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Palghar lynching: 110 including 9 juveniles arrested for murder of two Sadhus and a driver where police acted as mute spectator

OpIndia Staff
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Palghar lynching: 110 including 9 juveniles arrested for murder of two Sadhus and a driver where police acted as mute spectator

Horrifying visuals have emerged in the Palghar lynching incident where a mob of over 100 people killed two Sadhus and their driver even as the Police stood there as mute spectators, just letting the barbaric act unfold.

Disclaimer: The videos contain violent images, viewer discretion recommended.

As one can in the above video, one of the Sadhus is running to save his life and trying to latch on to the policeman as the cop he releases himself and walks away, leaving the Sadhu to the mob.

Another haunting video is when the police are escorting the Sadhus out to a bloodthirsty mob where one of the Sadhus can be seen latching on to the cop, hoping he’d be safe with the man in the uniform. However, the cop can be seen leading him to an open space where mob starts beating him and the cop just shakes his hands off, leaving the old man to die.

Palghar incident details

The blood-curdling incident happened on 16th April, 2020 in Palghar, Maharashtra. Two Sadhus, 70-year-old Kalpavrishka Giri Maharaj and 35-year-old Sushil Giri Maharaj along with their driver 30-year-old Nilesh Telgade associated with the Juna Akhara and were on their way from Mumbai to Gujarat to give Samadhi to another Sadhu. At Gadakchinchale village, a wild and frenzied crowd of over more than 100 people attacked them. The villagers deemed them as thieves and started attacking them. The police claims that their team which had rushed to the spot to rescue the 70-year-old man also came under the attack of the violent mob.

People of the Sadhu community say that this village is tribals dominated and most of them are Christians while some are Muslims. Some even say that the police, out of fear of the tribals, handed over the Sadhus to the mob which later beat up those Sadhus to death with sticks. Reportedly, when the tribals of a particular religion started beating up the Sadhus, the police did not intervene.

Questions raised over Palghar incident

After the videos of brutality went viral on social media, many questioned the role of police as mute spectators in the barbarity that was unleashed on the Sadhus. In one of the videos, one of the policemen can be seen leading Kalpavriksh Giri Maharaj and letting go of his hand after handing him over to the mob.

Akhara Parishad condemns the Palghar incident

Speaking to OpIndia, Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad President Mahant Narendra Giri hinted at a bigger conspiracy over the murder of the Sadhus.

Appealing to Sadhus he said that if any Sadhu takes up Samadhi, then only those Sadhus in the same village should visit so that the coronavirus lockdown guidelines are not violated. “In front of the police, two of our mahatmas were murdered. Are the Muslims in the area targeting Sadhus under the guise of coronavirus? I appeal to Maharashtra government that this should be investigated. Once lockdown is over, Akhil Bharatiya Akhada Parishad will talk to Juna Akhara and hold Maharashtra government accountable for this. The father of Maharashtra Chief Minister has always respected Sadhus and Mahatmas. In your rule if two Sadhus get killed brutally, it is highly condemnable. There are reports that the culprits were Muslims. I appeal that they be arrested and action is taken,” he said.

Juna Akhara letter

In its appeal to the Maharashtra CM, Juna Akhara has condemned the murder of two Sadhus in front of the police.

Palghar arrests

As per reports, the authorities on Sunday filed and FIR against the villagers and 110 people including 9 juveniles have been arrested so far. 101 have been sent to judicial custody till April 30 while the juveniles have been sent to juvenile shelter home.

Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has called for a high-level inquiry into the matter to ensure justice.

Maharashtra Chief Minister’s office took to Twitter on Sunday night and said that the Palghar incident has been acted upon.

“Nobody guilty in this heinous crime and shameful act will be spared and they will be brought to justice in the strongest way possible,” The CMO tweeted.

Rajasthan Congress office-bearer, who had justified attack on Police, arrested for spreading hatred and enmity on social media

OpIndia Staff
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Rajasthan Congress office-bearer, who had justified attack on Police, arrested for spreading hatred and enmity on social media

Rajasthan police have arrested an office-bearer of the Congress party for posting provocative messages on social media. Mohsin Rasheed Tonk, a resident of Tonk in Rajasthan, was arrested by Katowali police on 19th April for objectionable posts on Facebook.

According to reports, Mohsin Rasheed Tonk had posted messages and videos related to Coronavirus pandemic on the social media platform, which promoted hatred and enmity between communities. A case under section 505 (2) (Statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill will between classes) of the IPC has been registered against him by Rajasthan police.

He has presented before the magistrate, after which he was sent for judicial custody.

Mohsin is the state general secretary of the minority cell of the Congress party, and he is also the incharge of the website of the Rajasthan Congress, as per the party website.

Although it is not clear for which post he was arrested, on 17th April, Mohsin had posted a video on his Facebook account where he had justified the brutal attack on police personnel in Tonk on that day. On April 17, a police patrol team was attacked by a violent mob at Kasai Mohalla in Tonk. As per reports, a crowd had started gathering in the Kasai Mohalla area on Friday morning despite lockdown orders. A police team was sent to patrol the area and convince the locals to stay at home. However, the locals gathered outside allegedly started attacking the police team.

But the Congress leader chose to justify the violence by saying that the locals attacked the policemen believing them to be RSS workers as they were in plainclothes. He said that it was a case of misunderstanding as rumours were going on that RSS and Bajrang dal workers were roaming around in streets as policemen, and the locals mistook the policemen in plainclothes as RSS/Bajrang workers and attacked them. He said that if locals knew that they were policemen, they would not have attacked them. By this, he sought to justify that attack on RSS and Bajrang dal workers is correct, although it was wrong to attack policemen.

Other images of Mohsin Rasheed are also doing rounds on social media where he is seen posing for photographs with NDTV India Editor Ravish Kumar amongst other Congress leaders.

West Bengal sitting on a time bomb as many believe Mamata Banerjee government is fudging coronavirus positive and death numbers

OpIndia Staff
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West Bengal sitting on a time bomb as many believe Mamata Banerjee government is fudging coronavirus positive and death numbers

The suppression of facts and fudging of data has become a major worry for authorities and health experts in West Bengal, which has now snowballed into a huge controversy between the Trinamool Congress-led West Bengal government and doctors who are whistleblowing against the state government for forcing health authorities not to declare deaths from coronavirus unless certified by a state government-nominated panel.

According to a Sunday Guardian report, the manipulation of data on coronavirus cases by the Mamata Banerjee-led government, expectedly, has come under fire from officials of the Kolkata-wing of the Indian Council of Medical Research, who have blamed the TMC-led government for slowing down the mandatory tests related to the deadly virus.

The worst part is that the state government has not even responded to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of the Central government’s declaration that the whole of Kolkata city and some of its districts should be declared as Coronavirus hotspots.

“It is requested that the states should utilise the extended lockdown period to the maximum extent to convert the hotspots (identified by the red colour) to orange and green zones,” a senior official of the ministry had said in a note.

However, shockingly, the notification is of no value in Kolkata and parts of Bengal.

Mamata Banerjee-led govt disposing dead bodies

Recently, there have been reports that the cops and health workers close to Mamata Banerjee’s regime, hiding their identity, disposed of dead bodies in the dead of the night raising suspicion regarding the extent of coronavirus scare in West Bengal.

Meanwhile, young doctors have taken to social media platforms to state how the Mamata Banerjee-led government has been threatening and pushing them to sign death certificates. The junior doctors further said many hospitals in Kolkata and across the state lacked the proper gear to handle such patients and the levels of infection were high and spreading fast because there were large-scale violations across the city and the state.

Reportedly, there was an ugly incident in Bankura over the ‘secret’ cremation of two bodies, allegedly by the ruling party workers. A case was initiated against the local MP for protesting against the surreptitious cremations.

No social distancing norms

The policy of social distancing norms has also been casually implemented in the state. In particular, life has been near-normal in Muslim-dominated localities and questioning this indulgence of a health hazard as the home ministry in Delhi subsequently did invited charges of ‘communal’ bias.

It is believed that the state government has not treated the need to locate, test and isolate those 300 or more from West Bengal who attended the Tablighi meet as a matter of priority.

A doctor, who circulated his message through his colleagues, said he was shocked to see how a pregnant woman was handled by the Medical College in north Kolkata, despite she being a coronavirus positive patient.

“She was in the labour room and eventually had a caesarean operation. She came in contact with over 50 nurses, doctors and paramedics. The labour room is overcrowded, each bed has three patients. So the woman would have infected many who came in her contact. Once it was known that she came from Eden Hospital (in the Medical College) on College Street,” said the doctor.

Shockingly, the entire news was suppressed. The authorities initially announced that 50 paramedics would be singled out even though their numbers were much higher. Later, the number was reduced to 25. After a few days, all those suspected paramedics were asked to join work back.

“We have many patients who are ill and desperate for medical care and supplies,” said a young doctor requesting anonymity.

In another case, a coronavirus infected patient was pushed into the general ward because the hospital had not develop a separate facility. At each step, the state government officials are telling doctors to fudge data on coronavirus related cases.

The doctors allege that they do not have enough protective gear. As a result, doctors, nurses and paramedics are all highly exposed to the virus. What worse is, the state government is forcing healthcare workers to do their duty.

“If this is happening in the heart of the city, you can imagine what could be happening outside Kolkata,” a doctor said. The doctor added some of the whistleblowers were reprimanded by police for warning others about the current crisis in Kolkata. Many were forced to delete their posts, the doctor revealed.

Fudging coronavirus figures to show less positive patients

The manipulation of information heralds a new stage in the state government’s response to the huge coronavirus, the doctors claim. The doctors express fear of losing their job if they reveal the real state of affairs in Bengal. The doctors say the official tally of infected patients is far lower than the true scale of the outbreak across the state.

“I have a feeling that the state government is telling us that the discussions online are entering into the zone of perceived sensitivity for the state,” said Dr Ranabir Sen, a private practitioner. Earlier, Dr Sen had said that uninhibited reporting provided valuable public knowledge about the outbreak.

“It is very clear to us we need more supplies and more diagnostic equipment. So let’s get those so that we can all work better. We need to save Bengal from a bigger crisis and the state government needs to realise it fast. There is a benefit of allowing social media critique. You get to know what is wrong and what is right. But in this state that is also getting slimmer,” Dr Sen added.

Low testing centres, facilities

In addition to that, there are many other problems in the state. The director of the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED), the primary testing facility in West Bengal, had also alleged that the institute was getting fewer samples of coronavirus to test than it was getting in the initial days of the outbreak.

“We are all waiting here to do the tests but the samples are not coming. It dropped to 20 last week. During the initial days of the outbreak, we got about 90-100 samples to test. We really do not know what is happening,” NICED Director Shanta Dutta had alleged.

She further said NICED Kolkata had over 27,000 testing kits, enough for the whole of the eastern region, but the decision to send the number of samples to a particular laboratory is taken by the West Bengal government. She said she was surprised at the recent comments of the state government blaming the Centre for a “shortage of kits”.

According to the state’s Health Bulletin released on 13 April, the number of persons tested for coronavirus in the state stands at 2,793. The number of tests done till 12 April according to state data was 2,523 and till 11 April was 2,286. Thus, it is only 507 samples, which is about 18% of all coronavirus samples tested in the state, have been carried out since 12 April.

The number of testing centres in the state has increased to seven, which include five government facilities and two private. NICED has given about 7,500 testing kits to the West Bengal government. The total number of active cases in Bengal till 12 April was 110.

Instead of giving the total number of infections in West Bengal, the state health department has been giving active cases in the state, which exclude those who have recovered from the viral infection or who have expired. This makes it difficult to gauge the true scale of the infection in the state. All other states are reporting total cumulative positive cases, along with cured, death and active numbers, maintaining much better transparency. The number of 15 active infections in a day is the highest in the state so far. 270 samples were tested in two weeks until 15 April, which was also one of the highest in the state so far.

Further, the state government claimed only seven people have died from corona in the state, the number is highly contested by doctors and paramedics who claim the state government is not sharing details of those dying from coronavirus. When Coronavirus patients die in the state, the authorities are listing them under any other disease that they may be having, and not classifying them as Coronavirus deaths. Last week, a patient, named Sudipta Mukherjee, got admitted and eventually died. She was 43 years old and her body was sent out of the hospital as a Hepatitis B case.

Another patient, suspected to be a coronavirus patient was admitted into the hospital. Nurses and paramedics refused to touch her, saying they do not have any protective gear. Eventually, one gear was organised and the patient was asked to put on the gear and was sent to the general ward. “Why is it we are not sending patients to the wards identified for positive corona cases and suspected corona cases?” asked Dr Majumdar.

She said she was seeing these restrictions being accompanied by intensified propaganda. It is reported that the state government officials are working overtime to hide the severity of the disease. Doctors complain that state authorities’ approval is needed for each test, and is regularly refused. As a result, patients suspected to be suffering from coronavirus are not being isolated soon enough.

“If you suspect coronavirus and send the samples, they are routinely refused, there are times when the report returns after five days,” said Dr Arjun Dasgupta from the West Bengal Doctors Forum, which represents 19,000 doctors.

The services in at least four major government hospitals and two private facilities in Kolkata have been hit after doctors and nurses came into contact with patients who later tested positive. The doctors are unanimous that coronavirus deaths are not being fully reported, with only a state-appointed committee allowed to declare if a patient has died from coronavirus.

Propaganda by Mamata Banerjee-led government

Many in Kolkata believe the state government is working to re-establish control over the narrative by releasing expensive advertisements to news channels.

Filmmakers have been encouraged to make films to highlight the state’s government’s coronavirus-related health operations. Arindam Sil, a top filmmaker, has started directing a movie, titled ‘Ek Din Jhor Theme Jabe’ (One day the Storm will End). Interestingly, these lines are written by none other than Mamata Banerjee herself. Some of the TMC MPs, Nusrat Jahan and Mimi Chakraborty will act in the film.

Bengal – a time ticking bomb

The situation in Bengal is very grave, top health officials reported. Besides Kolkata, the districts of Midnapur, North and South 24 Parganas, Murshidabad, Malda and Dinajpur are sitting on a ticking time bomb, said Abishkar, a social worker who has been travelling across the state with relief material.

According to the Reuters report, only 3,000 tests have been conducted in a state which has a population for more than 90 million people. West Bengal has done just 33.7 tests per million, compared to a national average of around 156.9 per million, and 442 per million in Rajasthan.

“Take a look at what happened at the Howrah hospital where 17 nurses and four doctors tested positive only because they had no protective gear. As a result, the whole hospital was shut down. If you are having such a crisis in Kolkata, then you can easily realise what is the case in the districts where the hospitals are totally ill-equipped to handle such crises. Worse, members of a particular community are just not following health warnings and are congregating for prayers and routinely visiting crowded markets without any protective gear. The cops are unable to control them,” alleged Abishkar.

“There are places where the medical centres have no doctors, no nurses, no paramedics. This is a very dangerous situation. The doctors are flatly refusing to work saying they are at risk without the protective gear. In many places across the state, riots have broken out over distribution of food through the public distribution system (PDS). The situation needs to change. All I hope is that the people have the right to hold the government accountable rather than to be managed. I want everything to become better in Bengal,” added Abishkar.

“Co-operate with the administration”, absconding Tablighi Chief Maulana Saad has a message for his followers

OpIndia Staff
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“Co-operate with the administration”, absconding Tablighi Chief Maulana Saad has a message for his followers

On Sunday, Maulana Saad Kandhalvi, the Tablighi Jamaat Chief who has been on the run from the law enforcement, released an audio clip wherein he urged the Tablighi Jamaat members to cooperate with the administration and health officials during quarantine and Coronavirus testing.

Interestingly, Saad was responsible for organising the religious congregation at the Nizamuddin Markaz which was attended by more than 3400 jamaatis. According to the Tablighi Jamaat Chief, the epidemic is, in fact, the result of people distancing themselves from their Creator.

Saad added, “It is important to get treated after contracting a disease. Take care of your neighbours. Ensure that none sleeps hungry. Help others as per your capacity.” He further emphasised, “If we exhibit brotherhood and treat others humanely, then, our creator Allah will have mercy upon us.”

It must be noted that in a sermon on March 23, Saad instigated Muslims to defy the lockdown. He said, “This is the time to fill the mosques. I have been saying this since the beginning that this is the time to fill up the mosques. Do not come into the talks to empty the mosques. In fact, it is time to increase the mosques.”

Maulana Saad on the run

The Tablighi Jamaat chief is still absconding. The Delhi Police crime branch had sent two notices to Maulana Saad under Section 91 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The police have asked Maulana Saad to provide some documents. The second notice was sent after the first notice was found “unsatisfactory”. While Maulana remained untraceable Delhi police slapped another notice with 36 questions at his farmhouse in Shamli near Delhi.

There were reports that the head of the Tablighi Jamaat, Maulana Saad, who claims to have quarantined himself in the wake of the Wuhan Coronavirus outbreak was reportedly using his time to gather support and mobilise the Jamaatis. Saad, a resident of Zakir Nagar is allegedly hiding on the outskirts of Delhi at a supporter’s house. Reportedly, the Islamic cleric had hidden in a densely populated area, knowing well that it could help evade arrest. 

Charges of Culpable Homicide, Money Laundering

On March 31, the Delhi police had registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Maulana Saad under the Epidemics Act 1897 for allowing religious congregation in the month of March, despite repeated warnings from the center and the state government. On Wednesday, the Tablighi Jamaat Chief was booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 304 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

On April 16, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had registered a money laundering case against the Maulana Saad and nine others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) based on predicate offence that was registered by Delhi police. The agency had begun investigating the trust and the transactions of the trust that belonged to the Tablighi Jamaat chief.

Coronavirus Spread in India- With and without the Tablighi Jamaat incident: A quantitative estimation

Guest Author
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Coronavirus Spread in India- With and without the Tablighi Jamaat incident: A quantitative estimation

We are now witnessing the spread of COVID-19 pandemic arising from the novel Coronavirus. Several countries are battling this disease adopting a multi-pronged approach. The primary focus in all the countries has been to flatten the curve so that their medical infrastructure can handle the number of infected people. Discovery of a vaccine against this virus, newer and faster ways of detecting this virus, and curbing the spread of this infection are being taken up in war footing manner in our country too. In this direction, the government of India have been taking several diverse yet focussed measures and declaring a countrywide lockdown for duration of 14 hours Janata curfew on March 22, 2020 by when 396 cases were detected positive for the novel coronavirus in India.  This was followed by a countrywide lock-down from 24/03/2020 initially announced till 14/04/2020. Furthermore, the government has extended this lock-down till 03/05/2020 with a review on 20/04/2020. This has been a very bold, well-planned and strategic step taken by our government with the sole aim of containing the spread of COVID-19 despite the possible deleterious effect of the lock-down on our economy.

Unfortunately, there have been few unprecedented activities that have severely affected the social distancing pattern anticipated during this lock-down period. The congregation of thousands of people at Markaz Nizamuddin Mosque in Delhi during March 13-15, 2020 followed by the attendees’, hereinafter referred to as the Jamaats, movement and clandestine activities have proved to be detrimental in containing the spread of this infection. This has been a major source of a disruptor in the social distancing pattern during the first phase of lock-down in our country. It must be noted that the news about Jamaats and they showing positive for the infection started emerging not before 01/04/2020.    

In this work our aim is to quantify the effect of jamaats in disrupting the social distancing pattern. We study the change in social contact structures throughout the timeline of the lock-down 1.0 (first phase of lock-down from 23rd March to 14th April).

Mathematics and the algorithm used

We used a modified version SIR (Susceptible-Infected-Recovered) epidemic model. Modification to this model was brought in by coupling it with a machine learning algorithm that estimates the value of the parameters through the previous data of the country and thereby not merely assuming the parameters a priori. This epidemic model predicts the spread of the coronavirus infection.

Without getting into the technicalities, it would suffice to state that the parameter of significance here is β. This parameter directly gives an estimation of the social contact structure of this pandemic. Naturally, the social contact structure is specific to the specific country, and so is β. The parameter obviously changes with the social distancing pattern and hence is expected to be different during and before the lock-down. Through this parameter, we quantify any disruptions in social distancing pattern, like the Tablighi jamaat incident.

Read- How to debate the Tablighi Jamaat issue around Coronavirus with ‘liberal’ idiots

Using the above-mentioned method, besides taking cognizance of reality, we simulate a hypothetical situation by assuming that the jamaat incident did not happen at all. In the following paragraphs, we depict the results and the inferences drawn thereof. Please note that the congregation had happened in the middle of March and that the incubation period of this virus, that is the number of days between contracting the virus and showing symptoms, is around 6 days. But as mentioned above it is only after 1st April 2020 that news about the Jamaats started emerging and they were traced and tested causing a sudden spike in the number of infected cases in our country. This clearly shows that the Jamaats did not come forth for getting tested in the first week of the lock-down 1.0 lest the number would have spiked early on, between March 23 and 30. Hence in our analysis, which is aimed at quantifying the impact of the Jamaats, it is only the period from 01/04/2020 till 14/04/2020 that is of significance and hence we focus only on this period.

Scenario 1: Assuming No Tablighi Jamaat incident

Figure 1a shows the predictions of our model where the jamaat incident is taken into account.  The grey dots in the figure are the actual data (taken from the health ministry website) and the blue line is the outcome of our modelling. The same is magnified with an appropriate scale in the Y-axis in Figure 1b. The orange line in Figure 1a  is the projection of cases in the absence of any lock-down.

Figure 1a: Predictions of our model in the presence and absence of the lock-down, without considering the Jamaat incident
Figure 1b: Actual data and our prediction for number of cases under lock-down but without considering the Jamaat incident

From the magnified figure (1b) it is clear that the coronavirus positive numbers predicted by our model vary significantly from the actual data. In fact, they are much lower than the actual data. This is because the parameter beta is obtained from the data between March 23 and 30. The actual data is indeed more because of the Jamaat incident. Actual data reveals that there are around 11,500 cases as of 14/04/2020 whereas our model predicts it to be around 7000 (without the Jamaat incident). Herein we show that around 40% of cases have been contributed directly by the Jamaat incident.

In a pandemic where one infected person has the potential to infect hundreds of people, a difference of 4500 cases will have a huge outcome over the results that hold for India.

The orange trend line in the above figure is the prediction of number of cases in the absence of both the Jamaat incident and lock-down. We would have touched an appalling figure of 1 lakh cases by 14/04/2020, a number which would have bled our medical infrastructure making some irreparable losses to the country.

Scenario 2: Reality: Taking the Tablighi Jamaat incident into account

Now we present the results of our predictions for the real situation by taking the Jamaat incident into account in figures 2a and 2b. These results are to demonstrate both the robustness of our model as well as to analyse the effect of the country-wide lock-down announced by our government as a measure of social distancing and thereby contain the spread of the disease. Like before, Figure 2b is the magnification of a portion of Figure 2a. The orange trend line in 2a indicates that in the absence of lockdown and given the Jamaat impact, the number of cases in our country would have been nearly 3,40,000 by April 14, 2020.

Surely this is very different from the actual number of 11,500 cases which is squarely attributable to the country-wide lock-down. It must be noted that this number of 3.4 lakhs cases is less than half of 8.2 lakh coronavirus cases predicted by ICMR. This difference is possibly arising due to the difference in the underlying models. The numbers have been quite different from our own predictions when we had employed a different model.  Figure 2b clearly shows that the model developed by us and used for the prediction is indeed robust as the predictions have an excellent agreement with the actual data. So, even if the lockdown didn’t completely halt the COVID 19 cases in India, it saved the health care system in India from breaking.

Figure 2a: Predictions of our model in the presence and absence of the lock-down.
Figure 2b: Actual data and our prediction for number of cases under lock-down and considering the Jamaat incident

Though the number of cases today, owing to the Tablighi Jamaat incident, is high, lockdown still was effective in saving India from a community transfer.

Disruption in the social contact structure through the timeline

Finally, we would like to present the variation in the parameter beta for India. This reflects the change in the social contact patterns. Beta values presented here are learnt from a week-long duration of data. The lower value of beta directly corresponds to a lower number of positively infected cases and vice versa. We see that the beta value spiked up to 0.3031 in the first week of April, owing to the Jamaat incident. Subsequently, owing to the restricted social contacting pattern through lock-down the value of beta then dropped to 0.2526. This trend once again reinforces the deleterious impact of the Jamaat incident.

Figure 3: Trend of Beta over different points in time.

Summary

 No JamaatJamaat
Lock-down7,00011,500
No Lock-down1,00,0003,40,000
Positive cases as for 14/04/2020

We summarise the quantification of the Jamaat incident in the matrix above where the numbers indicate the number of positive cases as for 14/04/2020.

Authors: Jay Naresh Dhanwant and V. Ramanathan, Department of Chemistry, IIT (BHU), Varanasi

Meerut: Kashif Ali, who had made viral video of people defying lockdown, apologizes for it, says he regrets making the video

OpIndia Staff
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Meerut: Kashif Ali, who had made viral video of people defying lockdown, apologizes for it, says he regrets making the video

An unusual video went viral on social media recently where one person could be seen informing his audience how the lockdown was having no impact in a particular area and narrating how grapes were available in the market and so were shows. The person appeared jubilant that people continued to crowd the streets defying the lockdown. The video caused outrage on social media and people were horrified by the threat the open defiance of norms posed to public health. The video is apparently from Meerut.

Now, Meerut Police has released a clip of the man who was giving his audience a guided tour of the defiance of lockdown norms. The man is apparently named Kashif Ali and he narrated his history of trouble with the Police on social media. He says that a long time ago, he was visited by the Police at his home in Mumbai due to some misunderstanding. He had abused the Police and when he came to Meerut, he realized his mistake and submitted a written apology over the matter.

A few days earlier, when the lockdown was being enforced, his brother’s phone store was shut down by the Police due to which he was aggrieved. It was following this incident that he made the video that went viral on social media. He said that he regrets it and apologized for it.

The Police across the country has had to deal with a great many lockdown violators who have made the task of the Police extremely difficult in this times of crisis. While Kashif Ali here was not violent, there have been numerous other occasions when the Police and medical teams had to suffer violence during the lockdown.

Ambedkarnagar Police busts fake news spread by UP Congress, Samajwadi Party and others regarding death of young boy Rizwan amidst coronavirus lockdown

OpIndia Staff
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Ambedkarnagar Police busts fake news spread by UP Congress, Samajwadi Party and others regarding death of young boy Rizwan amidst coronavirus lockdown

Ambedkarnagar Police has refuted claims made on social media that one Rizwan Ahmad was ‘beaten to death’ by the Police. In its rebuttal, the Uttar Pradesh Police has quoted the family doctor of the deceased saying that the deceased was brought to his attention by a relative of the person a few days earlier. The doctor, Abdul Hakeem, was told by the relative that Rizwan was injured when he fell off his motorcycle and he prescribed him some first aid medicines. When the doctor saw him next, he saw that his feet were swollen and he suspected some infection. He suggested that the family take the deceased somewhere he could receive more critical treatment.

The family doctor also said that when he had visited Rizwan’s home, he had asked them how does he sit on motorcycles that he was injured so grievously but no one said that he was beaten by the Police or anything. He also said that it was said by people that Rizwan Ahmad consumed drugs such as charas and was extremely thin. He also said that Rizwan had been turned out of his house by his father and made a living by selling vegetables. The doctor also said that it is very possible that he died due to the wound he suffered.

Ambedkarnagar Police has also said in a statement that the post mortem conducted on the corpse did not show any wound caused by lathi. The post mortem report found infection in the heart and lungs of the deceased. The statement also said that the wound had been caused due to his fall from a motorcycle. It also appealed to people to not spread false claims on the matter any further.

Source: Ambedkarnagar Police/Twitter

Fake news on death of Rizwan Ahmad

The fake news was spread by numerous prominent entities on social media including the verified handles of UP Congress and the Samajwadi Party. The claims have now been refuted by the Ambedkarnagar Police but the tweets were not deleted as of the time of writing this report.

Source: Twitter

The Telegraph, too, published the fake news where it claimed that Mohammed Rizwan was beaten up trying to buy food. The far-left propagandist media outlet, which is a known purveyor of fake news, claimed that Rizwan Ahmad became “the first fatality from purported police high-handedness in enforcing the lockdown in Uttar Pradesh.”

Source: The Telegraph

Another troll, Asif Khan, also made the false claim citing a report by The Hindu which claimed that “Rizwan Ahmed, 22, a daily wage worker, died in U.P.’s Ambedkar Nagar district on Saturday three days after he was allegedly thrashed by police when he stepped out during the lockdown period.”

Source: Twitter

As has become clear by this point, the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic is also accompanied by a Fake News epidemic aided actively by the mainstream media. Even in the midst of a global crisis, the media has demonstrated amply that it will not abandon its penchant for spreading fake news and panic to achieve its partisan political objectives. The recent death of Rizwan that sparked the latest outbreak of fake news, which has now been busted by the Ambedkarnagar Police, is the latest example of it.

Victory over coronavirus: After Arunachal Pradesh, Goa becomes free from COVID-19 as all patients recover

OpIndia Staff
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Victory over coronavirus: After Arunachal Pradesh, Goa becomes free from COVID-19 as all patients recover

After Arunachal Pradesh, Goa has become the second state to declare itself ‘coronavirus-free’ in the country.

Taking it to Twitter, Goa Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant said it was a moment of satisfaction and relief for Goa after last active coronavirus case tests negative. The chief minister added that there was no new positive case in Goa after 3rd April 2020.

The data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had stated that only seven cases of coronavirus were reported from Goa. North Goa had the highest number of coronavirus cases at 6 confirmed infections. Thankfully, as of now, all seven have recovered in Goa.

North-East not far behind

Similar to Goa, the North-East of the country is also not behind in limiting the Chinese pandemic. There are no fresh cases in 7 of 8 north-east states in the last 24 hours. Sikkim has been the clear winner, with zero positive cases so far.

Arunachal Pradesh has also become another state to go corona-free after one person who tested positive recovered on 16th April, 2020. Meanwhile, Mizoram had reported only one case each followed by Tripura with only two cases. One patient in Tripura has also recovered.

How fake news about ‘intolerance’ inspires attacks on essential workers

Abhishek Banerjee
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How fake news about ‘intolerance’ inspires attacks on essential workers

With the raging Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic, our society needs its essential workers more than ever. Our police, our doctors, nurses, sanitation workers and the like. Without them, the nation would stand no chance. While we stay at home, they go out on the roads every day, possibly risking their lives in the process.

Not surprisingly, we have seen heartening videos on social media of common citizens expressing their gratitude. Going up to them, handing them something nice and cold to drink. Trying to keep them in high spirits. Don’t forget that the brutal Indian summer has already begun.

But not everyone is like that.

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Sanitation workers attacked in MP

In Dewas in Madhya Pradesh, some workers were out sanitizing the area when they were attacked by a group “armed with sticks, rods and axes – surrounded them. Before the sanitation workers could comprehend anything, the gang attacked them. While most of the workers managed to escape unhurt, one of them sustained critical injury in hand after being hit by an axe.”

Imagine that. A sanitation worker hit on the hand with an axe! Now, who would do something like that?

Allegedly, a mob led by a man called Adil.

And what great purpose was Adil hoping to accomplish with his dastardly act? This report from India Today gives us a hint.

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Sanitation workers attacked in MP’s Dewas

“Locals.” Hmmm… From the article.

“Aadil, his father Habib and cleric Gop Khan, who allegedly instigated the attack, were arrested on Friday, while Aadil’s brother Arif was nabbed on Saturday, Chourasia said.

During interrogation, Aadil claimed that he indulged in violence as Gop Khan had told them that since the lockdown, namaazees and followers of the Tablighi Jamaat were hounded by government workers, the ASP said.”

In other words, this is the bitter harvest of the hatred that Indian liberals have been diligently sowing among India’s Muslim minority for the last six months now. They had been simmering it on a low flame for five years with the wildly exaggerated “lynchistan” narrative. It was set to boiling point when widespread hysteria was engineered over the CAA and the yet to exist NRC! And now we are living in this alternate reality where the Tablighi Jamaat are being touted as victims of some great atrocity by the government.

It’s a fact that approximately 30% of all confirmed cases of Wuhan Coronavirus in India so far can be traced to a gathering of the Tablighi Jamaat. And even if some people make the excuse that they were too poorly educated to know better (despite 60 years of supposedly ‘secular’ rule by their alleged well wishers), nothing can excuse the subsequent behavior: spitting, pelting stones on doctors and cops, misbehaving with nurses and so on.

But in the upside down world of Indian liberalism, myth rules over reality. Eminent liberals have gone to comical lengths to give clean chits to the Jamaat. Some even cited their claims of religious piety and said they couldn’t possibly molest a woman or commit any other kind of crime. Yes, when has it ever happened that members of a conservative religious group have engaged in any kind of criminal behavior?

These conspiracy theories were invented to defame India. I understand that they sell like hot cakes on the global media scene. But at home, these conspiracy theories are wreaking havoc on the psyche of India’s minorities. As if the paranoia over CAA and NRC and ‘lynchistan’ were not enough.

It is beginning to some people like Adil over the edge. Making them so crazy that they are now out with axes to hit sanitation workers. Because everything seems like a conspiracy now; the virus, the quarantine, everything.

There’s no ‘lynchistan.’ Neither is there a draft of NRC. But many folks like Adil have been tutored to fear it. Now, they don’t even know what is real any more. And many have stopped caring. They are living in a state of mortal fear. And irrational fear.

The incident in Dewas in Madhya Pradesh is not isolated. Few weeks ago, doctors trying to enter possible hotspots of the virus in Indore were pelted with stones. Reports of a similar nature have poured in from across the country : Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, everywhere. In each of these cases, the culprit is the same : irrational fear, provoked by a fake intolerance narrative.

We are at a fateful moment in our nation’s history. We require the cooperation of every single individual to make the fight against the Wuhan Coronavirus a success. But at every step, essential workers like doctors, cops, nurses, etc have found themselves stonewalled by groups of people acting out of irrational fear. Who sowed this fear? Who has been earning big bucks by marketing the intolerance narrative all around the world? This time their personal fortunes are literally coming at the cost of the nation and perhaps even all of humanity. For the love of humanity, STOP!

Okay, that appeal definitely won’t work with them. How about I put this differently? India has 1.3 billion people. If India fails to stop the virus, the rest of the world is toast along with us. You can then forget about those big bucks from abroad. For the future of your own bank account, STOP!

Pakistan lifts ban on mass prayers at mosques during Ramzan, allows conditional congregations amid Cornavirus pandemic

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistan lifts ban on mass prayers at mosques during Ramzan, allows conditional congregations amid Cornavirus pandemic

On Saturday, Pakistani President Arif Alvi announced that restrictions on mosque gatherings will be lifted during the month of Ramzan. The decision was taken following a meeting with political representatives and Islamic clerics.

The Imran Khan-led-Government which earlier allowed only a congregation of 5 people at one time in a mosque, owing to the outbreak of the Wuhan Coronavirus, had to give in to the mounting pressure of the radical Islamic preachers. Pakistan has the second-largest Mulsim population in the world with 19.4 crore followers.

Guidelines issued by Pakistan Government

However, the Government has reiterated the mandatory use of protective masks and adherence to social distancing guidelines during Ramzan prayers. The mosque visitors have been asked to maintain a distance of 2 metres while the administration has been directed to disinfect the mosques every day. Reportedly, the Pakistani Government had warned to tighten the restriction if people were found violating the guidelines.

Minors and those above the age of 50 are barred from entering the mosques. Special prayers (Taraweeh) can only be conducted within the mosque premises and not on roads or footpaths. Worshippers have also been asked to avoid shaking hands with each other. As of April 19, the deadly Chinese virus has infected 7,993 people and had claimed 159 lives in Pakistan

Warning Issued by Islamic Clerics

Earlier, a group of over 50 senior clerics in Pakistan had issued a stern warning to the Imran Khan-led government against the ban on religious congregations during the coronavirus outbreak. The Islamic clerics had said the authorities should instead abide by religious norms and allow more worshippers in mosques to seek forgiveness from Allah and to beat the coronavirus.

Despite the government’s warning not to assemble, more than 53 senior clerics of Rawalpindi and Islamabad belonging to the Wafaqul Madaris al Arabia on Monday held a meeting in Jamia Darul Uloom Zakria to discuss the ban on prayer congregations. Representatives from the Jamiat-e-ulema Islam, Jamiat-e-ulema Pakistan, Jamaat-i-Islami and Tanzeem-e-Islami and many other religious parties had also attended.

Other Islamic countries extend ban in Ramzan

While Pakistan has relented to the demands of Muslim clerics, other Islamic countries have extended the ban on gathering in mosques during the Ramzan. Saudi Arabia has said that the ban will continue until the Coronavirus pandemic is over. Given the Saudi govt order, the Saudi grand mufti has asked the devotees to offer the Ramzan’s Taraweeh (evening) prayer at homes. He also said that the subsequent Eid al-Fitr feast should be performed at home if the coronavirus outbreak continues till that time.

Other Islamic countries like Jordan, Egypt etc have also issued similar orders banning gathering of crowd at mosques during the month of Ramzan, while Iran is also likely to issue a similar order soon.

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