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Capitol Hill riot fallout: Deutsche Bank and Signature Bank pulls back from doing business with Donald Trump

OpIndia Staff
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Capitol Hill riot fallout: Deutsche Bank and Signature Bank pulls back from doing business with Donald Trump

Following the storming of Capitol Hill, two of Donald Trump’s favoured banks have decided that they will no longer do business with the billionaire.

Deutsche Bank to desist from doing business with Trump

As reported by Bloomberg, Deutsche Bank AG would desist from being involved in further business with Trump and his company, said a person privy to the details of the matter on condition of anonymity. Trump currently owes more than $300 million to the Frankfurt-based bank.

The bank further noted that there was no other way to severe the relationship with Donald Trump before the loans become due in the next few years, other than forgiving the huge sum, The NYTimes reported.

Deutsche Bank has been associated with Trump since the late 1990s and had lent more than $2 billion in the two years to November 2020. According to the reports, the bank was growing weary of the serious collateral damage it was enduring from the bad press resulting from its relationship with the embattled US president.

Last month, Deutsche Bank had announced that Trump’s long time banker had resigned. Rosemary Vrablic was the point of contact between the US president and the German lender that lent hundreds of millions of dollars of loans to Trump’s company over the last several years. Because of the relationship, the lender was subjected to pressure and coercion for information during Trump’s presidency.

Signature Bank snaps ties with the outgoing US President Donald Trump

Besides Deutsche Bank, New York-headquartered Signature Bank, that has long catered to Trump’s family, announced that it is snapping ties with the US President while insisting that he must resign from his constitutional position. Signature is all set to close down two personal accounts in which Trump has held about $5.3 million, a spokesperson for the bank said.

“We believe the most appropriate action would be the resignation of the US President, which is in the best interests of our nation and the American people,” the bank said in a statement on Monday.

The suspension of ties with the US President comes on the heels of social media giants and other companies severing their relationship with Donald Trump after he spurred attendees at a rally to march on the Capitol, where they stormed the building and disrupted the certification of the electoral college vote. At least 5 people died in the ensuing chaos and its aftermath.

Signature Bank had close association not just with Trump but others close to him such Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner and Michael Cohen. A decade ago, the bank appointed Ivanka on its board, but she resigned two years later.

“We have never before commented on any political matter and hope to never do so again,” the statement released by Signature Bank said. The bank further added it won’t do any business with the members of Congress who voted to disregard the electoral college.

Amidst border standoff with India, China sets up major military logistics hub in Tibet. Read details

OpIndia Staff
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Amidst border standoff with India, China sets up major military logistics hub in Tibet. Read details

In a new development, China has been setting up a new military logistics hub in Xigatse region of Tibet, amidst the ongoing border standoff with India along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), as per reports.

As per reports, this was revealed by new satellite imagery, which showed that China was undertaking infrastructure development, enhancing connectivity in Xigatse to further its operations. An open-source intelligence analyst (@detresfa)uploaded the images on Twitter. The satellite images discovered a military support building, surface-to-air missile site, fuel dump, a new railway line and a terminal.

Besides, the images also captured an underground facility, comprising of two tunnel entrances. According to security analyst Sim Tack, the facility could be used for storing missile systems. As per a report in Hindustan Times, Tack emphasised that China is undertaking massive infrastructure upgrades in Tibet along the LAC, starting from Aksai Chin to Arunachal Pradesh.

New structures coming up everyday, say experts

Tack said, “All of these logistical upgrades, including the construction of rail connectivity and utilities, appear to be aimed at quickly moving large numbers of forces within Tibet and from other parts of China to Tibet.” Sim Tack pointed out that while China had earlier been upgrading its forward positions in Aksai Chin region, the new satellite images provided evidence of the development of logistical facilities. He added that new structures are coming up every day in Tibet, many of which are concentrated near Golmund in Qinghai province.

The Communist regime in China is also planning to extend the railway line from the Xigatse railway station all the way up to Nepal for the rapid movement of its military hardware and troops. Reports had also claimed that China has also been setting up villages in uninhabited areas along the disputed borders with Bhutan and India.

Expansonist policies of China

While China denies being expansionist, the country has actually been inventing new territorial claim against other countries. At the 58th meeting of the Global Environment Facility Council last year, China tried to oppose funding to a project for the Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary in Bhutan claiming that it was “disputed” territory. China claimed this despite the fact that there is no history of dispute over the area, and the Wildlife Sanctuary is located far away from China-Bhutan border.

In fact, areas of Arunachal Pradesh lies between the border and the forest area. Bhutan had strongly opposed this claim by China, and other countries also supported Bhutan in the matter, but China still insisted that it should be recorded that China had opposed the funding. Similarly, China has started a new dispute with Russia over Vladivostok, the Pacific port city in eastern Russia. Chinese officials slammed Russian embassy officials in China this week for celebrating 160th founding anniversary of the city, saying that the area originally belonged to China.

Chinese diplomats, journalists, and internet users launched an online attack on Russian embassy officials on Weibo and other Chinese social media sites, just because the Russian city belonged to China centuries ago. The Primorsky Krai territory and its capital Vladivostok were part of the Qing’s Manchurian homeland but was annexed by Russia during the Tsar empire in 1860 following China’s defeat at the hands of Britain and France in the second opium war.

Jharkhand: Woman beheaded, body left naked, Police seeks public help in nabbing prime accused Sheikh Bilal in Ormanjhi case

OpIndia Staff
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Jharkhand: Woman beheaded, body left naked, Police seeks public help in nabbing prime accused Sheikh Bilal in Ormanjhi case

Ranchi Police on Monday released photograph of Bilal Khan alias Sheikh Bilal, the prime accused in the horrifying Ormanjhi rape and murder case.

On January 3, a headless body of a naked woman was found. The police searched the area for her head but it was not found. In a breakthrough, the cops got to know of a couple in Chatwal village in Chanto block whose daughter had been missing since a month and a half. Upon investigation, the police found that the missing girl had burn marks on her leg which she had sustained while cooking.

The injury marks matched the headless body. Following that, the police took the DNA sample of the couple and matched with the body recovered.

The mother of the girl informed that she was living with Bilal in Chandwe village. Their relationship had turned sour and after a fight, she had gone missing. Initial reports suspected that she may have been sexually abused before being murdered. Reports are still awaited on the same.

A case under section 302, 324, 201 and 120(B) of the Indian Penal Code has been registered against him. As per reports, he had recently come out of the jail and is currently absconding. The police has put up his posters and have sought public help in nabbing him. A reward of Rs 5 lakh has been announced.

Ahead of immunisation drive, first batch of Covishield vaccines departs from Pune to Delhi. Read details

OpIndia Staff
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Ahead of immunisation drive, first batch of Covishield vaccines departs from Pune to Delhi. Read details

In a major development, the first consignment of Covishield (Oxford-AstraZeneca) vaccines has left for the National Capital from Serum Institute of India (SII) in Pune. The consignment has reached Delhi just now.

As per reports, the vaccines were carried by a Spicejet flight (SG 8937), which departed from Pune’s Lohegaon Aiport at 8 am and will reach Delhi by 10:15 am. It is important to note that several flights will ferry Covisheild vaccines to 13 locations across India, including Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Karnal, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Guwahati, Lucknow, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh and Bhubaneswar. The vaccines for Mumbai will be transported via road.

The vaccines were ferried out of the SII’s campus before 5 am by three temperature-controlled trucks. Reportedly, a puja was also performed before the trucks departed for the airport. The vehicles, owned by Kool-ex Cold Chain Ltd, carried a total of 478 boxes of vaccines, each weighing about 32 kg.

The Indian government will begin the first phase of its vaccination programme, starting from January 16. During the vaccination drive, a total of 30 million frontline workers, including health care workers, government employees, police and other civic bodies.

DGCA guidelines on packaging and transport of Coronavirus vaccines

On Friday, the Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued guidelines for the transportation of Coronavirus vaccines. It had stated that all airport authorities and airline must package the consignment with refrigerated material and dry ice to keep the temperature range between -8° C to -70° C. At the same time, DGCA reiterated that all operators carrying dangerous goods are permitted to carry the Covisheild vaccines.

Serum Institute receives purchase order for 11 million doses

The Serum Institute on India on Monday said it has received purchased order from the Centre for the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, news agency ANI quoted SII officials as confirming. The officials further said that the vaccine would be available at Rs 200 per vial. SII has been manufacturing the Covishield vaccine in its facility in Pune, which is the world’s largest vaccine manufacturing plant.

According to the report published by Reuters, the Indian government will now be buying 11 million doses of Serum Institute of India’s Oxford Covid-19 vaccine ‘Covishield’ via HLL Care. The report further mentioned that the government has inked a purchase agreement with Bharat Biotech for its COVID-19 vaccine as well. The Indian government plans to procure 600 million doses for India’s vaccination blitz that aims to inoculate 300 million citizens over the next six to eight months, the Reuters report said.

‘We won’t appear before Supreme Court’s appointed committee’: Farmers groups reject apex court’s suggestion

OpIndia Staff
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‘We won’t appear before Supreme Court’s appointed committee’: Farmers groups reject apex court’s suggestion

The Supreme Court had yesterday asked for appointing a committee to resolve the deadlock between the Central government and farmers groups over recently enacted Agriculture laws. However, the farmers’ groups have rejected the offer and said that they would not appear in the Supreme Court-appointed committee’s proceedings. They said that the Central government’s attitude in the court on Monday had made it clear they will not repeal the three laws.

Collectively and individually not willing to participate

Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) had issued a statement on Monday night that the organizations welcomed the apex court’s suggestions to stay the implementation of the Agriculture laws. However, they will not appear in any proceedings before a committee appointed by the court. “Looking to the attitude and approach of the Government which made it clear before the court today repeatedly that they will not agree to the discussion for repeal before the committee,” the statement added.

Union leaders had discussed the pros and cons of the committee with the lawyers representing the farmers in the court and decided to reject the suggestion. They had expressed disappointment in their statement that the court has decided to pronounce the order on Tuesday without any further consultation.

In its statement, the unions said that their lawyers had requested the apex court to fix hearing on Tuesday so that they can consult the organizations and seek consent to the suggestions. “We have been told that no such hearing has been fixed for tomorrow as per the cause list already published for tomorrow till 9 p.m. and that only the matters are listed for pronouncements for order by the Hon’ble Court. These events have deeply disappointed us, our lawyers and also farmers at large,” the statement added.

The committee is a delaying tactic: Darshan Pal

Krantikari Kisan Union President Darshan Pal alleged that the committee is a delaying tactic of the union government. He said that the protests are against the government and it should face the wrath of the people. Earlier, BKU(Ekta Ugrahan) had said that they only want to get the laws repealed.

Agriculture minister refused to comment

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar refused to comment on the proceedings of the Supreme Court and said, “The matter of farm laws is before the Supreme Court and I don’t find it necessary to comment on it. The next round of talks with the farmers is scheduled for Jan 15, I hope we will find a solution.”

”It is a result of two decades of deliberations” – Central government said in the affidavit

On Monday evening, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare had submitted an affidavit in the Supreme Court after the hearing on the Agriculture Laws was concluded. In the affidavit, the Centre said that the Acts had received wide acceptance across the country. Some farmers and others were objecting to the reforms and demanded to repeal the laws. The demand is neither justifiable nor acceptable.

The court had earlier said that the central government had enacted the laws without much consultation and consideration. As a reply to the remarks made by the court, the central government had said that the Farm Laws are the result of two decades of deliberations. The government said that there is a wrong perception created by non-farmer elements about the laws that need to be cleared.

It states:

  • The legislations are not hurriedly made but are a result of two decades of deliberations;
  • The farmers of the nation are happy as they are given an additional option over and above the existing and, therefore, no vested right is taken away.
  • The Central Government has done its best to engage with the farmers to remove any misapprehensions or misgivings in the minds of the farmers, and no efforts have been found lacking.

Farmers are misguided, says govt

In the affidavit, the government has alleged that some of the farmers are agitating against the laws because of the apprehensions, misconceptions and misgivings created by some people with vested interests. The affidavit also presented a timeline of events regarding how the union government had tried to engage with the farmer groups, but it was not fruitful.

In the affidavit, the government said that on some occasions the representatives who came to attend the meeting came with the placards of “yes” and “no” [for repeal of the laws] and did not discuss anything about the laws. On other occasions, they remained silent and did not speak a word during the discussion. “They only wanted repeal of the laws and no discussions,” the affidavit said.

Agitation is limited to only one place

In the affidavit, the Centre said that majority of the farmers are finding the Agriculture Laws progressive and in their interest, as they will have more option to sell their crops. Thus, the agitation by some farmers cannot be treated as the reflection from the whole farmers’ community.

Centre had discussed the laws in May

CJI SA Bobde earlier had raised questions over the consultative process carried out before passing the laws. In the affidavit, the government mentioned a meeting that was held on May 21, 2020. The meeting was held by the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers’ Welfare in which officials of 13 States and Union Territories were present. They provided feedback on the legal framework for the barrier-free inter-state trade in agriculture produce. The Centre said, “Government of India has been, thus, actively and intensively engaging with the States for about two decades to achieve the aforesaid objectives of reforms to provide an accessible and barrier-free market system for better price realization but states either showed reluctance to adopt the reforms in true spirit or made partial or cosmetic reforms.”

Here is why the US state department declared a premature end to Donald Trump’s presidency, and it’s not impeachment

OpIndia Staff
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Here is why the US state department declared a premature end to Donald Trump’s presidency, and it’s not impeachment

A surreal few days have become even more extraordinary. A website of the United States Department said that the presidency of Donald Trump came to an end on the 11th of January, 2020, nine days before the swearing in of Joe Biden as President. The page of Vice President was altered in a similar manner.

A message appeared on the biography page of the US President saying, “Donald J. Trump’s term ended on 2021-01-11 19:22:18.”

A screenshot of the State Department website saying the presidency of Donald Trump had ended
A screenshot of the State Department website saying the presidency of Donald Trump had ended

The bizarre incident occurred at a time when Democrats in the US House of Representatives announced that they will be moving forward with impeachment for a second time and it could happen as early as Wednesday. Calls have been made for the 25th Amendment to be evoked as well without much headway in that regard. According to Buzzfeed News, a disgruntled employee was responsible for the alteration and an internal investigation has been initiated into the matter.

A diplomat is reported to have said that it is a “closed system” that is “nearly impossible to hack”. However, it is also said the investigation could be a challenge as many people have access to the content management system currently in use. The incident has sparked quite the clamour on social media with people commenting that it an inexcusable error and a felony if intentional.

A screenshot of the State Department website saying the presidency of Donald Trump and the tenure of Mike Pence as VP had ended
The page of VP Mike Pence

Especially under current circumstances, with tempers running high, it could lead to serious consequences for those responsible if it indeed was the work of a ‘disgruntled employee’. Since the storming of Capitol Hill by Trump supporters, tech giants have engaged in massive censorship and Donald Trump himself has been removed from the platforms.

Facebook is not neutral: Stunning admission by Instagram head amid Donald Trump censorship row

OpIndia Staff
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Facebook is not neutral: Stunning admission by Instagram head amid Donald Trump censorship row

Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, has admitted that Facebook is not a neutral platform and has its political biases. The admission comes at a time when there is a growing consensus that Facebook and other tech giants removed Donald Trump from their platforms based on their personal political biases. Instagram is owned by Facebook.

Head of Instagram admits Facebook is not a neutral platform
Head of Instagram admits Facebook is not a neutral platform

In response to a tweet that claimed that Facebook was undermined by its penchant towards appearing neutral, the head of Instagram said, “We’re not neutral. No platform is neutral, we all have values and those values influence the decisions we make. We try and be apolitical, but that’s increasingly difficult, particularly in the US where people are more and more polarized.”

The discussion occurred over an announcement by Facebook Vice-President Nick Clegg that civil rights attorney Roy L. Austin Jr. had been appointed as the first VP of Civil Rights at the company. Austin has previously worked for the Obama administration. Clegg said that Austin will establish Facebook’s new civil rights team.

The honest admission comes at a time when tech giants are engaging in censorship of Donald Trump and his aides, including his supporters. Amazon, Google and Apple together pushed Parler, an alternative social media platform committed to Freedom of Speech, offline after Donald Trump opened an account there after being banned from everywhere else.

Tech giants have been trying hard to maintain the pretense that such extravagant censorship measures were necessitated by the recent riots at Capitol Hill but the consensus is that it has gone too far. And now, after the admission by Adam Mosseri, it will become even harder to deny that the actions were motivated by personal political biases since all these platforms did absolutely nothing when left-wing mobs were burning down businesses and prominent individuals in the mainstream media and Democrat party were instigating the mob and justifying the riots.

PM Modi warns politicians not to jump queues for Covid vaccine but wait for their turn, warns against fake news and rumours

OpIndia Staff
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PM Modi warns politicians not to jump queues for Covid vaccine but wait for their turn, warns against fake news and rumours

At a meeting with state Chief Ministers ahead of the Coronavirus vaccine rollout, PM Narendra Modi emphasised on Monday that politicians should not jump queue to take the vaccine but wait for their turn. He said that the government has prepared a priority list for the first phase of vaccination and underscored that the plan be followed to the tee. He said that no political leaders, at any cost, should misuse their privilege to skip lines to procure the COVID-19 vaccines for themselves or their family and relatives.

He said that the priority list will be headed by one crore health workers and two crore frontline workers like the police, civil defense personnel and sanitation workers, for whom the vaccines will be free. The other high-risk groups, people above the age of 50 years and those below it who have co-morbidities like diabetes and hypertension, will also be vaccinated in this phase, starting January 16. Overall, 30 crore people will receive the vaccine in this phase.

Addressing the rumours floating around the efficacy of the “Made in India” vaccines, the PM said that the call for vaccination process to begin has been taken after “scientific validation” and their final opinion. He advised people to refrain from spreading false information and fake news regarding the vaccines.

“All States and UTs must ensure that rumours around the vaccination programme are not allowed to spread. Corporate competition and vested interests of certain lobbies within and outside the country may be at work to fuel the rumours,” PM Modi said.

He also said that both the vaccines, Covishield and Covaxin, are “more cost-effective”, adding that dependency on foreign vaccines could have been costly for us.

Proud that India will start the world’s largest vaccination programme from January 16: PM Modi

PM Modi said that while the opposition was taking a dig at him that India is sleeping while other nations have been vaccinating its people, Modi said that he was proud that India will start the world’s largest vaccination programme from January 16.

He alluded that in the coming few months almost 30 crore people in India would be vaccinated and India has taken several measures in the past few months to ensure a smooth and uninterrupted vaccination process. “We will be setting a precedence for the rest of the world, which will in future, adopt similar measure like India”, said PM Narendra Modi.

He congratulated the CMs of the states during the virtual meet by saying: “I’m satisfied that we worked together by standing united in COVID crisis, quick decisions were taken with full sensitivity. As a result, COVID has not spread in India on the scale, on which it spread anywhere else in the world.”

Digital platform named Co-Win has been created for Covid-19 vaccine registration and monitoring, said PM Modi

Modi informed that the most important aspect of this vaccination campaign is the identification and monitoring of those who have to be vaccinated. For this, a digital platform named Co-Win has been created using modern technology. “We’ve made necessary preparations for patients if the COVID vaccine shows any side-effects. We already have a mechanism under the Universal Immunization Programme for situations such as these. We’ve strengthened it specifically for COVID vaccination”, said Modi in the virtual meeting today.

Apart from the two already approved vaccines, four others are in the pipeline, informed the PM.

Modi on bird flu

PM Modi also interacted with the chief ministers over the bird flu crisis that has been confirmed in nine states, including Kerala, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Maharashtra, as of now.

Twitter stock stumbles after banning Donald Trump as leaders around the world criticise the decision

OpIndia Staff
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Twitter stock stumbles after banning Donald Trump as leaders around the world criticise the decision

Twitter shares fell by as much as 10% on Monday during premarket trading after banning US President Donald Trump from the platform on Friday evening. Since then, the shares have shown signs of recovery as the price rose by a fair amount and as of the time of writing this report, the fall has been reduced to 7.42%.

Twitter shares stumbled on Monday
Twitter shares stumbled on Monday

While the share prices show a declining trend over the past few months, the fall on Monday could not be missed. The fall was steep.

The fall in prices of Twitter shares was steep
The fall in prices of Twitter shares was steep

The downward slump, in fact, started on the 5th of January before the steep fall on Monday.

Twitter shares show a downward trend since the 5th of January
Twitter shares show a downward trend since the 5th of January

“After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” Twitter had said.

Leaders across the world are condemning the manner in which Trump’s account was suspended by the platform. The spokesperson of German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the leader considers the decision “problematic”.

The fundamental right to freedom of opinion, according to spokesperson Steffen Seibert, “can be intervened in, but according to the law and within the framework defined by legislators — not according to a decision by the management of social media platforms.” “Seen from this angle, the chancellor considers it problematic that the accounts of the U.S. president have now been permanently blocked.”

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who leans towards the Left himself, said, “How can you censor someone? Let’s see, I, as the judge of the Holy Inquisition, will punish you because I think what you’re saying is harmful? Where is the law, where is the regulation, what are the norms? This is an issue of government. This is not an issue for private companies.”

Elected representatives in India as well have condemned the censorship by Big Tech. BJP MP Tejasvi Surya has called for regulations in light of the incident. There is growing consensus across the board that censorship has gone way too far in light of recent events.

From unleashing a dog on his wife to molesting Ugandan women in Delhi: AAP MLA Somnath Bharti’s history of allegations of abuse

OpIndia Staff
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From unleashing a dog on his wife to molesting Ugandan women in Delhi: AAP MLA Somnath Bharti’s history of allegations of abuse

Earlier this morning, AAP MLA Somnath Bharti flew into a rage and dished out a death threat to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath after an unidentified person hurled ink at him while he was haranguing police officers who had detained him in a guesthouse.

Bharti had reached the guesthouse last night and was all set to visit government schools in Uttar Pradesh’s Rae Bareli when the police officers stopped him moving out. A heated altercation ensued wherein Bharti threatened the police officers of getting them sacked from their jobs.

As Bharti continued badgering the police officers to let him visit the government schools, an unknown man hurled ink at the AAP leader and managed to escape away. The incident raised Somnath’s hackles and he resorted to issuing threats to UP CM Yogi Adityanath.

“Nothing is going to happen from this. Yogi Adityanath’s death is assured. You have helped the attacker escape. You need to understand this. Tell Yogi Adityanath he would not achieve anything from such attacks,” said Somnath Bharti while giving a mouthful to police officers.

Apparently, Bharti, along with senior AAP leaders such as Arvind Kejriwal and Sanjay Singh, alleged that the attack was carried out at the behest of UP CM Yogi Adityanath, who was afraid of the AAP MLA’s visit to the government schools that would ‘expose’ to halt the AAP MLA from ‘exposing’ the state of government schools in Uttar Pradesh.

Bharti was sent to judicial custody for 14 days after he was seen misbehaving with on-duty police officers and issuing death threats to UP CM Yogi Adityanath.

Nevertheless, this is not the first time that AAP leader Somnath Bharti has embroiled himself in an avoidable controversy. There have been several incidents in the past when the Malviya Nagar MLA has got himself in hot water and embarrassed himself and his party.

Bharti and his dog accused of domestic violence by wife Lipika

The former Law Minister of Delhi, Somnath Bharti and his pet dog ‘Don’ were accused of domestic violence by his wife Lipika in 2015. She had then alleged that Somnath Bharti had unleashed dogs on her when she was pregnant and inflicted on her grave mental and physical torture. Lipika had alleged that Don had bitten her on the directions of her husband Somnath Bharti.

Additionally, she had also alleged in her complaint to the Delhi Women Commission that Bharti had forced her to go for abortion when she had become pregnant for the third time and she had once tried to give up her life by slitting her wrist to end the ceaseless torture meted out by Bharti on her.

In her complaint, Lipika had levelled serious charges against Somnath Bharti, accusing him of domestic violence, mental torture, dowry and forgery against him. The couple had reportedly met on Shaadi.com and Bharti had allegedly lied to her that he owned an international law firm, the complaint mentioned.

After a complaint was lodged, Somnath Bharti and his pet dog ‘Don’ was summoned to appear before the police at Dwarka North police station.

However, a city court gave Don a clean chit the same year, stating that the allegation of the canine biting Lipika was unfounded.

Khirki extension raid: Court orders framing of molestation charges against Somnath Bharti

In July 2018, a Delhi court ordered framing of charges against former Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti in connection with his alleged involvement in the 2014 midnight raid at Khirki Extension in New Delhi.

The charges were framed for the offences of molestation, assault, threat, promoting enmity, rioting and others under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The charges under sections 147/149 (rioting), 354 (molestation), 354C (voyeurism), 342 (wrongful confinement), 506 (criminal intimidation), 143 (unlawful assembly), 509 (outraging a woman’s modesty), 153A (promoting enmity between two groups or religions), 323 (assault), 452 (house trespass), 427 (criminal trespass) and 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions) of the IPC were framed against the accused.

An FIR was lodged in the case on court’s direction after one of the victims of the assault, a Ugandan woman, had filed a plea on January 18, 2014. She had sought lodging of a criminal case against unknown persons in the incident.

On the intervening night of 15-16 January 2014, a mob allegedly led by AAP leader Somnath Bharti and 16 others reached Khirki Extension, Malviya Nagar and purportedly assaulted Ugandan women living in rented accommodation there.

Somnath Bharti asks a woman journalist to become a prostitute

In addition to the aforementioned incidents, Somnath Bharti was also involved in one more incident where he shunned his moral propriety and asked a woman journalist to become a prostitute.

In November 2018, while interacting with a female journalist Ranjana from Sudarshan News, Bharti lost his cool. He asked her to ‘stop doing bh*dwagiri’ followed by directing her to become a prostitute.

Somnath Bharti was speaking on the incident where a man allegedly threw red chilli powder on Delhi chief Arvind Kejriwal. He got personal with the journalist, following which he threatened that the channel will close down after 2019, “yeh bh*dwagiri chalegi nahin, 2019 ka intezar kar lo.”

When the journalist reminded him to maintain dignity while speaking, he accused the journalist of misbehaving on camera. When the journalist asked him to apologise, he accused her of acting like a middleman for the BJP. He then asked her to stop doing the ‘bh*dwagiri’ and ‘dh*ndhe pe baith jao‘, which in crude Hindi is akin to asking her to become a prostitute.

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