Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan is expected to meet US President Donald Trump in New York on September 23, hours after he arrives in the city for the 74th session of the UN General Assembly, diplomatic sources said on Friday.
According to sources, this meeting could be the first of the two meetings Imran Khan is expected to have with the US President on the sidelines of the UN session. Notably, Imran Khan is expected to reach New York on Sunday evening, the day when the US President, Donald Trump is set to join India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at the ‘Howdy, Modi’ mega-event in Houston, where Modi will address a meeting of 50,000-strong Indian diaspora.
Both Narendra Modi and Imran Khan are scheduled to address the UN General Assembly on September 27.
Imran Khan, who has been recently obsessing over Kashmir, especially after India went ahead with its decision to abrogate Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir has vowed to raise the Kashmir issue at the UNGA session.
Despite being snubbed time and again by almost all countries globally, Imran Khan refuses to back down on the issue. Such is the situation now, that the self-acclaimed ‘ambassador of Kashmir’ is gradually turning himself into an object of ridicule. Today in another jolt, Pakistan failed to secure the support of minimum 16 nations to move a resolution on Kashmir in the 47-member UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
September 19 (Thursday) was the last day for bringing such an initiative during the September 9th to 27th UNHRC session and Pakistan was unsuccessful in filing a request after it failed to garner the minimum support.
Despite being unsuccessful in getting support in UNHRC for any of its moves so far, Imran Khan is still considering to raise the Kashmir issue once again in the upcoming UN session.
The Foreign Office in a statement said Pakistan will exercise all options available to ensure that the UN Human Rights Council actions “meaningfully impact on the ground situation in Kashmir.”
Meanwhile, India’s Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale on Thursday said the focus of Prime Minister Modi’s week-long visit to the US from Saturday will not be on terrorism, but on highlighting India’s achievements and its global role.
Microblogging platform Twitter has shut down thousands of pro-government propaganda accounts, most of which were originating from United Arab Emirates. These accounts were reportedly involved in ‘multi-faced information operation’ which mostly targeted Qatar.
As per reports, Twitter has suspended 4,258 accounts which employed fake names tweeting mostly about Yemen and Qatar. Another 267 accounts in UAE and Egypt which were pro-Saudi government accounts were suspended.
A company called DotDev, based in Abu Dhabi, was operating these accounts. It also has an Egyptian affiliate based in Giza, outside of Cairo. Last month, Facebook had also removed 350 fake accounts and pages promoting Saudi propaganda.
As per reports, accounts from China seeking how to sow discord amongst the protestors in Hong Kong were also closed down. Fake news accounts in Spain and Ecuador were also shut down.
Mark Tully, a Padma Bhushan awardee who worked as the Chief of the Delhi bureau of BBC for two decades, has come out harshly against the Congress party for what he perceives to be a foolish obsession with ‘secularism’ and thereby, neglecting the Hindu ethos of the country.
“First of all ‘secularism’ is not the right word to use in this Indian context at all because secularism has a connotation of hostility towards all religions or indifference towards religion and Indians are not hostile to religion and Indians are not indifferent to religion,” Mark Tully, ex-BBC Delhi Chief and Padma Bhushan awardee said at an event in Goa, The Hindu reported.
“The mistake the Congress party made was to continue with this word secularism… that left the BJP free to say we are the party of Hindus and this is Hinduism… The Congress should have found in its politics someplace for the Hindu community just as it found for Muslims or others,” said Mark Tully.
“I think that today what the Congress should say is that India is a country where 80% call themselves Hindus and we believe that Hinduism, which is natural to India, is a pluralistic religion, a religion which is proud of being tolerant and welcoming to other religions, proud of India’s history,” Mark Tully who used to be BBC Delhi chief further stated about Congress.
It appears rather bewildering that Tully, being a Britisher, understands the realities of India far more than a political party that has ruled over the country for decades. Tully’s recommendations for the Congress party are simple ‘common sense’ advise that people with their ears on the ground, as serious politicians are expected to be, should have been perfectly aware of. If Tully, a foreigner, could understand such a simple truth about India, the reasons for the Congress party not being able to are entirely incomprehensible.
To almost everyone, it was obvious that the Congress party’s brand of secularism did not have a place for Hindu concerns in it while the party continued to pander to the most extremist elements of minority communities. In a country where the overwhelming majority of citizens are Hindus, it was politically suicidal for the Congress.
While Rahul Gandhi attempted to fix the party’s image by paying visits to numerous Temples, he didn’t have the credibility to improve things for the better. Even more damningly, the leaders of the party continued to make noxious comments and voice their support for elements that cause a trust-deficit with the Hindu community.
If the Congress party had listened to people like Tully in the media instead of the ‘Woke’ comedians and other Darbaris, it may not have suffered as terrible a defeat as they did in the General Elections. It appears that they haven’t learned any lessons from its terrible defeat at all as senior leaders like Digvijaya Singh continue to make comments that further alienate the Hindu community from the Congress.
Time appears to have run out for the Congress party and there appears to be no effort at all to learn from the mistakes they made. Considering their conduct post the abrogation of Article 370, the Congress party looks set to be reduced to political irrelevance.
In an exemplary act of bravery, girls belonging to two adjoining villages, Atta and Barota in Haryana, stood up against the incidents of harassment which they had been enduring at the hands of some notorious eve-teasers of a specific-community residing in Udaka village in Haryana.
In what transpired, a girl studying in Government senior secondary school Atta-Barota was molested by a boy belonging to a specific-community from Udaka village on September 7. When the family members of the victim approached the school authorities to complain against the boy, some miscreants belonging to the boy’s village started spreading rumours that people from Barota village (from where the girl belonged) had beaten them badly. After this dozens of people from Udaka village reached the school with sticks and batons and vandalised the school before fleeing.
This was, however, not the only incident which led the girls and villagers from Atta-Barota village to revolt. Girls belonging to Atta and Barota village, studying in Government senior secondary school, were being constantly harassed by eve-teasers from the Udaka village. These boys continuously made passes at the girls, passed lewd remarks, followed them wherever they went and even molested them on their way.
Sick and tired of all this, the girls and their families decided to speak up against the eve-teasers. On September 16 (Monday) families and relatives of these girls and hundreds of students reached the District Secretariat and submitted a letter with their demands to DC.
In the letter, they warned that if the eve-teasers from Udaka village were not rusticated from the school, then none of the children from both Atta and Barota village will attend school.
The Sarpanch of Barota village Dharmendra, Anand Singh, the Sarpanch of Aata village, Surendra Numberdar Barota, Lalsingh Numberdar, Dinesh Yadav, Jawahar, Zilla Singh, Yogesh, Rajesh, Charan Singh, Manohar Lal, Dharambir, Gajendra Singh were amongst many others who approached the District Secretariat to seek justice for the girls.
A 68-year-old Christian priest of the Syro Malabar Church named Father George Padayattil, the vicar of Holy Cross Church in Chendamangalam in Ernakulam district, has been booked for the rape of three 9-year-old girls, reports The News Minute.
According to the report, the case has been registered against ‘Father’ Padayattil after the three minor victims complained to their teacher that the Christian priest had touched them inappropriately.
“The incidents happened last month when the girls went to the priest’s ‘meda’, the place where he stays alongside the church, to get his blessings after Sunday rites. According to the complaint, the girls revealed that he touched them inappropriately during two such incidents,” the officials at the Vadakkekkara Police station said.
Reportedly, the story came to light after one of the three children reported the incident to her school teacher. The police added that the teacher informed Childline officials and they received a complaint through the child welfare committee. The three girls are studying in the same school and are classmates.
Parents of the three children were informed by the school teachers who had spoken to the students.
The Kerala police have booked Christian priest Father George Padayattil under Section 10 (Punishment for aggravated sexual assault) and Section 11 (Sexual harassment) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act for the rape of the minors. According to the police, the priest is currently absconding.
The police further added that the minor victims gave their statement to the judicial magistrate under oath. “We are waiting to receive a copy of the statement, following which we will increase the charges against him,” the police official said.
There has been a dangerous trend of repeated cases of rape and other abusive incidents at Churches across the world. Unfortunately, India is not immune to this plague either. Christian priest and churches, like most cases worldwide, have been targeting the poor, destitute for their crimes but the cases go unnoticed.
However, in India, the crimes have been coming into public domain lately. There have been several incidents of sexual harassment and other abuse by Church officials and priests.
In 2018, a 45-year-old Christian priest was booked for the brutal rape an 11-year old girl in Vallampadu, Andhra Pradesh. In July 2017, Father Saji Joesph, a priest who was the director of a children’s home in Kerala’s Wayanad district, was arrested after allegations of sexually abusing minor boys.
Franco Mulakkal, a Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Jalandhar, was arrested and released on bail later for allegedly raping a 44-year old nun at a guest house in Kuravilangad in May 2014.
Similarly, Father Johnson V Mathew, a priest of Malankara Orthodox church was accused in the rape and sexual abuse of a married woman belonging to the fold was arrested in July 2018.
In February, the Mysuru police had arrested three pastors (religious leaders associated with protestant Churches) for allegedly raping a teenager in Mangaluru. All the three Christian priests have now been charged under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, as per reports.
In another incident, a 60-year-old pastor named Chandra Kumar belonging to a local church in Nagaland was arrested for allegedly raping a 10-year-old girl in Assam’s Karbi Anglong district.
In another incident, a 33-year old Catholic priest, Father Prakash Damor was arrested in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh for abetting a 17-year-old girl’s suicide.
Recently, a special Mahila Court in Cuddalore had sentenced a church priest to 30 years in prison and nine others to life in prison for their involvement in the horrifying 2014 Tittakudi rape case, which involved two minor girls.
Sometime around 5 PM on Thursday, my mother called to tell me that there was some ruckus going on at Jadavpur University and Union Minister Babul Supriyo was in the middle of it. I told her what anyone aware of Kolkata would tell her, “Mom, it’s Jadavpur University. There is a ruckus there every other week. Don’t worry about it.”
Somehow, my mom wasn’t entirely pacified and she was extremely angry with how the ‘protesters’ were behaving. It was only later in the evening when I had the time to look into the matter in detail that I realized that the issue was far bigger than I previously imagined it to be. The visuals coming from Jadavpur were outrageous, to put it mildly. They are nearly always bad but this time around, there was something particularly sinister about them.
One of the first visuals I saw showed Babul Supriyo standing in front of the media and one ‘protester’ grabbed him by his hair and pulled him.
The ‘protesters’ didn’t stop at that. By the end of it, Supriyo’s shirt was torn open by the mob heckling him. Under no circumstances can tearing the shirt of a Union Minister be considered a legitimate form of protest.
One wonders at this point when Babul Supriyo decided to take the leap of faith and join politics, did he ever imagine he would find himself in such a situation? Most celebrity politicians do not invest too much time into building their own base, much less risk getting assaulted by violent goons.
This is not even the first time that Babul Supriyo has risked physical injury to perform his duty as an elected representative. During the General Elections, his car was vandalized, allegedly by Trinamool workers, when he visited his constituency, Asansol. In March last year, he was prevented from meeting victims of communal violence and entering his constituency. Again, he was allegedly assaulted by the Police.
Coming back to the current situation, the moment in the episode when Babul Supriyo shines through is when he addresses the ‘protesters’ in front of the media. He could be seen standing right in the middle of the chaotic mob and confront them about their biases. There was a certain amount of anger in his demeanour and yet, he remained calm enough to not deviate from the issue at hand and was careful to not further escalate the situation.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R8ZqHfitPQ]
“These are kids,” he said, “These people are hot-headed but if there isn’t no opposition, who are you going to fight against, Bhai? The opposition is necessary.” He extended a hand of reconciliation and yet, was firm enough to tell them in strong words that their behaviour was totally out of order.
“Didi Modi, we don’t respect anyone,” one ‘protester’ told him in an extremely rude manner. He replied, “Your bravado won’t work with me, talk decently.” To another ‘protester’ he said, “You cannot abuse me this way. Have I abused anyone? Have my security guards done anything wrong? You don’t know these Bangla abuses, you’ll teach me now? Should I give one or two?”
To another ‘protester’ who had raised the question of NRC, he replied, “You are asking me about NRC, tell me what it is. What is the full form of NRC? Tell me. Tell me what is the full form of NRC. You don’t even know it, do you? And here you are talking about the NRC.” To yet another, he said, “You are doing drama here. They won’t show you on television. Ei, they won’t show you on television.”
At one point, it appeared as though he was mocking the ‘protesters’ but it was quite evident that he had grown tired of it all and was just being extremely honest. “I won’t go anywhere. First, you learn some decency and then, I will leave,” he said. “I can go anywhere, I am the Minister for Climate and Forest. I have come to see these things,” he said on another occasion pointing towards the trees. “Argue logically, don’t say stupid things,” he added.
He was much more aggressive with the college administration than he was with the ‘protesters’. He accused them of deliberately trying to foment chaos and held them responsible for the deteriorating law and order situation. Even in the heat of the moment, Supriyo managed to keep a calm head to consider the implications of his every action. “If I try to move ahead,” he told one of them, “you’ll prove and create a commotion here. I won’t give you that opportunity.”
Babul Supriyo had the most iconic moment of his political career thus far when he lay on the hood of his car, exuding an air of nonchalant confidence as the chaos continued around him. “I am not scared of you,” his body language conveyed clearly, “this is not your bastion anymore”. The Leftists, quite naturally, didn’t like it.
As much as the focus remained on Babul Supriyo, it is also important to learn the other side of the story as well. It is important to see how the ‘protesters’ and those supporting them are reacting to the events that transpired on Thursday.
For one, Babul Supriyo is being accused of elbowing a girl during the fracas. The photograph shows the singer turned politician with his elbow resting on someone’s shoulder whose gender is not entirely clear. But we have to assume that it is a girl. However, the image doesn’t show Supriyo in poor light at all. In fact, it makes the ‘protesters’ look infinitely worse.
Supriyo has his shirt torn open and it’s evident from the image that the ‘protesters’ are invading his personal space and one can only imagine how uncomfortable he must have felt at that moment. Although it’s not evident from the photograph, it appears almost obvious that he was assaulted and he was acting in self-defence.
The girl might well have gotten hurt in the process but Supriyo could hardly be blamed for it. It’s not farfetched to assume that he felt threatened at that moment and he acted in self-defence. Or more likely, it might have been completely unintentional and the girl got injured when Supriyo moved his hand instinctively. Blaming him for the girl’s injury appears incredulous. “Play stupid games, win stupid prizes,” is the only thing that comes to mind when one sees this picture.
Another accusation, this time against the ABVP, claims that the youth-wing of the RSS came with explosives and swords and set Gate No. 4 of the University on fire. This seems entirely implausible. It appears unbelievable that people armed with explosives and swords would dare enter Jadavpur, one of the most lively places in Kolkata. While we can’t say for uncertain who set what on fire, it is plausible that people associated with the ABVP were responsible for it. Furthermore, it needs to be said here that there’s no evidence whatsoever as of now that Supriyo abused any disabled man in any manner.
Jadavpur University Gate no 4 set on fire by ABVP goons who came on bikes with explosives and swords through bypass, students being asked to leave ; this is happening NOW , because students dared to heckle Babul Supriyo, who told a disabled man he would break his legs! Fascists ! pic.twitter.com/dCyULvxDo5
According to reports, ABVP and Durga Vahini, the flagbearers of the surge of the Bhagwa among the youth in Bengal, attacked the University in response to the Left’s attack on Supriyo. The Arts Faculty Union Room was ransacked, the furniture was vandalized, Left posters and the banners were shredded to bits, and a portrait of the homophobe Che Guevera kept in the room was damaged. The youth organization did not stop at that and proceeded to paint ABVP graffiti in the Leftist union room.
The following is the most iconic image to come out Bengal in recent times. Outsiders may not realize it but this is further confirmation of the fact that on the occasion of Ram Navami in 2017, Bengal was changed forever. Everything followed from that.
Arts Faculty Union Room in JU ransacked by ABVP
The rhetoric from Leftists in the aftermath of the violence at Jadavpur is not helping. It’s extremely disturbing considering the implications of it. Premeditated and unprovoked violence against saffron karyakartas is being justified. It could only lead to further chaos. More disturbingly, there appears to be absolutely zero introspection on how matters escalate to this point.
There appears to be a concerted attempt to completely deny any wrongdoing on the part of the ‘protesters’. While the ABVP could very well be accused of taking matters a bit too far, it cannot be denied that their actions didn’t occur in a vacuum. The ‘protesters’ and their supporters refuse to admit that they contributed to the violence in any manner whatsoever. The people associated with the ABVP are being portrayed as some crazed monsters who have been created for the sole purpose of wreaking havoc at Jadavpur University. We all know that’s not the truth.
According to the Left, the ‘students’ were only exercising their ‘right to dissent’. In what world is tearing open the shirt of a democratically elected representative of the government considered a legitimate form of protest? In what world is holding captive a Union Minister against his will considered acceptable? It was only after the ABVP intervened that Supriyo was allowed to leave the University.
The blame for the mess lies squarely with the governments that have ruled West Bengal until this point. Cancer at Jadavpur University has metastasized to this extent only because neither the erstwhile Left regime nor the current Trinamool regime considered the matter important enough to merit much deliberation. Even the violence on Thursday occurred entirely because the government failed to maintain a hold over law and order. And now we have reached a point where ‘students’ at the University think it was a good idea to grab a Union Minister by his hair in front of the camera on national television. And they still have the temerity to pretend as if the Leftists did nothing wrong.
The biggest takeaway from the Battle of Jadavpur on Thursday is that the radical Leftists at the University haven’t come to terms with the rise of the Bhagwa in West Bengal. They are still functioning under the assumption that the political culture of Bengal has remained the same despite the success BJP has achieved in recent times. But it’s far from the truth.
The Changing of the Guard that occurred when Trinamool ousted the erstwhile Communist regime didn’t mark a fundamental shift in the political culture of Bengal. The colour of politics did change from Red to Green but the essential nature of it remained the same. However, Kesari is an entirely different beast altogether.
The dawn of the Bhagwa in Bengal doesn’t merely represent a political shift in Bengal, it is much more fundamental than that. While the Trinamool regime was content with greeting the ‘students’ of Jadavpur with lathi-charge whenever they tried to disrupt government functions, it ignored them entirely the rest of the time. Thus, the perennial protesters could then claim a victory while playing the victim card.
The Bhagwa, on the other hand, wants to put an end to this culture forever. It does not wish to tolerate ‘dissent’ that promotes discord within the country and challenges the territotial and cultural integrity of the Indian Union. Therefore, the Battle of Jadavpur was fated to happen at some point or the other.
The Left suffered a crushing defeat on Thursday. Their union room was ransacked, the portrait of their revered hero Guevera was damaged and their posters and banners were torn to shreds. Worse for them, they come out of the entire episode looking like a bunch of hooligans and brats, which they undoubtedly are, who have no respect for the institutions of the country and aren’t capable of holding a civilized discussion with a political opponent.
Even more of an embarrassment for them is the fact that Babul Supriyo, who they decided to battle against in their own territory, came out of it looking like a hero. He went to their campus, delivered his speech, was held hostage and then was rescued in rather heroic fashion by his band of followers. It was a complete disaster for the Left no matter how one looks at it. Admittedly, they have thoroughly earned the humiliating defeat.
When I called my mom later at night, I told her I hadn’t realized the matter was this significant. My mom, whose anger had abated by then, asked me in a rather morose tone, “Don’t these kids realize what they are doing? Don’t they think about their parents at all? Don’t they realize what they are putting their parents through?” I couldn’t find it in my heart to tell her that the Left considers the world their generation built a vestige of a tyrannical edifice that ought to be rooted out branch and stem. I couldn’t tell her that they consider whatever suffering they, and those around them, are forced to endure because of their terrible and indefensible actions are worth it for the righteousness of their intentions.
In the wake the decision of slashing down the income tax rates by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for domestic companies and new domestic manufacturing companies, many economists have lauded the government’s decision of countering the current slowdown. Even the stock markets welcomed the government’s move of trimming down the taxes on corporates as Sensex and Nifty saw the single biggest gain in a day in the last 10 years. While the markets rally, Congress seems to be unhappy.
Congress leaders and followers are clearly perturbed by Nirmala Sitharaman decision to relax income tax rates for corporates amidst a palpable slowdown. So confounded are the Congress leaders by this decision that they decided to stage a protest outside the Finance Minister’s residence while she is away for an important meeting of GST council in Goa.
Clearly, the market rally that was sparked by pronouncements by FM Nirmala Sitharaman and the praises heaped on the government by eminent economists for acknowledging economic woes and rightfully addressing it has deflated the morale of Congress leaders who were preparing to corner the BJP government on the issue of financial slowdown and weakening stock markets.
Congress leaders are disappointed that the country’s Finance Minister has announced measures to boost a slowing economy and that the government’s intervention to revive it has cost it a lucrative avenue for building a legitimate case against the BJP government.
With despondency setting in, the Youth Congress leaders and members staged a protest against Nirmala Sitharaman’s residence, notwithstanding the fact that she is in Goa for the GST council meeting.
Earlier today, in a bid to give an impetus to the ‘Make in India’ campaign, FM Sitharaman said that another insertion has been inserted in the Income Tax Act with effect from 2019-20 which will allow new domestic company incorporated after 1st October 2019 to make fresh investment in manufacturing with an option to pay income tax at the rate of 15%.
She further added that domestic companies can also pay income tax at the rate of 22% if they do not avail any incentive or exemptions. The effective tax rates for these companies will be 25.17% including surcharge and cess. To those companies who continue to avail the incentives, the minimum alternate tax (MAT) has been reduced to 15% from the current 18.5%.
Rape accused BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand has been arrested by SIT (Special Investigation Team) today. He was produced in court and sent to jail for 14 days. The SIT chief, Naveen Arora, has now revealed that Swami Chinmayanand has admitted to almost every allegation levelled against him, which included indulging in sexual conversations with the victim and body massage.
The SIT head furthered that the former BJP leader admitted to being ashamed of his action and denied to speak about it any further. Naveen Arora said that circumstantial evidence is being investigated.
The SIT in this regard was formed on the directions of the Supreme Court in the first week of September to investigate the case. The team is led by an Inspector General-rank officer and is assisted by a Superintendent of Police (SP).
Naveen Arora, Special Investigation Team Chief: Swami Chinmayanand has admitted to almost every allegation levelled against him,including sexual conversations&body massage.Circumstantial evidences also being examined.He said he doesn’t want to say more as he’s ashamed of his acts https://t.co/d8zfRm0f7Kpic.twitter.com/DhdrjN8FOF
Chinmayanand was accused of rape by a law student in Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjahanpur. She had accused him of raping her and “physically exploitation” stated that the former MP recorded videos of her while she was in the bath and used them to blackmail and rape her.
He was arrested by the SIT from his Mumuksha Ashram in Shahjahanpur. Following the directions of the Supreme Court, the case is being investigated by the SIT set up by Uttar Pradesh Police.
Last week he was grilled by the SIT for more than 7 hours in Shahjanapur. The SIT members and a forensic team also spent six hours at his Divya Dham Ashram, where his bedroom was later sealed.
The rape victim’s father told reporters that Chinmayanand had raped his daughter after blackmailing her with the recorded videos. His daughter then decided to record all his acts using a hidden camera. As per reports, he has handed over 43 video clips to the SIT probing the case. He has also demanded that Section 376, along with the provisions for destroying evidence, be evoked against the former MP as some of the evidence has been removed from the hostel room of his daughter at the BJP leader’s behest.
A friend of the law student had also spoken out in her support, confirming the charges pressed against the former MP. “She studied with me in the same college and had told me about the problems she was facing. She told me she was first given free food and other privileges in the hostel but was unaware of what was in store for her. Later, she told me that when she went for a bath, her video was recorded, which was later used to blackmail her,” the friend recalled.
The LLM student from the Swami Shukdevanand Law College (SS Law College) in Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh had alleged that Swami Chinmayanand had raped her and physically assaulted her for over a year. She had released a video on social media on August 23, levelling allegations of sexual harassment against Chinmayanand.
Apart from him, the SIT has today also arrested the victim’s friend who had made ransom calls to Swami Chinmayanand. Sources in the Uttar Pradesh police had confirmed that the Whatsapp message demanding Rs 5 crore was sent to the BJP leader by obtaining a QR code by generating a pin on a SIM belonging to someone else. He will be produced in court today.
The probe in the sexual allegation case against BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand levelled by a law student from Shahjahanpur in UP has suddenly speeded up. The SIT (Special Investigation Team), probing the case following the directions of the Supreme Court, had arrested rape accused Swami Chinmayanand earlier today.
As per reports, the SIT has now arrested the extortionist and the victim’s friend, a man named Sanjay Singh along with two others, who had allegedly sent a WhatsApp message demanding a ransom of Rs 5 crore from Chinamayanand.
The three have been taken to the district hospital for their medical test after which they would be produced in court today.
The Uttar Pradesh police had traced the alleged victim along with Sanjay Singh to Rajasthan and had produced her in Supreme Court on August 31.
The Uttar Pradesh LLM student, who had accused BJP MP and former Union Minister Chinmayanand of sexually harassing her, after being produced before the Supreme Court within hours of being traced by police, told the judges in an in-camera interaction that she had left Shahjahanpur with her three college mates on her own will “in order to protect herself.”
The Uttar Pradesh police had been exploring legal options to arrest Sanjay Singh, the extortionist and victim’s friend who had allegedly sent a WhatsApp message demanding a ransom of Rs 5 crore from Chinamayanand. He was with the girl in Rajasthan, and he was also produced along with the girl in Supreme Court on that day.
Sources in the Uttar Pradesh police had confirmed that the Whatsapp message demanding Rs 5 crore was sent to the BJP leader by Singh, obtaining a QR code by generating a pin on a SIM belonging to someone else. The number used to send the extortion message was 860420**** on August 22 at 12.53 PM.
It is believed that Sanjay Singh had come to know about the video clips which the victim had as a proof against Swami Chinmayanand. He then conspired to use it to blackmail Swami Chinmayanand.
Sanjay Singh initially demanded Rs 5 crores which he later negotiated and settled at Rs 25 lakh. However, while the negotiation took some time, the alleged victim already posted a video on social media alleging that Chinmayanand, the director of her college, is threatening to kill her and her family as she has evidence that could land him in trouble. This, in turn, ruined Sanjay Singh’s plan of extracting money from Swami Chinmayanand.
Chinmayanand was accused of rape by a law student in Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjahanpur. She had accused him of raping and physically exploiting her. The victim had stated that the former MP recorded videos of her while she was in the bath and used them to blackmail and rape her.
The Supreme Court had taken suo motu cognizance of the incident after a group of lawyers had written a letter to the Court urging for the same. When the suo motu case was taken up for hearing today by the Bench of Justices R Banumathi and AS Bopanna, Advocate Shobha Gupta appearing for the girl, opposed the recording of the fact that a boy was present with the girl and the court agreed to not include his presence in the recorded statement.
The LLM student from the Swami Shukdevanand Law College (SS Law College) in Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh had released a video on social media on August 23, levelling allegations of sexual harassment against BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand.
In the video posted, the girl alleged that Chinmayanand, the director of her college, is threatening to kill her and her family as she has evidence that could land him in trouble. She had asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath for help. The student, however, went missing three days after the allegations were made and was later found in Rajasthan with her three friends, including Sanjay Singh.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has registered its first case connected with Human Trafficking, under the Prevention of Immoral Traffic Act, 1986, on September 17. The accused Mohammed Yousuf Khan, his wife Bithi Begum and one Sojib were arrested. The three were native of West Bengal but were living in Hyderabad.
The three are accused of being involved in illegal trafficking of Bangladeshi women to Hyderabad and sexually exploiting them. They are accused of running a prostitution racket with illegally trafficked Bangladeshi women. Owing to cross-border connection of the case, it was handed over to the NIA. They have been charged under section 370A (2) of the IPC and section 3,4 and 5 of the Prevention of Immoral Traffic Act 1986 by the Chatrinaka Police Station.
Offences under Section 370 and 370A of Indian Penal Code (IPC), relating to human trafficking were added to the NIA schedule as part of the recently amended NIA act.
According to a statement released by NIA, the three accused were running the prostitution racket near Kandikal gate, Baji Nagar, Uppuguda, Hyderabad, The Hyderabad city police carried out a search operation based on credible inputs, on the premises on April 21, 2019, arrested three accused and rescued five victims from the spot. The case was subsequently transferred to Central Crime Station, Hyderabad on August 9.
Thousands of Bangladeshi women, largely poor and rural are lured to take the rocky route to India in search of freedom and cash. Women and children of all ages are being trafficked to India mostly from Jessore, Satkhira, Khulna, Bagerhat, Kushtia and southern districts. They are sold to various brothels or pimps in Kolkata, Mumbai, Goa, and Pune, among other Indian cities.
West Bengal state, which shares a porous border with Bangladesh is a known human trafficking hub. It has registered more than one-third of the total number of victims in 2016. Around 500,000 Bangladeshi women and children aged between 12-30 years have been illegally sent to India in the last decade.
In a first, Modi government has been planning to provide banking facilities to sex workers and human trafficking survivors. It has been contemplating initiating a process to see how the survivors of human trafficking and those involved in commercial sexual exploitation could be brought into the framework of ‘financial inclusion’.
The clandestine nature of the job and the stigma surrounding it refrains female sex labourers to benefit from any financial services provided by the Centre. Economic exclusion of these sex workers from government and other formal financial institutions is both a cause and an effect of their occupation.
