Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate from Jangpura, Manish Sisodia’s assets have risen significantly over the past five years. This was revealed after Sisodia filed his nomination papers on Thursday for the Assembly elections in the city-state.
According to the affidavit filed during his nomination, Former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia’s movable assets have seen a significant rise over the past five years.
Sisodia’s movable assets are now valued at Rs 34.43 lakh, up from Rs 4.74 lakh in the 2020 election affidavit. His wife Seema Sisodia’s movable assets have also increased from Rs 2.66 lakh to Rs 12.87 lakh during the same period.
Sisodia’s property value has risen by approximately Rs 30 lakh in the last five years, while his wife’s property has increased by around Rs 10 lakh. Despite this increase in assets, the family currently has an outstanding education loan of Rs 1.5 crore.
Sisodia, who is facing six criminal cases, has denied any charges as none of them have been proven so far. Additionally, Sisodia owns a flat worth Rs 23 lakh in Ghaziabad, while Seema Sisodia owns a flat worth Rs 70 lakh in Mayur Vihar.
The Delhi assembly polls will be held in a single phase on February 5 and the counting of votes will take place on February 8. The last date for filing nominations is January 17. The date for scrutiny of nominations is January 18.
The last date for withdrawal of candidature is January 20. A three-way contest is on the cards in Delhi between the ruling AAP, BJP and Congress.
Congress, which was in power for 15 consecutive years in Delhi, has suffered setbacks in the last two assembly elections and has failed to win any seat.
AAP dominated the 2020 assembly elections by winning 62 out of 70 seats while the BJP got eight seats.
(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)
A heinous attack was carried out on a bull belonging to the famous Srikanteshwara temple in Nanjangud in the Mysore district on January 16. As per reports, the attackers chopped off the bull’s tail and inflicted serious injuries on his body using sharp weapons. A vet was called to treat the bull and the bovine is currently out of danger.
Earlier, in a similar incident, a person identified as Saiyyed Nasru sliced off the udders of three cows in Bengaluru.
The incident has sparked outrage among the local Hindus who demanded swift action against the culprits. People are blaming the Congress government in the state for not building a ‘Gaushala’ which renders stray cattle vulnerable to such attacks and smuggling. Witnesses to the incident reportedly said that the attackers also attempted to catch the bull and put it in a vehicle. Some people have accused the temple administration of being complicit in the attack on the bull.
The police were informed about the incident. Mysuru SP, N Vishnuvardhana took cognizance of the matter and ordered the filing of an FIR against unknown persons. Two teams of police have been formed to nab the culprits. A protest was organised by former BJP MP Pratap Sinha and local people against the incident. Along with speedy action in the matter, people demanded the construction of a cow shelter for stray cattle in the area.
District convenor of Mysuru-based Yuva Brigade, S Chandrashekhar said that the attack and smuggling of bulls donated to Srikanteshwara temple is not new. He said that in the absence of a Gaushala, the bulls become vulnerable to such attacks. Mysuru city BJP Chief L Nagendra also condemned the brutal attack on the bull.
There is a tradition of donating bovines in the Srikanteshwara temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. According to locals, the previous government had marked around 2 acres of land and issued funding for the construction of a Gaushala. Due to the state government’s inaction, the temple administration has decided to temporarily convert the elephant shelter of the temple to accommodate the stray bovines.
Recently, a video from the Guruvayur temple in Kerala went viral on social media. An individual identified as Abdul Hakeem could be seen disrespecting the Tulsi plant, usually worshipped by Hindus as an avatar of Goddess Lakshmi. The video showed Abdul Hakeem plucking out his pubic hair and putting it on the Tulsi plant as he walked past it. As soon as the video surfaced, widespread social media outrage followed. People started reposting and sharing the video expressing anger over the act. Subsequently, a complaint was filed by Hindu Aikya Vedi, a Hindu nationalist organization in Kerala which led to Hakeem’s arrest.
However, the Thrissur City police claimed that the accused was mentally unstable and that he had been undergoing treatment for the past 25 years. “A video of a young man in Guruvayur is seen circulating in social media in a way that creates communal rivalry. During the investigation, it was learned that the young man had a mental disorder and was under treatment for the past 25 years. Those who share the video and share posts related to it in a manner that creates communal rivalry will be subject to strict legal action,” the police warned on Facebook.
Following the incident, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad performed a purification puja of the Tulsi plant. A purification ceremony was performed by VHP Joint Secretary Anoop, members of Hindu Aikya Vedi, members of the Temple Protection Committee, and local devotees. The Hindu Aikya Vedi filed a police complaint which eventually led to the arrest of the accused but the police labelled the accused as mentally unstable.
Purification organized by VHP
It is crucial to note that the accused Abdul Hakeem has not faced the allegations for the first time. Hakeem who is the owner of the National Paradise Restaurant was accused of selling stale and spoiled food to the people. He was also accused of installing hidden cameras in his hotel’s restrooms which resulted in complaints being filed against him at the Guruvayur police station. The matter was reportedly suppressed due to political intervention. The Islamist was also accused of pelting stones earlier at busses carrying Ayyappa devotees.
The recent incident notably adds up to the misconduct executed by the accused, this time attempting to insult the Hindu religion. It has been observed time and again that the reason for ‘mental’ instability’ is used in many cases to downplay the crimes and allegedly save the accused, especially those belonging to specific communities.
It seems to be a time-tested formula that keeps resurfacing again and again. Be it the attack on the Gorakhnath temple or the incident in Telangana where two Muslim women wearing burqa tried to damage temple and church idols, the corporate English media, the left-liberals, Islamists, and their apologists, have been unrelenting in their use of the ‘mental illness’ trope to justify Muslim-committed crimes.
List of attacks where accused from specific communities were declared ‘mentally unstable’
1) Recently, in November 2024, a 24 years old woman, named Fatima Khan, was detained from Ulhasnagar in the Thane area of Mumbai, Maharashtra, for sending death threats to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The police detained the woman and labelled her as mentally unstable. Interestingly, the woman held a Bachelor’s Degree in Information Technology.
2) In December 2023, a 60-year-old man named Latif Khan was arrested by the Mahakal police station of Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh for urinating on Hindu temples at Ramghat in Ujjain. The accused was a retired sanitation worker of the Ujjain Municipality. He was booked under section 295A of the IPC and presented before a court after which he was sent to jail. The police looked into the incident primarily and declared that the accused was mentally unstable.
Ujjain, MP: Ex-sweeper of the Municipal Corporation, Mohammad Latif Khan caught urinating on Hindu Mandirs.
3) Farooq Chisti, one of the six culprits of one of the largest sex scandals in the nation, which took place in Ajmer 32 years ago, who raped the minor girls and threatened them was also earlier declared mentally unstable. However, he was convicted by a fast-track court in Ajmer in 2007 and was sentenced to life in jail by the district court on August 20th, 2024.
4) In 2022, the Gorakhnath temple in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh was attacked by accused Ahmad Murtaza Abbasi who allegedly had planned the targeted attack. However, SP’s Akhilesh Yadav had whitewashed the attack saying that Abbasi had psychiatric issues. Downplaying the attack on a Hindu temple, the SP Chief had targeted the BJP saying that it was ‘exaggerating’ the matter.
Later, during the investigation, the security agencies found that the accused was influenced by banned Islamic preacher Zakir Naik and had ISIS links. It was also learned that the accused had terror connections and was associated with extremists in Syria.
CCTV screenshot of attack in Gorakhnath temple premise
5) In October 2022, two Muslim women were detained for reportedly vandalizing the idol of the goddess Durga at a Navratri pandal in Hyderabad. The ladies barged into a pandal in the city’s Khairatabad locality and smashed a portion of the Durga statue, according to Hyderabad Police. When a local tried to stop them, one of the ladies attacked him with a metallic tool. The ladies were reportedly labelled as mentally disturbed and affected by schizophrenia.
6) In September of the same year, a man identifiedas Rameez Ahmed broke into the Bhagwan Hanuman temple in the Hindpuri Police Station area of Ranchi, Jharkhand, and vandalized the idol there. Ahmed was subsequently arrested by the police. Notably, the police had claimed that Ahmed was mentally unstable. The locals were not satisfied by the reasoning provided by the police.
7) In 2018, a case of idol vandalism in a Hindu temple had been reported from the Shahganj region of Agra in Uttar Pradesh. It was reported that the accused had vandalized a Hanuman and Durga idol to instigate communal tensions. The devotees then caught hold of the individual reportedly trying to flee the temple premises, who when questioned identified himself as Sonu Khan.
As per a tweet by ANI, the accused was assaulted by the locals after being tied to a tree, following which he was handed over to the police. The news agency claimed that the accused was “mentally challenged”.
8) Similarly, in 2016, a youth from a particular community barged into the temple at Janipur in Jammu, threw stones at windowpanes, and tried to damage the idol. The miscreant was identified as Yasir, a resident of Doda town in Jammu. Several media outlets were ready to play the ‘mentally disturbed’ card in this case as well because the offender belonged to their preferred community.
9) In October 2022, Jammu and Kashmir DGP (Prisons) Hemant Kumar Lohia was found dead under mysterious circumstances with throat slit and burn marks on his body. Terror group People’s Anti-Fascist Force (PAFF), an offshoot of Pakistan-headquartered terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba, had claimed responsibility for the murder. Prima facie it had appeared to be a case of murder and his domestic help Yasir Lohar was believed to be the primary suspect. Yasir first suffocated the DG to death, then used a broken ketchup bottle to slit his throat, and later tried to set his body on fire before fleeing the crime scene. In the given case as well, the accused was declared as ‘mentally unstable’.
Disturbing trend transpiring hatred towards the Hindu religion
In recent years, a concerning trend of attacks on Hindu temples by Islamists dubbed “mentally unstable” in the media and by the leftist authorities has emerged in various parts of India. These incidents have affected regions across the country. Notably, some of these attacks have occurred during festive seasons or close to religious Hindu processions.
Additionally, this trend transpires without provocation, underscoring the deep-rooted hatred towards Hinduism in the minds of Islamists which is probably the root cause behind these attacks. It is worth noting that in several of these cases, dedicated attempts were made to excuse their actions by labeling the attackers as mental patients.
In the given case also, the attack on Tulsi happened in the Guruvayur temple in the state of Kerala which is ruled by the left. The attacker, Abdul Hakeem who is the owner of a hotel and has been accused several times earlier of misconduct is being labelled as ‘mentally unstable’. The accused notably insulted the Tulsi during the Pongal festival which is a multi-day Hindu harvest festival celebrated in the southern part of the country.
It is worth noting that in many such cases, it is observed that the accused Islamists only attack Hindu temples or events in an alleged targeted attempt. And then such attacks are either downplayed by the left and Islamists or are whitewashed. The left authorities also notably label the accused persons, especially those belonging to the specific communities as ‘mentally unstable’, in an alleged attempt to shield the accused and maintain communal peace.
Interestingly, these ‘mentally unstable’ accused Islamists only look for Hindu temples to attack and cause insult to the Hindu religion. Other religion’s places of worship are hardly allegedly attacked by these ‘mentally unstable’ accused Islamists, indicating the community’s deep hatred towards Hinduism. And in any other case of an alleged attack on a specific religion, the accused are charged with blasphemy.
Hindus need to stand together against such downplaying and whitewashing of crimes against their community and demand justice. This also calls for an unbiased application of the law equally against all the accused persons committing crimes against Hindus, despite whatever religious background they come from.
The Supreme Court on Friday denied bail to E Abubacker, former chairman of the banned outfit Popular Front of India (PFI), who sought his release on medical grounds in a case registered against him under anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
A bench of Justices Sundresh and Rajesh Bindal said it was not inclined to grant bail on medical grounds at this stage and granted liberty to him to approach the trial court.
Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for the National Investigation Agency, argued that all the medical conditions raised by Abubacker have been optimised through various treatments and hence, he cannot be granted bail.
Abubacker was arrested on September 22, 2022, by the NIA during a massive crackdown on PFI.
The government banned the PFI and several of its associate organisations on September 28, 2022, for five years under the stringent anti-terror law, accusing them of having links with global terror groups like ISIS.
He approached the apex court challenging the Delhi High Court’s May 28, 2024 order which denied him bail.
Abubacker said that he was in his seventies and suffering from Parkinson’s disease and that he had undergone surgery for treatment of cancer.
Among the allegations against Abubacker is that he was earlier associated with SIMI, a banned organisation and later he became an integral part of the PFI. He was also an authorised signatory with respect to the bank accounts of PFI.
The revered occasion of Maha Kumbh is in full swing in Prayagraj of Uttar Pradesh. This monumental gathering has attracted global eyeballs due to its vast scale and extensive preparations. Nevertheless, there are individuals who have resorted to spreading unfounded rumors for trivial politics which evidenced by a recent incident.
On 14th January, a man was charged with disseminating misleading information on social media over the deaths of eleven devotees at Maha Kumbh, according to the police.
The accused has been identified as Lalu Yadav Sanjeev who lives in the Gulf. He is also associated with the Samajwadi Party. On Station House Officer (SHO) Rajendra Prasad Singh’s complaint, a First Information Report (FIR) was filed at the Pakdi police station and section Section 353(2) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) was invoked to charge him.
He ran a Facebook account under the name “Rakesh Yadav Azamgarhiya” and alleged, “11 devotees have died of heart attack due to cold during the holy bath at the Maha Kumbh and the ICU emergency camps are overcrowded with patients.”
“It was an honest mistake. I apologize with folded hands and assure that I won’t spread such rumours in the future. I accept my mistake. Please forgive me,” the perpetrator then stated on his social media account which has now been deactivated.
The authorities soon took cognisance of the issue and informed, “The fake post pertains to Phoolpur Police Station area in which a user named Rakesh Yadav Azamgarhiya was spreading romours regarding the deaths of the devotees in Maha Kumbh. The bogus news was immediately refuted and the police have also submitted a case in the matter. Further investigation is undeway. Preliminary inquiry disclosed that the person belongs to Phoolpur and is currently staying in Saudi Arabia. The process to cancel his passport has also been initiated and further action will be taken accoring to the investigation.”
थाना फूलपुर क्षेत्रान्तर्गत राकेश यादव आजमगढ़िया द्वारा फेसबुक पर महाकुंभ में श्रद्धालुओं की ठंड से हार्ट अटैक द्वारा मृत्यु की भ्रामक खबर के संबंध में थाना स्थानीय पर सुसंगत धाराओं में अभियोग पंजीकृत व नियमानुसार कार्यवाही के संबंध में #Spraazh चिराग जैन की बाइट। pic.twitter.com/Cv1tCiBENU
According to the police, Avkush Kumar Singh filed a complaint on X (earlier Twitter) on 13th Januar, adding that the offender has ties to the Samajwadi Party. The post led to panic and disturbed the peace, the complaint said. Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) Mohammad Faheem Qureshi was tasked with conducting an inquiry after the complaint. He mentioned that the case was registered following the investigation and legal action is being pursued.
Notably, the fraudulent claims and screenshots soon spread like wildfire on social media with many people, especially supporters and members of the opposition parties sharing the same. National Secretary of the student wing of Samajwadi Party, Aashish Yadav also posted it on Facebook along with others.
An apparent supporter of Bahujan Samaj Party and fan of Bhim Army chief Chandra Shekhar Azad Ravan even inflated the fake numbers and claimed that heart attack claimed the lives of 20 devotees in Maha Kumbh.
Another person amplified the disinformation and asked whether the Sadhus who participated in the consecration ceremony of Ram Mandir were also among those who passed away or it was just a facade?
Several of these people have amassed thousands of followers who share their posts in addition to seeing and reacting to them. As a result, the false information was propagated and reposted by many individuals which further enhanced its visibility. Interestingly, after the authorities called out the fake news, some of them also deleted their deceitful posts fearing police action. However, others didn’t as it continue to spread online.
A minor Hindu student, studying at the St Thomas Senior Secondary School in Karvi town in the Chitrakoot district of Uttar Pradesh, was stopped from writing his exams. His only mistake was that he greeted someone at the convent school with ‘Jai Shri Ram’.
The victim has been identified as Harsh Pandey, a student of Class 10. According to his father, Harsh had greeted someone with the Holy Hindu chant during the school break.
Angered by his act, the school administration stopped the underage boy from writing his exam. The incident occurred on Thursday (16th January). Harsh’s father dialled the police, who quickly intervened in the matter.
#चित्रकूट के कर्वी क्षेत्र स्थित संत थॉमस सीनियर सेकेंडरी स्कूल में एक विवाद हुआ, जब बच्चों को "जय श्री राम" बोलने के कारण परीक्षा में प्रवेश से मना कर दिया गया। बच्चों ने गेट पर खड़े एक व्यक्ति को "जय श्री राम" कहा, जिसे सुनकर फादर ने उन्हें प्रवेश करने से रोक दिया। जब बच्चों के… pic.twitter.com/7qHxocaiZH
The Hindu boy was thereafter allowed to write his papers. In a video that has surfaced on social media, Harsh’s father remarked, “What kind of rule is this? What kind of punishment is this – stopping a student from writing an exam for chanting Jai Shri Ram.”
On learning about the matter, angry Hindu students belonging to Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) held a demonstration outside the premises of the St Thomas Senior Secondary School.
Reportedly, the principal of the convent school tendered an apology following outrage over the incident. It was only after that the matter calmed down and the situation came under control.
Mumbai Police on Friday detained one person in connection with an attack on Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan at his Bandra residence. The suspect has been brought to the Bandra police station for further questioning.
Earlier today, Mumbai Police said that they have taken possession of a portion of the blade extracted from Saif’s back, while efforts to recover the remaining part are still underway
Mumbai Police also said that the accused involved in the attack on Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan was last seen near Bandra railway station and that the search is on to nab him. Police suspect that after the incident, the suspect caught the first local train in the morning and headed towards Vasai Virar. Mumbai Police teams are searching in Vasai, Nalasopara and Virar areas, an official said.
Bollywood Actor Saif Ali Khan was attacked by an intruder in his 11th-floor Bandra flat at around 2:30 am on Thursday. The incident occurred when an intruder allegedly confronted the actor’s maid at his residence. As Saif attempted to intervene and de-escalate the situation, it escalated into a violent altercation, resulting in the actor sustaining several stab wounds. Saif was immediately taken to Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital after being stabbed by the intruder. He underwent surgery under the supervision of a team of doctors there.
As per doctors, Saif sustained a major injury to the thoracic spinal cord due to a lodged knife in the spine, and surgery was performed to remove a 2.5-inch-long knife from the actor’s spine and repair his ‘leaking spinal fluid’. While Saif is “out of danger”, doctors are continuing to monitor him. After surgery, he was shifted to ICU, where he is currently recovering. Mumbai police registered an FIR regarding the attack on the actor and recorded the statement of the complainant, who is the maid employed by the actor.
In the complaint, it is alleged that the attacker demanded one crore rupees from the family. According to the complainant, the intruder attacked the maid allegedly with a hexa blade, which hit both her hands. “He ran towards me with something like wood in his left hand and a long thin hexa blade in his right hand, during the scuffle, he tried to attack me with the blade, when I tried to protect myself by moving my hand forward, something like a knife hit my wrist near both my hands and the middle finger of my left hand. At that time, I asked him “What do you want” Then he said, “I need money, I asked how much.” Then he said in English ‘One crore’,” the statement read.
In the recorded statement, the house help mentioned that the incident happened at 2 AM on January 16. “When I looked again I saw a shadow at the bathroom door, and as I bent down to see who might be inside, one person came out and went towards their (Saif Ali Khan’s) son,” the statement added.
She further said, “He attacked Saif with a wooden object in her hand and a hexa blade… We all ran out of the room, pulled the door, and ran towards him. Hearing the sound, Ramesh, Hari, Ramu and Paswan who were sleeping came out. When we took him to the room again, the door of the room was open.”
Mumbai Police is currently investigating the matter and have formed 20 teams to track down and nab the intruder who stabbed Saif. Dixit Gedam, DCP Zone 9 of Mumbai Police, who is part of the team investigating an attack on Saif, said that the incident was a “robbery attempt” and the accused used a fire escape staircase to enter Saif Ali Khan’s house. Edam said, “Last night, the accused used a fire escape staircase to enter Saif Ali Khan’s house. It appears to be a robbery attempt. We working to arrest the accused. 10 Detection teams are working on the case. An offence has been registered in Bandra Police Station.”
(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)
In Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, an elderly Hindu man died allegedly after an assault by his Muslim neighbours. As per reports, the deceased man was a victim of the Kashmiri Hindu exodus and had escaped with his family to UP after Islamists threatened Hindus in Jammu and Kashmir.
The deceased Harbans Lal, aged 79 years, had an ongoing dispute with his Muslim neighbours over the cooking of meat and wanted to put fibre sheets on the wall to keep the smell of meat out. The dispute with the Muslim neighbours was over Lal’s family putting up fibre sheets to barricade the portion off.
The incident occurred on 15 January. Deceased Harbans Lal, residing in the Neelkanth Colony of Bareilly, was getting fibre sheets put up on his wall that he shared with his Muslim neighbour Sagir Ahmed, as per reports. Sagir Ahmed had objected to the wall being covered up with fibre sheets and had fought with Harbans Lal over the issue.
As per the complaint by Harbans Lal’s son Hemant, Sagir and his wife had fought with Harbans Lal over the fibre sheet works on the wall. The family had frequent fights with Lal’s family because the Lal family was objecting to the smell of meat coming from Sagir’s house. On 15 January, the fight escalated and Sagir and his wife allegedly pushed Harbans Lal and hit him. Harbans Lal suffered a fall and was rushed to the hospital. However, he was declared brought dead.
The police have registered a case of unintentional murder against Sagir and his wife. The locals were outraged after the death of Harbans Lal and Hindu organisations demanded the immediate arrest of Sagir and his family for the murder of Lal.
Hemant Lal has informed that his family is a victim of the Kashmiri Pandit exodus and they had eventually settled in Bareilly after escaping from Kashmir decades ago. In the colony, there are around 32 Hindu families and Sagir’s family was the only Muslim family in the neighbourhood. He added that they never had any fight with other neighbours but with Sagir’s family.
The Bareilly Police have registered an FIR against Sagir and his son Imran in the matter on the victim family’s complaint.
थाना बारादरी क्षेत्र में वाद-विवाद के कारण बुजुर्ग की मृत्यु हो जाने के बाद अभियोग पंजीकृत कर, की जा रही अग्रिम विधिक कार्रवाई के संबंध में पुलिस अधीक्षक नगर #bareillypolice श्री मानुष पारीक की बाइट।#UPPolicepic.twitter.com/tL7nPuZUWR
The Bareilly police have stated that they have the CCTV footage of the incident and are examining the complaints made. SP Manush Pareek also added that no injuries were detected on the body of Harbans Lal and the cause of death will be clear after post-mortem. He stated that the police is investigating the allegations made.
As per reports, Sagir has denied beating the elderly man. Sagir and his family have absconded and their house is locked.
With the imminent ban on TikTok in the United States, users of the video-sharing app in the North American country are migrating to yet another Chinese app named Xiaohongshu (also called the Red Note).
Founded in 2013, Xiaohongshu is the Chinese version of Instagram. Although it is quite popular in China, it has previously failed to make its presence felt outside the Mandarin-speaking world.
However, things have taken a drastic turn for the Chinese app with the upcoming ban on TikTok on Sunday (19th January). In 2024, the US Congress passed a bill mandating TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to divest its assets in the country or face a ban.
Liberals are flocking to RedNote, an app controlled by China, to replace TikTok.
Turns out, they ban LGBTQ content, all inappropriate outfits, & only 2 genders. pic.twitter.com/33qOGQNUV1
With no relief in sight from the US Supreme Court, TikTok will have to shut shop in the country in the following 2 days. Americans, who are hooked to the app, are now desperately looking for alternatives.
This perhaps explains why Xiaohongshu held the top position on Apple’s US App Store on Tuesday (14th January). More than 7 lakh new users have joined Xiaohongshu within a span of 2 days.
These ‘TikTok refugees’ are reportedly motivated by revenge against the US government for banning a platform developed by a Chinese company.
Another Chinese app named Lemon8, owned by ByteDance is in the second position on the App Store. Lemon8 came into existence in 2023 and is modelled after Instagram and Pinterest. It also has video sharing option like TikTok.
Banning TikTok will go down in history as one of the worst foreign policy decisions ever made as its users flock to Chinese-owned app RedNote to discover that they’ve been heavily propagandized to by the US establishment media. pic.twitter.com/qbemMDOaoD
This is despite credible reports of Chinese apps stealing user information and sending it to servers supervised by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
TikTok had come under the scanner for foreign influence, not removing prohibited content and ties to the CCP. Donald Trump, who had previously voiced concerns over TikTok, is now looking for ways to ‘preserve the app’.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew has even been invited to the president-elect’s inauguration ceremony. Some American Conservatives, who advocated a ban on TikTok, are now moving to other Chinese apps to protest its ‘censorship’.
Candace Owens is "rebelling" against government censorship by joining the…checks notes…tightly controlled Red Note app with deep connections to the Chinese Communist Party.
When India banned Chinese apps and the rationale behind the decision
In 2024, a leading security expert Tzeng Yi-suo explained, “Information security risks are national security risks…As long as the app is under the jurisdiction of the Chinese government, there will be security concerns. How the Chinese government obtains the data and what they will do with it is not transparent.”
Another expert Lee Jyun-yi stated, “TikTok does indeed transmit users’ personal information back to China. TikTok’s lack of effort to do so makes it relatively easy for false information to spread.” The Indian government had acted pre-emptively several years ago.
In June 2020, the Modi government banned 59 apps including TikTok over security and privacy concerns. The apps included ByteDance’s TikTok, Tencent’s WeChat, and Alibaba’s UC Browser.
Two months later, the Centre banned 47 related/cloning apps. In September 2020, about 118 apps were blocked by the government. In November that year, an additional 43 apps were blocked. In February 2022, another 54 mobile apps linked to China were banned.
The Ministry of Information Technology, invoking its power under section 69A of the Information Technology Act, with the relevant provisions of the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking of Access of Information by Public) Rules 2009 has ordered a block on the use of the apps saying that these apps are “engaged in activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, the security of the state and public order”.
In short, the apps were banned for being a threat to India’s national security. Thereafter, Google removed these apps from their Playstore and blocked access to them in India.
Around the same time, Apple found out that TikTok was spying on millions of iPhone users. The company was forced to take measures to prevent data theft.
Impact of the decision on India
After several popular Chinese apps were banned in the Indian Internet space, it gave way to Indian app developers to showcase their potential to the users.
For example, the Chinese document scanning app CamScanner was banned by the Indian government that provided a large market for apps like Kaagaz Scanner to fill up the void. Another homegrown App called Chingari stepped up to fill the void of TikTok.
Similarly, non-Indian entities like Google, Facebook and others took the opportunity to fill the void for TikTok and launched special features in their apps (YouTube and Instagram) to create short videos just like the banned Chinese app.
The government of India is also promoting India-made mobile applications and encouraging developers to develop solutions for Indian markets in several categories, including productivity, games and entertainment.
In July 2020, the government introduced Atmanirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge which received close to 7,000 entries from individual developers and companies from across the country.
In the Bharuch district of Gujarat, Pastor Kamlesh Rawal, the vice-principal of St. Xavier’s School has been arrested over allegations of sexual abuse of a minor girl who is currently studying in college after passing class 12th. The alleged sexual abuse against the minor happened when she studied at St. Xavier’s School. After leaving school, the victim’s family went to the police station and lodged a complaint. A case has been registered under relevant sections including POCSO.
The complaint filed by the victim’s parents states that their daughter was abused on two different occasions between the year 2022 and the year 2024. According to the complaint, on both occasions, Pastor Kamlesh called the victim, then a class 10 student, to his office and sexually abused her.
The minor student alleged that the accused called her to his room and molested her. He threatened to expel her from school if she told anyone about this. Due to this, the victim started fearing expulsion from school and loss of reputation and decided to remain silent. The second incident with the victim happened in December 2024.
It is alleged that the former students of this Christian school were invited to a school program. After the program, she was raped again by the accused and was also threatened not to tell anyone. The victim also alleged that Pastor Kamlesh repeatedly sent her WhatsApp messages demanding physical relations with her again, however, the victim got fed up with this.
Eventually, the victim told her family about the incident. The family lodged a complaint at the police station. Based on the complaint, Bharuch B Division Police registered a case against the accused priest under sections 6, 10 and 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) as well as sections 376, 376(2)(N) and 376(3) of the IPC.
After the case came to light, the school transferred the accused to another school, however, the police arrested him from there on 15th January around four days after the complaint was lodged. Meanwhile, the police is checking the accused Pastor’s phone to see if any other student has been subjected to similar abuse.
