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BJP’s Jaya Prada appeals to EC, seeks disqualification of Samajwadi Party’s MP Azam Khan for holding ‘office of profit’

OpIndia Staff
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BJP’s Jaya Prada appeals to EC, seeks disqualification of Samajwadi Party’s MP Azam Khan for holding ‘office of profit’

BJP leader Jaya Prada on Friday approached the Election Commission seeking her political rival Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan’s disqualification for holding the ‘office of profit’ despite being an elected Member of Parliament (MP).


In a letter addressed to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and State Election Commissioner, Jaya claimed that Khan still holds the post of the Vice-Chancellor of Jauhar University despite being an elected representative from Rampur.

Jaya who quit Samajwadi Party ahead of the Lok Sabha polls 2019 to join BJP was pitted against Khan from Rampur. In a bitter battle, Khan, however, clinched the seat by a victory margin of 1,09,997 votes. Khan polled 5,59,177 votes, while Jaya got 4,49,180 votes.

Citing example Jaya Bachchan, Samajwadi Party’s Rajya Sabha MP, who had to quit as MP because they were holding ‘office of profit’, Jaya Prada demanded that Khan should be disqualified on similar lines.

Talking to ANI Jaya furthered, “if any person if having an office of profit despite being an MP or an MLA, then it is wrong, I appeal to the EC that this mistake should not be forgiven and he should be disqualified,” adding “I have assured the people of Rampur that justice will be done.”

Jaya asserted if EC does not act on her complaint, she will approach the High Court.

In the run-up to the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, both Jaya and Khan had engaged in a verbal spat with each other. SP’s strongman Khan had passed derogatory remarks at his political rival Jaya who was contesting against him from his bastion, Rampur.

Following Khan’s disgusting misogynist ‘Khaki underwear’ remark on Jaya, Khan was barred from election campaigning for over 72-hours.

The war of words between the two had started almost immediately after BJP pitted Jaya from Rampur constituency against Khan after she joined BJP in March early this year.

Mohammad Shahzad calls himself fit, accuses Afghanistan Cricket Board of leaving him out without consulting him

OpIndia Staff
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Mohammad Shahzad calls himself fit, accuses Afghanistan Cricket Board of leaving him out without consulting him

A tweet from a senior Afghanistani journalist suggests that the former Afghanistan captain, Mohammad Shahzad was not consulted by the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) before leaving him out of the World Cup squad due to a knee injury.

As a replacement, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) named the 18-year old Ikram Ali Khan, who is set to join the team.

“I have no problem or injury & fully fit, but ACB pulled me out of the squad by force without any consultation,” says Mohammad Shahzad, as per senior journalist Ibrahim’s Twitter Handle.

Further, he said that the decision was taken by the Afghanistan board without even consulting him. The news is shared by the senior sports Journalist Ibrahim Momand via his Twitter account.

Mohammad Shahzad suffered the knee injury during Afghanistan’s World Cup warm-up match against Pakistan. Though he took the field in the first two matches of the World Cup against Australia and Sri Lanka, an aggravation of the knee injury has forced the 32-year-old out of the World Cup.

Mohammad Shahzad has played 85 ODIs for Afghanistan with 2763 runs on his name. He also hammered 6 hundred and 14 fifties in his ODI career.

Bihar: Three, including a journalist, arrested with explosives, Naxal literature recovered

OpIndia Staff
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Bihar: Three, including a journalist, arrested with explosives, Naxal literature recovered

Bihar and Bokaro Police conducted a joint raid in a house in Sector 12A Bokaro Steel City and recovered laptops, Naxal literature and other incriminating evidence. On Friday, independent journalist Rupesh Kumar Singh along with his two associates Mithilesh Kumar and Mohammad Kalam were arrested by Bihar Police in Bhagalpur’s Dobhi region.

As per reports, on Friday, the trio was arrested and huge quantity of explosives and Naxal literature was recovered from their car when they were on their way to Chhakarbandha. As per the police, they were on their way to deliver the explosives to the Naxals. 15 bundles of detonators and 32 gelatin rods were recovered.

As per DCP Ravish Kumar, Rupesh who was arrested along with Mithilesh Kumar and the driver Mohammad Kalam were all residents of Ramgadh (Jharkhand). The Police had information that Rupesh was delivering explosives for his organisation Maoist Communist Centre(MCC) which eventually merged into Communist Party of India (Maoist). The Police increased the security and upon checking the vehicle, found explosives in the car. As per Police, Rupesh confessed working for MCC. He was also an Editor of a magazine ‘Lal Singh Mati’ published in Jharkhand.

Rohit Sharma has no idea about Dhoni’s glove controversy

OpIndia Staff
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Rohit Sharma has no idea about Dhoni’s glove controversy

In a press conference at the eve of India-Australia clash, Rohit Sharma said he doesn’t know what is happening with MS Dhoni’s glove controversy.

Talking to the media, when asked about the gloves controversy, Rohit said “I have no idea about it, honestly. See, I’m not the captain. I don’t know what’s going on with that. Probably we’ll see it tomorrow.”

Australia has beaten India (3-2) in the bilateral series after being 0-2 down in 5 match ODI series. So will that have some impact in tomorrow’s clash, Rohit believes its the thing of the past and shouldn’t matter much.

“We had success in Australia, and they had success in India recently. However, again, tomorrow’s game will all depend on how we play on that particular day. I guess it’s the same for them, as well, because we have seen one or two individuals can take the game away from you. What we have done in the past is past,” told Rohit

After the match against South Africa, Virat Kohli said that Rohit’s 122* in that match was the best ODI hundred he scored for India, but Rohit has a different point of view.

“Not the best, but yes, probably one of the best, I would rate that knock amongst the best at the top because it was not the easiest of the conditions. Although, yes, we were chasing not such a high amount of score, still, it was not that easy. Throughout the hundred overs that we played, there was something in for the bowlers,” Rohit further told the reporters.

One of the reports told Rohit that Australian skipper, Aaron Finch has picked Steve Smith as the best batsman in all three formats ahead of Kohli, Rohit said, “This is a debate we will continue as long as these guys are playing. It’s for you guys to judge who’s the best, who’s not. It’s not for me to judge.”

Cricket World Cup Preview – India v Australia: It will be a cracker of a game

OpIndia Staff
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Cricket World Cup Preview – India v Australia: It will be a cracker of a game

When India locks horns with Australia on Sunday, many people will lose their minds due to a nail-biting finish. Such is the excitement these two teams provide when they play against each other.

The record might tell you that Australia dominated India in World Cup games (winning 8 games out of 11), but most of the matches produced absolute rippers. There are only two world cup matches that were won by a margin of 1 run and both the times these two teams were involved.

India, one the most favourite to win the title, have started their campaign on a winning note. The team played as a unit, and the bowlers bowled according to plan and supported well by the fielders, followed by an excellent batting display by the batsmen.

But Australia is no South Africa, and they know how to make a comeback from a losing position. So Indian bowlers need to be on their toes throughout the match as they have seen what Australian lower order did against the West Indies.

Australia’s strength is in their never give up attitude. Despite this, their bowling could land them in trouble as only Starc seems to be in good form. So if the Indian batsmen see him off, there won’t be much issue in scoring runs against the rest of the bowlers.

Australia also has to watch out for Jasprit Bumhah, who is in great form. The Indian spin duo (Kuldeep & Chahal) had been tackled well by the Aussies in the bilateral series in India. But they picked six wickets against South Africa, so you can’t just write them off. Smith and Warner need to bat throughout the innings to get a good score for Australia.

Players to watch out

Bumrah is the trump card for India. The number one bowler got an orthodox bowling action which keeps the batsmen guessing what’s coming next. Most of his balls pitch on the middle stump and drift away from the batsman, which makes it hard to play.

Starc would love to continue his current form. He has an uncanny knack of dismissing the most dangerous batsman of the opposing team at the early stage of the innings. If he does well, India won’t be able to score as per their likings.

India v Australia in ODIs:

Overall: Matches 136, India Won 49, Australia Won 79, No Result 10

World Cup: Matches 3, India Won 3, Australia Won 8

Recent Form (most recent first): India W L L L W, Australia W W W W W

ICC Rankings: India (2), Australia (5)

Upcoming Records:

Virat Kohli needs 139 more runs to reach the 11,000 runs milestone, and he will be the 3rd Indian after Tendulkar and Ganguly to reach the milestone.

Kohli needs just one more half century to reach the record of 50 half century in ODIs.

Aaron Finch has 98 ODI sixes on his name, and he needs two more to reach 100 sixes in ODIs.

Hardik Pandya needs six wickets to reach 50 wickets milestone in ODIs while Coulter-Nile needs 2.

Squads:

India: Virat Kohli (capt), Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shikhar Dhawan, MS Dhoni (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul, Mohammed Shami, Vijay Shankar, Rohit Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav.

Australia: Aaron Finch (capt), Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey (wk), Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pat Cummins, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa.

Aligarh: Lawyers refuse to represent the accused men in the brutal murder of child, stand firmly with the victim’s family

OpIndia Staff
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Aligarh: Lawyers refuse to represent the accused men in the brutal murder of child, stand firmly with the victim’s family

The gut-wrenching murder of a 2.5-year-old girl in Aligarh sparked a massive outrage with many people across the country urging the judiciary to swiftly deliver justice by giving out harshest punishment for the culprits. Now, the General Secretary of the Aligarh Bar Association, Anoop Kaushik had declared that none of their lawyers will be defending the accused men in the court. He even asserted that they won’t allow any counsel from outside to fight the case on behalf of the accused men.


Tina (name changed), resident of Tappal, Aligarh district, Uttar Pradesh, was choked to death by Zahid and Aslam over an argument with her family regarding a small loan amount of Rs 10000. The principal accused, Zahid had brutally strangled Tina with a dupatta (scarf) and hid the body in his house in a straw bag. After three days when the corpse started emitting a foul odour, Zahid threw Tina’s body in a pile of trash. Tina’s body was completely decomposed with her eyes gouged out.

The post-mortem report said that vital parts of Tina’s body were missing and it couldn’t be determined with certainty whether she was subjected to sexual assault or not. Earlier, Tina’s mother had alleged that Aslam, another co-accused in the case had previously raped his own daughter after which his wife has taken their daughter away to her parent’s house.

Following the murder, the Uttar Pradesh has set up an SIT to investigate the case. As per the Police, the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act will also be applied to the case. According to DG (Law & Order) Anand Kumar, Aligarh SSP has set up an SIT to fast-track the case and ensure that the culprits are brought to justice. He added that investigation is proceeding on the basis of scientific evidence.

In addition, the police have made two more arrests in the case on Saturday, including the wife of Zahid and his younger brother. So far, 4 arrests have been made in the case. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising of 6 members is to submit their probe report within 3 weeks.

West Bengal: BJP victory procession turns violent, workers say police were accompanied by TMC goons who triggered the attack

OpIndia Staff
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West Bengal: BJP victory procession turns violent, workers say police were accompanied by TMC goons who triggered the attack

Though the Lok Sabha election 2019 is done and dusted, Mamata Banerjee led Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal is yet to recover from the jolt they faced at the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party. The BJP workers have been on the receiving end since the time election preparations were in full swing and are still facing the ire.

In the latest, clashes broke out at Buniyadpur and Gangarampur in Bengal’s South Dinajpur district on Saturday afternoon when the police authorities broke into two victory processions led by Bharatiya Janata Party state unit president and Midnapore MP Dilip Ghosh.

Dilip Ghosh, who was rushed to a safe place by BJP workers as tension rose and more police were deployed to tackle the situation, alleged that the police were accompanied by Trinamool Congress workers who triggered the clash by attacking his men first.

Several BJP workers were also injured in the baton charge by the police. Police also lobbed teargas shells to disperse the crowd. BJP workers also retaliated by showering brickbats on the police force and chasing the men in uniform with sticks.

Police vehicles were damaged while Sub-inspector Ribhu Bhattacharya sustained head injuries and a woman civic volunteer’s leg was broken in the onslaught.

The unrest prevailed for almost three hours. The situation came under control after 2 pm Around 20 BJP workers were rounded up.

The Bharatiya Janata Party had taken out the processions irrespective of the recent ban imposed by West Bengal CM and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee.

Earlier too a BJP victory procession was disrupted by TMC goons who hurled bombs at a ‘Vijay Rally’ of the BJP in Birbhum district on May 28.

Probably, unnerved by the BJP spell which was seen intensifying in these Lok Sabha elections in Mamata’s home turf, the West Bengal CM had recently announced the ban on victory processions of the BJP, claiming it would ‘trigger violence’ across Bengal.

Mamata Banerjee had issued a diktat to the police ordering them to take strong action against BJP leaders if they create any trouble by holding victory rallies in the state. Mamata Banerjee has dictated that there should not be any more victory march in the state as over 2 weeks have passed since the announcement of the Lok Sabha election results.

Meanwhile, Banerjee foreseeing what her future in stores, had turned hostile towards BJP much prior to the Lok Sabha elections. She had banned BJP’s Rath Yatra campaign last year, citing ‘law and order’ issues. Her government had also stopped many BJP leaders from holding rallies in the state by refusing permission for landing choppers. Innumerable BJP karyakarta’s were attacked in Bengal.

Amidst these acts of violence, Mamata Banerjee has also shown her opposition to Hindus raising religious slogans of “Jai Shri Ram”. Recently West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee got irked by these slogans and was also seen lashing out at the people and threatening to take action against the people chanting Jai Shri Ram.

Later, she had also unleashed her state police force to arrest few people for chanting Jai Shri Ram slogans in the state.

Free metro rides for women is an ill thought-out move: Here are the DMRC numbers that nobody is talking about

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Free metro rides for women is an ill thought-out move: Here are the DMRC numbers that nobody is talking about

The Delhi Government’s latest move to offer free rides to women commuters of the Delhi Metro showcases once again Mr Kejriwal’s old habit of offering populist subsidies just before elections. The current proposal has several financial, social, and logistical implications that have not been examined in depth and will be detrimental to the health of one of the best-run PSU’s so far.

The said proposal, which is estimated to benefit women commuters who supposedly comprise ‘30 to 33 percent’ of the riders, will be launched in 3 months and is likely to cost the Delhi government Rs 700 crore for this year. Mr Kejriwal has clarified that the entire cost will be borne by Delhi Govt and also specified that no permission from the Central government has to be taken for this move.

A careful examination of this announcement reveals several flaws which we believe have not been examined in depth. 

Firstly, there are several financial consequences of this move, both on the government as well as on the DMRC. There is no data-driven basis to the figure of 30%women ridership that has been used to justify this move. It has been assumed that women straight up comprise ⅓ rd of the total riders. This data does not seem to have been derived from either the census of Delhi or from DMRC’s own figures. Given that the DMRC itself does not segregate men and women in its own report of ridership details, the financial cost of 700 crores seems to have been arrived on this flawed assumption.

Secondly, the financial report of DMRC, which has been compiled and is available in the public domain, reveals disturbing trends. DMRC currently owes approximately 2915 crores to JICA and 5134 crores to DEAMPL, which is a subsidiary of Reliance Infra. DMRC has consistently focused on meeting its debt obligations during the loan repayment cycle along with profits before tax while meeting its mandate of providing quality public transport. The fares in 2017 were hiked to increase the revenue, keeping these financial concerns in mind. While this move undoubtedly caused a decline in ridership, it was necessary so that DMRC could continue to be an efficiently run enterprise.

As India grows in stature and confidence, mismanaged and debt-ridden PSU’s depending on loans and external players seem out of place. Implementing this move will push DMRC towards indebtedness and be a blot on the civic pride of the capital. The official numbers in the following table also confirm this financial stress.

 As can be seen, since the last 4 years, DMRC has seen a fall in the rate of revenue growth. Not only has the profit percentage as a share of revenue fallen, but the profits themselves have plummeted. Extrapolating from this data, it is anticipated that at this current trend, DMRC will have revenue of Rs 6,500 crores and it will be a miracle if it breaks even in the future.   

Furthermore, as these extrapolated figures been arrived without including the free ride proposal, it will be unsurprising if Kejriwal’s latest move exacerbates the red figures on DMRC’s balance sheet. 

The Delhi Government’s proposal to bear the Rs 700 crore losses also hides another major issue- that no cognizance has been taken of the fact that the operational and other running expenses of DMRC are increasing annually and these will NOT be paid by the Delhi Government and which have been conveniently overlooked by the Delhi Government.

Besides financial concerns, there are other pressing issues such as logistical implementation and execution- implementation of this freebie. While vague proposals are in the horizon such as having a separate line for women or an Aadhaar linked metro card for women, there can be no denying that the general public will find a way of misusing these women friendly facility. As is the case, instances of the public flouting coach rules are rampant in Delhi. While an Aadhar linked metro card can be implemented, the question remains as to how can such abuse be prevented and how these expenses are to be met.

ID linked fund transfers, which have been implemented by the Central government over the last couple of years, could be one way forward. Women from lower socioeconomic strata and other vulnerable women groups such as elderly or handicapped ladies can benefit from such a linkage– this will not only save taxpayer money and benefit genuine recipients but also promote the stated goal of increasing access to digital banking as part of Digital India initiative without wasting taxpayers’ money on such unnecessary freebie.

In fact, one may argue as to why should Delhi taxpayers subsidize travel of women to areas such as Gurugram and Noida when their respective state governments aren’t even bothering to financially pitch in. Given that there are other more deserving sections of society, why should the savings in financial costs be passed to only women?

Critics can argue that this move will increase women’s participation in public spaces. However, Women’s safety is a systemic issue that needs to be addressed by multiple stakeholders- civic society, government, police and law enforcement. Hasty measures are NOT the solution. The Delhi Govt’s patchy execution of such freebies and increasing women empowerment means that this move perpetuates gender stereotypes of women requiring patriarchal intervention at every step of their lives – an idea at odds with the idea of a progressive India.

These questions must provoke a larger debate.

DMRC is currently the world’s 2nd most unaffordable metro and lacks a sufficient user base or a revenue stream to sustain its operations. Should this be the direction our PSU’s and infrastructure projects take?

Also, why is it that we as a country love freebies and why is it that the government panders to such needs despite their detriment to the country? Sadly, Mr Kejriwal is symptomatic of our own ineptness, selfishness, and a pervasive desire to enjoy unearned privileges. As citizens, we should not only oppose such moves but also use such occasions to introspect as a collective society. Only then, can democracy be truly implemented?

Sources for the financials of DMRC:

  1. Delhi Metro 2015-2016
  2. Delhi Metro 2016-2017
  3. Delhi Metro 2017-2018

Indian Railways to offer massage services for passengers in trains departing from Indore

OpIndia Staff
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Indian Railways to offer massage services for passengers in trains departing from Indore

Today the Indian Railways officially announced that they would soon be offering massage services for its passenger on board running trains.

The service could be availed in 39 trains departing from Indore. The idea was proposed by the Ratlam division of Western Railway zone.

The trains on which the service would be provided include Malwa Express, Indore-Lingampalli Humsafar Express, Avantika Express, Indore-Veraval Mahamana Express, Shipra Express, Narmada Express, Ahilya Nagari Express, Panchvally Express, Indore-Pune Express.

Rajesh Bajpai, director, media and communication, railway board said, “This is the first time in the history of railways that we will provide massaging service for passenger comfort on running trains. It will not only increase revenue but also add passengers. Railways to earn an additional revenue of Rs 20 lakh annually and an estimated increase of Rs 90 lakh per year through the additional sale of tickets from about 20,000 passengers who will be the service providers”.

The service would be offered at three prices each with for foot and head massage for 15 to 20 minutes. The Gold service is offered at Rs 100, Diamond service at Rs 200 and Platinum service at Rs 300.

Within 15-20 days the Indian Railways would commence the service and it would be available from 6 am to 10 pm. The train would have 3-5 massage providers and they would be provided with identity cards. The number of massage providers would be increased if required.

The Indian Railways had asked it’s zones and divisions to come out with new and innovative ideas to generate non-fare revenue, the message service would be the first idea want to be implemented after the suggestion of the Western Railway.

Rana Ayyub gets rattled and displays her hypocrisy after Bhupendra Chaubey refers to Aligarh murderers as ‘Muslim men’

OpIndia Staff
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Rana Ayyub gets rattled and displays her hypocrisy after Bhupendra Chaubey refers to Aligarh murderers as ‘Muslim men’

Controversial journalist Rana Ayyub, who recently had a prolonged meltdown on Twitter after PM Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) registered an emphatic victory in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections and after Amit Shah was appointed with the Home Ministry portfolio appeared visibly rattled as one of her fellow journalists invoked religion of the perpetrators of ghastly murder of a 2.5 year old Tina in the town of Aligarh.


A perturbed Rana called out the journalist for invoking the faith of the murder accused and slammed the journalist for peddling his agenda over brutal, heartwrenching murder of an innocent toddler.

Journalist Bhupendra Chaubey had expressed shock over the brutality of ‘Muslim Men’ in the Aligarh incident which has shaken the entire country to its core. The tweet by Bhupendra has not been deleted.

Zahid, the principal accused along with Aslam had strangled Tina Sharma to death for a paltry loan of Rs 10,000. Her body was kept hidden in Zahid’s house for 3 days until the body started emitting odour, after which he dumped it in the trash of pile. When her body was recovered, her eyes were gouged out and arm amputated. The post-mortem report was inconclusive whether a sexual assault had happened on her or not.

However, Rana who pompously censured Chaubey for citing religious identity of the perpetrators had herself insinuated the assaulters who had raped a nun in Bengal of being supporters of RSS espousing the ideology of Hindutva. Rana had mentioned in her article how the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and Subramanian Swamy’s utterances have acted as a catalyst for their supporters to attack the minorities. Towards the end, Rana alludes that the attack on the nun was not by the infiltrating Bangladeshis but by the followers of the RSS.

It was later found out that the attack was indeed carried out by a Bangladeshi infiltrator and not by the ‘indoctrinated’ youths of the Hindutva fronts. There is a pattern in this. Many liberals, including Rana Ayyub, blame RSS and malign Hindus for any untoward incident that happens in the country. Even when journalist Gauri Lankesh was murdered, these liberals quickly sprung into action alleging that RSS supporters and Hindutva followers have committed her murder.

In another instance, when a minor girl was raped in Kathua, the same Rana Ayyub endorsed an article which equated plotters of Kathua rape case to millions of Hindus who want to see India as a Hindu Rashtra. Rana had no qualms then in sharing and endorsing an article that likened millions of Hindus to the Kathua rapists just because the victim was a minor Muslim girl.


According to the seemingly hypocritical standards exhibited by Rana Ayyub, citing religion of the assaulters is kosher if the victim belongs to the minority group. But, If the assaulters are from a minority community, their religious identities have no role to play in the depravity of the act committed by them.

The stark dichotomy displayed by Rana Ayyub in her duplicitous stand vis-a-vis victims’ religions. Hindus, RSS and Hindutva groups can be named and shamed, held responsible for any unfortunate incident that occurred against the minorities even before the police investigation commences but if the perpetrators belong to minority communities, mentioning their religion becomes akin to “peddling of agenda and exploiting the tragedy”.

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