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‘Fact-checkers’ get to work to whitewash Taliban as the Islamist organisation with not so great human rights record takes over Afghanistan

Akshita Bhadauria
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‘Fact-checkers’ get to work to whitewash Taliban as the Islamist organisation with not so great human rights record takes over Afghanistan

The ‘rent-a-cause’ andolanjeevis have successfully created a prosperous career in India and elsewhere. Following their path now are ‘rent-a-cause-fact-checkers’. Holding a knife in one hand and flowers in the other, the so-called fact-checkers perfectly know how to portray you as the biggest philanthropist. So what if on the other hand, you are butchering someone. 

Taking their service this time around are the Taliban. Thrashing in bin hundreds of videos and photos of the Jihadist organization whipping and stoning women, the fact-checkers have risen from the dead to fact-check one obscure photo making the rounds on social media.

In a bizarre attempt, AP, Reuters and homegrown propagandists masquerading as fact-checkers brand Alt News fact-checked this one photo claimed to be from Afghanistan. What’s more, Twitter made it an ‘event’ and promoted the ‘fact-check’.

Twitter ‘event’

Twitter has earlier said that it will continue to provide platform to Taliban as long as it does not violate its user policy. Social media giants like Facebook and YouTube have barred Taliban as it is terrorist organisation as per US laws.

Here is what happened.

A photo of three women who appeared to be chained and being taken by the Taliban went viral on social media recently. 

The aforementioned news agencies, rushing to safeguard the Taliban’s ‘reputation’ claimed that the photos were ‘digitally altered’. They also said that the photo is from 2003 and was taken in Iraq, freeing the Taliban from the possible ‘dent in reputation.’ 

These reports come at a time when the media is abuzz with reports of violence from Afghanistan. Scores of videos showing the Taliban open firing at protesting crowds, lashing men and women have sent shock waves across the globe. Enough to reveal the motive and intention of the Jihadi organization.

Here are some pictures and videos for perspective:

Taliban has defaced pictures of women on a salon in Kabul.

Taliban whipping women, children and elderly outside the airport as they try to flee the country where things has escalated quickly.

Taliban shooting at protestors in Jalalabad city and beating up journalists.

In fact, that is not all. Reuters India photojournalist Danish Siddiqui was identified by Taliban as Indian, taken away, killed and his dead body mutilated in Afghanistan earlier in July. The same Reuters has today joined other ‘fact-checkers’ which lowkey give the Taliban benefit of doubt that perhaps all the images of brutality are not true.

However, amid these chaotic scenes, the ‘fact-checkers’ decided to pick up one random image to ‘fact-check’ as false despite overwhelming evidence that the Taliban is perpetrating atrocities on the Afghan people, especially women.

Women under Taliban regime

The timing of the fact-check could not be worse. On Wednesday it was reported how Khatera (33) narrated her horror of working as a woman in Afghanistan. Khatera said that she had to flee to India last October after she was shot 8 times by the Taliban that eventually rendered her blind.

“After torturing us, the Taliban would discard our bodies as a part of inflicting punishment on us. Sometimes, they would throw our bodies at dogs. I was lucky that I survived their barbarity. One has to live in Afghanistan to understand the ordeal women, children and minorities suffer there,” Khatera revealed.

We also reported how the Taliban shot dead a woman in Takhar province for not wearing a burqa while in public. A photo of the deceased woman lying in a pool of blood with her loved ones crouched around her was released by the media. 

So much for women empowerment and tolerance, several videos on social media show the Taliban destroying posters featuring women on the glass doors of beauty parlors.

Fact-checkers and whitewashing crimes

This is not the first time so-called fact-checkers have resorted to selective ‘fact-checking’ to absolve Islamists of their crimes. From fact-checking a meme to disapproving news by adding irrelevant information to even selectively trusting the police over fact-checking are some of the tricks they use. For example: There is a news of forced religious conversion. The ‘fact-checkers’ will rely on a statement by say Maharashtra Police or West Bengal Police or any other non-BJP ruled state if it suits the narrative. But, if the Uttar Pradesh Police will give an answer which goes against their narrative will be dismissed because UP is currently a BJP ruled state.

Sometimes, they are even selective about witnesses. For example: An incident has taken place which could lead to communal tension. Say it is an incident where people from ‘particular community’ pelted stones on Hindus or on a Hindu temple. The ‘fact-checkers’ will immediately activate their network and go on ground to speak to the ‘stonepelters’ where they would obviously mention how nothing of those sort happened. In fact, someone may even say that the ‘stone pelting’ was more of self defence because they felt threatened. Some people have the exclusive right to feel threatened too.

And as if being apologists for homegrown Islamists was not enough, the so-called fact-checkers have now gone international to clean up after the Taliban.

People who support Taliban despite watching the cruelties inflicted on women and children should be exposed’: UP CM Yogi Adityanath in assembly

OpIndia Staff
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People who support Taliban despite watching the cruelties inflicted on women and children should be exposed’: UP CM Yogi Adityanath in assembly

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath slammed the Taliban sympathisers in India for hailing the radical Islamic organisation.

Speaking on the floor of the Legislative Assembly, the Chief Minister came down heavily on the so-called “secular-iberals” and the leaders of the opposition parties for glorifying the acts of violence unleashed by the Islamist outfit. The Chief Minister said that some people in the county were shamelessly supporting the Taliban, even though the outfit unleashed unprecedented violence on women and children.

“Some people are supporting the Taliban. Women and children are being subjected to cruelty there, but some people are shamelessly supporting the Taliban. All these faces should be exposed,” said Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath while calling for exposing such leaders.

The CM highlighted that in the recently concluded local body elections in UP, 46% of women leaders were elected in Panchayat elections and 56% women in Block President elections. The figures highlight how women in even rural India are active participants in politics and administration, while radical outfits like the Taliban prevent women from basic rights like schooling or being present in a public space.

The strong statements from Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on the floor of the legislative assembly comes after several Muslim leaders, including those from the Samajwadi Party, have openly praised Taliban. Samajwadi Party MP Shafiqur Rehman Burq had extended his support to the Jihadist organisation by saying that their conquest was akin to India’s freedom movement against British Empire.

A large section of Indian Leftist media was even seen hailing the Taliban for their propaganda of “changed” principles with regards to women’s rights, and “holding a press conference”.

Samajwadi Party leader says Taliban rightfully captured their land, compares it to Indian Freedom Movement

On Tuesday, August 17, Samajwadi Party MP Shafiqur Rehman Burq had attempted to legitimise the radical Islamist outfit after he had claimed that the Taliban have only recaptured the land that originally belonged to them. Drawing an equivalence between the radical Islamist outfit and India’s freedom fighters, the Samajwadi Party leader had said that as our countrymen fought for freedom from the British, the Taliban also wants to free their country and run it.

“When India was under British rule, our country fought for freedom. Now Taliban wants to free their country & run it,” the SP leader was quoted by ANI as saying.

Further heaping praises for the Jihadist outfit, Shafiqur Rahman Barq added, “Taliban is a force that did not allow even strong countries like Russia and America to settle in their country.”

Besides, Shafiqur Rahman Barq, a senior cleric of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), also extended his support to the terror group. Maulana Umrain Mahfuz Rahmani, the Secretary of All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), had praised the Taliban’s offensive against the Afghan government to capture the war-torn country by force.

Muslim Personal Law Board Secretary hails Taliban

Taking to Twitter, Maulana Umrain Mahfuz Rahmani had posted a tweet in Urdu praising the terror outfit Taliban for their “extraordinary success” in capturing Afghanistan.

The cleric reportedly claimed that the Taliban could capture Afghanistan because the decisions were “made in Heaven and not on Earth”. 

“The victory of the Taliban in Afghanistan is enough to show that wars are won with the help of God, not with intelligence and strength,” the AIMPLB Secretary asserted in his tweet. 

In another tweet, the cleric added, “The Taliban conquered Afghanistan, not with the power of means and resources, but with the eternal wealth of faith and belief! Moreover, by announcing a general amnesty, the Taliban proved that it belonged to the group of slaves of Muhammad (peace be upon him)”.

The open support for the Taliban by certain sections had created a massive uproar across the country. Following the outrage, Maulana Umrain Mahfuz Rahmani had defended his tweets saying that he put on the tweets in his personal capacity and not as the Secretary of AIMPLB. 

Agra: Jama Masjid Mufti says Independence Day celebrations at mosque premises is ‘sacrilege’, organisers should ‘fear Allah’

OpIndia Staff
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Agra: Jama Masjid Mufti says Independence Day celebrations at mosque premises is ‘sacrilege’, organisers should ‘fear Allah’

The Uttar Pradesh Police has booked a controversial maulana of 17th century Jama Masjid in Agra and his son for objecting to the flag hoisting ceremony organised on Jama Masjid premises in the city on the occasion of India’s 75th Independence Day.

According to the reports, an FIR was registered against Mazdul Kuddoos Khubaib Rumi, the Shahar Mufti and his son, Hammadul Kuddoos, based on the complaint filed by the chairman of Local Islamia Agency Haji Aslam Qureshi.

On August 15, a group led by a local BJP leader and UP Minority Commission chairperson Ashfaq Saifi had presided over the Independence Day celebrations and hoisting of the Tricolour at the Madarsa Aalia on the Jama Masjid premises. They had also sung the national anthem and saluted the flag.

The event was organised by local Islamia Agency which manages the activities of the Agra Jama Masjid.

However, a day later, an audio clip went viral in which Shahar mufti Mazdul Kuddoos Khubaib Rumi was heard criticising the Independence Day celebrations on the Jama Masjid premises and calling the act as ‘sacrilege‘. In the audio that had gone viral, Mufti was heard cursing the event and saying the people who participated in the Independence Day celebrations should ‘fear Allah’.

As audio went viral, Haji Aslam Qureshi, chairman of Local Islamia Agency and also the organiser of the event, lodged the case at the Mantola police station of Agra. In his complaint, Haji Qureshi said he has a threat to his life from the Shahar mufti, who allegedly used strong words in the audio that has gone viral.

Responding to the incident, BJP leader Ashfaq Saifi said that the cleric and his son insulted the national flag.

“Mufti and his son should realise that they have insulted the national honour. They should apologise for it. We recited the national anthem, hoisted the national flag and chanted ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ in the mosque. An unnecessary controversy has been created by Shaher Mufti and his son over the event,” Saifi was quoted as saying.

Mufti and his son booked by UP Police

A case has been registered against the Mufti under Section 3 of Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971 and sections 153-B, 505, 505 (1)(b) and section 508 of the Indian Penal Code. The cleric’s son Hummdul Khudhush has also been named in the FIR.

“By releasing an audio opposing the Independence Day programme, Mufti Rumi has attempted to disturb the public peace and harmony,” Qureshi said. 

The SSP also confirmed that they have provided security to the complainant, Haji Aslam Qureshi, after he expressed a threat to his life from Shahar Mufti.

Meanwhile, Haji Jamaluddin Qureshi, vice-president of All India Jamiat-ul-Quresh, has condemned Haji Aslam Qureshi for registering a complaint against the Shahar mufti.

Uttar Pradesh: 5 Hindu women seek right to worship Hindu Gods inside Gyanvapi mosque that used to be Kashi Vishwanath temple

OpIndia Staff
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Uttar Pradesh: 5 Hindu women seek right to worship Hindu Gods inside Gyanvapi mosque that used to be Kashi Vishwanath temple

On August 18, a Varanasi court sought a reply from Uttar Pradesh Government, Kashi Vishwanath Temple Trust and Gyanvapi Mosque Management committee as five Hindu women filed a plea seeking restoration of their right to worship of deities inside the old temple complex.

In the plea, it has been mentioned that the temple complex was converted into a mosque during Mughal rule in the region.

Justice Ravi Kumar Diwakar, Senior Civil Judge, Varanasi Court, sought the response of the commissioner of police and District Magistrate Varanasi on the suit filed by the women. The plea is led by a Hindu woman Rakhi Singh. Advocates Hari Shankar Jain and Vishnu Shankar Jain argued in Court that the devotees have the right to worship the deities, visible or invisible, inside the complex of Old Kashi Vishwanath Temple. The original Kashi Vishwanath temple complex was destroyed by Aurangzeb during his regime.

Jain further added that the defendants should be ordered not to interfere in the fundamental religious rights of the plaintiffs’ which included decorating idols of Bhagwan Ganesh, Bhagwan Hanuman, Devi Gauri and Nandi in the temple. He requested the Court to pass a temporary injunction directing defendants not to damage the idols.

The Judge set a date for resolution of objections on September 10 and said, “In the present case, the government of UP has been made a defendant by the plaintiffs. Therefore, it is necessary to hear the defendant. The plaintiffs should plead for notice on the defendants within three days.”

Centre and UP government asked to file reply on a petition challenging ASI survey

In another news, the Allahabad High Court directed the state government and Centre to file their responses to a petition challenging the order of a Varanasi court that directed ASI to conduct a comprehensive survey of the Gyanvapi Mosque complex to find out if a temple was destroyed to build the mosque. Justice Prakash Padia issued the direction over a petition filed by Anjuman Intazamia Masjid, Varanasi and UP Sunni Central Waqf Board. The court will hear the case on September 29.

Attempts to reclaim temple land

The fight to reclaim the temple land on which Gyanvapi Mosque stands has been going on for decades. However, in recent times, there has been notable progress. In February 2021, a suit was filed to restore the worshipping of deities in the mosque complex. In April 2021, Court allowed an ASI survey of the mosque. A 5-member team including two Muslims were appointed for the same. A petition seeking a stay on the survey was later filed in Allahabad High Court.

Taliban defaces women pictures outside Kabul salon, sales of burqas skyrocket after Islamist group takes over Afghanistan

OpIndia Staff
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Taliban defaces women pictures outside Kabul salon, sales of burqas skyrocket after Islamist group takes over Afghanistan

Days after Taliban pledged to respect women’s rights as part of a publicity blitz following a lightning offensive across Afghanistan, the Islamist organisation is back to doing what it has been known for. Pictures of women on streets, billboards have been covered up or vandalised by the Islamist group.

Today, social media is rife with pictures of the facade of a beauty salon with images of women defaced with spray paint in Shar-e-Naw in Kabul. AFP News agency took to Twitter to share the images.

Another image surfaced on the microblogging site also showed a gun-wielding Talibani walking past the same salon with the images of the defaced women in the background.

Earlier, a picture of a man whitewashing the posters of women models in Kabul had gone viral. According to reports, the images of women were painted on the walls of a salon in the Afghanistan capital. This image had been widely shared across social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, with netizens expressing shock at how the picture depicts the “literal erasure of women” in the war-ravaged country.

As Taliban recaptures power, burqa sales skyrocket in Afghanistan

Meanwhile, as Taliban recaptured power in Afghanistan, reports suggest that the sale of burqas have skyrocketed in the country. With the Afghan women staring at the resurgence of atrocities and oppression under Taliban rule, the burqa prices have reportedly surged tenfolds in the country.

As per CNN journalist Clarrisa Ward, people are buying more and more burqas as they are afraid with the resurgence of Taliban in the country. She spoke to the burqa shopkeeper who said that the sales have surged with men buying burqas for their wives, daughters and other women of the house.

During the earlier Taliban rule, women were required to cover their bodies and faces in a burqa, and were barred from school, work or leaving the house without a male relative. However, Taliban had recently claimed that women need not compulsorily wear burqa but a hijab (head scarf) is must be worn.

Afghan woman shot for not wearing burqa after Taliban vow to act ‘moderate’ and give women their rights

The group, on Tuesday, had reportedly shot dead a woman in Afghanistan for not wearing a burqa. The incident surfaced on the same day the Taliban announced to act ‘moderate’ and give women their rights in accordance with Islamic Sharia.

A photo of the deceased woman lying in a pool of blood with her loved ones crouched around her sent shock waves in the already distressed country. As per reports, the woman was shot by the Taliban in Takhar province for not wearing a burqa while in public.

Ironically, on the same day, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid held a press conference to say that the Islamist group would honour women’s rights and also urged women to return to school and work. 

Saudi Arabia releases Karnataka man arrested over ‘blasphemous’ post 2 years ago, was falsely implicated by Abdul brothers for supporting CAA-NRC

OpIndia Staff
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Saudi Arabia releases Karnataka man arrested over ‘blasphemous’ post 2 years ago, was falsely implicated by Abdul brothers for supporting CAA-NRC

The Karnataka technician, who languished in a jail in Saudi Arabia for 604 days on false charges of posting ‘blasphemous’ messages on social media has finally been set free. Harish Bangera, arrested over a Facebook post regarding the Muslim pilgrimage site of Mecca, flew back to Bengaluru from Dammam in Saudi Arabia on August 17. The release was granted after he was exonerated from the accusation of blasphemy.

Bangera was working as an air-conditioner technician in a company in Saudi Arabia since 2014. He originally hails from Beejady village near Kundapur in Udupi district in the state of Karnataka.

Harish Bangera arrested in Saudi Arabia for ‘blasphemy’

Bangera was arrested in December 2019, after a ‘blasphemous’ post was shared from a Facebook account created in his name. The post was captioned: “Next Ram Temple in Mecca. Be ready for a fight”. A picture of Kaaba in Mecca was also uploaded along with the aforementioned caption.

As soon as the post went viral, a case was registered against Harish and the police in Saudi Arabia had arrested him within a few hours. Bangera’s employers also terminated him from the job.

Back in India, Harish’s wife, Sumana also registered a complaint with the Udipi police. She expressed suspicion in her complaint that her husband might have been subjected to some conspiracy.

Fake Facebook account created by two Muslim youths to implicate the Karnataka man

During the investigation, it was revealed that Bangera’s Facebook profile, which was deleted after the ‘blasphemous’ post went viral, was created on December 20, 2019, a day before the post was shared from that account. It was also revealed that there was another account that Harish had been using for years to post messages about his family and friends. There are also speculations that Bangera’s name could have been used by someone else to create a new Facebook profile to land him in trouble.

In October 2020, Udipi police arrested Abdul Huyez and Abdul Thuyez, brothers from Moodbidri, after the probe revealed that the duo had created a fake Facebook account in Harish’s name to implicate him in false charges of blasphemy.

The police located Huyez by tracing the phone that was used to create the fake Facebook account. The phone belonged to Thuyez and the fake account was created in Dec 2019, and two days later the blasphemous post was uploaded by Huyez in Bangera’s name.

Police revealed that the duo had posted the blasphemous content, impersonating Harish, as an act of revenge. Speaking to the Indian Express, Bangera had revealed that in December 2019, he had once shared a post in favour of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) through his Facebook account while in Saudi Arabia. He was castigated severely for supporting the Act, after which he removed the post.

According to a 2019 report by The New Indian Express, Bangera had shared a video related to the Mangaluru riots. Subsequently, he felt that the video was unwarranted and deleted it from his Facebook account. He also posted a video apologising for his ‘unwarranted’ post. Further, he deactivated his Facebook account.

However, after few hours, a new account was created in his name and incendiary content was posted. While Harish’s original Facebook account had his family picture on the profile, the fake one had his own photograph.

“Harish deactivated his account but after few hours a new account in his name emerged and it was full of hate posts. It is possible that someone may have used the photographs from Harish’s previous account and used the same to spread hate. The original social media account of Harish had his family picture on profile, unlike the fake one which has his photograph. Hence we have complained to the local police seeking their intervention and another complaint was filed with Cyber Police of Udupi,” a family member was quoted by TNIE as saying.

Now, after spending more than 2 years in jail, Harish Bangera reached Bengaluru on August 18 morning. He was received at the airport in Bengaluru by his wife, Sumana and other family members. The family left for Kundapur by road.

UP Model: 53 districts report zero new Covid-19 cases, 17 districts have zero active cases

OpIndia Staff
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UP Model: 53 districts report zero new Covid-19 cases, 17 districts have zero active cases

On August 18, the state of Uttar Pradesh reported 35 new Covid-19 cases. Out of 75 districts in the state, 53 districts reported zero cases. According to a government spokesperson, 17 districts in the state are free of Covid-19 cases as of August 18.

Additional chief secretary (health) Amit Mohan Prasad informed that the state has carried out 6.97 crore Covid-19 tests so far. As per the data provided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the state has administered over 6.14 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses. 5.18 crore people have received at least one dose of the vaccine, while close to 96 lakh people have received both doses of the vaccine.

Prasad said, “As of Wednesday, there were 419 active cases in the state. There were 35 new cases identified on Wednesday, while 34 patients recovered. One Covid death was reported in the state, which took place in Meerut. Till now, 16,85,819 persons have recovered from Covid in the state.”

17 districts have zero active cases

As per the data provided by the Health Ministry, there are 17 districts in Uttar Pradesh that have zero active cases as of Wednesday. These districts are Aligarh, Amethi, Budaun, Ballia, Chitrakoot, Deoria, Farrukhabad, Firozabad, Hamirpur, Hardoi, Kasganj, Kaushambi, Mahoba, Sant Kabir Nagar, Shamli and Shrawasti.

The districts that reported cases on Wednesday included Prayagraj with a maximum number of new cases (6), followed by Agra (3). The rest of the districts reported either one or two new cases. 53 districts, including Moradabad, Aligarh, Ballia, Sonbhadra, Hapur, Sitapur, Rampur and Basti etc., reported no new cases.

Source: Covid19india.org

Though the number of new and active Covid-19 cases have gone down substantially in the state, Prasad said that the people must follow the protocols as the virus might be weak, but it has not been totally eliminated. He further added that the recovery rate in the state is 98.6%, while the positivity rate is 0.01%.

So far, the state has reported 17,09,025 Covid-19 cases. 16,85,472 people have recovered, while 22,787 people died of complications associated with the disease. There are 419 active cases in the state.

The country has over 3.5 lakh active cases, out of which as many as 1.78 lakhs are from Kerala alone, which means the southern state has half the active cases in the country. Maharashtra is next with 58 thousand active cases.

Poet Munawwar Rana can go to jail over derogatory comments on Maharishi Valmiki, earlier Rakhi Sawant was in a soup in similar case

OpIndia Staff
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Poet Munawwar Rana can go to jail over derogatory comments on Maharishi Valmiki, earlier Rakhi Sawant was in a soup in similar case

In a recent interview, poet Munawwar Rana tried to defend the Taliban by comparing it with Maharishi Valmiki.

In the interview with News Nation’s Deepak Chaurasia, he said, “Valmiki became a God after he wrote the Ramayan, before that, he was a dacoit. A person’s character can change. Similarly, the Taliban, for now, are terrorists, but people and characters change.” He further said, “When you speak about Valmiki, you will have to talk about his past. In your religion, you make anyone the God. But he was a writer. Okay, so he wrote the Ramayan, but we are not in competition here.”

While, it is one of the most repeated stories of Indian history, and there is a possibility that most of us have heard it at some point in time, the Valmiki Samaaj is quite sensitive about it. The story states that Maharishi Valmiki was once a dacoit named Ratnakar before he became a sage and wrote Ramayana.

The legend says he was born in a so-called low-caste and later attained the name of Valmiki and given the status of Maharishi (great sage) and a great Brahmin by Narada Muni after Ratnakar performed tapasya or deep meditation.

The Valmiki Samaaj, especially those who live in Punjab, disagree with the part of the story that he was a dacoit at any given time. If someone repeats it, that means he is disrespecting the Maharishi, who is worshipped as a God by the community. Repeating the story on a mass media platform can even attract the wrath of the activists from the community. By narrating the sensitive story in an interview, Rana possibly has offended the members of the Valmiki community.

Rakhi Sawant had gotten into soup for her comments on Maharishi Valmiki

In 2017, TV actress and host Rakhi Sawant had gotten into soup for repeating the story and sensationalizing it. She turned the ‘dacoit’ part of the story into a ‘murderer’. She was making a point how someone who once indulged in criminal activities can turn into a great sage but ended up offending members of the Valmiki community. A case was registered against her under Section 295 of the Indian Penal Code for offending religious sentiments.

Joe Biden says, “That was 5 days ago” when asked about Afghans falling off from airplanes in a desperate bid to escape Taliban

OpIndia Staff
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Joe Biden says, “That was 5 days ago” when asked about Afghans falling off from airplanes in a desperate bid to escape Taliban

The President of the United States of America Joe Biden was seen making insensitive remarks over the plights of Afghans after the hasty US withdrawal in an ABC News interview on the Taliban issue. 

Biden in an exclusive interaction with the news network remarked, “that (video of Afghans falling off airplanes) was four to five days ago,” when asked about the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan.

The anchor was left flabbergasted by the statement. A snippet of the interview has now gone viral with netizens registering their protest over Biden’s insensitive remark. 

In a teaser of the one-on-one interaction uploaded on the official YouTube channel of the media network, the anchor George Stephanopoulos threw some intense questions at the POTUS. 

Stephanopoulos asked the reason behind a quick takeover by the Taliban in Afghanistan when Biden had gone on-record to say that such a coup was highly unlikely. In a flailing response, Biden said that they had expected the takeover to not take place before the end of this year, thereby, contradicting his ‘unlikely’ claim. 

Joe Biden’s interview (trailer)

When counter-questioned if the US intelligence had failed, Biden quickly agreed and also dumped the blame on the troops trained to fight such a situation. 

Stephanopoulos then went on to ask about the hundreds of people packed in a C-17 waiting to be rescued and Afghans hanging on to outer parts of the US Air Force carrier, only to fall off and die after take off. However, Biden in a poor justification interjected and claimed, “That was 4 days ago, 5 days ago.”

Biden also claimed that there was no way to handle the situation any better and there was “no leaving without chaos ensuing.” “I don’t know how that happens,” exclaimed Biden. 

ABC in its trailer claimed that some reports leaked from the US intelligence suggested that a coup was predicted but Biden outrightly denied any knowledge of this information.

The full interview is yet to be televised. Meanwhile, Biden is being trolled for his callous remarks about the dire situation thousands of Afghans have been left in. 

West Bengal post-poll violence: Calcutta High Court orders CBI, SIT probe, orders state govt to proceed compensation for victims

OpIndia Staff
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West Bengal post-poll violence: Calcutta High Court orders CBI, SIT probe, orders state govt to proceed compensation for victims

The Calcutta High Court has ordered a court monitored CBI probe into the human rights violations in the large scale post poll violence that took place in the state after TMC’s Mamata Banerjee returned to power.

There have been allegations of gang rapes and murders across the state allegedly perpetrated by the workers and cadres of the ruling party TMC. The High Court has entrusted all the cases to the SIT for investigation which will be monitored by the court. The cases related to the murder and crimes against women mentioned in the NHRC will be probed by the CBI while other cases will be probed by the SIT.

The SIT will be comprised of three IPS officers, Suman Bala Sahoo, Soumen Mitra and Ranbir Kumar, reported Bar and Bench. A report by Live Law states that the court has also directed the West Bengal state government to immediately process the compensation for the victims of the post-poll violence. The court also rejected state government allegations of bias against the NHRC.

The CBI and the SIT to submit their reports within six weeks.

The bench had earlier ordered the NHRC chairman to constitute an inquiry committee to probe accusations of human rights violations during the post-poll violence. The panel, in its report, concluded that the current situation of the state, is a manifestation of ‘Law of Ruler’, instead of ‘Rule of Law’. It added that the loss of faith in state administration among victims is very evident. The statutory body added that a list of 57 complaints related to women was received from the National Women Commission.

The state government has, however, opposed the NHRC report and questioned the impartiality despite the victims’ testimonies on the barbarism perpetrated on them.

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