Ever since the unfortunate Hathras case has come to the fore, Congress party led by the brother-sister duo of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has been brazenly politicising the brutal incident. After the Thursday stunt, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi made an attempt, yet again, on Saturday to reach Hathras. Along with the two leaders, scores of Congress leaders are travelling to Hathras to express ‘solidarity’ with the victims kin. One of such leaders was MP Shashi Tharoor, but on excitement, he ended up acknowledging that the party is just using the opportunity play politics.
On his way, while speaking to media, Congress senior leader Shashi Tharoor inadvertently admited that his party is indeed doing politics over the Hathras incident. While responding to the charges that the party was playing politics, the senior leader said: ‘Is it prohibited to do politics in a democracy?, after that he added, “yahi mauka hai” [(this is the opportunity (to do politics)]. Sadly, the senior Congress leader’s accidental admission might puncture holes in the Congress party’s agenda of using the incident to score political brownie points.
When the journalist reminds Tharoor that the Pandemic Act is in place and that his party leaders are flouting the pandemic guidelines, the Congress leader ignores answering the question. Instead, Tharoor says that in a democratic country people are free to go where ever and express solidarity.
While Shashi Tharoor says party highly disturbed, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi seen laughing and making merry on their way to Hathras
While Shashi Tharoor speaks on how his party is extremely disturbed by the atrocities on the Hathras victim and wants to express its solidarity with the grieving family, earlier in the day, a video had gone viral in which the Gandhi scions- Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra were seen laughing and having fun while visiting the family which has only recently lost their daughter.
ANI has credited Congress as the source of the video, thus, it appears the party itself does not see anything wrong with making merry on the face of such a tragedy. This seems to be in stark contrast to the statements made by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor whose heart seems to be bleeding for the Hathras victim and her family.
Congress and its friendly media brazenly uses the Hathras incident to peddle their agenda
The Hathras incident sent a shockwave across the nation, providing an opportunity to galvanise the opposition political parties, including Congress. The parties showed a remarkable alacrity in exploiting the incident to mount an attack and settle their scores against the Yogi Adityanath government in the state. Scores of politicians tried to politicise the unfortunate death of the girl by marching to the village despite Section 144 in place.
Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi tried to revive his dwindling political fortunes by stoking the protest against the UP government. In his march to Hathras, Gandhi even pulled off a dramatic fall to reap political mileage and garner sympathy from the public. Meanwhile, Congress friendly media has also been aiding their effort as is evident from other leaked conversations accessed by OpIndia.
In Begusarai in Bihar, Bajrang Dal workers Pankaj Singh and Vikas Bharti would not have even imagined that helping a helpless and vulnerable victim of alleged love jihad will bring them on the verge of mob lynching. They had received a distress call from a Hindu woman on October 2, 2020 early in the morning who was pleading for help in a nervous voice.
The woman told them that her husband Aftab Alam is brutally beating her and asked them to save her. After listening to the woman’s plight, Bajrang Dal State Co-convener Shubham Bharadwaj left all his work and travelled 8-9 km to the woman Pokhariya at a small distance from Nawab Chowk around 10 a.m. He was accompanied by Bajrang Dal Department Coordinator Pankaj Singh and Vishwa Hindu District Minister Vikas Bharti.
All three were enraged at Aftab after they saw the woman’s condition. They started questioning Aftab about the assault on his wife. Meanwhile Shubham came live on Facebook and started and exposing Aftab’s reality. It must have only some time after the Facebook live stream ended that suddenly a mob of around 300-400 people gathered outside the house. The people in the mob were from a particular community. Some of them were carrying pistols in their hands. Some carried sharp weapons used for slaughtering goats. These people were calling Shubham Bharadwaj and were saying that they will kill him.
Picture from the meeting of Bajrang Dal workers after the incident.
Shubham Bharadwaj came live on Facebook twice regarding the incident. He informed during the live session that the planning of their murder is going on. A mob of hundreds of people is outside the house and these three people were somehow saving their lives by tightly locking the door.
“Never seen such a situation before”: Shubham Bharadwaj after being rescued
OpIndia tried to talk to Shubham Bharadwaj on receiving the information about the incident. Thanking Lord Shiva, Shubham told OpIndia that they were given a boon of life yesterday. He had not seen such a situation in his life before. There were mobs of Muslims everywhere calling for Shubham and asking him to come down once. The mob was so violent that they even smashed the iron gate and were trying to somehow get inside.
जो लोग ‘लव जिहाद’ के कोढ़ से लड़ रहे हैं, हिन्दू बच्चियों को बचा रहे हैं, उन पर इस तरह से हमले हो रहे हैं! शुभम आप लगे रहिए, हम आपके साथ हैं। हर उस लड़की पर हुए अत्याचार और हर अपराधी की क्रूरता हम रिपोर्ट करते रहेंगे। https://t.co/lsc046UXM5
He told us that at the time of the incident, Pankaj Singh, father of the women and 1-2 other people were also present with him. All of them pushed the door shut to prevent the mob from entering. But the mob was continuously trying to get inside and they were attacking the door with a hammer.
Shubham and his companions who had gone there for helping the women were looking at their death. But, he called the police again and some time later came live on Facebook to inform people what the majority community in the Nawab Chowk area is up to.
Screenshot taken from Facebook live.
He makes a guess that perhaps Aftab Alam had already told the mob that he would beat his wife and she would call them for help and then this would happen. He said that during the anti-CAA and anti-NRC protests, a call was made from Nawab Chowk for his lynching and yesterday this happened.
Shubham Bharadwaj (Grey T shirt) and Pankaj Singh (Yellow T shirt) after having a close shave with death.
He tells that Lord Shiva protected him and SHO Amarendra Jha reached on time. Dispersing the mob, the police rescued everyone stuck in the house and arrested Aftab on the spot. After the incident, Shubham is suffering from high fever today. Perhaps the picture of the mob is flashing before his eyes. He was not the only one terrified by the mob, even the woman kept repeating, “They will kill us, brother….What do we do now…what do we do?”.
Shubham said that he was provided security earlier. But since he organised a protest to demand justice for a woman belonging to a deprived community, his security was withdrawn. He later wrote many letters to the administration demanding security but no action has been taken as yet. He says no matter what he will continue fulfilling his duties in this direction.
“People in the mob were carrying pistols and tools used for slaughtering goats”: Bajrang Dal Department Coordinator Pankaj Singh
Pankaj Singh, who was present with Shubham during the incident, describes Nawab Chowk in Begusarai as Karachi in Pakistan. He says that people to the ‘particular community’ live in this area and the area is quite sensitive. According to him, Shubham Bhardwaj had told him about the case over phone. After this he and VHP District Minister Vikas Bharti reached the woman’s house.
According to Pankaj, they has informed the police before reaching there and the police had told them that they had taken cognisance of the matter, and a team was teaching there. However, the police did not reach at the site even after the Bajrang Dal workers had reached. Pankaj tells that when Shubham came live on Facebook and informed people about the acts of Aftab then the mob came to know that they were there and all them gathered there with weapons. They were shocked to see us at the house. They has pre-planned it.
Department Coordinator Pankaj Singh with wokrers.
Talking about the threats that Shubham Bharadwaj had received during the protests against CAA-NRC, he tells, “Threating with mob-lynching has been going on for a long time but yesterday these people got an opportunity when we came live on Facebook. They thought that we are alone in the area, and so they mobbed us. Some people in the mob were carrying sharp tools used for slaughtering goats. Some had pistols. We called the administration in panic. We thought when the police did not arrive in the last 2 hours how will they arrive now. Therefore, we called our fellow workers and some people reached after Facebook live. On the other hand, administration also prepped up. Consequently, the police that did not arrive in past 2 hours, was there within 7-8 minutes with full force”.
Information shared by Pankaj Singh
He says, “The mob had smashed the iron gate in the meantime and after climbing upstairs was saying that none should escape alive from here”. However, the mob dispersed after the police arrived and rescued the people in the house. Police said to them, “This was a matter between husband and wife. You should not have interfered”. Pankaj asks, “If a victim of love jihad asks us for help what will we do? wait? We had already informed the police”.
Pankaj says had hundreds of people not reached there through Facebook live and had the police not reached on time we would be gone. According to Pankaj, “The mob and their voices kept haunting me during the whole night yesterday. It has been so many years working in the organisation but I never saw such a situation before. We have many people, but it was for the first that we found ourselves surrounded by a mob. If we would have tried to ma a video of the mob, they would killed us after breaking the door”.
“We would have been lynched by the mob yesterday”: Victim Hindu woman
The victim talked to OpIndia regarding the incident. She said that it can be rightly said that they got a new life yesterday. Had the mob entered the house, it would not have spared Shubham Bharadwaj, her and even her two daughters. All would have been killed. She tells that yesterday morning around 7-8 a.m. Aftab was hurling filthy abuses at her. He was accompanied by a friend of his.
Thereafter, both of them started beating her in the house. Aftab was trying to strangulate her and his friend was threatening to shoot her with a pistol. Somehow she saved herself and called the police. But when the police did not arrive on time, she asked Shubham Bharadwaj for help. Thereafter, Shubham reached there with his friends.
She tells that the situation outside heated up after Shubham and his friends reached there. Voices could be heard saying, ‘Shubham, come out, we will not spare you today’. The people in the mob were flaunting pistols. Seeing the situation getting worse, they called the police and said, “Sir, please save us. We will not be able to survive now”. Thereafter police reached there while earlier police kept saying that they could not locate the house.
The havoc played by the violent mob gathered to lynch Bajrang Dal workers, smashed the iron door
According to the victim Hindu woman, the mob belonging to the ‘particular community’ broke the doors and locks etc. in her house. They had planned that they would break the door and kill the people inside. She tells that after seeing the mob, Aftab was encouraged and was repeatedly saying, “Get inside…get inside…climb up the house…kill everyone”. She tells that the doors in her house have cracks. They have been broken.
She says, “We would have been lynched by the mob yesterday. That was the moment”. According to her, her daughter thought that everyone had gone mad. The innocent child could not understand that if the door had been broken, all would have been killed.
Aftab who provoked the mob from inside the house.
The victim shared the video of her house after the attack. In the video, the broken iron gate can be seen clearly. Pieces of bricks and stones can be seen lying everywhere. The things in the house are lying scattered. Marks and cracks on the wooden door caused by the attack are clearly visible in the video.
After being rescued by the police she has filed a case in the police station and Aftab has been arrested.
What is the whole matter relating to Aftab Alam and the Hindu woman?
Few day ago in Begusarai district, a Hindu woman Puja (name changed) had written to Bajrang Dal State Co-convener Shubham asking for help. She told in her letter she wanted a divorce from Aftab. She also wrote that before marriage she did not know that Aftab has alcohol addiction, but when she started living with him she gradually came to know about it.
Complaint received by Bajrang Dal
The woman said that her husband used to assault and abuse her after getting drunk. Therefore, she was now worried for her life and did not want to live with Aftab. But, her husband was refusing to divorce her. The victim gave evidence to Bajrang Dal which show that the accused had relations with other women.
Aftab Alam with another woman.
After coming to know about the incident, Bajrang Dal has been continuously showing support with the woman on social media. Regarding this, Aftab once called Shubham but Shubham rebuked him and disconnected the phone. Meanwhile, Aftab once abused the victim in the house and even attacked her on Friday with the intention of killing her.
It is informed that the police has confirmed that a case has been registered regarding the incident on Friday. According to media reports, SHO Aamrendra Kumar Jha said that Aftab Alam has been booked under various sections including the offence of attacking his wife with intention to kill. Jha also told that Aftab was also arrested earlier with bottles of liquor for creating nuisance after getting drunk. On September 14, his wife had filed a case against him under serious provisions.
A video has gone viral on social media where members of the Thakur community in Uttar Pradesh can be heard expressing their anguish over the arrest of the accused in the Hathras case while claiming that the accused are being falsely implicated in a rape case. The gathering was organised on Friday by the Savarna Samaj of more than two dozen villages.
हाथरस मामले में ठाकुर समाज की भी पंचायत हुई है. पंचायत में FSL रिपोर्ट का ज़िक्र करते हुए कहा गया कि रेप नहीं हुआ है, हमारे बच्चों को फंसाया जा रहा है. pic.twitter.com/MUkpK6RzOM
“The FSL report says there was no rape but politicians and the media claim there was rape,” one of the voices can be heard saying. The apparent leader of the gathering says that an impartial investigation should be conducted and if any of the accused is found not-guilty, then they should be let off without bail. He also bemoans the fact that the reputation of the community has been tarnished.
The person also says that no one should create a nuisance and should not resort to any hooliganism. The person emphasised that no political party should come among them. He says that everyone has spat upon their kids and their community and their sentiments have been hurt because of it. “Only oppose the political parties, the rest will sort itself out,” he says.
The panchayat also affirmed their support for a Narco test. Meanwhile, a Jagran report claims that the Hathras Case was initially related to an attempt to murder. It says that initially, the brother of the accused had only filed a case related to attempt to murder and rape was not alleged in the initial complaint.
Jagran Report
The report says that for five days, no other complaint was made. The report says that the first twist in the tale came after some politicians met the victim on the 19th of September. It was then that the victim added eve teasing to the list of complaint. Then, on the 22nd of September, rape was added to the allegations and three more names were added to the list of accused. It is reported that a senior Congress leader met the victim on the 19th of September.
It is pertinent to note that medical examination has ruled out rape. Furthermore, the Jagran report says that Shyoraj Jeevan, the former state secretary of the Congress party, met the family of the victim as well after meeting the victim herself following which the narrative started changing. A statement by the Congress leader was also reported to have been going viral which says, ‘Our daughter has saved her honour but the sinners have cut her tongue, broken her spine.’
The report says that the allegations of eve teasing and rape was added after the matter was politicised. And the police consequently added relevant sections to the case and arrested the four accused. Meanwhile, the family of the accused have denied the charges. They have claimed that the accusations are false and motivated by an old family feud with the victim’s family.
A lot of debate and political mudslinging has been happening around the Hathras case since the victim succumbed to her injuries in Delhi’s Safdarjung hospital on Tuesday morning. She was allegedly raped two weeks ago. The case attracted nationwide outrage when some reports claimed Hathras Police forcefully cremated the girl on Tuesday night without consent of the family members. The police had later stated that the victim’s father was present during the cremation.
Speaking to ANI, ADG Prashant Kumar had informed that the forensic reports that were awaited have also been received. ADG stated that the FSL report found no evidence of ‘rape’. He asserted that it was concluded that there was no sexual assault, and the cause of death was strangulation and injury to the spine.
Hours after it was reported that a panel of AIIMS doctors has ‘ruled out’ the murder angle in the unnatural death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, Times Now took a veiled dig at Republic TV. Reportedly, one Dr Sudhir Gupta has examined the post-mortem and viscera reports of the deceased actor and stated that it was a case of suicide.
During a news debate on Times Now over the sensational development in the Sushant Singh Rajput case, the news channel put out several ‘big questions’ for its viewers. One of them was, “Will those who cried murder and maligned Mumbai police now introspect?” the question read. Although not named, the channel’s question was directed at its rival Republic TV, which has been consistently covering the Sushant Singh Rajput case. Times Now directed Republic TV to ‘introspect’ for dismissing the ‘suicide angle’ and peddling the ‘murder theory’.
Screengrab of the Times debate
The channel also questioned whether the report vindicated the Mumbai Police stand that it was a case of suicide. They also wondered whether now the Shiv Sena govt will be proven right in their claim of political conspiracy behind probes by central agencies in the Sushant Singh Rajput death case. They also asked whether the agencies have any other proof other than circumstantial evidence.
No organic poison found in Sushant Singh Rajput’s body, claims AIIMS report ruling out the murder angle, according to sources. CBI yet to issue a statement.
It may be noted that CBI has not announced anything about the forensic report by the AIIMS team, and the Times Now report was based on ‘sources’.
Times Now nails ‘suicide theory’ based on unseen videos
However, a closer look at the coverage of Times Now in Sushant’s death case shows a different story. On August 14, the news channel tweeted four videos of the deceased actor, which showed Sushant in a jovial mood. The videos dated back to January this year when the actor had gone to meet his family. Keeping the videos at the epicentre of her argument, journalist Navika Kumar insinuated that the ‘happy’ actor could not have committed suicide.
Claiming that the suicide theory was fabricated, Navika claimed that the never-seen-before videos allegedly pointed towards a murder angle.
Times Now discovers ‘Dubai mafia angle’ in Sushant Singh Rajput case
Just 8 days after hinting at a ‘potential’ murder case, Times Now broke an ‘exclusive’ story about the possible hand of Dubai-based mafia in the death of Sushant Singh case. Until then, the news channel would put the word ‘alleged’ before the word ‘murder’. While framing it as a question, Times Now asked, “Dubai mafia behind Sushant’s murder?” It also opened the telephone lines for viewers to share their thoughts and opinions on the possible correlation between the mafia groups and his ‘murder’.
Since then, the channel has been aggressively pursuing the ‘murder’ angle. The message that Sushant Singh Rajput was perhaps ‘killed’ was conveyed to viewers through their regular ‘exclusive’ stories. As recently as September 29, Times Now highlighted how the panel of AIIMS doctors, investigating the case, found that ‘homicide’ angle could not be ruled out on the basis of forensics. Journalist Rahul Shivshankar further claimed that the AIIMS report was in line with the CBI probe. The channel also ran a headline that read, “302 case (IPC Section for murder) only a matter of time.”
Video Courtesy: Times Now
On October 1, Times Now again peddled the ‘murder theory’ by claiming that the central investigative agency may soon invoke the ‘murder charge’. The report read, “In a fresh development in the Sushant Singh Rajput’s death case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has reportedly indicated that it may invoke Section 302 of IPC (murder) in connection with the actor’s death.”
Screengrab of the Times Now article
Before explaining to readers about the provisions of IPC Section 302, the report emphasised, “The AIIMS report has ruled out the theory that the late actor was poisoned before his death. As the probe agency may invoke Section 302, it is bound to give a new twist to the case.”
It is therefore surprising to see Times Now taking a U-turn on its earlier news coverage and engage in virtue-signalling to its rival Republic Tv. In the age of social media, news channels should be aware that it is no longer possible to fool the masses with sanctimonious assertions and bias. The clearly visible hypocrisy and veiled attacks against a rival channel only highlight their own frustrations and shows that they are not actually concerned about journalistic standards and media morality.
Days after the Opposition resorted to the politicisation of the death of a 19-year-old girl in Hathras in UP, BJP leader and Cabinet Minister in the Yogi Adityanath government, Ramapati Shastri, accused the opposition leaders of trying to provoke a caste riot in the area.
While speaking to ANI on Saturday, he stated, “The Opposition has taken an irresponsible stand in the Hathras case. They don’t want the truth to surface…They want to provoke caste-based riots in the area. Mayawati, a former Chief Minister must have understood the gravity of the situation. She has insulted the victim by making an insensitive statement on social media. The medical report has not confirmed the allegation of a gang rape… ”
He informed, “UP CM has already constituted an SIT in the case. The investigation has been initiated based on the preliminary report. The steps taken by the government will help bring the truth to light.”
The BJP leader questioned, “Why is the Opposition against narco and polygraph test? The tweets and audiotapes posted by them point towards a conspiracy to incite riots under the garb of demanding justice in the Hathras case.” He added that CM Yogi Adityanath has made strict laws for crimes against women in Uttar Pradesh. “This will help the Courts to deliver justice to the victim within a stipulated time…The Chief Minister has also announced a compensation of ₹25 lacs for the victim’s family,” he informed.
Politicisation of Hathras case
Ever since Thursday, Congress and other political parties have been using the Hathras case to further their narrative and gain a stronghold in Uttar Pradesh on anti-upper caste sentiment. Congress leaders including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi are making an attempt, yet again, today to reach Hathras to supposedly express solidarity with the victim’s family. This is despite the fact that the duo along with 200 other Congress workers was earlier stopped on Greater Noida expressway near Pari Chowk. Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav has decided to reach Hathras on October 4, after returning to Delhi from London in the United Kingdom.
Many journalists flourish and make their careers, writing on the politicians they love to hate. We have seen how in the last two decades, Anti-Modism has emerged as a full-time career option for many. Now media has added Mahant Yogi Adityanath also in their hate list. All these journalists will conveniently discount the fact that Yogi is a five-time parliamentarian, with an amazing track record of attendance, a number of questions asked and debates participated in the parliament.
Yogi won his elections with exponential margins even when BJP was not doing great in 2004 and 2009. Yogi is the only Chief Minister, after Modi who will find mention in the New York times and Washington posts of the world. A simple fact-checking will reveal that most of these articles are written sitting in foreign lands and based on biases rather than facts.
In 2017, when Yogi Adityanath took the oath as the Chief Minister, he inherited a defunct Uttar Pradesh, being run by Akhilesh, his father and Mayawati in the last 15 years. Law and order in Uttar Pradesh was marred by these three characteristics – (1) An insufficient Police Force – only 1.5 lakhs positions out of the sanctioned 3 lakhs police positions in the state were filled by SP and BSP governments of the past (2) Bahubabli-karan of Politics – the likes of Raja Bhaya, Atique Ahmed, Vikas Dubey, Gayatri Prajapati were in corridors of power instead of jails (3) Patriarchal & Misogynist Mind-Set of the governments, dictated by Mulayam Singh’s Philosophy – “Ladke Hain, Galti Ho Jati Hai” (Boys will be Boys).
As we speak, 1.3 lac extra Police force is already recruited in Uttar Pradesh by the Yogi government. Yogi, who works 18 hours a day, started cracking this nexus from day one. He asked the home department to get a list of all the dreaded gangsters of Uttar Pradesh – who have fled jails, fled courtrooms, never even FIRed in the past, because of political protection OR never got arrested even after multiple court orders.
He started hunting all of these dreaded criminals who got political shelter in the last 15 years. He made special teams in order to catch them. In many cases, these criminals fired on the police teams, when they faced an arrest and got killed or injured in police’s counter firing. The Uttar Pradesh police have carried out over 3000 such expeditions in the first 16 months of the Yogi Adityanath government.
A total of 78 criminals have been gunned down and over 838 criminals have sustained injuries and 7043 criminals have been arrested. Instead of appreciating Yogi on this massive crackdown, Media diluted and questioned Yogi’s effort under the pretence of violation of Human right cases. It’s noteworthy that all these encounters passed the test of magistral enquiries and were found valid. Media never bothered to highlight this fact.
But Industry was closely watching the rapidly improving law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh. A safe Uttar Pradesh started attracting investment of the tunes 5 Lac crores. More than 250 of these projects also completed their groundbreaking ceremony by 2019. In fact, in 2020, Uttar Pradesh jumped to the 2nd position in ease of doing business rankings, after Andhra Pradesh. But media never gave Yogi a space for the positive news coming out of Uttar Pradesh on the front-pages or in the prime-time debates.
Assault against women is the biggest stain in modern civilized society globally. Western media portrays India as the rape capital of the world, when rape rate (rapes in a country per lac of population) in Sweden is 63.5, in Australia is 28.6, in the United States is 27.3 and India is only 1.8. The way India is a victim of the skewed narrative of the western media on the cases of women assault, Yogi’s Uttar Pradesh faces the same bias from the large part of Indian media.
As per the NCRB data, Rape rate in UP is 3.7, in compared to 14.7 Rape rate of Chhattisgarh, 11.7 of Rajasthan & 10.7 of Kerala. Because most of the media houses are housed in Delhi or Noida, Yogi’s Uttar Pradesh becomes the victim of doorstep reporting. In September 2020 itself, a 19-year-old COVID Patient, from Pathanamthitta is raped inside an ambulance in Kerala, two tribal girls aged 16 and 14 were raped in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district, they consumed poison and one of them is dead, In Rajasthan, two minor girls from Baran were gang-raped for 3 days. But for some reason, these don’t become the prime time debates on our TV channels, but Hathras does.
Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi attempt tragedy tourism in Hathras, but don’t even tweet about Kerala. TMC MP, from West Bengal, Derek O’Brian also tries to go to Hathras but does not even care to comment about heinous crimes against two minor tribal girls in his own state of West Bengal. And because Yogi’s UP gives them TRPs, Media anchors also shed tears on Hathras, but don’t care about other daughters of India.
In the last three years, Yogi has capacitated the UP police force by filling 1.3 lacs vacant positions, dreaded criminals who were out in open in previous regimes are now in Jail. Illegally grabbed properties by the likes of Mukhtar Ansari, Atique Ahmed and Vikas Dubey are either seized or demolished. Romeo squads are trying their best to provide a safe atmosphere in UP. Special Investigation Teams (SITs) were formed in all serious cases and reports sought with tight timelines. Police staff is being suspended where ever laxity is found.
The industry is coming back to UP, as they find their money and employees safe in UP now. Despite all of this, Yogi continues to be the politician, which media love to hate and scrutinize dis-proportionately. First, it was Lal Krishna Advani, then it became Narendra Modi and now media has moved on to Yogi Adityanath as their favourite hate target.
With the brazen politicisation of the Hathras incident, the mainstream media and the opposition parties, most notably the Congress party, have finally succeeded in their nefarious pursuit of throwing Uttar Pradesh into a state of chaos and disorder. Incidents of stone-pelting have been reported from the city of Agra where members of Valmiki community hurled stones against the police personnel.
Skirmishes broke out in Agra between Valmiki community members and police officials over the brutality meted out to the 20-year-old Dalit woman in Hathras district. While police personnel equipped with riot gear tried to restore law and order, a wave of angry protesters took to streets to fling stones at them.
#Agra: Valmiki Samaj members pelt stones at police in protest demonstration against alleged Hathras rape
“Police’s monitoring situation. Our cyber teams also checking social media for objectionable posts. I appeal to all people to maintain peace,” says BR Pramod, SP, City Agra pic.twitter.com/zUO1eS8B3l
“Police’s monitoring situation. Our cyber teams also checking social media for objectionable posts. I appeal to all people to maintain peace,” said BR Pramod, SP, City Agra.
The protesting members of the Valmiki community also called for a boycott of cleaning works across the city. Heaps of waste and garbage were seen strewn on the sides of busy roads in the city.
The protests that swept across Agra came in the aftermath of the death of a 19-year-old Dalit girl on Tuesday at Delhi’s Safdarjung hospital. The victim had suffered fractures, paralysis and a spinal injury after a brutal assault by the assailants.
Opposition politicians politicise the Hathras incident to settle scores with Yogi government
The incident sent a shockwave across the nation, providing an opportunity to galvanise the opposition political parties, including Congress. The parties showed a remarkable alacrity in exploiting the incident to mount an attack and settle their scores against the Yogi Adityanath government in the state. Scores of politicians tried to politicise the unfortunate death of the girl by marching to the village despite Section 144 in place.
Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi tried to revive his dwindling political fortunes by stoking the protest against the UP government. In his march to Hathras, Gandhi even pulled off a dramatic fall to reap political mileage and garner sympathy from the public. However, his meticulously planned fall on lush green grasses, aided by his supporters flanking him, had the Internet world in splits, with many pitting him against the Brazilian footballer Neymar Jr, who is known for feigning fake falls during his soccer matches.
After failed attempt to reach Hathras in the first go, Rahul Gandhi, along with his sister Priyanka Gandhi, were today on their way to visit the village. In a video of the siblings visiting Hathras, Rahul Gandhi was seen sitting in front of the car with his sister driving. Great laughter can also be heard in the video that was shared. This has enraged social media users who have criticised the Gandhi siblings for being callous on their way to meet the bereaved family in Hathras.
India Today activates panic mode after OpIndia reported leaked conversation between its journalist and Hathras victim’s brother
Likewise, the media’s role in the coverage of the incident has also been under scanner after conflicting reports emerged bringing forth multiple discrepancies in the case. OpIndia had yesterday reported a leaked conversation between India Today journalist and the Hathras victim’s brother where the journalist, Tanushree Pandey, was seen pleading with the victim’s brother to shoot and send a video of the father alleging that the UP administration was putting pressure on his.
OpIndia’s report prompted India Today to activate the panic mode and release an “Important and Urgent” statement where they admitted the authenticity of the tapes. In their statement, India Today was hyperventilating after creating an imaginary story about their journalist’s or the victim’s brother’s phone being tapped. They demanded to know why and under what law were their phones being tapped.
It is worthy to note here that India Today is not aware of the source of this audio and the audio itself could have been leaked from any quarter. However, India Today has jumped to the conclusion of phone tapping.
After being left red-faced over the Hathras Tapes reported by Opindia yesterday, India Today now seems to be taking offence at netizens questioning the shenanigans of the media house. After the release of the Hathras tapes where their journalist was heard tutoring the victim’s family, the channel released a statement where they admitted that the tape was authentic. Thereafter, as netizens started questioning their journalistic ethics, India Today started indiscriminately blocking the ones questioning them.
One Twitter user (@BefittingFacts) shared screenshots of being blocked by India Today after it schooled the media house for creating an imaginary story about their journalist’s or the victim’s brother’s phone being tapped. He said that a true journalist will never fear call tapping. He said that if the journalist is scared of “leaks” it means that he/she is hiding something or does not want the truth to be revealed.
According to the Twitter user, he was blocked right after he pointed out the hypocrisy of India Today in questioning under what law was the tapes being leaked after their phones had been tapped, while earlier, the same channel had gleefully reported the audiotapes of the conversation between Sushant Singh Rajput and his wealth managers.
India Today seems to be behaving like that arrogant child who starts throwing tantrums whenever he/she is caught lying. Many others also shared how India Today had blocked them after they questioned the channel over the Hathras tapes.
India Today admits authenticity of the Hathras Tape
India Today took to Twitter to release an “Important and Urgent” statement where they admitted the authenticity of the tapes. In their statement, India Today was hyperventilating after creating an imaginary story about their journalist’s or the victim’s brother’s phone being tapped. They demanded to know why and under what law were their phones being tapped.
It is worthy to note here that India Today is not aware of the source of this audio and the audio itself could have been leaked from any quarter. However, India Today has jumped to the conclusion of phone tapping.
Hathras Tapes exposes India Today and their journalist Tanushree Pandey
OpIndia had yesterday reported a leaked conversation between India Today journalist and the Hathras victim’s brother where the journalist, Tanushree Pandey, was seen pleading with the victim’s brother to shoot and send a video of the father alleging that the UP administration was putting pressure on his.
Before publishing the report, OpIndia had reached out to Tanushree Pandey and asked her for her comments on the tape, however, she had not responded to the query.
While on Television, members of the opposition parties were seen trying to shield India Today by claiming that the audiotape was fabricated, in their panic to defend themselves, India Today admitted that the Hathras Tapes are indeed authentic.
The leaked audio that put India Today and the Congress party in the dock
The leaked conversations of the Hathras Case revealed the manner in which politicians and the media have been trying to politicise the issue in order to settle scores with the BJP government in the state. In one of the audios, Tanushree Pandey, an India Today journalist, was attempting to incite the brother of the deceased with lies and emotional blackmail.
In the audio clip, Tanushree Pandey could be heard trying hard to convince Sandeep to send her a video statement of his father alleging that he was under immense pressure from the administration.
Throughout the conversation, Tanushree Pandey appears insistent on coaxing out a very specific statement from Sandeep while the latter remains non-committal on his statement and appears hesitant to toe the line that the journalist wants him to toe. He confirms the journalist’s allegations of pressure and on other occasions, he says that his father was not very clear on whether he was pressurised or not.
Tanushree Pandey tells Sandeep that she has learnt from somewhere, she does not specify where that an attempt is being made to blame the death of the sister on her family. It does appear to be an incendiary piece of information that has not been reported anywhere in the media. This bit of false information appears entirely fake and seems to have been invented solely to take advantage of the family’s misery to peddle a particular political agenda.
In another conversation, an unidentified individual is heard telling Sandeep, the brother of the victim, to not leave his house because senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi would be visiting his home. In the conversation, the person could be heard telling Sandeep, “If anyone wishes to take you anywhere, you must not go, now Priyanka Gandhi will come to your house. Someone says you should go to Hathras, somewhere here, somewhere there, you must not go.”
The man continues, “Say that the police and the media are not allowing your relatives to come, that they have been kept for your protection or for Thakur’s. Tell them everything that has happened to you.” During the conversation, Sandeep tells the man that the SIT was on a visit and one ‘Sanjay bhaiya’, his father and two other people are sitting inside along with some Congress workers. The man further tells Sandeep, “Alright, don’t go anywhere. Now Priyanka Gandhi will come and tell her that pressure has been created on you and you want to create a video of that.”
In another conversation that appears to be between villagers and Sandeep, the brother is advised that he should not accept Rs. 25 lakhs and reach a conclusion. He is told that he should even accept Rs. 50 lakh to reach a conclusion. The lady in that conversation says that some politician is saying that ‘faisla’ should not be reached. During this conversation, the names of one ‘Rahul’ and Manish Sisodia and Barkha Dutt also comes up.
After media personnel barred from entering the Hathras village for the last couple of days, permission was granted to media houses to visit the village. Though the completion of the SIT probe was the reason behind the permission granted to the media professionals to enter the village, an overwrought Aaj Tak journalist hysterically claimed it as “victory of reportage”.
Frantically running towards the village while periodically gasping for air, the Aaj Tak reporter Chitra Tripathi claimed that the administration was under pressure because of the growing number of media professionals gathered outside the village.
“The administration was under intense pressure from the media organisations who had congregated around the border of the village. The DM thought that the media crowd will thin out in a couple of days. But, instead, it only grew thicker in the past two days. Caving under the immense pressure, the administration today allowed the media professionals covering the story to enter the village. What was the truth that was being hidden from the media?” Aaj Tak journalist said.
“This has happened (lifting of Section 144) because of Aaj Tak’s relentless coverage of the Hathras incident, our interviews with the victim’s family and our fight for securing justice for the victim girl,” the journalist said.
Section 144 lifted from Hathras after the completion of SIT probe
Earlier on Thursday, the police had put up barricades at about 2 km from the village on the main road, blocking off all access paths to the village. However, on Saturday, the authorities in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras reopened the sealed borders and said that they will allow the media to enter the village.
“Since SIT probe in the village is complete, the restriction on media has been lifted. More than five media persons are now allowed to gather as Section 144 of CrPC is in place,” Prem Prakash Meena, Sadar senior divisional magistrate, was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
India Today activates panic mode after OpIndia reported leaked conversation between its journalist and Hathras victim’s brother
The mainstream media’s questionable coverage of the Hathras incident came under the spotlight after OpIndia had yesterday reported a leaked conversation between India Today journalist and the Hathras victim’s brother where the journalist, Tanushree Pandey, was seen pleading with the victim’s brother to shoot and send a video of the father alleging that the UP administration was putting pressure on his.
After the OpIndia report, India Today, the sister channel of Aaj Tak, had gone into a panic mode, releasing an “Important and Urgent” statement on Twitter in which they seemed to be hyperventilating after creating an imaginary story about their journalist’s or the victim’s brother’s phone being tapped. They demanded to know why and under what law were their phones being tapped.
It is notable to mention here that India Today is not aware of the source of this audio and the audio itself could have been leaked from any quarter. However, India Today has jumped to the conclusion of phone tapping.
When the world is suffering from the increasing menace of radical Islam, France has decided to bring in a law to tackle the issue. On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron stated that a bill would be laid in the Parliament to fight homegrown Islamic separatism within Muslim communities in the country.
France strictly adheres to the principle of secularism (laicité), which promulgates complete separation of the Church and the State. The country has adopted the constitutional principle in 1905, following ‘anti-clerical struggle’ with the Catholic Church. France is home to 5 million Muslims who constitute 5-7% of the population.
French law to curb homeschooling to prevent indoctrination
The French President has expressed concerns about the rise of radicalism in France, often in a non-violent form, with the Muslims. Macron highlighted that the new bill will ‘severely’ restrict home-schooling to prevent children from being ‘indoctrinated’ with separatist ideology. Reportedly, the law will also check the proliferation of ‘unregistered’ educational institutions, which offer curriculum different from the national one.
Foreign Imams cannot train clerics in France, Macron informs
While the new law will encourage the teaching of the Arabic language in France and the creation of an ‘Institute of Islamology’, foreign Islamic clerics will not be permitted to train imams in France. “What we need to fight is Islamist separatism. The problem is an ideology which claims its own laws should be superior to those of the Republic,” the French President stated recently. He also emphasised the need for an ‘enlightened Islam’ in the country.
The new law will also empower Central government representatives aka prefects to overturn decisions by mayors that promote gender-based segregation in cafeterias and swimming pools. According to French officials, Muslims often force young children to wear full-face veils, refuse to shake hands with people belonging to the opposite gender, a drastic increase in the number of madrassas and segregated swimming pools.
Muslim group criticises French President’s ‘choice of words’
Criticising his statement, President Amar Lasfar of the Muslims of France Association said, “It is a speech that tries to point at danger, and I do not quite agree. In ‘Islamism’ there is the word ‘Islam’ and I think he could have talked about extremism or radicalisation. One cannot stigmatise all Muslims.” He added that a new law was not required and argued that existing laws could be used to achieve the same outcome.
Radical Islamist attacks in France
France has faced the wrath of several jihadist attacks in the past 5 years, resulting in 250 deaths. Last week, an 18-year-old Pakistani terrorist named Ali Hassan aka Zaheer Hassan Mehmood stabbed four people with a meat cleaver near the former offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo near the Richard Lenoir Metro Station in Paris. Two people were critically injured in the attack. Hassan, who hails from Mandi Bahauddin in Punjab province of Pakistan, was eventually nabbed by the Paris Police Department.
Charlie Hebdo had decided to republish the cartoons on prophet Mohammed that led to the terrorist attack against them in 2015. Their decision to republish the cartoons had triggered widespread protests across the Muslim world and renewed calls for violence.
