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Kerala: Police file charge sheet against ‘Kiss of love’ organisers under POCSO in connection with online sex trafficking case

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The crime branch of Kerala police on December 23 (Monday) filed a charge sheet at the POCSO Special Court in Thiruvananthpuram against the model-cum-activist Reshmi R Nair and her husband Rahul Pashupalann in connection with an online sex trafficking case.

Reports alleged that the husband-wife duo was helping a gang that supplied children to paedophiles.

Inspector General (IG) of the crime branch S Sreejith filed the chargesheet. Sreejith had also headed the month-long undercover operation, code-named ‘Operation Big Daddy’ that busted the racket which was indulging in the trafficking of women and minor girls and using them for prostitution, The duo was arrested from Nedumbasserry in 2015.

According to reports, Resmi has been named in the chargesheet for allegedly ‘pairing off’ underage girls with wealthy clients looking for paid sex. Rahul was accused of being aware of the racket, and co-operating with it. The chargesheet has been filed, four years after the First Information Report was registered in 2015.

The chargesheet says that the duo, who were part of the ‘Kiss of Love’ campaign, had trafficked minor girls from Bengaluru to Kerala and used them for prostitution. Out of the 11 detained in 2015, the crime branch had finally arrested the husband-wife duo, along with four other people for their alleged involvement in the sex racket.

Kerala police’s cyber wing stumbled upon the alleged sex racket while investigating a complaint on a Facebook paedophile page called ‘Kochu Sundarikal’.

“We had filed an FIR in the ‘Kochu Sundarikal’ case and decided to pursue more links. This is when we stumbled on the sex racket, though it had nothing to do with the Facebook page. First, we followed the leads of one particular woman who was used for sex work and supplied to clients. Then we tracked down two minors who had been brought in from Bengaluru,” a senior police officer said following the arrest of the accused in the ‘Kiss of Love’ racket in 2015.

Unaware of the fact that the police were probing the activities of a sex racket in which he and his wife were a part, Rahul Pashupalann was closely monitoring the progress of the probe into the Facebook page Kochu Sandarikal in the garb of a morally-right social activist. Ironically, the police cracked both cases simultaneously and his arrest too was recorded on the same day the perpetrators behind the offending Facebook page were arrested.

Both the cases were probed by the same team led by crime branch IG S Sreejith, who launched ‘Operation Big Daddy’ to curb the online prostitution and escorting activities that were found thriving in the state.

Modi govt announces major Railways reforms to break a 150-year-old legacy: Railway Board restructured, cadres to be merged

The Modi government has taken a momentous decision approving the restructuring of the Indian Railways. In the revamped structure passed by the PM Modi-led cabinet, the Railway Board will now have Members for Infrastructure, Rolling Stock and Traction, Finance, Operations and Business Development. A statement issued by the Indian Railways said that the government has taken a bold and historic decision of restructuring the Railways organisation to break a 150-year-old legacy.

Besides, the cabinet has also given its nod to the merger of railway cadres. The eight Group A services of the Indian Railway will now be unified into a central service called Indian Railway Management Services (IRMS). The existing service of the Indian Railway Medical Services(IRMS) will be rebranded as Indian Railway Health Services(IRHS).

Source: Indian Railway officials

The creation of the IRMS will be done in consultation with DoPT and UPSC to facilitate recruitment in the next year. The modalities and unification of the services will be worked out by the Ministry of Railways in consultation with DoPT with the approval of Alternative Mechanism to be appointed by Cabinet in order to ensure fairness and transparency. The process shall be completed within a year.

Read- Tejas Express is the REAL reform: Indian Railways on road to privatisation

Railway Board will no longer be organised on departmental lines, & replaced with a
leaner structure organised on functional lines. It will have a Chairman, who will act as ‘Chief Executive Officer (CEO)’ along with 4 Members responsible for Infrastructure, Operations & Business Development, Rolling Stock and Finance respectively. The Chairman shall be the cadre controlling officer responsible for Human resources (HR) with assistance from a DG (HR). The Board will have distinguished professionals with experience and 30 years of experience as Independent Members.

Putting an end to the “Departmentalism” of the Indian Railway that has long hobbled its progress, the move to amalgamate the disparate services by the Modi government is aimed to break the 150-year-old legacy of the Indian Railways and will put an end to the culture of working in ‘silos’ and expedite decision making and enabling coherent vision for the organisation.

These reforms were long overdue as the Indian Railway, unlike the Railway organisations across the world, is not corporatised but managed by the government of India. There are various departments such as Traffic, Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, Signal and Telecom, etc. The departments are vertically divided and each department is headed by a Secretary level officer in the Railway Board. As a result, such an arrangement engendered the culture of working in silos.

With these reforms, the government will not only achieve unification of diverse services but it will also succeed in improving efficiency and fixing accountability for the lapses, that so far eluded Indian Railway. The reorganisation will provide the officers with the ownership of the projects their service may have previously opposed. Promotion of such officers will be based on their performances in these projects.

Read- Indian Railways: The old and creaky behemoth is undergoing large-scale transformation at rapid pace

The reorganisation will also save cost to the Indian Railway as duplication of the efforts, which hitherto happened, will be stopped. The faster implementation of the projects will ensure that the cost overruns are kept in check. The entire array of services will be thrown open for the Railway staff to learn which will train them to be a multitasker and acquaint them with newer skills that will expand their horizons of job specialisation.

According to the Modi government, the reforms that have been initiated today are in line with the recommendations suggested by various committees in the last 25 years. This reorganisation includes recommendations from Prakash Tandon report(1994), Rakesh Mohan Committee(2001), Sam Pitroda Committee(2012) and Bibek Debroy Committee(2015).

The reforms were undertaken with an overwhelming support of the Railway officers during the two-day conference”Parivartan Sangoshthi” held in New Delhi on 7th and 8th December 2019.

Amruta Fadnavis vs Shiv Sena: Wife of Former Maharashtra CM slams the party for crass demonstration

The war between Amruta Fadnavis, wife of former Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, and the Shiv Sena has escalated. On Tuesday Fadnavis slammed the Shiv Sena for a distasteful demonstration where female workers of the former BJP ally slapped a portrait of her with slippers and shoes.


Quoting a rhyme, Amruta Fadnavis said that pelting stones and showing slippers were old hobbies of the Shiv Sena and that she will emerge from it stronger. The crass demonstration by Shiv Sena was presumably in response to a tweet where she had said that “One cannot be a ‘Thackeray’ also by just putting ‘Thackrey’ surname after his name ! One needs to be true, principled & should think for betterment of people & party members above his own family & power dynamics !” She had proceeded to tag the Shiv Sena and current Maharashtra CM in the same tweet.


The Shiv Sena appears to be on a spree of crass behaviour. On Sunday, a mob led by Shiv Sena functionaries Samadhan Jukdeo and Prakash Hasbe thrashed a man and tonsured his head outside his residence in Shanti Nagar area for making comments on Uddhav Thackeray on Facebook. Today, instead of condemning the behaviour of the party workers, MLA Aaditya Thackeray went ahead and called the victim a nasty, low-life troll.

UP Police asks abusive troll Swati Chaturvedi to calm down after she loses her cool when they put her on ‘Watch list CAA Protests’ on Twitter

Uttar Pradesh Police today put abusive troll masquerading as a journalist Swati Chaturvedi on ‘Watch list CAA Protests’ on Twitter.


As expected, she quite lost her cool and referred to UP Police as “Yogi’s Gestapo”. Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany.

Uttar Pradesh Police did clarify that they have put her on the Twitter list to quickly reach out to people like her for public discourse around important issue.


Following this, however, Uttar Pradesh Police has either deleted the list or set it up as private.

Union Cabinet approves creation of the post of Chief of Defence Staff, to be a four-star General and head of the Department of Military Affairs

In a landmark decision to reform the top-level defence management of the country, the Union Cabinet today approved the creation of the post of Chief of Defence Staff. The CDS will be a four-star General with the salary and perquisites equivalent to a Service Chief. A statement issued by the press information bureau said that the Chief of Defence Staff will also head the Department of Military Affairs (DMA), which will be created within the Ministry of Defence and function as its Secretary.

The DMA headed by the CDS will deal with the matters of the three armed forces which are the Army, the Navy and the Air Force, the Integrated Headquarters of ministry of defence which includes the three service headquarters along with the defence staff headquarters, the Territorial Army, works related to the three forces and procurement exclusive to the defence forces except capital expenditure.

The mandate for the Department of Military Affairs includes promoting joint procurement, training and staffing of the various defence services through joint planning and integration of requirements, restructuring of Military Commands for optimal utilisation of resources by bringing about jointness in operations, including through establishment of joint/theatre commands, and promoting use of indigenous equipment.

Apart from heading the DMA, the Chief of Defence Staff will also be the permanent chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee. The CDS will act as the Principal Military Adviser to the Defence Minister on all tri-Services matters. But the three individual Chiefs will continue to advise the minister on matters exclusively concerning their respective Services, and CDS will not exercise any military command over the three Service Chiefs. This will enable the CDS to provide impartial advice to the government, the statement said.

The functions to be performed by the CDS includes the administration of tri-service organisations. Tri-service agencies/organisations/commands related to Cyber and Space will be under the command of the CDS. The CDS will be member of Defence Acquisition Council chaired by Defence Minister and Defence Planning Committee chaired by NSA. He will also function as the Military Adviser to the Nuclear Command Authority.

The Chief of Defence Staff will bring jointness in operation, logistics, transport, training, support services, communications, repairs and maintenance, etc of the three Services, within three years of the first CDS assuming office. He will ensure optimal utilisation of infrastructure and rationalise it through jointness among the three services.

The CDS will also implement a Five-Year Defence Capital Acquisition Plan (DCAP), and Two-Year roll-on Annual Acquisition Plans (AAP), as a follow up of Integrated Capability Development Plan (ICDP). He is expected to bring reforms in the functioning of three services aimed at augmenting combat capabilities of the Armed Forces by reducing wasteful expenditure.

The creation of the post of Chief of Defence Staff was announced by PM Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech on 15th August this year. He had announced that to further improve defence coordination and preparedness, India will now have a Chief of Defence Staff. Although modalities of the post were not finalised at that time, which were announced today.

The most important aspect which had created a lot of speculation was whether the CDS will be a five-star general or four-star general. A five-star General as CDS is superior to the three service chiefs who are four-star officers, a true chief of the entire defence force of the country. On the other hand, a four-star General has the same rank as the three chiefs, but is considered first amongst equals. Now the government has decided to go with the second option with a four-star general being the CDS. This means the CDS will not have direct command over the three services. The Naresh Chandra task force, formed to review the recommendations of the Kargil Review Committee, had also suggested the creation of CDS with four-star rank.

After the creation of the post of Chief of Defence Staff, it is expected that the post of Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee will be abolished. This post was formed in 2001 as a compromise as the creation of CDS was facing hurdles due to opposition from some sections. At present Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa is the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee.

The government will announce the name of the first Chief of Defence Staff of India soon. It is speculated that Indian Army Chief General Bipin Singh Rawat is likely to be appointed as the country’s first CDS.

Days after Shiv Sainiks thrashed a man for over FB post on Maha CM, Rajasthan Police detains a man for ‘objectionable’ post

A man in Rajasthan has been detained for allegedly making derogatory comments on Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, officials said on Tuesday. An FIR was registered against two people, Lilaram Sharma and Bhim Singh Golwar, by a man named Harikishan Saini, who runs a Facebook page.

“We have detained Lilaram Sharma from Alwar on Monday night. He is being interrogated in Jaipur,” SHO, Murlipura police station Ramavtar Takhar said. Saini claimed that the two had made defamatory and objectionable comments against the Congress Chief Minister after a post was uploaded on the page on Sunday. He had then proceeded to register a case against them.

Read: Aaditya Thackeray terms the man who was beaten up by Shiv Sena workers as ‘nasty low life troll’, doesn’t condemn behaviour by party men

The arrest of the man in Rajasthan comes a couple of days after a mob led by Shiv Sena functionaries Samadhan Jukdeo and Prakash Hasbe thrashed a man and tonsured his head outside his residence in Shanti Nagar area in Maharashtra for making comments on Uddhav Thackeray on Facebook. He had criticised Thackeray for comparing the police action against anti-CAA rioters to Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Today, instead of condemning the behaviour of the party workers, MLA Aaditya Thackeray went ahead and called the victim a nasty, low-life troll.

Uttar Pradesh: SP leader Azam Khan’s close aide Parvez amongst 150 identified for vandalism in anti-CAA riots in Rampur

Large scale rioting and arson took place in several places in UP in the name of anti CAA protests last week.

Now coming as a major embarrassment for the Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, one of his close associate is amongst the 150 people whom the police have identified for vandalism in Rampur during the violent anti-citizenship law riots that claimed a civilian’s life.

After the last week violence in Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur district, police have now produced pictures and video footages of the incident as evidence, where Parvez, a driver and close associate of Samajwadi Party strongman, Azam Khan’s, who himself has been implicated and convicted in innumerable cases, can be seen hurling stones at the police personnel,” Rampur Superintendent of Police Ajay Pal Sharma told PTI.

The police have held these rioters responsible for rioting and for causing damages to public and private property to the tune of Rs 15 lakh so far which would be compensated by those involved in its destruction, a senior official said.

Read: Suar MLA and SP leader Azam Khan’s son Abdullah Azam disqualified from Uttar Pradesh Assembly

Uttar Pradesh had turned into a war zone last week with anti-CAA rioters taking to the streets resorting to arson and severe vandalism, claiming as many as 11 lives. UP police have informed that 218 persons have been arrested and 3305 detained for defying prohibitory orders. Section 144 was enforced in the state on Wednesday night. It has been extended in the state till 31st January.

Protesters in the state vandalised of torched several police vehicles in Amroha, Bijnor, Muzaffarnagar, BulandShahr and Hapur, and police were unable to stop them even after using teargas shells and batons. Rioters resorted to stone-pelting and other violent activities during the anti-CAA protests. In several cities, self-imposed curfew was seen as shopkeepers kept their shutters down in fear of vandalism.

A 22-year-old man died of a bullet injury on Saturday in Rampur during the violence in which several locals and policemen were injured, and six vehicles, including a police motorcycle, were torched.

The police have assessed the total damage to property to the tune of Rs 15 lakh so far which would be compensated by those involved in its destruction, a senior official said. The process is underway to attach the properties of those identified so far, he said.

Maulana Azad National Urdu Uni Chancellor appeals to Muslims not to fall prey to politicians who want to break India with anti-CAA propaganda

The protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, and National Register of Citizens (NRC) by the students of the Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU), Hyderabad, has been continuing for almost 10 days now.

Amidst protests against CAA and NRC on campus, Firoze Bakht Ahmad the  Chancellor, on Friday released an appeal to Muslims using the university letterhead saying, “CAA and NRC aren’t against Muslims.” He appeals to all the Indians, especially Muslim brethren to not fall for rumours.

Dismissing all the lies being spun around CAA and NRC by the leftist brigade, the Chancellor has in his letter established that the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens are not against Muslims and has appealed to his people to ‘not get into the clutches of those politicians who want to break India’.

Letter of appeal by MANUU Chancellor Shri Firoz Bakht Ahmad, via Sanjay Dixit on Twitter

Ahmad furthers that people with vested interest are trying to vitiate the peaceful and harmonious fabric of India by frightening the Muslim community from the CAA and NRC Acts.

He writes that the antagonists who could not digest the peaceful settlement of Mandir-Masjid and Article 370, are now attempting to instigate, incite and misguide the Muslims to dump India into the fire of anarchy and civil war.

He appeals to fellow Muslims to not lose their head’s over the false and malicious propaganda.

Imploring people of his community, not to toe the lines of the ones misleading them, Ahmad urges fellow Muslims to refrain from taking to the streets and protesting against CAA. He appeals that they should instead strengthen the hands of the Prime Minister, who, he vouches is a well-wisher of their community.

The Chancellor assures that PM Modi, whose slogan has been “ek hath mein Quran/ ek hath mein computer”, can never think ill about them. He assures that whatever the Prime Minister’s decision will be, it will always be for their communities amelioration and urges Muslims in the country to cooperate.

MANUU students boycotted examinations and have been protesting against CAA and NRC at the varsity since December 15.

Interestingly, Barkha Dutt’s ‘sheroes’, Ladeeda who gave a call for Jihad and Aysha Renna who had called India fascist for executing terrorist Yakub Memon, had joined the students of MANUU on Sunday to incite them against the newly-enacted CAA and NRC. These girls had emerged as the faces of the Jamia protest after leftist’s like Barkha hailed them for challenging the Delhi Police and creating ruckus during the course of protests against the newly-enacted law.

Addressing the gathering in Hyderabad, Ladeeda said that the student community all across the country would continue their protests until the CAA is revoked. “Such protests all over the country show the power of the student community. This has created fear in the government,” she said.

Aaditya Thackeray terms the man who was beaten up by Shiv Sena workers as ‘nasty low life troll’, doesn’t condemn behaviour by party men

On Sunday, a man from Wadala in Mumbai was allegedly beaten up by Shiv Sena goons for dissing Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray for his comment on the December 15 police action against the Jamia Islamia rioters. Now, instead of condemning the behaviour of the party workers, MLA Aaditya Thackeray has gone ahead and called the victim a nasty, low-life troll.

CM Uddhav Thackeray had condemned the police action against the violent protestors and likened the crackdown against them to Jallianwala Bagh massacre 1919. A man, identified as Hiramani Tiwari(30) took to Facebook to criticise Thackeray for his comment.

Soon after he uploaded his post, Hiramani Tiwari started receiving threats from assorted thugs demanding him to pull down the disparaging post. Sensing threat, Tiwari deleted the post. However, on Sunday, a group led by Sena functionaries Samadhan Jukdeo and one Prakash Hasbe beat him up and shaved his head outside his Shanti Nagar residence.

Today, Aaditya Thackeray, one of the top Shiv Sena leaders and son of CM Uddhav Thackeray uploaded a Facebook post regarding the incident. Instead of condemning the lumpen behaviour of his party men, Thackeray condoned their hooliganism and ridiculed the victim of the assault by Shiv Sena members as “low-life troll”.

In a Facebook post, Thackeray sermonised that one should not take the law into one’s hand while calling out the dissenter who opposed his father’s Jallianwala Bagh remark as a “nasty, low-life troll”. He adds that ‘giving answer to such nasty, threatening, and abusive trolls should not be our job’ and these trolls are frustrated because their “irrational voices” are not heard by the country.

Taking a sly dig at the BJP, Aaditya said, “Their behaviour, has been rejected by democratic India in the recent elections and their retreat has been witnessed by the country. These are the same people who threaten people, call them names, are social media lynch mobs. They want to create disharmony and division.”

Aaditya Thackeray further added, “I understand that the remarks angered them (Sena functionaries). I understand the anger we all have when we read non-civil remarks made, against women, leaders, and communities.”

However, it a bit ironical that the man in question was a dissident who was threatened into silence by Shiv Seniks and Aaditya Thackeray himself tried to rationalise the violence against him by bracketing the dissident into the category of “nasty, low-life troll” and thereby tacitly legitimising the illicit action against him by Sena functionaries.


Furthermore, in an attempt to deflect the issue from Sena members blatantly taking the law into their hands and arbitrarily curtailing free-speech and adopting violent means to curb their critiques, Aaditya tried divert the matter by talking about abusive trolls.

Thackeray mouthed off platitudes in his Facebook post about accomplishing the goals of his party such as creating jobs, delivering promises and keeping people united while taking a swipe at the leaders(BJP) for allegedly failing to do so.

It is again ironical that a party which built its foundation on Marathi protectionism and hatred against north Indians, especially people from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, is now pontificating others on “silencing the divisions, hate and working on uniting the people”.

Dammam ‘blasphemy’ case: Wife of accused says fake Facebook account was created to implicate him

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Yesterday, an Indian technician named Harish Bangera who is a resident of Udipi, Karnataka working in Saudi Arabian city of Dammam had found himself in trouble over his Facebook post regarding the Muslim pilgrimage site of Mecca. He was reportedly arrested over his remark and also sacked from his job.

Today, his wife Sumana Bangera has claimed that a fake account was created in her husband’s name on December 20 and the alleged ‘blasphemous’ posts were made from that account.

“At 1 am on December 20, someone created a fake account of my husband and posted the message about the temple to be built in Mecca. Screenshots of this were taken and shared in WhatsApp groups. When I received it, I called my husband and asked him about it but he was shocked and unaware of the post. He told me it’s a fake account,” Sumana told The News Minute.

“But the messages kept spreading. The screenshots came with a message that it should keep getting shared until it reached the Saudi police,” Sumana said.

Read: ‘Kaafiron se azaadi’: What kaafir means and how Allah punishes them, as per Islamic scriptures

Harish’s wife claimed that her husband was being targetted for sharing a video of the CAA protest in Mangaluru on Facebook. Harish allegedly began receiving threatening messages on Facebook, after which she advised him to put out an apology to avoid trouble, claimed Sumana.

Harish has expressed his remorse over the posts uploaded by him. In a video, Harish can be seen beseeching forgiveness from Muslims for his Facebook post. In the video, he says, “I have committed a mistake. Please forgive me. I will never upload any such posts again. I have faced a lot of difficulties prior to coming to Dammam. I seek forgiveness from my Muslim brothers. I am facing problems with my company. Please forgive me.” However, it could not be ascertained when was the video made.

After Harish was arrested, his employers too axed him from the job with immediate effect. A Facebook post that has now gone viral, allegedly from the employers of Harish, condemned the posts made by Harish as ‘objectionable’ and said that they have decided to terminate him from the job citing his unethical posts as a justification for their decision.

On the same evening, Sumana filed a complaint with the Cyber Crime police in Udupi about the issue. “They said that they would find out who created the account and report it to the Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia. I hope my husband comes back safely,” Sumana said.

Many people on social media had also pointed out that the Facebook account which posted allegedly blasphemous messages was in use only from December 20. Harish has another profile which he has been using for years.

On Saturday, December 21, Harish had allegedly uploaded a picture of Kaaba in Mecca with the caption that “Next Ram Temple in Mecca. Be ready for the fight”. Soon, the post elicited hundreds of comments, shares and came to the notice of the Saudi authorities after a complaint was registered against Harish accusing him of blasphemy. He was arrested by the Saudi police within an hour of receiving the complaint.

The News Minute’s report also mentioned that the Indian Embassy in Riyadh and the Ministry of External Affairs in India are aware of the development. The Embassy officials are also reportedly taking up the issue with a legal counsellor.

In a similar incident, a doctor from Kerala, who was working at a private hospital in Doha, has said that he had to quit his job and flew back home following an uproar over his comments on the social media in favour of the new citizenship law.

Dr Ajith Sreedharan, an orthopaedic specialist, who had been in Doha for the last 11 years, had supported the new law in his Facebook post and denounced the protests against it.

The doctor said that though he had not insulted anyone in his post, his opinion created a major uproar on social media and he had to pay back by losing his job.

“There were calls in social media to boycott the hospital. I was told that people from Kerala were behind the campaign. When I realised that a mob would target an institution, I conveyed my decision to quit and return,’’ he said.