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UP police lodges FIR against Shashi Tharoor, Rajdeep Sardesai and others for instigating riot in Red Fort by spreading fake news

UP Police has lodged an FIR against several politicians and journalists for sharing fake news during the tractor rally in Delhi on 26th January. The FIR under the section 154 of CrPC has been lodged at the Noida sector 20 police station.

The FIR names Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, India Today journalist Rajdeep Sardesai, National Herald’s Senior consulting editor Mrinal Pandey, Quami Awaz editor Zafar Agha, Caravan magazine’s editor and founder Paresh Nath, Caravan editor Anant Nath and its executive editor Vinod K Jose, and one unnamed person.

All of them have been booked for spreading the fake news that one protestor was shot dead by Delhi Police during the tractor rally on Republic Day, who had actually died due to an accident. Rajdeep Sardesai had tweeted the fake news on Twitter, and later had repeated the same on India Today, claiming that bullet injury was seen on the head of the deceased.

Shashi Tharoor and others named in the FIR had also circulated the fake news, which had instigated the protestors to indulge in violence.

The Caravan had also spread the fake news, claiming that “An eyewitness told The Caravan that he saw the police firing from behind the grills of the Andhra Education Society.” They had also reported that eyewitnesses said they saw police personnel fleeing from the spot after Navneet was shot.

While most others had subsequently deleted their social media posts after it was emerged that the farmer had died after tractor had overturned while he was attempting a stunt, the tweets of Caravan still remain.

The FIR says that the accused persons are responsible for the riots on 26th January, as it was instigated by their digital media posts. It says that despite the large scale attack on the police causing injuries to hundreds of policemen, the accused persons circulated fake news in a coordinated and well-planned manner that police have shot a person dead. ‘It was done deliberately so that it cases a large-scale riot and communal violence among various communities’, the FIR alleges.

The UP police says that the accused persons knowingly circulated fake news for their political benefits and to instigate the protestors for violence. ‘Due to their tweets, the protestors reached the Red Fort and hoisted religious and other flags in the place of national flag’, the FIR notes.

The claim that police deliberately shot a person dead can cause a feeling of fear and insecurity among various communities, and it can become a threat to the national unity in these sensitive times. The tweets have been forwarded to a large number of people, and it has caused an adverse effect on the law and order situation in the country. Therefore, it is necessary to remove the misleading tweets, the FIR states.

Through the FIR, charges under sections 153(A), 153(B), 295(A), 298, 506, 505(2), 124(A)/34/120(B) of the Indian Penal Code, and under section 66 of the Information  Technology act.

Watch: ‘Farmer’ leader Rakesh Tikait slaps a youth after breaking into tears and threatening suicide earlier in the evening

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Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait slapped a youth at the Ghazipur Border today after a emotional breakdown earlier in the evening. The events come at a time when multiple farmer unions have exited the protest in light of the violence during the Tractor Parade on Republic Day.

Rakesh Tikait claimed that the youth was not a member of their organization and was misbehaving with the media to justify his assault.

He has also claimed that the youth was a BJP supporter. He did not provide any evidence for his claims.

Earlier in the evening, Rakesh Tikait had broken into tears claiming that the protests will go on and kept insisting that the laws must be repealed. He also threatened to commit suicide and also said that there was a conspiracy underway to murder farmers.

Multiple videos have gone viral on the internet where the farmer leader can be seen inciting violence. Despite his claiming that others were responsible for the violence, law enforcement authorities appear to have sufficient evidence of his involvement in the violence as he has been slapped with UAPA.

Sources claim Aroon Purie has stepped in to ‘manage’ the resignation of Rajdeep Sardesai, he may exit at a more ‘honourable’ time later

After speculations were rife that Rajdeep Sardesai has resigned from India Today after he was suspended for two weeks, new speculations say that it has been put on hold for some time.

According to insider sources from India Today, the group head Aroon Purie has stepped in to “manage” the resignation of the controversial journalist. Poorie is trying to “manage” the embarrassing situation both the media house and the controversial journalist are facing following he was caught spreading fake news multiple times in this week.

Sources say that as per this plan, Rajdeep Sardesai will stay on with India Today for the time being, and he will leave the network sometime in future, so that his resignation is not linked with the controversies he has created this week. According to sources, channel is unhappy with Rajdeep because he not only posted fake news about the death of a farmer protestor on 26th January in Delhi, but he also made statements on air making completely false allegations. He had said on air that he was shown the body of the farmer with bullet injury on the head.

Rajdeep Sardesai had claimed that the farmer was shot dead by Delhi police, while the fact is that he had died after his tractor had overturned while he was trying to do a stunt with the vehicle. It was confirmed by the video footage of the incident, accounts of journalists who witnessed the event, and the post-mortem report of the farmer. It was also reported that when the police had tried to rescue the farmer after the accident, they were prevented from doing so by the protestors, causing the death.

Not just this, Rajdeep Sardesai had invited lots of humiliation onto himself and the channel just a few days ago, when he had joined the fake controversy over the portrait of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. When the portrait was unveiled on 23rd January on the occasion of 125th birth anniversary of Netaji, a large number of opposition leaders and journalists had claimed that the portrait actually depicts actor Prosenjit Chatterjee, who had played the role of Bose in a movie. But later it was revealed that the portrait was based on a photograph of Bose, which was supplied by his grand-nephew. Rajdeep Sardesai was one of the journalists to spread the fake news on Twitter, along with others like Barkha Dutt, Sagarika Ghose, Rohini Singh etc.

With ED closing in on India Today over the fake TRP case, the channel may be looking for a more honourable time for the eventual exit of Sardesai. Therefore, the resignation of the journalist may be managed for the time being, according to the speculations.

News Minute publishes false information in the TRP manipulation case, corrects it after receiving legal notice from Republic TV

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Online news portal News Minute was forced to issue a corrigendum after Republic TV sent them a legal notice for spreading fake news on the TRP manipulation case. On 26th January, the portal had published a report on the ongoing case, quoting a BARC audit report on the issue.

The News Minute article by Sanyukta Dharmadhikari had said that BARC had found manipulation of ratings of Times Now and Republic TV. It claimed that the Times Now channel was removed from panels to bring down its viewership, to benefit Republic TV. The report also said that television viewership ratings were changed from 2016 to 2019 to favour certain channels.

The report had claimed that the audit report had determined fraud in viewership manipulation by BARC from email exchanges between former BARC CEO Partho Dasgupta and Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami. The report had said, Naming Partho Dasgupta and citing his exchanges with Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, the audit report states, “We can conclude that Mr Partho Dasgupta was aware of the manipulation of the ratings and violation of the processes that was happening in BARC during his stint as CEO. We can also infer that he may be directly involved in these mala-fide actions.”

However, now News Minute has said that their report had mistakenly stated that the BARC Audit report came to a conclusion on the basis of Partho Dasgupta’s exchanges with Arnab Goswami, and actually it was based on “Partho’s exchanges with several of his colleagues at BARC”. They have accordingly made changes to the report, and tweeted that the error is regrated.

After News Minute posted the regret for the error in their report, Republic TV posted a tweet informing that they did this after getting a legal notice from Republic. They informed that they have sent a legal notice to the porting over false reporting by News Minute “trying to falsely and maliciously concoct a story about findings on Mr Dasgupta to any specific “exchanges” with Mr Goswami.”

Earlier today, Republic TV had also filed a defamation suit against Times Now anchor Navika Kumar, and sent a legal notice to Indian Express, over their comments and reporting on the leaked WhatsApp chats of Arnab Goswami and Partho Dasgupta.

The report was also published in another portal Primetimes, which still carries the false in formation.

Republic TV files defamation suit against Times Now anchor Navika Kumar, sends notice to Indian Express. Details

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The ARG Outlier Media Pvt. Ltd, the parent company of news channel Republic TV has filed a defamation suit against Times Now anchor Navika Kumar for making defamatory statements against Republic TV and Arnab Goswami in connection with the Whatsapp chats related to ‘Fake TRP’ scam.

According to the reports, the defamation complaint was filed against Navika Kumar before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Patiala House court in Delhi.

The petition stated that Republic TV had taken exception to Kumar’s statements on January 18, 2021, on her show – Newshour. Navika had allegedly made false claims relating to Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami’s Whatsapp chats, which Republic TV said were distorted and misconstrued.

The plea alleged that Navika Kumar spewed reckless and grossly defamatory material and telecast the same on TV and published them on the internet. The complaint also stated that in an attempt to colour the public’s minds, Kumar accused the complainant of “building its success” on “TRP manipulation”.

“By misusing, misconstruing and distorting the documents from the Mumbai Police’s charge-sheet in the TRP Scam, mainly the WhatsApp Chats, and without regard to the matter being sub judice both before the lower courts at Mumbai and the Hon’ble Bombay High Court, the Accused Person has gone on a reckless spree to spew grossly defamatory material mentioned below that has been telecast, published, circulated and disseminated on the TV Channel Times Now as well as the internet in various portal such as the Youtube,” the complaint reads.

Navika Kumar made “rabid and unfounded claims” against Arnab Goswami, says the petition

The petition has alleged that Navika Kumar made “rabid and unfounded claims” accusing Republic TV chief Arnab Goswami of “endangering national security” and “leaking state secrets”.

The plea alleged that Navika Kumar was jealous and the defamatory content aired by her was a consequence of such professional jealousy. It mentions that Goswami had launched Times Now in 2006 and had taken it to the number 1 position in a year. It claimed that Times Now and Kumar are now harboring professional jealousy against Republic TV because of its success.

“The Accused is currently still part of the company Times Now. The said fact is in itself enough to show the motive of the Accused Persons to unnecessarily defame the Editor in chief of the complainant company and in turn to impact the reputation of the complainant company. It is in fact for the reason that the Complainant company in itself has now gathered attraction that the Accused is jealous and the lack of ability of the Accused to match the success of the Complainant company, has caused this defamatory show to be aired,” the petition said.

Although Article 19 (a) of the Constitution guarantees freedom of expression but clause 2 puts an embargo on derogatory speech, it is argued.

The petition says that Navika Kumar had falsely claimed that Republic TV had access to unauthorized official secrets to the Balakot airstrikes before the strikes took place. It says that many media outlets had published reports speculating a major retaliation by India after the Pulwama attacks and there was a lot of public discussion over the same.

Republic TV sends legal notice to Indian Express for story on Arnab Goswami

Earlier, Republic TV had slapped a legal notice to left-wing media outlet Indian Express for its story titled ‘Arnab Goswami paid me $12,000 and Rs 40 lakh to fix ratings: Partho Dasgupta’.

In its notice, Republic TV had accused Indian Express of carrying out malafide, vicious and vexatious campaign to tarnish the reputation of its Editor-in-Chief, Arnab Goswami.

“Despite the pendency of the matter before a court of law, which is well known to you, the above news report has attributed guilt to our client in relation to the alleged TRP scam. The news report has sought to impute guilt on our client without paying any heed to the true facts and to the indeterminacy of the issues and pending court action by our client before the Hon’ble Bombay High Court”, read the notice.

Republic further accused Indian Express of manipulating its readers with ‘squarely deliberate and mischievous’ headlines.

Republic TV asked Indian Express to cease and desist from publishing such news and demanded an unconditional apology and a proposal on monetary compensation for the news report.

Speculations rife, Rajdeep Sardesai quits India Today after channel took him off air for spreading fake news

Hours after India Today put its Consulting Editor Rajdeep Sardesai off-air for two weeks over spreading fake news during the Tractor Rally riots, he has reportedly quit the channel. According to sources, Rajdeep Sardesai was found guilty of spreading two major fake news in just one week, after which he was suspended for two weeks by the media house.

Earlier in the day, media reports suggested that he was taken off-air by India Today and also faced one-month salary cut. Reportedly, India Today has taken the unprecedented step to penalise the senior journalist violated social media policies of the media house several times.

Sources claim that termed his suspension and salary cut a big humiliation for him, and he decided to submit his resignation from India Today. However, in the absence of any official confirmation from either India Today or Rajdeep Sardesai, this remains a speculation.

On Republic Day, during the Tractor Rally that went violent, Sardesai had tweeted an image of the protestor Navneet and declared that he was shot at by Delhi Police. He had tweeted, “one person, 45-year-old Navneet killed allegedly in police firing at ITO.” In a bid to pump up emotions, he had added, “Farmers tell me: the ‘sacrifice’ will not go in vain.” He had also tweeted a picture of the deceased’s body covered in the Indian tricolour.

Rajdeep Sardesai’s now-deleted tweet

However, Navneet had died after the tractor he was driving to break police barricades turned turtle. He died instantly, as per reports. After it was pointed out to him on Twitter, he had deleted the tweet.

Rajdeep Sardesai did not stop there. Later, when he went live on India Today, he repeated the lie and said that the farmer was shot in the head by police. He claimed that Navneet Singh was driving the tractor and he was “shot in the head” and suffered a bullet injury that resulted in his death.

Earlier on 23rd January, Sardesai had also joined to accuse the President of India of unveiling the wrong portrait of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. After the official Twitter handle of the Rashtrapati Bhavan had posted the image of portrait on the occasion of 125th birth anniversary of the freedom fighter, several journalists and opposition leaders had alleged that the portrait was of actor Prosenjit Chatterjee, who had played the role of Bose in a movie. But later it was revealed that the portrait was based on a photograph of Bose, which was supplied by his grand-nephew. Rajdeep Sardesai was one of the journalists to spread the fake news on Twitter, along with others like Barkha Dutt, Sagarika Ghose, Rohini Singh etc.

‘Kiran ki na ka matlab?’ UP Police gets innovative while spreading awareness about consent of women

As the reports of crime against women continue to emerge from Uttar Pradesh, the UP police have decided to taken an innovative approach to spread awareness on the issue. The Twitter handle of UP Police has been very active in recent times, using popular themes to spread awareness on various issues.

Today they decided to spread awareness about respecting the opinion of women, and used the reference from 90s hit movie Darr. Using a clip of the song ‘tu ha kar ya na kar tu hai meri Kiran’, the Twitter handle asked, ‘Kiran ki na ka matlab?’ (the meaning of Kiran’s no?). The answer was also given in the video clip, in a form of a dialogue by Amitabh Bachchan from the movie Pink, where he says, ‘No means no’.

The message here the UP is trying to spread that, when a woman says no to advances made by a man, that man should taking it as a final answer, and stop chasing her. It is not correct to keep stalking a woman even after she has said ‘no’ to a proposal.

The 1993 movie Darr featuring Shahrukh Khan, Juhi Chawla and Sunny Deol revolved around the same theme, where Rahul (played by Shahrukh) an obsessive lover of Kiran (played by Juhi), continued to follow and stalk her even after marriage with Sunil (Sunny).

While other movies in that time had glorified such stalking as pure love, where the ‘love’ was shown to win at the end, Darr was different as Rahul was portrayed as villain in the movie. In the climax, Rahul tried to forcefully marry Kiran after stabbing her husband, but he was eventually killed by Sunil.

Therefore, the choice of the movie is perfect to conveying the message of ‘no mean no’ in the awareness campaign on violence against women. Yesterday, the UP police had used a clip from the movie Sholay to spread a message on road safety. Just a week ago, they had similarly used another clip from Sholay to spread awareness against spiting in public places.

It is notable here that police forces in different states have been finding unique ways to promote awareness among the public on issues ranging from traffic rules, masks, social distancing and covid restrictions. Last year, police officials in Chennai were seen wearing ‘coronavirus helmets’ to educate people about social distancing and lockdown rules.

‘You are a Dalal and a part of Godi Media’: Protestors confront Rajdeep Sardesai

‘Journalist’ Rajdeep Sardesai, who is currently in the dock for attempting to incite violence on the streets by peddling blatant fake news about the death of a rioter in Delhi during the Republic Day tractor rally, had to face a massive embarrassment after protestors confronted him and referred to him as a ‘Dalal’ or a broker and accused him of being a part of the ‘Godi media’.

As seen in a recent undated video going viral on social media, TV anchor Rajdeep Sardesai is seen in a heated argument with some farmer protestors, reportedly gathered in Delhi. We cannot confirm the date and time of the video.

Rajdeep Sardesai had to face massive humiliation after the protestors started heckling and abusing him. A video has gone viral on the social media platforms, in which one can see how protestors heckled Rajdeep Sardesai and called him ‘Dalal’.

Ironically, the protestors also accused Rajdeep Sardesai of being part of the ‘Godi media’ network.

The term ‘Godi Media’ is widely used by pro-Congress media persons, left-wing trolls and opposition leaders against journalists and media houses who do not toe the Congress line.

Here is the video where Rajdeep Sardesai was left red-faced by the protestors, who shouted to him saying, “Ye Dalal hai. Ye Godi Media hai(he is a broker, he is Godi media)”.

Heckled by the protestors, Rajdeep Sardesai was seen responding to the crowd saying, “Do not tell me, my face is my mirror. I have no problem…I am a journalist”.

Rajdeep Sardesai taken-off air for spreading fake news?

As per reports, India Today has decided to take Rajdeep Sardesai off the air for two weeks after peddling fake news about a rioter’s death during the tractor rally, as per reports.

Many portals have reported that India Today has taken the step to penalise the senior journalist after he violated the media house’s social media policies several times. The media house is also reportedly cutting his salary for one month.

On January 26, Rajdeep Sardesai had deliberately lied not once but twice about the death of a rioter Navneet Singh. Sardesai had claimed that Navneet Singh, a farmer, had been killed in police firing. Sardesai made the claims both on Twitter and on air. He asserted that Singh has been shot in the head. Despite his blatant lie without any evidence, he even went ahead to garnish it, claiming that the protestors are now angry due to the police’ brutal act (of shooting a protestor on the head), and the protests may now turn violent.

Contrary to the false claims made by Rajdeep Sardesai, the post-mortem report in the case has confirmed that the man died due to the accident he had faced in his tractor. According to the post mortem details, the rioter died during the tractor rally succumbing to the antemortem injuries he received after his tractor turned turtle. CCTV videos of the incidents were also released by the police where it was clearly visible that Singh was crushed under his own tractor when it turned turtle after trying to hit a barricade at high speed.

In the video of the incident, it was seen that Navdeep was rushing towards the barricades at high speed, and the vehicle flipped. He had got buried under the vehicle, and when police officers tried to rescue him, other protesters had allegedly prevented them for rescuing him. The protestor died on the spot after suffering critical injuries.

‘We have no other money’, Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy offer their NDTV shares as security in lieu of deposit against SEBI penalty

After NDTV promoters Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy were ordered to pay penalty by Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) for wrongful gains they made in insider trading, they have offered their shares in NDTV as security for the penalty. Roys submitted the offer at the Supreme Court on Thursday, after which the apex court ordered a valuation of the shares. On January 11, SAT had asked them to deposit 50% of the unfair gain amount with SEBI in four weeks, after they had appealed against a SEBI order in the issue.

Appearing for the petitioners, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi said that the petitioners are offering the shares as they have no other money. He also termed the SEBI order “hopelessly barred by time”, as the transaction has taken place in 2007 while the notice for the same was issued in 2018. When the court asked how much security they are willing to give, the advocate replied, “I can give an undertaking that I will not transfer any portion of my shareholding in NDTV without the permission of the tribunal. I have no other money. I have no other resources. This security, in terms of my shares and their value on the stock exchange, is much more than the amount of money in question, more than 15 crores.”

He also said that it is a matter of 10 days, as the matter is expected to be heard by SAT on February 11. The CJI said that the court understands the problem, but without depositing some security, the SAT will not hear the matter.

When the supreme court asked the value of the shares being offered as security, the advocate of the petitioners said it was more than the entire penalty amount, more than Rs 15 crore. But the court wanted definite figures and not vague estimates. On this, Rohatgi’s instructing counsel, Advocate Fereshte Sethna informed the court that there are around 50 lakh shares which were trading at Rs.37 this morning on the stock exchange, which comes to around Rs 18 crore in total valuation.

Rohatgi also termed NDTV as a “struggling channel”, claiming that the channel is hit very badly.

The bench recorded the submission of advocate Mukul Rohatgi that he has undertaken to submit a statement of the shares along with their value to the court, which the petitioners have agreed to offer as security in lieu of the deposit amount ordered by the Tribunal.

NDTV founders Prannoy Roy and his wife, Radhika Roy had filed an appeal with SAT against a SEBI order passed in November, barring the couple from trading in the securities market for two years, and directing them to return the illegal gain of Rs 16.97 crore they had made from the insider trading more than 12 years ago.

According to an investigation conducted by SEBI, the two had violated the Prohibition of Insider Trading (PIT) Regulations. They are accused of possessing Unpublished Price Sensitive Information (UPSI) during 2007-2008 relating to discussion on reorganization of New Delhi Television Ltd.

Besides the duo, India’s capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has also found the media network’s CEO Vikramaditya Chandra, senior advisor Ishwari Prasad Bajpai, group CFO Saurav Banerjee guilty of making undue gain from insider trading.

Canadian MPs urge PM Justin Trudeau to officially condemn China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims

Canadian MPs have been demanding that Justin Trudeau led Canadian government takes a formal stand against the treatment of Uyghur Muslims in China. On Wednesday, International Day in Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust, they stepped up their efforts and urged that independent investigation needs to be carried out.

Canadian MP Garnett Genuis said that Canada must recognise and respond to this genocide. “Independent investigations have already been conducted. There are survivor testimony, satellite imagery and leaked Chinese government data. The evidence is clear. The investigations have been done. The victims have testified. The government should believe them. Why is the Prime Minister still sitting on the fence and refusing to answer question and recognise this genocide,” he said while addressing the House of Commons via video link.

Responding to this, Prime Minister Trudeau said that his government takes the allegations of genocide extremely seriously. He claimed that the Canadian government is “following the right processes to establish our point of view and our official position on this subject.”

In October 2020, the Canadian House of Commons subcommittee on international human rights concluded that genocide existed.“In light of the testimonies it gathered during its hearings in 2018 and 2020, the subcommittee is convinced that the actions of the Chinese Communist Party constitute genocide under the terms of the Genocide Convention,” the report read.

Apparently, this observation ‘provoked’ Beijing. Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zhao Lijian and dismissed these observations as ‘baseless’ and ‘full of lies and misinformation’ and claimed it was ignorance and prejudice of Canadians.

Earlier this month, the outgoing Trump administration in the United State of America declared the treatment of the Uyghur Muslims in China as ‘genocide’. Condemning mass repression, former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused China of imprisoning, torturing and carrying out forced sterilisation against Uyghurs, a Muslim minority group.

Earlier, the US Department of State had estimated that up to two million Uyghurs as well as members of other Muslim minority community have been detained across intermittent camps in the region. A report by CNN states that camp detainees face food and sleep deprivation and forced injections. Further, some Uyghur women were forced to use birth control and undergo forced sterilisation as a part of deliberate attempt to bring down population of the minority.

China, however, has denied the atrocities and human rights abuse. It claims that these steps are important to curb religious extremism and terrorism in an area which is home to about 11 million Uyghurs.