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How The Telegraph used the ‘spread of classical music in Kolkata’ to glorify conversion and evangelical work that marred Bengal

OpIndia Staff
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How The Telegraph used the ‘spread of classical music in Kolkata’ to glorify conversion and evangelical work that marred Bengal

The West Bengal based far-left propaganda media outlet, The Telegraph, has notoriously used the ‘spread of classical music in Kolkata’ to glorify conversion and evangelical work in West Bengal in an article dated September 8, 2021.

In the article titled: “Why Satyajit Ray could easily find cellists in Kolkata for his soundtracks”, written by Dibyokamal Mitra, the leftist media outlet has attempted to canonize Father Theodore Mathieson by singing praises about his musical ability and how his missionary work earned him a place in Kolkata’s chequered history.

However, in doing so, the media outlet has low key gone on to glorify the extent of zealotry that prevails among the missionaries in Kolkata, West Bengal and the lengths they are willing to go to convert people to their faith.

The article published by The Telegraph on September 8, 2021

The Telegraph exalts about Father Theodore Mathieson’s contribution to Kolkata’s music history and the impact of his presence on the lives of many young orphans and children with single parents who came under his care at the Oxford Mission in Behala.

“Father Mathieson’s hands became an avenue for children from disadvantaged backgrounds to distinguish themselves in an arena which would otherwise certainly not have welcomed them”, reads the article.

The article by The Telegraph elaborates how the missionary work, undertaken by Oxford Mission, the organisation which Father Theodore Mathieson served, included looking after the education and well-being of orphaned boys, acting as chaplain to leprosy dispensaries, and pastoral work in Christian villages among other things.

The article lauds Father Mathieson’s contribution to Kolkata’s musical legacy and his missionary work but refuses to throw light on the conversion agenda of such missionaries in Kolkata and elsewhere, which typically offer free education and related benefits as one of the primary incentives to the poor and destitute to lure them under their folds. 

The fact is that West Bengal has long been a hotbed of such Vatican propagandists who have skillfully exploited the poor’s vulnerabilities in order to convert them to Christianity. Mother Teresa is one of the most well-known examples of a missionary like this.

The problematic legacy of Mother Teresa

For years, Mother Teresa has been accused of being a fraud. Her problematic history of following primitive health practices and her evangelical zeal to convert the weak and the vulnerable into the Christian fold were long cited by her critics to call out the unwarranted adulation that was showered on her.

Christopher Hitchens, an English-American socio-political critic and public intellectual, was one of the staunch critics of Mother Teresa and had described her organization as a ‘cult’ that promoted suffering and did not help those in need.

Often called a ‘saint’ and ‘messiah of the poor’ by adherents of the Vatican in India, the so-called ‘Mother’ Teresa is engulfed in numerous controversies and allegations. Throughout her life she was engaged in expanding the church footprint, converting poor and baptizing Hindus into the Vatican fold. In fact, a Washington Post report stated how dying patients in hospitals run by the missionaries were forced to convert to Christianity before they died. To back this claim, the Washington Post cited the book ‘Mother Teresa of Calcutta: A Personal Portrait’ by Leo Maasburg.

The Telegraph and its past shenanigans

The Telegraph, on the other hand, has always taken pride in ‘in your face’ headlines except when it comes to reporting on things happening in its own backyard in West Bengal. The Telegraph is more of an advocacy group than an actual media organization. During the 2019 general elections, its editor had claimed in an article removing Narendra Modi from power was the only hope for India’s redemption.

The Bengal-based media house The Telegraph was called out by netizens for a headline that insulted the Dalit community as it compared the President of India, Ramnath Kovind, who is a Dalit leader himself, to ‘Covid19’. The meltdown came after President Kovind nominated ex-CJI Ranjan Gogoi to Rajya Sabha.

“Kovind, not Covid, did it”, the headline read. COVID-19 is a pandemic, a coronavirus disease that has impacted millions of people globally as of this moment. In its bid to make a wordplay on President’s name by comparing it to the deadly virus, The Telegraph had hit a new low even by its own standards.

Non-Muslim boys and girls in Kerala are being targeted for Love Jihad and Narcotics Jihad: Bishop

OpIndia Staff
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Non-Muslim boys and girls in Kerala are being targeted for Love Jihad and Narcotics Jihad: Bishop

Bishop Mar Joseph Kallarangatt of the Pala diocese of the Syro-Malabar Church has stated that young Christian boys and girls of Kerala are being targeted for not just ‘Love Jihad’ but for ‘Narcotics Jihad’ too. As per a report in Kerala Kaumudi, the Bishop has been vocal about the targeting of young Christian by Islamist groups for conversion and exploitation.

Speaking at an event, Bishop Joseph Kallarangatt stated that non-Muslim boys and girls are increasingly becoming the victims of Narcotics Jihad along with Love Jihad in the state. Going a step ahead, the Bishop added that there are specific groups operational in Kerala that are targeting non-Muslim youngsters and even providing assistance to carry out targeted exploitation of non-Muslim youth. A video of the event where the Bishop made the statement was shared by the Kuravalingad Church.

Highlighting the menace of systemic conversion and exploitation, Bishop Joseph also added that special groups are working all over Kerala to target Hindu and Christian youth for either conversion into Islam and drug addiction. Their aim is to destroy non-Muslim religions without fighting with weapons, the Bishop added.

Bishop Mar Joseph Kallarangatt also added that security agencies and police personnel had already stated that Kerala has become a recruitment centre for terrorists, and such groups are trying to use the youngsters as their sleeper cells.

Bishop Joseph also added that these groups are propagating the cause to establish Islam all over the world, either by war or by any other means possible. He added that Jihadi extremists all over the world are seeking to promote racism, bigotry, hatred and the halal controversy is also a part of this.

Bishop had earlier issued circular warning community against ‘Love Jihad’ traps

Bishop Mar Joseph Kallarangatt had recently issued a circular among the community members in the Pala diocese, warning families against the traps of ‘Love Jihad’ and drugs. “You must be aware of the various sections and groups that have been trying to trap our female children with various tactics,” read the opening lines of the letter. 

Christian religious leaders in Kerala have been warning against Love Jihad

Earlier, the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council (KCBC), has also slammed the State and Union Government for turning a blind eye to the issue, and not conducting a proper probe into the case of “missing women and children”.

In an official communique released last year by the Media Commission of the Syro Malabar Church, the Synod of the Church had said that half of the 21 women who joined the Islamic State from Kerala hailed from the Christian community.

“The menacing rise of Love Jihad stands to imperil the communal harmony and peace in Kerala. It is a fact that Christian girls are being targeted by the love jihad in the state,” the Synod stated explicitly in the press release.

Taarak Mehta’s Babita ji and Tapu are in love in real life, families too know about the happy couple

OpIndia Staff
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Taarak Mehta’s Babita ji and Tapu are in love in real life, families too know about the happy couple

Popular television serial Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashma actors Munmun Dutta, who plays Babita ji and Raj Anadkat, who plays the role of Tapu, son of Jethalal, are a real life couple, reports suggest. In the serial, Tapu’s father, the character of middle-aged Jethalal, harbours a crush on his neighbour, Babita ji, who is married to one Iyer.

Dutta is 9 years senior to Anadkat, but the age difference has not come in the way of the happy couple. The family members of the two actors are also aware of the budding romance between the two and respect their decision as well as privacy. Citing a source, the report said, “Their respective families too, are not in the dark. Nobody teases them; they don’t try to steal moments with each other. The love story is actually old and one wonders how it hasn’t come out till date.”

Earlier, speculations were rife amongst fans after they noticed both the actors leaving interesting emojis on each other’s Instagram posts.

Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashma, inspired from a Gujarati humour, satire column ‘Duniya ne undha chashma’ by columnist Taarak Mehta has been on air for almost 13 years now. The original Gujarati columns were slightly different from the show and appeared in weekly magazine Chitralekha.

Even as North Korea claims victory over COVID, military parade features hazmat suits, gas masks, as economic crisis due to pandemic worsens

OpIndia Staff
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Even as North Korea claims victory over COVID, military parade features hazmat suits, gas masks, as economic crisis due to pandemic worsens

Pictures released by the North Korean state media showed soldiers wearing bright red hazmat suits and gas masks during a military parade. This development comes amidst a rising economic crisis in North Korea as COVID-19 has wreaked havoc in the country.

North Korea is currently suffering massive food shortage and a rampant economic crisis because of the Chinese virus pandemic.

The fact that North Korea had a contingent marching in hazmat suits and gas masks could be an indication that despite the country being tight-lipped about its COVID-19 condition, has created a special task force to deal with the pandemic unleashed by China, reported BBC.

Reportedly, these military parades are more of a signal to the local population. North Korea has no democracy and the regime in the country often holds these parades to keep their population’s faith in the dictatorship alive.

According to the BBC report, while North Korea has not received any vaccination jabs and has regularly claimed that the COVID situation in the country is under control, this parade could be a signal to their population that the state is trying to battle the pandemic. It is also reported that three such military parades have been held over the span of 12 months, which is one too many even for North Korea. However, despite the spread of the pandemic, Kim Jong Un could have thought that signalling to his mask-less people amidst a pandemic is far more important than their safety.

China, North Korea and the COVID pandemic

North Korea is heavily dependent on China for food and other economic activity. As such, with most of the world boycotting the North Korean dictatorship, China is the only and staunchest ally left of the country. However, after Korea shut its borders for China after the start of the pandemic, the Korean nation has faced severe shortfall and economic crisis. Recently, it is reported that N Korea rejected millions of jabs of the Chinese vaccine against the Chinese virus.

Recently, the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), which procures and delivers vaccines on behalf of the COVAX distribution program, said North Korea proposed its allotment of about 3 million Sinovac shots be sent to severely affected nations instead. According to Unicef, North Korea’s health ministry has said it would continue to communicate with COVAX over future vaccines. This was a part of North Korea denying the COVID spread in the country while holding military parades with hazmat suits and gas masks to signal to its own people.

In fact, only recently Kim Jong Un had declared stricter restrictions in the face of the pandemic.

“Officials must bear in mind that tightening epidemic prevention is the task of paramount importance which must not be loosened even a moment,” Kim said during a politburo meeting on Thursday, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Friday.

Even though the food crisis in the nation and the economic crisis is worsening, North Korea has announced that the borders with China will remain shut in the face of the pandemic and that the people of North Korea should brace themselves for a prolonged fight.

Pakistan: Education ministry issues Talibani diktat for female teachers, bans jeans and t-shirts

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistan: Education ministry issues Talibani diktat for female teachers, bans jeans and t-shirts

Pakistan’s Federal Directorate of Education on Monday issued directions to all teaching staff in schools and colleges to refrain from wearing jeans and t-shirts. According to a report in Pakistani portal Dawn, all schools and colleges principals are asked to ensure all teaching as well as non-teaching staff adhere to the new dress code and ensure personal hygiene like haircut, beard trimming and use of perfume.

The letter even recommended teaching staff to wear a ‘teaching gown’ while teaching in class. The letter recommended women should wear appropriate clothes and discouraged wearing fancy, party dresses in official meetings and gatherings. Female teaching and non-teaching staff is prohibited from wearing jeans, tights and t-shirts in any case. Men, too are forbidden from wearing jeans and t-shirts.

Other than these, the notification also focussed on personal hygiene and grooming of staffers.

This step was welcomed by many in Pakistan who appreciated dress code as per Islamic teaching.

Ansar Abbasi is Editor, Investigation, with Pakistani media house The News. Pakistani Twitter user Dr Syed Naeemullah also said that such step should be encouraged and 0.1% population of ‘liberals’ who play ‘Aurat card mafia’ should not be allowed to revert the notification.

Some said that such dresscode is not enough and there should be an atmosphere where people live ‘modesty’.

Some even said that the dress code like hijab should be implemented at all public places.

Some said that this step will prevent extremism and fundamentalism in Pakistan.

Some even said that this should have happened long time ago.

Australia: Apex court rules that media houses are responsible for defamatory comments posted by others on their social media pages

OpIndia Staff
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Australia: Apex court rules that media houses are responsible for defamatory comments posted by others on their social media pages

The High Court of Australia, the apex court in the country, has ruled that entities with social media pages or sites will be responsible for defamatory comments posted by others, including anonymous posters. Dismissing the petitions by several Australian media houses, the High Court on Wednesday said that the media outlets are “publishers” of defamatory comments posted by third parties on their official pages on social media platforms like Facebook.

Any entity with a social media account or page is considered ‘liable for adverse material in the comments sections’, said the court judgement.

The High Court delivered this contentious judgement in a 5-2 majority in a petition filed by one Dylan Voller, who had sued several media houses for adverse comments about him posted by social media users on the Facebook pages of media houses. It is notable that the alleged defamatory comments were not made by the media houses, but ordinary social media users on the pages of the media houses.

Dylan Voller was detained in a juvenile detention centre in 2016, and shocking visuals of the bad condition of the centre had gone viral after they were published by media houses. The media houses had posted these stories on their Facebook pages, as part of their normal practice. But in 2017, Voller had sued those companies, arguing that comments left on their Facebook pages in reaction to these stories were defamatory. He had argued that by inviting these comments, the news outlets were legally their publishers. He wanted to sue several companies over this alleged defamation, including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, Centralian Advocate, Sky News Australia and The Bolt Report.

Although this is a highly contentious argument, multiple courts had already agreed to it earlier, including Supreme Court of New South Wales in 2019 and the New South Wales Court of Appeal in 2020. The latest verdict by the High Court finally settles the matter, establishing that media companies are indeed “publishers” of third-party content posted on their social media accounts, and can be held liable for any defamatory content by anyone.

This verdict will have far reaching impact on free speech and sharing of information, as the media companies will be forced to either shut down their social media pages, or disallow comments by others to avoid getting sued for any random third-party comment. Lack of the ability to comment on a news story means inability to discuss it, which leads to more awareness about a topic. Moreover, alert social media users will also not be able to point out fake or misleading stories published by media houses.

Australia is known for draconian online regulation. Earlier this year, the country had passed a law requiring social media and IT companies to pay to media houses for new reports shared on their platforms by users. It had led to Facebook temporarily blocking Australian users from posting news articles, to avoid paying the charges to the media companies. The law was later amended and tech companies were allowed to negotiate with media companies on the payment terms, after which Facebook had restored the ability to share news reports.

Interestingly, while the earlier law benefited the media companies and forced the tech companies to make payments to them, the current verdict will become a major concern for media companies that run social media accounts. Moreover, the current verdict does not hold the social media companies responsible for the third-party comments.

PM Modi hosts India’s para-athletes following their historic medal haul in Tokyo 2020 Paralympics

OpIndia Staff
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PM Modi hosts India’s para-athletes following their historic medal haul in Tokyo 2020 Paralympics

PM Modi formally met the Indian Paralympians on Thursday (September 9) after they etched history at Paralympics 2020 by winning 19 medals – five gold, eight silver, and six bronze. Before Tokyo Paralympics 2020, India had won 12 medals (4 medals of each colour) in all previous Paralympics appearances combined. 

The party hosted by the Prime Minister was in line with the one he had hosted for Indian Olympic athletes at his official residence on 7, Lok Kalyan Marg on August 16.

The pictures of the memorable event were shared on PM Narendra Modi’s official website. In one of the pictures, the Prime Minsiter was seen encouraging Para-Badminton player silver medal winner and IAS officer Suhas LY by giving him a pat on his back.

A pat on the back for a multi-talented Indian achiever – Suhas L.Y. (source: narendramodi.in)

In another picture titled “Medal Pe Charcha with Krishna Nagar”, PM Modi was seen interacting with a group of Paralympic participants including Krishna Nagar who won Gold in Men’s singles SH6 badminton at Tokyo Paralympics 2020.

PM Modi in conversation with Para-Badminton player Krishna Nagar (source: narendramodi.in)

PM Modi was clicked keenly hearing the inspirational journey of Palak Kohli, the para-shuttler star from Jalandhar, who recently made history by becoming the youngest para-badminton player in the world to qualify for Tokyo Paralympics 2021.

PM Modi speaking to Palak Kohli, the youngest para-shuttler star from Jalandhar

Many other pictures from the event were shared on Narendra Modi’s official website.

Tête-à-Tête with powerlifter Sakina Khatun
Powered conversation with Sakina Khatun and coach Farman Basha
Celebrating the Historic Success Together

PM Narendra Modi accepted an autographed stole from the Tokyo Paralympic 2020 participants. The picture of the PM donning the stole presented to him by the Paralympians titled: “Autographed stole from Winners to The Leader who Inspires Them”, was also shared on the website.

source: narendramodi.in

Announcing on Sunday that the Prime Minister will be hosting the Paralympians this week, Union minister for youth affairs and sports Anurag Thakur said that Modi has always had a “vision” for inclusive participation in sports, so creating more opportunities for specially-abled athletes was a part of that idea.

Tokyo Paralympians thank Modi government for the support they received

After their exemplary performance at Tokyo Paralympics 2020, the Indian para-athletes had thanked the Modi government for the support they received. Times Now talked to four medal winners in the 2020 Paralympics. Sharad Kumar, who won a bronze medal in the High Jump T63 event at the Tokyo Games, revealed that even athletes from other nations have complimented the Indian government’s efforts to provide support to para-athletes. He said such recognition and effort that the government has made is much bigger than any medal for the athletes.

Sharad appreciated the efforts of the Government of India as they are trying to bring the athletes in equally. The government is observing what athletes need in terms of facilities or equipment and approving them accordingly. The motivation from the government helps the athletes to look at things professionally, which is bringing the much-needed change in the para-sports, he said.

The medal tally

In Tokyo Paralympics, India has won 19 medals which is the best ever performance in a single edition of the games. India has won five gold, eight silver and six bronze medals and stood at 24th position in the games. In the last games, India was able to send only 19 athletes who won four medals. But this time, India sent a 54-strong team of para-athletes who lived up to the expectations and won medals like never before.

Jharkhand: CBI registers FIR in police officer Rupa Tirkey death case on the orders of High Court

OpIndia Staff
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Jharkhand: CBI registers FIR in police officer Rupa Tirkey death case on the orders of High Court

The Crime Branch of the Patna unit of the CBI will investigate the suspected death of a tribal police officer of Jharkhand Sub Inspector Rupa Tirkey as the agency has registered a case in this regard on the basis of the order of the single bench of Jharkhand High Court Justice Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi.

Sources in the agency told the OpIndia that P. Gairola, DSP Crime Branch of CBI, will lead the investigation. The CBI team already reached Sahebganj today morning and the team will further visit Ranchi to carry out the investigation. This includes a rerun of the alleged suicide of the officer by hanging at her official quarter under Borio police station of Sahebganj district. As per the police FIR, the lady officer who was posted at Mahila police station of Sahebganj district had committed suicide by hanging on the intervening night of May 2 and 3. The CBI will also examine evidence collected from the crime site.

Jharkhand Police concluded it as a case of suicide and later on converted it as a regular case under section 306 (Abetment of Suicide). The police booked her colleague sub-inspector S.K. Kanaujia and her father Devendra Oraon for abetment of suicide. But the charge sheet was filed only against Kanaujia.

The single bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi of Jharkhand High court had ordered the CBI to investigate while hearing a Criminal Writ Petition 139/2021 filed by Devendra Oraon, father of the deceased who had demanded CBI probe stating that Jharkhand Police and government will derail the investigate as some powerful persons of the Hemant Soren government are involved in the death of his daughter. The family alleged involvement of Pankaj Kumar Mishra and Dahu Yadav. Mishra is a close associate and assembly constituency representative of Jharkhand Chief Minister and Yadav, a local muscleman of Sahebganj district, is close to Mishra. 

The suspicious death of this tribal officer coupled with Jharkhand Police messing-up investigation and state government making desperate moves to stop the case to go to CBI shocked common people and civil rights groups.

In the 53 page order, the High Court has mentioned around a dozen concrete reasons for handing this case to the CBI. For instance, the court in the order mentions that after the death was reported Mishra, senior police and district officials were regularly talking to each other. The court further mentioned, “it has been disclosed that one person has approached the family members of Late Rupa Tirkey to provide them a Petrol Pump and forget the case of their daughter.”

The court further noted, “the parents have been offered Petrol Pump by one of the leader of the political party. It is surprising that if it was a case of suicide what was the occasion of offering such things to the parents of the deceased. These all are the questions which raised eyebrow on the role of police as it is alleged that high ups of the State are involved.”

Dhanbad judge death case: CBI lodges two more FIRs, video of his ‘road accident’ had raised questions

OpIndia Staff
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Dhanbad judge death case: CBI lodges two more FIRs, video of his ‘road accident’ had raised questions

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), investigating the alleged murder of Uttam Anand; Additional District and Sessions Judge of Dhanbad has lodged two fresh FIRs.

Jharkhand Police had filed two cases to investigate the theft of the autorickshaw and three mobile phones linked with the suspicious death of the judge. The central investigation agency has taken over investigation of the both cases from Jharkhand Police as both the cases appear to be closely connected with the judge murder case where two persons were arrested. The CBI has even conducted their narco test to go to the bottom of the truth.  

Besides, the agency has also doubled the cash reward from Rs five 5 to Rs 10 lakh for anybody furnishing worthwhile information relating to this murder case. So far, the CBI could not make any major breakthrough in this case. The bench of Chief Justice of Jharkhand High court Justice Dr Ravi Ranjan has been monitoring the investigation.

Now, the 20-members Special Task Force of Special Crime Unit II of the CBI; headed by CBI ASP Vijay Kumar Shukla has three cases to investigate.

The first and the main FIR (RC 04/2021) was lodged on August 4 while two other FIRs were lodged on the date of September 7 related to theft of an auto rickshaw and house breaking. Both were lodged in Dhanbad.

Notably, the judge was grievously injured by a speeding auto rickshaw in Dhanbad on the morning of July 28 when he was on way to his residence after morning walk. Later on, the police traced auto rickshaw and arrested Lakhan Verma and Rahul Verma who were driving it. Both claimed that they were drunken when they mistakenly hit the judge and fled away.

Further investigation revealed that the auto rikshaw (JH 10R 0461) used in the crime was stolen by the accused. Its owner Sugani Devi, a native of Bhouri Khatal in Dhanbad had lodged an FIR at Pathrdih police station of district a day after the judge died.

But, it sounded unusual to the agency that the auto rickshaw was actually stolen on the intervening night of July 17 and the FIR was lodged on July 29. Later on, Dhanbad SSP Sanjeev Kumar suspended officer in-charge of Pathrdih police station Umesh Manjhi for delay in lodging the FIR. There is a huge mismatch in the police FIR and the written complaint. The FIR report mentions that the auto was stolen on the intervening night of July 17 whereas in the written complaint the date of theft is mentioned as July 27.

This was not a simple case of theft as investigation revealed Ramdev Lohara, husband of Sugani Devi; had hatched conspiracy along with Lakhan Verma and Rahul Verma to misplace the auto to claim the insurance.

The second FIR was lodged by Purnendu Vishwakarma from Dhanbad against accused Rahul Kumar Verma on August 13. The complainant said that on the night of July 28, three mobile phones fitted with SIM cards were stolen from his house by unknown persons. Vishwakarma in the FIR said that since his mobile phones were not costly, he was preoccupied with works he could not inform the police on time. A week later he just lodged a missing report which was not an FIR. Vishwakarma said he decided to lodge FIR when later on police informed him that mobile phone has been recovered.

What is unusual in both the cases is the timing of the crime and the time by which FIRs were lodged where accused are allegedly involved in hitting the judge also. So far that auto rickshaw is the main murder weapon.

The death of judge left the judiciary and Bar across the country stunned when the CCTV footage of the accident became viral. Jharkhand Police started investigation on the basis of the written complaint of Kirti Sinha, widow of the deceased The Supreme Court too hearing the larger issues of safety and security of the judges. The Supreme Court initiated hearing titled In Re: Safeguarding courts and protecting judges (death of Additional Sessions Judge, Dhanbad). The Supreme Court expressed concern over threat faced by judicial officials.  

‘Even prostitutes have opinions’: IUML dissolves women wing after they refused to retract sexual harassment complaint, were called ‘infertile’

OpIndia Staff
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‘Even prostitutes have opinions’: IUML dissolves women wing after they refused to retract sexual harassment complaint, were called ‘infertile’

The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), the Congress party’s ally in Kerala, has on Wednesday, September 8, disbanded the state committee of Haritha- the women’s wing of the Muslim Students Federation (MSF), over ‘gross indiscipline. The decision came after the women members refused to withdraw their sexual harassment complaint filed with the Kerala Women’s Commission against some of the male MSF leaders, who allegedly used derogatory remarks against them.

Muslim League state general secretary PMA Salam announced the decision during the party’s high power committee meeting in Malappuram, saying the Haritha leaders’ “gross indiscipline” had prompted the party leadership to dissolve Haritha’s current committee.

The women members of Haritha have, in turn, threatened to move the court after the parent organisation Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), hurriedly dissolved the state committee after it refused to take back its complaint against their male counterparts.

Ten members of the state committee of Haritha-MSF filed a complaint with the State Women’s Commission against a couple of their male counterparts in the MSF for allegedly using derogatory remarks and abusive language during a Haritha-MSF state committee meeting held in Kozhikode on June 22.

According to allegations levelled by the Haritha leaders, MSF leaders referred to them as “infertile feminists.” When the Haritha leaders had during a Haritha-MSF state committee meeting expressed their opinions, PK Navas allegedly responded by saying that “even prostitutes” have opinions, and that the Haritha wing leaders may thus speak theirs as well.

Haritha had approached the commission after there was no response from the League leadership on the issue.

Following the Muslim League’s intervention, MSF state president PK Navas, who is accused of making derogatory statements against women members, though expressed remorse for the event but maintained his assertion that he did not say anything with the wrong intention.

The League had then ordered the Haritha to withdraw its complaint to the women’s commission at the time.

Though the Muslim League leadership had given the Haritha leaders an ultimatum to withdraw their petition before the SWC, the women remained steadfast in their complaint against the male leaders.

In a news conference in mid-August, Haritha-MSF leader and MSF National Vice President Fathima Tahliya had asserted that the humiliation and emotional pain caused by the disparaging remarks prompted Haritha’s 10 state committee leaders to take action against MSF’s male office-bearers.

Last month, the IUML put restrictions on MSF-state Haritha’s committee, accusing its leaders of making internal divisions public.

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