The Delhi High Court has dismissed the plea of a man who sought the quashing of criminal proceedings against him for allegedly molesting a woman by claiming that he was in the process of transitioning to a female himself and that he was never attracted to a woman. The accused claimed that he was suffering from gender dysphoria since childhood and identified himself as a woman before the Court.
He claimed, the relationship between him and the accuser was that of two sisters and therefore, he could not have molested her. The accused arrived at the Court dressed in formal woman’s clothing, with make-up on and a feminine hairstyle. Gender dysphoria is a disorder where a person perceives himself to be of the gender opposite to his biological sex.
The accused made these submissions while claiming that the complainant was ready to settle the matter. However, the advocate for the complainant denied categorically that the woman had given her consent to the quashing of the FIR. It was further alleged that in a previous court hearing, the accused got some other lawyer to appear on behalf of the victim without her knowledge and even forged her signatures.
According to the FIR lodged in October 2016, both the accused and the woman worked in the same company in Uttar Pradesh’s Noida in 2014, when he allegedly molested her at a party in a Connaught Place pub. It is also pertinent to note that the recent affidavit annexed with the petition mentions the accused as a man.
In one of the deadliest attacks by jihadis in West African country Burkina Faso, 35 people were killed on Tuesday. The terrorists had launched a double attack on a military base and the civilian population in Arbinda town, and most of the victims, 31 in total, were women. Seven soldiers also lost their lives in the attack, while 80 terrorists were killed in the retaliatory action by the military helped by the air force.
Burkina Faso, which borders Mali and Niger, has been regularly targeted by Islamic fundamentalist terror groups operating in Africa, and hundreds of the people have lost their lives in the violence which had spread to the region in 2015.
The army chief of staff said, “A large group of terrorists simultaneously attacked the military base and the civilian population in Arbinda.” Talking about the incident, President Roch Marc Christian Kabore said, “The heroic action of our soldiers has made it possible to neutralise 80 terrorists. This barbaric attack resulted in the death of 35 civilians, most of them women.”
Burkina Faso
The attack took place on Tuesday morning and had lasted several hours. Dozens of terrorists on motorbikes opened fire on a military base and the civilian population nearby. The civilians, mostly women, were collecting water when they were attacked. Later the military forces drove the attackers back following an intense battle that lasted several hours near the border with Mali. Ground troops and Air Force fighter jets participated in the battle.
The president has declared 48-hours national mourning after the incident. The national flag will at half-mast and all Christmas celebrations have been cancelled.
No terror group has taken responsibility for the attack so far, but past violence in the country has been blamed on al-Qaeda and ISIS groups. Islam is the dominant religion in Burkina Faso, but there is a sizeable Christian minority of about 20 percent. Muslims account for more the 60% of the population.
William Lawrence, visiting professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University’s Elliott School said that the attacks are part of the plan to establish an Islamic state. He said that this is the worst attack ever in Burkina Faso. He added that terror activities in the country started only in 2015, but their frequency and lethality have been increasing.
“This is a group led by someone from Burkina Faso, whose recruiting fighters from Burkina Faso, even though they launch attacks from Mali. And while they are trying to sow chaos and they are under pressure from the French, their main goal is to liberate this area and establish an Islamic State, not unlike what we saw in north Mali in 2012,” he said.
Islamic terrorists operating in Mali has come under intense pressure from French forces, as a result, they have spilled across the border into Burkina Faso, spreading their terror activities in the landlocked country. They frequently conduct hit-and-run operations on motorcycles.
The world has changed in the last ten years to the point that there is no going back. If the Internet was revolutionary for the previous generation, it is social media for this. I have been one of the early adopters of social media. Being a social recluse, awkward, the introvert person helped me discover how I am not the only one out there who thinks the Internet is her best friend.
As an early adopter of blogging and Twitter universe, I have seen the platform evolve. While it provides a fantastic level-playing field, it could ruin your lives within seconds. Social media, especially Twitter, changed when Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was then the Chief Minister of Gujarat, took to the platform and talked directly to his audience. The media-hating chief minister of a state who was hated more by the media itself used the platform to his advantage.
From Narendra Modi to Amitabh Bachchan to Paulo Coelho to Rajdeep Sardesai – you could let anyone of these public figures know what you like and don’t like about them. The mainstream media journalists who were not used to two-way communication were shocked to know people did not take their word as gospel truth. The imminent doom of their propaganda made them lose their cool more often than not and everyone who disagreed were ‘trolls’.
That started a new wave of ‘bhakts’ vs ‘liberals’. BJP or Modi supporters were invariable ‘bhakts’ and anyone who did not agree with him were by default ‘liberals’. ‘Liberals’ came in all shapes and sizes. They would talk about lovely things like feminism and have a general dislike for Hindu festivals as the only festival worth celebrating was the one which is known for biryani. Cow-jokes, offering non-left/’liberal’ folks to drink gaumutra (cow urine) is a running joke because #AdoptDontShop is legit only for dogs and cats. Cows are to be devoured.
Speaking of jokes, Twitter also gave birth to ‘standup comics’. A bunch of people who could crack jokes in 140 characters, who were of course ‘liberals’, we now part of the elite clout of feminist woke crowd which talked about mental health issues. We will come to ‘mental health issues’ in a while, but before that, let us talk about the standup comics.
These standup comics gained popularity making jokes on Modi. One fellow thinks he is funny every time he picks on a particular film director and his zombies would laugh at his ‘jokes’. Another gained popularity by being a parody of a popular author whose books have been read by more number of people than those who have heard of these individuals collectively.
The ‘liberal’ brand of such ‘woke’ individuals thought that since they all talk about things like consent and feminism when it comes to them, the consent is a given. They even get ‘protection’ from the same set of people they abuse because for them the bigger picture is important. I have earlier written how the Left protects the sexual predators when the accused is one of their own. Recently, after the Kathua rape case, a JNU student had accused the lawyer, Talib Hussain, of raping her. But she had kept quiet for the ‘bigger cause’.
Coming back, the common thread in all this is social media activism. It gives instant gratification to call out someone’s ‘lies’, to name-call someone because you don’t agree with them. And your clout of ‘liberals’ will back you. At the cost of sounding sexist and harsh on my own gender, they will put their weight behind you especially if you’re a woman, because ‘sisterhood’.
There was a strong element of slander involved. Unverified claims were put out because of the ‘trust women’ phenomenon. At the risk of sounding harsh on own gender, trust, but verify. And that holds true for anyone irrespective of their gender. Because Twitter is not the court of law and your social media justice could just ruin an innocent person’s life. All this because you could. That’s the power of the Internet.
Social media gives one the feeling of ‘playing God’. Armed with screenshots, the one who makes the first move is believed. The one on whom allegations are put is left ‘defending’ because people have already made up their minds that you are wrong.
When #MeToo movement took India by storm, everyone believed the women. And why shouldn’t you, after all, why would anyone lie, right? This is not to say the women lied. But we believed them and decided that the men accused were monsters. With newer things emerging a year later, some are wondering if they were too quick to judge while some are staying clear of it because, ‘ah, well, apne ko kya lena dena’ (which is a fantastic attitude to have, IMO – much better for mental health).
What is common in both these are screenshots. ‘Screenshots never lie,’ right? Well, we don’t know anything anymore. We can only speculate and believe the one we want to or rather, the one we dislike less.
As things unfolded last week between Utsav Chakraborty and Mahima Kukreja, I saw a conversation where one woman was empathising with Utsav but cautioned him against this thread because it may make people feel empathetic to ‘monsters like MJ Akbar’. Journalist-turned-politician, like Chakraborty, was accused by multiple women of inappropriate behaviour. Akbar is a BJP Member of Parliament. Hence, for ‘liberals’, he is guilty by default while Chakraborty deserves another chance.
Hi Utsav,
I was a part of the movement back in October 2018. I spoke to at least 5-6 victims but refused to put out 3rd party stories. So as someone committed to @IndiaMeToo creating change, here is an open letter to Utsav on behalf of the volunteer of the movement. Page 1 pic.twitter.com/ZJrqx7czNk
Please note, Akbar is not yet pronounced guilty in any court of law. But on Twitter’s kangaroo court, he is one. Utsav, gets the benefit of the doubt, because he, well, doesn’t really like Modi. Oh, and he had even blamed the ‘right wing‘ for the allegations when they were put up against him last year.
Social media is increasingly being used as a platform to slander. Over and above the fact that people are ready to believe the worst about anyone, it is also easy for people to hide behind the cloak of anonymity and make allegations and disappear. Even celebrities do not shy away from abusing individuals who disagree with them. Recently we saw Bollywood entertainer Swara Bhasker refer to journalist Swati Goel Sharma as ‘jaahil Sanghi’ just because she was doing her job: reporting.
जाहिल संघी! फ़ैज़ साहब कैसे पहचान पाएँगे आख़िर- पढ़े होते तो दिमाग़ में नफ़रत का गोबर ना भरा होता!! (हाँ अब गौ मूत्र के साथ गोबर के भी गुण गिना दो! ) https://t.co/KlagWNoPb7
She also used the ‘gau mutra’ jibe, the same one Pulwama terrorist used as he wanted to kill the ones who drink cow urine. Pulwama terrorist exuded Hinduphobia and so do such woke individuals who make the cow urine jibe when they want to ridicule someone who doesn’t agree with them.
Another issue with ‘woke’ individuals on social media is the fact that they hide their insecurities behind the cloak of ‘mental health’. While depression, bipolar disorder are very real illnesses and deserves to be as mainstream as any other illness, most of the ‘woke’ people are seeking ‘therapy’. Anything you tell them affects their mental health and they get ‘triggered’ into a meltdown. You cannot call out their bullshit because then you’d be accused of being a ‘vile’ person who likes to play with other people’s mental health.
Anyone disagreeing with someone who has proclaimed they are having ‘depression’ on Twitter is a bully by default. The ‘depressed’ person will then lead a bunch of his/her/their (another sign someone is a ‘woke’ individual is their putting out the pronoun they identify themselves with) friends who will mock you in solidarity because only the ‘depressed’ can be bullied, and they can never be bullies themselves.
Social media has given the power of discourse back in the hands of the people. The ‘Liberals’ and ‘intellectuals’ who got a free run to peddle their lies and their propaganda have been checked time and again. However, it has also given rise to a sub-culture of bullying, lying, and extracting revenge, that invariably ruins lives. There is no mechanism, as such, that can help curb the menace. There is a thin line between putting checks and balances in place and the entire system descending into just another method to curb free speech, like Congress’ draconian 66A. However, what can be done, at best is to spread awareness and to ensure, that while one may not win popularity contests by siding with the truth, however inconvenient, it just must be done.
The anti-CAA riots have gripped the country with Muslim mobs running amuck, indulging in arson, vandalism, stone-pelting, organised violence and political parties adding fuel to fire with known Leftists leading the charge. One of the first incidents of unbridled violence was one that came from the Jamia Millia Islamia University followed by the violence unleashed by the so-called students of Aligarh Muslim University. The UP police were massacred with criticism by the Leftists who repeatedly asserted that the UP police had used “excessive force” on the “students of AMU” while “they were protesting peacefully”.
Dispelling those allegations, the Uttar Pradesh police released videos yesterday which showed the “peaceful” students of AMU clearly hurling stones, mercilessly at the police.
In the first video, UP police demonstrate how the police had actually appealed and warned against the unlawful assembly. It is at this point that stone-pelting had started, injuring several policemen. It is to control the situation that the police had to resort to tear-gas shelling.
The second, more damning and chilling video is where it is clearly visible that AMU’s Bab-e-Syed gate was violently broken down by the ‘students’ of AMU, not the police.
The two videos have decisively put an end to the Left-Liberal agenda of blaming the Uttar Pradesh police of using “excessive force” on “peaceful students”. The “students” of AMU were not peaceful by any stretch of the imagination and considering the violent nature of these riots, the UP police can be seen using sufficient restraint.
These videos also put in focus the motivated, lie-ridden “fact-finding report” that was published by ace propagandist Harsh Mander who used to be a part of Sonia Gandhi’s NAC, which was almost the de facto government during the UPA’s tenure.
Harsh Mander and his NGO ‘Karwan e Mohabbat’ published a report based on utter conjecture and outright lies to demonise the Uttar Pradesh police and whitewash the crimes of the violent AMU students who ran riots.
Harsh Mander claims in his fact-finding report
Harsh Mander claimed that the ‘circumstances in which RAF entered the campus remain unclear’. He then claims that the students and faculty attest to the fact that there was no provocation from the peaceful students.
It is evident from the videos that the students indulged in violent stone-pelting and thus, for Mander to take the word of the students in this aspect betrays the truth. Interestingly, his “fact-finding” thus seems to have been limited to furthering propaganda by the violent rioters. It is evident that Mander did not check the CCTV footage of the violence or if he did, he chose to hide the facts that emerge from it. One has to then wonder what this ‘fact-finding’ mission was all about.
Harsh Mander then claims with absolute certainty that it was the RAF and Uttar Pradesh police that broke down the Bab-e-Syed gate of AMU.
Harsh Mander claims in his fact-finding report
In this fact-finding report, other than the victimhood of rioters, noting really seems to be based on ‘facts’. Harsh speculates that the VC of AMU extended to ‘consent’ to let RAF in after they have “broken down the Bab-e-Syed gate” to legitimise police action. He says that the gate was broken with ‘precision’ while the locks were intact, insinuating that the RAF and UP police had somehow conspired to break the gate without any provocation from the students of AMU. He also tries to cast aspersions on the fact that there was stone pelting and large scale violence from within AMU. Both these assertions have been debunked by the videos released by the UP police.
Harsh Mander, while painting the stone-pelting, rioting students completely innocent, also claims that the Uttar Pradesh police used ‘stun grenades’ and ‘bullets’.
Aligarh SSP Akash Kulhari has in clear terms stated that no lethal arms were used to control the mob violence that broke out at AMU during the anti-CAA riots. He stated that he is ready to face an inquiry over such allegations that stun grenades were used by police during the protests. Interestingly, much before Harsh Mander, it was Naxal sympathiser Nandini Sunder who had made these claims. Similar such ‘stun grenade’ usage appeared in leftist rag The Telegraph India which claimed that a report prepared by Jamia Millia Students who went to AMU to ‘fact-find’ on what transpired the previous night in violence, mentioned usage of ‘stun grenades’.
Harsh Mander claims in his fact-finding report
While there is absolutely no evidence that stun-guns were used and the UP police have already clarified, after lying about everything else, Harsh further fear-mongers by claiming that the UP police turned AMU into a war-like situation by using stun guns.
Further, Mander says in his report, “Based on students’ and teachers’ testimonies, video footage, medical opinion, remarks of administration, and physical evidence on-site, we can confirm that tear gas shells, sound bombs, rubber bullets, stun grenades and lathis were used on the students. They had also resorted to stone-pelting”.
It is to be noted here that while Harsh Mander claims to have checked the video footage to peddle a lie that lethal weapons were used, he has asserted that the AMU students did not indulge in stone-pelting and also that the Bab-e-Syed gate was broken by the police and RAF without confirming those allegations with the video footage.
Harsh Mander does not stop there.
In an already charged environment where Muslim mobs are going on a rampage, Harsh Mander claimed that the police raised ‘Jai Shree Ram’ slogans while “attacking” the “peaceful” Muslim students of AMU. There is, of course, no evidence for this except the word of the rioters of AMU who Mander is trying to shield.
It is important to note here that in WhatsApp groups that were run by NSUI (Congress), coordinating protests throughout the country, Harsh Mander was one of the names that came up as a go-to helping hand in case rioters get into trouble.
While Harsh Mander has resorted to blatant lies helped by digital media platforms and leftists like Nandini Sunder and scores of others, it is shocking to note that the mainstream media has only added fuel to fire.
Times of India had earlier today reported the videos released by the Uttar Pradesh police that demolish the lies being peddled by the likes of Harsh Mander.
Times of India headline
Interestingly, the Times of India has now pulled this article down.
The Times of India has claimed that the article was removed because it contained ‘inaccurate/insufficient information’.
An archive version of this article shows that it was a simple report based on the videos released by the Uttar Pradesh government that not only showed the students of AMU breaking down the AMU gate but also them indulging in unbridled stone-pelting.
One has to wonder why Times of India would delete a simple report based on videos released by the official, verified Twitter account of the Uttar Pradesh police.
Is this a part of a concerted attempt to further a certain kind of narrative without allowing the truth to reach masses? Till this report was published, the Times of India had not published their report back.
The violence in the country has been fomented by political parties and aided by media that has often refused to publish the truth. With Muslim mobs going on a rampage across the nation, the media, Left-liberals and political parties like the Congress, AAP and others have been active participants in not only spreading disinformation but also shielding the rioters by either maintaining silence on their violence or airbrushing the truth. Harsh Mander is certainly unlikely to withdraw his blatant lies, however, one has to wonder what stopped the Times of India from publishing the truth about AMU as evidenced by the videos.
On Sunday, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) said it was “closely” watching the recent developments in India, including Parliament passing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the verdict in the Ayodhya case.
The General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (#OIC) has been following recent developments affecting Muslim minority in #India. It expresses its concern over the recent developments pertaining to both the issue of citizenship rights & the #BabriMasjid case. pic.twitter.com/lm8lIH2LeL
According to the statement issued by OIC, the Islamic body expressed its concern over the recent developments pertaining to both the issue of citizenship rights and the Babri Masjid case. In a historical verdict, the Supreme Court on 9th November handed over the Ram Janmabhoomi site to the Hindus while giving an alternate piece of land to the Sunni Waqf Board for the mosque.
“The General Secretariat of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation has been closely following recent developments affecting Muslim minority in India,” the OIC said in a brief statement.
The OIC also urged the Indian government to ensure the safety of the Muslim minority and the protection of their religious sites. It “reaffirms the crucial importance of upholding the principles and obligations enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and relevant international covenants that guarantee the rights of minorities without any discrimination,” the statement said.
It also cautioned that “any action, contrary to these principles and obligations, may lead to further tensions and may have serious implications on peace and security across the region.”
The OIC is a 57-member grouping of Muslim majority nations, including Pakistan. The body has usually been supportive of Pakistan and often sided with the terror-state in its disputes with India. In September, following the abrogation of Article 370, the OIC had asked India to “rescind” its actions in Kashmir and abide by the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.
It is ironical that OIC is concerned about on minority rights in India when most of its members are accused of persecuting religious, ethnic minorities in their own country. Addition to this, the Islamic organisation is very much silent on human rights violation in China over the issue of Uyghur Muslims. Instead, the OIC had praised China in its the Abu Dhabi Declaration, stating, “We commend the efforts of the People’s Republic of China in providing care to its Muslim citizens”.
The OIC is also silent on the persecution of Hindus, Balochis, Pashtuns, Sikhs who are fighting for their freedom from the Sunni Punjabi Muslim-dominated Pakistan.
The Citizenship Amendment Bill was passed by the Parliament and signed into law by the President this month.
According to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014, following religious persecution there will get Indian citizenship. The Muslims of these three countries could apply for citizenship for India under the current laws.
The efforts of the Narendra Modi government to clean up country’s banking system from the Non-Performing Assets (NPA) mess seems to be yielding results as the gross non-performing loans of banks improved to 9.1% as of end-September 2019, compared to 11.2% in the fiscal year 2018.
Reportedly, the non-performing assets reported by banks have shown a decline for the first time in last seven years because of the conducive policy environment and reforms like Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its report.
“The gross NPA ratio of all banks declined in FY19 after rising for seven consecutive years, as recognition of bad loans neared completion,” the RBI said in its report on Trend and Progress of Banking 2018-19. The report noted that the gross NPAs has declined to 9.1% in March 2019 from 11.2% in March 2018 as recognition of bad loans neared completion.
“Decline in the slippage ratio, as well as a reduction in outstanding GNPAs, helped in improving the GNPA ratio. While a part of the write-offs was due to ageing of loans, recovery efforts received a boost from the IBC. The restructured standard advances to gross advances ratio began declining after the asset quality review (AQR) in 2015 and reached 0.55% at end-March 2019,” the report said.
Further, the report stated that there was a decline in both gross NPA and in the net NPA ratios. However, the deteriorating asset quality of private banks in terms of the GNPA ratio was due to the reclassification of IDBI Bank as a private bank effective January 21, 2019. The GNPA ratio of these banks showed a decline if IDBI Bank is excluded as a private bank, the report stated.
The recovery of stressed assets improved during 2018-19 mainly because of resolutions under the IBC, which contributed more than half of the total amount recovered. However, recovery rates yielded by major resolution mechanisms declined in 2018-19, especially through the SARFAESI mechanism.
“Cases referred for recovery under various mechanisms grew over 27% in volume and tripled in value during the year, leading to a pile-up of bankruptcy proceedings. This highlights the need to strengthen and expand the supportive infrastructure,” the report said.
As the Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved the updating of the National Population Register (NPR), a campaign to discredit the process by indulging in fear-mongering and half-truths have already been started by opposition parties and its ecosystem. Home Minister Amit Shah had specified that the NPR has nothing to do with the NRC (National Register for Citizens) which is not even drafted yet.
However, Congress took to the social media in a bid to mock Home Minister and show that he ‘lied’. In a post, Congress shared a screenshot of the annual report of the home ministry which mentioned that the NPR is just one step short of NRC.
Once again the BJP govt is caught in a trap of their own making.
2018-19 Annual Report of the Union Home Ministry clearly states NPR is first step to NRC.
Also in 2014 former MoS Home Ministry Kiren Rijiju replied to a question in RS stating the same.
Despite Union Home Minister Amit Shah reiterating that there are no links between the NPR and NRC, the Congress party indulged in peddling half-truths on social media. The party questioned the BJP by stating a 2018-19 Annual Report of the Union Home Ministry, which stated ‘NPR was the first step to NRC’.
In a hurry to discredit the NDA government, the Congress party faced an embarrassment after it was exposed that it was the Congress party that had introduced the NPR and linked it to the process of NRIC and not the present BJP government. 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.
FAQs during 2011 Census
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.
Similar misinformation was spread by the usual suspects.
NPR=NRC. How much more will the Modi government lie and mislead the people? It was stated clearly on the record in the Rajya Sabha by this government, that the National Population Register is the base document from where the NRC work will start. (Page 2 below, last paragraph) pic.twitter.com/FvvuTkMwBv
AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi even accused the Home Minister of trying to mislead the country.
Asaduddin Owaisi, AIMIM: Why is Home Minister misleading the nation? In Parliament he said ‘Owaisi ji NRC will be implemented in the whole country’. Amit Shah sahab, as long as the sun keeps rising from the east we will keep telling the truth. NPR is the first step towards NRC. https://t.co/toAQU3yjV3pic.twitter.com/8vgAqne8Ce
It is pertinent to note that 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.
Interestingly, the then President Pratibha Patil had backed the NPR proposal and was the first citizen to enrol in the population register. She had even urged every citizen to register with the NPR, a flagship initiative of the UPA government.
In 2009, the scam-accused Chidambaram, who was the then Home Minister had also spoken high of the NPR initiative. In fact, the whole idea of NPR actually was put in motion by the then Home Minister P Chidambaram in 2009.
Speaking at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in 2010, Chidambaram had said that “for the first time in human history an exercise of this kind of beginning to identify, count, enumerate, record and eventually issue an ID card to 120 crore people” was being undertaken. He was heard saying that NPR was “an exercise of this kind has not been attempted anywhere else in the world.”
It is rather interesting to see why the Congress party has now decided to discredit the idea of the National Population Registry, which was once a brainchild of the UPA government in 2010.
What is the National Population Registry?
The National Population Register (NPR) is a register of the ‘usual’ residents of the country. A usual resident is defined as a person who has resided in a local area for the past six months or more or a person who intends to reside in that area for the next 6 months or more.
The database under the NPR will be maintained by the Registrar General of India and Census Commissioner of India, Ministry of Home Affairs. The NPR is prepared at the local, sub-District, District, State and National level, under provisions of the Citizenship Act 1955 and the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003.
Most importantly, the NPR will be mandatory for every usual resident of India to register in the NPR. The exercise will be carried out during the house-listing phase of Census 2021, during April to September 2020, in all the states and union territories, except Assam, where a National Register of Citizens was recently released.
Lucknow Police has filed a chargesheet against 13 accused in the Kamlesh Tiwari murder case. Of these, Ashfaq and Moinuddin, who shot him and then slit his throat at Tiwari’s Lucknow residence on October 18, 2019, were charged with murder. Some reports have identified Ashfaq as Ashraf in the past.
As per reports, the chargesheet has been filed at a local court in Lucknow. Out of 13 named in the chargesheet, 11 are currently in jail while one Kaifi Ali is out on bail. Maulana Kaifi Ali Rizvi from Bareilly was arrested by the ATS on 21st October. His bail was arranged for by the people from the dargah where he is associated. According to investigation agencies, the last known location of Ashfaq and Moinuddin was Bareilly and it was reported that the duo had visited Maulana Kaifi Ali Rizvi in Bareilly after killing Tiwari.
Another person Tanveer, a Nepal resident who had allegedly given shelter to the killers is currently absconding.
On 18th October, Hindu activist and leader of the Hindu Samaj Party, Kamlesh Tiwari, was brutally murdered by Jihadis at his residence in Lucknow. He was shot and his throat was slit by the murderers. Since then, the investigation has seen numerous developments and various people have been arrested for their involvement in the murder.
IIT Bombay students on Tuesday took out a march in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act.
IIT Bombay march in support of Citizenship Amendment Act
The students at the premier institute welcomed the persecuted religious minorities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. “IITB students stand against the violence and politicisation of educational campuses for fuelling protests mainly in JMI and AMU. IIT B Students stand against spread of misinformation on CAA,” the banners held by IIT Bombay students read.
IIT Bombay students also urged the protestors to go and read the Act to form an opinion. As quoted by Mumbai Mirror, one student, Narayana Eeti said that the CAA is not discriminatory and does not go against Indian ethos as it pertains to only three neighbouring Islamic countries.
Following the passage of Citizenship Amendment Act, a deluge of misinformation had led to nation-wide protests which quickly turned violent especially in educational institutes like Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia and Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh Muslim University. The protesting mob took to violence and also pelted stones at police force and other security agencies. The police had to use force to control the mob including lathicharge and teargas.
The Union Cabinet, earlier today, had approved the updating of the National Population Register. Following the announcement, usual suspects had started indulging in fearmongering and claimed that it was the first step towards the NRC. Now, in an interview with ANI, Home Minister Amit Shah has completely denied any links between the NPR and NRC.
Home Minister Amit Shah to ANI: There is no link between National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR), I am clearly stating this today pic.twitter.com/zK32RIFyLh
The Home Minister again reiterated that there was no need for a debate around the NRC as there is no discussion on it in the Cabinet or the Parliament. Amit Shah also requested the Chief Minister of Kerala and West Bengal to not stop the initiative. He said, “It will include the poor people who would then get benefits from the Central Govt. They should not take away the benefits extended to the poor.”
#WATCH Home Minister Amit Shah speaks to ANI on National Population Register, NRC/CAA and other issues. https://t.co/g4Wl8ldoVg
Amit Shah clarified that no one’s citizenship will be revoked if their name is not included in the NPR. He said it is completely different from the NRC. He also iterated that NPR and NRC derive themselves from completely different laws. Shah said that there’s no proof needed for NPR, no documentation is needed from people and it is only for making a register of information.
There’s no proof needed for NPR. No documentation is needed from the people. The Govt is only making a register of information.
There’s a provision of providing Aadhar in the process, like it was in 2010: Shri @AmitShah
Issuing further clarification on the NPR, the Home Minister said, “NPR takes away no one’s citizenship. It is a decadal exercise. It maps people who have shifted to new states. It registers new children and removes people who’re dead. Nothing new is being done. Everything has been done in the past.”
Assuaging the concerns of the minorities, Amit Shah said, “It is a Constitutional provision to conduct Census every 10 years. No one should think that it will be used for NRC. Minorities, especially, should not fear this. These are two different practices.” The Home Minister also said that the NPR and Census were being done together as the processes involved were similar.
The Home Minister stated further, “The constitutional provision of census of the country is to be done in 10 years. The last census was done in 2011, so the next one is to be in 2021. The census process will begin in April 2020. Then the mapping of the houses will begin. Complete census and NPR will be in 2021.”
Amit Shah also said that the NPR was first devised during the UPA regime and it was in 2010 that the exercise was first conducted. Appearing a bit exasperated, Shah remarked, “Why wasn’t it questioned then? When we do the same thing, we are questioned. What kind of questioning is this?” He also pointed out that now that the protests around the CAA are dying down, attempts are being made to fan a fresh political debate, involving the NPR and the NRC.
