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“Chacha hai, aisa kabhi nahin kar sakte,” Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s niece alleges torture, sexual assault by his brother, says the actor did not support her

OpIndia Staff
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“Chacha hai, aisa kabhi nahin kar sakte,” Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s niece alleges torture, sexual assault by his brother, says the actor did not support her

As per the report published in TOI, Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s niece has alleged torture and sexual abuse by one of her uncles, Nawazuddin’s brother, when she was a child. She told ETimes that a sexual harassment complaint had been filed against her uncle. She has alleged that she was sexually harassed in her childhood by her uncle.

In the conversation, she mentioned that when she was two years old, her parents got divorced. Her stepmother tortured her a lot. As a child, she was unable to understand what her uncle was doing to her. However, when she grew up, she realised it was a different kind of touch. She claimed there was violence too.

False cases against in-laws

Nawazuddin’s niece has a court marriage. She also claimed that her father and her uncle, Nawazuddin are harassing her in-laws too. She alleges that her father and Nawazuddin have filed false cases to harass her in-laws and that they never believed her when she talked about the childhood sexual assault.

“My father and the rest of the family never believed me. Every six months, my father files some cases against my in-laws,” She told ET. She further alleged that when she told Nawazuddin about the childhood trauma she went through, even he did not believe her. “Chacha hai, aisa kabhi nahi kar sakte” (He is your uncle. He cannot do anything like this.) Nawazuddin reportedly told her when she confided in him about the sexual assault by his brother.

Recently, Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s wife, Aaliya Siddiqui, filed for divorce and alleged that she had faced mental and physical torture by her in-laws. Aaliya also mentioned that she changed her name back to Anjana Kishor Pandey and did not want to be reminded that she is using someone’s identity for her benefit.

George Floyd case: Solidarity posts by social media users backfire as crucial information gets lost under the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag

OpIndia Staff
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George Floyd case: Solidarity posts by social media users backfire as crucial information gets lost under the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag

The unfortunate killing of George Flyod in Minneapolis by a White American cop has once again brought to the fore the festering racial discrimination against the Black Americans. The incident became a rallying point for Americans longing for the fulfilment of one of their country’s foundational principles of the right to life, liberty and happiness.

Scores of demonstrators have hit the streets demanding equality and end of racial discrimination that has so far eluded the American society. However, soon the protests turned violent and many have taken advantage of the ensuing chaos to loot and ransack shops in many cities across the country. Many protesters have also taken to social media websites to voice their support for the Black population of the country who appear increasingly beleaguered with a surge in ethnic intolerance towards them. 

Hashtags such as #BlackLivesMatter and #BLM have emerged on social media websites such as Twitter, Instagram and other platforms where people are showing solidarity with the Black community against all forms of racism, violence and bigotry. Channelling the collective fury over the death of George Floyd, artists, executives, and companies from across the music business called out to participate for a silent protest on Tuesday— though the lack of clear messaging about the protest made it open to more than one interpretation.

Music Industry in US called for Blackout Tuesday(Source: CNN)

Heeding to the Blackout Tuesday called by the music industry, a raft of social media users, especially on Instagram, shared pictures of black squares and a black screen to express their solidarity with the black victims of police brutality. But several of them tagged their posts with #BlackLivesMatter and #BLM, drowning out the vital information about the protests, organization donations, and document police violence.

While the posts containing black squares and screens by users may be well-intentioned, several analysts and social media users highlighted that sharing black pictures with a bunch of important hashtags clogs the information channel and renders the hashtags insignificant.

A Twitter user pointed out how oodles of posts containing black squares and boxes posted by well-meaning Instagram users overwhelmed the hashtags with blank images and drowned out the crucial information related to protests and online campaign against the pervasive racial discrimination.

A Twitter user @anthoknees pointed out the problem of sharing black images as a mark of hmage to the victims of racial discrimination. He urged users to shun sharing such images which could intentionally or unintentionally make the vital information used on ground and online obscure.

Another Twitter user, Tatianna, too, tweeted that sharing black squares and boxes on Instagram was making the BLM hashtag useless. She urged people to not use the important hashtags so critical information is not drowned beneath the sea of solidarity messages.

Masood Azhar’s nephew Ismail Alvi alias Fauji Bhai, IED expert behind the 2019 Pulwama attack, killed by security forces in J&K

OpIndia Staff
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Masood Azhar’s nephew Ismail Alvi alias Fauji Bhai, IED expert behind the 2019 Pulwama attack, killed by security forces in J&K

In a massive success for the Indian security forces, Islamic terrorist Mohammad Ismail Alvi alias Fauji Bhai aka Lambu, who is the nephew of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar has been killed by security forces in an encounter in J&K’s Pulwama.

According to the reports, Ismail Alvi was the mastermind behind the Pulwama terror attack and it is also believed that the Jaish terrorist had the assembled IED that was used in the February 2019 terror attack that killed 40 CRPF Jawans.

“Ismail is an IED expert and helped other bombers of the Pulwama attack to fit the bomb in Maruti Eeco van,” an army officer had revealed.

It is also reported that Mohammad Ismail Alvi, alias Lambu, was also involved in the last week’s failed bombing in Pulwama’s Ayangund area in Jammu and Kashmir. “We have information that Ismail Lambu planned to carry out similar car bombing in one of the camps or a convoy. The bomb was placed in the Santro car but it was detected on time in the wee hours on Thursday,” another officer said.

On Wednesday, the security forces had launched a cordon and search operation in the Kangan area in the south Kashmir district in the morning following information about the presence of Jaish terrorists. The search operation turned into an encounter as terrorists opened fire towards the forces, who retaliated and killed three Jaish terrorists in the encounter.

The identity of the other terrorists is being ascertained by the security forces. The forces have recovered incriminating materials, including arms and ammunition from the site of the encounter.

Fauji baba alias Ismail was behind the recent foiled terror attack

The encounter of Ismail alias Fauji Bhai comes just a week after the Jammu and Kashmir police in a joint operation with security forces had averted a major attack after they received information that a terrorist was moving in a car laden with explosives. 

According to the reports, Ismail Alvi, who is the current head of the Jaish in the Valley, had filled the car with explosives in order to carry out a terror attack in the valley similar to the earlier 2019 Pulwama attack.

The initial investigations had revealed that the white Santro car in which IED was fitted by Ismail belonged to Hizbul Mujhauddin terrorist Hidayatullah Malik.

The suspected vehicle arrived at night and a few rounds of bullets were fired at it. The driver abandoned the vehicle a bit further down the road and managed to escape in the darkness.

On inspection, the car was found to be carrying at least 40 kg explosives in a drum. The attempted terror attack has a great resemblance to the one in Pulwama where a vehicle-borne IED was used in a suicide attack.

Later,  the vehicle was exploded in-situ by bomb disposal squads. The controlled explosion, which was video recorded, completely destroyed the car, giving the indication the power of the bomb it was carrying. 

Further, according to security forces, Lambu, who is often referred to as Ismail Bhai, came to India sometime in late 2018 and helped Pulwama attack co-conspirators Mudassir Khan, Khalid, and Mohammad Umar Farooq to obtain explosive material including gelatin sticks from stone quarries and ammonium nitrate to build IEDs to carry out attacks in Pulwama.

Netizens challenge Vir Das to mock Islam and its prophet as he mocks Hinduism after he asks people to pay for his jokes

OpIndia Staff
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Netizens challenge Vir Das to mock Islam and its prophet as he mocks Hinduism after he asks people to pay for his jokes

Political activist Ramesh Solanki has set in motion an interesting turn of events involving comedian Vir Das. On Tuesday, Solanki threw an open challenge at the comedian to joke about ‘Izlam’ and the ‘Pròphet’ in his comedy acts. Vir das carefully skirted away from the challenge saying that he does not crack jokes for free and suggested that Solanki check out his shows on Netflix.

The inadvertent affect of the comedian’s tweet has been that people are now offering him money to go through with the challenge. People are coming forward and offering him to crack jokes on the Muslim community as a challenge.

Ramesh Solanki himself has assured Vir Das payment for his services should he take up the challenge. He also told the comedian to send him the links where he can find jokes on Islam and its prophet, he said that he already has a Netflix subscription and promised to buy 10 more should Vir Das take up the promise.

Vir Das has not responded yet to the offer of payment for his services as a comedian should he crack jokes on Islam and its prophet. It’s not clear whether he will take up the challenge or not but given the fate that befalls those who mock or criticise Islam, like Charlie Hebdo, it will not be surprising if he doesn’t. It appears Hinduism is made the butt of jokes because there is no apparent threat to one’s life.

Vir Das is a vocal opponent of Prime Minister Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party. He has been heavily criticised by people on social media for his hypocrisy and nonsensical criticism of the ruling dispensation.

AAP leader Tahir Hussain transferred Rs. 1.1 crores to shell companies, anti-CAA protesters told to be prepared for ‘big action’ during Trump visit: Reports

OpIndia Staff
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AAP leader Tahir Hussain transferred Rs. 1.1 crores to shell companies, anti-CAA protesters told to be prepared for ‘big action’ during Trump visit: Reports

Former Councillor from Aam Aadmi Party Tahir Hussain had distributed money among anti-CAA protesters and several others from the locality and they were told to be prepared for “big action”, the second charge-sheet filed in the anti-Hindu Delhi riots case says. The charges-sheet says that the now-suspended AAP leader transferred Rs. 1.1 crores to shell companies and later received the money in cash.

The investigation says that Tahir Hussain transferred Rs. 92 lakh to the accounts of Meenu Fabrication and SP Financial Services, Rs 20 lakh to Show Effect Pvt Ltd and another Rs 20 lakh to Yudhvee Impex. The money was transferred in the second week of January and was later used to prepare for the riots at the national capital.

As per a report by Indian Express, the charge-sheet says that Umar Khalid told Tahir Hussain “to be prepared for something big/riots at the time of Trump’s visit”, and “he and other PFI members will help him (Hussain) financially”. “Hussain claimed Saifi gave him money for preparations and he, from the account of companies owned by him, transferred Rs 1.10 crore to fake companies in the second week of January. He later got that amount in cash through a chain of transactions and started his preparations. He also distributed cash to anti-CAA protesters. His co-accused and several other persons in his locality also told his other supporters to get ready for big action. He also got his licensed pistol released from Khajuri Khas police station when he learnt that some persons were organising pro-CAA demonstrations nearby, to teach them a lesson,” the charge-sheet says.

The Tahir Hussain Chargesheet

The charge-sheet mentions that fifteen people, including Tahir Hussain, played a pivotal role in the riots that took place outside Hussain’s house in Khajuri Khas, Delhi. His younger brother, Shah Alam was also arrested. Tahir’s licensed pistol, which was used by him during the riots, was impounded by the police during the investigation.

Tahir along with others have been booked under 109, 114, 147, 148, 149, 186, 353, 395, 427, 435, 436, 452, 454, 153A, 505, 120B, of the Indian Penal Code and 3/4 PDPP Act and Arms Act.

The charge-sheet notes an interesting finding that the AAP councillor had released his pistol from PS Khajuri Khas on February 22, 2020, one day prior to the starting of the riots in Delhi. Here again, Hussain was found in contact with Umar Khalid and Khalid Saifi, who were a part of a larger group of persons involved in inciting riots in Delhi.

The Jafrabad Riots Case

A case was registered by Delhi Police for murder and riots that took place on February 25, 2020, on 66 Futa Road, outside Crescent Public School, near Jafrabad Metro Station, Delhi. A man named Aman had died due to gunshot injury during the riot.

The investigation into the riots that took place in Jafrabad revealed the involvement of a certain “Pinjra Tod Group”, a far-left organisation, in inciting the riots in the region. The Delhi Police had recently arrested two persons in connection with the riots that ensued in Jafrabad.

On May 23, the Special cell of Delhi police had arrested two women named Natasha Narwal and Devangna Kalita in the North-east Delhi riots case. Both the women are founding members of Pinjra Tod, which was established in 2015.

The Delhi Police had alleged that both the women-Natasha and Devangana were involved in hatching the conspiracy to incite riots in Jafrabad. Natasha was booked under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for her role in inciting the anti-Hindu communal riots in Northeast Delhi in February.

The FIR against them mentions that they are charged under Sections 147, 148, 149, 186, 353, 332, 333, 323, 283, 188, 427, 307, 302, 120B, 34 of the Indian Penal Code and under the Arms Act and Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act. The two arrested women were also a part of a larger conspiracy and were found to be associated with “India Against Hate” group and Umar Khalid.

Searching porn in incognito? Google is possibly recording you, and now it has been sued for $5 billion

OpIndia Staff
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Searching porn in incognito? Google is possibly recording you, and now it has been sued for $5 billion

Alphabet Inc.’s Google on Tuesday was sued with a proposed class-action suit for violating the privacy of millions of its users by monitoring their internet use from browsers set in “incognito/private” browsing mode. The lawsuit was filed against the tech giant in San Jose, California, and accused the search engine behemoth of “covert and unauthorized data collection from virtually every American with a computer or phone.”

Secretly collecting information of users?

The lawsuit seeks at least $5 billion from the Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google, for secretly collecting information about what people view online and what they browse, even if they use what Google calls “incognito” mode.

The law firm Boies Schiller Flexner has filed the class action suit. “People everywhere are becoming more aware and concerned that their personal communications are being intercepted, collected, recorded, or exploited for gain by technology companies they have come to depend on,” the law firm stated in their filing.

The complaint filed against Google states that the organisation collects information from a host of other applications such as Google Analytics, Google Ad Manager, web-site plug-ins and smartphone apps whether they click on Google-supported ads or not. The litigant mentioned that such surreptitious activities by Google help the organisation in learning about the users’ friends, hobbies, interests, food habits and even the “most intimate and potentially embarrassing things” they surf online.

“Billions of times a day, Google causes computers around the world to report the real-time internet communications of hundreds of millions of people to Google,” the complaint read.

Covert methods to gather unauthorised data

The complaint stated that Google cannot continue employing covert methods to gather unauthorised data from every unsuspecting American with a computer or phone. Google spokesperson, Jose Castaneda, said that the organisation will vigorously defend itself against the allegations made against it.

“We explicitly state every time you open an incognito mode that the websites might be able to draw details of your browsing activity,” he added.

While the users may believe that the incognito mode shields them prying online eyes, computer security analysts have long asserted that Google and other rival organisations might extract information from multiple browsing modes used by the users for creating augmented user profiles based on the inputs gleaned from tracking their activities.

The proposed class-action suit reportedly includes millions of users and seeks $5000 as damages per user or three times actual damages, whichever is greater.

Modi 2.0 government asserts its commitment to uproot corruption from India, warns the ‘high and mighty’

OpIndia Staff
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Modi 2.0 government asserts its commitment to uproot corruption from India, warns the ‘high and mighty’

The Modi government recently completed the first year of its second term, known popularly as Modi 2.0. PM Modi, in his address to the people of India, had reiterated his promise for his government’s commitment for a stronger, healthier and corruption-free India.

Chargesheet against P Chidambaram and his son

In a significant development, the Enforcement Directorate has filed a chargesheet against former Union minister P Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram. As per reports, the chargesheet was filed in the court of special CBI judge Ajay Kumar.

The chargesheet names both Chidambaram and his son Karti as beneficial owners of several shell firms incorporated both in the country and abroad. The Chidambaram duo is facing charges of financial misappropriations and violations regarding the FIPB approval given to INX Media during P Chidambaram’s tenure as India’s finance minister.

It is also notable here that the former union minister, considered ‘untouchable’ for a long time, was arrested by the CBI last year and had spent over 106 days in custody before managing to get released under strict bail conditions.

The INX Media case

P Chidambaram is accused in the INX Media scam which involves charges of bribery and lobbying in granting foreign investments worth over Rs 300 crores to INX Media. INX Media, later known as NewsX, was owned by Peter and Indrani Mukherjee of the sensational Sheena Bora murder case. Chidambaram is accused of misusing his power as the finance minister to grant INX Media an FIPB clearance.

Chargesheet against defence lobbyist Sanjay Bhandari

The crackdown on defence lobbyists and the unearthing of the massive procurement scams done under the UPA was another highlight of the Modi 1.0 government. With extradition of a number of major players involved in the defence dealings, the extent of corruption and international play involved was exposed.

Defence lobbyist Sanjay Bhandari remains a fugitive. However, during the past couple of years, the extent of his dealings with several international defence firms and their extensive roots of corruption, bribery and quid-pro-quo arrangements with a number of politicians and key players have emerged.

Bhandari was under investigation since 2010 in the charges of wrongly influencing defence deals. In May 2016, his offices were raided by the Income Tax Department as part of an investigation in a tax evasion case against Bhandari and his company. During the raids, confidential defence ministry documents were found in his possession, which included documents related to India’s proposal to buy mid-air refuellers.

The charge sheet filed on Monday reportedly details how the arms dealer invested the proceeds of his crime. The ED has also sought a non-bailable warrant against Bhandari to enable it to file an extradition request. An Interpol red-notice is already there against Bhandari.

It is notable here that Bhandari also reportedly had links with Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra. It was accused that Bhandari had helped Vadra launder money through properties in London. Bhandari is also being probed by the CBI for a Rs 2,895 crores deal for Pilatus basic trainer aircraft. The ED had arrested CC Thampi, for his alleged link with Vadra’s property deals and Bhandari last year.

Tweet by PM Narendra Modi’s website

Interestingly, the official Twitter handle of PM Narendra Modi’s website narendramodi.in shared a recent article about the government commitment to continue its war against corruption hours after the chargesheets were filed.

Though the article highlighted the action taken against corrupt bureaucrats and the efforts to remove corruption by promoting digital India and incorporating technology to root out middle-men, it also shares some interesting lines.

It wrote, “The high and mighty, who were earlier considered too powerful to be out of the ambit of law, are finding it impossible to escape justice.”

CNN News 18 withdraws fake news misquoting Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Ladakh standoff

OpIndia Staff
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CNN News 18 withdraws fake news misquoting Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Ladakh standoff

Media outlet CNN News 18 has withdrawn the story it had based on its interview with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh where they had misquoted and misinterpreted his quote on Ladakh standoff.

CNNNews18 tweet on withdrawal of story

On Tuesday, Defence Rajnath Singh, speaking to Network 18 journalist Amish Devgan, addressed concerns regarding the current stand-off between India and China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) which has escalated tensions between the two countries.

In the interview, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also acknowledged that China had moved troops in significant numbers near the LAC during the ongoing stand-off. The Defence Minister also expressed hope to resolve the stand-off through diplomatic and military level talks.

Union Minister had also confirmed regarding the large presence of Indian troops to counter Chinese aggression on the LAC and assured that the government will not let anyone hurt country’s self-respect.

In the below video, at 0:50 mins, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh refers to differing perceptions of LAC between both China and India while noting about the presence of Chinese troops across LAC. Most importantly, the Defence Minister did not answer or confirm anything regarding presence of Chinese troops the LAC to enter the Indian territory.

However, the usual suspects in the media claimed that the Defence Minister in the interview to Network 18 admitted that a “sizeable number” of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) had entered Indian territory, especially into areas in eastern Ladakh despite there were no such statements made by Rajnath Singh in the interview.

Soon, self-proclaimed ‘defence experts’ indulged in a misinformation campaign to target the Modi government over the alleged statements made by the Defence Minister to insinuate that the government allowed China to disrespect India’s sovereignty by allowing the PLA troops to enter eastern Ladakh.

‘The Wire‘ did not waste any time to report misleading statements by attributing false statements to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, which he had never made in the first place.

The Wire misquoting Defence Minister

Even other media outlets like Outlook, Business Standard, Economic Times and Scroll also made similar claims stating Defence Minister had admitted to the entering of Chinese troops inside Indian territory near Eastern Ladakh.

Ajai Shukla, a known conspiracy theorist of the Congress era, brazened out to peddle the same misinformation to claim that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh publicly admitted that Chinese soldiers had crossed into India’s side of the LAC in large numbers.

Shukla, who has been pushing false information on social media ever since the current stand-off started between two countries, took to Twitter to state that he was glad that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh publicly accepted what he was saying from the last few days. Ajai Shukla, since few days, has been pushing pro-Chinese narrative claiming China has set in camps, deployed large number of troops. Shukla had also claimed that there was an incursion by the Chinese troops into Indian territory.

Ajai Shukla’s tweet

The misleading claims made by certain media outlets and self-proclaimed security experts were in fact debunked by credible experts immediately.

Later in the day, the official fact-checking agency PIB took to Twitter to fact-check claims made by ‘defence expert’ Ajai Shukla and categorically denied that no such statement was issued by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh claiming Chinese troops had crossed Indian territory in Eastern Ladakh.

The PIB fact-checked Shukla to state that the Rajnath Singh was referring to differing perceptions of LAC and the presence of Chinese troops, which was misinterpreted as if Chinese troops entered the Indian side of LAC.

PIB fact-checking Ajai Shukla

Soon after PIB fact-checked Ajai Shukla, the Network 18 itself clarified that their story based on an exclusive interview with Rajnath Singh was an error. The media network said that the headline and story inadvertently said, “Sizeable Number of Chinese Troops Moved into Eastern Ladakh, says Defence Minister Rajnath Singh“.

However, Network 18 said that the minister did not refer to Eastern Ladakh in the interview. “The error is regretted, and the story stands withdrawn,” the network issued corrigendum.

Despite all the clarifications, video evidence that there was no such statement issued by Rajnath Singh admitting that there was sizeable number of Chinese troops allegedly entering the Indian side, the media and the self-proclaimed ‘security experts’ have neither deleted their misleading tweets/reports nor issued a clarification for the same.

Jamia students want to ‘blow up’ proctor’s office, carry out Minneapolis style ‘protests’ over slapping of UAPA on Delhi rioters

OpIndia Staff
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Jamia students want to ‘blow up’ proctor’s office, carry out Minneapolis style ‘protests’ over slapping of UAPA on Delhi rioters

As America burns in flames after protests over George Floyd killing went violent, those in India drawing false equivalence between those riots and anti-CAA riots now want to ape the violence in India again.

Naushad Ahmed Raza studying Masters in History from Jamia Millia Islamia criticised show cause notice sent to JamiaTimes1 Instagram account over derogatory statements on the varsity. One Nadim Iqbal Khan, another Jamia student, suggested that the office of the proctor also needs to be blown up.

In a Facebook post shared by another Jamia student and AISA activist, Gohar Aysha, where she condemned show cause notice for JamiaTimes1 Instagram account, Nausheed quipped that the university administration would not have ‘dared’ to send show cause notice had the campus been open.

In that, when Nausheed commented how the Jamia VC Najma Akhtar aspires to be Governor (of a state, thereby insinuating she has political ambitions and hence working on directions of the Central government), Aysha gleefully said how the Jamia students will start Minneapolis-style violence and rioting.

Gohar Aysha threat of Minneapolis-like riots

JamiaTimes1 was reportedly sent a show cause notice over derogatory remarks against Jamia admin. A Jamia Millia Islamia student on condition of anonymity told OpIndia that these student-activists want the exams which are to be conducted online, be shifted on campus so that they can get back on campus and resume the protests and other violence.

Violence in America

Recently, the United States of America is engulfed in riots after an African-American man, George Floyd, was killed by a white cop even as he tried to plead for help. Far left goons in the US have taken to vandalism, looting, destroying public property and setting things on fire to ‘protest’ against the killing. Gohar Aysha just suggested that Jamia students could take law into their own hands and destroy public property and run a riot like Minneapolis citizens if demands aren’t met.

Anti-CAA riots

In December 2019, after the passing of Citizenship Amendment Act widespread protests took place in India which often turned violent. The CAA fasttracks Indian citizenship for persecuted religious minorities in three neighbouring Islamic countries, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Indian Muslims and ‘liberals’ opposed giving Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslims in neighbouring countries. The violence broke out outside campuses of Jamia Millia Islamia university in Delhi and Aligarh Muslim University in Uttar Pradesh amongst others. The Delhi Police recently arrested some of the students and alumni of the varsity and charged them with UAPA Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Delhi riots, 2020

Widespread riots broke out in NorthEast Delhi in February this year when US President Donald Trump was visiting India. These were in extension to the December riots and other violence through January. The details mentioned in the charge-sheet filed in the Jafrabad riot case and Chand Bagh riots case establishes beyond doubt that the anti-Hindu riots that convulsed the national capital in February this year were a part of a deep-rooted, well-planned conspiracy to throw Delhi into a state of anarchy.

Google removes ‘Mitron’ and ‘Remove China Apps’ from Google Play store on all Android devices over ‘policy violation’

OpIndia Staff
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Google removes ‘Mitron’ and ‘Remove China Apps’ from Google Play store on all Android devices over ‘policy violation’

The mysterious behaviour of tech-giant Google over its arbitrary regulation of Android apps has yet again come to the fore as Play Store seems to have succumbed to Chinese pressure and has removed two rival apps which had posed a challenge to the Chinese apps.

‘Mitron’ – the popular alternative for TikTok, which was developed by a Pakistan-based software development company Qboxus and later purchased by an Indian student and another app – ‘Remove China Apps’ have been removed from the Google Play Store after the two apps became a direct threat to Chinese apps that were being used in the country.

Interestingly, the tech giant has not confirmed why the app was removed from the play store and whether it will be available again or not.

Mitron app’s source code issue

‘Mitron’, which was touted as the alternative for the controversial Chinese app – TikTok, had seen a large number of downloads in the last few days. However, it has been removed from the Google Play Store as it posed a threat to the Chinese app. At the time of removal, the app had over 5 million downloads. 

It is being reported that the app was taken down for being repetitive and offering the same content and experience which is already being provided by another app.

In its spam and minimum functionality page, Google claimed, “We don’t allow apps that merely provide the same experience as other apps already on Google Play. Apps should provide value to users through the creation of unique content or services.”

Pakistan connection to Mitron app

Reportedly, Mitron app was first developed by a Lahore-based company named Qboxus. The Pakistan-based company had created an app called TicTac, similar to TikTok. Later, the app was later rebranded in India as ‘Mitron’ whose source code was purchased from a website called CodeCanyon.

According to Irfan Sheikh – the founder of Qboxus, the owners who purchased the source code from them have not made changes to the original app. Interestingly, Mitron has no customisations and is a direct copy of TikTok clone app called TicTac, said Sheikh.

The QBoxus team has claimed that the TicTac app was actually created by them before putting up the source code of the app on sale. The source code was reportedly purchased by an IIT Roorkee student, Shivank Agarwal, who rebranded the app into Mitron. 

‘Remove China Apps’ also taken down from Play Store

Another application ‘Remove China Apps’, which had gained popularity in India in recent weeks has also been removed from the Google Play Store. The app allowed users to detect and easily delete apps developed by Chinese firms.

More than one million people in India had installed the application on their phone to delete Chinese apps present on their smartphone.

The app, developed by Indian firm OneTouch AppLabs, had gained popularity in the country at a time when there is a rising anti-China sentiment among many citizens as tensions between two countries has escalated in recent days over border stand-off.

However, the Google intervened on Tuesday to remove the app from its Play Store after millions of Indians had downloaded the app.

The developer of the app – Jaipur based OneTouchAppLabs announced on Twiter that their app has been suspended from Play store. The firm are not aware of why Google removed the app from Play Store.

If a user has already downloaded the ‘Remove China Apps’ application on their phone it will still work for you, but new downloads cannot be made.

Google bats in favour of Chinese app – ‘TikTok’

Earlier, the tech-giant Google had come to the rescue of controversial Chinese social media platform TikTok by deleting millions of negative reviews from its Play Store, in an attempt to improve the rating of the application.

Google had removed nearly than 7 million negative reviews for TikTok which has ultimately improved its rating. On May 20, the ratings of the controversial app had plunged to 1.3 stars after millions of social media users had massively downrated the Chinese app for enabling its users to promote and glorify various horrific crimes and anti-Hindu propaganda.

However, a week later on May 28, the app had only 20 million reviews on the Play Store, indicating that Google had removed close to 7 million negative reviews reported against the Chinese app. The ratings of the app were upgraded to 4.4 stars from 1.3 stars a week before.

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