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Around 300 schoolgirls released a week after being kidnapped by an armed group in Nigeria, govt denies paying ransom

OpIndia Staff
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Around 300 schoolgirls released a week after being kidnapped by an armed group in Nigeria, govt denies paying ransom

A group of Nigerian schoolgirls who were kidnapped by armed men from a boarding school in the northwestern state of Zamfara last week were released on Tuesday. Around 279 girls were reported to have been abducted in a raid by hundreds of armed men in the Government Girls Secondary school in Jangebe village in Nigeria on Friday. The girls were kept in a government building before they were sent for medical check-up.

President Muhammad Buhari expressed pleasure on the release of girls

Muhammad Buhari, the President of Nigeria, tweeted to share the news of the release of the kidnapped girls yesterday. He said that he joined the families of the girls in welcoming them.

Nigerian Governor, Bello Matawalle, also took to Twitter to express joy over the release of the girls.

Sharing their ordeal of captivity, the girls told how they were taken to forest by their kidnappers and forced to walk on stones and thorns. They said that the kidnappers hit them with guns forcing them to keep walking, even the ones who were unwell.

It is not clear how the release of the girls was secured as the Nigerian government had reportedly refused to pay ransoms to the girls’ captors. According to reports, similar school abductions have taken place in Nigeria in recent months. The Nigerian government officials have been holding talks with the captors known as ‘bandits’. Previously, the government officials have reportedly entered into ‘peace agreements’ with bandits offering them money and amnesties. However, attacks including kidnapping for ransom, raping and pillaging by heavily armed criminal gangs in the north-west and central Nigeria have reportedly increased in recent years.

President Muhammad Buhari called for kidnappers to be brought to book

The approach of the state government of providing amnesty to bandits has not found favour with the central government. President Buhari had reportedly called for the captors to be brought to justice. He said that if ransoms were paid, this would encourage attacks in future.

Rising cases of school kidnappings in Nigeria

Criminal gangs have been targeting boarding schools in Northern Nigeria for mass kidnappings for ransom. The trend was reportedly started by jihadist group Boko Haram in 2014 when it kidnapped 270 girls from the town of Chibok. 100 out of these girls have not been found till date. Last week, some unidentified gunmen had killed a student in an attack on a boarding school in the north-central Nigerian state of Niger. They kidnapped 42 people including 27 students. The hostages have not yet been released.

Last year in December, over 300 boys were kidnapped from a school in Kankara, located in President Buhari’s home state of Katsina, while the President was on a visit in the region. The boys were released later but the incident had sparked fear among people. Boko Haram had claimed the responsibility for the kidnapping.

Kidnapping for ransom have become an escalating problem in Nigeria with businessmen, officials and ordinary citizens being abducted from streets by kidnappers seeking ransom money.

Jalgaon shocker: Police officials and hostel employees accused of forcing women residents to strip dance, complaint filed

OpIndia Staff
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Jalgaon shocker: Police officials and hostel employees accused of forcing women residents to strip dance, complaint filed

In a shocking incident, some police officials and other hostel employees have been accused of forcing the residents of a women’s hostel to strip dance at the government-run Ashadeep Hostel in Jalgaon, Maharashtra.

As per reports, a complaint has been filed in this regard by a social service organisation with the District Collector. Videos of the incident were also submitted as proof of the incident. District Collector Abhijit Raut promised to take immediate action and assured a fair investigation in the case.

In the complaint, it is being alleged that some police personnel and some other people entered the hostel in the name of investigation and coerced the women to undress and dance. When the girls refused to do so, they were threatened with murder.

Police personnel, outsiders entered the hostel under the pretext of carrying out interrogation: Reports

The hostel, located in Ganesh Nagar of Jalgaon, was run by the Department of Women and Child Welfare which provides shelter and food to the destitute and oppressed women and girls. There had been complaints of malpractices being committed in the hostel, reports said. The incident of police personnel and hostel employees forcing women to undress and perform indecent dance came to light when Jananayak Foundation presidents Feroz Pinjari, Farid Khan and Mangala Sonawane decided to pay a visit to the hostel and find out more information about the wrongdoings happening in the hostel.

However, they were stopped from entering the hostel. The girls reportedly narrated the whole incident from the windows of the hostel. According to them, police personnel and other outsiders entered the hostel in connivance with some hostel employees and under the pretext of investigation. They were asked to undress themselves and dance in front of them. Those who protested were threatened with beatings and murder. They were even harassed by the hostel authorities while sharing their ordeal with the Foundation members.

Man attacks Ajay Devgn’s car, hurls abuses for his tweet on ‘farmer protests’

OpIndia Staff
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Man attacks Ajay Devgn’s car, hurls abuses for his tweet on ‘farmer protests’

Rajdeep Ramesh Singh, on Tuesday, stopped Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn’s car and hurled abuses at him over his tweet on farmers’ protests.

He was later arrested but released on bail.

In the video that has now gone viral, he could be seen stopping Devgn from entering a film studio in Goregaon, Mumbai. The man named Rajdeep Singh was arrested on Tuesday. 28-year old Rajdeep Singh is a driver belonging to Punjab. He was reportedly upset with Devgn for not speaking in support of farmers protests. He demanded to know why the actor did not speak in support of the protests.

“How do you digest the food by being against Punjab? You should be ashamed of yourself,” he could be seen saying in Punjabi.

Devgn had tweeted and urged Indians to stay united and not fall for propaganda after Swedish protestor Greta Thunberg inadvertently tweeted the ‘protest’ toolkit a week after the Republic Day riots.

He had urged, like many celebrities, to stand united and not fall into infighting.

Rajdeep Singh, who is a resident of Santosh Nagar locality in the northern suburb, blocked Devgn’s car for about 15 minutes.

As per Inspector Dharmendra Kamble of Dindoshi police station, Rajdeep Singh was booked under sections 341 (wrongful restraint), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.

Devgn was reportedly headed to the Film City in Goregaon for the shooting of his film named Gangubai Kathiawadi.

West Bengal: Police recover arms, bombs from the house of a worker of Indian Secular Front, an ally of Congress

OpIndia Staff
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West Bengal: Police recover arms, bombs from the house of a worker of Indian Secular Front, an ally of Congress

Ahead of the State Legislative elections in West Bengal, the police have recovered arms and bombs from the house of an Indian Secular Front (ISF) worker in South 24 Parganas. Indian Secular Front is led by Islamic cleric Abbas Siddique, which has formed an alliance with Congress and the left parties for the assembly elections in the state.

As per reports, the accused has been identified as one Ziarul Mollah. The police informed, “We conducted a search at Indian Secular Front (ISF) worker Ziarul Mollah’s house. We recovered shotguns, bombs & bomb-making equipment.” It must be mentioned that the cops had earlier arrested the father of the accused, Jalil Mollah.

While speaking about the development, DSP (Baruipur) Tamal Sarkar informed that the police received a tip-off about explosives at the residence of the Ziarul Mollah. The police is yet to arrest the accused, who has been on the run from the law enforcement authorities. “We have arrested accused ISF worker Ziarul Mollah’s father Jalil Mollah. Search is on for the accused Ziarul Mollah,” he informed.

In a video that has now surfaced on social media, the non-uniformed police officials could be seen raiding the house of Ziarul Mollah. Several arms, and bomb-making materials were found at his residence, which were later seized by the cops.

ISF leader arrested for attacking TMC members

Earlier on Sunday, the police had arrested another ISF worker by the name of Younis Sarkar for attacking Trinamool Congress (TMC) party members in Bhangar in the South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal. Younus, an aide of the Sufi cleric and ISF leader Pirzada Abbas Siddiqui, was nabbed after the police analysed the CCTV footage and found that he was leading the mob. During the incident, the 6 TMC workers were severely injured.

(Video Courtesy: Youtube/ S Newz)

The 24-year-old ISF founder, Abbas Siddiqui, has been infamous for his incendiary rhetoric, fear-mongering and calls for ‘divine intervention’ for the death of 50 crore Indians. Despite being well-aware of his extremist views, the Left and the Congress party has joined hands with Siddiqui to gain political mileage and strengthen its hold over the Muslim vote bank. The Election Commission of India on Friday announced an eight-phased Assembly poll for West Bengal beginning March 27. The counting of votes will take place on May 2. 

Chinese court rules that a university book describing homosexuality as a mental disorder is correct

OpIndia Staff
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Chinese court rules that a university book describing homosexuality as a mental disorder is correct

A court in China’s Jiangsu province recently ruled in favour of a textbook description of homosexuality as a ‘psychological disorder’. According to reports, Suyu District Intermediate Court in Suqian said that the description was not a factual error and resulted from ‘perceptual differences’. The court thus upheld a judgment passed by a lower court in September last year.

The suit was filed by a Hong Kong bases social worker

According to reports, a 24-year old Hong Kong based social worker Ou Jiaying had filed a suit against Jinan University Press and a company owned by retailer JD.com in 2017 alleging that they had published and distributed factually incorrect content in a 2013 book on mental health education for university students.

In September last year, the Suyu District People’s Court had ruled in favour of the publishing house saying that the opposing views of the plaintiff and the publisher were due to differences in opinions and not because of a factual error. Jiayong had appealed against the order in November last year but the court upheld the previous ruling.

Jiayong, who uses the pseudonym XiXi, expressed disappointment over the ruling. “The teaching material classifies homosexuality as a psychological disorder, which it isn’t”, she was quoted as saying. “I am really disappointed, because we are seeing comments that are supporting this judgment”, she added.

Homosexuality was reportedly decategorised as a mental disorder by the Chinese Psychiatric Association in 2001. Director of LGBTQ Rights Advocacy China, Peng Yanzi termed the ruling as damaging to the LGBTQ community. “It’s quite damaging to the whole LGBTQ community, so we are solely disappointed”, said Yanzi. He appreciated XiXi for legally pursuing the case for years.

The book categorised homosexuality under ‘common psychological disorders’

Jiayong came across the psychology book in 2016 during the first year of her study at South China Agricultural University in Guangzhou, Guangdong province. The 2013 edition of the book named ‘Mental Health Education for College Students’ published by Jinan University Press categorised homosexuality under ‘common psychological disorders’ along with cross-dressing and fetishism. The book reportedly stated that ‘homosexuality was believed to be a disruption of love and sex or perversion of the sex partner’. The book was used by several Chinese universities. Thus, Jiayong was concerned that the book was perpetuating the belief that being gay as wrong.

Income Tax raids conducted at around 22 locations linked to Taapsee Pannu, Anurag Kashyap and Vikas Bahl in tax evasion case

OpIndia Staff
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Income Tax raids conducted at around 22 locations linked to Taapsee Pannu, Anurag Kashyap and Vikas Bahl in tax evasion case

The Income Tax Department has raided 22 locations linked to director Anurag Kashyap, producer Vikas Bahl, Producer Madhu Mantena and actress Taapsee Pannu in tax evasion case.

Phantom Films’ office has also been raided. The raids have taken place at the homes and linked properties in Mumbai, Pune and some other locations.

As per reports, the IT department has alleged these four have evaded tax. Phantom was formed by Kashyap, Bahl, Mantena and Vikramaditya Motwane. In 2018, the company was dissolved following sexual assault allegations against Bahl by a former Phantom employee.

PM Modi and his mother abused live on air by a caller on a BBC radio show on Sikhs in the UK

OpIndia Staff
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PM Modi and his mother abused live on air by a caller on a BBC radio show on Sikhs in the UK

In a despicable act, a caller hurled the choicest of expletives at the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his 99-year-old mother Hiraben during a radio programme conducted by BBC Asian Network.

The programme, hosted by anchor Priya Rai on BBC Sounds, was aired on Monday (March 1). During an episode of the British soap opera ‘Eastenders’, the ‘Sikh turban’ was referred to as a ‘crown’. BBC conducted a 3-hour long show on whether the Sikh community in the United Kingdom felt proud of such a reference. The host took several phone calls from the viewers, who expressed the struggle of the Sikhs in the country.

A notorious caller, by the name of Simon, joined the programme and abused PM Modi and his aged mother. On being asked a question by the BBC host, the man interjected, “Modi di maa di p*udi vich latt (will put a leg in Modi’s mother’s vagina).” The perplexed host then tried to do damage control and said, “Okay hang on, take a second here. Simon, thank you very much for calling…”The matter came to light when British Indians Voice put out a tweet condemning the remarks.

In a tweet, British Indians Voice said, “This offensive statement on BCC Asian Network literally translates to “put a leg in Modis Mothers Vagina”. This is a common Punjabi offensive slur that is used to degrade women with the sole purpose to offend.” It also called upon communication regulator Ofcom to review the broadcasting licence of BBC Asian Network.

BBC removes contentious content

The BCC network then edited the programme and removed the derogatory remarks. In a statement, it said, “This programme has been edited since the broadcast.” At 1 hour 32 minutes in the programme, the host Piya Rai issued a weak apology, “Before we carry on though, we would like to apologise for some of the offensive language used by the guest on the show earlier. It’s a live show and we discuss controversial issues often. There was no reason for the type of language that was used and I would like to say sorry again for any offence that was caused.”

Rahul Gandhi attacks RSS, compares schools run by them with madarsas operated by radical Islamists in Pakistan

OpIndia Staff
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Rahul Gandhi attacks RSS, compares schools run by them with madarsas operated by radical Islamists in Pakistan

Continuing his attack against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS), senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday compared the organisation with madrassas run by radical Islamists in Pakistan. The Gandhi scion also insinuated that the RSS is doing something “fundamentally different” and planting its people in the various institutions of the country.

Gandhi made the claims in a video interaction with Kaushik Basu, a professor at Cornell University in the US and a known Congress sympathiser. When one of Basu’s colleagues questioned Gandhi about the cause of anxieties people in India are having regarding their children, he responded by pinning the blame on the RSS. Gandhi said that the entire education system in the country is under attack and that RSS is running schools the same as radical Islamic madarsas in Pakistan.

1 hour and 13 minutes into the interaction, Rahul Gandhi started speaking about schools run by RSS and claimed that the RSS is running schools like Islamist madarsas in Pakistan. He even enquired about the financial resources of RSS to run the thousands of schools.

“The entire education system in India is targeted. The rewriting of history, subtle rewriting of social norms, subtle attacks on the ideas of the Indian constitution, subtle attacks on the ideas of equality…These are ideas that modern India requires, you absolutely need to reclaim them. What is going on is an attack on the idea of equality. By the way, the RSS began the attack through their schools….much like the radical Islamists use their madrassas in Pakistan, the RSS uses its school to push a particular worldview,” Gandhi said.

In addition, Rahul Gandhi also raised aspersions on the funding received by the schools run by the RSS.

“Nobody questions where does the RSS gets the money for running hundreds and thousands of schools. These are not profit-making organisations. So nobody is asking the question. So absolutely, it is the capture of the Indian education system and the Indian education system is got to be taken back from the hands,” Gandhi added.

Durba Ghosh, the person asking the questions to Rahul Gandhi said that she has twenty cousins in India and all of them are worried about their children because current India does not have opportunities for those children like there once were. It is not clear what kind of opportunities she was referring to.

Rahul Gandhi rambles, resorts to lying and misinformation in his conversation with Kaushik Basu

Besides, Gandhi spoke on a host of issues with the Cornell University professor Kaushik Basu and provided enough instances for viewers to tickle their funny bones. Gandhi is undoubtedly a gift that keeps on giving, and on Tuesday night he demonstrated it once again why he is considered to be funnier than most of the unfunny comedians in the country.

Speaking on the geopolitics between the US and China and India’s role in it, Gandhi haphazardly threw the word ‘strategy’ multiple times in his response, presumably to appear as intellectual and clued-in about challenges facing India. Rahul also rambled on the ‘visions’ he had for the country but failed in articulating them in clear and precise terms. Subsequently, he resorted to his default ‘strategy’—lie unabashedly to attack the Modi government—and went about spreading misinformation and lies about the farm laws. You can read other amusing tidbits of Rahul’s conversation with Kaushik Basu here.

Ahmedabad netizens trend #WeWantKarnavati to get city name changed, this is why

OpIndia Staff
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Ahmedabad netizens trend #WeWantKarnavati to get city name changed, this is why

Ahmedabad residents on Wednesday took to Twitter to urge Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani to change the city’s name from Ahmedabad to Karnavati.

Some said that the name ‘Ahmedabad’ is a historical mistake and it should be corrected and changed to Karnavati to restore its glory.

Ahmedabad residents said that the city was not ‘established’ by Mughal emperor Ahmed Shah but it was developed by King Karna Dev and hence it should be named after him.

A change.org petition was also circulated to appeal to the Gujarat Home Minister for name change.

Screengrab of the petition

The petition reads that the name ‘Ahmedabad’ does not reflect the true glory of the culture and history of the city.

The petition reads, “Karna of Chaulukya dynasty ruling from Anhilwad Patan (1072–1094) made the town his capital, adorned it with two temples, one to Kochrab, the site still known, and the other to Jayanti Devi, and named it Karnavati (Karna’s town). This Karnavati is the same place which is called as Ahmedabad now. Scavenging by the archaeologists revealed some magnificent facts about the history of Ahmedabad. Around the 10th century, the place was called Ashapalli ruled by the Bhil kings and later by Solanki King Karandev. Their reign lasted up until the 13th century when the Vaghela dethroned Solanki’s. Ahmed Shah who seated as the Sultan and renamed the city as Ahmedabad. There are many instances where Ahmed shah was known for his cruelty.   

The 14th–century Jain scholar Acharya Merutunga in his seminal Sanskrit text Prabandhachintamani claims that King Karnadev habited a village to establish Karnavati with the construction of a Karnasagar lake and a temple for Karneshwara Deva during the last decade of the 10th century.

On searching the true history  of this place we can say that the name Ahmedabad is a historical mistake and original name of this town was Karnavati named after Lord Karneshwara who is one of the form of Lord shiva.

I would request honorable minister to rename the town as Karanavati.”

The online petition is signed by one Harshid Desai, Romesh Shah and Pradeep Mahaur.

Netizens said that it is a shame to name a city after the Islamic invaders who raped and killed our mothers and sisters. Many said that the cities and towns named after such barbaric invaders should be immediately changed.

Hours before the model code of conduct set in, Mamata Banerjee grants Rs 2.60 crore for Furfura Sharif shrine

OpIndia Staff
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Hours before the model code of conduct set in, Mamata Banerjee grants Rs 2.60 crore for Furfura Sharif shrine

West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee has been trying every trick in the book to retain her turf in the state in the upcoming Assembly elections. In an apparent attempt of Muslim appeasement hours before the model code of conduct came into effect on Friday last week, Banerjee had reportedly granted Rs 2.60 crore to the Islamic shrine Furfura Sharif.

Fund granted for the beautification of Islamic shrine: government official

According to reports, the amount has been granted by the West Bengal government for the development of the Islamic shrine. A senior Finance Department official reportedly told that the fund would be used for beautification of the shrine. “This fund will be mainly used for 20 high mast and 400 LED street light and other beautification projects of the shrine. In the 2020-21 financial year, the Finance Department allotted Rs 20 crore for at least 60 schemes and the Furfura Sharif Development Authority”, the official was quoted.

It is speculated that the came amid TMC’s apprehension that the Indian Secular Front (ISF), a political party recently floated by Furfura Sharif’s cleric Peerzada Abbas Siddiqui, may undercut TMC’s base among the Muslims who form 30 per cent of the state’s population. TMC believes that ISF holds sway over about 5 districts in the state including Hooghly, Howrah and North 24 Parganas.

Banerjee also announced a hike in wages

However, another official reportedly said that the decision came after a meeting between Peerzada Abbas Siddiqui’s uncle Toha Siddiqui, the Chief Minister and the Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Minister Firhad Hakim at the state secretariat on Thursday last week. Toha Siddiqui had reportedly slammed his nephew for announcing a seat deal with the Left. “He (Abbas Siddiqui) is facing some serious allegations of corruption, and that is why he is compelled to ally with the CPM and Congress”, he alleged. The Mamata government has also announced a hike in the daily wage rates for workers under the WB Urban Employment Scheme.

She posted a tweet on February 26, announcing that the wages of daily wage workers under West Bengal Urban Employment Scheme will be hiked.

Furfura Sharif cleric has formed an alliance with the Congress and Left parties

‘Allah’s virus’ fame Peerzada Abbas Siddiqui, who was speculated to join hands with Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), forged an alliance with the Communist Party and the Congress. However, despite not joining the AIMIM, Siddiqui said that he would not be opposing Owaisi’s party in the state.

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