Shakeel Afridi, the Pakistani doctor who helped the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) track down slain global terrorist Osama bin Laden, has reportedly launched a hunger strike from prison. It was confirmed on Monday by Shakeel’s family and his lawyer Qamar Nadeem.
The brother of the said doctor, Jamil Afridi, while speaking to Agence France-Presse (AFP) said, “It is to protest the injustices and inhumane attitudes being committed against him and his family.”
Shakeel was jailed for 33 years in May 2012 for orchestrating a fake vaccination programme that helped the CIA neutralise Osama Bin Laden. He is currently held up in a prison in Central Punjab Province of Pakistan. Shakeel was charged for having ties with militants, a claim he has denied since his imprisonment.
He had no access to his lawyer for several years and his family accused the authorities of harassing them for years. Shakeel’s sentence was later reduced by 10 years.
US lawmakers have accused Pakistan of carrying out a revenge campaign against Shakeel for causing major embarrassment to the country after Osama Bin Laden was found living in a safe house in their territory. Back in 2016, US President Donald Trump had vowed to get him released from jail.
Earlier in February, it was reported that Taliban terrorist leader Ehsanullah Ehsan, who had shot the controversial Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai for campaigning for female education in Pakistan’s Swat Valley in 2012, has escaped from a prison in Pakistan. The story of his escape came to light after an alleged audio clip was released by the former Taliban spokesperson, confirming his escape.
Recently, 26/11 terror attack mastermind and terror organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed was convicted in two terror-financing cases by a Pakistan court, ahead of the FATF plenary meet. The LeT chief was slapped with a prison sentence of five and a half years and a fine of Rs 15,000 in each case.
The Mosques had issued alerts. After that everyone had made arrangements for themselves. Some were transporting their loved ones to safer places, some were moving their valuables to a safe place, while some were trying to hoard weapons to keep themselves safe. All these arrangements were not being made to deal with any natural calamity, avoid robbery or prior notice of any terrorist attack, but by Radical Muslims to spread anti-Hindu violence in the name of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act in major areas of Delhi.
One thing has been clear from the photographs so far from the Delhi anti-Hindu riots that preparations were on for weeks, if not months to spread the riot and target Hindus. Similar preparations were made at a bike showroom in Brijpuri, located between the riot-affected areas, Chand Bagh and Jaffrabad. From a ‘Hero’ showroom located here, its owner had allegedly taken out the bikes and transported them to a safe place before the rioters started the violence and after that, he himself vandalised the place, to claim victimhood before the media.
A week after the violence in Delhi, we met the riot victims in Brijpuri. During this, we got a piece of startling information. This information came from the person who runs the shop near that Hero showroom and also stays at the shop for 12 hours a day and keeps an eye on every activity nearby. According to eyewitnesses, “Muslim women started protesting on Sunday in the name of CAA protest. After this, everyone started preparing. On Monday, violence erupted from Chand Bagh. Muslims were first looting Hindu shops and then setting them on fire.”
Eyewitnesses living in Brijpuri further state, “Not only this, these people (Muslims) all knew what was going to happen next. The only Muslim bike showroom in the area, who used to have hundreds of bikes for sale, had taken all the bikes out of the showroom to a safe place at 5 am on February 26, just before violence broke out in the area. After this, the rioters themselves first vandalized the showroom to show themselves as victims and then took the counter out of the showroom and set it on fire. ”
The eyewitnesses claim that the ‘peaceful protests’ at Shaheen Bagh are only a facade, the real preparations were made to violently target Hindus in these (Jaffrabad, Chandbagh, Karawal Nagar etc) areas. Neither the bombs were made on that day nor so many bricks and stones were assembled on roofs on such short notice.
“I have seen about 30 to 40 vehicles of MCD clearing debris with my own eyes. This is the same debris, which was thrown on the streets by the marauders in the form of bricks and stones on the streets,” the man said. The residents here also say that while Muslims live safely in Hindu-dominated areas, no Hindu can remain safe in a Muslim dominated area.
The endless string of violence that has gripped Delhi is one that cannot be seen in isolation. What started as protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (then Bill) and the National Registry for Citizens back in December, quickly morphed into anti-Hindu rants, violence and demonstrations all across the country. The Anti-Hindu Delhi riots are simply a manifestation of the aggression among Islamists that have been building up since then.
During the anti-Hindu riots, several horror stories emerged. That of Ankit Sharma who was murdered by Islamists, Dilwar Singh Negi whose hands and legs were chopped off before he was burnt alive, Ratan Lal, a police officer killed during duty or even the fact that Hindu women said that Muslim mobs in Chand Bagh forced their minor daughters to take off their clothes and were sent back home naked. While the international media and media propagandists in India maliciously started branding the Delhi anti-Hindu riots into an anti-Muslim pogrom, a useful tool in spreading the propaganda was Wikipedia.
During the Delhi anti-Hindu riots, there have been casualties from the Muslim side as well as expected in any conflict between two sides. However, the nature of a riot is meant to be established by the starting point of those riots, not what ensues later. By all evidence and measures, the Delhi riots were initiated by Islamists and the build-up lasted weeks.
The Wikipedia article titled North East Delhi riots was created on 25th February by a senior Wikipedia editor that goes by the username DBigXray. When one visits the page, the first image one sees is the photo of BJP leader Kapil Mishra, not an image of the riots. Kapil Mishra gets a separate section titled ‘incitement’ in the article, where he has been blamed for starting the riots.
Interestingly, some people had reference to AAP leader Amanatullah Khan for his provocative speeches during anti-CAA riots earlier in Delhi and UP. But this was also removed by the moderators, claiming that although cases have been filed against Khan, those are not related to the North East Delhi riots. On the 24th, one anti-CAA protester had brandished a pistol and fired 8 shots towards pro-CAA protesters, who was identified as Mohammad Shahrukh. The Wiki page merely mentions him as a shooter and does not even mention that he is from an anti-CAA mob.
After the image of Shahrukh, the firing had gone viral, anti-CAA activists had claimed he is pro-CAA, despite journalists on the ground who had posted videos and images saying he was anti-CAA. Later, high-resolution images had shown he was part of a mob that had several persons in skull caps. When other users wanted to include this information in the Wikipedia article, they were shot down by the moderator. The senior editor, who is supposed to be politically neutral while editing and moderating content on Wikipedia, commented that if the man was a Hindu, media would not have focused on him, and there is no need to include more detail on the incident.
The article mentions the attack on a mosque in Ashok Nagar and shouting of “Jai Shri Ram” and “Hinduon ka Hindustan” slogans by the mobs, but have absolutely no reference to any attack by Muslims and anti-CAA mobs. On the other hand, while there are videos showing mob shouting “Nara e Taqbeer” and “Allahu Akbar”, they find no place on the page.
Although Wikipedia articles can be edited by anybody, the online encyclopedia has provisions for locking down specific articles to check vandalism, etc. The article on North East Delhi riots has been made semi-protected, which means only confirmed registered users can make edits to it. As a result, ordinary users are having to request user DBigXray for making changes, and user DBigXray, who has special privileges as a Master Editor III, decides what information is included and what is not on the page.
There were several other issues with the article that we will discuss in the article later.
Who is the creator of the motivated Delhi riots page: The identity of DBigXray
The creation of such a page and the edits thereof are extremely problematic. Though Wikipedia is hardly a reliable source of information, it is one of the first pages that Google throws up when one searches for a subject and is widely considered reliable and a go-to page for information on any subject. Amidst all of this, the motivated lies in the Delhi riots page can only be considered a willful distortion of history.
While the outrage regarding the Wikipedia page was on, an anonymous post on Reddit went viral that claimed to out the identity of the person who has been literally altering history by indulging in rampant Wikipedia edits.
The Reddit post claimed that the identity of the Wikipedia editor, DBigXray, is one Deepesh Raj. When the said person’s profile was checked, it was found that he works with Intel Bangalore and is an alum of IIT-K.
According to this Reddit post, Wikipedia user DBigXRay who is behind the biased article on Delhi riots, is one Deepesh Raj. Other articles/edits by this DBigXRay are also blatantly biased and bigoted. https://t.co/TTHyQf2tVCpic.twitter.com/EeoXMjWosB
To verify these claims independently, OpIndia tried to follow a trail of breadcrumbs left behind by DBigXray himself. We started by searching for the exact details mentioned in the Reddit post.
If one looks at some of DBigXray’s oldest edits, one finds that he had created the page for Carmel School (Giridh). Now, Carmel School is a convent private school located in the Giridih district of Jharkhand. For someone to create a page for that school and write a detailed description of a not-so-famous school from Giridh District, one can presume that he must have some connection with it.
Oldest edits of DBigXray
Armed with this theory, we searched for the Facebook page of this specific school (Carmel School, Giridh) and began to search for any post that spoke about the Wikipedia page being created. Interestingly, we stumbled upon a Facebook post that was published in the Carmel School group.
Post on Carmel School group by one Deepesh Raj
In this Facebook Post, Deepesh Raj is confirming that he had written the article on Wikipedia about the school. The post is from 2011. The Facebook page of Deepesh still exists.
Though the identity and the veracity of the Reddit post can be established from this Facebook post itself, we decided to dig further. When one looks at the image of the Wiki page of the school, it clearly mentions that the author of the page is one Deepesh Raj. We could establish the identity, however, we could not establish whether he is an AAP supporter and/or close to Arvind Kejriwal as mentioned in the Reddit post that has now gone viral.
The picture and its author of the Carmel School wiki page
Further on the same page, we see that the user, as mentioned by Wikipedia, who created the Carmel School page is one ‘Deepeshraj1’.
Wiki contributor
When one clicks on the “talk” part of the user ‘Deepeshraj1’, we are taken to another page. The page looks like this.
‘Talk’ page of ‘Deepeshraj1’
In the ‘Talk’ page of user Deepeshraj1, one sees an entry by Wikipedia where it is recorded that the same user, Deepeshraj1 changed his username to DBigXray. DBigXray is the person who is our person of interest and who created the highly biased Delhi riots page.
A perusal of the archive link of Wikipedia user name changes also proves that it was indeed Deepeshraj1 who eventually became DBigXray.
Wiki page chronicling the user name changes
In the Archive page, one can see that Deepesh Raj had even written his reasons for changing his handle.
“Deepeshraj is my real name, which i would not like to disclose, i did not think abt it much when i made the account. the Username DBigXray is my signature and my account. (i had created (DBigXray account) as i had forgot the password of this Deepeshraj1 account which i latere retrieved from my browser) i have not done any edits with DBigXray account so i hope you wont have problems in merging these two accounts with final name DBigXray (sic)”.
Now that we have established who DBigXray is, let us see why it has become important and what kind of edits by DBigXray is creating outrage.
Wikipedia edits of DBigXray aka Deepesh Raj on Delhi Riots page
The Edits to the Delhi riots page made by DBigXray aka Deepesh Raj were extremely problematic. Had he written an article in his name, one could attribute to one writer and his biases, however, since most people consider Wikipedia an authentic source of information, the biases end up altering history as it would be read by millions of people across the globe. Deepesh vehemently argued and vetoed any edit that could make the Wiki article more authentic. This investigation was helped by Mr Dushyant.
For example, he refused to allow the Jaffrabad’s shooter’s name, identified as Shahrukh. He said such shootings happen often in riots and that Shahrukh was being singled out and named because he was a Muslim.
Wiki Talk about adding Shahrukh’s name to the Delhi riots articleWiki Talk about adding Shahrukh’s name to the Delhi riots article
When the conversation revolved around the addition of Kapil Mishra as the sole ‘Lead Figure’ of the Delhi riots, he refused to add Waris Pathan’s speech as one of the instigators of the riots. He said that he could not find anything provocative in Waris Pathan’s speech. It is worthy to note here that Waris had openly incited mobs and said that 15 crores Muslims can overpower Hindus.
Wikipedia Talk about not adding Waris Pathan
The user, Deepesh Raj, also claimed that Tahir Hussain, the AAP leader who led an Islamist mob that tortured and murdered IB sleuth Ankit Sharma was being framed.
Wiki talk on Tahir Hussain
Further, he says that Tahir Hussain cannot be mentioned until he is convicted by a court of law. It is pertinent to mention here that Kapil Mishra has been made the face of the riots based on nothing but propaganda.
Wiki Talk on Tahir Hussain
He also says that such “allegations” cannot be made against Tahir Hussain.
Wiki Talk on Tahir Hussain
He further refuses to add Tahir’s name saying that just like other AAP leaders “despite being framed by the police” have been exonerated, Tahir might be too. And hence, his reference is not to be added.
In fact, he even says that Ankit Sharma, who was stabbed 400 times and was tortured to death “was not notable enough” to be mentioned in the Wikipedia article.
Wikipedia Talk about adding Ankit Sharma’s murder
There are several other issues with the article. Like the crimes committed by Muslim mobs missing, the glaring bias and even him holding Ankit Sharma’s family responsible for “changing their statement” as if by force. This was in reference to the Wall Street Journal misquoting Ankit Shamra’s brother, Ankur Sharma. Ankur repeatedly asserted thereafter that he had never said that the murderers of his brother chanted Jai Shree Ram.
Other problematic and biased edits by the user
There are several other edits by the same user which are highly biased and reveal a sinister mindset. He had changed “Martyred” to “Killed” in the Wikipedia article about Captain Saurabh Kalia, who was mutilated and murdered by Pakistan.
Wiki edit to Captain Saurabh Kalia page
He had removed “Pandit” from Pandit Deen Daya Upadhyay’s page.
Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Wiki Page
He removed the reference of Ishrat Janan, the Congress leader who has been arrested for inciting violence.
Removed reference of Ishrat Jahan from Delhi riots page
He created the ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’ Wikipedia article.
Chowkidar Chor Hai Wiki page
He added ‘Militant’ to the Article about Veer Savarkar.
Edits to Veer Savarkar article
He sanitized the article on Deen Dayal Upadhyay, to remove mostly every positive aspect that was added by others.
Edits to article on Deen Dayal Upadhyay
He also added the false information that Veer Savarkar had a physical relationship with Nathuram Godse, the assassin of MK Gandhi.
Edit to the page about Veer Savarkar
For the uninitiated, after the publication of edition one of ‘Freedom at Midnight’, Gopal Godse, younger brother of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse, had slammed the authors for their “false, defamatory and libelous allegations”.
According to an article published in The Indian Express in 1976, Gopal Godse had asked Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins to provide proof substantiating their claims, failing which, he demanded a ban on the controversial book. He had then said that the book was full of “damaging distortions”.
Godse said he would sue the authors in the Bombay courts for falsely quoting him that he gave the slanderous information of Veer Savarkar having homosexual relations with Nathuram Godse. Later, edition two of the same book was published with the particular content omitted.
The user also added an entire section to the article about ‘Jai Shree Ram’ that was titled ‘Usage’. In that, he has added the edit that says it has turned into a “murder cry”.
Edit to Jai Shree Ram article
The user DBigXray aka Deepesh Raj has written several other articles on Wikipedia other than those of Delhi Riots and edited even more that essentially alter history as recorded by Wikipedia which is unfortunately considered an authentic source of information. The bias of the account is such, that it had even requested the deletion of the article on Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha.
What is extremely problematic is that Deepesh Raj appears to have been engaging in such edits on Wikipedia constantly, not just for Delhi Riots but other pages too, and because of his level at Wikipedia, his edits are not challenged. After making such edits, he protects the pages so others cannot rectify the lies he has spread. Several sensitive subjects have been targeted by the user. It remains to be seen whether the website takes any action.
Wikipedia has long been accused of bias against rightwing or conservative viewpoints. A cabal of editors exists who work together to bias articles and to hide embarrassing facts about left-wing political figures, while at the same time smearing conservatives. Scandals involving left-wing personalities are labelled “conspiracy theories” while left-wing politicians are given a free pass. David Swindle has published an article detailing the manner in which Wikipedia has been taken over by the Political Left. The pervasive bias includes labelling conservative and right-wing sources as being unreliable.
Founding Editor of The Wire, MK Venu, attended the 25th National Convention of Christian Journalists organized by the Indian Catholic Press Association (ICPA) held at Don Bosco Centre, Okhla, Delhi on Saturday. The ICPA resolved to fight ‘truthophobia’ at the convention attended by one of the most prolific manufacturers of fake news in the country. Mr. Ignatius Gonsalves, the President of the ICPA, claimed that no one wants to hear or speak the truth in the country.
The Notice by the ICPA
“Everyone is afraid of the truth because it demands action, and action involves pain,” Gonsalves said, addressing the gathering of journalists from around the country. Quoting St. John Henry Newman, he said, “In our context of fake news factories making for an interesting career choice, where the truth is presented to be truer than the truth itself, our role as Christian journalists is to be the light in the midst of all the encircling gloom”.
A copy of the Indian Constitution was presented to all the dignitaries of the inaugural function at the very beginning of the convention. “We present the copy of the Indian Constitution, instead of the customary flowers and shawls, to remind ourselves that it is the soul of India and we as journalists, need to protect it from every onslaught,” the Secretary of the ICPA and the Chief Editor of the Indian Currents, Father Suresh Mathew, said.
Addressing the participants, Archbishop Anil Couto of Delhi, bemoaned the ‘sorry state’ of media in India. “Most of the news channels have become cheerleaders of the ruling party and they have given up the pretense of being the custodian of truth. India has dropped to 140 out of 180 countries in World Press Freedom index. The recent physical assault on the journalists in the ongoing protest in northeast Delhi does not augur well for the media in the country”, he said.
Cuoto is the same Archbishop who had issued a letter to the Catholics in India in May 2018 interfering in the Indian elections. The letter, which was read in all the parishes under the Delhi Archdiocese, called for Indians Catholics to start a campaign of fasting and prayers for the general elections in 2019. He had later defended his action of communalizing the Lok Sabha Elections.
The convention concluded with the resolution to request the Government to invite Pope Francis to India, on the occasion of the Canonization of Bl. Devasahayam, the first Indian layman to be canonized by the Church. Meanwhile, Pope Francis announced on Sunday that a cold he is suffering from has forced him to skip a Lenten spiritual retreat with senior Vatican officials near Rome for the first time in his papacy. Amidst the Coronavirus outbreak, speculations are rife that the Pope has fallen prey to the deadly virus, however, the Vatican dismissed any link to the Coronavirus outbreak in Italy.
It is unclear how the Catholic Church intends to fight ‘truthophobia’ when they have one of the biggest peddlers of fake news and propaganda, MK Venu, by their side. Perhaps, as is clear from Cuoto’s remarks, the larger objective is to oppose the Hindutva-centric government at the Center and not any higher ideal. In that, they have found a proper ally in The Wire which is known to manufacture fake news in order to undermine the government.
In the past, The Wire has spread malicious lies about Union Minister Piyush Goyal involving business with The Piramal Group. The latter had also warned of defamatory action against the website. OpIndia had busted this report earlier and substantiated the different irregularities in the report itself. In another article penned by one Rohini Singh, she alleges involvement on Goyal’s part in the defaulting of a company named ‘Shridi Industries Limited’. The story had several gaping holes and was soon fact-checked by us.
Arfa Khanum Sherwani infamous for her hitjob on Sri Ravishankar once claimed that BJP MP and Minister Babul Supriyo had threatened to ‘Skin Muslims alive’. As usual, she did not feel the need to substantiate such outrageous claims. The reality, however, was very different. Another article alleged financial irregularities in a company of then BJP president Amit Shah’s son, Jay Shah. This obnoxious and shallow attempt at investigative journalism was decimated by OpIndia.
Later on 12th October 2017, Jay Shah slapped The Wire with a defamation case worth 100 crores. Even in the verdict delivered by the Gujrat High Court, the deceit by The Wire has been exposed. Apart from these, The Wire has published a series of lies which are always targeted in one direction, making it clear that the lies are a consequence of malice and not incompetence.
It is in the company of such people that the ICPA intends to fight ‘truthophobia’. It appears clear that the intention here is to achieve political objectives and the words are certainly not motivated by an allegiance to truth or any higher ideal.
The families of the Nirbhaya rape case convicts have gathered outside the Patiala House Court in Delhi pleading for the rapists and murderers not to be hanged. The convicted rapists are slated to be hanged on the 3rd of March. The members of the family have gathered with controversial placards in their hands.
One of the placards claims that the Nirbhaya case has gained traction because of a conspiracy hatched by ‘Deshdrohi’ Arvind Kejriwal, the Chief Minister of Delhi. Another placard tells Ramnath Kovind, the President of India, that he will incur the sin of ‘Brahma Hatya’ if ‘Brahmin’ Vinay Sharma is hanged to death. This particular placard was raised by one Mukesh Jain, the chief of one ‘Dara Sena’. It is notable here that the president of India, who is being scared with ‘Brahma Hatya’ is a Dalit.
Source: @nalinisharma_ of Republic
Dara Sena had fielded controversial Guru and Big Boss participant Swami Om in the Lok Sabha Elections and had promised to field five candidates against Arvind Kejriwal in the Delhi Elections. A couple of the women were holding placards that said, “Who will marry me after my brother has been hanged to death?” Both placards said that these words by Pavan Gupta’s sister. Yet another placard requested the President to have mercy on their sons.
Source: @nalinisharma_ of Republic
Meanwhile, preparations are underway at Tihar Jail in Delhi for the execution of the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder convicts, scheduled to happen at 0600 on March 3, 2020. The executioner Pawan Jallad has reached the Jail premises on Sunday evening and examined the hanging house. The Supreme Court today junked the curative petition filed by one of the accused Pawan Gupta. Gupta was the only one amongst the four convicts in the case who was yet to exhaust all his legal remedies. As of the latest reports, the president of India has rejected the mercy plea by Pawan Gupta.
Congress leader Ramkrishna Jalmi has been arrested by the Crime Branch of the Goa Police for allegedly making derogatory remarks against Lord Parshuram. The anti-CAA activist had made derogatory remarks against the Hindu God at a rally in Goa. Jalmi, a Congress candidate from Priol in the Goa Assembly Elections in 2017, was arrested after a complaint was filed by Mapusa-based Hindu Yuva Sena.
Superintendent of Police (Crime Branch) Pankaj Kumar said that Jalmi was arrested under sections 295 (A) and 153 (A) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for hurting religious sentiments. The rally was organised by various bodies including the Centre for Social Peace and Justice (CSJP) backed by the Goa Church, in Benaulim village. “He was arrested for derogatory utterances,” Kumar said.
A video had gone viral on social media where the Congress leader can be reportedly heard making derogatory remarks about Lord Parshuram. Another complaint filed by one Gaurang Prabhu Malkarneker alleged that Jalmi has also made casteist remarks thereby promoting enmity and also prejudicing harmony, which attracts section 153A of IPC.
“Lord Parshuram who is the sixth incarnation of Lord Vishnu greatly revered and worshipped by the Hindu community. Jalmi had termed Lord Parshuram a terrorist and a rapist thereby causing great anger among the members of the Hindu community,” Hindu Yuva Sena said. “It may also be noted that members of the Hindu community are hurt and angered and are expressing their sentiments on various platforms against the said speech. To prevent any communal tension in the State, FIR must be registered,” it added.
The Congress party has regularly indulged in Hinduphobic rhetoric in recent years. During the Lok Sabha elections last year, the party had released a video that denigrated Hindu religious symbols. In the past, the party has also denied the existence of Prabhu Ram.
As per a press statement released by Ministry of Health, two new cases of COVID-19 have been detected. One individual from Delhi and one from Telangana have tested positive for the deadly virus which has claimed thousands of lives in last few months. The person who tested positive for the virus in Delhi has a history of frequent travels to Italy. Telangana resident is a frequent traveller to Dubai.
The deadly virus has claimed lives of over 3,000 people in China while over 50 have died in Iran and 30 in Italy. A total of 888 people have reportedly been tested positive in Italy while the number is pegged to be almost 90,000 worldwide.
Day ahead of the scheduled execution of the four convict rapist-murderers in the gruesome December 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape case, Delhi’s Patiala House Court has stayed the execution and deferred the matter as mercy petition of Pawan, one of the convicts, is pending before President Kovind.
Earlier today, preparations were underway at the Tihar Jail in Delhi for the execution of Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder convicts, which was scheduled to happen at 0600 on March 3, 2020. The executioner Pawan Jallad had reached the Jail premises on Sunday evening and examined the hanging house.
On reaching the jail, Pawan was taken to Jail number 3 where he inspected the hanging house for over 30 minutes. The main doors of all the barracks were closed as the executioner reached the jail precincts. The path leading to the hanging house was evacuated for Pawan’s visit. At the hanging house, Pawan climbed the platform to ensure that there is no rust surrounding the lever. He also saw the dummy prepared for execution. According to jail officials, the executioner will conduct a death sentence trial on Monday.
On the other hand, the Supreme Court of India today junked the curative petition filed by one of the accused in the Nirbhaya gang-rape case, Pawan Gupta. Gupta was the only one amongst the four convicts in the gang-rape and murder of a 23-year-old medical student in Delhi dubbed “Nirbhaya” by the media who was yet to exhaust all his legal remedies. Gupta urged the top court of reducing his sentence to life imprisonment citing his juvenility at the time of committing the crime. However, the court dismissed his plea.
Hours after the apex court rejected Pawan Gupta’s curative petition, he filed a mercy petition before the President. The mercy petitions of the three other convicts – Mukesh Kumar Singh, Vinay Kumar Sharma and Akshay Kumar – have already been dismissed by the President.
On the other hand, the victim’s mother called out the dilatory tactics employed by the convicts. “They are misleading the courts, they are violating the law. There are some instances when one is forced to question our country’s judicial system but I still have faith in it. I am sure the convicts will hang tomorrow,” the victim’s mother said after the Supreme Court rejected Pawan’s curative petition seeking a change of his sentence from capital punishment to life imprisonment.
As per the latest reports, the Pawan Gupta’s lawyer had moved a mercy plea to the president, expecting a stay on the execution. Since his plea was pending before the President of India, the execution of all four convicts has now been stayed.
The 23-year-old paramedic student, referred to as Nirbhaya, was gang-raped and brutally assaulted on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012 inside a moving bus in south Delhi by six persons before being thrown out on the road. She eventually succumbed to her injuries on December 29, 2012, at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore.
The top court in its 2017 verdict had upheld the capital punishment awarded to them by the Delhi High Court and the trial court.
Note: This article has been updated with latest development.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today announced compensation of Rs 1 crore to family of IB official Ankit Sharma, who was murdered by a rioting mob in the national capital last week. A member of his family will also be given a job by the Delhi government.
Ankit Sharma’s autopsy report had revealed the horrific brutality that was inflicted on him before his body was dumped in a ditch behind the house of AAP leader Tahir Hussain. The autopsy report said that Ankit Sharma was stabbed over 400 times, and his body had been mutilated beyond belief.
Sharma had stab wounds all over his body and not even a single portion of it was spared. He was stabbed for hours, four to six hours, by possibly as many as six individuals together, according to the report. Moreover, his intestines were ripped apart, said the autopsy report. Forensic doctors have reportedly said that they haven’t seen such nightmarish mutilation in their lives. The report said that the body had “multiple abrasion.. deep cut.. by sharp edge objects”.
The panel of doctors, who carried out post mortem, had clearly stated that Ankit Sharma was brutally and repeatedly stabbed, which had caused his death.
According to the multiple eyewitnesses accounts, along with Ankit Sharma, there were three other people too who were dragged away by the frenzied Muslim mob inside Hussain’s building. However, one of them managed to make a miraculous escape and perhaps dodged an excruciating death. OpIndia got in contact with this escapee to seek more details about the gory incident.
The minor boy, who was successful in rescuing himself, laid bare his experience in chilling details about the carnage unleashed by the Muslim mob sheltered inside now expelled AAP leader Tahir Hussain’s building. “They were dragging us inside the building. I somehow evaded their grip and extricated myself. But when I looked back, all three were missing,” the boy said in a trembling voice while referring to the three people including Ankit Sharma who were dragged inside Hussain’s building by the murderous mob.
IB sleuth Ankit Sharma’s mutilated body was found abandoned in a drain at Chand Bagh.
Ravinder Sharma, the father of IB official Ankit Sharma had divulged that his son had gone missing along with his two friends on Tuesday, soon after he returned from work around 4.30 pm. Pinning the blame on AAP councillor Tahir Hussain and his men for the death of his son, Kumar alleged that his son’s body was thrown from a mosque into the drain.
Speaking to OpIndia editor Nupur J Sharma, Ankit’s brother Ankur also divulged the chilling sequence of events that led to the brutal murder of his brother. He said that the Muslim mob had dragged Ankit to Tahir Hussain’s house, the AAP corporator. While Ankit was being dragged inside by the Muslim mob, from the 4 storey building belonging to Tahir Hussain, stones started raining down on everyone below.
In fact, it was not just stones that rained down. Ankur says that along with stones, petrol bombs and even gunshots were being rained own by the Islamists from inside Tahir Hussain’s building.
According to Ankur, this was being done so nobody would attempt to rescue Ankit. As soon as Ankit started being dragged inside the house, Hindus ran to rescue Ankit, however, they were fended off by the rain of stones, petrol bombs and bullets.
“Unhone Ratan Lal ko bhi maara, DCP ko zakhmi kiya, ye log police ke logon ko maar rahe hai. Ankit ne apne aap ko IB officiial bataya, isiliye maar giraya”, Ankur said.
As it has emerged, AAP Corporator Tahir Hussain is smack in the middle of this brutal saga where Ankit, a young, dedicated IB officer was brutally murdered. Eyewitnesses have said that Ankit Sharma was dragged in the house that belongs to Tahir Hussain, AAP corporator, by a Muslim mob along with two others. Images and footage of Tahir Hussain himself wielding a laathi have emerged along with the rooftop of his house, littered with stones and petrol bombs. The roof of his house was used by hundreds of Islamists to throw stones and petrol bombs on people in the area.
An FIR has been registered against Tahir Hussain under section 302(a) of the IPC for the murder of Ankit Sharma, on a complaint filed by Ankit’s family. The AAP ex-councillor reportedly went missing immediately after the complaint was filed against him and is still absconding.
On Sunday, the official Twitter handle of Gurugram Police informed Netizens that two out of the group of Muslim men who were seen issuing violent threats to Hindus using extremely vulgar language apprehended from Jaipur, Rajasthan.
Respected Sir, Cyber police Gurugram took immediate cognizance of the matter, registered an FIR and conducted thorough investigation. We have identified the accused and arrested two of them from Jaipur, Rajasthan today. https://t.co/KeOEVqFGRY
In a reply to the Haryana Chief Minister, Gurugram Police tweeted, “Respected Sir, Cyber police Gurugram took immediate cognizance of the matter, registered an FIR and conducted a thorough investigation. We have identified the accused and arrested two of them from Jaipur, Rajasthan today.”
In the wake of the anti-Hindu riots in Delhi, where Islamist fundamentalists ran amok engaging in arson, stone-pelting and vandalism, brutally assaulting and killing the Hindus in the national capital, a group of Muslim youths recorded a video message in which they blatantly hurl abuses at the Hindus. They are not only heard using extremely offensive and crude language against the Hindus but openly threatening to rape the Hindu women.
Earlier, columnist Advaita Kala had reached out to the Harayana CM on Twitter urging him to direct the cops “to respond and solicit tips on these posts (that attempted at fuelling violence in Gurugram) and update action.”
She also said, “We are proud & grateful that the city has not seen violent protests, blockades & riots & communities are living in peace.”
Noted, thank you for your inputs & setting an example by being a concerned citizen. Necessary steps are being taken – @gurgaonpolice please follow up diligently. https://t.co/UHCSFcqW5J
