, the Rajasthan police arrested 2 people, namely Zubair and Chuna, for raping a cow in the Chuhadpur locality in the Bhiwadi region of Alwar district. The police action came at the backdrop of a viral video where 4 people were seen having unnatural sex with a cow.
The other two accused were identified as Zubair and Taleem. The four men took the cow to a nearby mountainous slope and engaged in unnatural sex. They smashed the mouth of the cow with their feet to prevent it from making any noise before raping it, as per the report.
Several more incidences of animal mistreatment had been reported in the past by OpIndia. Toufeek Ahmed, a 20-year-old youngster, was captured on a CCTV security camera sexually assaulting a female dog in 2021. Ahmed was charged with ‘unnatural sex’ at the Vakola police station.
Amidst political instabilities in Pakistan growing with every passing day, reports have appeared in various media houses in which it is said that the religious violence in Pakistan is more than that in any other country in the world. Imran Khan’s government is failed to curb the religious violence in Pakistan. Lynching, beheading, and misuse of blasphemy laws are common phenomena in Pakistan.
According to a report by the New York Times, lynching over offenses to Islam are not new in Pakistan. In fact, blasphemy is a punishable offense in Pakistan. Religiously motivated mobs in Pakistan often exploit anti-blasphemy laws to take matters into their own hands.
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom mentioned in the report that instances of mob violence, and state-enforced criminal blasphemy cases, are more frequent in Pakistan than anywhere else in the world. In recent years these episodes have risen to an alarming level in Pakistan, with increasing cases of fatal violence.
The New York Times also quoted the incident of mob lynching of Muhammad Mushtaq who was accused of burning pages of the Quran inside a mosque in central Pakistan. The mob gathered at the mosque to kill him had sticks, bricks, and axes. Muhammad Mushtaq was dragged out of the mosque. He was tortured for hours before he was killed and his body was hung on a tree.
Tahira Abdullah, a human rights activist situated in Pakistan, said that “The lack of political will and commitment has always stood as the biggest obstacle to prevent the abuse, misuse, and exploitation of blasphemy laws.”
She further said, “Mr. Khan’s government is no different from its predecessors in promising to tackle the menace of religious violence. But it is too cowardly to confront influential religious parties in Parliament and the rampaging militant extremist groups outside Parliament.”
The report also tells that around 90 percent of the people involved in blasphemy violence are between the age of 18 and 30. According to the Center for Social Justice, a Lahore-based minority rights activists group, at least 84 people faced blasphemy accusations in courts and from angry street mobs in 2021. The incidents of vandalizing Hindu temples and neighborhoods, the burning of police stations by angry mobs are the direct results of the blasphemy allegations.
In December 2021, a Sri Lankan man Priyantha Kumara was tortured and burnt to death by an irate Islamist mob that believed rumors of blasphemy. A video of the horrifying incident had gone viral on Social Media.
On March 26, Delhi University’s Law Faculty cancelled a talk by Prashant Bhushan scheduled for Saturday at 11 AM. In the notice, the department cited unmanageable behaviour of the students as the reason for the last-minute cancellation. Bhushan was scheduled to talk on “Challenges to Indian Constitution” at the university.
After the event was cancelled, Bhushan cried foul and alleged there was pressure from the government to cancel the event. However, he arrived at the campus for his scheduled talk, and gave his speech on the road outside the Law Faculty Campus.
Authorities claim students’ behaviour was unmanageable
Usha Tandon, Law Faculty Dean, Delhi University, issued the notice cancelling the talk. In the notice, she said, “This is to notify that the permission to hold the program organised by some students of CLC (Campus Law Centre) relating to ‘Challenges to Indian Constitution’ to be held today stands cancelled. As per the decision of the meeting of the Committee on Seminar and Conference Rooms Booking, the cancellation is in light of the developments and the unmanageable behaviour of the students since March 25, 2022.”
Source: Twitter
Rajni Abbi, Proctor, refused the allegations that Bhushan was the reason behind the cancellation. She said the students created a ruckus on Saturday and had an altercation with the Police. She said, “Yesterday, the students created a ruckus. They had an altercation with Police and misbehaved with me… I don’t think in any reasonable manner we could have handed over the keys to them yesterday. If something untoward happened at night if they got drunk, who would have been responsible? They created a huge problem in the library; they were banging doors. Because of this, we decided to cancel. If students misbehave, they will not be allowed whether it is Prashant Bhushan or anyone else in the country.”
‘If the event got cancelled, the speaker should not have given speech.’
Abbi further added Bhushan’s decision to give a speech outside the hall on the road was wrong. She said no matter who the speaker was, it was not fair to him that the event got cancelled. However, on the other hand, his decision to deliver the speech despite the authorities’ decision to cancel the event was wrong. “The speaker, regardless of who it is, should also have thought that if permission was denied, should he have delivered the lecture there? He also did the wrong thing by standing on the road and delivering a lecture,” she said.
Students alleged they were not given keys on time
On the other hand, the students who organised the event alleged that they were not handed over the keys on time. Indian Express quoted one of the organisers saying they wanted to clean the room as it was closed for two years. When they did not get the keys, they started to protest. Notably, the authorities had to call the Police to control the students.
The students alleged they were informed during the ruckus that the event was cancelled. On the contrary, Abbi, while speaking to PTI, said it was against the rules to give keys to the students a day before the event.
Bhushan blamed ‘political bosses’ for the cancellation of the event
Bhushan has been crying foul since the event got cancelled. He has alleged that soon the event was publicised, the ‘political bosses’ would have instructed the university authorities to cancel the event as he was scheduled to speak at the event. He visited the University as per schedule and met the students who had organised them. With the absence of the auditorium, the lawyer-activist addressed the students on the road outside the law college.
“I went today because it was my duty and responsibility to meet the students and talk to them since their permission had been cancelled without any good reason,” he claimed.
At least 50 criminals surrendered within 15 days of the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government returning to power in Uttar Pradesh on 10th March 2022. Interestingly, many criminals walked in to the police stations holding placards with a message written on them – ‘I am surrendering, please don’t encounter.’ The surrender of miscreants and tainted criminals is the new normal in Uttar Pradesh.
It all started with the surrender of absconding miscreant Gautam Singh who is accused of kidnapping and extortion. He surrendered at Chhapia police station in Gonda district on March 15. Within three days, 23 more criminals surrendered to the Chilkana police station in Saharanpur. In western Uttar Pradesh alone, four liquor smugglers surrendered before the Deoband police with an affidavit stating that they would not commit the crime again.
After this, the surrender process started in the neighboring Shamli district. Here, 18 accused of cow slaughter surrendered themselves at Thana Bhawan and Garhipukhata police stations. Within a few days, another wanted criminal, Himanshu alias Honey surrendered at Sirsaganj police station in Firozabad. At the time of surrender, he was holding a placard, pleading to the police not to shoot him.
ADG, Law and Order, Prashant Kumar said that 50 criminals have not only surrendered but they have resolved to give up the crime. He said that during this time, two criminals were killed in the encounter and 10 others have been arrested. He said action is being taken to create fear among criminals in every nook and corner of the state through the scheme to improve law and order. Zero tolerance towards crime is not only about effective action on the mafia, but also the fresh vigil and intensive patrolling by UP-112.
It is notable that the ‘UP 112’ is an integrated emergency service for police, fire tenders and ambulances that replaced separate services — 100, 101, and 102 helplines – in 2019. There have been no communal riots in the state since 2017.
