Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh, the husband of Deepika Padukone, has asked the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) whether he can be present during his wife’s interrogation on Saturday, reports Republic TV.
In his application to the NCB, Ranveer Singh has stated that Deepika Padukone suffered from anxiety and gets panic attacks, therefore, has asked their permission to accompany the actress to the interrogation. Deepika Padukone, who was shooting for a film in Goa arrived in Mumbai on Thursday with her husband Ranveer Singh.
Ranveer Singh has also stated that he is a ‘law-abiding citizen’ and was aware of the fact that he is not allowed to be present at the time of Deepika Padukone’s questioning, however, he has requested the NCB to allow him to accompany his wife to the questioning. No decision has been taken by the NCB on Ranveer Singh’s application yet.
Deepika Padukone to appear before NCB on Saturday
Meanwhile, Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone will be appearing before the NCB on September 26. Along with Deepika, Sara Ali Khan and Shraddha Kapoor have also been summoned by the Narcotics Control Bureau in connection with the drug mafia case.
On Friday, actor Rakul Preet Singh and Deepika Padukone’s manager Karishma Prakash were also summoned.
The NCB officials on Friday recorded statements of fashion designer Simone Khambatta and Shruti Modi, the former manager of Sushant Singh Rajput in connection with the drugs case.
The NCB had launched an investigation after it received official communication from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) alleging a drug mafia in the Bollywood. The NCB had launched a probe after recovering various chats related to drug consumption, procurement, usage and transportation.
Update: In a battle of the ‘sources’, other media platforms are now reporting exactly the opposite of what Republic sources had reported. India Today and Hindustan Times have reported that their sources have confirmed that Ranveer Singh has made no such request to NCB.
On Wednesday, the district administration removed an illegal Christian Cross and a statue of Jesus Christ, which was put up, on Susai Paliya Hill in Chikkaballapur in Karnataka. The action was taken, following the order of the Karnataka High Court in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL).
Police oversaw the operation of the district administration
The mammoth-size Cross and the Statue was illegally placed on government-owned pasture land, also known as gomala, to facilitate encroachment. The operation was executed by Assistant Commissioner Raghunandan, Tehsildar Tulasi under the watch of Superintendent of Police (Chikkaballapur) Mithun Kumar.
While confirming the administrative action, Raghunandan informed that the operation was conducted on the orders of the Karnataka High Court after it was found that the Statue and Cross were built on the government land, without seeking prior approval of the authorities.
Christian protestors resisted against the clearance operation
Hundreds of police personnel were deployed to control the law and order in the area. Reportedly, hundreds of Christian protestors held demonstrations at the site against the operation of the district administration.
They also engaged in sloganeering against the officials and the Karnataka government. The cops took the matter into their hands and ‘pushed back’ the local Christians who tried to obstruct the administration from implementing the orders of the Court.
Church-sponsored land encroachment in Kerala
Last year, the Christian church, with the alleged help of the communist government of Kerala, was accused of encroaching the ‘sacred forests’ associated with the Sabarimala temple, known as ‘Poonkavanam’ in Kerala. A report by the Malayalam newspaper Janmabhumi suggested that there was a massive encroachment of forestland near Panchalimedu, a part of Sabarimala forests in Idukki district. The entire region is designated as an ecologically fragile under the Environment (Protection) Act.
The worrying issue was that the Church had established boards and an arch in the forest area claiming it as a Christian pilgrimage centre. The reports further suggested that the move was aimed at the Sabarimala temple which had been on the radar of the Conversion lobby for the past seventy years.
In a significant decision, the Division Bench of Andhra Pradesh High Court on Thursday observed that the state cannot withdraw a prosecution filed against any accused based on religion and noted that it was against the public interest, reports Hans India.
“Withdrawing prosecution based on religion is against the public interest,” a division bench comprising Justice Rakesh Kumar and Justice J Umadevi observed while hearing the public interest litigation (PIL).
A petition was filed by P Ganesh of Legal Rights Protection Forum (LRPF) against the decision of the Andhra Pradesh government to withdraw the prosecution of Muslim youth, who had attacked a police station in Guntur in May 2018.
A mob of more than 2,000 Muslims had unleashed terror on the Old Guntur police station demanding handing over of a youth who had allegedly committed a sexual assault on a minor girl at that time. The mob had attacked the police station leaving the police personnel severely injured.
The mob used deadly weapons and caused injuries to the police personnel and inconvenience to the public. Six FIRs were registered against the accused based on the complaint by the aggrieved police personnel.
Andhra Pradesh govt had ordered withdrawal prosecution against Muslim youth
The Andhra Pradesh government had decided to withdraw prosecution against an accused Muslim youth and had directed the DGP to issue instructions to concerned officers to file a petition under Section 321 of the CrPC for the withdrawal of prosecution in crime registered in old Guntur police station.
However, the petitioners challenged the order issued by the Home Department and argued that this attack was nothing but waging a war against the sovereignty of the government.
Issuing stay orders on the state government’s order to withdraw prosecution the Court also instructed the government to make NIA as the party in the case.
Using religion to withdraw petition was highly objectionable, observes HC
Justice Rakesh Kumar observed, “The using of Muslim youth in the GO is highly objectionable on the part of the Government. Even the language used in the GO is not correct in our secular and democratic country. It is a fit case for NIA to be probed into.”
JV Phanidath Chanakya, the counsel representing the petitioners, said that the Director-General of Police himself asked the government to withdraw the prosecution in this case, in the month of February this year.
The High Court, stay the order, also directed the government pleader to file the counter by October 1. The counsel for the petitioner was directed to implead the NIA in the case.
With dwindling TRP ratings and frequent social media criticism of their bias, India Today is caught in a state of fix. Instead of course-correction, the news channel has been up-in-arms against its rival Republic TV. The motivated campaign has been spearheaded by two ‘ace’ journalists, namely Rahul Kanwal and Rajdeep Sardesai. In a bid to settle scores and placate their inflated individual egos with media baron Arnab Goswami, the duo has been further damaging the credibility of their channel – India Today.
A look at the BARC website shows that Republic TV has registered 5 times more viewership than India Today between September 12 and September 18. While India Today is at a distant 5th position, Republic Tv has managed to grab the top spot in the ‘English News’ genre.
Screengrab of the BARC ratings (English News genre)
The story is no different when it comes to ‘Hindi News’ genre. Owned by India Today group, Aaj Tak had earlier managed to grab the top spot for a span of 13 year period. But, Republic Bharat, which was launched 1.5 years ago in February 2019, had turned the TRP tide towards it. Between August 15 and August 21, Republic Bharat recorded 16.40% viewership while AajTak fell behind with 14.26% viewership.
The case has remained consistent ever since August. For the period between September 12 and September 18, Republic Bharat recorded 27,84,77,000 impressions but Aaj Tak could only manage 19,86,58,000 weekly impressions. The dwindling TRPs number has probably left both Rajdeep Sardesai and Rahul Kanwal agitated, as is evident from their constant tweets and vented frustrations targeted against Republic and its Editor in chief.
Screengrab of the BARC ratings (Hindi News genre)
Social media feud between India Today and Republic Tv
On 8th September, Kanwal wrote on his Twitter account that while “Banana Republic” channels are questioning India Today’s integrity for interviewing Rhea Chakraborty, they are hounding Rhea across Mumbai city desperately hoping that she will talk to them. “India Today got an interview you wanted,” he added and compared Arnab Goswami with Nazi leader Joseph Goebbels.
Republic TV did not take time to reply and tagged India Today, Aaj Tak and Aroon Purie, where they shared weekly TRP data of the top five news channels. Republic wrote, “Can you give this (weekly TRP report) to your newsdesk with our compliments and tell them to take a chill pill.”
India Today and Republic TV had chosen sides in Sushant Singh Rajput’s case. While Arnab Goswami’s Republic TV has been standing with Rajput’s family, India Today has come to the rescue of Rhea Chakraborty and has been raising voice against the comments made by various news agencies against her.
India Today editor Rahul Kanwal had lied about ratings in April
India Today’s Rahul Kanwal has bee upset with Republic TV for quite some time now. Amidst the Coronavirus pandemic in April, Rahul Kanwal claimed that viewers were spending twice the time on India Today than they did on their competitors.
Following his assertion, Rahul Kanwal had said, “Bloated egos and noise factories can polarise but they can’t report on a fast-moving story”. The obvious reference of Rahul Kanwal’s tweet was Republic TV and Arnab Goswami. Further, Rahul Kanwal claimed that Aaj Tak and India Today were “number 1 this week”.
Rahul Kanwal’s tweet
On cross-checking the BARC data, it became clear that Kanwal’s claim was wrong. From the 28th March 2020 to the 3rd of April 2020, according to BARC, Republic TV had a substantial lead over India Today. In fact, Times Now was second to Republic TV and India Today was a distant third.
Week 14 (4th April to 10th April) was worse for India Today. While Republic scored 1896, India Today scored only an 866, slipping to the number 4 spot. It is pertinent to note that Rahul Kanwal had congratulated himself first on the 9th of April.
Doublespeak on Deepika Padukone’s summon by NCW
Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone, Sara Ali Khan, Shraddha Kapoor, and Rakul Preet Singh were summoned by Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Wednesday in a Bollywood-drug nexus case. India Today’s Rajdeep Sardesai alleged that the government was using Deepika Padukone as a distraction from major issues like the Farmers Bill. Rajdeep Sardesai took to Twitter to hint that Deepika Padukone’s summons by the Narcotics Bureau on September 25 was somehow connected to the farmer’s protest.
But amusingly, while on one side the India Today journalists were seen casting aspersions on the government for using the actor to distract the public’s attention from the larger issues and whining about the unnecessary media coverage being given to Deepika Padukone’s summon, their own journalists were stationed in Goa, covering Deepika Padukone’s minute-by-minute update.
Senior journalists from India Today were even seen chasing cars, trying to cover Deepika’s journey from her hotel to the airport.
Downplaying the attack on Republic Tv journalist
Hours after psephologist and republic TV journalist Pradeep Bhandari was manhandled and slapped by a fellow ABP journalist, Rajdeep Sardesai wasted no time in downplaying the assault and engaging in victim-blaming. Referring to the security provided to Bhandari, he ranted, “An image which perhaps defines the Tv media in ‘Banana Republic’ times.” While casting aspersions about the integrity of Pradeep Bhandari, Sardesai indirectly justified the attack as a ‘sign of lost respect’.
He claimed, “When a ‘noise’ channel hires private security to ‘protect’ their so-called reporter from fellow journalists: it’s a sign of the channel having lost the most precious TRP: TV RESPECT POINTS of your peers!”
An image which perhaps defines the tv media in banana republic times. When a ‘noise’ channel hires private security to ‘protect’ their so called reporter from fellow journalists: it’s a sign of the channel having lost the most precious TRP: TV RESPECT POINTS of your peers!? pic.twitter.com/cVWSx0HUf1
Failing to condemn the fact that a fellow journalist has been attacked, Rajdeep took the incident as an opportunity for scoring goals, to pontificate that Republic TV may have better TRPs, but it is losing ‘respect’. The passive frustration of losing in the TRP race to a ‘New’ channel was visible again.
Hypocrisy over privacy and Whatsapp Chats
On Thursday, Rahul Kanwal took to Twitter to raise concerns over ‘digital privacy’ and the issue of ‘private Whatsapp chat leaks’, pertaining to the chats that had resulted in the NCB summons for Deepika. He wrote, “The leaking of private Whatsapp chats raises serious questions about privacy? Many have been wondering how was NCB able to access Deepika Padukone and Karishma’s private chat?” Kanwal further inquired, “Can someone be forced by agencies to share passwords with help retrieve deleted chats?”
The leaking of private Whatsapp chats raises serious questions about privacy? Many have been wondering how was NCB able to access @deepikapadukone & Karishma’s private chat? Can someone be forced by agencies to share passwords with help retrieve deleted chats? #Newstrack 8 pm
Rahul Kanwal’s assertions about data privacy were hypocritical, and even ironic. This is because he and his channel has been at the forefront of exploiting private Whatsapp chats for TRPs. A month earlier, Kanwal tweeted, “Sushant’s family has said they didn’t know about his mental illness. But new WhatsApp chats accessed by India Today show exchanges between Sushant and his sister Priyanka where the sister is arranging depression medicines and telling SSR to have his pills.”
Sushant’s family has said they didn’t know about his mental illness. But new WhatsApp chats accessed by India Today show exchanges between Sushant and his sister Priyanka where the sister is arranging depression medicines and telling SSR to have his pills. https://t.co/FvJXUjmYqY
If Rahul Kanwal was genuinely concerned about ‘digital privacy’, then, how did his channel not shy away from posting private Whatsapp conversation between Sushant Singh Rajput and his sister Priyanka? In another article, citing private Whatsapp chats, India Today claimed that Sushant’s sister Nitu too was aware of his ‘treatment’ for depression.
Screengrab of the India Today report
In another exclusive news item, India Today had shared private conversation between director Mahesh Bhatt and actress Rhea Chakraborty to ascertain that the latter left the house of Sushant Singh Rajput on June 8.
Screengrab of the India Today report
In the age of social media, senior journalists should be aware that it is no longer possible to fool the masses with sanctimonious assertions and bias. The clearly visible hypocrisy and twitter attacks against a rival channel only highlight their own frustrations and shows that they are not actually concerned about journalistic standards and media morality. They are just upset that someone else, someone new is beating them in the game.
The central government is planning to ban mobile app of Islamist preacher Zakir Naik for inciting religious hatred. As per the report submitted by Intelligence Bureau (IB) to the Home Ministry, Naik’s app and social media handles are engaged in anti-India activities and are indulged in recruiting and radicalising Muslim youths.
The report said that Zakir Naik’s organisation has links with Jihadi groups and that it receives funding from Arab countries for furthering the Jihadi propaganda in India.
Top officials of the IB and the NIA held a meeting at the Home Ministry office in Delhi in which it was discussed whether hate speech videos posted by Naik posed threat to communal harmony in the country.
A fine of Rs 2.75 crore was imposed on Naik’s channels Peace TV and Peace TV Urdu in the UK by UK media watchdog Ofcom for broadcasting hate speech and repeatedly inciting violence through his channels. Zakir Naik is wanted in India for money laundering and inciting extremism through hate speeches. His name is included in the NIA’s most-wanted list.
Last year, he had launched a mobile application called the free Peace TV App that had over 1 lakh downloads on Google Play Store. The app has round the clock telecast in four languages, English, Urdu, Bangla and Chinese. Through this app, Naik’s TV channel is broadcast across India despite being banned and has an age rating of 3+. His app is also banned in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
NIA Booked Zakir Naik in Love Jihad Case
Recently, the NIA had booked Naik in a case of love jihad involving the daughter of a Chennai-based businessman and the son of a top politician of Bangladesh belonging to the political party of former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. Two other radical preachers from Pakistan were also book by the central agency in the same case.
Recently, the absconding Islamist preacher had uploaded a video in which he asked the Muslims in India to take jobs in IAS/IPS only if they were “bold” enough to protect Muslims and Islam.
An old woman in Pakistan who was separated from her family during the partition, was abducted and converted to Islam, has finally united with her family in India over a phone call. According to a report of Indian Express, the 86-years old woman named Daphia Bai alias Aisha, who was separated from her family when she was 13, talked to her nephews and grandsons over a video call. Daphia could not hold back her tears as she saw her family for the first time since partition. She desperately started kissing the screen of the phone as the pictures of her family members appeared on it.
Daphia’s family lives in Morkhana town of Bikaner, Rajasthan. A translator helped her talk to her family as she spoke in Saraiki while her family spoke in Marwari. She said that the had spent all her life crying. She narrated how she tried to trace her family by offering people ghee to help her. In all these years, Daphia remembered the names of her siblings and that the place where her family lived had a lot of peacocks.
This information helped in tracing Daphia’s family. A Pakistani YouTuber Muhammad Alamgir had shared a video of Daphia last year asking if anyone knew anything about her family. Alamgir came to know about her from his friend Munawwar Ali Sheikh who knew Daphia’s grandson Naseer Khan.
Kidnapped and Converted after Partition
Her family belonged to the Meghwal caste and used to shuttle between Bikaner and the part of Punjab which went to Pakistan after partition. After partition, her family chose to stay in Bikaner. But she was kidnapped, converted to Islam and married off. She gave birth to seven children. However, she kept looking for her family all these years. Daphia’s grandson said that she used to say that her siblings’ names were Alsu, Chothu and Mira and that her home town had a lot of peacocks. He said that she used to talk about her mamu’s (maternal uncle) wedding that she had attended.
The video of her story shared by Alamgir was spotted a by a Delhi-based man named Zaid Muhammad Khan. after watching the video, Khan decided to search for Daphia’s family. He shared her story on Facebook with some people in Bikaner particularly in Morkhana which he guessed since she used to talk about peacocks at her place. He even skimmed through publicly available revenue records looking for her siblings.
Khan came in contact with a person named Bharat Singh who runs a shop in Morkhana. Singh started looking for Meghwal families who had lost many members during the partition. Finally, in the second week of September, he traced a family in Morkhana who had heard their elders talk about a sister who had gone missing during the partition. They searched for her for years. The family members of her sibling Chotu made a WhatsApp video call to her. The grandchildren of her siblings were elated to see her. The families exchanged photographs on phone.
Daphia has lost all her children except two daughters. With growing age, her desire to find her family grew stronger. According to her grandson Naseer, she used to keep repeating the name of Morkhana. Around 20 years ago, her family had taken her to Yazman Tehsil in Bahawalpur district in Pakistan wherein some Meghwal families still lived. He used to say that the elder members in that family would tell her that they were her brothers thinking that this would console her. They would even visit her in her town in Mailsi.
She was Sold for an Ox
Daphia had put out an advertisement in a local Urdu newspaper on Pakistan’s Independence Day, narrating how she was sold in exchange for an ox. “I belonged to a Hindu family. At the age of 13, during Pakistan’s independence, I was separated from my family. And then I was condemned to Bakshinda Khan who sold me off to Ahmad Baksh, son of Ghulan Rasool, for an Ox”, she narrated in the advertisement. Dalphia was married to Ahmad Baksh.
The advertisement further said that she was made to recite the Prophet’s word and was converted to Islam. She was renamed as Aisha Bini. She bore three sons and four daughters. She said that she used to she missed her family on Pakistan’s Independence Day and wished to meet them before dying. She is now waiting for a visa to travel to India to meet her family.
As the Narcotics Control Burea (NCB) is sending summons to the big celebrities of Bollywood in relation to the ongoing investigation into an alleged drug syndicate in the industry, the media channels are racing against one another to report the ‘exclusive’ developments in the case.
In order to excel in this race, India Today caused an embarrassment to itself. The channel while reporting ‘exclusively’ on actress Deepika Padukone being served summon by the NCB ended up contradicting itself. India Today journalists had been chasing a car in Goa earlier in the day claiming that Padukone was inside the car and that she was leaving for Goa airport to reach Mumbai in order to be present before the NCB on September 25. However, a Twitter user who goes by the name @ModiBharosa spotted the contradictory reporting by the channel and shared the images of the update given by India Today earlier in the day and the latest update given by the channel on Padukone.
According to the latest updates provided by the channel itself, the actress is still in Goa and is expected to leave for Mumbai in around an hour. This means that India Today reporters were chasing a wrong car in Goa, believing that Deepika Padukone was travelling in it on the way to the airport.
India Today journalist Rajdeep Sardesai, who was earlier seen preaching about the “media trial” of Sushant Singh Rajput mysterious death case and had then invited the prime accused in the case actress Rhea Chakraborty for an ‘exclusive’ interview, yesterday posted a tweet weirdly insinuating that the NCB had asked Deepika Padukone to be present before the agency on September 25 when the farmers all over the country are supposed to protest.
Strangely, while Sardesai accused NCB of summoning the actress on September 25 to distract from the farmers protest, his own news channel has been chasing a car believing it to be Padukone’s.
Controversial news channel NDTV was caught peddling yet another fake news today, which was rebutted by Delhi police. Responding to a news item by NDTV saying that BJP leader Kapil Mishra has been termed as whistle blower by Delhi police in the Delhi riots case, the Delhi Police clarified that it is fake news.
The news report by NDTV aired on 23rd September had said that Kapil Mishra has been termed as a whistle blower. The report had alleged that Delhi Police is ignoring the ‘role of Kapil Mishra’ despite his ‘hate speeches’. NDTV also alleged that Delhi Police is downplaying the ‘provocative speech’ of the BJP leader, and reported that police have said that the accused in the riots have made false allegations against Mishra.
The NDTV anchor also alleged that Kapil Mishra was equally responsible for the Delhi riots as the other accused, quoting his speech where he had asked the Delhi Police to clear the roads blocked by anti-CAA protestors.
But the Delhi Police have denied the allegations made by NDTV in its report, saying it is far from the truth. Delhi Police have neither referred to Kapil Mishra as a whistle-blower, nor have written it, a statement issued by the official Twitter handle of the Delhi police said.
Delhi Police’s rebuttal to the NDTV video clip “भड़काऊ भाषण वाला व्हिसल ब्लोअर” pic.twitter.com/8YNGXQskyG
“Perhaps the narrative of the anchor would have been complete if the Delhi Police had not taken full statement of Kapil Mishra. But probe does not happen in studio in front of camera. Hurt by the detailed statement of Kapil Mishra given on record, the anchor has tried to mislead the audience by ignoring the true whistle-blowers (who are protected witnesses)”, the statement added.
The police also rebutted the claim made by NDTV that riots had started when Kapil Mishra was present at Maujpur. The investigation has showed that the riots and stone-pelting had started at around 11 AM on 23rd February as part of well-planned conspiracy. The first injured in the riots was admitted at hospital at 12:15 PM, while Kapil Mishra had reached Maujpur at 3.30 PM on that day. This shows that anti-CAA protestors had started attacking the public and police in the morning of 23rd February itself, before Kapil Mishra reached Maujpur.
‘The anchor has maliciously tried to weave a fiction by hiding these facts. But NDTV’s own report that the DCP was wearing anti-riot gear and stone pelting was going on, knowingly or unknowingly supports the version mentioned in the charge sheet that stone-pelting had started around 11 AM itself’, the statement by Delhi Police further added.
Another intervention petition has been filed at the Supreme Court in the Sudarshan News case. This time, family members of two Congress leaders in Madhya Pradesh has approached the apex court, saying that some news anchors don’t deserve freedom of speech.
Sangeeta Tyagi, the widow of Congress leader Rajiv Tyagi, who died last month of a heart attack after participating in an intense TV debate, and Dr Kota Neelima, wife of Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera, have filed the intervention petition in the case being heard by Supreme Court on the ‘UPSC Jihad’ program by Sudarshan News. Sangeeta Tyagi is a researcher and Kota Neelima is a researcher-author.
The petitioners have mentioned prime time shows by four prominent anchors, alleging that their programs are communal in nature and biased towards one party. They also compared the current situation in the electronic media in the country with the “Nazi Germany”. The petition says that certain news anchors and “peddlers of hate speech” should not be given the benefit of freedom of speech.
The plea states that the late Congress leader Tyagi was an unfortunate victim of a ‘hate speech’ during a TV debate and that his wife Sangeeta Tyagi has “witnessed and suffered the irredeemable consequences of hate speech”. The plea also states that Dr Neelima is the founder of The Institute of Perception Studies, which has been analysing Television News Debates under an initiative called the Rate The Debate (RTD). This is a research-based study of the Television News Debates in India.
The petitioners have argued that by virtue of their personal and professional experience, they are suited to assist the Supreme Court in the “adjudication, determination of the larger issue of hate speeches and its malicious consequences on the polity and society of India, with specific reference to the hate speeches peddled by the TV Anchors today”.
The Sudarshan News case
The Sudarshan News case refers to a petition filed against the controversial ‘UPSC Jihad’ program on the ‘Bindas Bol’ show on the Hindi News channel. The program alleges conspiracy by Muslims to ‘infiltrate’ the bureaucracy. The apex court has stayed the telecast of the show after four episodes were aired, and has stayed the matter till 5th October for the time being after the I&B ministry issued a notice to the channel giving time till 28 September to submit its reply.
A Supreme Court bench comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud, Indu Malhotra and K M Joseph is hearing the matter.
Several intervention petitions have been filed in this case. On 21st September, OpIndia, Indic Collective Trust and UpWord had filed a petition questioning the permissibility for the Constitutional Courts to judicially legislate a new species of impermissible speech, namely ‘Hate Speech’. The plea had also asked if it is correct for court to restrain content during the pendency of an examination by the appropriate State authority on the legality of the content under applicable laws, and whether the constitutional courts assume the role of the State to restrain the broadcast and consumption of such content if the appropriate state authorities do not find anything objectionable with the content under the applicable law.
On 23rd September, activist Sanjiv Newar announced that he will file an intervention petition in Supreme Court after his comments were portrayed as ‘hate speech’ in the petition against the Sudarshan News program. He said that the definition of Zakat as reproduced by him in show from Islamic texts has been portrayed as hate speech and fake information.
On the same day, author and activist Madhu Kishwar also informed that she has filed an intervention petition in the Supreme Court in Sudarshan News ‘UPSC Jihad’ case. She claimed that her comments during the show, were ‘mischievously’ presented as evidence of hate speech.
Chairman and Editor in Chief of Asiaville News Sashi Kumar has also filed an intervention application before the Supreme Court in the same case. He has contended that attempts have been made to project hate speech as part of freedom of speech under Article 19 have been made, which should be rejected.
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has asked Pratik Sinha, the co-founder of the alleged fact-checking website AltNews to submit proof before the commission to substantiate his claims in connection with the child harassment case filed against co-founder Mohammed Zubair.
The NCPCR receiving the complaint against Mohammed Zubair, who is accused of online harassment of a minor, has asked Pratik Sinha to appear before the commission and provide proof to support the claims he had made in support of his colleague soon after the complaint was registered.
Acting on complaint filed by individual; @NCPCR_ asked @AltNews co-founder Pratik Sinha @free_thinker to provide proofs/facts to the Commission in favor of his claims that child doxing n #POCSO complaint against his colleague Mohammed Zubair @zoo_bear was bogus as claimed by him pic.twitter.com/txVjwMzX21
— Forum for Indigenous Rights- North-East India (@fir_ne) September 24, 2020
On August 8, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights had taken cognizance of a matter where a minor girl child was doxxed by AltNews co-founder Mohammed Zubair on the microblogging site.
Following the complaint against Zubair, Pratik Sinha had taken to Twitter to defend the actions of his colleague and had claimed that the complaint against Zubair was an attempt to ‘hound’ the accused. Pratik Sinha had said that AltNews firmly stood in solidarity with the accused.
The self-proclaimed fact-checker Pratik Sinha had asserted that the NCPCR had acted against the accused Mohammad Zubair on the basis of a bogus complaint by the minor child’s grandfather.
It must be noted that NCPCR commission headed by @KanoongoPriyank has acted against @zoo_bear on basis of a bogus complaint by @JSINGH2252. Who is this @JSINGH2252? Here’s a preview into the vulgar mindset of this person. Is the establishment a voice for such people now? pic.twitter.com/aPfunXHBfq
Mohammad Zubair, who has been caught several times peddling fake news on social media, has been booked under the stringent POCSO Act for online harassment of girl child.
Co-founder of AltNews shares the photo of a minor girl to intimidate the grandfather
On August 7th, Zubair indulged in an online spat with a Twitter user Jagdish Singh. The AltNews co-founder targetted a minor girl in his Twitter fight with this social media user. Instead of replying to the user directly, Zubair had brazenly referred to a minor girl seen in the profile picture of the user Jagdish Singh, presumably his granddaughter.
After Zubair had highlighted the minor girl seen in the photo, Islamists had started to issue rape threats to the girl. Zubair’s tweet came under criticism from social media users who accused him of shamelessly using a child to get back at a critic.
Soon, an FIR was filed against Mohammad Zubair for harassing a child on social media platforms. Priyank Kanoongo, the chairperson of the NCPCR had informed that a case was registered with the commission in connection with the online harassment of a minor child.
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) had written to the deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Delhi, Nodal Cyber Cell officer, saying that the commission has received several complaints seeking action against Zubair under POCSO or relevant acts for “stalking of a minor girl on Twitter”.
