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Lawyer seeks adjournment of hearing saying court is in a ‘bad mood, judge agrees: Read details

OpIndia Staff
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Lawyer seeks adjournment of hearing saying court is in a ‘bad mood, judge agrees: Read details

In a bizarre incident earlier this month, Advocate KS Sidhu, appearing as the counsel in a Civil Revision case before Punjab and Haryana High Court, allegedly pleaded adjournment of the hearing in the case with the argument that the court was in a “bad mood”.

Interestingly, the court agreed. Justice Rajiv Narain Raina, hearing the plea, also agreed to adjourn the case.

Sidhu had reportedly read an order dated February 4 which disclosed that Justice Raina dismissed four urgent cases listed before him that day, one after the other. This made the counsel conclude that the court was not in the ‘right mood’ to allow his case and deliberated him to seek another date.

While allowing a stay, the court, however, noted that they have allowed the adjournment but the dismissed cases were not ‘worth admission’.

The order passed to this effect on February 4, 2020, stated: “Counsel assuming that mood of the court is bad this morning dismissing the first four urgent cases one after the other with orders dictated in Court, prays that time may be granted to him to argue the case on some other day. I grant permission for an adjournment but not without saying that those cases were not worth admission.”

Notably, the case was also adjourned twice before this. The Court has now proceeded to list the matter for February 20.

“What surgical strike?” Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath questions surgical strikes, asks for its details

OpIndia Staff
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“What surgical strike?” Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath questions surgical strikes, asks for its details

Despite Indian defence forces confirming the surgical strike on terror camps inside Pakistan in 2016, Congress leaders continue to question it. The Congress party has been supporting Pakistan’s argument that there was no such strike, and continuing with that trend, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath today raised questions on the operation.


Addressing an event in Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh, the Congress leader reminded people that 90,000 Pakistani soldiers were made to surrender after the war in 1972 by then Indira Gandhi government. He said that PM Narendra Modi does not talk about India’s victory over Pakistan in the war, but he talks about surgical strike.

‘Our youth, who will ensure the development of this country need jobs. However, Modi Ji does not talk about employment. He does not talk about justice for farmers too. He used to say that every year two crore youth will get employment in India. I want to ask him even if two lakh people are getting employment today. The only thing PM Modi speaks about is Pakistan. They link Pakistan to our party; they don’t remember that 90,000 Pakistani jawans surrendered to India during Indira Gandhi’s regime. But they talk about surgical strike. What surgical strikes. Tell the nation something about the surgical strike,’ Kamal Nath said in his speech.

“Today they talk about nationalism, they will teach the nation about nationalism”, the CM said targeting BJP.

Kamal Nath also said that BJP does not have a single member who was a freedom fighter. He challenged BJP leadership to name one BJP member who was a freedom fighter. “They never had a freedom fighter as a member, and now they talk about nationalism, they want to divert attention,” he alleged.

Read- Documentary to show real footage of India’s historic surgical strike – Will the naysayers apologise?

Following the fidayeen attack on an army base near Uri in Kashmir, the Indian army had conducted surgical strikes against terrorists in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. Indian special forces had crossed the border, walked for a couple of kilometres, and destroyed several terror camps using hand-held grenades and 84 mm rocket launchers. The strike team had immediately returned to India before Pakistani forces could know what had happened and take retaliatory action.

Hanuman Janmabhoomi Trust proposes 215-tall Hanuman statue at Hampi, Karnataka

OpIndia Staff
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Hanuman Janmabhoomi Trust proposes 215-tall Hanuman statue at Hampi, Karnataka

The Hanuman Janmabhoomi trust at Hampi, Karnataka is planning to erect the world’s tallest Hanuman Statue at the birthplace of Lord Hanuman. The Anjanadri Hill at Hampi is regarded as the birthplace of Lord Hanuman.

As per a report in the New Indian Express, the trust, Karnataka Hanuman Janmabhoomi Tirtha Kshetra, was founded on 5 February, on the same day the government announced the formation of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirtha Kshetra to oversee the construction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya.

According to the sources from the trust, Hampi, which is already a major tourist centre will also be made a pilgrimage centre themed around Hanuman Janmabhoomi. The NIE report, quoting trust sources, said, “It will equal the grandeur of Ayodhya after the Ram temple is built. At Ayodhya, the world’s tallest Rama statue will be built at 225 feet and since Rama and Hanuman were inseparable, we also decided to put up the tallest statue of Hanuman but 10 feet shorter than Rama’s. The Hanuman statue will be made out of copper.”

Read: Culture Ministry’s mega plan: Rs 27,000 crores for development of ASI monuments, museums, historical sites including Hampi and Rakhigarhi

The Karnataka Hanuman Janmabhoomi Teerthakshetra Trust was reportedly established for the overall development of Kishkinda Pampakshetra at Hampi. The trust, headed by Govindananda Saraswathi Swamy, plans to celebrate Mahashivaratri festival on Friday with pomp and ceremony.

“Starting this year, a Hanumantha Ratha, which has been designed at Rs 45 lakh, will travel across the country. “It will pass through every district centre and taluk in the country, where money will be collected for the statue and other expenses. The Ratha yatra will terminate at Ayodhya. It will take at least three years for the Ratha to complete the journey, at the same time, the work for Hanuman pilgrimage will too begin.”

The trust members also said that the trust is planning to purchase 10 acres of land for the Pilgrimage site and also invite 101 saints from Ayodhya on Hanuman Jayanthi this year.

It is notable here that the central government is planning to include Hampi in the Ramayana Circuit. The state government is also considering the overall development of the historical and religious site.

It is notable here that the trust, Karnataka Hanuman Janmabhoomi Tirtha Kshetra, is to work under the guidance of Jagadguru Shankaracharya of the Jyotishpeetha, Dwarka who was also one of the main applicants in the Ramjanmabhoomi case.

As per a report in Organiser, the Hanuman Janmabhoomi Tirtha Kshetra Trust will mainly consist of Jagadguru Shankaracharya of Chaturamnaya Peetha, Sandhu and Sants of Ramanujacharya, Madhvacharya and other Akhadas, as well as prominent Acharyas of other traditional Vedic institutions.

The trust will also have a 20-member board. Each state will have a service period of 3 years. A council of 10 members will be constituted in each state locally, and there will be ample opportunities for all devotees in the country.

Madhya Pradesh: Mentally unstable person pretending to be a doctor treats more than 20 patients in a district hospital in Chhatarpur

OpIndia Staff
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Madhya Pradesh: Mentally unstable person pretending to be a doctor treats more than 20 patients in a district hospital in Chhatarpur

In a bizarre incident, a mentally unstable patient pretending to be a doctor treated more than 20 patients in a district hospital in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhatarpur district. The man not only examined these 20 odd patients but also wrote prescriptions for them. As the news spread, the hospital authorities sprung to action. The patient was then taken away by the hospital staff and an alert was issued immediately.

This incident took place on 17th February (Monday) when the OPD in the Chhatarpur district hospital was crowded and all the doctors were busy attending patients. Around 20 patients had queued up outside chamber number 20 to see one doctor named Dr Himanshu Batham. However, Dr Batham was not on his seat. This mentally unsound man appeared from somewhere and took Dr Batham’s seat and started attending the patients.

When patients went to the hospital’s medical store with his handwritten prescriptions, it was then that the store manager, Anup Shukla got suspicious. Shukla asked those patients for the chamber number of the doctor who wrote the medicines. He then went to see for himself. On seeing that a mentally challenged person was examining the patients, Shukla alerted the hospital authorities who then took the person away.

Read- Madhya Pradesh: A 72-year-old living man declared dead by doctor, kept in freezing morgue for entire night

According to local newspapers, the mental patient, who was later taken away from the hospital, identified himself as Dr Veer Bahadur, an ex-doctor with Delhi AIIMS. When asked why he wrote the wrong medicines, Veer Bahadur allegedly claimed that his prescriptions were 100 per cent accurate.

Speaking in fluent English, he said that since the patients waiting in the queue were getting agitated and since there was no doctor available to treat them, he took up the responsibility. He said that he had come to the hospital form study, but seeing waiting patients he decided to treat them.

Now the hospital authorities are facing the challenge of identifying those patients who have been prescribed medicines by this mentally unsound alleged doctor.

India congratulates Afghanistan president Ashraf Ghani after his election victory, Ghani thanks for support

OpIndia Staff
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India congratulates Afghanistan president Ashraf Ghani after his election victory, Ghani thanks for support

India extended its wishes to President Dr Ashraf Ghani on his re-election following the announcement of final results of the Presidential elections by the Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan.


The MEA in its press release said: “India supports the democratic aspirations of the people of Afghanistan and remains committed to continue to work with the new Government and the democratic polity in strengthening our bilateral strategic partnership in fighting the scourge of externally sponsored terrorism and for an enduring and inclusive national peace and reconciliation which is Afghan led, Afghan owned and Afghan controlled.”

“We hope that the new Government and all political leaders in Afghanistan would work to strengthen national unity, promote inclusivity and protect the rights and interests of all sections of society,” the statement added.

Afghanistan President Dr Ashraf Ghani took to Twitter to respond to India’s congratulatory message. “As a friend, neighbour and the world’s largest democracy, thank you India for fully supporting Afghanistan’s democratic process!”


Bilateral relations between Afghanistan and India, who have been historical neighbours, have traditionally been strong and friendly. India has been one of Afghanistan’s biggest allies in the war against the Taliban, training thousands of security personnel. New Delhi has also played a significant role in the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Afghanistan.

In 2018, Afghanistan Ambassador to India, Sahida Mohammad Abdali had said that the bilateral trade between India and Afghanistan is expected to reach USD 2 billion by 2020.

Last year, Afghanistan began exports to India through an Iranian port. The Iranian port provides easy access to the sea to Afghanistan and India and has helped both countries to engage in trade bypassing Pakistan.

AgustaWestland Scam: CBI seeks sanction to prosecute top defence ministry officials for their direct involvement

OpIndia Staff
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AgustaWestland Scam: CBI seeks sanction to prosecute top defence ministry officials for their direct involvement

At least six public officials, including top defence ministry officials, are likely to be prosecuted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for their alleged involvement in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam.

According to the reports, the CBI has sought sanction to prosecute public officials who had “direct” involvement and allegedly tweaked the process to favour AgustaWestland in the Rs 3,600 crore deal. The officials were involved in the procurement of helicopters during the UPA regime.

Reportedly, their role has come to light now and the present charge sheet will reveal findings that emerged after the extradition and arrest of middleman Christian Michel from Dubai in December 2018, the sources added.

The CBI is ready with all the supporting evidence to substantiate its demand to prosecute the said public officials. However, the move may delay the agency’s supplementary charge sheet in the case, which is likely to throw light on the involvement of more individuals—public servants, air force officials and private individuals.

In the 2017 charge sheet, CBI said the scam had caused the government a loss of 398.21 million euros. It named four Indians and five foreign nationals in its 30,000-page document.

Read- ‘Family’, Ahmed Patel, Shekhar Gupta and bribe to Congress politicians: Explosive revelations in the AgustaWestland chargesheet

The agency, in its 2018 charge sheet, had also named European middlemen Carlo Gerosa, Michel James, Guido Haschke, former AgustaWestland CEO Bruno Spagnolini and former Finmeccanica chairman Giuseppe Orsi.

The CBI in its charge sheet had submitted that it was able to establish money trail of €62 million from countries such as Mauritius, Singapore, the UAE, Tunisia, the UK and British Virgin Island.

India had signed a deal in 2010 under the UPA regime to buy 12 AgustaWestland AW101 helicopters for the service of the Prime Minister, the President and other VVIPs. It is alleged that some politicians and public servants had abused their official positions to reduce the service ceiling of the VVIPs helicopter from 6000 metres to 4500 metres to make AgustaWestland eligible for the contract and had awarded the contract for an amount of Euro 556.262 million in 2010. The deal was cancelled in 2013 after the scam was revealed.

The AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam has been nothing less of a blistering drama ever since middleman Christian Michel was extradited to India from Dubai. Several revelations came to light, from the names of “Italian Lady”, to “Italian Lady’s son R“. From how Christian Michel was lobbying for the Eurofighter and against the Rafale deal, to how he had unbridled access to the PMO under Congress regime, the CCS and even the investigative agencies.

26/11 Islamic terrorists had 10 fake IDs with Hindu names: Special Public Prosecutor supports Rakesh Maria’s revelations

OpIndia Staff
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26/11 Islamic terrorists had 10 fake IDs with Hindu names: Special Public Prosecutor supports Rakesh Maria’s revelations

Standing by the claims of Former Top Cop Rakesh Maria who made stunning revelations about a plot to blame Hindus for the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, Ujjwal Nikam, the special public prosecutor in the 26/11 case backed Maria saying the terrorist were indeed given fake IDs to pose as a Hindu. Ujjwal Nikam said that IDs carried by the terrorists had fake Hindu names.

Speaking to ANI, Ujjwal Nikam on Wednesday said, “It’s true that the IDs carried Hindu names. Kasab had given a statement in Mumbai court which proved that the 10 accused had 10 fake IDs. We had presented IDs in the court. We proved it.”


Nikam stated that Kasab had testified that Kafa, who provided military training to the terrorists had made those fake IDs available to them. The purpose of the fake IDs was to mislead the police, stated Nikam.

Earlier this week former Mumbai Commissioner Rakesh Maria’s revelations in his book “Let me say it now” that claimed that Ajmal Kasab had an ID with a Hindu name Samir Chaudhary on it had made media headlines.

Maria, in his book, asserted that Kasab had Hindu ID on him and the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI and the terror organisation Lashkar-e-Toiba wanted him to die as “Samir Chaudhary”. According to Maria, Lashkar and ISI planned to make all the ten terrorists who attacked Mumbai on 26/11 seem like disgruntled Hindus avenging the ‘atrocities’ perpetrated against Muslims. All ten terrorists were provided with saffron or red thread to be tied around their wrist so as to lend them a veneer of pious Hindus.

“There would have been screaming headlines in newspapers claiming how Hindu terrorists had attacked Mumbai. Over the top TV journalists would have made a beeline for Bengaluru to interview his family and neighbours. But alas, it had not worked that way and there he was, Ajmal Amir Kasab of Faridkot in Pakistan,” Maria has written in his book.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, attacking Chidambaram and Congress party over the issue, had stated that the Congress party tried to hatch a deeper conspiracy, full of deceit and lies, to raise the bogey of Hindu terror on the direction of former Union Minister P Chidambaram.

Media distorts speech of Mohan Bhagwat, says he asked to avoid the word ‘nationalism’ when actually he was quoting ‘intellectuals’

OpIndia Staff
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Media distorts speech of Mohan Bhagwat, says he asked to avoid the word ‘nationalism’ when actually he was quoting ‘intellectuals’

Today news agency ANI reported that RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has said that use of the word ‘nationalism’ should be avoided, as it can be seen from derived from Hitler and Nazism. The ANI report was carried by several mainstream media houses.

Quoting Mohan Bhagawat during a speech in Ranchi on February 20, the report said that Mohan Bhagwat had said, “don’t use the word nationalism. Use of the words Nation or nationality is okay but don’t use nationalism because it means Hitler, Nazism.”

But this is complete misquoting, as the RSS chief didn’t ask people to stop using the word ‘nationalism’. If we hear his speech, it becomes clear that what some people in several parts of the world think about the word, and he was quoting only such people. He said, ‘intellectuals in a large geographical area think that nationalism is a dangerous thing for the world. The nationalism world is not considered as a good word in the world. Several years ago, when I had gone to the UK, I was having a discussion with some people about the Sangh. There one RSS worker told me to be careful about the meaning of words as English is not my first language’.

Mohan Bhagwat added that the worker said to him, ‘meanings of words change here during conversations. That’s why you should not use the word nationalism. You can say nation, national or nationality, but do not say nationalism. Because nationalism means Hitler, Nazism, Fascism.’

‘That’s how this word has got a bad name there, but we know that whenever India grew as a nation, the world had benefited,’ Mohan Bhagwat added.

Therefore, he was not asking people to avoid using the word nationalism, he was only telling how some intellectuals see the word outside India, and how he was asked to avoid the word in the UK as he could be misunderstood. He, in fact, rued the fact that the word ‘nationalism’ has got a bad name in the world, and talked in its support.

Moan Bhagawat also said that the world is facing the problem of fundamentalism. The problem of radicalism, the problem of environment, the problem of the thought that ‘mine is correct everything else is wrong’, these are some of the major issues due to which there is unrest in the world, he added.

Read- Fact Check: Did Mohan Bhagwat blame education for higher rates of divorce in the country?

The RSS chief said that to bring unity, uniformity is required. To maintain the country as one, something common is needed. Some countries are based on a language, some countries are based on religion – you need to belong to a particular religion to be the citizen of those countries, some countries are based on economic viewpoint, but there is nothing such in our country. But India is based on diversity, our constitution accepts diversity. Although the saying is ‘unity in diversity’, actually we say ‘diversities of unity’.

He said this is the Indian culture, which is also the Hindu culture. Despite having so much diversities, we are connected to each other by the thread of the word Hindu.

SC dismisses petition seeking minority status for Hindus where they are in minority, asks petitioners to approach individual HC

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SC dismisses petition seeking minority status for Hindus where they are in minority, asks petitioners to approach individual HC

The Supreme Court has dismissed a petition that demanded that Hindus be declared a minority in states where they are numerically in the minority. If Hindus were to be designated as a minority in the seven states and one Union Territory, then they would have been eligible for minority rights as specified in the Constitution. The petition was filed by BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay.


The apex court has directed the petitioner to approach the individual High Courts of the states where Hindus are in the minority. Hindus are a minority in Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Jammu and Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Punjab.


Upadhyay had contended that those who are not entitled to minority protection under Articles 29 and 30 of the Constitution, exemptions under Articles 15(5) and (6) of the Constitution, provisions of the Right to Education Act and welfare programmes of the Government, etc, are enjoying these measures. This is a clear violation of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India.

Read: Scathing sting: Congress leader says Rahul Gandhi will win from Wayanad because Hindus are a minority in the constituency

Upadhyay had said that Hindus, who are a majority community as per national data, are in minority in several north-eastern states and in Jammu and Kashmir. He further added that the Hindu community is deprived of benefits that are available to the minority communities in these states.

DMK MP calls the Supreme court an ‘RSS camp’, compares Tamil media to brothels

OpIndia Staff
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DMK MP calls the Supreme court an ‘RSS camp’, compares Tamil media to brothels

Under the guise of upholding the Dravidian movement, DMK Rajya Sabha MP and party’s organizing secretary, RS Bharathi stirred fresh controversy after airing demeaning and derogatory statements against journalists, people of North India and the Dalits.

Being one of the party’s senior leaders, he has been caught up with strong criticism among the media after his address went viral on Monday. Addressing in an event of Kalaignar Readers’ circle that was organized at Anbagam, the DMK Youth Wing headquarters in Chennai on Saturday, Bharathi started off by attacking senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader H Raja, calling him a loafer and then a “Brahmin dog”.

According to a report by Swarajya, the DMK leader said: “Had I not held a position in the party, I would have become a terrorist to take on these people (those criticising the Dravidian movement),” Bharathi said, furthering that the present-day youth are not aware that Tamil Nadu was among the top states due the contribution of the Dravidian movement.

“People in other states are fools. Particularly, North India they are all fools,” said the DMK MP.

The senior DMK leader went to the extent of comparing the media channels with ‘Red Light Area’ in Mumbai. The party leader said: “They have a debate on this. These television guys are scoundrels. No one is as corrupt as them. They are running the channels like the red light area in Mumbai. Just because they are getting money, they raise anything (issue).”

“The press guys don’t have any job. They don’t write anything when others do something. When (Arvind) Kerjiwal hired Prashant Kishor, they didn’t write about it. Narendra Modi used it, they didn’t write. Many others used him, no one wrote. But when he (Kishor) came to DMK in Tamil Nadu, they are talking out of jealousy,” the senior DMK leader said.

In his speech that lasted for about 12 minutes, he stated that the appointment of Dalits as High court judges was possible because of the dole given by the Dravidian movement. “Not a single Harijan has become a judge in Madhya Pradesh till this day. It was Kalaignar (the late Karunanidhi) who first made an Adi Dravida (a Scheduled Caste in Tamil Nadu), Varadharajan, a judge after he came to power”.

“After that, if seven or eight from the community have become judges, it is because of the alms (pitchai) doled out by the DMK,”  said the DMK MP.

He then went on to make more disparaging remarks on the Supreme Court. “Ava (Brahmins) have come back. I say with heartburn that the Supreme Court has become an RSS camp. I am an advocate, but this is my grievance,” the DMK MP.

He went on to claim that the party is neither against Hinduism nor Hindus and he stated that the priests at the temples won’t be getting money if the members of DMK don’t go to temples.

Stating that a revolution would have taken place had Karunanidhi been alive, Bharathi said: “Periyar (EV Ramasamy), Anna (CN Annadurai) and Kalaignar are needed again today.”

The senior DMK leader, however, after receiving severe backlash on social media and by various journalists for his derogatory statements against the media, took to Twitter and regretted his statements against the Dalits and marginalized communities. In his tweet, he stated that he understood that his speech has hurt the sentiments of the backward communities and claimed that his motive was to highlight the good things Karunanidhi has done for them.

Addressing the reporters, he stated that he had no personal intention to hurt the media and placed his regret by pointing that the party’s president had asked him to meet the reporters and to place the regret about his comments.

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