A bakery in Kerala, called ‘Mody’, was allegedly forced to remove the ‘Halal’ sticker notifying the availability of Halal food following opposition by Hindu Aikya Vedi activists. The organisation’s Parakkadavu unit president Arun Aravind and secretary Dhanesh Prabhakaran sent a notice to the bakery on the 28th of December saying that halal is discriminatory and amounted to discrimination in the name of food, which is “criminal”.
“The sticker notifying ‘halal’ should be removed within 7 days of the receipt of the notice and such discriminatory descriptions should henceforth be avoided from your future advertisements, failing which the Hindu Aikya Vedi will be forced to boycott the shop and launch protests,” the notice is reported to have said.
As per reports, the matter began after Aravind and a few others visited the bakery for food and insisted on non-halal food. However, they were informed that only halal food was served. “The panchayat does not have enough members of the community to warrant publicising of ‘halal’ food. Those who need it will ask and there is no need for such a notification,” he said.
The notice went viral on social media following which the police stepped in and arrested Aravind and three others. A case has been registered against the four and according to Times Now, they have been released on bail.
Christian groups in Kerala call for boycott of Halal meat
Ahead of Christmas, Christians in Kerala called for boycott of halal meat. Kochi based Christian group Church’s Auxiliary for Social Action (CASA) urged Christians not to buy Halal food anymore. Hindu groups also extended their support for the call to boycott stating that they are forced to sell Halal meat in the state.
The Indian Union Muslim League had termed the campaign against Halal meat as a controversy to target Muslims. The CASA had announced that Christians would hold protests few days before Christmas. For the protest, they were planning to pool in money for buying and cutting the animals in non-halal manner to oppose halal meat.
What is Halal meat?
Halal can only be performed by a Muslim man. Thus, non-Muslims are automatically denied employment at a Halal firm. There are certain other conditions that must be fulfilled that makes it quite clear that it is intrinsically an Islamic practice.
Guidelines are available at the official website of a certification authority of Halal in India which makes it clear that non-Muslim employees cannot be employed in any part of the slaughtering process. The guidelines of the certification authority of Halal in India expressly mention that people employed to carry out the process of Halal must be Muslims. The guidelines clearly mention that animals slaughtered by a non-Muslim will not be Halal.
Apart from halal meat, halal certification is also available for other products.
The Madhya Pradesh police arrested five ‘standup comedians’ on January 1 (Friday) for allegedly insulting Hindu gods and goddesses in Indore. Amongst those arrested were Munawar Faruqui, Edvin Anthony, Prakhar Vyas, Priyam Vyas and Nalin Yadav.
Based on the FIR filed, the ‘comedians’ have been booked under India Penal Code’s Sections 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings), 298 (deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings), 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and 34 (common intention).
‘Comedian’ Munawar Faruqui and others roughed up for insulting Hindu Gods
They were arrested after leaders of a Hindu group named Hindu Rakshak Sangathan filed an FIR against them for mocking Hinduism and Hindu deities in a stand-up show. The group said that the comedians made “indecent and disgraceful” remarks against Hindu Gods, Goddesses and customs. They also tried to downplay the Godhra carnage and insinuated that Amit Shah was behind it.
We reported how the supporters of Hindu Rakshak Sanstha entered a cafe in Indore, where the comedians were performing at a New Year’s event. On hearing the offensive jokes on Hinduism, the Hindu activists disrupted the program. They allegedly roughed up the comedians before taking them to Tukoganj police station, where an FIR was filed against them.
A purported video of the incident had also gone viral on social media.
FIR filed against the comedians for hurt religious sentiments
In the FIR, it was alleged that the event at the cafe was organised without permission and social distancing rules were violated there. The FIR added that vulgar jokes and provocative remarks were allegedly made at the event to hurt religious sentiments of Hindus.
Deputy Inspector General Harinarayanachari Mishra said the five were arrested on the basis of the FIR. The accused were produced before the court on Saturday. Police is investigating the case.
It is no longer a secret that BJP leader Subramanian Swamy is turning into a dissident leader. Although he claims to support the leadership of PM Narendra Modi, he has not kept his unhappiness as his wish to join the union cabinet was not fulfilled. Although he has been targeting only specific ministers of the Modi govt, today he went a step ahead in this regard, when he criticised the move to approve the AstraZeneca-Oxford university vaccine for emergency use in India. And in doing so, he resorted to spreading misinformation about the vaccine.
Allegations by Subramanian Swamy
Reacting to Government of India granting emergency use licence for the Coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca in collaboration with Oxford University, Swamy tweeted that the vaccine has not been cleared by the World Health Organisation (WHO) yet for emergency use, and hence it was incorrect for GOI to do so. He said that Indian people are being made Guinea pigs by approving the vaccine.
When social media users pointed out that the WHO has lost credibility due to its mishandling of the Coronavirus outbreak earlier last year, Swamy alleged that Ratan Tata is involved in the vaccine, accusing him of collaboration with Wuhan University. In a blatant fear-mongering about the vaccine, Subramanian Swamy even compared taking the vaccine with entering a new Gas Chamber.
Swamy also chose to target Dr. Vijay Raghavan, the Principal Adviser on Science in the PMO, alleging that he was Ratan Tata’s “chela” and he was “on the Chinese Wuhan Bat virus project and brought the Chinese to Nagaland to experiment on the Bats without Govt clearance required”. He further claimed that for Aatmanirbhar Bharat, only the vaccine developed by Bharat BioTech is acceptable, and a vaccine from “Bill Gates under a US label” is not acceptable.
Swamy has made several misleading claims while targeting the Modi government over the vaccine.
WHO ‘approval’ not needed to launch vaccines
First, WHO is not a statutory organisation, and its ‘approval’ is not required for deploying a vaccine or medicine in any country. WHO does not ‘certify’ or ‘approve’ vaccines, it only ‘validates’ vaccines. Counties are free to use vaccines not validated by WHO. It is the respective national authorities in each country that approves vaccines, according to regulations of the country.
Not only India, but several countries have started vaccinating people against Coronavirus without any ‘approval’ from WHO on those vaccines. For example, on 31st December 2020, WHO issued its first emergency use validation for COVID-19 vaccine COMIRNATY, developed by Pfizer/BioNTech. But the vaccine was already approved by several countries before that, and is already administered on a large number of people. Almost a month before WHO validation, UK had authorised the use of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, and the first shot was given on 8th December.
Similarly, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued the first emergency use authorization (EUA) for the same vaccine on 11th December, more then three weeks before the WHO validation. The COMIRNATY vaccine received authorisation in the European Union on 21st December, also before WHO validation.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which has been approved by India, has also received emergency use approval from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) of the UK. The approval was granted after rigorous clinical trials and a thorough analysis of the data by experts at the MHRA, which has concluded that the vaccine has met its strict standards of safety, quality and effectiveness. The vaccine will be rolled out in the UK on 4th January. Following UK, the EU is also expected to approve the vaccine soon, as it is studying the data related to it.
It is important to note that both the FDA and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) follows a very rigorous process to approve new drugs, and their approval means that the drug is safe for use on humans, with or without WHO validation.
Therefore, the insinuation by Swamy that the vaccine is not safe because it is not approved by WHO is completely baseless, and it will only add to already spreading fearmongering about a much-needed vaccine against a global pandemic.
AstraZeneca vaccine is being made in India
The second claim, that AstraZeneca vaccine is from Bill Gates and it does not reflect Aatmanirbhar Bharat is also untrue. The vaccine is being produced in India by the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer. In fact, SII is one of the success stories of India, which supplies vaccines to dozens of countries across the world.
Coming to the involvement of billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates with the vaccine, it is notable that his Gates Foundation runs vaccination programs in a large number of countries, protecting the lives of millions of people. Gates Foundation is neither making the AstraZeneca vaccine, nor financing its production. Bill Gates only informed that the foundation will share some financial risk the SII will have to face in case the vaccine is not approved.
It is important to note that Serum Institute had started producing the vaccine several moths ago, immediately after it was finalised, and before any trial on it was done. The company had done so to ensure that enough stock is available the moment the vaccine approved, as the manufacturing process takes time. SII has already manufactured more than 50 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines. It had taken a financial risk by doing so, as if the trials had shown that the vaccine is unsafe or ineffective, it would have to throw away the already produced vaccine doses.
Reacting to this situation, Bill Gates had said that the company will not have to take the entire burden if such a situation arises, and Gates Foundation will bear some of the risk. Basically, the Foundation was providing an insurance against the possible failure of the vaccine.
As per this arrangement, Serum has received US$ 300 million at-risk funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Gavi Vaccine Alliance to develop and make two vaccines, the Covishield by AstraZeneca, and the Covovax by US biotech Novavax. If the vaccines are approved, the company will deliver the vaccines to both the foundations, which will distribute them in poor countries. But if the vaccines fail, the company won’t have to return the money.
As the Covishield has been found to be safe and effective, and it will soon get approval from most major countries, it means SII will deliver the vaccine to the Gates Foundation against the funding. It does not mean the vaccine is coming from Bill Gates as Swamy is claiming.
No Chinese scientist came to Nagaland to study bats
The third claim of Subramanian Swamy about Dr. Vijay Raghavan is also baseless and incorrect. His allegations are based on a fake report by The Hindu which had claimed that researchers from the U.S., China and India had conducted a study on bats in Nagaland. The report had claimed that the study was under the scanner because two of the twelve researchers involved belonged to the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s Department of Emerging Infectious Diseases. But the National Centre for Biological Sciences had denied the claim, and had asserted that no researcher from the Wuhan Institue of Virology was directly involved with the study.
The study was conducted by NCBS and the Duke-National University of Singapore Medical School, and the report of the study had credited the researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Virology as co-authors, because they had they supplied reagants critical to the study to Duke-NUS, as is the standard practice for scientific authorship.
The study was on bat antibodies, and it had nothing to with the Coronavirus as The Hindu had alleged. Hence the allegation by Swamy that Dr. Vijay Raghavan was involved in a Chinese Wuhan Bat virus project and brought the Chinese to Nagaland to experiment on bats without require govt clearance is completely false. No Chinese scientist visited Nagaland for the study on bats, they only supplied a critical component for the study.
Cricket is next to religion for Indians living in the country and abroad. And it is not every day that one gets to see his favourite cricketers from an arm’s length. On Friday, cricket enthusiast and Youtuber Navaldeep Singh chanced upon to meet Indian cricketers at Secret Kitchen restaurant at Chadstone Shopping Centre in Melbourne, ahead of the 3rd Test match. In a tweet, Singh informed that Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Rohit Sharma and Navdeep Saini were dining at a table, in front of him.
As an ardent cricket fan of the Indian team, he decided to pay their bill of $118.69 (₹6,681.66). He tweeted, “They are not aware but i have paid there table bill. Least i can do for my superstars.” When the cricketers learnt that Singh had paid the bill, they apparently approached him and requested to take the money.
In his own words, “Pant hugged me and said photo tabhi hogi jab pese loge wapis (We will click the picture together only if you take the money back). I said no bro not happening. Finally sabane photo khichwai..mja aa gya yaar (Finally, we clicked the picture. I am so happy)”
When they got know that i have paid the bill.. Rohit sharma said bhaji pese lelo yaar acha nai lagta.. i said no sir its on me. Pant hugged me and said photo tabhi hogi jab pese loge wapis. I said no bro not happening. Finally sabane photo khichwai 🙂 mja aa gya yaar #blessed
Little did he know that the tweet would soon lend him and the Indian cricketers, especially, Rishabh Pant in trouble.
Australian Media digs a mountain out of a mole
The Australian media, infamous for taking potshots at visiting teams, decided to take the matter to the next level. In an article, The Sydney Morning Herald claimed that Indian nodal cricket body, BCCI, was reviewing the video posted on Twitter by Navaldeep Singh and that the players breached the Coronavirus protocols.
It added, “The Australian and Indian boards are investigating an apparent breach of Cricket Australia’s biosecurity protocols after several Test stars were filmed dining out in a Melbourne restaurant in an embarrassing bubble blunder just days before an already controversial Sydney Test.”
Screengrab of the article by The Sydney Morning Herald
Indian players put under isolation
Quoting Cricket Australia, cricket.com.au wrote, “This will include separating the group of players from the broader Indian and Australian squads when travelling and at the training venue. Players will be permitted to train in accordance with the strict protocols that have been put in place to ensure the ongoing safety of all members of the Indian and Australian squads.” Similar claims were also made by cricket.com.au
Screengrab of the article by cricket.com.au
BCCI slams Australian media
Cricket analyst, Boria Majumdar informed on Twitter that contrary to the social media claims, BCCI was not considering any investigation. “There is no investigation for a breach confirms BCCI and never was such a thing even under consideration,” he added.
Screengrab of the tweet of Boria Majumdar
While speaking to PTI, BCCI stated, “No, there has been no breach in biosecurity protocols. Everyone associated with the Indian team is well aware of the protocols.” Slamming the Australian media, an official said, “We can only term it as a malicious spin by a section of Australian media and this has started after their humiliating defeat…The Australian media at times acts as an extension of their cricket team.”
Cricket fan cites clarification and apology
Following the social media upheaval, Navaldeep Singh took to Twitter to clarify on Saturday morning that he never hugged Rishabh Pant. “Clarification – Pant never hugged me it was all said in excitement we maintained social distance all thru:) Apologies for miscommunication,” he wrote.
Screengrab of the clarification tweet of Navaldeep Singh
Indian fans lambasted Navaldeep Singh for putting the lives of cricketers at risk and ‘breaking’ protocols. In his defence, Navaldeep Singh said that as a Punjabi, he is used to listening to the choicest of expletives. However, he lamented that he was now against his own countrymen for his actions. ” I am really sad that I am against my country people at the moment. I am really sorry people and I just hope ke sab thik ho jaaye (everything is fine),” he tweeted.
Mujhe log galiya de rae h.. dekho gaaliyo ka farak nai padta mujhe hum punjabi h 400-500 gaaliyan dosto ke saath bethe to apas main de dete h.. but i am really sad that i am against my country people at the moment. I am really sorry people and i just hope ke sab thik ho jaaye ?
Meanwhile, an image of the full bill that was paid by the fan has gone viral on social media. We cannot confirm whether it is the authentic bill of the dinner consumed by the Indian cricketers. But the content of the bill has sparked a massive controversy on social media. The copy of the bill doing the rounds shows that the cricketers allegedly consumed beef.
It has sparked a massive outrage on social media. We cannot confirm precisely which cricketer ate beef or if any of them ate beef at all.
So, this bunch ate beef indeed. That’s why the guy smartly hid the portion of the bill which had the mention of beef, but forgot to conceal it on Instagram.
Beef Eater Rohit Sharma is just ordinary cricketer who become famous just because of money but these people are just another hypocrite who has nothing to do with our culture or anything don’t make them your idol they are just here for fame and money pic.twitter.com/XvPa4qLhlw
Rohit Sharma beef eater was giving lecture during Diwali about animals and now breaking protocols and eating animals. Making him captain is cancel now only Rahane deserves the position.
India is set to play against Australia in the 3rd Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on January 7. India has levelled the series against its arch-rival. With the comeback of Rohit Sharma, India is hoping to clinch the series with a victory in the next match.
If you are anything like me, you have a lot of respect for economists. These extraordinary men and women work with facts and figures that tell of the fortunes of the 7 billion people who share this planet. In the Indian context, every percentage point added or subtracted from GDP growth means a lot. For millions of people, it could mean the difference between having a full stomach and going to sleep hungry. For millions of kids, it could be the difference between education and malnutrition or even death.
Rest assured therefore that these extraordinary men and women take their role extremely seriously. In particular, they would never act as if they are pulling numbers out of thin air. Or throw out numbers like a drunken gambler at a casino in Las Vegas.
Today I would like to profile for you one of the top economic minds of our age – the most distinguished Prof. Arun Kumar, who has taught economics for nearly 30 years at JNU. And not just because it’s Christmas season and Prof. Arun Kumar has a beard that looks exactly like Santa Claus. In the Modi era, with its fanciful ideas like hard work over Harvard, we need intellectuals more than ever before. Since we cannot trust the official numbers, whether from EVMs or CSO or NSSO, we need intellectuals like Prof. Arun Kumar to tell us what is really going on.
First, the credentials. Prepare to be dazzled, folks.
“Dr. Arun Kumar taught Economics in Jawaharlal Nehru University from 1984 to 2015. He was the Sukhamoy Chakravarty Chair Professor in the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, JNU. He is a former Chairperson of the Centre. He was the President of JNU Teachers’ Association in 2014. He has been a Vice President and acting President of the Indian Academy of Social Sciences. He has specialized in Development, Public Finance and Public Policy and Macroeconomics.“
Feeling humbled yet?
Now, we all know that India’s economy was pushed into contraction when PM Modi ordered a lockdown on the entire country beginning late March. But by how much? The official figure is that of a near 24% contraction for the first quarter of FY20-21, i.e., for the period from April to June. You might think that number is rosy enough for the Prime Minister’s critics that they would not haggle with it.
You would be wrong. Stop looking at everything through a political prism. For top economists like Prof. Arun Kumar, it is about truth. And nothing but the truth. Here is the real picture.
Truth hurts. But at least we know the truth.
Make a note of the date. It’s Sep 9, 2020. I insist on that because the truth is about to undergo a major revision. You have to keep revising truth. You know, like history.
If you thought -24% was bad, nothing could have prepared you for the nightmare of -40%. And now it’s -50%. Bitter but true. Prof. Arun Kumar delivered the bad news in a policy speech organized by the Impact and Policy Research Institute, New Delhi.
That was the truth, at least as of Oct 24, 2020.
What’s the latest on the truth? Prof. Kumar has an update.
What could be “worse than war?” Trust a ‘veteran’ to know — veteran economist, that is. So now it is around -40% again. I say ‘around’ because I played the audio and Barkha seemed a little confused by the professor’s responses. At one point the good professor seemed to say -45%; then Barkha asked if it was around -40% and the professor looked like he was agreeing with her on that.
Are you struggling here? Good! Now you have some idea of a man who has presumably read all the books that appear in his background. And many many more.
40, 50, 45, 40 … Folks, this is science and hope you have learned to take it seriously. Remember that each percentage point in India’s GDP growth puts the lives of hundreds of millions of poor and vulnerable people in the balance.
So what have I personally concluded? Something like this:
“precisely when its dubiousness as a pragmatic record is recognised, the narrative reveals its function in creating a people in politics, and history.”
For the record, I have absolutely no idea what that means. But I saw Pratap Bhanu Mehta using this quote from some political theorist the other day. And I thought it sounded smart. And I felt it might impress all of you. It would be otiose to say otherwise. Again, I don’t know what ‘otiose’ means. But Pratap Bhanu Mehta used that word. And P B Mehta is smart, like the thesaurus.
So here is my actual conclusion. Facts and figures don’t really matter. Darr ka mahaul hai.
The Print, which has earned a reputation for distorting facts and peddling fake narratives, is back with its sinister agenda. And this time the Uttar Pradesh police is on its hit list. On Saturday morning, the Print published an article titled, ‘UP woman hid Muslim boyfriend’s name to marry him. Now he’s in jail for ‘deceit, conversion’.
The article centred around two individuals, namely 29-year-old Priya Verma and 32-year-old Taufiq. While portraying the latter as the victim, The Print claimed that Taufiq was put behind bars on December 20 by the Gursahaiganj police in UP under the new anti-conversion law enacted by the UP government, despite not trying to convert his Hindu wife Priya. It alleged that Priya had introduced Taufiq as ‘Rahul Verma’ (Hindu-sounding name) to her parents in order to get their marriage approved, and hence no crime was committed by Taufiq even if initially he had introduced himself as Hindu to the girl.
The Print argued that Priya was well-aware of his ‘religious identity’ at the time of their marriage and that he had made no demands for her conversion to Islam. The article stated that two days after their wedding, her family learnt that Taufiq was a Muslim and that they filed a complaint with the police, with the help of a local BJP leader, to ‘falsely’ accuse him of ‘deceit and conversion.’
Screengrab of the contentious article by The Print
With a clickbait headline, the news portal tried to insinuate how a Muslim man is being victimised for being in love with a Hindu woman under the new ‘Love Jihad’ law in the state, even though she was the one who had supposedly engaged in deceit. The article tried to give the impression that the newly enacted anti-conversion law, meant to contain the growing menace of grooming jihad, is directed to harass ‘religious minorities’ and strip them of the right to marry their partners in the BJP ruled the State of Uttar Pradesh.
Taufiq lured Priya into love using a Hindu name
Having said that, nothing can be further from the truth. First, it must be pointed out that Taufiq had initially lied to Priya about his ‘real’ identity. “In the initial days of their courtship, Priya stated, Taufiq did lie to her about being Hindu but later told her the truth himself,” the article itself stated. As such, it becomes clear that Taufiq had engaged in ‘impersonation’ and ‘deceit’. Even though Priya told The Print that the reason for lying was that he did not want to lose her, it however does not change the fact that the courtship was premised on a fraudulent identity.
Excerpts from the article in The Print
Was it a case of police high handedness?
While speaking to The Print, SHO (Gursahaiganj) Raja Dinesh Singh informed that even though Priya claimed to have known about the real identity of Taufiq, she herself had testified against him before the police and the Magistrate. “In these cases, the woman’s statement is the evidence so that will become the basis of the case,” he emphasised.
Singh stated on December 24, Priya was produced before the court, along with the case diary. “The judge said that if the woman supports her statement to police recorded under Section 161, then that will be considered her 164 CrPC statement. Since the woman said she supports whatever she told police in her statement, and since she is not a minor, it was considered as final,” he emphasised.
Now, since the victim herself gave a statement against the accused, both before the police and the Magistrate, therefore the cops had no option but to follow the lawful procedure and act against Taufiq. And this is despite the fact that Priya now claims to have been under pressure and duress while giving her statement.
Why did the local BJP leader intervene?
The Print also attempted to give the issue a political twist by imploring that the complaint was filed in the first place on the directions of a local BJP leader named Vinay. In his defence, Vinay said that he intervened in the matter because the proper procedure for an inter-faith marriage was not followed. He emphasised that he else would not have intervened altogether, if the procedure for interfaith marriage was followed.
“If he wanted to get married to her, he should have given a representation to the DM (district magistrate), waited for two months…We would have had no objection if he had followed procedure and not cheated the family by hiding his identity. Religious deceit will not be tolerated at any cost,” Verma added.
In his own words, Priya’s father thanked Verma for his support. He stated, “We were misled by Taufiq. When no one from his family turned up for the wedding, he told us that his family stays in Jaipur and that he has cut all ties with him. Thank God we were helped by local BJP leaders and now that cheat is in jail.”
Therefore, even though now the girl has said that she knew the real identity of Taufiq, it does not mean no crime was committed and the UP police is showing high-handedness as the Print is alleging. According to the new law, the couple needs to give advance notice, and the fact remains that Taufiq introduced himself as Rahul to the girl and later to her parents, which means the relationship was initiated based on a big lie.
“Munawar Faruqui is a serial offender”, said a member of Hindu Rakshak Sangathan, while speaking to the media today. This is the same Hindu organisation whose supporters had handed over the ‘comedian’ to the police yesterday, after his programme in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, where he made some extremely derisive remarks against Hindu deities and HM Amit Shah. Aklavya Singh Gaur, who is also a BJYM member, has taken to Twitter to share his official statement on the incident.
Aklavya said that Munawar Faruqui has a contentious past and previously on various occasions, he has mocked Hindu God and Goddesses. The Hindu activist said that Faruqui has also in the past, tried to downplay the 2002 Godhra carnage where 58 Hindus returning from Ayodhya were burnt alive by a Muslim mob. He has insulted union minister Amit Shah by insinuating that he was behind the carnage. Aklavya added that because of Faruqui’s predisposition to mock Hindu deities one of his programs in Jaipur had been earlier cancelled.
The activist added that he and few other supporters of the Hindu organisation were aware that a programme was scheduled to happen in the Monroe Cafe near 56 Dukaan in Indore on that date, so they bought the tickets and went to see the program.
As expected, Munawar Faruqui made extremely disparaging remarks about Hindu Gods and Union Home Minister Amit Shah at the programme, said Aklavya, confirming that they recorded all the crass, anti-Hindu comments made by Farqui as evidence. He furthers that they stopped the show and requested the audiences to leave. Thereafter the leaders of a rights group caught all the comedians along with the organisers and took them to Tukoganj police station.
He told the media that the organisers did not seek permission for the comedy show in advance. Moreover, no COVID protocols were maintained. Over 100 odd people were stuffed in that small room, that too most of them without masks. Aklavya said that they have appealed that strict action is taken against Faruqui and others, that too under non-bailable charges.
A purported video of the incident had gone viral on social media where supporters of the Hindu Rakshak Sangathan were seen leading the ‘comedian’ out of the Monroe Cafe near 56 Dukaan in Indore, where the purported program was held on Friday.
Meanwhile police have started investigating the case. They informed that Monroe cafe owner, Muktas Jain, did not seek permission for the comedy show in advance and that underage children were also present during the show.
Munawar Faruqui on 2002 Godhra Carnage, Amit Shah and Hindu Gods
During a show in April last year, Munawar Faruqui mocked the 2002 Godhra carnage. In a part of the clip that had gone viral on social media, one can hear him refer to the carnage as a fictional film ‘directed’ by Amit Shah and ‘produced’ by RSS.
Following this, a complaint was filed with Mumbai Police against him for hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus.
Despite the hefty claims made by Imran Khan-led government on the safety and security of the minority communities in his ‘Naya Pakistan’, reports on religious persecution and atrocities committed on Hindus, Sikhs and Christians in our neighbouring country continues to pour in. Only yesterday, Pakistani Human rights activist Rahat Austin took to Twitter to share details of a Hindu girl named Miza Kumari, the daughter of Rattan Lal who was abducted, raped and forcefully converted to Islam to marry a Muslim man in Bahu Bhati village in Sialkot, Punjab, Pakistan.
The activist shared a video in which the girl’s parents, who belong to an extremely humble background are heard pleading for help. We’ll kill ourselves if our daughter is not given back. We are poor, we can’t fight with culprits, no one is helping us in Pakistan. We request, who watching this video to help us”, said the distraught mother of Miza Kumari in the video message.
We’ll kill ourselves if our daughter is not given back. We are poor, we can’t fight with culprits, no one is helping us in Pakistan. We request, who watching this video to help us” Says Hindu Parents, Rattan Lal & his wife, their daughter Miza is taken for rape & conert to Islam pic.twitter.com/XJYiPyxuXS
Divulging other details of the case, Rahat Austin in his subsequent Tweet wrote that the Pakistan authorities, instead of helping the devastated parents of the girl who has been missing since she was abducted on August 27, 2020, have registered a false case against Rattan Lal (the victim’s father).
Instead police help poor Hindus, false case registered against them to stop demanding their daughter back, now running from police. Marriage certificate & conversion certificate both are fake as they lie about religion & cast of girl. Marriage happen before Conversion is illegal pic.twitter.com/fqFicEgdMW
Rahat Austin further informs that though the girl was forcefully converted on September 2, 2020, the conversion certificate and the marriage certificate both were fake.
Firstly, the conversion and marriage certificate mentioned that the girl was a Christian, but she is actually a Hindu. Since the certificates had wrong credentials, Rahat Austin contended that the conversion and marriage both were invalid. Secondly, the marriage was solemnised on September 1, 2020, a day before the girl was converted. According to orthodox Islamic laws, a Muslim man is prohibited to marry a non-Muslim until the latter converts to Islam, therefore technically this marriage was void, said Rahat Austin.
Sharing the details of this case, Rahat Austin once again brings to fore the ongoing egregious violations of human rights in the terror state of Pakistan and highlights the apathy shown by the authorities to penalize extremists or those targeting religious minorities.
The Dindigul police have arrested two people, including a Christian pastor named Sudarsanam, on Thursday in connection to the death of a 38-year-old female police constable named Annai Indra.
As per reports, the woman was a police constable at the All Women Police Station in Dindigul. She was married to a man named Palraj, who lived in Pattiveeranpatti. Two years ago, they had separated as her husband was opposed to her idea of converting to Christianity. As a result, she had deserted him and started living on rent in Nandavanapatti Treasury Colony with her two daughters, sister Vasuki and pastor Sudarshanam.
A couple of months ago, Indra applied for voluntary retirement, owing to ‘health reasons’. She had gone on a long leave since November 16. When the cops went to serve her order on Wednesday, they discovered a foul smell at the house. On further probe, following the directions of senior officers, the cops found the decaying body of Indra. She had died on December 7 and her decomposed body was covered with a cloth.
She is asleep, claimed family members of Indra
As bizarre as it sounds, her sister and daughters insisted that Indra was asleep and that she would wake up soon. Her family reportedly kept her corpse in the house under the belief that she would magically ‘resurrect’ from the dead.
The police initiated an investigation into the case and conducted the post-mortem on the spot. The cops booked pastor Sudarsanam and the woman’s sister Vasuki under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 176 (Omission to give notice or information to public servant), 304A (causing death by negligence), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating). Pastor Sudarsanam who has been arrested is suspected to be the brain behind the conversion.
While the investigation is on, the body was sent to the Government Hospital for post-mortem.
In a strange incident, the Chinese billionaire Jack Ma has reportedly disappeared from the African talent show that he created, signalling the increasing difficulty he is facing currently for taking on Chinese President Xi Jinping.
According to the reports, Jack Ma was replaced as a judge in the final of Africa’s Business Heroes, a television contest for budding entrepreneurs and his photograph was removed from the judging webpage. Apparently, he has also been conspicuously left out of a promotional video.
The grand finale of show ‘Africa’s Business Heroes’ took place in November, shortly after the Chinese tech billionaire had criticised China’s regulators and its state-owned banks.
Following his speech, the Communist Party of China had reacted strongly against Jack Ma’s statements, leading to the suspension of Jack Ma’s $37bn initial public offering of his company Ant Group by the Chinese authorities. Following the suspension of the IPO, Jack Ma has not made any public appearance. The authorities have also announced anti-monopoly investigations into Alibaba.
Amidst action by Chinese authorities, Jack Ma is replaced by Lucy Peng
A spokesperson for Alibaba, which was founded by Ma, said, “Due to a schedule conflict Mr Ma could no longer be part of the finale judge panel of Africa’s Business Heroes earlier this year (2020)”. However, this explanation is not believed by several. It is unthinkable that he would give up on a program of which he was the face due to a scheduling conflict.
As Syed Akbaruddin observed, this is like Amitabh Bachchan not hosting Kaun Banega Crorepati due to a ‘scheduling conflict’, indicating that there was more to Ma’s absence than meets the eye.
One of the contestants participating in the competition had said she had been star-struck when she pitched her business to Ma in an earlier round. “You can’t imagine,” she said.
However, by the time of the final, Ma had been replaced by Lucy Peng, an executive at Alibaba. “There was something going on in China with Jack Ma or something, so (Lucy) also came in as well,” the contestant said.
Jack Ma’s souring relationship with the Chinese govt
The 56-year-old Jack Ma was once a poster boy for the communist regime, however, the relationship turned sour after he became more vocal against Chinese leadership. Ma is said to have made around £35billion from creating Alibaba, the Asian version of Amazon.
Despite being one of China’s most successful businessmen, Ma has been clashing with the regime over his call for more of an open and market-driven economy. The English teacher turned business magnate is viewed as a rock star in the country that has pushed the Chinese leadership to be fearful about the billionaire’s influence.
China, under President Xi Jinping, has been ruthless against its critics and has unleashed a drive to arrest all the dissidents of the regime. In March a property tycoon had disappeared after he called President Xi Jinping a ‘clown’ for his handling of the coronavirus crisis. Ren Zhiqiang a billionaire financier, was sentenced to 18 years in prison after he ‘voluntarily and truthfully confessed’ to various crimes of corruption.
Similarly, Xian Jianhua, a billionaire financier, was snatched from a Hong Kong hotel in 2017 and taken to the mainland.
