Sikha Sarma, a 48-year old Assamese writer was arrested in Guwahati on Tuesday on the charges of sedition for her offensive Facebook post on Indian security forces post the dastardly Sukma attack which claimed the lives of 22 jawans, according to a report in Indian Express.
The post said, “Salaried professionals who die in the line of duty cannot be termed, martyrs. Going by that logic, electricity department workers who die of electrocution should also be labelled martyrs. Do not make people sentiment, media.” Sarma uploaded the post after several reports of the Maoist attack on security forces which resulted in the martyrdom of 22 jawans surfaced in the media. The post received tremendous backlash on social media.
On Monday, an FIR was filed at the Dispur police station by two advocates of Gauhati High Court, Umi Deka Baruah and Kangkana Goswami against Sikha Sarma. The complainants wrote, “This is in utter disrepute to the honour of our soldiers and such distasteful remarks not only reduce the unparalleled sacrifice of our jawans to a mere ‘money-making discourse’, but is also a verbal assault on the spirit and sanctity of service of the nation,” and requested the authorities to take “strict action” against Sarma.
After facing online flak, Sarma backtracked and responded with another social media post saying, “Isn’t misrepresenting my post mental harassment? Will the false propaganda against me come under rule of law? Why has (there) been no investigation regarding the FIR I filed about the murder and intimidation threats I received earlier?”
The writer who insulted the jawans was arrested by the city police under various sections, including IPC 124A (sedition) basis of the FIR filed. Guwahati Police Commissioner Munna Prasad Gupta informed, “She (Sikha) will be produced in court tomorrow (Wednesday).”
Bijapur-Sukma terrorist attack
In the most destructive terrorist attack of 2021, a group of 400 Naxals ambushed a search operation conducted by various security teams of around 1500 personnel along the border of the Bijapur-Sukma district on Saturday. The counter-attack by Naxalites resulted in the martyrdom of 22 jawans and left 31 injured while some are said to be missing.
A close deadly encounter between the Naxalites and security forces lasted for four hours in which the Naxalites rained bullets from light machine guns, used low-intensity IEDs and rocket launchers.
It was also reported that a group of Maoists chopped off a security official’s hand before killing him and fled the scene with weapons, including bulletproof jackets, guns, ammunition, as well as his shoes. Some security officials were martyred due to dehydration.
Days after the brutal massacre of Indian security personnel in the Naxal infested Forrests of Chhattisgarh, the Left-wing terrorists have finally admitted that they are keeping CRPF constable Rakeshwar Singh Manhas as a hostage. As per a report in India Today, the terrorists have sent a letter to the security forces, acknowledging that they are holding Manhas captive.
Recently, the wife and family members of Manhas, a resident of Jammu, had appealed to PM Modi to bring the soldier back, like Wing Commander Abhinandan.
The Maoists have written in the letter that the CRPF constable is in their captivity and the government should appoint a negotiator to discuss his release. In the two-page letter, the terrorists have stated that Manhas will only be handed over to a government-appointed negotiator.
As per a report by Economic Times, CRPF DG Kuldiep Singh has ordered his team to appoint a mediator to negotiate Manhas’ release. Manhas belongs to the 210th battalion of Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA).
The letter
The two-page letter confirms the death of 4 Maoists. Singed by the spokesperson of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DSZC), the letter also states that the Maoists had seized 14 weapons, more than 2000 rounds of ammunition, and other items.
India Today has further reported that the Chhattisgarh police have confirmed the letter’s authenticity and the government is considering the proposal.
CRPF constable Rakeshwar Singh Manhas has been missing since Saturday, when the Maoists had ambushed a contingent of CRPF and state police personnel deep in the forests of Sukma and Bijapur. 22 personnel had lost their lives and 31 were injured in the deadly clash. The Maoists had fled with a considerable number of weapons, ammunitions, gears and even shoes and bulletproof jackets of fallen security personnel.
Many believe that sine the Maoists have demanded negotiations, the CRPF jawan must be safe.
From a PLGA document i translated some years ago. Unless there has been a huge shift in the CPI(Maoist) ideology and tactics, #CRPF jawan Rakesh Singh Manhas is safe. #BijapurNaxalAttackpic.twitter.com/11pJdrziH3
The central and state governments negotiating with left-wing terrorists is nothing new. In 2017, Hidma, one of the commanders of the terrorist ‘battalion one’ of PLGA, had kidnapped a Canadian national named John Szlazak with the help of local villages in Sukma. Slazak was later freed after negotiations. In 2012, an IAS officer named Alex Paul Menon was kidnapped and later freed after 12 days.
Menon was the then collector of Sukma. Maoists had kidnapped him after killing two of his security personnel. Menon was freed after 12 days. Two persons named BD Sharma and Professor G Hargopal had acted as negotiators on behalf of the government.
In 2012, Maoists in Koraput, Odisha had kidnapped an MLA of the ruling BJD named Jhina Hikaka. Hikaka was abducted just 10 days after the Maoists had kidnapped two Italian nationals from Kandhamal district.
The Odisha government had not agreed to fully comply with the Maoists’ demand of freeing 29 prisoners kept in jails. After extending the deadline four times, The Maoists had finally held a ‘trial’ for Hikaka in a ‘Praja court’ and had set him free after he signed an undertaking that he would resign from the assembly and ‘work for the people’, after over a month of captivity.
A year prior to Hikaka’s abduction, Malkangiri collector R Vineel Krishna was kidnapped in the same area in 2011.
On April 6, India Today published a fake news report that claimed that the central government had alleged that Kumbh Mela was becoming a super-spreader of Coronavirus. The headline of the report read, “Kumbh Mela becoming a super-spreader event, hope SOP is followed: Centre”. From the headline, the article gave the impression that Kumbh had already become a super-spreader of COVID-19.
In fact, the description of the article clearly stated that according to the central government, the ‘ongoing Haridwar Kumbh Mela is becoming a super-spreader event”.
India Today article
Soon, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare took to Twitter, calling this report ‘incorrect and fake’. Armed with a screenshot of the headline of the article and the description that said that Haridwar Kumbh Mela had turned into a “super-spreader event”, the Ministry trashed the report by India Today.
What did the central government say about Haridwar Kumbh Mela and how did India Today misquote them
The report was based on the press briefing by the Ministry of Health on Covid-19 on April 6. Towards the end of the press briefing, when questions were being asked, one of the reporters had asked the ministry officials if there are indications of Maha Kumbh becoming a super spreader and if there are any plans to end the event sooner than scheduled.
In his reply, Rajesh Bhushan, secretary of MoHFW, said, “One fact that we usually lose sight of is that the duration of Kumbh has already been curtailed. Kumbh, wherever it happens, is usually for three-and-a-half to four months. The present Kumbh has already been curtailed to a month. So let’s not lose sight of facts. At times when we tend to push in particular interpretation or narrative, we tend to lose sight of very basic facts.”
“As far as super-spreaders events are concerned, the union government almost a month ago issued an SOP specifically for the practices to be adopted in Kumbh and had a longish meeting with the state government officers in which Dr Balram Bhargav and Dr Paul also participated and after that NCBC fielded four local inspection teams, two of which were led by director NCBC himself and they also shared with the state governments various protocols that need to be put in place,” he added.
Dr Paul further added, “While keeping the dignity of the event in mind, the SOP [Standard Operating Procedure] was formed. We hope that the state government is implementing it on the ground. We hope that the protocols that were mentioned in the SOP are being followed at the event.”
It is pertinent to note here that the Ministry made absolutely no indication that the Kumbh Mela was turning into a super-spreader event or they had any suspicions that it could turn into one, however, these facts were lost on India Today.
After spreading fake news, India Today quietly edits report, but continues to spread its agenda
After the fact-check by the Ministry, India Today quietly changed their report without offering an explanation or an apology. In the report itself, there is no indication that India Today had earlier spread fake news and have updated their copy after a fact-check by the Ministry itself.
Interestingly, while India Today changed their headline, they have not changed the URL of the report. Further, even in the changed headline, India Today continued to subtly suggest that the Kumbh Mela was becoming a super-spreader.
Kumbh Mela report changed by India Today but the agency did not change the URL
In fact, throughout the article, India Today was hell bent on calling Kumbh Mela a super-spreader. Despite the central government giving no indication of the same, India Today, in its changed headline, claimed that the central government had said that the SOP must be followed to prevent the religious event into turning into a ‘super-spreader’. From the statement of the central government, it is evident that they themselves never used the word ‘super-spreader’ for the Kumbh Mela, but responded to a question that raised suspicion.
In the first paragraph of the article, India Today mentions “super-spreader” in quotes, alluding to the fact that the Ministry had used those very words. However, that is not true.
Article by India Today
It was evident from the India Today report that the intention was not to report the measures taken at Kumbh Mela, for example, the curtailing of the duration to 1 month, the negative COVID tests of attendees or even the SOP that had been issued, but they allude to the conjecture that it was becoming a super-spreader event.
ANI quoted an unnamed source suggesting the centre is worried
The report of India Today mentioned news agency ANI’s report in which they quoted an unnamed source in the Ministry of Health. According to ANI, the source said that during the secretary-level meeting over the Covid-19 situation on April 5, there were apprehensions that the Kumbh festival might become a “super-spreader”.
The source further added that the government is worried about the festival and discussed it in a high-level meeting on Monday. According to the source, a member had said, “If the government does not decide to end Kumbh before the stipulated time, it may become a COVID-19′ super spreader.” He further added, “The government is forming a team that will appeal to all with the help of sadhus and religious leaders to ensure pilgrims, who are visiting the Kumbh, wear masks and follow social distancing.” It is pertinent to note here that the ANI report was a wholly source-based report without any evidence that any such apprehension had been raised.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a preliminary inquiry on Tuesday to probe corruption allegations against Maharashtra’s ex-home minister Anil Deshmukh levelled by former Commission of Police, Mumbai, Parambir Singh. CBI spokesperson RC Joshi has said, “CBI has registered a PE in the respect of the Bombay High Court order dated April 5, 2021.”
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a preliminary enquiry (PE) to probe allegations of corruption levied against former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh: CBI Spokesperson
Bombay High Court had directed CBI to start PE within 15 days into allegations pic.twitter.com/yiFhBQy6Jk
A CBI team of six from Delhi is in Mumbai to record the statements and collect all the relevant documents against Deshmukh on the allegations made by Parambir Singh after the Bombay High Court ordered a CBI inquiry basis a PIL filed by Dr Jaishri Patil. The central probe agency team is set to record the statements of not only Parambir Singh but also other officers mentioned by him during its preliminary inquiry.
Terming the case as ‘extraordinary and unprecedented, the Bombay High Court had also said that after the preliminary inquiry ordered by it, the CBI would be free to decide further course of action. Therefore, if the CBI does find evidence against Anil Deshmukh in the allegations levelled against him by Parambir Singh, an FIR would be registered in the case subsequently. However, only a day after the inquiry was ordered by the Bombay High Court, the Maharashtra government and Anil Deskhmukh had separately moved the Supreme Court against the order by High Court.
It is pertinent to note that Anil Deshmukh, against whom CBI has now initiated an inquiry, had resigned earlier in the week after Bombay High Court had ordered the inquiry.
Parambir Singh’s corruption allegations against Anil Deshmukh
Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Parambir Singh had written a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray alleging that the state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had asked controversial cop Sachin Vaze to collect Rs. 100 crore every month from bars, restaurants and other establishments.
The letter by Parambir Singh had raised several questions regarding the Antilia bomb scare case and the death of Mansukh Hiren. Sachin Vaze is currently under arrest for his involvement in the matter. The Ministry of Home Affairs had earlier transferred the Mansukh Hiren death case to the NIA. Parambir Singh was then transferred and posted as DG Home Guard after the explosive revelations.
Pro-democracy youth activists in Myanmar are smearing the streets with red paint in Yangon (AKA Rangoon) and all throughout Myanmar in order to protest the Myanmar military’s February 1st coup. The death toll from the daily clashes between the protestors and the military in the wake of the coup has now risen to at least 570.
Young people in Yangon’s Tamwe Township launched a “Blood Strike” on Tuesday, spraying red paint, symbolizing blood, in public places to honor fallen anti-coup protesters and express their continued defiance of the military junta. (Photo: CJ) #WhatsHappeningInMyanmarpic.twitter.com/kUaUT22y4w
— The Irrawaddy (Eng) (@IrrawaddyNews) April 6, 2021
The young activists spray-painted messages on building, pavements and roads as part of the “bleeding dye strike”. This strike allowed the protestors to express their opposition to the military rule, without risking detention or getting hurt by the authorities.
In the images circulating on the internet, activists were also shown giving a “three finger salute”, a style of salute which has been popularized by the extremely famous Hunger Games trilogy of books and movies. The Hunger Games is a young adult story about struggling against authoritarian control.
Outside of Yangon, pro-democracy demonstrations were held in areas like Dawei, Hpa-an, Kachin, Karen and Mandalay. Clashes and protests have become a daily occurrence in Myanmar in the aftermath of the February 1 coup.
Since the military coup, approximately 2,700 people have been detained by authorities. Around 570 people have died, including almost 50 children.
Myanmar has a long history of military rule, being under military control from its independence in 1962 to 2011. Now, the military has once again established its rule over Myanmar, deposing the civilian government led by Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi in a coup and then later detaining her, only months after Suu Kyi’s political party handily beat the Military-backed political alliance.
Just a couple of days after a 25-year-old Muslim man wrongfully induced a minor girl aged 16 to run away from her home, the UP police apprehended the two, bring the man back to Amroha in handcuffs. The minor girl was given the “protective custody” of a policewoman.
The 25-year-old Muslim carpenter has been booked by the police under the state’s anti-conversion law which came into force last year. The anti-conversion law is expressly aimed at preventing forced conversions under the pretext of love and marriage. This practice is also termed “Grooming Jihad”.
According to the Police, the minor girl claimed that Afzal, the accused’s real name, had “lured her” claiming that he was a Hindu named Arman Kohli. Afzal is a resident of Sambhal and was arrested from Delhi’s Usmanpur area. He had planned to go to a relative’s house with the minor girl. Afzal is now languishing in jail.
The SHO of Hasanpur Kotwali, Sanjay Tomar, told TOI, “A complaint was registered regarding a man abducting a 16-year-old girl two days ago. An FIR was registered against the accused under IPC section 363 (punishment for kidnapping), 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage, etc) and under state anti-conversion law 2020.”
“During questioning, the minor girl told police that they were in contact for the last few months. She said that the man “lured” her by saying that his name was Arman Kohli, and he was a Hindu. She also said that Afzal tried to convert her,” the SHO added.
According to the girl’s family, the minor girl disappeared two days ago after she left home for some work but never came back. Later on, the locals informed the family about seeing the minor girl with a man.
This case is yet another example of Grooming Jihad, where a Muslim man pretends to be a Hindu in order to forcefully convert their spouse at a later date under a wrongful pretext. In order to guard against this, the Yogi Government passed the Vidhi Virudh Dharmantaran 2020 law against forced conversions.
Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen courted another controversy after she said on Monday that English cricketer and CSK player Moeen Ali would have strayed away to become an ISIS terrorist had he not stuck to cricket.
Nasreen’s acerbic comment came in the wake of several reports that claimed England all-rounder Moeen Ali had requested his Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to remove the logo of an alcohol brand from his jersey.
Taking to Twitter, Taslima said, “If Moeen Ali were not stuck with cricket, he would have gone to Syria to join ISIS.”
Source: Twitter
Taslima Nasreen’s tweet on Moeen Ali sparks outrage on social media
Nasreen’s tweet sparked an outrage on the internet, with many cricketers and prominent personalities reacting to the Bangladeshi author’s tweet for her controversial post on the English cricketer.
Cricketer Jofra Archer hit back at Taslima, questioning her if she is okay. “Are you okay? I don’t think you’re okay,” the fast-bowler tweeted.
Another cricketer Ben Duckett also expressed his disgust with the tweet, asking people to report the account.
“This is the problem with this app. People being able to say stuff like this. Disgusting. Things need to change, please report this account!” Duckett tweeted while quoting Taslima Nasreen’s tweet on Moeen Ali.
This is the problem with this app. People being able to say stuff like this. Disgusting. Things need to change, please report this account! https://t.co/uveSFqbna0
Not just crickets but others were also outraged by the tweet.
Disgraceful. And the follow up to trying to justify this tweet as sarcastic is outright stupid. Surely there are better ways to make a point than to attack a decent man on the basis of his religion. You should be ashamed @taslimanasreenhttps://t.co/s8N2xhpNZG
A barrage of online criticism and abuses were directed at Taslima after she insinuated that Moeen Ali would have joined ISIS were it not for cricket.
However, Nasreen, defending herself, said that her tweet on Moeen Ali was sarcastic and her detractors used it to target her.
“Haters know very well that my Moeen Ali tweet was sarcastic. But they made that an issue to humiliate me because I try to secularize Muslim society & I oppose Islamic fanaticism. One of the greatest tragedies of humankind is pro-women leftists support anti-women Islamists,” Nasreen said in a subsequent tweet.
Source: Twitter
CSK CEO quashes reports of Moeen Ali asking the franchisee to remove logo of an alcohol brand from his jersey
Earlier on Sunday, several reports emerged that claimed that England all-rounder Moeen Ali had requested his IPL franchisee to remove an alcohol brand name from his team jersey. The reports claimed Ali, who doesn’t drink or promote alcohol, had asked for the logo of SNJ 10000 to be taken off from his shirt.
SNJ 10000 is a beer brand of the Chennai-based SNJ Distilleries, one of the sponsors of Chennai Super Kings. CSK had recently unveiled their new jersey for the upcoming season which also sports a camouflage as a mark of tribute to the Indian armed forces.
However, a day later, CSK CEO Kasi Vishwanathan quashed the reports, claiming that no such request was made by the England all-rounder.
Prasad Kulkarni, once a renowned magician, was forced to start a fast food stall for survival last year after his business was severely affected by the lockdown. However, the fresh lockdown announced in the state of Maharashtra in view of the sudden surge in cases has wreaked havoc in the lives of small business owners, especially the ones in the eatery business.
Prasad Kulkarni in an emotional and explicit video shared by Lokmat on its Facebook page narrated that the ever-changing rules by the government has made it difficult for him to sustain his fast-food stall in the city of Pune. While not against the measures taken to curb the rise in fresh Covid-19 cases, Kulkarni appealed that the government should give serious thought before taking an impulsive decision of lockdown.
He said that the eateries complied with the delivery rule by the government despite a clear possibility of heavy revenue loss. However, he said that the government then released a new directive to stop deliveries post 8 pm, and now the two new regulations imposed by the government forced him to make a video on the condition of small-time business owners like him.
He said that eateries are being forced to deliver only through food delivery platforms like Zomato and Swiggy. Takeaways have been restricted by the police and now the government has asked all the eateries to shut after 6 pm.
Kulkarni revealed that from being a magician to selling a vada pav worth Rs 10 for survival, he supported the government in every fight against the pandemic. But now it is getting difficult for them to survive in the fresh lockdown imposed as the sales in the stipulated time is not enough to keep the business afloat.
He informed that he has to pay a rent of Rs 40,000 monthly rent for the shop and keep aside Rs 4000 regularly for the salaries of his staff. He questions the government how he would recover the expenditure with deliveries only that too with limited hours of functioning. It is imperative to note that eateries can function only on weekdays as the state government has imposed a complete lockdown on weekends till the end of this month.
Kulkarni in his video urges the government to give small-time business owners like him poison instead. He states while they survived and accepted the first lockdown considering the uncertainty of the virus, the second lockdown he suggests is mindless and will result in more deaths due to hunger than the virus.
He brought to the notice of the viewers that there are many students in Pune who are dependent on food outlets for their daily meals and such regulations will add to their misery as well. At the end of the video, Kulkarni with a heavy heart announced the closure of his famous Kulkarni vada pav stall.
The restaurant industry which was just getting back on its feet after suffering heavy losses in the last lockdown is expected to take a bad hit again. The Maharashtra government, on Sunday late night, announced the imposition of weekend lockdown and night curfew despite being warned by the Centre.
The Centre in a high-level meeting had made it clear to the Maharashtra government almost two weeks back that weekend lockdowns and night curfews have limited impact on containing and suppressing transmission of the coronavirus and that the state should look for alternate robust measures.
Dr Swapna Patker, a renowned psychologist and producer of Marathi film Balkadu (biopic of Shivsena founder and leader Balasaheb Thackeray), in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi has alleged that she is being harassed, tortured and abused by Shiv Sena MP and Editor of Saamana, Sanjay Raut, since the past eight years.
Dr Swapna informed OpIndia that she used to write columns for Shiv Sena’s mouthpiece publication Saamna from 2009-2014 and also took care of some of Sanjay Raut’s Rajya Sabha work. However, when she decided to get back to her profession from her passion, Dr Swapna alleged that Sanjay Raut was not happy with her decision and started to heckle, harass and torture her.
Detailing her ordeal in a two-page letter to the Prime Minister which is pinned on her Twitter profile, Dr Swapna appealed for justice and security. Appealing that her matter be considered at the earliest, she said her complaints were ignored by the police, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, ex-Home Minister Anil Deshmukh and other officials of Maharashtra as the perpetrator has a stronghold in the political party. Dr Swapna claimed that she also met NCP leader Supriya Sule to narrate her ordeal, but that just made matters worse for her.
— Dr Swapna – Dream & Happiness (@drswapnapatker) March 30, 2021
She said, being an educated and empowered woman, she seeks justice and not sympathy.
Dr Swapna in her letter stated that she had been attacked physically in 2013, multiple false cases have been filed against her, her family and friends have been tortured for the past eight years yet no action has been taken by the police department on any of her complaints. She alleged that her relatives were once called and assaulted on the third floor of Shiv Sena Bhavan.
The owner of Dream & Happiness Wellness Centre, Dr Swapna also alleged that Raut had made multiple attempts to malign her character, defame her and wreck her professional life. She says that she was threatened of being slapped with a prostitution case. She says that she has been the victim of vulgar abuses over phone calls and has also received vulgar video calls.
Dr Swapna also made a shocking allegation against retired ACP and encounter specialist Praful Bhosle. Dr Patker claimed that in 2014, she was called in multiple times by the cop and harassed in a false extortion case filed by Sanjay Raut. The matter settled after Dr Swapna informed the cop that she will visit the police station only after she receives a written official order and asked the accuser to take up the matter legally.
Dr Swapna who has been tweeting regularly to seek justice informed that her trauma continues despite filing numerous complaints with the police, NCW and National Human Rights Commission, India. She has now filed a writ petition in the Mumbai High Court.
In her pinned Tweet, Dr Patker stated that she fears her case will be looked at only after her death just like that of Mansukh Hiren.
Controversial actress Swara Bhasker spread a misleading claim on Tuesday while trying to attack filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri and the BJP over Naxal terrorism. She used a now deleted News18 report which made a false claim to attack her ideological opponents.
Swara Bhasker makes misleading claims
The News18 report is from the 28th of August, 2015 and has now been deleted. The headline of the report read, “Two BJP leaders among 13 convicted for supplying arms to Naxals”. The report appears to have been deleted because there does not appear to have been the involvement of any BJP leader in the particular matter.
News18 has deleted the report
The News18 report was flagged by Reddit users as well for peddling misleading information. Users noted how other media reports had mentioned that the two were businessman with alleged political connections but there was no mention of them being BJP leaders.
Reddit users labeled the news report misleading
Three days later, the Indian Express reported on the same matter and does not mention anything about the accused being BJP leaders. The headline of the report on the 31st of August, 2015 read, “8 arrested, police probe ‘deal’ between Maoists, mining firms”.
Thus, clearly, the news report used by Swara Bhasker to attack the BJP and Vivek Agnihotri contained false information about BJP leaders being arrested for Naxal connection. Having said that, there have been occasions in the past when BJP leaders have been arrested for alleged Naxal links. However, the one cited by the controversial actress is based on false information.
Swara Bhasker has spread false claims in the past as well, notably when she claimed that a real photograph of Azad Maidan riots was fake.
