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Nirmala Sitharaman schools Rahul Gandhi after he spreads misinformation again by terming ‘bad loan write off’ by banks as ‘loan waiver’

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Nirmala Sitharaman schools Rahul Gandhi after he spreads misinformation again by terming ‘bad loan write off’ by banks as ‘loan waiver’

On Tuesday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman schooled Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on his false claims on “wilful defaulters, bad loans and write-offs”, calling them an attempt to “mislead people in a brazen manner” and sensationalise facts. 

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s response to Rahul Gandhi came after Gandhi-scion had claimed that the BJP government had waived off loans worth Rs 68,607 crore in the form of write-offs of top 50 wilful defaulters.

Earlier, Rahul Gandhi had attacked the ruling BJP after the Reserve Bank of India released a list of 50 wilful defaulters accused of cheating banks. These 50 defaulters included the companies of absconding diamantaire Mehul Choksi and fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya.

“I asked a simple question in Parliament — tell me the names of 50 biggest bank scammers. Finance Minister refused to reply. Now RBI has put names of Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and other BJP friends in the list. This is why they hid the truth from parliament,” the Congress MP had tweeted in Hindi along with a video.

Responding to the allegation of the Congress leader, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in a series of tweets accused Rahul Gandhi of sensationalising facts by taking them out of context. Highlighting that between 2009-10 and 2013-14, scheduled commercial banks had written off Rs 1,45,226 crore, she quipped, “Wished Gandhi consulted former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on what this writing-off was about”.

She said provisions are made for Non-Performing Assets according to a four-year provisioning cycle laid down by the RBI. “Upon full provisioning being done, banks write-off the fully provided NPA but continue to pursue recovery against the borrower. No loan is waived off,” she wrote.

Finance Minister Sitharaman said that wilful defaulters were beneficiaries of ‘phone banking’ under the UPA regime and the Modi government is chasing them to recover the dues.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also referred to media reports quoting former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan as having said that a large number of bad loans originated in the period 2006-2008 and “too many loans were made to well-connected promoters who have a history of defaulting on their loans”.

“Useful to recall the words of Raghuram Rajan: “A large number of bad loans originated in the period 2006-2008…Too many loans were made to well-connected promoters who have a history of defaulting on their loans…Public sector bankers continued financing promoters even while private sector banks were getting out. RBI could have raised more flags about the quality of lending…” Raghuram Rajan (said)… From 2015, PSBs (Public Sector Banks) were asked by the government to check all NPAs >50 crores for wilful default,” Minister Sitharaman responded to Rahul Gandhi on Twitter.

The Finance Minister then went onto explain regarding how properties belonging to fugitives Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and Vijay Mallya have been attached by the Modi government after they defaulted on the loans.

Sitharaman stated that immovable and movable properties belonging to fugitive Nirav Modi worth more than Rs 2,387 crores have been attached or seized, including foreign attachments of Rs 961.47 crore. “The auction of luxury items belonging to Nirav Modi has yielded for Rs 53.45 Crore. He is in prison in the UK,” said Finance Minister.

Citing progress on Mehul Choski case, Finance Minister said properties worth Rs 1,936.95 crore including foreign attachment of Rs 67.9 crore have been attacked by the union government. The government has also seized Rs 597.75 crore. She added, “Red Notice issued. Extradition Request sent to Antigua. Hearing for declaration of Mehul Choksi as Fugitive Offender is in progress”.

In connection with Vijay Mallya’s willful defaulting of loans, Finance Minister clarified stating that, “Total value at the time of attachment was Rs 8040 Crore and of seizure was Rs 1,693 Crore. Value of shares at the time of seizure was Rs 1693 Crore. Declared fugitive offender. On extradition request by GoI, UK High Court has also ruled for extradition.”

Sitharaman said it was the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government which was pursuing these wilful defaulters.

“9,967 recovery suits, 3,515 FIRs, invoking Fugitive Amendment Act in cases are on now. Total value of attachment and seizures in the cases of Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and Vijay Mallya: Rs 18,332.7 crore,” she said.

“Bank-wise details of aggregate funded amount outstanding and amount technically/prudentially written off, pertaining to top fifty wilful defaulters was provided as an annex to the answer to Lok Sabha starred question *305 of Rahul Gandhi on 16.3.2020,” the FM wrote.

Sitharaman also mentioned that a list of “borrowers flagged as wilful defaulter by Public Sector Banks under CRILIC reporting as on September 30, 2019 (for borrowers with exposure of Rs 5 crore and above, global operations) was provided”, on November 18, 2019, in the Lok Sabha.

The finance minister stated that Congress and Gandhi should introspect why they fail to play a constructive role in cleaning up the system. “Neither while in power, nor while in the opposition has the Congress shown any commitment or inclination to stop corruption and cronyism,” Sitharaman further stated.

Congress claims on loans ‘write-off’

Soon after reports emerged that the government had written-off certain loans, the Congress leaders attempted to mislead people by spinning facts between write-offs with waivers, indicating that the loan given to the wilful defaulters are completely waived-off.

In reality, ‘write-off’ is a process of balance sheet cleaning up exercise undertaken by banks to depict the real status of the bank’s assets and liabilities. The write-offs are not loan waivers as claimed by Congress party and its ecosystem.

The banks usually write off loans (an asset to the bank) given to borrowers, which have now shown signs of weakness. If banks fail to write-off these loans, it is reflected as a high-quality asset and the returns-on-assets should be classified as an income to the bank. However, the quality of a defaulted loan has deteriorated for some time now, which results in giving the wrong picture of the true assets of the bank.

Secondly, if a loan is not written-off and is continued as a healthy asset at a time when it actually is a Non-Performing Asset (NPA), then banks can continue to book interest income on the loan, on the accrual basis of accounting.

However, there are two impacts if the bank continues to do so. Firstly, the bank is artificially increasing its income by booking interest on an accrual basis, the income which is doubtful as the loan is actually an NPA.

Secondly, the bank has to pay tax on earning such interest income. With mounting bad loans, it is bad for business for banks as it increases banks’ liabilities through unnecessary tax payments. Hence, scheduled commercial banks regularly write-off loans to effective accounting.

Once a loan is “written-off”, income booking on the same is based on actual receipt of income, and not based on accrual, banks continue to earn interest on such loans and recognize it as income only when they receive it.

Write-offs are a purely technical, accounting entry. Loans, which may not be repaid by the borrower in the normal course of business are written off. Even when these loans are written off, various recovery procedures like recovery suits filed before the Debt Recovery Tribunal and action initiated under SARFAESI Act continue. Hence, the writing-off a loan is not simply a ‘waive-off’.

Film actor Irrfan Khan dies at 54

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Film actor Irrfan Khan dies at 54

Bollywood actor Irfan Khan passed away in Mumbai today. He was rushed to Kokilaben Ambani hospital on Tuesday following colon infection and was admitted to the ICU. In 2018 he was diagnosed with neuroendocrine tumour.

Filmmaker Shoojit Sircar took to Twitter to express his condolences and grief over passing of Irfan Khan.

Irfan Khan, the actor

Khan had undergone treatment abroad for several months in 2019. His last movie that was released is Homi Adajania’s Angrezi Medium. He has also acted in several remarkable movies like Maqbool, Paan Singh Tomar, The Lunchbox, Haider, Piku and Hindi Medium. He has also acted in Hollywood films like Slumdog Millionaire, Jurassic World, The Amazing Spiderman and Life of Pi.

More than 700 dead in Iran after drinking Methanol over false rumours that it will cure coronavirus

OpIndia Staff
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More than 700 dead in Iran after drinking Methanol over false rumours that it will cure coronavirus

More than 700 people have died in Iran after ingesting toxic methanol after falsely believing in rumours that it can cure the Chinese coronavirus, reports Al Jazeera.

According to the reports, more than 5,000 people have been poisoned from methanol-mixed alcohol leading to 728 Iranians getting killed between February 20 and April 7. Last year there were only 66 deaths from alcohol poisoning in the Islamic Republic.

“People think that alcohol causes immunity to corona while drinking alcohol does not eliminate corona in the body,” a medical expert was quoted saying.

Meanwhile, Iranian health ministry spokesman, Kianoush Jahanpour, said 5,011 people have been poisoned from methanol, adding that some 90 people have lost their eyesight or are suffering eye damage from the alcohol poisoning.

Misinformation on social media

Due to overwhelming misinformation on social media, Iranian citizens resorted to consuming spurious alcohol in a bid to cure the deadly Wuhan coronavirus infection. Indiscriminate drinking accompanied by methanol poisoning has made thousands of people fall sick, killing nearly 700 Iranians.

The misinformation stemmed from a tabloid story published in early February which claimed that a British man cured himself of coronavirus infection by drinking whiskey with honey. Many believe that using alcohol-based sanitizer to ward off germs is akin to drinking alcohol to cure coronavirus infection.

Consumption of alcohol is banned in Iran

Consumption of alcohol is banned in the Islamic Republic of Iran. It is mandatory for manufacturers of methanol to add artificial colour to their products so the public can differentiate it from ethanol.

Bootleggers, however, add bleach to these products such that it dilutes the artificial colour. Due to a growing demand for alcohol, bootleggers often sell methanol to its customers instead of ethanol. This explains the steep rise in cases of methanol poisoning.

Methanol cannot be smelled or tasted in drinks. It causes delayed organ and brain damage. Symptoms include chest pain, nausea, hyperventilation, blindness and even coma.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has been largely affected by the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. Reportedly, 91,000 people had been affected while over 5,806 lives had been lost.



Leadership Lessons from Ramayana: JNU to conduct a two-day webinar in collaboration with The Ramayana School

OpIndia Staff
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Leadership Lessons from Ramayana: JNU to conduct a two-day webinar in collaboration with The Ramayana School

JNU’s Vice Chancellor Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar’s following tweet yesterday morning created a debate among twitteratties from the both the sides, about an upcoming webinar in JNU on Leadership Lessons from Ramayana, in partnership w

JNU VC said in his tweet, “About Rama, in 1946, Mahatma Gandhi said: He is one without a second. He alone is great. There is none greater than He. He is timeless, formless, stainless. Such is my Rama. He alone is my Lord and Master. JNU organizes ‘Leadership Lessons from Ramayana’. All from JNU are welcome.”

In another Tweet, the VC informed that JNU will be conducting a webinar on ‘Leadership lessons through Ramayana’ on May 2 and 3 from 4 pm to 6 pm. The webinar will be coordinated by Prof. Santosh Kumar Shukla, JNU and Prof. Mazhar Asif, JNU.

Founder of The Ramayana School, Shantanu Gupta, when contacted, thanked JNU’s VC for his proactive approach, to partner with the school for the Leadership workshop. 

The Ramayana School

Talking about The Ramayana School, Shantanu said – The Ramayana School is an endeavor to explore and contextualize the life lessons hidden in Ramayana to the present context. Ramayana School team has meticulously developed various innovative tools, to dive deep into the story, conversations & characters of Ramayana and to translate them in real life learnings for students, families, scholars, educators and entrepreneurs.

When asked about the details of the workshop, Shantanu told, that through various thought experiments and critical thinking tools, they try to work on critical & creative thinking skills of the participants, and in the process, participants develop, thorough understanding of the essence of Valmiki Ramayana. Learning from the leadership lessons from Rama’s journey, “Tracing Rama and Ravana within you” and “Killing the Ravana with you”, Ramayana Hackathon & Ramayana Olympiad Quiz are some of the popular tools among previous participants of the workshop.

When asked about the motivation behind the school, Shantanu told that he is homeschooling his son Abhiram, and around two years back, intrigued by a question by his son, he started engaging with Valmiki Ramayana deeply and being a management graduate, he found various leadership lessons in the wonderful ancient text of Ramayana. Shantanu has done multiple offline and online workshops on the topic, like at Rambhau Prabodhini in Mumbai and at 2nd World Ramayana Conference at Jabalpur. 

Shantanu added that The Ramayana School takes a cue from the fact that there is something magical in the thousands of years old biography of Rama, that it finds resonance in the culture of more than 100+ countries and got translated in more than 300 different variants and still counting, beyond the considerations of culture, religion and language. There is a hidden encrypted message in each of the 24000 slokas of Valmiki Ramayana, which can enrich humanity like nothing else.

MEA rejects USCIRF claims on religious freedom in the country, says US body’s misrepresentation has reached new levels

OpIndia Staff
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MEA rejects USCIRF claims on religious freedom in the country, says US body’s misrepresentation has reached new levels

The Indian government has categorically rejected the claims made by the controversial United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in its report that the central government allowed violence against minorities in the country.

Responding to the recent USCIRF report, MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava stated that the government rejected the observations in the report. Referring to the comments against India as “biased and tendentious” Srivastava said that such comments against India are “not new”, but on this occasion “its misrepresentation has reached new levels”.

“We reject the observations on India in the USCIRF Annual Report. Its biased and tendentious comments against India are not new. But on this occasion, its misrepresentation has reached new levels. It has not been able to carry its own Commissioners in its endeavour. We regard it as an organisation of particular concern and will treat it accordingly,” said MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava.

USCIRF Annual Report on religious freedom

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an advisory body to the US Congress, on Tuesday released its 2020 annual report, where it recommended that the Trump administration to classify India as a “country of particular concern”, along with other countries like Pakistan, North Korea, China and Saudi Arabia.

The USCIRF, claimed that India was “engaging in and tolerating systematic, ongoing and egregious religious freedom violations”. The report also stated that the national government allowed violence against minorities and also engaged in and tolerated hate speech and incitement to violence.

The report recommended that the Trump administration should impose targeted sanctions on Indian government responsible for severe violations of religious freedom by freezing those individuals’ assets and barring their entry into the United States under human rights-related financial and visa authorities, citing specific religious freedom violations.

It recommended that the US administration “designate India as a ‘country of particular concern’, or CPC, for engaging in and tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations, as defined by the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA)”.

Three dissenters within USCIRF

Three out of nine commissioners at the USCIRF have dissented against the commission’s claim against India and have made separate qualifying notes to the report on India.

One of the USCIRF commissioners, Gary L. Bauer, said, “I must dissent from the decision of my fellow Commissioners to recommend India, the world’s largest democracy, for designation as a ‘country of particular concern’, or CPC, placing India in a gallery of rogue nations in which it does not belong.”

He added, “The trend line on religious freedom in India is not reassuring. But India is not the equivalent of communist China, which wages war on all faiths; nor of North Korea, a prison masquerading as a country; nor of Iran, whose Islamic extremist leaders regularly threaten to unleash a second Holocaust. India is our ally.”

USCIRF’s prejudice against India

The controversial US body has always been at the forefront of the misinformation campaign against the country. Ever since Narendra Modi returned back to power in 2019, the USCIRF has been meddling into India’s internal affairs by indulging in one-sided motivated propaganda against the Modi government.

The US congressional body emerged into the scene following the abrogation of Article 370 in the country with its misleading statements and continued to do so even during the implementation of historic Citizenship Amendment Act. It is notable here that the USCIRF has a history of fanning baseless rumours and leftist propaganda against India. They had also ranted against India’s Citizenship Amendment Act, calling it a ‘dangerous turn in the wrong direction’.

Ironically, the USCIRF, which claims to be standing for religious freedom and rights, resorted to peddling false propaganda against Indian government on CAA, a law which was implemented to guarantee rights in the country by granting Indian citizenship.

The Indian government has time-and-again rejected the one-sided prejudiced observations made by the US body. India had earlier said the American body on international religious freedom has chosen to be guided only by its biases on a matter on which it has no locus standi.

The USCIRF is the commission that had recommended the denial of US visa to PM Modi when he was the CM of Gujarat. It had also threatened ‘sanctions’ against Home Minister Amit Shah ‘if the CAB was passed’.

Fake news by USCIRF

Just weeks back, the self-proclaimed religious freedom body USCIRF, had indulged in a misinformation campaign by falsely claiming that coronavirus patients were being segregated on the basis of religious identity in an Ahmedabad hospital.

Citing a false propaganda report by Indian Express, the USCIRF had tweeted that it was “concerned with reports of Hindu and Muslim patients separated” into separate hospital wards in Gujarat. 

However, responding to the misinformation campaign of the Indian Express, the Gujarat government had categorically denied the claims. The Health Department of Gujarat had also clarified that no segregation is being done in the Ahmedabad civil hospital on the basis of religion for coronavirus patients.

Coronavirus: Death toll crosses 1,000 mark in India, over 31,000 have tested positive for COVID-19 till now

OpIndia Staff
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Coronavirus: Death toll crosses 1,000 mark in India, over 31,000 have tested positive for COVID-19 till now

The death toll for coronavirus has crossed the 1,000 mark in India and it stands at 1,007 as of 29 April, 2020. As of now 31,332 people have tested positive for COVID-19, the virus that originated in China.

MoHFW data on coronavirus

Coronavirus in India

India has been under a complete lockdown since 25th March 2020 and while it is expected to conclude on 3rd May, authorities have hinted that there may be further extension in hotspots where situation is still not under control. As per the data, there are currently 22,629 active cases in India while 7,695 people have recovered and have been discharged. Of the states, Maharashtra has been worst affected with coronavirus with as many as 9,318 positive cases and 400 deaths. This is followed by Gujarat that has recorded 3,744 positive cases and 54 deaths as per the official ministry data.

Delhi’s tally stands at 3,314 cases of which 1,078 have recovered. Rajasthan is at 2,364 positive cases of which 768 have recovered and Madhya Pradesh has 2,387 positive cases of which 377 have recovered.

Goa, Manipur, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh have fully recovered while Sikkim and Nagaland have not recorded a single positive case of coronavirus.

Delhi Minority Commission chief says Hindus will face an ‘avalanche’ if Indian Muslims complain to their friends in the Arab world

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi Minority Commission chief says Hindus will face an ‘avalanche’ if Indian Muslims complain to their friends in the Arab world

Delhi Minorities Commission chairman Zafarul Islam Khan on Tuesday indulged in blatant provocation against Hindus of the country after he threatened with an ‘avalanche’ by the Muslims of the country.

Islam Khan, took to Facebook, to share a provocative post to thank Kuwait for “standing with the Indian Muslims” and attacked Hindus by referring to them as “Hindutva bigots”, who according to him miscalculated the reaction of the Arab world about the “persecution of Muslims in India”.

In his post, Khan went on to assert that Indian Muslims enjoy huge goodwill in the Arab and Muslim world for their services over centuries to Islamic causes. His post comes amidst reports that Kuwait had expressed concern regarding the alleged atrocities against Muslims in the country amidst coronavirus outbreak.

AAP leader hails radical Islamist Zakir Naik

Shockingly, the Delhi Minority Commission chairman hailed notorious radical Islamist and terror sympathiser Zakir Naik in his post as he claimed people like Naik are respectful household names in the Arab region and Muslim world.

He claimed that Indian Muslims like hah Waliullah Dehlavi, Iqbal, Abul Hasan Nadwi, Wahiduddin Khan, Zakit Naik earned respect for their in the Arab world.

“Mind you, bigots, Indian Muslims have opted until now not to complain to the Arab and Muslim world about your hate campaigns and lynchings and riots. The day they are pushed to do that, bigots will face avalanche,” he added.

Kuwait ambassador’s statement

Recently, an old statement by the Secretary-General of Kuwait cabinet had gone viral on social media, where the Secretary-General had parroted Pakistan’s favourite lines about Muslims being persecuted in India.

However, the Kuwait government, through their ambassador in India Jassem Al-Najem, have clarified that they respect the UN charter of non-interference in other countries’ affairs and respecting the sovereignty of nations. The Kuwaiti ambassador had also highlighted the current cooperation between the two nations.

Recently, upon request from the Kuwaiti government, India had deployed a Rapid Response Team to assist in their fight against coronavirus. For two weeks, the Indian RRT had rendered emergency medical assistance in testing and treatment of coronavirus patients to Kuwaiti professionals.

Anti-India propaganda in Arab world

The Hinduphobic comments of Zafarul Islam come on the heels of several reports that some section in Kuwait has raised their voice against the alleged persecution of Muslims in India amid the coronavirus outbreak.

It is pertinent to note that just yesterday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) reiterated that the government of Kuwait does not support interference in India’s internal matters and deeply respects the friendly relations between the two countries.

Last week, after the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, had urged the Indian government to take “urgent steps” to protect the rights of its minority Muslim community. However, Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi had asserted that Muslims are prosperous in the country and those trying to ‘vitiate the atmosphere cannot be their friends’.

Soon after, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar had officially stated that they do not support the anti-India propaganda currency going on by ‘foreign-sponsored social media handles and posts’.

It was recently found that many Pakistani nationals have been impersonating Arab elites on social media to share controversial statements against India in order to create discord between the nations and to dox Indians working in Gulf nations.

BJP hits back

BJP national spokesperson Nalin Kohli has hit out at Zafarul Islam Khan for “inviting” foreign countries to interfere in India’s internal affairs and questioned the Delhi government’s stand on his comments.

Nalin Kohli also slammed the Delhi minorities panel chief for mentioning the name of Zakir Naik among honourable Indian Muslims.

Yogi takes on Shiv Sena over Bulandshahr priests’ murder, says Raut’s comments show appeasement is part of their changed politics

OpIndia Staff
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Yogi takes on Shiv Sena over Bulandshahr priests’ murder, says Raut’s comments show appeasement is part of their changed politics

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday took on Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut over his sarcastic comments over Bulandshahr twin murders of temple priests.

Taking to microblogging site Twitter, Yogi Adityanath said that Raut’s politicising the murder of priests in Bulandshahr is perverse ideology he now subscribes to. “Your comments are soaked in blood of incivility and reflect your changed political beliefs. Without doubt, this is what opens floodgates of appeasement,” he said.

Yogi’s mention of “appeasement” appears to be a targeted criticism of Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray as of late, he has been accused of mishandling the coronavirus situation in Maharashtra as well as the barbaric lynching of Sadhus in Palghar. People have alleged missionaries dominant in the area could have been responsible for the lynching, while him appeasing Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi is also known.

“Dear Sanjay Raut, is it politics to express grief at the barbaric murder of the Sadhus? The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister called up Maharashtra Chief Minister because the two sadhus lynched in Palghar had association with the Nirmohi Akhara. Who is playing politics now?” he questioned. Yogi Adityanath further said that the law and order situation in UP is under control with Yogi Adityanath as the chief minister. “Within hours the investigation was carried out in Bulandshahr incident and the culprit was arrested. Take care of Maharashtra, don’t worry about UP,” he said.

On Tuesday, following the murder of two saints in Bulandshahr, Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut had taken to Twitter to draw false equivalence between the two incidents and sarcastically said that Bulandshahr incident should not be communalised the way Palghar incident was.

Bulandshahr and Palghar incidents

On Tuesday early morning, two temple priests were murdered in a local temple. Within hours, the police caught the prime suspect who was roaming on the streets, half naked in an inebriated state with a sword, possibly the murder weapon, in his hand.

On 16th April, two Sadhus were lynched by a mob of over 100 people in Maharashtra’s Palghar. Videos of the lynching that had gone viral on social media showed that the police stood as mute spectator as the two sadhus along with the driver were brutally lynched and beaten to death by the mob. When Republic TV’s Arnab Goswami questioned Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi’s silence over the lynching, multiple FIRs were filed against him by Congress leaders and supporters. He was also attacked by two men who are believed to be Youth Congress workers. On Monday, Mumbai Police interrogated Goswami for over twelve hours.

Aurangabad: Around 40 gather for namaz in Mosque amid lockdown, attack police with help from women in the area, three policemen injured

OpIndia Staff
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Aurangabad: Around 40 gather for namaz in Mosque amid lockdown, attack police with help from women in the area, three policemen injured

Maharashtra is the worst-hit state by the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic. Under such circumstances, many cases of people violating lockdown in the state have been observed throughout the month. In the latest such case, around forty Muslims in Aurangabad gathered on Monday at a mosque to offer ‘namaz’ completely defying the lockdown orders to curb the spread of the virus.

When the local police reached the spot to investigate the matter after a tip-off citing the ban on religious and social gatherings due to the ongoing health crisis in the country, the namaazis engaged in violence against the policemen. As per Aurangabad (rural) Superintendent of Police, Mokshada Patil, when some of them were arrested by the police for violating lockdown, the locals pelted stones on the police leading to injuries to some of the police officers.

SP Patil said, “Yesterday, we received information that 40 people had gathered to offer namaz. When some of them were being brought to the police station, locals pelted stones at police injuring three personnel. 31 accused have been arrested and we will nab others soon.” The incident happened at 7:30 pm on Monday. SP Patil claimed that an FIR has been registered in connection with the same.

As per reports, the group that attacked the Police was also supported by women present in the area who also started attacking the Police. An officer and two other policemen were attacked and additional forces had to be summoned in order to prevent further attacks against them. The mob fled when the additional forces came to the aid of the policemen under attack. The three injured policemen have been hospitalised and are receiving treatment at a hospital in Paithan, Aurangabad.

Other instances when police attacked by Muslims

Policemen were attacked in Howrah, West Bengal on Tuesday after they entered the area to enforce the lockdown in the wake of the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic. It is one of the worst affected areas of West Bengal, second only to Kolkata. As per reports, two to three policemen were injured in the mob attack. The incident occurred at the Belilious Road in Howrah when the Police asked people defying the lockdown to go back to their homes. The mob also attacked the Tikiapara Police Station and pelted stones at the policemen. Bottles were also thrown at the Police. A heavy police force and RAF have been deployed in the area.

In another appalling incident, four cops were injured in an attack by a group owing allegiance to the Tablighi Jamaat in Madhubani, Bihar in early April. The policemen were attacked for admonishing them for defying the nationwide lockdown imposed to curb the spread of the pandemic. Four were arrested in connection with the incident and efforts were on to nab the other accused. An attack was launched on policemen at Gomtipur in Ahmedabad when they went to search for members of the Tablighi Jamaat. Stones were pelted at the policemen one cop was injured. Two were detained over the matter.

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