Former cricketer Vinod Kambli has been reportedly duped of a large sum of money by a fraudster claiming t help him with a KYC update. As per reports, the ex-cricket star has filed an FIR at the Bandra police station in Mumbai against unknown miscreants.
Mumbai: An FIR registered at Bandra Police Station, against unidentified person, based on a complaint by former cricketer Vinod Kambli of being duped of Rs 1,13,998 on the pretext of KYC update.
As per reports, Kambli was duped for Rs 1,13,998 by some fraudsters on the pretext of a KYC update. Multiple fraudulent transactions were allegedly carried out from the cricketer’s account.
A fraudster had posed as an executive for a private bank where the cricketer has an account and had made him share sensitive bank details, on the pretext of updating his KYC details.
Realising that he has been duped of money, the cricketer had immediately approached Bandra police. The police acted swiftly along with the bank officials who got the money reverted to the cricketer’s account.
As per reports, the fraudster had convinced Kambli to download the ‘Any Desk’ app on his phone. Kambli has thanked the Bandra police for the swift action and has cautioned the public about fraudulent phone calls asking for bank details.
The Bandra police have stated that the fraudulent transactions happened after Kambli downloaded the app. The app reportedly enabled the fraudsters to gain access to Kabmli’s phone and mimic the bank details to initiate the transactions. Kambli had also shared the OTP over the phone call which made the work of the fraudsters easy.
Police have stated that banks repeatedly warn customers about not sharing the OTP with anyone and not to give bank details to unknown callers posing as bank employees.
Earlier, actress Shabana Azmi had fallen victim to fraudsters posing as the owners of an online liquor delivery service. Instead of using the bonafide app or website of the liquor delivery service and paying through verified payment gateways, the actress had transferred money to some accounts that had impersonated as a liquor delivery service and had paid them through PayTM.
A Hindu woman identified as 35-year-old Pratibha Soni has filed a case with the Uttar Pradesh police 10 days ago, accusing her husband, who is a Muslim, of forcing her to convert to Islam despite marrying her in an Arya Samaj temple, reports Swarajya. The woman has also accused her husband of cheating on her with another woman and sexually exploiting her for years on the pretext of marriage.
Based on the complaint filed by Pratibha Soni, who is seven months pregnant now, the Uttar Pradesh police arrested her husband Faheem on several charges including harassment and criminal intimidation.
Sultanpur Police had taken to its official Tweeter handle on November 29 to apprise about the arrest.
थाना को0नगर पुलिस द्वारा मु0अ0सं0 1082/2021 धारा 498ए/313/494/506 भा0द0वि0 से सम्बन्धित अभियुक्त फहीम कुरेशी पुत्र सुल्तान कुरेशी नि0 लाला की पुरवा थाना को0नगर जनपद सुलतानपुर को गिरफ्तार कर मा0 न्यायालय भेजा गया। pic.twitter.com/O0tgPxe5Ja
Pratibha’s said in the first information report (FIR) that she was in a relationship with Faheem for the last 10 years. In these years, he had sexually exploited her multiple times on the pretext of marriage. Pratibha Soni revealed that in these years, she became pregnant multiple times but Faheem would have her pregnancy terminated each time, claiming that he couldn’t marry her before marrying off his sisters.
As per the report by Swarajya, the victim further said in her statement that in 2018, the two got married in an Arya Samaj temple. Faheem adopted Hinduism to marry her. The relationship between the duo gradually started changing after the wedding and after three months of her pregnancy, Faheem started pressuring her to convert to Islam and perform nikahwith him.
She added that after her marriage at the Arya Samaj Mandir and subsequent paperwork, Pratibha’s brother-in-law who works at a newspaper advertisement agency offered to get Faheem’s name change declaration published in a newspaper for free. “But Faheem said no. He said he had converted for marriage’s sake and did not want to change his name in any of his documents,” recalled Pratibha in her statement.
Pratibha informed that Faheem had an additional Aadhaar card made in the name of Rajesh. “I have seen it,” confirmed the victim.
Narrating her story to Swarajya, Pratibha Soni, a native of Uttar Pradesh said that she was a native of Sultanpur and had previously gotten married to a man from her castein an arranged marriage in 2002. Her husband’s family lived in Jaunpur. She had three sons from her first marriage. After her first husband died in an accident five years after the marriage, she shifted to her parent’s house in Sultanpur and resumed her studies.
She pursued a bachelor then a master’s in commerce. She also earned a vocational diploma in computers. After her studies, she got a job at a private college in Jaunpur and shifted there.
Pratibha met Rajesh while attending college in Sultanpur. They became good friends. As Pratibha became more self-sufficient following her employment, the two became closer and started dating. Rajesh began to pay her visits in Jaunpur.
Pratibha claimed that she met Rajesh through a common woman acquaintance who was a Muslim.
“Probably because he had worked and lived in Mumbai, he was quite open-minded. He was okay with being in a relationship with a single woman with children,” she said, adding that later she learnt that Rajesh was actually Faheem Qureshi. She claims she learned it from one of Faheem’s friends.
“I would often ask him to formally marry me as he was coming to stay with me frequently. Every time, he said he needed time as he had sisters to marry,” says Pratibha. “I approached one of his friends to try convince Rajesh for the marriage. The friend revealed that he is not Rajesh but Faheem Qureshi,” Pratibha Soni was quoted by Swarajya as saying.
Pratibha recalled how after a few weeks of her breaking her ties with him after a miscarriage in 2017, Faheem approached her with a marriage proposal. “He said he wanted to live with me and spent the rest of his life with me. I accepted his offer,” she said.
Despite having her own house, Pratibha now shifted to Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh and started staying in a rented apartment just so that they could stay close to each other. Faheem by now introduced her to his family.
When Pratibha insisted on marriage, Faheem suggested that Yogi sarkar is going after Muslim men marrying Hindu women, so it was best for both of us to marry in a temple as Hindus, said the Hindu woman.
Pratibha said her parents did not approve of her decision to marry Farheen, but she still went ahead.
After the marriage, when her brother-in-law offered to get Faheem’s name changed officially on all his legal documents, the latter refused, saying he had converted just for the sake of the marriage and did not want to change his name in any of his documents.
Pratibha added here: “Faheem anyway has an additional Aadhaar card made in the name of Rajesh. I have seen it.”
Continuing to narrate her woeful plight, Pratibha Soni said that even after the marriage Faheem did not take her to his house. She continued to live in the rented accommodation in Sultanpur, which Faheem visited frequently.
Pratibha told Swarajya that their relationship started to strain after she became pregnant in 2019 and Faheem compelled her to abort the child once again. Their relationship took a turn for the worst when she found out she was pregnant again earlier this year.
Faheem puts pressure on Pratibha Soni to convert to Islam and perform nikah with him
“I was diagnosed with a disease and was told to go for a blood test. The doctor revealed that I was pregnant. The doctor said that given my illness, it was advisable that I don’t abort the pregnancy. When I told Faheem about it, he reluctantly agreed to keep the baby,” she said, adding that Faheem’s sisters were still unmarried.
She said that within the first trimester of her pregnancy only she saw a significant shift in Faheem’s behaviour towards her. He began putting pressure on her to convert to Islam and perform nikah with him.
The duo started having arguments over this. Faheem reportedly told her that his family had refused to accept his conversion to the Hindu faith or his marriage in the temple. They demanded a nikah.
‘All he did was use me for sexual pleasure and money’, the Uttar Pradesh Hindu victim tells Swarajya
“Ma’am, I would have agreed to the nikah as wellhad it not been for the fact that I was increasingly feeling like I was being cheated. It slowly dawned on me that all this man had done to me was use me for sexual pleasure and money,” Pratibha told Swarajya.
Speaking about his income, she said that Faheem did not have a regular income or occupation. For a long time he avoided speaking to her on this topic, but one day during a visit to the dargah, two years before their marriage, Pratibha confronted him again and demanded to know what he did for a living. He then told her that he sold drugs.
Pratibha discouraged him to do such illegal things and asked him to open his own meat shop for which she even spared Rs 50,000.
Meanwhile, after two more months of her pregnancy had passed, Faheem angrily told Pratibha that the child she was carrying was not his.
“He asked me what proof I had that the child was his. I was furious. I told him I could get him jailed for rape and a DNA test would easily prove it. He said he did not fear rape charges,” she revealed.
After this spat when Faheem stopped visiting her and the phone calls between them reduced to zero, Pratibha decided to confront him at his parents’ house. Somehow managing her way through, despite being in the last trimester of her pregnancy, when Pratibha Soni reached Faheem’s locality in Sultanpur she learnt that Faheem had shifted to a new location, behind Khajuri Masjid in Lala ka Purwa area, with his family. She was also told by her neighbours that he had married a girl from the colony only a few weeks ago. It was a low-key event, they informed her.
When Pratibha reached Faheem’s house, seeing her newly wedded wife, she began crying profusely and called up the police. She collapsed on the floor and regained consciousness only in the police van, she recalled.
This incident occurred on October 29. The same day, Pratibha lodged a complaint with the Uttar Pradesh police against her husband and his family members. However, no FIR was registered as the two parties agreed to settle the case mutually.
Though Pratibha remained tight-lipped about the terms of the agreement, she said that Faheem accepted to live with her after that day. The next day, he also moved in with her. However, a few weeks later he disappeared again.
Pratibha visited the police station once more after his disappearance and an FIR was filed subsequently.
The FIR (number 1082/2021) filed at City Kotwali police station in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh on November 27, named Faheem as a suspect under IPC sections 498A (harassment of woman subjecting her to cruelty), 313 (causing marriage without women’s consent), 494 (marrying after having a husband or wife) and 506 (criminal intimidation).
Victim’s statement as recorded in the FIR (source: Swarajya)
Swarajya also spoke to the Investigating Officer Praveen Mishra who told the media outlet that that investigation is on and it was too early to make any official statement. Asked why the police did not file an FIR on October 29 itself, he said that both parties agreed to a compromise and thus, there was no case.
Pratibha also showed Swarajya her marriage certificate, which was issued by an “Arya Samaj mandir” on March 20, 2018. The temple’s address is Sector H of Harsh Vihar in the Aliganj area of Lucknow district, according to the certificate.
The marriage certificate mentioned Faheem Qureshi’s name after ‘conversion’ as Raj Arya.
Marriage certificate issued by the Arya Samaj mandir the duo got married in (source: Swarajya)
On 7 December when Swarajya once again contacted Pratibha Soni she said that with two months left for her child to be born, she has found that she was being cheated for the past 10 years.
“There are two women involved. The child in my womb needs justice. Faheem’s second wife needs justice too. I can tell you for sure that I will make his family sell everything they possess to provide for the baby,” she said determinedly, adding that she has urged the police to add provisions of the anti-forced conversion act in her case. “They asked me to bring the documents,” she said.
In Chicago, a US court has found ‘Empire’ actor Jussie Smollet guilty of staging a fake hate crime against himself to gain media attention and boost his career. As per reports, the actor, who is black and gay, had lied to the police and had falsely claimed that he was attacked in a dark Chicago street by two masked strangers in 2019.
The jury in Cook County Circuit Court deliberated for nine hours before announcing that they have found Smollet guilty in 5 of the 6 felony charges of disorderly conduct that he faced, one for each time he lied to the police.
The 39-year-old actor faces up to 3 years in prison, though there is a chance that he may be given probation, as per a Reuters report.
Speaking to the media, special prosecutor Dan Webb stated that Smollet’s allegations were ‘ridiculous’. He added that the actor lied to the jury too, adding that Smollet would not have lost his case as he did today if he had not lied to the jury.
Smollett’s defence attorney stated that his client is an ‘innocent man’ and they are confident that they will see the guilty verdicts are turned into appeal. The lawyer added that they feel justice was not done and the battle is difficult for the actor because he has been already ‘tried and convicted in the media’.
Bak in 2019, Smollett had made headlines and had even given an 18-minute interview for Good Morning America where he described how horrible he felt after the attack and took indirect potshots at then US President Donald Trump for motivating racial, homophobic attacks in the country.
Good Morning America was one of many corporate news sites to spread the #JussieSmollett hoax.
‘Trump supporters attacked me’: Smollet had claimed
In 2019, Smollett had claimed that he was attacked, racially abused and assaulted by a pair of Trump supporters. He had claimed that the attackers threw a noose around his neck, poured some chemicals on his face while yelling racist and homophobic slurs at him. He had added that the attackers were raising pro-Trump slogans.
After a police investigation, it was found that the actor himself had hired two brothers and had paid them 3500 US Dollars to stage the attack on him. Smollett’s intention was to paint himself as a victim and boost his profile in the entertainment industry as a gay and black actor who was abused and assaulted by Trump supporters.
The brothers who had been hired by the actor, Abimbola Osundairo and Olabinjo Osundairo had testified in court against the actor, telling that he had trained them how to ‘attack’ him as part of the plan. But Smollett had told under oath that they were lying.
Smollett had lost his role as the singer-songwriter in the final season of Fox drama Empire after the fiasco. His career has taken a downward turn after that.
Top Democrat leaders had outraged about the attack that never happened
Jussie Smollett’s allegations of the fake ‘racial attack by Trump supporters’ had come at a time when the USA’s political environment was charged up in preparation for the 2020 elections. Top Democrat leaders, including current president Joe Biden, current VP Kamala Harris, Alexandra Ocasio Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Bernie Sanders had viciously called out the ‘racial attack’ that never even happened.
A popular Twitter handle named Libs of TikTok shared a screenshot of how the fake attack was used for political outrage by top Democrat leaders.
Teachers in Punjab have been protesting, demanding the implementation of the 7th UGC Commission and the state has found a novel way to resolve their issues – just drown their voice out. Punjab’s IG Police (Special Protection) has issued an order to all Police Commissioners to install DJs and play Gurbani to drown out the protest wherever CM visits so the voice of the protesting teachers can be drowned out.
The order was shared on Twitter by Congress leader Sunil Jhakar. “It couldn’t be true! Sacrilegious and mockery of democracy”, Jhakar said while sharing the order.
The order by the Punjab’s IG Police was written in Gurmukhi. A translation of the order, confirmed by OpIndia to be accurate, was shared by a Twitter user.
The subject of the order read, “Regarding the security arrangements during the arrival of the Hon’ble Chief Minister”.
The order itself read, “Regarding the subject matter, it is written to you that whenever the Hon’ble Chief Minister, Punjab has a function program in your district, during the arrival of the Hon’ble Chief Minister, Punjab, on the way, two difference organisations would raise their voice. Slogans are raised. Therefore, in the future, whenever the Hon’ble Chief Minister, Punjab, has a function/program in his district, a DJ should be posted at the place where 2 different organisations are protesting their demands. If Gurbani Shabad/religious songs are played in, then their voices should not be heard”.
Essentially, the order says that the police commissioners will simply play Gurbani really loud so the voices and slogans of protesting teachers are drowned out when the Chef Minister visits.
The order, first shared by Jhakar, was then shared by Amit Malviya, BJP leader, as well. He questioned the Punjab CM and asked why he could not talk to the protesting teachers instead of drowning their voices out.
Teachers are protesting and raising slogans against Punjab CM Channi. Instead of engaging and listening to them, Punjab’s IG Police (Special Protection) has issued an order to all Police Commissioners to install DJs and play Gurbani to drown out the protest wherever CM visits… pic.twitter.com/7ULT6TFWP3
Teachers across Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh have been protesting for the last several months for a host of demands. These protests, though mostly peaceful, have seen the educators come out in strength to block major roads and stage dharnas, even in the face of being lathi-charged by the police. There is a ‘Total Education Bandh’ across 184 colleges of Punjab where teachers are protesting to get the state to implement the provisions of the 7th UGC commission.
On Thursday (December 9), the Enforcement Directorate (ED) apprehended an aide of conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar in connection to a money laundering case.
As per reports, the aide has been identified as one Pinky Irani. The accused did not co-operate with the ED officials, following which the central agency took Irani into custody. She was arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). India Today reported that Irani had introduced Jacqueline Fernandez to the conman and that she was aware of the nature of their relationship.
As per the report, Irani was paid crores by Sukesh Chandrashekhar for introducing him to the actress. Investigators had gathered incriminating evidence, including Whatsapp chats of Irani in connection to the case. She was grilled extensively this week and the previous week.
ED interrogates actor Jacqueline Fernandez
On Wednesday (December 8), the central agency grilled Jacqueline Fernandez for about 8 hours during multiple sessions of interrogation. The actor’s statement was recorded under PMLA. As per ED, Fernandez had benefitted from the crime proceeds of Chandrashekhar, which he acquired by conning high profile individuals. The actor’s spokesperson, however, claimed that she was testifying as a witness before the Enforcement Directorate.
“Jacqueline Fernandez is being called to testify as a witness by the ED. She has duly recorded her statements and in future will also be completely cooperating with the agency in the investigations. “Jacqueline also categorically denies alleged slanderous statements made about relationship with the involved couple,” the spokesperson had earlier said. The Enforcement Directorate had informed that Chandrashekhar was probed by the Delhi police for involvement in cheating, conspiracy and extortion of up to ₹200 crores.
“Chandrasekhar is the mastermind of this fraud. He has been part of the crime world since the age of 17. He has multiple FIRs against him. He (using a cellphone procured illegally in prison) with the help of technology made spoofed calls to dupe people as the numbers displayed on the called party’s phone number belonged to senior government officers. While speaking (from prison) to these persons, he claimed to be a government officer offering to help people for a price,” the ED had earlier emphasised.
Actor Jacqueline Fernandez stopped at Mumbai Airport from leaving India
On December 5, Bollywood actor Jacqueline Fernandez was stopped at Mumbai Airport from going abroad. According to reports, she was leaving for Dubai for a program but was stopped at the airport by authorities as the Enforcement Directorate had issued a lookout notice against her. India Today claimed that she was not detained, and was asked to return home.
Jacqueline Fernandez was scheduled to participate in Salman Khan’s Da-bangg tour to be held on December 10 in Riyadh. Jacqueline was named in a ₹200 crore money laundering and extortion case, where she was accused of receiving several expensive gifts from the main accused Sukesh Chandrasekhar. Some pictures of Jacqueline Fernandez with conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar went viral on social media, which suggested that they were in a relationship.
The gifts given to the actor by Sukesh included diamond-studded jewellery sets, crockeries, four Persian cats worth 36 lakhs and a horse worth ₹52 lakh. According to ED, they had found evidence of financial transaction between the two, and he had given gifts worth Rs 10 crore to her. Sukesh used to chat with Jacqueline over mobile from jail. When Sukesh had received bail in April-June this year, he booked a chartered flight for himself and also arranged for chartered flights for actress Jacqueline Fernandes to meet her in Chennai.
A Delhi court has rejected a petition filed that sought the restoration of temples situated in Quwwat Ul-Islam mosque located at the Qutub Minar complex in Mehrauli. The suit was filed on behalf of Hindu deity Lord Vishnu, Jain deity Tirthankar Lord Rishabh Dev and others, seeking the restoration of 27 Hindu and Jain temples “dismantled, desecrated and damaged under the command and orders of Qutub-ud-din-Aibak”.
Rejecting the petition, the Court said that it agrees that wrongs have been committed in the past, but such wrongs cannot be the basis of disturbing peace of our present and future.
“India had a culturally rich history. It has been ruled over by numerous dynasties. During arguments, the counsel for plaintiff has vehemently argued on the point of national shame. However, nobody has denied that wrongs were committed in the past, but such wrongs cannot be the basis for disturbing peace of our present and future”, observed Civil Judge (South) Neha Sharma at Saket court.
The plaintiffs had argued, “the right to worship has been bestowed under Article 25 and 26 as a fundamental right”, which the court held was “devoid of merits”. The court held that “fundamental rights enshrined under Article 25 and 26 of the Constitution are not absolute in nature”. It further said, “It is an admitted fact that the suit property is a mosque built over temples and is not being used for any religious purpose, no prayers/namaz is being offered in the suit property”.
The court held that the plaintiffs did not have the right to demand the restoration of the temple due to the Places of Worship Act 1991 which was enacted to preserve the “secular fabric” of the nation.
“Our country has a rich history and has seen challenging times. Nevertheless, history has to be accepted as a whole. Can the good be retained and bad be deleted from our history? Thus, harmonious interpretation of both the statutes is required to give full force to the objective behind the Places of Worship Act, 1991,” the court said.
It further said that “such ancient and historical monuments cannot be used for some purpose which runs counter to its nature as a religious place of worship, but it can always be used for some other purpose which is not inconsistent with its religious character”.
Interestingly, the Court admitted that the Mosque was indeed built over the desecrated ruins of temples. The Court said that it is an admitted fact that the suit property is a mosque built over a temple but it is not being used for any religious purpose and no namaz is being offered there. “Hence, in my considered opinion, once a monument has been declared to be a protected monument and is owned by the government, then the plaintiffs cannot insist that the place of worship must actually and actively be used for religious services,” the court said.
Qutubudin Aibak destroyed Hindu and Jain temples, along with their deities: Petition
“Qutubdin Aibak, a commander of Mohammed Gauri dismantled/ destroyed Shree Vishnu Hari temple and 27 Jain and Hindu temples along with constellations of respective deities and raised some inner constructions within the temple complex,” the plea said.
The petition further stated that Qutubdin Aibak did not completely demolish the existing temples and build Quwwatul Islam Masjid by using materials from the temples, adding that there are still pictures of Hindu gods and deities like Ganesh, Vishnu, Yaksha and symbols like Kalash, temple wells and sacred lotus in the mosque.
“Only the faces of gods and deities are defaced, the rest of the sculptures are identifiable. The corridor is completely of Vedic style having rectangular galleries with the holy symbol engraved pillars,” the petitioner said.
Petitioner demanded the court to create a trust to hand over the management and administration
The petitioner has sought a mandatory injunction directing the Central government to create a trust, according to the Trust Act, 1882, and hand over the management and administration of the temple complex situated within the area of the Qutub complex.
“Decree be passed in the nature of mandatory injunction, directing the Trust, to be created by Central government, to manage the affairs of 27 Hindu and Jain temples with iron pillar, in accordance with the scheme of administration framed by the Central government,” the petition said.
The litigant also sought a decree to be passed in the nature of a permanent injunction, restraining the defendants permanently from interfering in making necessary repair works, raising construction and making arrangements for pooja, darshan and worship of deities.
The court has essentially agreed that a historic wrong was committed and that indeed the mosque was built over desecrated temples, however, the court refused to admit the petition because it was scared of “disturbing peace”. In this scenario, the only thing that would “disturb peace” is the Muslim community running riots or committing violence if the historic wrongs were indeed rectified. One has to ask the question as to why the current Muslim community would commit violence if established historic wrongs, like mosques being built by desecrating temples.
The lack of law and order and the fact that the state cannot control an intolerant minority should not mean that Hindus and the other, real minority, Jains, should not have the right to demand that wrongs committed against them and their faith be rectified. The law enforcement agencies, the government and the judiciary should ideally focus on maintaining law and order and not denying the rectification of historic wrongs.
West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee gave a stern message to party MP Mahua Moitra in public today, and warned her not to create divisions in the party. While addressing an administrative meeting in Krishnagar ahead of municipal elections in the state, the CM acknowledged that there are internal rifts in the party.
During an administrative meeting of municipal officials and elected representatives, while talking to the district president of the party Jayanta Saha, Mamata Banerjee questioned about internal conflicts in the party in Krishnagar, and slammed Mahua Moitra in that context. The CM made it clear that candidates for the upcoming municipal elections in West Bengal elections will be decided by the party, and everybody will have to agree with the same. This indicates that there are clashes between Moitra and party leaders over candidate selection.
The CM said, “Mahua I am giving a clear message, who is for or against whom I am not concerned about that. (You will) prepare some people and send them to YouTube, or digital (media) or papers, this politics can work for a day but it will not work forever. And it is also not correct to assume that the same person will be in the same position forever. And when the election comes party will decide who will contest and who will not. Therefore, it is not correct to keep any difference of opinion. Everyone will have to work together, which I have instructed. I am aware of the things.”
Notably, Mahua Moitra was seated on the stage when Mamata Banerjee slammed her in public, who could not do anything apart from nodding in agreement, and she was visibly shocked at this public humiliation by the party chief.
Mamata Banerjee’s comments on Mohua Moitra came after reports of internal conflict in the party in Krishnagar, the Lok Sabha constituency represented by Moitra. Reportedly, the MP is in conflict with other party leaders like minister Ujjal Biswas, Nadia North district president Jayanta Saha, party leader Naresh Saha etc.
It has been alleged that Mahua Moitra does not maintain any contact with the other party leaders in the district, and works on her own. A senior party leader had visited the district recently to talk to the local leaders, and they made allegations against the MP. They say that the problem started after Moitra was given the responsibility of the entire Nadia district after 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
CM Mamata Banerjee ordered the party leaders to work together ahead of municipal elections. She also instructed the BDOs, district administration officials, and other officials to maintain communication with each other.
Last month Mahua Moitra was appointed as the party’s state in charge of Goa for the upcoming Goa elections.
YouTuber Maridhas was arrested by the cybercrime police in Madurai, Tamil Nadu on December 9, Thursday, following his social media post where he remarked on the Coonoor chopper crash in which the Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and 13 others were killed on Wednesday.
Correction | Tamil Nadu: A YouTuber, Maridhas has been arrested in Madurai for posting an alleged defamatory tweet, says Madurai City Police Commissioner
Maridhas, who has 488 thousand followers on YouTube, inquired if Tamil Nadu was “becoming into Kashmir” under the DMK’s control in a tweet that he later deleted.
According to reports, the YouTuber allegedly claimed that the state gives freedom “to create a group that can do any level of treason against the country.” He also apparently claimed that “it is possible for any kind of plot to be hatched here.”
Insinuating foul play in the IAF chopper crash, Maridas said that there was a risk of a conspiracy forming when those who were disloyal to the country come together. He also remarked that the separatist forces had to be stopped.
In another tweet, Maridhas claimed that many DMK supporters have been posting emojis mocking the death of an army commander in the accident. “They do this every time”, wrote the YouTuber adding that DMK is the “best choice for separatist forces”. This Tweet was available at the time of writing this report.
திக திமுக ஆதரவாளர்கள் பலரும் இராணுவ தளபதி விபத்தில் மரணத்தைக் கேலி செய்யும் விதமாகப் பதிவுகள் இடுவதும், சிரிப்பதுமாக emoji போடுவதைக் காண முடிகிறது. ஒவ்வொரு முறையும் இதைச் செய்கிறார்கள்.
பிரிவினைவாத சக்திகளுக்கு திமுக சிறந்த தேர்வாக இருந்துவருகிறது என்பது மறுக்க முடியாத உண்மை.
Following his social media post, the Madurai police went to his house in Surya Nagar of K Pudur in Tamil Nadu to arrest him.
While Islamists and many so-called liberals have brazenly been posting celebratory Tweets on the death of the CDS, reports suggest that Maridhas has been booked under sections 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot) and 505(2) (making statements with intent to cause public mischief, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public) of the Indian Penal Code, for pointing out the same through his Tweet.
According to reports, as the Madurai police reached the YouTuber’s house to arrest him, some BJP members gathered at the spot and refused to allow police to detain him. After the police took him away, these supporters reached the police station to demonstrate against the arbitrary arrest.
Deputy Commissioners TK Rajasekaran and Thangadurai, who reached the spot, brought the situation under control.
On December 8, an Indian Air Force Mi-17 V5 helicopter carrying General Bipin Rawat, India’s first Chief of Defence Staff, and 13 others had a tragic crash that killed 13 persons on board. The mishap happened deep in the Nilgiris, some distance away from Wellington where the CDS was to deliver a talk.
The mortal remains of General Rawat and his wife Madhulika will be taken to their official residence on 3, Kamaraj Marg at 11 am on Friday. Around 2 pm, the military bands of all three services will escort the bodies to Brar crematorium in Dhaula Kuan. The funeral is scheduled for 4 pm. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had announced in the parliament today that the CDS will be cremated with full military honour.
This is not the first time the YouTuber was targeted by the DMK government. In June 2020, the party had filed an FIR against him for calling M Karunanidhi the ‘father of corruption’. The man behind the Youtube channel Maridhas Answers has been taking aim against some very powerful lobbies, notably the foreign-funded Christian lobby and the entrenched power in the State, the Dravidian movement.
There is no end to Islamists celebrating the death of Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and left liberals saying there is no reason to mourn his death because they didn’t agree with him. In another such incidence, the Kerala government’s standing counsel in Kerala High Court Resmitha Ramachandran, who is also a Supreme Court lawyer.
In a Facebook post, Resmitha Ramachandran listed several reasons why General Bipin Rawat was not holy, and made several accusations against him. Kerala BJP has strongly objected to the post, and demanded that the CM should sack her from the government post.
In the highly objectionable post posted yesterday after the death of General Rawat was confirmed, the Kerala govt’s advocate had claimed that General Bipin Rawat was appointed as the first joint chief of defence staff bypassing the constitutional concept that only the President of India is the supreme commander of the armed forces.
After that she made further comments about the deceased general, saying he had awarded Major Leetul Gogoi for counter-insurgency operations, who had tied a Kashmiri stone pelter in front of a jeep to deter other stone pelters. She also mentioned that Gen Bipin Rawat had warned soldiers against calling themselves disabled falsely to get disability pension, and had believed that women in combat roles might complain about men peeping while they change clothes.
Resmitha Ramachandran claimed that General Bipin Rawat had wished that stone-pelters fire weapon, so that army could retaliate, and alleged that he had made acidic remarks against the protestors against CAA.
Giving these reasons, the leftist advocate said that death doesn’t make a person holy.
Reacting to the post by Ramachandran, BJP leader advocate S. Suresh said that she is a traitor who has no humanity. He said that it is an insult of the supreme soldier of the country after his death, and demanded that the Kerala govt should remove her from the post of govt advocate at the High Court.
In February 2020, The central government issued fresh guidelines for social media and OTT platforms. The government said that these guidelines were being introduced to “establish a soft touch progressive institutional mechanism with a level playing field featuring a Code of Ethics and a three-tier grievance redressal framework for news publishers and OTT platforms on the digital media”.
The guidelines that were issued by the central government had several provisions and code of ethics for the functioning of OTT platforms, Digital News websites and Social Media behemoths like Twitter, Facebook etc.
For the purpose of this article, we will focus only on the social media platforms, the guidelines that were meant to govern them, how they had resisted the implementation of these regulations and how they continue to stealthily skirt the guidelines issued.
What were the IT guidelines that applied to social media platforms
One of the most significant provisions of these guidelines is that if the social media platforms don’t comply with the provisions prescribed in the guidelines, this will attract penal provisions as per the Information Technology Act. The new guidelines say that the social media intermediaries must follow the due diligence mentioned in it, and if any intermediary does not follow the due diligence, the safe harbour provisions will not apply to them.
The section 79 of the Information Technology Act defines this safe harbour, which basically makes them not liable for any content posted by users on their platforms. It says that an intermediary shall not be liable for any third-party information, data, or communication link made available or hosted by them, provided they themselves didn’t initiate such communication, and observes due diligence under the IT act.
Now, this due diligence to be observed by the social media companies have been defined in the new guidelines. It includes various measures they have to perform, like identifying the first originator of any information that appears on social media, not allowing content that is defamatory, obscene, pornographic, paedophilic, inciting violence, against national integrity, misleading, false etc. The platforms also have to remove any such content within 36 hours of receiving a court order or a government direction to remove such content.
According to the guidelines, if the social media sites allow such objectionable content to be hosted on their platforms, and don’t remove them even after receiving such orders from courts or the government, it will mean that they are not observing due diligence. As a consequence, they will lose the safe harbour in the IT Act that isolates them from content posted on their platforms.
This means, if the social media companies do not comply with the guidelines, they will be held responsible for any content which is not allowed as per the guidelines. And, the officials of the social media companies will be liable to be prosecuted for such content. This implies that the social media officials will also be punished according to the nature of the offence, which is defined in the IT Act for various kinds of offences. The punishment defined in the act includes imprisonment for three years for most offences, but life imprisonment for some like cyber terrorism, and also includes fines of various amounts.
When the IT guidelines were issued, one of the most important compliance requirements imposed on social media companies was the grievance redressal mechanism that they had to put in place.
Following are the guidelines related to the appointment of grievance officer and the redressal mechanism they were required to put in place:
Social media intermediaries shall register the grievance within 24 hours and dispose of the complaint within 15 days.
The Intermediaries will have to publish a compliance report once a month where they detail the complaints they received and how they redressed the complaint.
The resident grievance officer shall perform all functions under the grievance redressal mechanism.
All grievance officers should have a physical address and that address should be published on the website and the mobile app.
The person appointed as the chief compliance officer shall be a resident of India.
The nodal contact person will be responsible for 24×7 coordination with Indian law enforcement agencies.
While one of the most important provisions in the IT guidelines was the denial of safety net if the rules are not adhered to, in the realm of compliance, social media behemoths were supposed to appoint a grievance redressal officer who would cater to complaints raised in real time and most importantly, it is clear that the grievance officer had to be a real individual with a real address in India.
How social media companies tried to work around the guidelines issued
After the IT guidelines were issued by the central government, Twitter and Facebook attempted to sidestep the guidelines as much as they could. Months after the guidelines were issued, Twitter had failed to comply.
Twitter Inc. was in the middle of a tussle with the Indian government over the new IT rules and had failed to comply with the compliance requirements.
As Twitter did not comply with the rules, the Indian government sent a barrage of notices to the tech giant to follow the Indian laws. As usual, Twitter asked for more time to follow the Indian laws. In addition to the non-compliance, the Uttar Pradesh Government had initiated action against Twitter India for failing to take down tweets that spread misinformation about a crime in the state. An FIR had been lodged against the social media platform in connection with the Loni incident after Twitter failed to flag the fake news put out by alleged fact-checkers. At that time, when the ‘interim grievance officer’ was summoned for questioning, Dharmendra Chatur had promptly quit. Twitter and Chatur had both declined to comment and, in fact, Chatur had also deleted his social media accounts.
This had left Twitter without a grievance officer at the time.
Post that, in July 2021, the Court had come down heavily against Twitter for failing to comply with the guidelines and lying in court. When the court was informed that the social media giant has no full-time resident grievance officer in accordance with the new IT Rule as of date, the Delhi HC rebuked the microblogging platform for its inability to appoint a grievance officer from June 21, when the existing officer was removed, until July 6. “After 21 June, till July 6, the least you could have done was appoint another person. How long does your process take? If Twitter thinks it can take as long it wants in our country, I will not allow that”, said Justice Palli. The court had also said that Twitter needs to come up with a reasonable response or “they would be in trouble”.
It was only on the 6th of August that Twitter had then managed to appoint a nodal officer in compliance with the IT guidelines.
Facebook had also tried to avoid complying with the guidelines. At that time, Facebook had said that they “aim to comply with the guidelines” but they need “more engagement with the government”. A Facebook spokesperson had informed, “We aim to comply with the provisions of the IT [Information Technology] rules and continue to discuss a few of the issues which need more engagement with the government. Pursuant to the IT Rules, we are working to implement operational processes and improve efficiencies.”
Eventually, they had complied with the guidelines by, on paper, appointing a grievance officer. However, while they claimed to comply, we will now analyse how they are essentially hoodwinking the government.
OpIndia’s tryst with Facebook “grievance redressal mechanism” and how the tech giant is hoodwinking the government
OpIndia has long been involved in a battle with Facebook with several of our posts being taken down without adequate reason. For example, it was only recently that OpIndia Hindi published a report on the Direct Action Day and how Hindus were massacred in the thousands. The headline was one that indicated the historicity of the incident accurately. This was right after Prime Minister Modi had announced that India would celebrate Partition Remembrance Day.
Article by OpIndia Hindi
In the choice between the truth and feelings, Facebook chose feelings. This post was taken down and our Facebook reach was restricted for weeks.
We proceeded to find the email address of the Grievance Officer, since the Guidelines mention that the officer needs to be an Indian citizen with a physical office address, implying that there has to be human intervention in resolving grievances.
How to contact Facebook grievance officer
We sent an email to the email address mentioned – [email protected]. Interestingly, when we sent a detailed email about our grievance, we again got a completely automated response.
The response OpIndia got
When we clicked on the link given by the “automated response” to our detailed email to the grievance officer, we were taken to a form that we filled out.
The Facebook form
Thereafter, we were directed to the in-app appeal that is supposed to direct to the grievance officer. Interestingly, the in-app appeal to the Grievance Officer did not have the option that we needed. There was no option to contest that the pulling down of a post was unfair and that reporting history could not be termed “hate speech” by any stretch of the imagination.
We still selected the last option and submitted our appeal to the company.
In response to this, we yet again got an automated response with the links of the community guidelines.
The response OpIndia got
The response OpIndia got
It is interesting to note that Facebook, by Indian law, is required to have a Grievance Officer that resolves the complaints raised. Facebook, however, while has appointed an officer on paper, in practice, it is evident that they are skirting the process of the law. There is no human intervention as far as resolving grievances are concerned and when users raise a complaint, they are encountered with an automated response.
The Instagram process – same as Facebook
As is known, Instagram has been taken over by Facebook. When one looks at Instagram and their page where they detail how the Grievance officer is to be contacted, they have added the same email address as Facebook.
How to contact Instagram grievance officer
The email address used by Instagram was “[email protected] – the same email that we had used to raise our grievance with Facebook, to which, we had got automated responses.
Several individuals from Instagram have attested to the fact that they get automated responses as well when they email their grievances to Instagram, the same as we did when we emailed the Facebook grievance officer.
Twitter grievances – the same story
A few months ago, journalist and activist Deepika Bhardwaj’s account was suspended without providing any reason it.
OpIndia spoke to Deepika. She told us that her first appeal went unanswered by Twitter. She then sent a second appeal which was also unanswered. It was after 4 days that her account was reinstated after she had raised another complaint.
However, she also said that she got no response from the Twitter grievance officer.
Deepika is not the only one saying this.
Others have claimed that Twitter grievance officer, like Facebook, only sends automated responses without any human intervention.
This is interesting.
Even after appointment of Resident Grievance Officer by @Twitter for @TwitterIndia, the automated reply is coming from @TwitterSupport US and griveance cell of Twitter India.
In September 2021, a popular political satire handle, Eminent Intellectual, was suspended from Twitter.
In an audio clip posted by the account ‘Eminent Intellectual (total_woke_), the satirist could be heard as saying, “Namaste everyone, this is Princess Woke Liberal. If you are listening to this, I’m already dead on Twitter. Sadly I got suspended, no email, no warning, just suspended. I have appealed it, but we all know that’s the same as appealing to Taliban for casual Friday. Not happening! What’s interesting is that I knew this was coming two days ago.”
She emphasised, “I made a tweet about Rana Ayyub’s promotion by Elle magazine over many years, and exposing that her brother Arif Ayyub is the publisher of the magazine. Interestingly, the tweet didn’t get published. Yes, you heard that right. Only I could see it. After an hour of figuring out what was happening, I deleted it”.
“As I am aware the Totalwoke account had also got suspended (in the past) after Rana Ayyub had targeted it. I knew I had committed Twitter blasphemy and my account deserved baas ek hi saza (only one punishment)… You know what that is! Anyway, I and Totalwoke are looking at ways to keep in touch with our friends here. You will hear from me after a few days and I’m sure we will get your support as always. Till then, follow total.woke on Instagram and stay safe. Jai Shri Ram,” ‘Princess Woke Liberal’ concluded.
Speaking to OpIndia, Eminent Intellectual said that repeated emails to the grievance officer had no result and that nobody responded to emails to the email address mentioned by Twitter.
Some other cases
Neha Shree is an actress working in Bhojpuri films. She has also worked in Rajasthani cinema and many TV serials. In November 2021, she had filed a petition in the Delhi High Court. In this, the Delhi government and social media company Facebook were made parties. The court had been requested to give directions to restore her Facebook page and give her access to the page. Neha has claimed in the petition that her Facebook page is followed by more than 4 million users and was hacked.
The hacker was reportedly posting lewd messaged and pictures from her account.
Neha Shree had said that she also complained to the Cyber Cell of Delhi Police. But they also did not take any action. The petition said, “Serious damage to his image has been caused by his Facebook page and objectionable post”. An FIR was also filed but no action was taken.
Interestingly, Neha in her petition said that after no action was taken on her complaint, she went to the Facebook office address in Delhi mentioned on their page, however, there was nobody there and no office was found per se. The guard told her to drop her complaint in the dropbox. Thereafter, she got a response saying that action will be taken in 30 days, however, nobody from Facebook acted on it.
YouTube as well has been accused of bias. “Sab Loktantra”, the YouTube channel was founded by Rachit Kaushik. He had posted a video reviewing Farhan Akhtar’s “Toofan” in which he raised objection to the promotion of Love Jihad. As was expected, YouTube took down the video calling it “hate speech”. Another video by the channel was removed by YouTube citing that it violated “Child Safety Policy”. Interestingly, that video that was removed was about analysing the Uttar Pradesh elections.
On the 5th of July, YouTube even informed that the videos were being taken down due to mass reporting of the content. On the 14th of July, Sab Loktantra appealed the take down of the videos and on the same day, YouTube emailed back saying that the UP election video did not violate any of their community guidelines.
Then, in August, YouTube took down a video where the channel spoke about certain Rohingya criminals being arrested. Thereafter, YouTube suspended the entire channel without an adequate explanation.
According to the IT guidelines, intermediaries become publishers if they arbitrarily decide the content that can or cannot be allowed on their platform. The entire chronology of events points to the fact that YouTube is not adhering to the IT guidelines and actually acting as a publisher, not an intermediary.
What are the problems and what the government can do
It is evident from the case studies that while social media giants have claimed that they have adhered to guidelines issued by the central government, in practice, they have tried everything to subvert the process. While the law requires Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc to have human intervention and the appointment of a grievance officer, social media giants have resorted to simply adding the name and email of the officer, however, the responses that users are receiving are automated.
In essence, big tech is hoodwinking the government into believing that the guidelines are being followed.
The mainstream media has failed to report this issue, due to their inherent biases, the government, therefore, needs to speak to users of these social media platforms who can adequately apprise the government of the issues being faced and how the guidelines are not being implemented in practice. There is no mention in the end that IT Rules allowed Govt step in if grievance officers fail to resolve the issue, and the govt should now
