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Chhattisgarh: Christian priest, Shalom Babu Tandi, accused of raping a minor girl who was in his care, absconding from arrest

OpIndia Staff
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Chhattisgarh: Christian priest, Shalom Babu Tandi, accused of raping a minor girl who was in his care, absconding from arrest

In yet another barbaric incident committed by Chrisitan priests, a girl has been allegedly raped by a pastor in Jashpur district of Chhattisgarh. Reportedly, a Christian priest named Shalom Babu Tandi has been booked by Pathalgaon police station for the alleged rape of a minor girl in his care.

The complaint states that Tandi had promised girl’s parents that he will look after the education of their daughter and brought her to his place in Pathalgaon. The parents of the victim lived in neighbouring Surguja district. The police said that he allegedly sexually exploited the girl and threatened her with dire consequences if she revealed it to anyone.

After the girl revealed to her parents that she was sexually exploited by Christian priests, the parents approached the police. A case under IPC sections 376 (rape) and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) was registered.

The accused Chrisitan priest is now on the run and efforts to nab the accused has already started, the SP said.

There has been a dangerous trend of repeated cases of rape and other abusive incidents at Churches across the world. Unfortunately, India is not immune to this plague either. Christian priest and churches, like most cases worldwide, have been targeting the poor, destitute for their crimes but the cases go unnoticed.

However, in India, the crimes have been coming into public domain lately. There have been several incidents of sexual harassment and other abuse by Church officials and priests.

In 2018, a 45-year-old Christian priest was booked for the brutal rape an 11-year old girl in Vallampadu, Andhra Pradesh. In July 2017, Father Saji Joesph, a priest who was the director of a children’s home in Kerala’s Wayanad district, was arrested after allegations of sexually abusing minor boys.

Franco Mulakkal, a Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Jalandhar, was arrested and released on bail later for allegedly raping a 44-year old nun at a guest house in Kuravilangad in May 2014.

Similarly, Father Johnson V Mathew, a priest of Malankara Orthodox church was accused in the rape and sexual abuse of a married woman belonging to the fold was arrested in July 2018.

In February, the Mysuru police had arrested three pastors (religious leaders associated with protestant Churches) for allegedly raping a teenager in Mangaluru. All the three Christian priests have now been charged under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, as per reports.

In another incident, a 60-year-old pastor named Chandra Kumar belonging to a local church in Nagaland was arrested for allegedly raping a 10-year-old girl in Assam’s Karbi Anglong district.

In another incident, a 33-year old Catholic priest, Father Prakash Damor was arrested in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh for abetting a 17-year-old girl’s suicide.

Recently, a special Mahila Court in Cuddalore had sentenced a church priest to 30 years in prison and nine others to life in prison for their involvement in the horrifying 2014 Tittakudi rape case, which involved two minor girls.

In September, a 68-year-old Christian priest of the Syro Malabar Church named Father George Padayattil, the vicar of Holy Cross Church in Chendamangalam in Ernakulam district, was booked for the rape of three 9-year-old girls

Similarly, a Class IX student had died in October at GBP hospital after being allegedly tortured repeatedly by the warden of Holy Cross School, Tripura. In November this year, thirty-seven Catholic priests from different parishes in Mysuru had written to Pope Francis to remove the Bishop of Mysore KA William over his alleged involvement in criminal offences, misappropriation of funds and sexual misconduct.

Maria Antony Raj, a 60-year-old the catholic priest, who is the correspondent of the St Mary’s High School in the Gandhipuram area of Coimbatore was arrested for forcing the girl students to open sexually explicit content on his mobile phone.

Congress leader files complaint against Raveena Tandon and others for ‘disrespecting’ ‘Hallelujah’, hurting Christian sentiments

OpIndia Staff
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Congress leader files complaint against Raveena Tandon and others for ‘disrespecting’ ‘Hallelujah’, hurting Christian sentiments

Bollywood actress Raveena Tandon, producer-director Farah Khan and comedian Bharti Singh have been booked by the Amritsar Rural police for allegedly hurting the religious sentiments of the Christian community by using the word “Hallelujah” on a web show. According to the reports, the Amritsar police have received a complaint and a video of the show from Sona Masih, also known as Sonu Jafar, general secretary of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee and President of the Christian Samaj Front.

In her complaint, Sonu Jafar has alleged three B-Town actors including Raveena Tandon made a mockery of the pious word “Hallelujah (word of praise to God)” in a programme called ‘Backbenchers’.

“Hallelujah” is a Hebrew word meaning “Praise ye, Yah”, referring to the Christian Lord.

Sonu Jafar received the video from Dhariwal Sonu Stephan, in which they were allegedly seen “making fun” of the word from the Bible. “This has hurt the sentiments of the Christian community and we sought stringent action against them,” he said.

Read: Telangana Congress Chief promises ‘Jesus rule’ if voted to power, offers concessions to Christian community

In the show ‘Backbenchers’, comedian Bharti Singh, who seems to have no idea about the existence of such a word “Hallelujah”, was asked to spell and explain the meaning of the word by show host Farah Khan. However, Bharti Singh, who wrongly spelt the world, added her comic touch while explaining the meaning of the word ‘Hallelujah” perhaps not knowing that it had religious connotations.

Responding to allegations, Raveen Tandon on Friday clarified that she has not even uttered a word which can be interpreted as an insult to any religion. She also said that three of them including Farah Khan and Bharti Singh never intended to offend anyone.

Read: “Freedom of Speech is a joke”: Bollywood actor Payal Rohatgi tweets after Rajasthan Police detains her for making comments on Nehru

Raveena Tandon said she would sincerely apologize to all those people who were hurt by the web show.


Senior Superintendent of Police Vikram Jeet Duggal confirmed that a case under Section 295-A of the Indian Penal Code had been registered at Ajnala police station in Amritsar district on Wednesday. A case has been registered against all six persons.

As UP government gets set to seize property of 498 anti-CAA rioters, Karnataka may follow suit to recover cost of damage

OpIndia Staff
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As UP government gets set to seize property of 498 anti-CAA rioters, Karnataka may follow suit to recover cost of damage

The Karnataka government taking a cue from Uttar Pradesh has decided to recover the “cost of damage” caused to public properties from rioters during the December 19 anti-CAA demonstrations in Mangaluru that led to unleashing of violence by Muslim mobs in the city.

According to the reports, Revenue minister R Ashoka said on Thursday that the government may adopt Uttar Pradesh’s policy of recovering the cost of damage to public property from rioters. Karnataka government has already sent notices to rioters who were caught in pictures and videos hurling stones or damaging properties.

Hours before Ashoka made the announcement, senior minister CT Ravi and party MP Shobha Karandlaje also echoed similar statements seeking punitive measures against the Mangaluru rioters by following the UP example. In Mangaluru, Ravi said rioters must be fined for damaging public property. He suggested booking the rioters under the Goonda Act, a law enacted with the intention of curbing organized crime.

Read: Mangaluru anti-CAA riots: Bricks brought in trucks to hurl at police, Kerala link suspected, Police receive over 1000 CCTV footages from public

A Muslim mob went on the rampage and had attacked the police officials in Mangaluru on December 19 during the anti-CAA protests. The rioters had attempted to loot arms from Mangaluru North police station, forcing cops to open fire, leaving two protesters dead.

Later, the police had also released video clippings showing protesters bringing stones in an auto-trolley, hurling it at the personnel and trying to destroy the CCTV cameras. Earlier, we had reported regarding similar CCTV footages in which Muslim mob covered with their faces covered, had attempted to destroy CCTV cameras before going on the rampage.

Read: Watch: Turning CCTV cameras away and supplying sacks full of stones, new footage exposes the reality of Mangaluru ‘protests’

The decision to impose a penalty on rioters comes after Uttar Pradesh government had initiated a crackdown on miscreants who resorted to violence during the protests against the recently enacted Citizenship Amendment Act.

The Uttar Pradesh government has already identified at least 498 properties to seize them, which belonged to rioters who vandalised public properties in the state during the anti-CAA protest. Notices have been already sent to these protesters regarding the same.

According to a circular, the government has identified the ‘anti-socials’ who caused damage to public property while taking part in anti-CAA protests. It will now confiscate their property to recover the damages. Earlier, the UP government had sealed 50 shops belonging to rioters in Muzaffarnagar who caused damage to public property. The sealed shops are all in the trouble-hit Minakshi Chowk and Kachchi Sadak areas of the town.

Read: Anti-CAA riots: MoS Home says Kashmiri stone pelters involved in Uttar Pradesh, trains guns on opposition parties

Reportedly, at least 82 people from Lucknow, 148 from Meerut, 26 from Sambhal, 79 from Rampur, 13 from Ferozabad, 50 from Kanpur, 73 from Muzzafarnagar, 8 from Mao and 19 from Bulandshahar have been identified by the UP government as those who damaged the public property during the CAA protests in the state from December 10-24.

In the aftermath of the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act, riots, violence, arson and vandalism by rioting mobs in the name of ‘protests’ against the enactment of the law have taken place across the country.

Jadavpur University students to ‘rusticate’ Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar as Chancellor and ‘disown’ him as WB Governor

OpIndia Staff
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Jadavpur University students to ‘rusticate’ Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar as Chancellor and ‘disown’ him as WB Governor

In a shocking incident, the ‘students’ of the controversial Jadavpur University on Thursday decided not only to “rusticate” West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar as chancellor of the university but also to “disown him as the state governor”.

Reportedly, the decision to “rusticate” the Governor was taken over a host of issues including his stand on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The decision comes after Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar was not allowed to enter the campus to attend the Jadavpur University convocation on Tuesday.

The resolution addressed to the “ex-chancellor” Jagdeep Dhankhar claimed that the governor was present in the university on September 19 “along with miscreants who hurled bombs, sexually assaulted women and vandalized sections of the university”. The letter further claimed that Dhankhar had arrived uninvited to the university on December 22.

“We have investigated your behaviour and motives and concluded that they are shameless attempts to seek attention from students, thereby wasting our valuable time,” said the letter, which was released to the media on Thursday.

Read: West Bengal Governor calls it collapse of law after he was heckled, forced to return without attending convocation at Jadavpur University

“Keeping the above in mind, you are being informed of your rustication from the position of chancellor of JU. The students’ body of Jadavpur University has also decided to disown you from the position of the Governor of West Bengal,” the letter added.

Reportedly, the letter claimed the students cannot attach “an unblemished character certificate” to him and questions him on his general knowledge, strengths, sense of history and overall character. JU’s Arts Faculty Students Union secretary Debraj Debnath said this resolution will not be sent to the governor. Students claimed this was more to record their protest against the chancellor.

Earlier on Monday. West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar was shown black flags and greeted with “go back” slogans at Jadavpur University when he arrived on the campus to attend a meeting. The ‘students’ had reportedly surrounded the car, heckled the Governor when his convoy arrived at the university, to attend the annual convocation ceremony.

Read: An Open Letter to the Open Minded Leftists at Jadavpur University from a Progressive-turned-Hindutvavaadi

In an e-mail to Raj Bhavan on December 24, the day Dhankhar was prevented by protesters from attending the annual convocation of the university, the Arts Faculty Students Union (AFSU) said, “Sir, you are not welcome in our campus.”

The ‘rustication’ of the chancellor is on the lines of an alleged letter issued by ‘students’, academics and staff of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) expelling the Vice-Chancellor Tariq Mansoor and Registrar S Abdul Hamid from the university and giving them till January 5 to vacate or face a boycott. However, the AMU student union later disassociated itself from the letter.

Read: AMU Student Union denies link to letter ‘expelling’ VC and Registrar, one group say its fake, other group stands by the letter

The ultra-left wing Jadavpur university is known for violent protests and vandalism inside the university campus. This was not the first time when the communist and Trinamool student activists at Jadavpur University have resorted to such hooliganism.

In September this year, Union Minister Babul Supriyo was also kept captive at the campus for over five hours by the pre-planned and coordinated efforts of left-wing students and activists when the minister had gone there to perform at a fresher’s welcome function organised by ABVP. He was heckled, pushed by pro-Naxal activists at Jadavpur University, preventing him from entering the campus.

‘Urban Naxal’ case: Pune police to seek help of FBI to retrieve data from Varavarao Rao’s hard disk, Home Ministry gives nod

OpIndia Staff
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‘Urban Naxal’ case: Pune police to seek help of FBI to retrieve data from Varavarao Rao’s hard disk, Home Ministry gives nod

The Pune Police have decided to seek help from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the domestic intelligence and security service of the US, to retrieve data from a damaged hard disk seized from the house of ‘Urban Naxal’ Varavara Rao, who is accused plotting to kill PM Modi and Elgar Parishad violence.

According to the reports, the hard disk, seized from Rao’s house during a raid in August 2018, was earlier sent to four forensic laboratories in the country. However, these laboratories failed to recover any data.

Reportedly, the hard disk was first sent to a Pune-based laboratory, where experts could not retrieve the data. Later, it was sent to the Mumbai-based Directorate of Forensic Science Laboratories, but experts there could not open it. Similar attempts were tried at Gujarat and Hyderabad based forensic labs, but no data could be recovered, an official said.

Read: ‘Urban Naxals’ wanted to kill PM Modi like Rajiv Gandhi, intended to wage war against India: Draft charges of Elgar Parishad case

“Since labs of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are much advanced, the decision to send the hard disk there has been taken and necessary approvals have been given by the Union Home Ministry,” the official said.

The Pune police had arrested Varavara Rao from his Hyderabad residence on 17th November 2018 in connection with Bhima-Koregaon violence and plot to kill Prime Minister Modi.

Recently, the prosecution submitted a draft charge sheet against 19 accused, including nine self-proclaimed ‘activists’ including Varavara Rao, who have already been arrested in connection with the case. The nine ultra Left-leaning activists were arrested by the Pune Police in the case are – Varavara Rao, Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Shoma Sen, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves and Sudha Bharadwaj.

Read: Amnesty International defames India based on the say-so of Arun Ferreira, one of the arrested ‘Urban Naxals’

In its draft charge sheet, the Maharashtra prosecution has included charges of “conspiracy to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi” against the 19 ‘Urban Naxals’ who are also accused in the Elgar Parishad case. The draft charges stated that all the 19 accused were conspiring to assassinate PM Narendra Modi during his roadshows in a manner similar to the killing of former PM Rajiv Gandhi.

On the 200 anniversary of the battle of Bhima-Koregaon on January 1 in 2018, a large number of people had gathered at the memorial near Pune. While the crowd was dispersing, violence erupted not only in Pune and surrounding areas but across the state. A 28-year-old youth, Rahul Patangale, was killed in the violence. 52 cases were registered and 152 people were arrested for violence and riots in the streets.

Following the incident, several raids were conducted in August 2018 against supposed Naxal sympathizers in connection with the violence at Bhima Koregaon and had unearthed an assassination plot to murder Prime Minister Modi.

They did not like to talk to me because I am Hindu: Pakistani ex-cricketer Danish Kaneria on being ill-treated by Pak cricketers

OpIndia Staff
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They did not like to talk to me because I am Hindu: Pakistani ex-cricketer Danish Kaneria on being ill-treated by Pak cricketers

Exposing Pakistan’s extremism against Hindus, Pakistan’s former pace bowler Shoaib Akhtar had in a chat show revealed how his teammates ill-treated ex-cricketer Danish Prabha Shanker Kaneria for being a Hindu.

Now, while speaking to ANI, Danish Kaneria, who was the second Hindu and seventh non-Muslim overall to represent Pakistan in international cricket, has admitted that whatever Shoiab Akhtar revealed in the chat show was the truth.


He confirmed that the Pakistani players did have a problem eating with him since he was a Hindu. Kaneria said that at that time he was scared to speak about the ensuing hostility meted out to him on the pretext of his religion but now he would reveal the names of all those Pakistani players who did not talk to him since he was a Hindu.

The country’s former fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, while speaking at a chat show titled ‘Game on Hai’ on a Pakistani TV channel hosted by cricket expert Dr Numan Riaz, had once again rehashed the plight of Hindu’s in Pakistan by making a revelation about ex-cricketer Danish Kaneria, who was the second Hindu after Anil Dalpat in the Pakistani cricket team.

Read: Former Pakistani pacer Shoaib Akhtar reveals how ex-cricketer Danish Kaneria was mistreated for being Hindu

He said that the Pakistani cricket team was “unfair to Danish Kaneria as he was a Hindu”. He was mistreated on the pretext of his religion and often the co-players refused to even eat with him because he was a Hindu.

Despite being a bowler par excellence, Kaneria was never respected by the team members as he was a Hindu, said the former cricketer.

Meanwhile Shoaib Akhtar during the chat show, also recollected how this societal prejudice had forced former Pakistani cricket star Yousuf Youhana to convert from Christianity to Islam and adopt the name of Mohammad Yousuf.

Massive locust invasion from Pakistan ruins crops in Gujarat, Centre rushes 11 teams to help

OpIndia Staff
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Massive locust invasion from Pakistan ruins crops in Gujarat, Centre rushes 11 teams to help

Farmers in Gujarat are now worried as they are facing massive locust invasion from Pakistan, the neighbouring country the state shares its border with. It is being believed that this has been the deadliest locust attack in Gujarat since the year 1994.


The locusts, known as tiddis locally arriving from desert areas of Pakistan, descended in and around 20 talukas in the state including, Banaskantha, Mehsana, Kutch, Patan and Sabarkantha districts over the last few days and wreaked havoc on standing crops of mustard, fennel, castor, cumin, jatropha, cotton, and potato, and fodder grass.

To deal with the menace, the central government has rushed 11 teams to Gujarat. “To tackle the menace, 11 central centres have arrived in Gujarat. They will take all necessary steps, including spraying of pesticides, to contain the attack. The teams will remain in the state until the problem is solved,” a senior government official told PTI.

During his visit to Vadodara on Wednesday, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said that 11 teams sent by the Centre have begun work to check the locust menace. The state government is also exploring the possibility of using drones to spray insecticides, he said.

“The insect has come from Oman side and due to wind directions, it got diverted to North Gujarat”, said State Agriculture Minister R C Faldu, also informing that insecticides were being sprayed on crops hit by locust attack.

Read: Karachi faces locust attack, Pakistani minister urges people to eat them in Biriyani

The Gujarat government on Thursday also promised compensation for farmers in Banaskantha district and other areas of North Gujarat which are facing a massive locust attack over the last two weeks.

In Banaskantha, crops over 5,000 hectares have been damaged, said a senior official.

According to reports, though the damage in the adjoining districts of Patan, Mehsana, Kutch and Sabarkantha has been contained and brought under control with preventive measures, the government officials said that “since this insect changes its course of travel based on the wind direction, we can’t predict or rule out any possibility of attack in coming days.”

Anti-CAA riots: Over 100 arrested for posting inciting content on social media, 93 FIRs registered by UP Police

OpIndia Staff
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Anti-CAA riots: Over 100 arrested for posting inciting content on social media, 93 FIRs registered by UP Police

The Uttar Pradesh Police has come hard on anti-CAA rioters who indulged in rampant violence over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). According to the recent data released by Lucknow DGP Headquarters, the Uttar Pradesh police have until now, registered 337 FIRs across the state.


The Police and the UP government have taken several hard measures to inflict costs upon the rioters for their actions. Over and above this, the UP police keeping strict surveillance over social media and have been taking brisk action against those who have used social media as a tool to achieve their sinister agenda by spreading false and malicious news about CAA and NRC.

Action has been taken against more than 19409 social media posts so far for spreading falsehood with an intention of inciting violence in the country. The administration identified and blocked over 9372 Twitter, 9856 Facebook, and 181 YouTube profiles claiming to be spreading incendiary content. According to data released the Uttar Pradesh Police have already arrested 124 people for posting inciting content on social media.

Following CM’s orders of seizing the properties of those who indulged in violence in the state, the Uttar Pradesh government has already sent notices to as many as 373 anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protesters warning them of the confiscation of their property over rioting.

The maximum number of protesters who have received the notice are in Moradabad (200), followed by Lucknow (110), Gorakhpur (34), and Firozabad (29). Strict action will be taken against those who damaged the public property during the CAA protests in the state from December 10-24.

Read: Anti-CAA riots: MoS Home says Kashmiri stone pelters involved in Uttar Pradesh, trains guns on opposition parties

According to the data, around 288 policemen were reportedly injured in Uttar Pradesh and 61 received bullet injuries. Moreover, 19 people have been reported dead in the ensuing riots.

According to an India Today report, the Uttar Pradesh Police had until December 23 recovered 405 empty cartridges, fired by protestors. The autopsies of the dead revealed that most of the deceased were hit by these country made bullets. DGP OP Singh claimed women and children were used as “shields by the protesters”.

Today, the Firozabad Police has released the pictures of a hundred more rioters who indulged in violence in the city on the 20th of December. In the posters released on social media, the Firozabad Police appealed to the citizenry to identify the rioters and help the Police nab them.

In an unsparing warning, which came in the backdrop of violent protests that broke out in Lucknow on December 19, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had said that strict actions will be taken against hoodlums who have been trying to create unrest in his state and various parts of the country.

On December 22, sealed 50 shops belonging to rioters in Muzaffarnagar who caused damage to public property.

Moreover, in a first, the Rampur Police had also issued notices to as many as 28 locals across Rampur district, holding them responsible for acts of violence and causing damage to government property. The police had sought an explanation as to why recoveries should not be made for damage worth Rs 14.86 lakh.

Further, the UP government has also formed a four-member panel to look into the videos of riots and identify vandals in the state capital Lucknow. As per police, stringent action will be taken against perpetrators once identified.

NDTV spreads fake news again, this time during a ‘fact check’ on the government’s claims on NRC and NPR

OpIndia Staff
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NDTV spreads fake news again, this time during a ‘fact check’ on the government’s claims on NRC and NPR

The propaganda outlet, NDTV, is infamous for its perennial tendency to spread fake news. As a testament to its remarkable ability to spread fake news, the alleged media outlet spread fake news in a segment that called itself a ‘fact-check’. The propaganda outlet, which attempted to ‘fact-check’ the government’s claims on the National Population Register and the National Register of Citizens, ended up spreading lies on the whole matter.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=400PmQWFYlQ]

At 13.00 minutes in the video, NDTV addresses Prakash Javadekar’s statement that the NPR was conducted for the first time in 2010 under the UPA government. As a ‘fact-check’ on the Union Minister’s valid assertion, NDTV claimed that the UPA had denied that NPR would be used for the NRC. The NDTV ‘fact-checkers’ used a statement made by senior Congress leader Ajay Maken and treated it as a Shloka from the Holy Vedas themselves without bothering to ‘fact-check’ the Congress leader’s statement.

The NDTV ‘journalist’ says enthusiastically, “The UPA denied using the NPR for the NRC and we have on record Ajay Maken’s byte where he has said clearly that when the NPR was done during the UPA regime, it had nothing to do with the NRC. These were two different things then, but it is not the case now.” It appears that it didn’t even cross the mind of the NDTV journalists to verify whether the statement made by Ajay Maken was even true.

Read: Detention Centres are nothing like Concentration Camps, Congress built them in Assam too: Here is all you need to know

We have published an earlier fact-check where we have reported how it was the UPA government’s idea to link the NPR to the NRC. According to FAQs published during 2011 census, the Congress party had itself announced in 2011 that the NPR was the first step towards the preparation of NRIC. Further, the National Population Register (NPR), an idea is to create a comprehensive identity database of every usual resident in the country was first mooted by the Congress party in 2009 by the Congress party itself during Manmohan Singh government. It was the idea of the then UPA government to use the data collected in the process of NPR to implement a nation-wide NRC.

Now, actually fact-checkers have unearthed a video of scam accused senior Congress leader Chidambaram himself where he clearly states that the NPR would eventually lead to the NRC. Chidambaram clearly stated that the NPR would eventually lead to the NRC. “The NPR process is for the purpose of issuing the resident card,” Chidambaram says before adding, “which eventually will lead to a citizenship card, later.”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkIco1HJPkk]

The NDTV is renowned for its distortion of facts and outright lies. There have been numerous occasions when it has spread lies that have undermined national interests. Its reputation of being fake news peddlers is such that it was even mocked in an American show.

Fact check: Does Citizenship Amendment Act violate Article 14 of the Indian Constitution

Shriya Gune
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Fact check: Does Citizenship Amendment Act violate Article 14 of the Indian Constitution

The whole nation is discussing and debating the recently enacted Citizenship Amendment Act. Everyone has become an expert on law and constitution. Many are arguing that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) violates Article 14 of the constitution that guarantees the fundamental right of equality. Does CAA really violate article 14?

Article 14 provides that state shall not deny to any person equality before the law and equal protection of laws within the territory of India.

The article does not provide for absolute mathematical equality but allows equal treatment to equals and reasonable classification for the purpose of lawmaking.

Supreme Court in Clarence Pais v. Union of India held that ‘Historical reasons may justify differential treatment of separate geographical regions provided it bears a reason and just relation to the matter in respect of which differential treatment is accorded.’

Read: Indian Muslims do not stand to suffer due to the CAA-NRC combo: Here are the laws and guidelines explained

So legislation will not be violative of Article 14 merely because it makes a differentiation between various geographical regions. Such legislation is valid and constitutionally sound if there are historical reasons for such differentiation and there is a just relation between the reason and the matter in respect of which differentiation is made.

The CAA creates a class of persons belonging to certain religions that are in minority in 3 countries. So there is differentiation on a geographical basis and there is a historic justification of such differentiation and also there is a clear Nexus between this justification and the matter for which differentiation is accorded. Let’s go step by step,

The class is of people who are Hindus, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists, Christians and who have come to India from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh. This class is of people

1) belonging to minorities

2) coming to India on or before 31 Dec 2014

3) persecuted in their country on the basis of religion

4) Coming from the countries that have a specific official state religion and that share borders with India.

So the class is well defined. The matter in respect of which the classification is made is giving citizenship of India.

Read: Khilafat 2.0: How Useful Idiots in the media and political parties were fooled by Jamia students associated with the ‘blood brother’ of a banned Radical Islamic outfit

The historic justification is the factum of partition on religious grounds and this subcontinent having ben one nation once. The Nexus is clear, the injustice suffered by people having their roots in India due to partition and the promise made to keep our doors open. This, CAA is very much in consonance with the Idea of India, the idea of humanity and the idea of Justice to our people.

When connected with NRC, it gives added protection to this class of people and that’s all. NRC if implemented will simply result in the deportation of illegal immigrants who do not belong to this class and who belong to this class but haven’t availed to the opportunity of applying for Indian citizenship.

If you feel letting illegal migrants stay here and get citizenship then that’s a completely different topic. But if you feel CAA is violative of the right to equality, you are mistaken, misinformed and wrong.

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