A month after it was unearthed that scammers were manipulating the booking system and charging people for darshan at the Siddhivinayak temple in Mumbai, a total of 9 people were arrested in connection to the case, reportedMid Day.
During the investigation, the Dadar police found that a group of flower sellers and shopkeepers who operated outside the temple sold illegal QR codes to devotees for darshan. The temple authorities had filed a complaint with the police, following which a case of registered. The Dadar police then carried out raids at the shops, located in the vicinity of the temple.
The cops confiscated the cell phones of 13 shopkeepers. During the raid, they matched the QR codes that were found in the mobile phones of the accused and matched it with the CCTV footage of the temple. The police had discovered that the shopkeeper who had booked the slot for darshan did not visit the temple while someone else did on the particular slot. As such, the police were able to identify and nab the 9 accused.
The apprehended men include Sanjay Keer, Niraj Barai, Chandan Kawali, Amit Kumar Gupta, Dilip Gupta, Deepak Upadhyay, Dinesh Gupta, Naresh Amganty, and Haridas Tiwari. They were booked under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 33 (Omission), 34 (common intention), 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating), and relevant provisions of the Bombay Police Act.
While speaking to Mid Day, a police officer explained that a devotee needs to book an online slot on the temple app for darshan. On doing so, a QR code is generated that he/she has to show at the temple entrance to gain access.
According to DCP Pranaya Ashok, the accused would book the darshan slots before others and then black-market the slots to the devotees who couldn’t manage to get any slot or came without their designated QR codes.“The accused took financial advantage by black marketing QR codes and also cheated the temple trust and devotees for which action has been taken against them,” he added.
The Background of the Siddhivinayak darshan scam
In November this year, a scam was exposed by a Mumbai-based doctor Amit Thadhani. In a Twitter thread, Thadhani explained how scammers were charging people as much as ₹300 for darshan at the temple, which otherwise was free.
Thadhani said he went to the temple with some relatives, where he was approached by a man who was standing outside one of the flower shops. The man told him that the darshan was only possible with prior online booking. He claimed he could get an online pass for them immediately for a fee.
Thadhani did not believe him at first, but when he downloaded the app and logged in with a newly created ID, it showed all slots were booked. The scammer told him that he could arrange darshan at Rs. 300 per person. They were a group of ten people. He further added that he would need five mobile phones to get the “booking” done for them as the app allowed only two people per phone.
He and the other four from the group gave them their mobile phones. The scammer, along with his sidekick, swung into action, and within minutes the booking was confirmed for all of them.
Thadhani had an idea how they were pulling off the scam. To confirm his theory, he kept the login of the person on his device. He added, “These people block all available slots in advance through various fake IDs. So no slots are available for genuine devotees.”
He added screenshots of the fake account in the thread and said, “This is the fake account through which the slot was blocked (obviously the person’s name isn’t really Siddhivinayak). So remember folks, if you’re not getting a slot for darshan at Siddhivinayak, chances are the local touts outside the temple have already blocked all of them.”
A writ petition has been filed in the Supreme Court demanding action against alleged instances of hate speeches against Muslims in the country. Islamic organisation Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind and religious activist Maulana Syed Mahmood Asad Madani have filed the petition at the apex court.
The petition alleges that there has been an increase in alleged hate speeches against Prophet Muhammad call for violence against Muslims in the country in recent years, and included some instances of such alleged hate speeches from 2018. The petitioners say that no action has been taken against anyone for such intances.
The petition mentions the recent controversial remarks made by Yati Narasinghanand Saraswati, alleged anti-Muslim slogans made at a rally in Jantar Mantar in August this year, the ongoing protests against weekly Friday Namaz on public grounds in Gurugram, protests in Tripura against attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh, and other some speeches and remarks as examples of hate speech against Muslims in the country.
The plea also alleges that around 100 Muslims were arrested in Uttar Pradesh for protesting against the speech of Yati Narasinghanand Saraswati. The petitioners alleged that no action has been taken against the alleged hate speeches made in the ‘Dharm Sansad’ in Haridwar. They have also alleged that the law enforcement agencies are succumbing to non-state actors and are failing to protect the rights of the minorities.
“The above facts simply go on to demonstrate that through provocative and derogatory speeches of Indian citizenry, a religious community is attacked in order to compel them to abandon their religious practices. It is not a matter to be left to the administrative process in the country without holding them accountable. A considered judicial intervention of the Constitutional Court, by invoking under public law remedy, is required considering the present circumstances,” the plea said.
The petition further alleged that the derogatory speeches against Muslims have resulted in violence and even killing of Muslims, and accused the police of failing to act against anti-Muslim speeches. “Hate speech feeds into a system of political and social discrimination and has a cumulative effect on the dignity of a group/community and its members”, the petition said.
The petition makes three main demands, a report from govt of India on action taken against hate speeches against Muslims, particularly targeting Prophet Mohammad; the Constitution of an independent committee to compile all cases of hate speech in the country; and Court-monitored investigation and prosecution of hate crimes.
On the 30th of December, Hindi news channel News24 reported a speech made by Bihar police DGP SK Singhal. In the tweet posted by News24, they reported that DGP SK Singhal had said in a speech that women who marry without the consent of their parents end up in the prostitution business. The statement reported by News24, however, was wildly misreported.
Tweet by News24
As can be seen, the tweet by News24 claims that DGP SK Singhal said, “मां-बाप की मर्जी से करें शादी, वरना वैश्यावृति में जाना पड़ सकता है”, which translated to “Marry with the consent of your parents, otherwise you might end up in prostitution”.
However, even a cursory listen to the video reveals how grossly incorrect News24’s reportage was about the speech made by DGP Singhal.
In the video, DGP Singhal says, “Another problem that has arisen is that for marriage, many girls run away from their homes without the permission of their parents. This leads to extremely tragic consequences. Many are murdered, whether it’s a boy or a girl. And many of the girls are pushed into prostitution and there is no direction in their life. Their life does not progress properly and they don’t know what they can or cannot do. And the tragic consequences of this are also borne by the family members and the parents of the child. I urge parents to constantly talk to their sons and daughters, give them a good upbringing, understand their feelings properly and keep them connected with the family with a lot of sensitivity”.
It is evident that DGP was talking about the consequences of boys and girls running away from their families and homes to elope without the parents knowing about their whereabouts. It is true that many girls are lured to elope and then end up being pushed into a life of crime, flesh trade or end up being a victim of crime themselves. In fact, the DGP also spoke about boys who run away from their families and end up being pushed into a directionless life of crime.
In the speech, the DGP in fact addressed the parents and did not blame the children. He said that the parents had to be more involved with their children and understand their feelings. He also said that constant lines of communication must be opened by the parents with their children to ensure that they don’t take any wrong steps that they might regret later.
A simple statement about saving children from a life of crime, becoming the victim of a crime or being pushed into flesh trade was twisted by News24 to insinuate that DGP Singhal spoke about how girls end up becoming prostitutes if they don’t marry with the consent of their parents. The insinuation was that rather evident – that the DGP was espousing traditional views of arranged marriage and that if the children get married to a partner of their choice, they become prostitutes. However, that is not remotely what the DGP had said.
At the time of publishing this report, News24 had not deleted/retracted their tweet and issued an apology for twisting the statement of DGP SK Singhal.
2021 has been a tumultuous year. With the pandemic raging, a country of 1.3 billion people rushing to get vaccinated and anti-India elements spreading terrorism, fake news, propaganda and Islamists, Khalistanis running rampage and holding the state hostage. OpIndia, on its part, tried to document as much as we could to ensure that our readers have the information that they deserve.
As we bid adieu to 2021, here is a list of the top 10 most read articles on OpIndia.
2021 was the year when India played miserably against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup. After India lost to Pakistan, there were several elements who feverishly celebrated India’s loss to Pakistan. Pakistan went as far as to say that it was a victory of Islam, thereby terming India as a “Kafir” nation.
The most read article on OpIndia in 2020 was about Nafisa Atari, a teacher who celebrated Pakistan’s victory against India.
Please click on the image to read the article
On October 25, a WhatsApp post of a teacher identified as Nafisa Atari, a teacher of Neerja Modi School, Udaipur, Rajasthan, started to get viral on social media platforms. In the post, Atari had shared an image of Pakistani players with the text, “Jeet gaye, we won”. Nafisa was heavily criticized for the post. The netizens questioned what she might be teaching in her class if she was openly supporting Pakistan.
After this, Nafisa was terminated from services. The notice in Hindi read, “Nafisa Atari, a teacher at Neerja Modi School, has been terminated from the school with immediate effect during the meeting of Sojatia Charitable Trust.” The trust runs the Neerja Modi School. The notice did not mention the reason for termination.
The conversion ceremony ‘Sudhi Wadani’ was conducted at the Bali Agung Singaraja at the Buleleng Regency in Singaraja city of Bali, the ancestral land of the family. Bali Agung Singaraja is a monument to her late father Sukarno, built near the home of her grandmother in North Bali.
Her decision to convert to Hinduism was influenced by her grandmother Ida Ayu Nyoman Rai Srimben, who hailed from Bali. Sukmawati Sukarnoputri is the founder of the Indonesian National Party (Partai Nasional Indonesia-PNI).
On OpIndia, the report on her conversion and a report on an ancient prophesy comes in as the #2 most read in 2021.
Click on the image to read the article
Sabdapalon was a mystic priest in the Court of King Brawijaya V of the Majapahit Empire, the most powerful empire of Indonesia. When the kingdom fell to Islamic influences and Brawijaya V converted to Islam in 1478, Sabdapalon cursed the King. He vowed to return after 500 years at the time of natural disaster and political corruption. The mystic priest predicted to free the archipelago from the clutches of Islam and restore the glory of the Hindu Javanese religion. You can read the article about the return to Indonesia to Hinduism by clicking on the image above.
On the 31st of October 2021, #PoopyPantsBiden was trending on Twitter. The article explaining why that hashtag was trending became the 3rd most read article on OpIndia in 2021.
Click on the image to read the article
#PoopyPantsBiden was trending on social media after former Nevada Republican Party Chairman Amy Tarkanian claimed that there are rumours floating in Rome that US President Joe Biden had a “bathroom accident” during his meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican.
Kashmiri educator Sabbah Haji has been released on bail after she was arrested for referring to Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat as ‘war criminal’ in an Instagram post. OpIndia profiled the teacher who had celebrated the death of General Bipin Rawat.
Click on the picture to read the article
“I am now 28. Even today, each time I have to fill a form asking for my ‘nationality’, I hesitate before eventually writing ‘Indian’. That’s about 20 years of hesitating over the same point, because yes, even at 8, I knew something was rotten in the State of Jammu and Kashmir,” she had said in the 2010 article stating that young children pick up resentment against India from their family members. “No one in Kashmir drills their children with ‘Azaadi’ mantras and anti-establishment behaviour. Somewhere between infancy and childhood, I had picked up unwittingly on what most of my family and people felt. Just like that, it was part of me,” she had said.
Election strategist Prashant Kishor appeared on the cover of the India Today magazine, which carried an exclusive interview of him. During the interview, Kishor revealed that when he was working with the Congress party, he was so close its affairs that he had almost joined the party.
A report on this became the 5th most read article on OpIndia in the year 2021.
Prashant Kishor had said that he has been in talks with the Congress leadership for the past two years but, post the Bengal election, it was a much more structured, intensive engagement. He said that he had almost joined the party, but didn’t as he realized that coming together would be counterproductive for both sides due to some issues. However, he didn’t mention the issues that stopped him from joining the Congress party.
He revealed while replying to the claim that he is attacking the party because he was supposed to advise the party on strategy and it didn’t work out. He said that nobody can advise the Gandhis or the Congress leadership on their own. Kishor said that the party asked him and he told them what he thought was right.
In May 2021, a viral video clip of a gang rape incident began doing the rounds on the internet on Wednesday (May 26). In the video footage, four men and a woman were seen brutally assaulting a victim and sexually torturing her.
Click on the image to read the article
Initially, many social media handles had claimed that the victim in the video is the 25-year-old Nagaland girl Lovi Sumi, who had recently committed suicide in Jodhpur where she worked. However, police officials verified the identity with the family members of the deceased woman and confirmed that the woman in the viral video is not the Nagaland girl but a different woman and the culprits were Bangladeshis.
Pakistani cricketer Umar Akmal took to Twitter in October 2021 to share pictures of himself and his boarding pass of his flight to the United States. Akmal said he is travelling to the United States for some personal meetings and urged his supporters to pray for his success.
Click on the image to read the article
Soon after he posted the picture of the boarding pass on Twitter, a social media user noticed Akmal’s boarding pass had “SSSS” printed on them. “You have been marked for extra screening on arrival and you gotta be there for a couple of hours at least—hope that went well,” the user tweeted. You can click on the image above to read the article explaining “SSSS”.
After Meghan Markle’s interview with Oprah Winfrey, OpIndia published a satire piece about Markle joining BJP.
Click on the image to read the article
9. New York based band ‘Brass Against’ issues apology after lead singer urinated on a fan’s face during performance
A New York based band Brass Against was forced to apologise after its lead singer urinated on the face of a fan at the Welcome to Rockville festival in Florida on the 11th of November.
Click on the image to read the article
In an apology on social media, the band said that lead singer Urista got ‘carried away’ and it wasn’t something their fans would see again at their shows. The band also said that what happened was “profoundly unexpected”.
Following the defeat of India to Pakistan in the group stage match of the T20 World Cup 2021, an old Facebook post of riot accused and radical Islamist Sharjeel Imam surfaced on social media.
Click on the image to read the article
In a Facebook post dated June 17, 2017, Imam had confessed, “Several youngsters of our community have been celebrating the victory of Pakistan in the cricket match. When social media was not in existence, we would celebrate at our house or in our neighbourhood. On numerous occasions during childhood, I have participated in such celebrations.”
Hope you enjoyed reading the top 10 articles and we hope you, our readers, would continue to support us in 2022.
While Priyanka Gandhi Vadra screams about women empowerment and chants “Ladki Hoon, Lad Sakti Hu”, the Congress party has rehabilitated a Congress worker accused of sexual harassment. Congress last week reinstated Ranajit Mukherjee, accused of sexual harassment, and made him the secretary of the three key states- Tripura, Nagaland and Sikkim. Mukherjee was removed from party posts last year after he was accused of harassing a party colleague and displaying “predatory behaviour” against another woman.
On the 23rd of December, Congress had appointed three AICC secretaries. Congress had appointed Ranajit Mukherjee, Szarita Laitphang and Tajinder Pal Singh Bittu as AICC secretaries. Of the three, Mukherjee has been accused of sexual harassment.
With months left for the all-important Uttar Pradesh state assembly elections, almost all political parties that are entering the fray have launched political campaigns to woo their prospective voters. While the BJP has centred its campaign around developmental work and its Hindutva roots, other political parties such as Samajwadi Party are still relying on the old hack of caste dynamics to stop CM Yogi Adityanath from returning to power.
The Congress party, which was once the focal point of the Indian political arena, however, is struggling to mount a reasonable campaign to provide a credible alternative to the voters in Uttar Pradesh. Rahul Gandhi, like always, is on a wild goose chase, trying to revive the political fortunes of a party that seems to be irredeemably consigned to the fringes of Indian politics. Similarly, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, too, appears to be complimenting her brother in ensuring that Congress remains out of contention in the upcoming UP assembly elections.
Clutching on to straws, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had first come up with the “Ladki Hoon, Lad Sakti Hoon” slogan to try and contest on the plank of women empowerment. Soon, she made a ludicrous statement that showed how out of depth she really was. Priyanka Vadra, perhaps with the aim of mobilising women voters behind the Congress party, proclaimed that LPG cylinders and toilets are not women empowerment.
While Priyanka did not consider moves to empower women as women empowerment, it is interesting that now Congress has abandoned the plank completely and reinstated a leader accused of sexual harassment and predatory behaviour.
What were the allegations against Ranajit Mukherjee
It was only last year that Ranajit Mukherjee had resigned from his post as AICC secretary after Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Gowda, chairman of the party’s research department undertook an internal investigation on the accusations of sexual harassment against him.
Mukherjee was also a part of the party’s research department and his resignation was accepted after the allegations had surfaced.
During the 2018 Rajasthan Assembly Elections, a woman from the NSUI had submitted a written complaint against Mukherjee and another colleague from the Congress research department had also alleged that Mukherjee was indulging in predatory behaviour.
Though he has shown a pattern of misconduct with women, the Congress party has reinstated Mukherjee. In fact, the reinstatement of Mukherjee comes even as the investigation into his sexual misconduct has not reached its conclusion.
A group of 250 Hindu devotees from India, the UAE and the US are scheduled to visit a century-old shrine of Paramhans Ji Maharaaj in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province which was vandalised by radical Islamist outfit Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl on December 30 last year.
The temple is dedicated to a saint Shri Param Hans Dayal Ji Maharaj who was laid to rest in 1919 at Teri village in Karak district. A temple was constructed here in 1920.
Pakistani newspaper Dawn has said that Pakistan Hindu Council (PHC) has invited Hindus across the globe to encourage “faith tourism”. PHC representing Hindu minorities in Pakistan is headed by Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani who is also a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan.
According to the report, Hindu devotees will arrive in Peshawar on January 1 from where they will carry onward journey to Teri village. PHC has arranged the programme in collaboration with Pakistan International Airlines.
Earlier in November as many as 54 Hindus from India, Canada, Singapore, Australia, and Spain had paid a visit to the Teri temple. They were led by Shri Satguru Ji Maharaaj Ji, the fifth successor of Paramhans Ji Maharaaj.
Hindu council celebrated Diwali at shrine with Chief Justice of Pakistan
On November 8 PHC had organized a function to celebrate Diwali at this century-old shrine. The outfit had invited Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Gulzar Ahmad to participate in the Diwali as part of thanksgiving. This was the first-ever celebration at this temple after it was vandalised by Islamists and renovated on the order of the court.
Temple restored on the order of the court
On December 30th last year, the temple was vandalised by a mob led by local clerics belonging to the Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl. On the orders of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, the Teri temple was restored to its original condition.
A three-judge SC bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed, had also ordered the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to recover Rs 33 million from 123 identified accused when Advocate General for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Shumail Butt said that Rs 33 million (USD 1,94,161) was spent on restoration of the temple.
However, Islamists had forced Hindus in Pakistan to pay their fine and the PHC had paid fine for 11 Muslim clerics in the name of the ‘goodwill gesture’ to increase interfaith harmony between the Hindu and Muslim communities. The remaining accused also started pressurizing Hindus to cough up their fine.
Earlier in 1997, the shrine was first attacked and severely damaged. PHC had approached the Supreme court in 2015 seeking help to restore the holy place and restart the annual pilgrimage to the place.
On Friday (December 31), former Tennis player Jimmy Connors made an appeal to allow India’s indigenous Covid-19 vaccine ‘Covaxin’ in the United States. Connors is the former No.1 who has won 107 titles, 8 grand slams between 1972 to 1996.
In a tweet, he wrote, “CNN, Fox News, FDA – You always talk about Pfizer, J&J, Moderna vaccines – may be a nod to Covaxin. #ocgn – an opportunity to have an option- a choice- allow Covaxin to get in the game – I’m not Dr but the others have had a chance – why not Covaxin!!!”
Screengrab of the tweet by Jimmy Connors
Jimmy Connors has been a strong advocate for the inclusion of Covaxin in the list of approved vaccines by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States. On December 17, the American tennis star remarked that there was no talk of India’s indigenous vaccine, despite being better than the other alternatives in the market.
A few days later, he tweeted, “There is another vaccine #covaxin that is available— gives people another option – should check it out- #Fauci #fda #variants I’m no Doctor— but always like to keep my options open- #choices.” Connors had made a similar appeal on the occasion of Christmas (December 25) as well.
Screengrab of the tweets by Jimmy Connors
Covaxin approval by WHO, UK and DGCI and a smear campaign
Covaxin is an indigenous COVID-19 vaccine that is developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with ICMR, and the National Institute of Virology (NIV). According to the website of Bharat Biotech, Covaxin has been developed using “Whole-Virion Inactivated Vero Cell-derived platform technology”. Despite smear vaccine to deride India’s achievement and stir vaccine hesitancy, about 15.59 crores of Covaxin have been administered as of December 31, 2021.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on November 3 granted the Emergency Use Listing status to Covaxin after the Technical Advisory Group of WHO recommended the same. In a tweet thread, WHO said the Technical Advisory Group (TAG), an independent advisory committee of the World Health Organisation (WHO), has recommended Emergency Use Listing (EUL) status for Covaxin, the Covid-19 vaccine manufactured by India’s Bharat Biotech.
On November 22, the United Kingdom recognised India’s indigenous Coronavirus vaccine Covaxin as valid in the country. In a statement released by the UK government, it said, “From 4 am on Monday 22 November, the government will recognise vaccines on the World Health Organization’s Emergency Use Listing (WHO EUL). As a result, Sinovac, Sinopharm Beijing and Covaxin will be added to our list of approved vaccines for inbound travel, benefitting more fully vaccinated people from countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia and India.”
Recently, the Drugs Controller General of India had approved the Covid vaccine Covaxin for minors aged 12 to 18. According to reports, DCGI had granted emergency use approval for Bharat Biotech to use the made-in-India vaccine to people in the age group 12 years to 18 years.
Yogi Adityanath has been one of the most successful Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh in terms of fighting the organised mafia, restoring law and order and also developing the state. At the ‘Destination Uttar Pradesh’ conclave, Yogi Adityanath spoke to Times of India and opened up about what made him join politics after he was appointed the successor of Goraksh Peeth in 1994.
Speaking to TOI, Yogi Adityanath narrated two incidents from 1994 and 1995 that shaped him and led him to join politics. He said that it was 1994-1995 when there was a well-known family from Gorakhpur who had two big havelis. Those havelis had been allocated, unilaterally, to the mafia by the Uttar Pradesh government and administration. When Yogi Adityanath met the family, he saw that they had torn down the two havelis. On being asked why, the family said that they tore down their property because, in this way, they would at least be able to retain the land. Had they not demolished the buildings, they would have been left with nothing since the mafia would have taken the havelis and the land over.
The other incident that Yogi Adityanath narrated related to a minister in Uttar Pradesh. While Yogi Adityanath did not name the minister, he said that one day, he got a call from a rich family who said that their property was being occupied by a minister. When Yogi reached there, he saw that the belongings of the individual were being thrown out of the house and that several people were standing around, but doing nothing. When Yogi Adityanath asked the people how they could do this given that the owner had not sold his property to them, the mafia simply waved some papers in his face. It was at that point in time that Yogi Adityanath says that he told the crowd to beat them up.
These two incidents and several incidents like these, Yogi Adityanath says, shaped his political career and compelled him to join politics. He says that now, nobody can afford to do such activity in Uttar Pradesh anymore and that they know if they illegally occupy any property they will face the bulldozer.
Further, talking about allegations of how his crackdown on the mafia was ‘one sided’, Yogi Adityanath said that the mafia is mafia and cannot be linked to caste, religion, creed or politics and that they are the worst enemy of the society – worse than coronavirus.
Saying that he is unfazed by the UP elections being a referendum on his work, Yogi Adityanath said that he is confident that BJP would get over 350 seats in the upcoming assembly elections.
The Dehli High Court has rejected a plea that sought a ban on the book written by Wasim Rizvi, Muhammad, contending that the book contained remarks against Islam, the Quran and Prophet Muhammad. The suit was filed by Qamar Hasnain who had also sought damages worth Rs 2,05,00,000 to make Rizvi stop from committing such acts in the future.
The suit had sought a permanent injunction against the book, demanding that all copies of the book, sold and unsold be destroyed. The plea had also demanded that the books in print be recalled. The suit, seeking permanent injunction to stop Waseem Rizvi from making such provocative statements or publishing them on any platform, was dismissed by single-judge bench of Justice Sanjeev Narula.
The petitioner had approached the Delhi High Court on behalf of all practitioners of Islam and claimed that the book is not just offensive to practitioners of Islam, but was offensive, hateful and distressing to any other casual reader as well. The bench ruled that “in the absence of disclosure of infringement of any legal right, the plaintiff’s prayer seeking injunction and damages on account of being offended or aggrieved by the contents of a book – which allegedly is hurtful to his religious sentiments – would not give him any right to approach this court by way of the present suit”.
“For such suits, amongst other requirements as provided under Section 91 of CPC (Code of Civil Procedure), a suit if not filed by the Advocate General, has to be filed by two or more persons with the leave of the court,” the judge elucidated.
“Under this provision, a party can perhaps approach the court for an illegal act which in its nature tends to cause injury of the public at large. However, for a representative action, it is indispensable that reliance is placed upon such provisions of the statute. No such pleadings are found in the instant case,” the court remarked.
It is important to note that while the court dismissed the case because it was of the opinion that the petitioner did not have a legal right to bring this case to the court, the bench clarified that it had not commented on the merits of the case in this judgement.
Wasim Rizvi becomes Jitendra Narayan Swami
Former Shia Waqf Board chief Wasim Rizvi reverted to Hinduism by renouncing Islam in December 2021. He has been a frequent target of fundamentalists because of his statements. He converted to Hinduism in the presence of Mahant Yati Narasinghanand Giri at Dasna Devi temple in Ghaziabad. Rizvi was welcomed back into the faith of his ancestors in a series of rituals, after which he was named Jitendra Narayan Swami.
Recently, Rizvi launched his book ‘Muhammad’ in the presence of Dasna Mahant. After that, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi himself filed a complaint against him. In his complaint, Owaisi alleged that Rizvi wrote the book to hurt the sentiments of the Muslim community. Earlier, Rizvi had made headlines when he had filed a PIL to remove 26 verses from Quran, stating those verses allegedly encourage terrorism. As the head of the Shia Waqf Board, Rizvi had supported the struggle for the Ram Mandir at Ram Janmabhoomi, Ayodhya.
Reacting to reports that China has assigned its own name to 15 places in Arunachal Pradesh, the Ministry of External Affairs has said that such a move does not alter the fact that Arunachal is an integral part of India.
“We have seen such reports. This is not the first time China has attempted such a renaming of places in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. China had also sought to assign such names in April 2017.
Arunachal Pradesh has always been, and will always be an integral part of India. Assigning invented names to places in Arunachal Pradesh does not alter this fact.”
Earlier today, the Chinese state media house Global Times had reported that China has ‘standardised’ the names of 15 places in Zangnan, the name China uses for Arunachal, ‘based on sovereignty and history’. The report had said that China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs has renamed those places in Arunachal, in accordance with regulations on geographical names issued by the State Council, China’s cabinet. The new ‘standardised’ names were issued in Chinese, Tibetan and Roman alphabet
The 15 places assigned ‘standardised names’ included eight residential areas, four mountains, two rivers and one mountain pass. This is the second such step taken by China, the country had ‘renamed’ six places in Arunachal in 2017 as part of its ongoing claim that Arunachal is part of China which it refers to as South Tibet or Zangnan.
‘It is a legitimate move and China’s sovereign right to give them standardized names. More standardized place names in the region will be announced in the future,’ Lian Xiangmin, an expert with the China Tibetology Research Center in Beijing, said. He added that ‘it is part of a national effort to standardize the management of place names’.
The eight renamed places are, Sêngkêzong and Daglungzong in Cona County of Shannan Prefecture, Mani’gang, Duding and Migpain in Medog County of Nyingchi, Goling, Damba in Zayu County of Nyingchi, and Mêjag in Lhunze County of Shannan Prefecture. Four mountains that new Chinese names are Wamo Ri, Dêu Ri, Lhünzhub Ri and Kunmingxingzê Feng, the two rivers are Xênyogmo He and Dulain He, and the mountain pass Sê La in Cona County.
It is interesting to note that there is already a mountain pass in Arunachal named Sela Pass, and it is not known whether the name Sê La has been assigned to this pass only.
In 2017, China had renamed 6 places in Arunachal, in apparent retaliation against the Dalai Lama’s visit to the state.
