Advocate Prashant Bhushan has shared on Twitter that he has accepted the Supreme Court’s verdict and the punishment meted out to him.Taking to Twitter, Bhushan stated that his lawyer Rajeev Dhavan had immidiately paid up the Rs 1, that the SC had decided as his penalty.
Bhushan wrote further that he had ‘gracefully’ accepted the punishment.
My lawyer & senior colleague Rajiv Dhavan contributed 1 Re immediately after the contempt judgement today which I gratefully accepted pic.twitter.com/vVXmzPe4ss
It is notable here that earlier today, the SC had announced the quantum of punishment for Prashant Bhushan in the contempt case. The court had asked Bhushan to pay the penalty of Rs 1 for being guilty of contempt of court or face three months of jail time and suspension of his law practice in the apex court for 3 years.
Bhushan accepts that he was guilty
It is notable here that Prashant Bhushan had launched a campaign claiming that the contempt of court case against him is a violation of democratic values and he refuses to accept it. He had also refused o apologise despite repeated insistence by the SC. Lofty op-eds and tweets were written by his supporters in the media and social media hailing him as a hero. One columnist for Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper had even gone to the extent of suggesting that Bhushan should be made Congress president so that he could guide Rahul Gandhi.
By accepting the punishment, Bhushan has accepted the fact that he was guilty of contempt.
The top court had last week reserved its judgment in the case after Attorney General KK Venugopal and defence lawyer Dr Dhawan argued before the court that Bhushan should not be made ‘martyr’ in the contempt case and instead forgiven with a message to not repeat such acts.
Last month, the top court, in a landmark judgement, held advocate Prashant Bhushan guilty of contempt of court. The case pertained to two tweets where Prashant Bhushan had cast aspersions against the Supreme Court and specifically, CJI Bobde.
The Madhya Pradesh police have arrested a man named Farooq Khan for hoisting a Pakistani flag atop his house in Kshipra village in Dewas, Madhya Pradesh. Reportedly, the accused works at a puncture repair shop.
On receiving information that a Pakistani flag has been flying atop a house in the area, the officials from the Revenue Department rushed to the scene. After recording eye witness testimonies, the officials called in the police who then filed a First Information Report (FIR). Local officials confirmed that it was indeed a Pakistani flag.
Police seizes the Pakistani flag; Farooq blames son
In his defence, Farooq has claimed that the flag was hoisted by his minor son unknowingly and that he had tried to burn the flag after learning about his son’s actions. The Dewas police had confiscated the flag, keeping in mind the law and order situation in the area. The cops are now investigating the source and purpose of putting up the flag at his house and are interrogating the family members.
The images of the Pakistani flag flying atop the house had gone viral on social media.
The flag of Pakistan was placed on the roof of a Muslim Farooq Khan’s house in village Kshipra, District Dewas, Madhya Pradesh. Which has now been removed. Thousands of Pakistanis have been formed in India. This is a fact. But Hindu society is sleeping. @AskAnshul@LegalLropic.twitter.com/y5dEoekxhR
Farooq booked for promoting enmity between different communities
Farooq has been booked under Section 153 A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Under the said IPC section, a person found guilty can be fined or imprisoned for 3 years and more. The law can draw imprisonment of up to 5 years if the crime is committed at a place of worship.
Khalistani supporters remove tricolour, unfurl their flag
Amid Independence Day celebrations, two pro-Khalistani miscreants had recently hoisted a Khalistani flag on the top of the administrative building in Moga in Punjab. They had also removed the tricolour raised on the building. The Chief Minister of Punjab Amrinder Singh has ordered the state police to arrest the people behind the incident.
The Punjab Police has announced a reward of Rs.50,000 for providing valid information that leads to the arrest of the duo behind hoisting the Khalistani flag. Chief Minister Singh has promised to teach a lesson to the anti-India pro-Khalistani elements like the US-based Khalistani group “Sikhs for Justice” and terrorists like Gorpatwant Singh Panni.
Three police personnel have been dismissed from service in connection with the brutal lynching of two Hindu sadhus and their driver in Palghar in Maharashtra on April 16. The Inspector General (IG) of Police, Konkan Range, on Sunday (August 30) had dismissed these police personnel which included assistant police inspector Anandrao Kale, who was in-charge of Kasa Police Station in Palghar when the incident took place, assistant sub-inspector Ravi Salunke and head constable Naresh Dhodi.
Notably, these three policemen, along with five others, had earlier been suspended after the incident.
Supreme Court pulls up the Maharashtra government
This development came after, the Supreme Court on August 6, pulled up the Maharashtra government. It questioned the state government on what action it had taken against the police personnel who handed over the two Hindu Sadhus to the violent mob, asking it to submit the charge-sheets it had filed in the case within three weeks.
The top court was hearing a petition seeking a separate investigation by the CBI and the NIA into the brutal lynching of Sadhus. The Supreme Court has also sought a response from the Maharashtra government on the petitions seeking CBI, NIA probe.
Maharashtra police rules out ‘communal angle’ in Palghar lynching
The Maharashtra Police had in July, filed two separate charge-sheets in connection with the mob lynching of two Hindu Sadhus and their driver, in which it had ruled out any ‘communal angle’ to the heinous incident.
Christian missionary groups and left-wing organisations behind the gruesome incident, CBI probe demanded
Recently, a fact-finding team blamed left-wing organizations and Christian missionary groups for the violence that led to Sadhus’s lynching in Palghar district, Maharashtra. Demanding that the central investigation agencies like NIA or CBI should be handling the Palghar mob lynching case, the team in its 149-page report, revealed how some groups are spreading hate and inciting the tribal population against the union government.
Palghar Mob Lynching incident
On April 16 2020, two Sadhus associated with the Juna Akhara, 70-year-old Kalpavrishka Giri Maharaj, and 35-year-old Sushil Giri Maharaj along with their driver 30-year-old Nilesh Telgadewere were on their way from Mumbai to Gujarat to give Samadhi to another Sadhu, when a wild and frenzied crowd of over more than 100 people attacked them at Gadakchinchale village. The villagers, who deemed them as thieves, started brutally attacking them. The police claim that their team which had rushed to the spot to rescue the 70-year-old man also came under the attack of the violent mob.
But later videos emerged which completely debunked the claim of police. Contrary to the claims, the police personnel had allegedly handed over the Sadhus to the frenzied mob, which went on to beat them to death in front of the policemen.
Reports emerged that the killing of the Sadhus may have been intentional and politically motivated. The involvement of Christian Missionary organisations and some local NCP leaders and leftists were also suspected.
A video has surfaced on social media where a part of the Narmadeshwar temple located in Garudeshwar in Gujarat, is suddenly seen collapsing due to the fast flow of water. The video of this horrific site was shared by an India TV journalist. At around 0.15 secs, one can see an entire part of the temple situated on the banks, suddenly collapsing into the fast-flowing Narmada river.
The journalist informed that the water level in the Narmada river has risen considerably due to the release of 9 lakh cusecs of water from Sardar Sarovar Dam.
Water level in the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Dam rise due to continuous rain in Madhya Pradesh
The water level in the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Dam in Narmada district crossed 130.99 metres on Friday, due to incessant rain in Madhya Pradesh. The authorities were, therefore left with no option but to open the gates of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Dam to ease the pressure. 23 gates out of the 30 gates of the mega-dam were opened to release 6.14 lakh cusec water as of 7 pm on Saturday.
After the water was released, the Gujarat government had also issued an alert for as many as 60 villages of Narmada, Vadodara and Bharuch districts.
Madhya Pradesh battering with incessant rains
In Madhya Pradesh, eight people have died due to wall collapses and by drowning in swollen nullahs as heavy rains hit large parts of the state in the last two days, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said. He said over 7,000 people stranded in 454 villages of 12 districts were moved to safety. Efforts are underway to shift nearly 1,200 people from 40 flooded villages, the chief minister said.
An Army column, comprising 70 personnel, is already involved in the rescue work and has evacuated people from flood-affected areas. Three helicopters of the Indian Air Force have been pressed into service to airlift stranded people, the chief minister informed, adding that services of two more copters have been sought.
However, the court added that if Bhushan fails to pay a fine of Re 1, he will be sentenced to 3 months in jail and suspension of his lawyering for 3 months.
The top court had last week reserved its judgment in the case after Attorney General KK Venugopal and defence lawyer Dr Dhawan argued before the court that Bhushan should not be made ‘martyr’ in the contempt case and instead forgiven with a message to not repeat such acts.
Prashant Bhushan was held guilty in contempt case over his two tweets
Last month, the top court, in a landmark judgement, held advocate Prashant Bhushan guilty of contempt of court. The case pertained to two tweets where Prashant Bhushan had cast aspersions against the Supreme Court and specifically, CJI Bobde.
The court had then granted additional time for Mr Bhushan to consider providing an unconditional apology for his scurrilous remarks. However, in his vanity of portraying himself as Mahatma Gandhi, Mr Bhushan refused to apologise, claiming tendering an apology would tantamount to “contempt of his conscience”.
Instead, Prashant Bhushan submitted a supplementary statement in the contempt case, digging his heels in and declining to apologise for his tweets that maligned the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice of India.
Fresh clashes broke out between the Indian forces and Chinese troops after the People’s Liberation Army(PLA) moved to unilaterally alter the status quo at the south bank of the Pangong Tso Lake in the eastern Ladakh as per reports.
The clashes took place on the intervening night of August 29 and 30 and the Indian troops stopped the Chinese from changing the previous consensus agreed between the two sides, shared journalist Gaurav Sawant.
Clashes between Indian and Chinese soldiers on the south bank of #PangongTso on the night intervening Aug 29 & 30. Indian troops prevented chinese troops from unilaterally changing status quo at #LAC. Flag meeting between Brigade Commanders on at Chushul. pic.twitter.com/jEthvldly5
According to the statement released by the Indian Army, the Chinese PLA “carried out provocative military movements to change the status quo” but the Indian Armed Forces personnel thwarted their nefarious intentions by pre-empting their movements on the Southern Bank of the Pangong Tso lake and strengthening their positions to stop the unilateral Chinese expansionism.
“The Indian Army is committed to maintaining peace and tranquillity through dialogue, but is also equally determined to protect its territorial integrity,” the statement released by the Army read. A Brigade Commander Level meeting is underway at Chushul to resolve the issues.
Earlier Indian and Chinese had clashed at Galwan Valley along the LAC
Earlier in June this year, Indian and Chinese forces had clashed at the Galwan Valley flash point in Ladakh that led to the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers and an unknown number of Chinese casualties. The clashes had erupted after the Chinese PLA refused to adhere to the previously agreed modalities of disengagement.
The story surrounding the Facebook controversy is getting murkier with every passing day. On Friday, BJP IT Cell head, Amit Malviya, shared a collage of tweets by one Vijaya Moorthy, reportedly a Facebook official, expressing his allegiance to the Congress party. The tweets were posted by Vijaya Moorthy during the period of 2013-2017.
Vijaya Moorthy is a BJP critic and Congress admirer, suggests tweets
Reiterating his Faith in the Congress, Vijay Moorthy had tweeted in December 2013, “To the Congress – arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached! You are a party of deep ideology and resilience. Bring it on!” In another tweet dated October 2013, he wrote, “Rally Nama for Today: Rahul in Delhi and Modi in Patna: Forecast – The former will speak about what he does, the latter will speak about the former.”
Moreover, Moorthy had also made veiled accusations against PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. In one such tweet, he wrote, “What happens when two fascists meet, someone asked me. I shrugged. Said its happening in India’s capital today.”
According to his Linkedin profile, Moorthy is the public policy manager of Facebook India since 2019. At this point, it is clear that while the public policy manager of Facebook is a critic of the BJP, he holds admiration for the Congress party. Although his account is no longer available on Twitter, yet tweets mentioning his username still exist on the microblogging platform.
Screenshot of tweets by Vijaya Moorthy (Image Courtesy: Twitter/Amit Malviya)
While pointing this out, Amit Malviya tweeted, ” Meet Vijaya Moorthy. Supposedly, heads government outreach at Facebook. Worked with Rahul Gandhi’s team for nearly a decade (love for his former boss still going strong)…Talk about Congress-Facebook nexus? Well, it seems Congress is running Facebook!”
The ‘political allegiance’ of Ankhi Das with TMC and AAP
Ankhi Das is the Public Policy Director, Facebook for India, and South & Central Asia. While the left-liberal jamaat has accused her of being a ‘BJP agent’, her old Facebook posts tell a different story. In December 2013, Ankhi Das had expressed open admiration for Mamata Banerjee’s political campaign of ‘poribortan (transformation)’ and the ‘Aam Aadmi (common man)‘ gimmick of Arvind Kejriwal. A number of her pro-AAP posts were shared by popular twitter user Ankur Singh.
In a Facebook post slamming ‘cynics’, the Facebook employee posted, “Poriborton – Mamata Banerjee walked to Writers and Arvind Kejriwal takes the metro. we will now see many leaders trying to be aam admi. as they say in Bengali – matite hathte sikhbe – they will learn to walk on mother earth. Of course, cynics may dub it as high on symbolic value meaning nothing in real terms. But anything which puts people at the centre needs to be applauded. I certainly do.”
Screenshot of the Facebook post by Ankhi Das (Image Courtesy: Twitter/ Ankur Singh)
In March Prior to the Lok Sabha elections in 2014, she had organised a ‘Facebook Talkslive’ with Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee at Kolkata Town Hall. The event was also graced by ‘journalist’ Madhu Trehan who runs the left-propaganda website, News Laundry.
Screenshot of the Facebook post by Ankhi Das (Image Courtesy: Twitter/ Ankur Singh)
When the Aam Aadmi Party had shared a ‘Jhaadu Dance’ video prior to the Lok Sabha elections, Ankhi Das had dubbed it as a ‘cool campaign’.
Screenshot of the Facebook post by Ankhi Das (Image Courtesy: Twitter/ Ankur Singh)
Moreover, writing an opinion piece in ‘Daily-O’ titled, “The battle for Delhi on Facebook”, she had praised the Facebook campaign of the Aam Aadmi Party. Ankhi wrote, “Much like they did in the December 2013 Delhi elections, the Aam Aadmi Party had a much stronger ground game. Its street power merged seamlessly with its campaign strategies on Facebook.” She had credited the AAP for posting more than 1,000 posts on their page.
Comparing it to the BJP’s 194 posts and Congress’ 123 posts, she said, “The Aam Aadmi Party used Facebook as a social listening tool and rapidly adjusted its campaign messages and outreach. The AAP campaign was like a new start-up causing creative disruption and creating more impact with limited resources.” While suggesting that the BJP took its voters for granted, she insuinated, “The AAP’s success shows that no party – no matter how popular – can take the electorate or a good online strategy for granted.”
Screenshot of the Daily O opinion piece by Ankhi Das
Earlier, Congress affiliates had published personal information and photographs of Ankhi Das, giving their followers a clear path to abuse her on social media platforms. Das had to file a complaint with Delhi Police Cyber Cell against several social media users including Saket Gokhle and Arshad Khan from Congress.
The Wall Street Journal article
On 14th August, the Wall Street Journal had published an article alleging that social media giant Facebook had turned a blind eye towards hate speeches posted by accounts linked to BJP. In the article, they blamed Facebook executive Ankhi Das for being biased and allowing hate-filled content by BJP affiliated accounts.
Days after WSJ published the article, it seemed like the media house did not want the article go under the rag with new content and news coming out. The netizens noticed on 17th August that the media house was explicitly promoting the article using Twitter Promotions.
In a rare interactive session, almost impossible to imagine in Xi Jinping’s Communist China, locals took to the streets to dance and sing to the Hare Rama Hare Krishna chant. The International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISCKON) has taken to Twitter to share a video of the same.
In the short video shared on the microblogging site, Chinese women are seen circle dancing while men play instruments like the manjeera and mridangam and sing the Hare Rama Hare Krishna chant. Some onlookers sing along the Hare Rama Hare Krishna chant with the devotees and many stop by to enjoy the performance and click pictures.
Over the years, the cult of Krishna has seen a steep growth in ‘atheist China’. There are as many as 5 ISKCON centres in the entire China region. Janmashtami, the festival that marks the birth of Lord Krishna, is also celebrated with fervour in China. In the event, organised by ISKCON every year across China, Krishna devotees celebrate by chanting of “Hare Krishna”, singing devotional songs, readings from the Bhagavad Gita and distribution of prasadam.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared his views via the Mann Ki Baat program for the 68th time on 30th August 2020. Since it went live on PMO’s official YouTube channel, some rumors are floating around that PMO has deliberately disabled comment section to avoid backlash from the “students” as he did not discuss the upcoming NEET-JEE in his address.
The protests against NEET-JEE exam
The National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test- Joint Entrance Exam or NEET-JEE will take place in the month of September. There has been a nationwide drive going on to get the exam for this year in the pretext of coronavirus pandemic. Interestingly, the social media platform is filled with trends against the upcoming exams and NEET aspirant “students” from Pakistan posing as Indians are also actively participating in the trends.
While protests are going on, out of 24 lakh students who will give NEET-JEE exams this year, 11.49 lakh students have already downloaded NEET admit cards, and 7.6 lakh students have downloaded JEE admit card so far. As almost 80 per cent of the students have already downloaded their admit cards, it seems like boycotting the exam attempts to create an issue out of the mole-hill.
The interesting case of “International support” against NEET-JEE
One thing that can baffle any sane person is that self-proclaimed environmentalists, including Greta Thunberg, have shown support for the “students” in opposing the exams. It is hard to understand how she can be connected to the exams in any way. It has to be noted that she herself is a school dropout.
Tweet By Greta Thunberg
Also, some celebrities from India, including Sonu Sood, have come forward to support the students. One of the most amusing parts of the support gathered by “students” to oppose exams is Licypriya Kangujam coming forward in the support. She is an 8-year-old kid who is projected by her guardians as an ‘environmentalist’. Interestingly, her twitter handle, operated in her name by her guardians had been called out for lying on multiple occasions. While she writes a 3-page letter to the NEET-JEE aspirants and fills her Twitter timeline with tweets against the exam, it is hard to believe she can think of running propaganda by herself.
Tweet by Licypriya Kangujam
The claims about PMO YouTube channel
Some “prominent” social media users have posted on their Twitter handle that PMO has deliberately disabled the comment on the latest Mann Ki Baat episode as negative comments were pouring in keeping NEET-JEE exams in the background.
Twitter user claimed PMO disabled comments recently.
Many twitter users, including Alt News cofounder, tweeted insinuating that the comments have been turned off because the PMO doesn’t want to hear negative comments from ‘students’ who are against the exams.
However, when we scrolled through the videos of PMO’s YouTube channel, we found out that the comments have always been disabled on the channel. Even the comments during the YouTube live and Community tab are disabled.
Screenshots of old PMO’s videos. Comments section is disabled on all videos.
What does YouTube policy say about the content made for kids
According to the policy update of January 2020, any content that has been posted on YouTube and marked as “Made For Kids” cannot have comments. YouTube brought this change to comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) that forbids the companies to collect data associated with children under the age of 13 without the parents’ consent. One of the reasons that the comments are disabled on PMO’s YouTube channel is that the videos are marked as “Made For Kids”.
Starting today, if you’re watching content that’s made for kids, you may notice that certain features will no longer be available — these are part of the changes we announced last year to better protect kids and their privacy on YouTube. https://t.co/oZvOEACaAZ
An attempt to show comments from other channels hosting Mann Ki Baat
Bhartiya Janata Party’s YouTube channel, PM Modi’s YouTube channel, etc. also upload the episodes of Mann Ki Baat program and some other channels. While comments are held for moderation on PM Modi’s YouTube channel, BJP does not filter the comments. It looks like some Twitter users tried to be sneaky and posted screenshots of the comments from BJP’s channel without showing the title of the video that helps in differentiating videos from PMO’s channel and other channels.
Screenshot of Mann Ki Baat video on BJP’s YouTube channel that has comment section active.
In the majority of the videos uploaded by PMO, the title has the suffix “PMO”. It makes it easier for the users to differentiate which channel they are views the videos on. On the other hand, other channels like BJP do not add any prefix or suffix in the title.
Screenshots of videos by PMO. Titles have “PMO” as suffix.
It proves that the claims that PMO turns off comments on YouTube videos for recent Mann Ki Baat session to avoid negative comments from NEET-JEE aspirants is Fake.
Times Network’s top management executive has reportedly been accused of sexual harassment by his former colleague. Without naming the media house, Indian Express had reported that Mumbai Police filed a complaint of sexual harassment against a ‘top media executive’ over allegations of sexual harassment.
As per the report, the complainant is a senior female journalist who worked with the said organisation was allegedly sexually harassed from April 2008 to August 2020. She has claimed that the accused touched her inappropriately and demanded sexual favours. When she refused to comply, she was allegedly fired from the organisation.
The woman had approached Bandra Police station but later was transferred to NM Joshi Marg Police station. A case under sections 354 (outraging modesty of a woman), 354 (A) (assault or criminal force on woman with intend to outrage her modesty), 354 (D) (stalking) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code have been registered against the accused.
Meanwhile, Times Network on Sunday issued a statement calling the allegations ‘frivolous’ and ‘malicious’.
Times Network stated that the said journalist’s services were terminated due to coronavirus-related and/or performance-related restructuring. Calling her complaint ‘motivated’, Times Network said during her 12 year tenure she had not made any such allegations of sexual harassment.
Times Network has also filed a complaint of blackmail and criminal intimidation against the woman.
