Home Blog Page 3858

Russia: 18-year-old Timur Bekmansurov guns down 8 people in Perm State University, several injured

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Russia: 18-year-old Timur Bekmansurov guns down 8 people in Perm State University, several injured

As many as eight people have been gunned down and several injured after an eighteen-year-old student opened fire at Perm State Research University in western Siberia, Russia.

The attacker has been identified as one Timur Bekmansurov, a student of the same university. As per a Russian news agency report, he has been neutralized by the security agencies and a hunt for his probable accomplices is on. 

“One of the attackers has been neutralized, we are checking the information about possible accomplices. Students could have mixed something up out of fright, shots have already stopped,” said the governor. 

Visuals of the attack

While the students and staff locked themselves in the rooms, the university urged those who could leave the campus to do so. In a bid to escape, several students were recorded jumping off the university building window. 

A dozen have reportedly been injured either by gunfire or by falling from windows.

A crisis room has been created in the university while the Health Ministry informed that nine ambulances have been deployed at the university.

The attacker’s plan

A local news website in Russia has published some unconfirmed social media posts suspected to be made by the shooter. In these posts, the shooter described his plans and motivation for the attack in detail. 

The post read, “What happened was not a terrorist attack (at least from a legal point of view). I was not a member of an extremist organization, I was nonreligious and apolitical. Nobody knew what I was going to do, I carried out all these actions myself.”

He also confessed that he was “overflowing with hate” and had been planning the shooting for a long time.  

Chhattisgarh: Former Minister and BJP leader Rajinder Pal Singh Bhatia committed suicide, police say

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Chhattisgarh: Former Minister and BJP leader Rajinder Pal Singh Bhatia committed suicide, police say

Rajinder Pal Singh Bhatia, former minister of Chhattisgarh from the Bharatiya Janata Party, has committed suicide on Sunday. Bhatia was found hanging at his home at Chhuriya town in Rajnandgaon in the evening of 19th September. He was 72 years old.

Rajnandgaon Additional SP Pragya Meshram said that a suicide note was recovered from the scene. According to the note, Bhatia committed suicide due to health reasons.

“Bhatia lived with his younger brother and his family. He was alone in the house on Sunday and when the family members returned, they found him hanging from the ceiling fan in his room,” a senior officer had told the Indian Express. “We are questioning the family members too.”

Rajinder Pal Singh Bhatia had been infected by Covid-19 in March this year and has been unwell since then, BJP leaders say. Bhatia was the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry between 2003-08 in the Raman Singh led government.

He had a fallout with the party in 2013 after being denied a ticket for the assembly polls, following which he contested as an independent from the Khujji constituency. However, later he returned to the BJP.

NDTV share hits 10 per cent upper circuit over rumours of buyout: Here’s what it means

OpIndia Staff
-
0
NDTV share hits 10 per cent upper circuit over rumours of buyout: Here’s what it means

NDTV shares on Monday zoomed to hit its upper circuit of 10 per cent after rumours started doing rounds that Adani Group is going to buy the company.

As of 1:19 PM on September 20, the share price of NDTV was hovering around Rs 79.85, up by Rs 7.25 or 9.99 per cent today, which is its upper circuit limit.

Source: Google

Since stock prices are mostly sentiment-driven, they fluctuate due to positive and negative news, a circuit filter is set up to ensure that there is no extreme price movement and investors are protected from any unwanted surprises. The filters also help limit price variation to a certain extent by stock operators.

The upper circuit limit is the highest price a stock can reach on a particular day. When this limit is touched, there will be only buyers and no sellers. Likewise, the lowest price that a stock can hit is the lower circuit limit and when a stock hits this limit, there will be only sellers and no buyers.

Rumours of NDTV being acquired by Adani Group

The inexplicable surge in the share price of NDTV could be attributed to the rumours that are flying around about its possible acquisition by the Adani Group, which had recently announced its entry into the media industry. However, OpIndia cannot independently verify the speculations.

“Buzz in Delhi: Adani Group going to buy an old TV Channel which always attacked him & signing will be in London-some say Rs.1600 cr total deal value. But the guy currently heading will only get around Rs.100 cr & saved from cases & major shareholder will take Rs.750cr,” tweeted journalist J Gopikrishnan.

According to Gopikrishnan, the speculations surrounding Adani’s entry into the media industry say that a deal worth Rs 1600 crore is finalised between the group and NDTV. As per the modalities of the deal, the current head of the company would get only Rs 100 crores and emancipation from various cases that plague the company. He further added that the major shareholders will get Rs 750 crores.

The Adani Enterprises had recently roped in veteran journalist Sanjay Pugalia as the CEO and editor-in-chief to lead the group’s media initiatives. Pugalia had earlier been associated with Quint Digital Media, CNBC-Awaaz, Star News, Zee News and was among the team that founded AajTak.

On his appointment, Adani Group released a statement: “We look forward to leveraging Sanjay’s wide-ranging experience in media, communications and branding across the Adani Group’s diverse range of businesses and in our Nation Building initiatives.”

NDTV has not had a stable financial performance. Its channels have consistently ranked among the lowest in terms of TRPs. The company’s promoters are also involved in investigations related to tax evasion. However, the company’s stocks have inexplicably performed well in last 24 months, with its stock rising about 130 per cent in the last one year.

But the recent spike in the stock price could be chalked up to the positive sentiments after rumours of the company’s buyout started doing the rounds on the internet. The investors perhaps believe that the acquisition could help rebrand the company and shake off its negative image among the viewers. The buyout could also relieve the company of the chronic tax liabilities it continues to face.

NDTV accused of tax fraud, financial irregularities

NDTV in recent times has been embroiled in controversies over alleged financial irregularities. NDTV is facing multiple cases related to violation of FDI norms, Income Tax violation, and non-compliance with disclosure norms. CBI is probing a case against NDTV in relation to a Rs 375 crore loan from ICICI Bank and a corresponding wrongful loss of Rs 46 crore to the bank. 

There is a chain of borrow, repay and borrow where the Roys took a series of loans in 2008 as they sought to buy back a large chunk of NDTV shares from the market, allegedly violating foreign direct investment (FDI) rules in a 2007-09 investment, a charge denied by the company.

In August 2019, NDTV founders Prannoy Roy and his wife, Radhika Roy, were prevented from leaving the country after authorities had suspected that the accused Roys could run away from the country amidst massive tax fraud allegations against them.

More recently, in December 2020, Markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) had imposed a penalty of Rs 25 crore on news outlet NDTV and Rs 1 crore each on its promoters. SEBI had imposed fines on NDTV and its promoters Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy for “violating various securities” norms by hiding information from shareholders regarding certain loan agreements.

Dalit unions call Congress’ move to make Charanjit Singh Channi Punjab CM ‘poll stunt’, Mayawati criticises move too

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Dalit unions call Congress’ move to make Charanjit Singh Channi Punjab CM ‘poll stunt’, Mayawati criticises move too

The Congress on Sunday picked Charanjit Singh Channi, as Punjab’s next chief minister, after the sudden resignation of Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Saturday. The Dalit unions in the state are, however, not quite pleased with the Congress party’s game plan to lodge a Dalit leader as the face of the state, with less than six months to go before the assembly polls in Punjab. They have termed Congress’ move as an election stunt, Indian Express has reported.

Slamming Congress’ decision to choose Charanjit Singh Channi amidst all the other deserving candidates like Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Navjot Singh Sidhu and Ambika Soni the Dalit unions said the party was trying to kill two birds with one stone since Channi is both a Dalit as well as a Sikh.

The Dalit unions opined that this was Congress strategy to consolidate the divided Dalit vote into a single bloc before the state goes into polls next year.

“It is merely an election stunt. Channi is a Dalit as well as a Sikh. Punjab will go to the polls in another four to five months and a code of conduct will be imposed 40 days before the elections. So what can the new face do? He will just say I am a new person, trying to understand things,” said Zora Singh Nasrali, president of Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union.

The general secretary of the Mandi board Tarsem Singh Sewewala said: “Till the time policies are not changed, a Dalit CM or a Jat Sikh CM will not make any difference. Now we will ask the newly chosen CM to chair the September 23 meeting with our Sanjha Morcha. This will be a litmus test for him and will show how caring he is about Dalits.”

“However, already Punjab has 34 elected Dalit MLAs. What difference have they made to our condition? Making a Dalit CM is to target our vote bank. Every political party is targeting us, so is the Congress,” Sewewala added.

BSP chief Mayawati calls Congress move a ‘poll gimmick’

Dalit leader and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati has also slammed the Congress for its decision to induct Channi as the new Punjab CM just before the state is scheduled to go into polls. The former CM of Uttar Pradesh called it Congress’ poll gimmick for the upcoming Punjab assembly elections. Mayawati was quoted by ANI as saying that the appointment of Channi merely for a few months ahead of Punjab polls is a gimmick.

“I have also come to know through media that the next Punjab assembly elections will be fought under the leadership of a non-Dalit. This means that Congress still does not fully trust the Dalits. Congress is also scared of the SAD-BSP alliance in Punjab”, added Mayawati.

It is notable here that Congress general secretary Harish Rawat had announced earlier that the next assembly elections will be fought under the leadership of PCC president Navjot Sidhu. Even former PCC president Sunil Jakhar had called it ‘baffling’.

Congress playing ‘Dalit vote-bank Rajneeti’

Castigating the Congress party for playing Dalit vote-bank rajneeti, Bhagwant Samao, the president of Mazdoor Mukti Morcha, Punjab said: “Shiromani Akali Dal did an alliance with Bahujan Samaj Party eyeing Dalit vote bank. They also announced that they will make a Dalit deputy CM while AAP too made a similar announcement. BJP, too, announced that they would make a Dalit CM. So, Congress has made a Dalit CM for few months to settle their internal feud. They are trying to give a message that while other parties have made announcements, they have already made a Dalit CM. It is Dalit votebank rajneeti. If Channi was so concerned, did he ever visit any of the dharnas where Dalits have been protesting? It hardly matters to us who the CM is.”

It should be noted that Punjab has the largest percentage of Dalits in India (32%). While the majority of this group was traditionally a Congress vote bank, it has gradually gotten divided. The Aam Aadmi Party received a large portion of the Dalit vote in the 2017 assembly elections. This time also, the AAP and the Shiromani Akali Dal are expected to split the Dalit vote bank (SAD). So basically, Congress is hoping that by giving the state its first Dalit chief minister, it may tip the scales in its favour in the 34 reserved seats in the 117-seat legislature.

Charanjit Singh Channi accused in #MeToo, illegal construction and illegal mining cases

Meanwhile, Charanjit Singh Channi has taken oath as Punjab Chief Minister, Monday. Channi is an MLA from the Chamkaur Sahib Assembly constituency.

In October 2018, Channi was accused of sending inappropriate messages to a woman IAS officer. The matter was ‘resolved’ to the woman officer’s satisfaction, reports said. The woman officer had alleged Channi had sent her multiple messages to which she had objected but he continued to send them. When one message was sent late at night, she had decided to object and escalate the matter.

Turns out he had sent an Urdu couplet to the woman officer ‘by mistake’ which she objected to. He, however, later apologised for the same.

When Bholath MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira was the opposition leader in March 2018, he accused Channi of being involved in illegal mining, a claim the minister strenuously disputed.

In another incident, the now Punjab CM was accused of illegally constructing a road from a park outside his official residence in Sector 2, Chandigarh. Within hours, the road was razed by the Chandigarh administration.

Pakistan: Hindu family held hostage for fetching drinking water from mosque, tortured for ‘violating sanctity’

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Pakistan: Hindu family held hostage for fetching drinking water from mosque, tortured for ‘violating sanctity’

After an eight-year-old Hindu boy was charged with blasphemy, a Hindu family was thrashed and held hostage for fetching water from a mosque in Pakistan’s Punjab province. 

Reportedly in an incident from last week, Alam Ram Bheel was picking raw cotton along with his wife and other family members. When the family went to a nearby mosque to fetch some drinking water from a tap, they were thrashed by local landlords and their men. 

While the Hindu family was returning home after unloading the cotton, they were picked up by the landlords and held hostage at an outhouse. Ram’s family was again subjected to torture for ‘violating the sanctity’ of the mosque. 

The family was later rescued by some local residents. 

Police refused to register a case

Ram who held a sit-in outside the police station claimed that the police initially refused to register his case as the perpetrators were related to a local Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) parliamentarian.

PTI’s south Punjab minority wing secretary-general Yodhister Chohan also dusted his hands off the incident saying he preferred to stay away due to the influence of a ruling party MP. 

However, the police finally registered a case under sections 506, 154, 379, 148 and 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code. Deputy Commissioner Dr Khuram Shehzad said he would first meet the elders of the Hindu community on Monday before taking any action.

Minor boy charged with blasphemy

The minority Hindu community with a population of just 75 lakhs in Pakistan is subjected to regular persecution. In the month of August, an eight-year-old Hindu boy was booked under charges of blasphemy. He was charged for the crime after he was accused to have urinated on the carpet of a Madarsa.

The boy had been taken into ‘protective custody’ following the incident and he had spent a week in jail before receiving bail. His family has gone into hiding following retribution. 

Suresh Chavhanke points to dog and says ‘Owaisi is here’, Rakesh Tikait appears to agree in viral clip from interview

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Suresh Chavhanke points to dog and says ‘Owaisi is here’, Rakesh Tikait appears to agree in viral clip from interview

Suresh Chavhanke has interviewed anti-farm law protests leader Rakesh Tikait on his channel Sudarshan TV. The complete interview will be telecast at 8 pm on Monday. Prior to that, Suresh Chavhanke has been sharing clips from the interview on his Twitter account. One such clip has gone now gone viral.

In the viral clip, Chavhanke points to dogs which had entered the scene of the interview and pointed out to Rakesh Tikait that Owaisi was here, presumably Asaduddin Owaisi, the leader of AIMIM. But he could have also referred to Akbaruddin Owaisi, the brother of the AIMIM supremo, it is not entirely clear.

Chavhanke says, “Look at this (pointing towards the dogs). Wherever I interview, Owaisi pays a visit. Look here, Owaisi has come… You can watch any ‘Chalte Chalte’ you want.” The Sudarshan TV Editor then apologised to the dogs for insulting them. Tikait chimes in saying, “They are loyal.”

The ‘farmer leader’ did not appear too bothered by Chavhanke’s jibe at Owaisi and even appeared to agree with him, although the context of it all is not clear and his precise reaction will be known only when the complete interview is aired on Monday.

There has been occasion in the past when dogs have appeared on the scene while Suresh Chavhanke was conducting an interview. When dogs appeared during his interview with Azam Khan, he had called man’s best friend ‘descendant of Owaisi’. It is not entirely clear when the descendants of Owaisi became Owaisi himself.

Asaduddin Owaisi and Rakesh Tikait found themselves at loggerheads recently after the latter called the former BJP’s ‘chacha jaan’. “Owaisi and BJP are a team. He is BJP’s chacha jaan. He has the blessings of the BJP. He will abuse them, but they will not file a case against him. BJP will take his help. Farmers will have to understand their moves. Owaisi is double-faced. He will ruin the farmers. They will hatch conspiracies during elections. But as suggested by Zila Panchayat elections, people in Baghpat are revolutionary,” the anti-farm law protester said.

Shaukat Ali, AIMIM’s UP chief, hit back at Tikait saying that he wanted to become a political leader using shortcuts. Owaisi responded, saying, “This man (Tikait) is a liar … I have been booked under Section 153-A (Promoting enmity on religious grounds) a few days back … These Chachajaan and Abbajaan comments are described as dog whistle politics and he should stop resorting to such tactics.”

Tikait, who was accused of involvement in the Muzaffarnagar riots, was found chanting ‘Allahu-Akbar’ at a rally recently.

Islamabad second safest city in South Asia? This is how Pakistani media went on to report this ‘achievement’

Nirwa Mehta
-
0
Islamabad second safest city in South Asia? This is how Pakistani media went on to report this ‘achievement’

Our not-so-friendly neighbour Pakistan is now left embarrassed after New Zealand cricket team left it high and dry hours before the first ODI they were to play citing security concerns. While rest of the world wasn’t quite surprised that Pakistan continues to exude fear for harbouring terrorists and nurturing Islamist group like Taliban for years, Pakistanis were stunned that someone would fear for their lives in the country.

Pakistani cricketers and politicians took to social media to vent out their frustration and even smelled ‘India’s conspiracy‘ because a third country found Pakistan unsafe for its citizens. Soon, some social media ‘influencers’ were sharing reports on how Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan is the second safest city in South Asia.

Islamabad second safest city in South Asia

Obviously, the claim triggered hilarious reactions considering Pakistan as a country is not really best known for safety.

But how true are these claims anyway? We at OpIndia got curious on the study and thought process and methodology that might have gone into making such claims.

A simple google search on “Islamabad second safest city” threw us a number of search results of Pakistani news websites reporting the same.

Pakistani media on Islamabad

In first week of September, Pakistani media had widely reported that Islamabad is the second safest city in whole of South Asia. What triggered this gem of a news was a tweet posted by an unverified account of Office of Deputy Commissioner of Islamabad.

Tweet by Deputy Commissioner of Islamabad

This tweet was posted on 1st September, 2021, which also triggered hilarious reactions mostly from Pakistani citizens who laughed at the very idea that someone would call the city ‘safe’.

Pakistanis upset over lack of safety in Islamabad

Pakistanis pointed out that there are increasing cases of bike thefts and other various crimes in the city which is being pegged as ‘second safest’.

Curiouser, we looked at the study which made such claim. Pakistani media stated that the data was compiled by one ‘international organisation’ called Numbeo. Numbeo claims to be largest ‘database’ of ‘user contributed data’ about cities and countries. Apparently it had ‘released’ the ‘safety index’ for 2021.

As per the website, Kabul, Afghanistan, which recently fell to Islamist group Taliban, ranks 34 in the list of safest cities in South Asia. So, how does ‘Numbeo’ calculate the data? Well, whoever visits their website (Numbeo) gets to take a survey and on basis of the answers given by these ‘visitors’, Numbeo zeroes in on ‘safe cities’. More people chose Islamabad after Mangaluru (Mangalore) on that ‘survey’ which made that city come second in list of ‘safe cities’.

When everyone saw Pakistan’s Islamabad was ‘second safest city’ in South Asia

Now how many would be visiting the obscure site and taking the survey, no one knows. But Pakistan officials thought it is good enough to give itself pat on its back. It seems Pakistanis knew what would hit them pretty soon and Pakistani media already tried to build up a ‘mahaul’, so to say that the country and its capital are ‘safe’ but New Zealand didn’t quite listen to them.

‘Took 5 cr for Lok Sabha ticket, denied later’: Patna court orders FIR against Tejashwi Yadav, Misa Bharti based on Congress leader’s complaint

OpIndia Staff
-
0
‘Took 5 cr for Lok Sabha ticket, denied later’: Patna court orders FIR against Tejashwi Yadav, Misa Bharti based on Congress leader’s complaint

A Patna court has ordered to register an FIR against 6 people including fodder scam convict Lalu Prasad Yadav’s children Tejashwi Yadav and Misa Bharti for allegedly accepting Rs 5 crore bribe to give away a Lok Sabha ticket during the 2019 elections.

The other names mentioned in the FIR are that of the Bihar Congress state president Madan Mohan Jha, Congress spokesperson Rajesh Rathore, and late Congress leader Sadanand Singh’s son Shubhanand Mukesh.

The FIR was ordered based on a case registered by Congress leader Sanjiv Kumar Singh in the Patna CJM court on August 18, 2021.

The Congress leader alleged in his complaint that on January 15, 2019, he paid Rs 5 crore to Tejashwi Yadav, Misa Bharti and others, against which he was promised a Lok Sabha ticket from Bhagalpur during the 2019 polls, but did not get the same.

He further alleged that after not getting a ticket in the Lok Sabha elections, he was assured that he would get a ticket from the Mahagathbandhan in the 2020 Assembly elections, but he did not get a ticket in the assembly elections either.

Tejashwi Yadav had threatened to kill the Congress leader

The Congress leader also claimed he was threatened with death when he approached Tejashwi Yadav over not receiving the ticket.

After hearing the case, Chief Judicial Magistrate Vijay Kishore Singh ordered Patna SSP Upendra Sharma on September 16 to register an FIR against all the accused in the Kotwali police station.

Cheating and deception not new for RJD, says minister

Following the Patna Court’s order, Nitin Naveen, the Bihar government’s PWD Minister, slammed Tejashwi Yadav, claiming that the RJD had a long history of distributing tickets in exchange for money. Cheating and deception are not new for RJD, said the Bihar minister, further adding that the action taken against the RJD leader is apt. Nitin Naveen also said that Tejashwi Yadav should tender an apology.

The RJD has, however, dismissed all allegations levelled against Tejashwi Yadav and Misa Bharti, terming it baseless.

Designer of AOC’s controversial ‘Tax the Rich’ Met Gala dress failed to pay over $100,000 in state and federal taxes

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Designer of AOC’s controversial ‘Tax the Rich’ Met Gala dress failed to pay over $100,000 in state and federal taxes

‘Tax the rich, but not me,’ seems to be the mantra of Aurora James, the designer of the viral “Tax the Rich” Met Gala gown that Democrat and House representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez wore.

Reportedly, James’ record reflects six federal tax liens totalling $103,220 on the parent company of her fashion brand. The designer also has three open tax warrants in New York State for failing to withhold $14,798 in income taxes from employee paychecks and a $17,000 fine for failing to carry worker’s compensation insurance.

Rent defaulter

Interestingly, not just a tax defaulter, Aurora James has also been accused of being a rent defaulter. James’ previous landlord had sued her for more than $25,000 plus interest for staying beyond her lease period. The matter was allegedly settled for an undisclosed amount.

Hatching on yet another property, James’ was sued by another property owner for more than $5,000 in unpaid rent. The designer had also received a letter from the angry landlord that read, “never have (you) paid your rent in a timely manner.”

Employees accuse James of harassment

Adding to the list, James’ received quite a bit of hate from her former employees too who slammed her efforts to paint herself as a hero of the working class.

They described her fashion brand as “a sweatshop that relied on legions of unpaid interns working full-time jobs.”

Calling her ‘quite cold’, an ex-intern revealed, “she never gives recognition or acknowledgement to her team.”

Another employee who received untimely termination from the designer said,  “Aurora would ask me to do things that were not in anyone’s job description, like scheduling her gynaecological appointments. The work environment was so hostile that I was afraid to ask for my check.”

Ironically, the designer of the ‘strong message’ of ‘taxing the rich’ did not hesitate to receive $41,666 taxpayers’ money as pandemic relief aid. 

‘Height of hypocrisy’

Slamming the publicity stunt by AOC and her designer, Republican Staten Island Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis in a media statement said, “It’s the height of hypocrisy when socialists attend a $30,000 per ticket gala with a message of ‘tax the rich’ while wearing an overpriced dress by a luxury designer who doesn’t pay taxes.”

Netizens too had taken to social media to call out the brazen hypocrisy. Columnist Marina Medvin remarked, “Tax the rich, says AOC’s dress … at the Met Gala … where tickets cost $30,000. But AOC doesn’t mean them; she means you. You’re rich. Because you work. Tax you. That’s the reality. The Met Gala guys get tax breaks. You don’t.”

Journalist Benny Johnson broke down the cost of attending the event, which includes designer dress ($1000), full table ($275000), single ticket price ($30000). He wrote, “AOC thinking she owned anyone here but herself.”

Donald Trump Junior was not far behind in calling out the pretence. He labelled Alexandria Ocasio Cortez as a big fraud. “What is a bigger fraud? The ‘tax the rich’ dress while she’s hanging out with a bunch of wealthy leftwing elites or the lack of masks after spending the past 18 months as one of the biggest authoritarian mask Karens in the country?” he inquired.

The 31-year-old Democrat leader was one of the few politicians to participate in the lavish event, meant for the high fliers of Hollywood and the fashion industry, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

‘Church and our own people didn’t support us’: Kerala Professor whose hands were chopped off by Islamists reveals in his autobiography

OpIndia Staff
-
0
‘Church and our own people didn’t support us’: Kerala Professor whose hands were chopped off by Islamists reveals in his autobiography

TJ Joseph, a professor from Kerala, was accused of blasphemy in 2010. He was attacked and his hands were brutally chopped off by radical Islamists of PFI. In his memoir that has been translated to English recently, Joseph narrated how everyone, including his church, college, friends and neighbours, disowned him over the false allegations of blasphemy.

In an interview with the Sunday Times, Joseph refused to accept that punishing the persons responsible will bring justice and asserted that religious fundamentalism is the problem.

Joseph’s memoir of the pain and suffering he endured over the false allegations of blasphemy was released in Malayalam 2020. Its English translation by Nandkumar has been recently released under the title, “A Thousand Cuts: An Innocent Question and Deadly Answers”.

An exam question triggered charges of ‘blasphemy’

In 2010, Joseph had framed a question paper for BCom second semester internal examination in which he used the word ‘Mohammad’ referring to the writer PT Kunju Mohammed. However, a section of Muslim fundamentalists believed that he used the word intentionally to insult the Prophet. Though Joseph was not at fault, a series of protests were launched against him, leading to the incident where some extremists chopped off his palm.

Joseph said that initially, people were sympathetic towards him, but many still believe that the punishment he had gotten was for a crime he had allegedly committed. He said, “I wanted to present the truth, and an autobiography was the ideal medium for it. Moreover, I wanted to reveal how insecure we are due to religious extremism. No one is safe in this country when such a situation arises.” Joseph said when a situation like his happens, everyone finds themselves “as ephemeral and vulnerable as cobwebs.”

The college and church disowned him

Joseph said the physical pain is nothing in front of what the college management and church did to him. He said that the principal and management of Thodupuzha Newman College and his church supported him when the controversy first erupted, but in later stages, everyone left him alone. He was dismissed from the service over alleged blasphemy.

The church excommunicated his family, and pastoral letters were read in 120 churches in the Kothamangalam diocese against him, justifying the church’s action to disown him. Friends and family members stopped visiting his house out of church’s fear. He said, “My attackers were blinded by fundamentalism, and they gave me only physical pain but what my own people did to me was even worse as it affected my family and me in all ways.”

The suicide of his wife

The whole controversy had an adverse effect on his wife, Salomi. The attack that happened on July 4, 2010, and the orders of dismissal from college that came on September 1, 2020, broke Salomi mentally. Lack of income, legal expenses and continuous harassment sent Salomi into depression. Though his well-wishers continued to support him during that time, the mental state of his wife kept deteriorating. On March 19, 2014, after coming back home from a session with a psychiatrist, Salomi committed suicide.

Her death and public outrage forced the college to reinstate Joseph but only two days before the date of his retirement. He said, “Losing her was hard for me and what was painful was the fact that she could not see me back in the job, which was her biggest wish.”

‘Religious extremism is the problem, punishing the culprits will not bring justice’

The second phase of the trial at NIA court is underway. 13 of the accused have already been convicted. However, Joseph said he did not support the “tribal belief of delivering justice by physical punishment” as it would not bring back his palms or normalize his life. He said, “The accused were mere tools of those who propagate fundamentalism. I have already forgiven them.”

Asserting how ddangerous religious extremism can be, Joseph said, “I wanted to reveal how insecure we are due to religious extremism. No one is safe when such a situation arises. All the rights we enjoy as citizens, that religious harmony we harp on, are as ephemeral and vulnerable as cobwebs.”

Only three of his ten fingers are functional.

1...3,8573,8583,859...7,591Page 3,858 of 7,591