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Dalit youth’s murder: Mobile thieves Md Mohsin, Adil and Salman had strangled Vivek to death after his bike collided with their vehicle

OpIndia Staff
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Dalit youth’s murder: Mobile thieves Md Mohsin, Adil and Salman had strangled Vivek to death after his bike collided with their vehicle

The Ghaziabad Police have finally solved a two-week-old murder case, where a 25-year-old Dalit youth named Vivek Kumar Jaatav who worked in Uttar Pradesh’s Bapu Dham area in Ghaziabad was murdered as he was returning home from work.

Though the family initially suspected Viveks’ colleague to be behind his murder, investigations revealed that three goons with a prior criminal history had killed Vivek over a petty issue, reported Swarajya’s Swati Goel Sharma.

After Ghaziabad police arrested the three accused- Mohammad Adil, Mohammad Mohsin and Mohammad Salman, they confessed of killing the Dalit youth.

Neeraj Jadaun, Superintendent of Police (SP) at Ghaziabad (rural) has told Swarajya that one of the accused Md Mohsin already has 10 cases registered against him for mobile theft and animal cruelty at various Ghaziabad police stations.

Body of Vivek Kumar on 1 June in Matiyala village of Masuri area in Ghaziabad, UP (credit: Swarajya)

Murder of the Dalit youth

As per the Swarajya report, the bereaved father of the deceased, Rajendra Kumar, who works as a labourer in fields said that he found his son’s body on the afternoon of June 1. The body was lying in a field in Matiyala village, some five kilometres away from village Kushaliya in Masuri area of Ghaziabad, where the family of the deceased lives.

Around 8.30 pm on May 31, Vivek had called up his colleague Jabbar to inform him of a minor accident he had had with a vehicle in Matiyala village. Vivek’s phone was switched off soon after that.

In their FIR, the deceased had stated that some colleagues may have been involved with their son’s murder, as they held a grudge against him.

Tracker dog helped nab the culprits

UP Police have informed that the Ghaziabad Police’s tracker dog Leena had helped nab the culprits. The dog had led the team to a house where other pieces of evidence made the police arrest and question the culprits who had later confessed to the murder.

“Please let me go, my mother will be waiting for me”

As per the report, on May 31, Vivek was returning from work when his bike collided with a four-wheeler in which the three accused- Mohammad Adil, Mohammad Mohsin and Mohammad Salman were travelling. When the bike went and hit the vehicle, Vivek slipped and fell on the road. He then took out his mobile to inform his colleague, Jabbar about the incident. The accused persons had reportedly come out of the vehicle, snatched Vivek’s phone and ran away. Vivek ran behind them. When they reached a secluded area, the three goons thrashed Vivek, pinned him to the ground and strangled him to death using a belt.

“The accused told us that Vivek kept on pleading with them to let him go, saying that his mother was waiting for him. But the three men did not relent and stopped only when he had died. They also said that they planned to bury his body in the ground, but somehow could not do so. They dumped the body there and left,” said the SP based on the confession of the accused.

Welcome to CHAZ: ‘Protesters’ in USA establish autonomous zone in Seattle, demand abolition of police and courts, local ‘Warlord’ takes control

OpIndia Staff
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Welcome to CHAZ: ‘Protesters’ in USA establish autonomous zone in Seattle, demand abolition of police and courts, local ‘Warlord’ takes control

The situation in the United States of America has escalated massively in the wake of the death of George Floyd at the hands of a policeman. What were meant to be protests turned out to be an orgy of looting, rioting and wanton violence. Since then, matters have transcended into the realm of the bizarre and now we have the Country of CHAZ in our hands.

Protesters in downtown Seattle occupied a six block area surrounding the East Precinct of the Seattle Police Department on Monday. Following violent clashes with the ‘protesters’, the Police abandoned their position amidst calls to ‘defund the police’. The objective of CHAZ was to establish some form of socialist utopia which epitomises social justice ethos but it doesn’t appear to be going too well.

The protesters have installed blockades around themselves to mark their territory. A sign on one of these blockades says, “You’re now leaving the USA.” The social justice protesters appear to have finally realised the importance of borders. These borders are also being manned by an armed militia that is demanding identification from people before letting them enter.

Image Credit: @historyofarmani/Twitter

The Country of CHAZ was supposed to be an ‘anti-racist zone’ without a Police, however, order appears to have risen spontaneously from the anarchy and the said armed militias are already enforcing the law within the territory. The man-in-charge, who is being referred to as a ‘warlord’ in online circles, a designation he prefers himself, is one rapper called Raz Simone.

Warlord Raz Simone takes control

Raz Simone and his affiliates are manning the streets of CHAZ and they have also allegedly thrashed people for defying orders. As per the Police, they are demanding that businesses and residents pay up a fee to maintain the new social order. Assistant Police Chief Deanna Nollette said, “While they have a constitutionally-protected right to bear arms, and while Washington is an open carry state, there is no legal right for those arms to be used to intimidate community members.”

Nollette also confirmed that the police have heard ‘anecdotally’ that businesses and residents have been ordered to pay a fee if they wish to operate within the area, which is a “crime of extortion” according to the police. The Police have not yet taken any action against the self-declared autonomous zone and are in the process of resolving the matter amicably.

Individuals have been making their dissatisfaction with the state of affairs known on Reddit. They are angry that Raz Simone has assumed supreme authority over the collective without due process.

Image Credit: Jack Posobiec/Twitter

The demands of CHAZ

The protesters, on their part, have made quite radical demands to abandon their occupation. One of the propositions in the Charter of Demands states, “The Seattle Police Department and attached court system are beyond reform. We do not request reform, we demand abolition. We demand that the Seattle Council and the Mayor defund and abolish the Seattle Police Department and the attached Criminal Justice Apparatus. This means 100% of funding, including existing pensions for Seattle Police. At an equal level of priority we also demand that the city disallow the operations of ICE in the city of Seattle.” ICE is short for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Other demands include the abolition of imprisonment and “a retrial of all People in Color currently serving a prison sentence for violent crime, by a jury of their peers in their community.” US President Donald Trump has made his opinion clear on the matter. He has referred to these people who have created an ‘autonomous zone’ within the USA as ‘domestic terrorists’.

Raz Simone shot back at the US President and claimed that a death warrant had been placed on his head. ‘If I die, don’t let it be in vain,’ Raz told his supporters.

Meanwhile, life has not been easy for the citizens of the Country of CHAZ. They have apparently run out of food and are requesting sympathisers to donate Vegan food for the cause. If their social media communique is to be believed, the homeless people they invited ran off with all the food they had gathered.

Image Credit: Twitter

Democrats back CHAZ

Democratic politicians, meanwhile, have decided to make no effort to clear the illegal occupation of land by the protesters. There are also fears that the protesters might seek to increase their area of occupation. “We lost a precinct, now, what’s next? Are we going to lose another precinct? The city council has removed our ability to have less lethal ammunition for us to properly protect those facilities and protect ourselves,” Michael Solan, President of the Seattle Police Officers’ Guild told Laura Ingraham of Fox News.

Governor of Washington, Jay Inslee, and Mayor of Seattle Jenny Durkan are not concerned about the spread of the Wuhan Coronavirus among the protesters and the health risk such demonstrations pose. Significant section of the citizens of the United States and western countries around the world are not allowed to organise funerals for the deceased in the family but such mass gatherings are apparently permitted.

Even ‘health experts’ have said that these protests are more important than fighting the Coronavirus pandemic. Despite the rampant lawlessness in CHAZ, Durkan insists that it is “not a lawless wasteland of anarchist insurrection – it is a peaceful expression of our community’s collective grief and their desire to build a better world.”

Indian ‘liberals’ take USA-styled protest fantasies a notch higher, want the statue of Manu in Rajasthan HC to be brought down like that of western slave traders and invaders

OpIndia Staff
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Indian ‘liberals’ take USA-styled protest fantasies a notch higher, want the statue of Manu in Rajasthan HC to be brought down like that of western slave traders and invaders

Since violent protests and vandalism started in the USA after George Floyd’s death, a lot of India ‘secular liberals’ have been dreaming of similar chaos in India. They often share their fantasies on social media to instigate people to get involved in vandalism and crimes.

In the latest, one Rashmi Nair, who as per her Twitter bio, is an assistant professor in Ashoka University, took to twitter to fantasise about the destruction of the statue of Manu, who according to Hindu faith, is the progenitor of humans and the scholar who wrote the legal scripture ‘Manusmriti’.

Quoting a tweet about the toppling of Christopher Columbus’s bust outside the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul, Rashmi tweeted, “Manu, are you scared? You should be” and attached the image of Manu’s statue located at the premises of the Rajasthan High Court.

Furthermore, she even shared the details of where the statue is positioned and justified her sly suggestion of vandalising the statue. Nair shared an article published on ‘The Print’ which called upon the people of the country to take down the statue of Manu just like protestors in Bristol toppled the statue of a slave trader.

Nair’s oblique call to bring the statue of Manu down did not sit well with the Twitter users who alleged that the Ashoka University professor is calling for open vandalism and violence.

Statues of Marx, Lenin, Engels

Quoting Nair’s tweet, one of the Twitter users highlighted the irony of having statues of Lenin, Marx and Engels in at least three cities in India and who presided over the killings of at least 100 million people.

Another user asked Rajasthan Police to take action against Nair for instigating people to demolish the pubic property and tagged BJP MP Rajyavardhan Rathore to take cognisance of the call for vandalism by the professor in his state.

The Print endorses vandalism and destruction of property

An article published in The Print titled–”Bristol brought down slave trader’s statue. This is what India should do with Manu statue” authored by a certain Dilip Mandal endorsed the demolition of Manu’s statue on lines of how slave trader Edward Colston’s statue was taken down by the Black Lives Matter movement that swept Bristol.

Article in The print

The author expresses regret in the article that the said statue perched outside the Rajasthan High Court has not been toppled in the last 31 years.

In what could be termed as a direct incitement of violence and destruction of public property, Mandal further discussed where should the statue of Manu be disposed once it is toppled from its place. “When Dalits and women tear down the statue of Manu, should its final destination be the Man Sagar Lake in Jaipur, like Colston’s was in Avon river?” Mandal questions in the article.

The Print article by Dilip Mandal

Mandal than defends his call for vandalism against the statue of Manu by besmirching him as the “epitome of casteist bigotry”. By vilifying Manu, the author attempts to rationalise his incitement to violence and demolition of public property while simultaneously whipping up a groundswell of negative sentiments against one of the most ancient scriptures of the Hindu faith.

Liberal-secular anger on the Manu statue

The Manu statue is located on the premises of the Rajasthan HC. Over the years, it has been attacked and vandalised a number of times. The Manusmriti is one of the oldest documentation of drafted law, dated between the second century CE. It is one of the most revered Hindu Dharmashastras and its contents are hated by most ‘feminists’, and communists, who call it Brahminical and misogynist.

There have also been petitions and a court order to remove the statue but the attempt was halted by local VHP leaders. The statue was designed by Rajasthan artist late Shri Sumahendra Sharma. The statue was commissioned by Padam Kumar Jain in 1989, who was the then-president of the Rajasthan Higher Judicial Officers’ Association.

“Horrendous, horrific, pathetic”: Supreme Court rips into Delhi Govt over treatment of Coronavirus patients in its hospitals and handling of dead bodies

OpIndia Staff
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“Horrendous, horrific, pathetic”: Supreme Court rips into Delhi Govt over treatment of Coronavirus patients in its hospitals and handling of dead bodies

The Supreme Court hearing a PIL filed against Delhi government over alleged failure in containing the coronavirus spread in the city, slammed the Arvind Kejriwal led government in the national capital over the treatment of Coronavirus patients in its hospitals and handling of dead bodies.

During the suo motu hearing, the apex court called the situation in Delhi as horrendous, horrific and pathetic. It ripped into the lawyer appearing for the Delhi government for patients being stacked with dead bodies everywhere in its hospitals.

Saying that it is pained by the sorry state of affairs in Delhi, the Supreme Court noted how more than 2000 beds remain vacant in Delhi hospitals as there is nobody to take care of the patients there. Court also cited videos where patients are crying with pain while nobody is there to attend them.

“Is Delhi NCT trying to fake the real figures”: Supreme Court slams Delhi govt on reducing the number of tests

“Patients are crying with pain and there is nobody to attend. Beds will go vacant if this is how patients are treated in your hospitals. Why has the testing gone down in Delhi while it has gone up in Mumbai and other places?” questioned SC to Delhi government’s lawyer, furthering whether Delhi NCT is trying to fake the real figures of the total number of corona positive cases in the city by reducing the number of tests?

“How can the tests go down? Increasing the testing capacity is the duty of a state,” saying so the apex court also raised concerns over the handling of corona patient’s dead bodies. Noting that the patients’ families aren’t even informed about deaths and in some cases, the families haven’t been able to attend the last rites too, the Supreme Court sought an explanation from the Delhi government.

Saying so, the court ordered the Delhi government to increase testing capacity in NCR and ensure nobody is denied tests.

Meanwhile, Supreme Court has also issued notices to Maharashtra, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. The Chief secretaries have been directed to take stock of Covid patients management system and submit an appropriate status report regarding staff, patient car etc.

Supreme Court has posted the matter for hearing on Wednesday, next week.

Recently, Satyendra Jain, the Health Minister of NCT Delhi, had presented a grim picture, predicting 30000 more coronavirus cases in the next 12-15 days, that is double the present number of cases considering the prevailing situation.

According to the latest tally, the National Capital Territory has reported 34687 cases of coronavirus. 12731 people have been recovered while 1085 lives have lost due to the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.

TDP Leader and former minister K Atchannaidu arrested by Anti-corruption bureau, Chandrababu Naidu calls it ‘attack on backward classes’

OpIndia Staff
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TDP Leader and former minister K Atchannaidu arrested by Anti-corruption bureau, Chandrababu Naidu calls it ‘attack on backward classes’

The former minister in Chandrababu Naidu’s government in Andhra Pradesh and TDP leader Kinjarapu Atchannaidu has been arrested by the Anti-Corruption bureau due to his alleged involvement in the multi-crore ESI scam. K Atchannaidu is currently the Deputy floor leader in the state assembly. He was reportedly arrested by the Anti-corruption bureau in Srikakulam.

As per reports, at 7:20 am the ACB DSP(CIU) TSRK Prasad along with a team of Anti-corruption Bureau and the help of the local police arrested the TDP leader from his residence in Nimmada village of Kotabommali Mandal in Srikakulam district. He was taken to Vishakhapatnam for further investigation and later brought to Vijaywada to produce him before the court.

Enforcement Directorate had disclosed the ESI scam in the vigilance worth 404.86 crores in February 2020. The ED had accused K Atchannaidu of involvement in the alleged scam. Former Directors of Directorate of Insurance & Medical Services, C.K. Ramesh Kumar and Dr. Vijay Kumar have also been arrested by ACB officials in connection with the case.

As per the report of the V&E department, the scam had taken place between 2014-19. At that time, TDP was in power and Atchannaidu was Minister for labour. Pithani Satyanarayana, another minister has also been accused of the involvement in the scam. However, both the ex-ministers have refuted the claims.

ACB Joint Director Ravi Kumar said, “The ACB during the course of investigation found an amount of Rs 150 crore was misappropriated in the process of procurement of medicines and equipment worth Rs 988.77 crore. As many as 19 government officials and private persons are involved in the scam.”

“Some staff members of DIMS had used forged letterheads and envelopes for file quotations and even produced fake bills. We have identified some who are involved in such irregularities and are still investigating,” he added. “For each ECG Rs 480 was paid, while for ECG in other hospitals, the cost was only Rs 200. Further, ECG services were rendered by diploma holders instead of cardiologists. Rs 1.80 per call was claimed for not only the calls received at the call centre, but also for the entire registered IP of the service provider and also fake calls,” TNIE quoted him as saying.

Reacting on the arrest, N Chandrababu Naidu attacked the Jagan government saying that the former minister has been arrested intentionally in the presence of 100 plus police force. In a press release of the political party, he even termed the arrest as ‘police kidnapping’. He alleged that the TDP leader has been barred to talk to his family members after the authorities cut the network connections and termed the arrest an “attack on the backward classes”.

TDP in its press release also pointed out that in the arrest which has been made four days before the budget session, no notice was served to the ex-minister. TDP Chief demanded the CM, HM, and DGP of state explain the real motive behind his arrest. TDP has decided to stage protests against the arrest made in front of the statue of Jyoti Rao Phule and BR Ambedkar.

Did Prashant Bhushan plagiarise a tweet to question the Indian judiciary? Read details

OpIndia Staff
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Did Prashant Bhushan plagiarise a tweet to question the Indian judiciary? Read details

‘PIL Activist’ Prashant Bhushan on Friday was accused of plagiarising a tweet shared by another individual on the social media platform. He made minor changes and shared the tweet with a question as to challenge the courts of India. The content tweet referred to the judgement that debarred former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi from holding elected posts.

Prashant Bhushan said in his tweet that in 1975, Jagmohanlal Sinha of the Allahabad High Court had set aside Indira Gandhi’s victory in 1971 for electoral malpractices and debarred her from holding any elected position. He went on to ask if any Court could do such a thing today, insinuating his personal wishes that he wants the courts to sack the Narendra Modi government.

As it so happens, the tweet was almost an exact replica of one made by Joy Bhattacharjya with minor changes. For instance, Bhattacharjya did not pose any question that would imply that the independence of the Judiciary had been quashed and instead of Bhushan’s ‘history’, he had said ‘modern Indian history’.

The original tweet

Joy Bhattacharjya took the plagiarism sportingly and did not react harshly as many people do when their content is stolen on the social media platform without due credit. Bhattacharjya’s tweet was posted at 8.57 a.m. and Prashant Bhushan posted his at 10.21 a.m.

The past antics of Prashant Bhushan

Prashant Bhushan has not been faring well for quite some time. His sway does not hold over the courts anymore, as a consequence of which he is seeking to undermine their authority. Recently, the Supreme Court refused to entertain a PIL he filed and asked him whether they should dismiss his petition or would he be willing to withdraw it on his own.

The notorious ‘PIL Activist’ also called the Delhi Police ‘Dalla Police‘ for arresting an activist associated with far-left group Pinjra Tod for her alleged involvement in the anti-CAA riots at the national capital. Over the last few years, Bhushan has been displaying that his only aim is to malign the BJP government, even if it means contradicting himself.

Delhi High Court agrees to hear contempt of court plea against LNJP hospital and Delhi Government in a case on the handling of Coronavirus pandemic

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi High Court agrees to hear contempt of court plea against LNJP hospital and Delhi Government in a case on the handling of Coronavirus pandemic

A contempt petition has been filed in the Delhi High Court by an advocate named Avadh Kaushik against the Medical Director of LNJP, Chief Secretary and the Principal Health Secretary of the Delhi Government for allegedly flouting High Court orders in a case regarding the handling of Coronavirus-infected dead bodies. Kaushik accused the hospital and the Government officials of filing false affidavits in the said case.

The petitioner claimed that despite assuring the Court about following official protocols while treating infected Coronavirus patients and disposing of dead bodies in a dignified manner, the hospital management and government officials have failed to live up to their words. He alleged that the condition of the LNJP hospital was worse than it was projected by the respondents in Court.

Arguments in Delhi High Court

Referring to the viral videos that clearly depict medical negligence and dereliction of duty at the KNJP hospital, the petitioner remarked, “These videos further reveal that numerous dead bodies, apart from being lying abandoned inside the wards, are also lying in the corridors of the said hospital without any attendant or staff to take care or to manage them to send to the mortuary and/or for cremation.”

Kaushik also highlighted the inhumane and appalling treatment meted out to the patients at Delhi’s first dedicated Coronavirus facility. He emphasised how patients with breathing problems did not have a single medical attendant, despite government and hospital authorities assuring the Court of adhering to protocols multiple times. Kaushik stressed that the ‘grace, dignity, and the majesty’ of the Court had been lowered due to non-compliance with its directives and thus sought for contempt proceedings to be initiated against the respondents.

The petitioner requested the formation of an expert committee to assess the current situation of patients at the LNJP and other such hospitals. He had also sought remedial actions by the hospital authorities to provide adequate treatment to patients and dispose of corpses lying unattended in hospital wards. In May, a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court comprising of Justices Rajiv Sahai Endlaw and Justice Asha Menon took cognisance of a newspaper report which highlighted the plight of Coronavirus infected dead bodies that were cremated in crematoriums or buried in morgues.

Mismanagement at LNJP Hospital

In an exclusive report, India TV had revealed some shocking visuals of neglect and mismanagement from Delhi’s Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) hospital.The visuals showed a naked corpse lying unattended on the floor, with no hospital staff around to pick it up or move it. Speaking to India TV, LNJP hospital’s Medical Superintendent Dr. Suresh Kumar claimed that the naked corpse might have fallen on the floor while doctors were trying to resuscitate a non-responsive patient with chest compressions. He informed that for CPR and chest compressions, the patient’s catheter drips and clothes were usually removed. However, the doctor could not offer any explanation as to why the naked corpse was left lying there on the floor.

Chhatisgarh High Court grants interim relief to BJP Spokesperson Sambit Patra in the case against him for tweet on Jawaharlal Nehru and Rajiv Gandhi

OpIndia Staff
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Chhatisgarh High Court grants interim relief to BJP Spokesperson Sambit Patra in the case against him for tweet on Jawaharlal Nehru and Rajiv Gandhi

On Thursday, the Chhattisgarh High Court reportedly granted interim relief to BJP spokesman Sambit Patra in a case against him for his contentious tweet against Jawaharlal Nehru and Rajiv Gandhi. Patra had moved the High Court seeking to quash two First Information Reports (FIRs) that were lodged against him, in connection to the said tweet.

His Counsel Ajay Barman argued that the BJP spokesperson had recently been discharged from the hospital, after being treated for Coronavirus. Besides, Barman said that the offences pertaining to public mischief and promoting religious animosity were not made out. With regard to the defamation suit filed against his client, the counsel argued that the cognisance of the same could only be taken on a written complaint, as per Section 199(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), and not on the basis of a police complaint.

Barman stated that the health condition of the BJP spokesman could deteriorate if he was arrested and hence sought for interim relief. As such, Justice Sanjay K Agrawal ordered that no coercive action should be taken against Sambit Patra until further orders. The next hearing would be in 4 weeks time. Sambit Patra was represented by Advocates Ajay Barman, Awadhesh Singh, Ramakant Mishra, and Sharad Mishra. Additional Advocate General Sunil Otwani represented the State of Chattisgarh.

“Considering the submissions of learned counsel for the parties and further considering the contention of the petitioner that the petitioner is a patient of COVID-19 and has recently been discharged from hospital and is undergoing quarantine for 14 days, and in view of the provision contained in Section 199 (1) of the CrPC, it would be expedient to direct that till the next date of hearing, no coercive steps shall be taken against the petitioner pursuant to FIR under Crime No. 192/2020 registered against the petitioner…”, the Court directed.

Tweets by Sambit Patra

While replying to a tweet posted by the official handle of the Congress party, Sambit Patra had written, “Agar aap hota toh aisa hota (This would have happened if you were there in power).” Mocking the grand old party for corruption, the BJP Spokesperson said, “If the Coronavirus outbreak had happened during the Congress rule, there would have been ₹5000 crore mask scam, ₹7000 crores test kit scam, ₹20,000 crore Jawahar Sanitiser scam and ₹26,000 crores Rajiv Gandhi virus research scam.”

After an FIR was lodged against him for the above-mentioned tweet, Sambit Patra said that the Congress workers had complained to the teacher on calling Jawaharlal Nehru and Rajiv Gandhi corrupt. “You will get insulted even further. Nehru gave birth to the Kashmir problem. If Nehru did not exist, then, the Kashmir issue would not have existed too. As for Rajiv gandhi, he stole money in the Bofors scandal and killed 3000 Sikhs”, the BJP Spokesperson remarked. This tweet was followed by another FIR against him.

The Case against Sambit Patra

On May 11, the Chhattisgarh Police had registered a case against Sambit Patra for supposedly promoting animosity between different groups and hurting ‘religious sentiments’ for his tweets against Jawaharlal Nehru and Rajiv Gandhi. The FIR was lodged against Patra on the complaint of Chattisgarh Youth Congress President, Poornachand Padhi at the Civil Lines Police Station of Raipur under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 505(2) (public mischief) and 298 (uttering words to wound religious feelings).

According to the complainant, the tweets by Sambit Patra could scare and provoke members of the Sikh community which may, in turn, disturb public tranquillity. He also argued that tweeting such things was “prejudicial to the maintenance of peace and harmony between religious groups”. Refuting claims of the complicity of the two former Prime Ministers in either riots or corruption, Padhi said that they were not convicted by any Court of law and as such the allegations levelled against them by Sambit Patra were baseless.

Twitter terminates 1.7 lakh accounts for propagating Chinese narrative

OpIndia Staff
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Twitter terminates 1.7 lakh accounts for propagating Chinese narrative

On Thursday, the microblogging platform Twitter announced that they had terminated 1.7 lakh accounts that were spreading pro-Chinese narrative. A few thousand accounts associated with Turkey and Russia also faced the heat. According to a disclosure report posted on Twitter’s blog, the company announced that it had identified and terminated accounts for misusing the services to spread state-linked information. Twitter also shared the relevant data with its two leading research partners Stanford Internet Observatory (SIO) and Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI).

State-linked operations supporting China

Back in August 2019, Twitter had disclosed termination of around 1000 accounts that were sowing state-backed narrative to undermine the legitimacy and political position of the then ongoing protests in Hong Kong. They identified large clusters of accounts that were posting and retweeting in a coordinated manner to push messages related to Hong Kong protests.

On 11th June 2020, Twitter further disclosed the actions they took against almost 1.7 million accounts that were spreading state-backed posts to push Covid-19 related narrative in favor of China. Their report suggests that 23,750 accounts formed the core of the operations. Another 150,000 accounts were boosting the content posted by core accounts. In feedback given by the researchers on previous disclosures, Twitter was asked to refine the disclosure process to make the investigation more effective. Thus, these 150,000 were not added to the public archive.

The core accounts had low follower count and engagement but they were extensively pushing the state-backed content. On the other hand, with minimal or no followers, 150,000 accounts were explicitly designated to artificially create inflation around the pushed content. The whole network was manipulating the algorithms to make the state-backed content more visible across the platform. They tried to form a positive narrative for the Communist Party of China while pushing a negative narrative around the ongoing Hong Kong protests.

Russian accounts closed violating policies

China-favoring accounts were not the only ones to get terminated during the process. Twitter found out that 1,152 state-backed accounts in Russia were cross-posting and boosting content reach using an unauthentic and coordinated manner. Among these accounts, one was a media website as well that was engaging in political propaganda. “A network of accounts related to this media operation was suspended for violations of our platform manipulation policy, specifically cross-posting and amplifying content in an inauthentic, coordinated manner for political ends. Activities included promoting the United Russia party and attacking political dissidents,” the statement said.

Turkey’s connection

In early 2020, experts at twitter marked 7,340 accounts that were pushing state-backed content using coordinated and inauthentic methods. The main target is such activities was the domestic audience of Turkey. These accounts were posting content favoring AK Parti and showed support for President Erdogan. The experts noticed that the content was being pushed using a significant number of compromised accounts.

Key takeaways of Standford Internet Observatory (SIO)

Twitter shared the details of terminated accounts with SIO on 3rd June 2020. Here are the key takeaways mentioned in the report published Cyber Policy Center of SIO.

  • The accounts that were supporting China’s narrative posted content around Hong Kong protests, Taiwan, Covid-19, and exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui.
  • In the later January 2020, Twitter observed a spike in content related to Covid-19 and a major increase in China-favoring tweets was further visible by the end of March 2020. Most of the accounts were created in late January, while some accounts were as old as of September 2019.
  • The accounts did not have any well defined personal. They had little or no followers and mostly posted content favoring Chinese narrative on Covid-19 and other issues.
  • In the case of Russian accounts, most of them were posting pro-Kremlin, anti-opposition and anti-west tweets.
  • The politically leaning Russian accounts majorly engaged in the cheerleading leadership of Vladimir Putin.
  • Caricature accounts were taking care of the anti-opposition activity. They tried to amplify allegations that opposition cheated in last year’s Moscow Duma elections.
  • Many accounts were associated with paid Twitter services like retweets and link posting. These accounts had a wide variety of content like photography, travel and more. Most of them were not typical political accounts.
  • In the case of Turkey favoring accounts, most of them were posting content cheerleading AKP.
  • Some accounts were critical of the current regime and were taken down as well. Tweets from many accounts were critical of Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and the Republican People’s Party (CHP).

This is not the first time Twitter has terminated or suspended accounts for violating regulations. Twitter said in the statement that they would offer more clarity in the public archive. They will continue to develop their system and algorithms to ensure diversity. In summer, Twitter will hold a conference to consult experts, industry and government to discuss possibilities of further collaborations. 

Jammu and Kashmir administration hands over Rs 20 lakh relief to the family of martyred sarpanch Ajay Pandita

OpIndia Staff
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Jammu and Kashmir administration hands over Rs 20 lakh relief to the family of martyred sarpanch Ajay Pandita

The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Thursday handed over an ex-gratia relief of Rs 20 lakh to the family of the sarpanch Ajay Pandita Bharti who was gunned down by terrorists in South Kashmir on June 8.

According to the reports, the Lieutenant Governor of J&K, Girish Chandra Murmu interacted with the family members of Ajay Pandita Bharti and extended his deepest sympathies to them.

The Lt Governor also paid homage to Ajay Pandita and observed that the supreme sacrifice made by him will always be remembered and hoped that perpetrators of such dastardly act would realize their follies and desist from committing a crime against humanity.

Assuring full support from the Jammu and Kashmir Government, the Lt Governor handed also over the ex-gratia relief to the family of martyred Sarpanch.

The relief amounting to Rs 20 lakh includes Rs 5 lakh from SRE fund, Rs 1 lakh from the J&K government, Rs 4 lakh from Lt Governor Relief Fund, and Rs 10 lakh out of Panchayat Welfare Fund.

Ajay Pandita shot dead by terrorists

A Kashmiri Pandit Sarpanch was shot dead on Monday by terrorists in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir. The Congress Sarpanch of Lokbowan Larkipora, identified as Ajay Pandita, was fired upon by the terrorists who later succumbed to his injuries at a hospital.

According to the police sources, the sarpanch had gone to work in his orchard when he was attacked by the terrorists. The area has been cordoned off soon after the shooting.

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