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FactChecker wins an international award for its dubious and faulty hate crime database

K Bhattacharjee
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FactChecker wins an international award for its dubious and faulty hate crime database

IndiaSpend’s factchecker.in has won an international award for its ‘Hate Crime Watch’ database where it fudges and manipulates data to peddle the narrative that Muslims are disproportionately the victims of hate crimes. The award was presented by the Global Editors Network in their Data Journalism Awards for 2019.

The Jury remarked, “The Factchecker.in team have performed an important public service in tracking and making available a database of religion-based hate crimes in India, filling a key gap in official statistics. The collaborative effort allows users to better understand trends in hate crime incidents, including by geography, local government in power or religious group targeted – and that, hopefully, can lead to a better-informed public and better public policy on this issue.”

At OpIndia.com, we have regularly demonstrated on several occasions the extremely problematic aspects of IndiaSpend’s Hate Crime Watch. Swati Goel Sharma of Swarajya Mag, too, has busted the intended narrative on several occasions.

Amusingly enough, FactChecker has admitted in the past that it does not even aspire to be an ‘exhaustive record of all religious identity-based hate crimes in India’ but seeks to ‘identify patterns’ for public scrutiny. In absence of exhaustive records on an issue as sensitive as hate crimes, how can any meaningful conclusions be drawn from the data?

Anyone who knows anything about data understands that if you are seeking to identify a pattern from a given set of data that will hold true for the larger population, then you need to ensure that the given set of data is representative of the larger population. It appears that FactChecker has made it a habit of not doing that, our comprehensive report on the matter that illustrates this fact can be read here.

There have been occasions when FactChecker has deliberately twisted the facts of the matter to increase the number of Muslim victims in its database by including cases where the victim and the perpetrator both belonged to the Muslim community. On other occasions, the organization has continued to maintain a case in its hate crime database even after it was proved that no such incident occurred merely because the alleged victim was from the Muslim community and the alleged perpetrators Hindu. According to the luminaries at FactChecker, the Pulwama Terror Attack wasn’t a hate crime either even though the Terrorist himself proclaimed that he was carrying the attack against ‘Cow-Piss drinkers’.

At the end of the day, FactChecker’s award for its Hate Crime Database only reflects the falling standards of journalism. In the past few years, the mainstream media has gotten nearly every major story wrong big time. While the American Media was having an orgy over Donald Trump’s supposed collusion with the Russians, a myth that was busted by the Mueller report, in India, every major media outlet missed the tectonic shift in Indian polity that awarded Narendra Modi an even greater majority in the Parliament.

The troubling part about the whole matter is that the awards are backed by the Google News Lab. Simon Rogers, Data Editor at Google News Lab, is the director of the competition. Google, in recent times, has been accused of political biases itself and videos had surfaced of its adherence to the most rabid form of left-wing identity politics. The Tech Giant has also been accused in the past of manipulating search results to favour a certain political entity or suppress conservative political opinions.

Central government releases Rs 57 lakh as first GST refund for Langar items purchased by Gurudwaras

OpIndia Staff
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Central government releases Rs 57 lakh as first GST refund for Langar items purchased by Gurudwaras

In a massive relief to gurudwaras across the country, the Central Government has finally released Rs 57 lakh as a refund for the GST that was charged on items used for preparing the food at ‘Langars’ in gurudwaras, including the Golden Temple. Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal thanked the Prime Minister for fulfilling his promise to the Sikh community.


In a statement, she said the Ministry of Culture has released the fund to the GST authority in Ludhiana from where it would be handed over to Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) which manages the gurudwara’s across the country.

“This is the first instalment of GST refund and henceforth this refund will be issued quarterly to the SGPC. I thank the prime minister for the respect shown to Sikh sentiments by resolving this issue to the satisfaction of the Sikh community,” said the minister.

The minister had also asked the Congress government in Punjab to follow suit and fulfil its promise to refund State share of GST to the SGPC.


In 2018 SGPC had claimed that the GST levied on Langar raw materials caused a heavy burden on the Golden Temple as it had to pay Rs 2 crore as GST from 1st July 2017 to 31st January 2018. Last year, the Modi government decided to waive GST on langar items on Thursday by providing financial assistance under ‘Seva Bhoj Yojna’.

As announced by the Ministry of Culture, the scheme with a total outlay of Rs. 325.00 crores “envisages to reimburse the Central Government share of Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) and Integrated Goods and Service Tax (IGST)so as to lessen the financial burden of such Charitable Religious Institutions who provide Food/Prasad/Langar (Community Kitchen)/Bhandara free of cost without any discrimination to Public/Devotees”.

Just a day after swearing in, PM Modi took a major decision on ‘Prime Minister’s Scholarship Scheme’ and followed by the first Cabinet meeting the in which five path-breaking decisions were made. In a massive push for healthcare benefits, the government has reduced the contribution of employees and employers for ESI (Employee State Insurance) scheme.

Corrupt Gupta brothers and the big fat weddings in Auli, Uttarakhand: Did the BJP govt in the state miss their sketchy past?

Nupur J Sharma
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Corrupt Gupta brothers and the big fat weddings in Auli, Uttarakhand: Did the BJP govt in the state miss their sketchy past?

BJP leader Uma Bharti took to Twitter today to raise objections against a wedding that is set to take place in Uttarakhand. The weddings that are set to take place in the picturesque mountains are that of the offsprings of the Gupta brothers. While Ajay Gupta’s son Suryakant gets married on June 18-20, his younger brother Atul Gupta’s son Shashank ties the knot on June 20-22. People monitoring the arrangements peg the wedding to cost an estimated Rs 200 crore!


Uma Bharti’s reasons for opposing the wedding might be skewed. Her main grouse is that of obscene display of wealth. Such a socialist argument might not find resonance with many considering even if the wedding entails an obscene display of wealth, the person whose wealth is being spent has the ultimate right to choose what he does with his money.

However, there are other reasons to be concerned about these big-fat-weddings that are about to take place in Uttarakhand.

For starters, Ghaziabad based activist has written a letter to Prakash Javdekar expressing concern over what these weddings would do the ecological balance in the region. The weddings are set to take place in the ski destination of Auli.

Lawyer and environmentalist Akash Vashishtha, in his letter, states that he would be compelled to seek legal action if the government does not act ahead of the event.

Vashishtha’s letter states he was disturbed to learn about the wedding of the sons of Ajay Gupta and Atul Gupta, who are being probed by the Income Tax Department for alleged money laundering, between June 18-20 in Auli area of Chamoli district in the Garhwal Himalayas.

According to Vashishtha, situated at an altitude of 2,505 metres, in close proximity to the snow-covered Himalayan peaks such as Nanda Devi, Mana Parvat and Kamat, Auli is a fragile ecology, blanketed with thick snow for most parts of the year.

He says that this unmindful and reckless personal event would harm the ecology of the entire Himalayan landscape, irreparably.

Apart from the ecological concerns that these destinations weddings might have, the background of the Gupta brothers themselves raise questions as to why the Uttarakhand government is cooperating and catering to their demands at all.

President of South Africa who resigned in February 2018 after charges of massive fraud and impropriety have inextricable links to the Gupta brothers. Zuma was accused of being involved in various fraudulent deals benefitting his family with the help of Gupta brothers – India born influential South Africa based businessmen with interests in computers, media, mining, and real estate.

Zuma’s son is reported to be a director in many companies of Gupta brothers, and thus Zuma was accused of granting undue favours to Gupta brothers as a result of which piling personal fortunes for himself and his family. For example, there was one instance where Bank of Baroda, through its South African operations, gave loan to Jacob Zuma’s fourth wife to buy a house. The loan was paid by companies owned by Gupta brothers.

Helping Zuma’s wife pay a housing loan is lesser of the charges levelled against the Gupta brothers. There have been reports that Guptas were so influential and powerful in South Africa owing to their proximity to the Zuma family, that they even used to offer posts in the central government to politicians (fixing cabinet berths a la Radia tape controversy back in India) apart from winning government contracts for themselves.

Gupta brothers have inextricable links to one Piyoosh Goyal (businessman) who has inextricable links to Kapil Sibal.

Read also: Kapil Sibal acquired land in Delhi worth crores by paying just 1 lakh rupees?

The Gupta brothers were also connected to the BRICS summit saga that unfolded in 2018. At that time, there was news that there were invisible hands that were trying to derail the summit and also, get Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrested.

The South African Kashmiri Action Group and the Muslim Lawyers’ Association demanded the investigation, arrest and prosecution of Modi over his governance of Jammu and Kashmir. The motivated calls for arrest were based on the misplaced UN report on Kashmir that India had summarily and vehemently rejected. The Ministry of External Affairs had issued a statement saying “It is a selective compilation of largely unverified information. It is overtly prejudiced and seeks to build a false narrative.”

Interestingly, the bid to derail the summit by legal applications of having Narendra Modi arrested have been fuelled by the controversial businessmen of the Gupta family.

South African media outlet DailyMaverick reported :

Building closer relations with India is probably somewhere on Ramaphosa’s to-do list, but at least he and Modi have in common a dislike for the Zuma-friendly Gupta family. During his 2016 state visit to South Africa, Modi snubbed a dinner at which he had heard some of the Gupta brothers would be present, and now some conspiracy theorists in the Indian High Commission in Pretoria reckon Gupta-friendly officials might be fuelling efforts to embarrass Modi, as payback.

While investigating the links between Zuma and the Gupta brothers, AmaBhugane and DailyMaverick had stumbled upon his business relations with another controversial businessman called Piyoosh Goyal and in turn, Goyal’s business relations with Congress leader Kapil Sibal. However, no link has been established between Kapil Sibal and the Gupta family directly. Though, Daily Maverick amaBhungane claim that family of Kapil Sibal – the Congress leader, his wife Promila Sibal, and his son Akhil Sibal, who is also a lawyer – and families of Piyoosh Goyal and Gupta brothers took a chartered flight from Delhi to Mumbai to watch the final of the 2011 Cricket World Cup between India and Sri Lanka, a charge which was summarily denied by Kapil Sibal and his son.

Our independent investigation also showed that Kapil Sibal had acquired a defunct company from Piyoosh Goyal and an expensive piece of land for a nominal rate and the business dealings between the two were a little opaque. Following our investigation, Kapil Sibal’s refusal to answer our question and his subsequent u-turn from what he had told the South African journalists, Sibal had also threatened to sue OpIndia.

Read also: Corrupt businessmen and Islamists try to get Modi ‘arrested’ ahead of BRICS, read how they failed

In 2018, documents seized by the Income Tax department during raids at Gupta brothers properties in Dehradun and Saharanpur revealed that Rs. 100 crores which were spent on a Shiva temple in Saharanpur was used as a front to launder money by way of ‘donations’. The properties that were raided were in the middle of the South African scandal that involved Jacob Zuma. The suspicion was that they were bringing money into India.

“The Shiva project was a means to bring money back to India. Otherwise, there was no need to spend over Rs 100 crore for a temple of this size. The documents revealed an online transaction of Rs 22.67 crore made to the Gupta temple trust in 2015 by the Guptas’ employee Sanjay Grover, who worked in Dubai before his death. Grover also has an account in a private bank in Dehradun and that is also under scanner”, IT sleuths had said to Times of India. 

The Times of India report says, “Investigations further revealed that Grover died in 2016, following which an I-T team quizzed his wife, Renu Grover, who lives in West Patel Nagar, Delhi, on Wednesday. The I-T official said, “In her statement, she clarified that her husband worked with the Guptas in Dubai and drew a salary of 26,000 Dirham (about Rs 4.59 lakh) per month and was not in a condition to give loan or donate Rs 22.67 crore”.

In 2018, IT sleuths had said that the process of attaching 30 properties had already been started by the government and that they are trying to identify 60 more properties that were mentioned in the documents seized by the IT department.

South African journalists reported that while the Gupta brothers have had recent legal success in SA courts, Zondo Commission into State Capture is not yet complete and that the nation hopes to see prosecutions in the future. In the same report, the South African journalist also raise alarm bells over the Gupta brothers meeting with Uttarakhand officials for the arrangements of the wedding and urge Indian journalist to raise a similar alarm.

The conspiracy of silence around the Gupta brothers and their shenanigans is such that back in 2017, HSBC was accused of complicity in letting the businessmen transfer money out of SA. In fact, the peer had demanded an investigation into HSBC for criminal complicity in helping the Gupta brothers launder money. 

Coming back to Gupta weddings, this won’t be the first time that the Guptas would embarrass India as far as lavish weddings go. On 30 April 2013, an Airbus A330-200 chartered aircraft run by Jet Airways carrying 217 guests from India was cleared to land at the South African Air Force base at Waterkloof for the wedding ceremony of Vega Gupta to Aakash Jahajgarhia at. This event caused an uproar that led to the African National Congress (ANC) and other political parties as well as the South African National Defence Union denouncing this use of the air force base. The ANC issued a statement calling for “those responsible for giving the family permission to come into the country without going through the normal channels be ‘brought to book’.

Interestingly, the person responsible for the fiasco in South Africa, the man who cleared the landing was later demoted, but, he had asserted that the landing was approved because of ‘sensitive official visits’. There was significant controversy over who were the politicians aboard this flight. It was later reported that Azam Khan, Mata Prasad Pandey and Shivpal Singh Yadav may have been onboard and had attended the South African wedding.

In the aftermath of the event, India’s High Commissioner Virendra Gupta (not related to the Gupta family) said publicly that the Indian High Commission was given permission to land the plane at Waterkloof Air Force Base. He explained that the Commission communicated through its defence adviser with the chief of defence for foreign relations in the SA National Defence Force (SANDF). 

The charges against Gupta brothers could fill the pages of many articles. Just a glimpse into the family’s illustrious career does indicate that they are deeply entrenched in several corruption cases. Why the Uttarakhand government would indulge the family is a conundrum that deserves to be solved. The fact that it would “promote tourism” in a small state because the amount being spent on the wedding is large, certainly cannot be a justification for indulging corrupt businessmen who are being investigated across borders. One has to wonder if the Uttarakhand government missed the Gupta brother’s past, or there is some other angle that we might have missed.

Match Preview: Australia v Sri Lanka: Another easy win for Australia?

OpIndia Staff
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Match Preview: Australia v Sri Lanka: Another easy win for Australia?

Another bright day for the cricket fans as no rain is forecasted for the match between Australia and Sri Lanka at The Oval. The rain has helped Sri Lanka in two games in which they had no chance of winning it but still earned one point from each match (Pakistan and Bangladesh). Australia will show no mercy in the upcoming contest.

Australia has dominated in most of the matches they played in this tournament. They should not have any problem in beating the weakest Sri Lankan team in the World Cup since 1992. The openers Finch and Warner are in excellent form and giving brilliant starts to their innings. The middle order hasn’t done anything significant so far, but they would be hoping to score some runs in this game. If Australia bats first then there is a high chance of them scoring 300 or against this toothless bowling attack.

Their bowlers Cummins and Starc have proved themselves as one of the best opening bowling pair. They shouldn’t have any problem in defending even a score of 200 or less.

Sri Lanka has plenty of problems, the whole team doesn’t look like a unit and has been in the news for more than usual due to off the field controversies, such as complaining about no swimming pool in the hotel, no extra leg space in the bus and so on.

The only bright spot Sri Lanka has is there bowling legend Malinga who still offers great line and length with slow yorkers which can disguise any batsman in the world. Though it will be a miracle for Sri Lanka to beat Australia, you never know as cricket is a funny game.

The weather at The Oval is perfect for a cricket match, bright sunny with mild wind.

Players to watch out

David Warner is in top form and has proved himself as one of the best batsmen around the world at this moment. He batted like a champion, scored a hundred against Pakistan, the 50s  against India and Afghanistan. Warner was failed only against one team, i.e., West Indies. He, along with Finch, can destroy any bowling attack.

Its high time for Angelo Mathews to deliver and if he doesn’t, then it will be curtains down for Sri Lanka in the tournament. He was the best bet for the young Sri Lankan team before they started their campaign. However, it seems like he is entirely out of touch, with two ducks in as many games shattered the hopes of Sri Lankan fans. However, if he does well, it will be an excellent thing for Sri Lanka.

Australia v Sri Lanka in ODIs:

Overall: Matches 97, Australia Won 60, Sri Lanka Won 33 No Result 4

World Cup: Matches 9, Australia Won 7, Sri Lanka Won 1, No Result 1

Recent Form (most recent first): Australia W L W W W, Sri Lanka NR NR W L W

ICC Rankings: Australia (5), Sri Lanka (9)

Upcoming Records:

Finch needs 30 runs to become the 15th Australian to reach 500 runs milestone in the World Cup.

Starc has 31 wickets in the World Cup, only McGrath (71), Lee (35), Hogg (34), Tait (34) and Warne (32) have taken more wickets for Australia in the World Cup. He needs just 4 wickets to be number two Australian bowler in World Cup history.

Squads:

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.

Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne (capt), Avishka Fernando, Suranga Lakmal, Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Jeevan Mendis, Kusal Mendis (wk), Kusal Perera (wk), Thisara Perera, Nuwan Pradeep, Dhananjaya de Silva, Milinda Siriwardana, Lahiru Thirimanne, Isuru Udana, Jeffrey Vandersay.

Bengal government’s open abetment to lynch mob mentality has destroyed doctor-patient relationship in state, says doctor

OpIndia Staff
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Bengal government’s open abetment to lynch mob mentality has destroyed doctor-patient relationship in state, says doctor

West Bengal, already marred with rampant political violence and lack of law and order, is reeling now under an unprecedented crisis. The doctors are on strike. After a mob of over 200 men attacked the NRS Hospital in Kolkata, beating up resident doctors and wreaked havoc because of a 75-year-old Mohammad Syed’s death, the junior doctors had said enough is enough and had demanded protection from the government.

The state government’s apathy and lack of visible action against the mobilisers of the mob and CM Mamata Banerjee’s hostile attitude towards the doctors demanding safety and justice, has created a nation-wide movement. Doctors in West Bengal’s hospitals are resigning en masse to protest against the government.

Binayak Sinha, a well-known doctor in Kolkata, has penned an article today in the Economic Times, discussing the issue and the reasons behind the crisis. In the article titled “Intensive don’t care unit”, Dr Sinha mentions that the current crisis has not erupted suddenly, but has been brewing for quite some time until it reached a tipping point after the mob attack on NRS Hospital. The article in The Economic Times is curated as below:

Here’s a fact for this opinion page: West Bengal has had more than 175 episodes of violence against doctors and other healthcare professionals in the last two years alone.

Soft violence, verbal abuse and threats are things that doctors in both government and private hospitals face every day. These incidents are off the record and have been accepted as a part of their job. But this is something new, something else.

On June 11, a 75-year-old man died at the Nil Ratan Sircar (NRS) Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. On hearing the news, family members of the deceased threatened junior doctors present, alleging negligence on their part.

The young doctors took it in their stride. Two hours later, two lorries with 200-odd people arrived at the hospital, unleashing violence on doctors and other caregivers in front of a largely mute Kolkata Police contingent.

The hooligans started throwing bricks, with one such missile thrown at Paribaha Mukherjee, an intern who was not even involved in the care of the index patient. The son of a village schoolmaster and Anganwadi worker, Paribaha had entered medical school as a top performer in the medical entrance exam.

He now lies at a specialised neurological centre after having had brain surgery for a depressed fracture of the frontal bone. Paribaha now seems to be out of danger.

But his frontal lobe may have been damaged, and only time will tell whether he will regain full cerebration — the working of the brain.

So, when did this spiral of violence start? It can be dated back to a Town Hall meeting in February 2017 that chief minister Mamata Banerjee held with representatives of corporate hospitals. There, she bludgeoned these representatives, highlighting the ills that affect the private healthcare system — and rightly so, since much is wrong, and there is a dire need for introspection and reforms here.

But is it the job of corporates to correct the wrongs of an ailing public health policy and system? However, what this meeting actually succeeded in doing was provide a free pass to Bengal’s lumpen elements to openly attack hospitals, caregivers and doctors.

No Doctored Solution
Various bodies of doctors have protested over these last two years. Marches, vigils, black badges, ‘pen-down’ protests, memoranda to the CM, letters to newspaper editors, hunger strikes et al have all been tried, repeatedly.

All that the doctors have kept demanding is safety and security at the workplace. But the NRS Hospital attack has brought Bengal’s doctors to a tipping point. They have finally come together, boycotting outpatient services, seeking adequate security at hospitals.

They have now shut down emergency care or boycotted taking care of hospitalised patients. Even in corporate hospitals, patients have been tended to in outpatient departments with no fees charged as a mark of protest.

But, yes, patients are suffering. Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee, who happens to be the chief minister’s nephew, has asked who will now bear the responsibility for taking care of the sick and the ailing.

He seems quite happy to forget that providing for patients is inextricably linked to providing security for their caregivers and that this is actually the responsibility of the government.

Mamata Banerjee has stated that since the police are regularly beaten up and never protest, junior doctors should follow suit. One can surmise that it is this attitude of the political establishment that has resulted in hooliganism and violence today being treated as ‘normal’ in every sphere of activity in Bengal.

The sacrosanct doctor-patient relationship lies destroyed by this open abetment to a lynch mob mentality by the administration. The proactive and verbose media do not waste a moment to publish and air news every time there’s a ‘Pulwama attack’ or a ‘Gauri Lankesh’ is gunned down. They are right to do so.

But they have been strangely silent over the last two years to the fact that the plight of the healthcare-giver has worsened. However, with this incident in NRS Hospital, and another mob attack at Burdwan Medical College two days later, the media have suddenly woken up, but with many sections ignoring the plight of doctors. Instead, they ask whether the protests and boycott are humane.

Nursing Our Society
Humanitarianism is the end point for all healthcare-givers, particularly doctors who spend their lives caring for the sick and accepting death on a day-to-day basis.

Does this mean that doctors, by dint of their profession, have no right to protest? If that is so, then the onus of protecting doctors being attacked by lynch mobs should also fall on those who refuse or fail to see the symbiotic relationship between the condition of the patient and that of his healthcare-giver.

So, what next? Civil society, media, professionals including doctors need to come together and stop this spiral of violence that seems to have become second nature in Bengal’s society.

This must be done in spite of the political forces currently at play. If this is not undertaken and achieved, even darker days loom on the horizon, for doctors as well as for patients. And, most importantly, for every citizen of West Bengal.

Punjab: Congress councillor’s brother brutally assaults woman in public view, booked

OpIndia Staff
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Punjab: Congress councillor’s brother brutally assaults woman in public view, booked

A Congress councillor’s brother was seen dragging a woman out of her house and beating her mercilessly in full public view, in Muktsar, Punjab. In a video that went viral yesterday, the councillor’s brother and his associates were seen beating a woman brutally, repeatedly kicking and punching her.

The incident reportedly happened in Muktsar’s Budha Gujjar area.


As per reports, Muktsar’s Congress councillor Rakesh Chaudhary’s brother Suresh Chaudhary had reached the house of one Meena Rani to demand money that she allegedly owed the councillor. As Meena’s family expressed that they cannot pay back the 23,000 rupees they owed and asked for some days’ time, Suresh Chaudhary and his associates dragged Meena Rani out of her house and started beating her mercilessly.

In one of the viral videos, it is reportedly seen that Meena Rani was dragged as her son watched, crying helplessly. Meena’s elderly mother is seen trying to beg the men and save her daughter, but she was beaten up by Suresh Choudhary’s goons too. Suresh Chaudhary and his goons are seen beating the woman brutally with belts and kicks.

The victim’s mother has informed the police that Suresh Chaudhary and his men had come to her house at around 11 am on Friday. The woman Meena Rani has since been admitted to Muktsar district hospital where she is being treated for bruises and abrasions.

The SSP Manjeet Dhesi has informed Times Of India that Suresh Chaudhary and his accomplices Roop Lal, Sunny Chaudhary, Shekhu, Guddi and Jebo have been arrested under sections 307(attempt to murder), 452(house trespass), 354(assault or use of criminal force on a woman in an attempt to outrage her modesty, 354B (assault on a woman with an intent to disrobe), and 120B(criminal conspiracy).


The councillor Rakesh Chaudhary, though he was not present at the spot, has also been booked for criminal conspiracy. Rakesh Choudhary is yet to be arrested.

Meena Rani’s family has informed that they are all labourers and they would never have taken the loan had they known that the councillor’s men were so ruthless.

As per reports, there are already some other criminal cases against the Congress councillor and his brother, including a murder case.

‘Pained’ Manish Sisodia gives a confused response to Metro Man Sreedharan’s objection to AAP’s dole of free Metro rides to women

OpIndia Staff
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‘Pained’ Manish Sisodia gives a confused response to Metro Man Sreedharan’s objection to AAP’s dole of free Metro rides to women

AAP leader and Delhi’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia is reported ‘pained’ over Metro Man E Sreedharan’s unequivocal rejection of AAP’s latest stunt of providing free Metro rides for women. Sreedharan had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to “not agree” with the Aam Aadmi Party’ proposal for giving free rides to women commuters on public transport. Now, Sisodia has written a letter to Sreedharan with a confused response as to why this latest dole by the AAP government is a good move.

Manish Sisodia in his letter has said that he is ‘pained and surprised’ that the former DMRC chief has opposed the State government’s move to let women travel on Metro for free.

The Deputy Chief Minister also claimed, “By Delhi Metro’s own admission, free ridership for women will increase women ridership by 50 per cent. Delhi Metro should celebrate this rather than oppose it. Even after providing free ridership for women, DMRC daily ridership will go up by only three lakhs on a daily basis, which will still be much less than the designed capacity of 40 lakhs.”

After saying that the low ridership of DMRC is because of the high fares, Sisodia goes on to say that this move is to improve the safety of women and encourage them to use public transport. The letter says that this will open up “immense opportunities” for women and also be a positive step towards controlling pollution by encouraging women to use public transport.

Reportedly, Sisodia also said that the Delhi government plans to buy bulk coupons and distribute it among women and hence, this would be cost the DMRC anything extra, financially.

Sisodia’s response to Sreedharan seems confused, to say the least. He cannot seem to decide whether he wishes to tackle pollution with this move, increase DMRC ridership or provide safety for women.

It is still unclear how providing free Metro rides for women would increase their security in any manner. The AAP government has failed to install CCTV cameras in the Union Territory, that would have actually benefitted women and impacted their security.

Earlier this month, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had announced that women will be allowed to travel free of cost in all DTC (Delhi Transport Corporation) buses, cluster buses and metro trains in Delhi. He said that this has been to ensure that women can have safe travel experience and access modes of transport which they were not able to do so due to high prices.

Read also: Metro Man Sreedharan asks PM Modi to ‘not agree’ with AAP’s proposal of free travel for women

Arvind Kejriwal added no subsidy will be imposed on anyone for this scheme and added that those women who can afford to pay, they can purchase the tickets. Taking a leaf out of PM Modi’s, ‘give it up scheme’ for LPG subsidies, he said that Delhi govt will encourage those who can afford to not avail this scheme so that others can benefit.

E Sreedharan, in his letter to the Prime Minister dated June 10 wrote, “One shareholder cannot take a unilateral decision to give concession to one section of the community and push Delhi Metro into inefficiency and bankruptcy.”

E Sreedharan had played a key role in setting up the Delhi Metro. Presently a principal advisor to the DMRC, Sreedharan had stepped down as managing director of DMRC in 2011.

Striking doctors refuse to meet Mamata Banerjee unless she visits NRS Hospital, Mamata appeals to get back to work

OpIndia Staff
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Striking doctors refuse to meet Mamata Banerjee unless she visits NRS Hospital, Mamata appeals to get back to work

The doctors’ crisis in West Bengal seems to be getting far more serious with striking junior doctors on Friday rejecting a proposal from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for talks at the state secretariat Nabanna. They stuck to their stand that she would have to come down to the NRS Medical College and Hospital to listen to their grievances and apologise for having cast aspersions on them, IANS reported.

Earlier, a delegation of 5 doctors led by Sukumar Mukjherjee called met Mamata Banerjee at Nabanna and offered to resolve the stand-off between the state and the striking doctors. It was owing to this that the CM’s secretariat had sent an invite to the striking junior doctors.

After meeting CM Mamata Banerjee, Sukumar Mukherjee had said, “We have come on our own to resolve the issue as the medical services in the state are going through a crisis – both for the doctors and the patients. We want the doctors to feel secure, and the government also to keep its promise to improve the functioning of the hospital services”.

When the Director of Medical Education, Pradeep Mitra was sent to NRS to convince the striking doctors to meet with the Chief Minister, he was told that they were not in a position to meet the CM, as they would be holding a general body meeting to decide on the issue.

Sukumar Mukherjee has not decided to defer the meeting until Saturday 5 PM and expressed hope that the junior doctors would make themselves available for a talk.

It is being reported that the Bengal Governor had called on the Chief Minister to discuss the ongoing crisis but got no response from her in return.


In the meantime, after the protesting doctors refused to meet Mamata Banerjee at Nabanna, Banerjee has issued a fresh appeal to the doctors to get back to work.


Interestingly, while the doctors are insisting that Mamata Banerjee visits the NRS hospital personally to meet the protesting doctors, Banerjee on her part has not done that yet as is instead issuing appeals.

Earlier, Mamata Banerjee had aggravated the situation by threatening the doctors and then by asserting that the doctors protesting are ‘outsiders’. In the meantime, there have been mass resignations from doctors across the state. Reports indicate that as many as 500 doctors have resigned from their posts so far. Indian Medical Association (IMA) has announced a pan-India strike from 17th June to 18th June. The Calcutta High Court had also come down heavily on Mamata Banerjee and asked her to resolve the issue at the earliest.

The West Bengal crisis began as a small protest by a group of junior doctors at the state-run SSKM Hospital after doctors and interns at the NRS Hospital were brutally attacked by a mob on the premises of the hospital after a patient named Mohammed Sayeed reportedly died of natural causes. As the protest began attacks against doctors further escalated and mobs attacked students and interns at the Burdwan Medical College and Hospital as well.

Kolkata: Father blames Police for newborn’s death for not letting him enter the Hospital amidst Doctors’ Strike

OpIndia Staff
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Kolkata: Father blames Police for newborn’s death for not letting him enter the Hospital amidst Doctors’ Strike

In a heartbreaking incident, a newborn child in Agarpara, West Bengal died due to alleged lack of treatment because of the ongoing doctors’ strike across the State. Abhijit Mallik, the father of the child, told the reporters that the child was born on June 11 and was suffering from a breathing problem. When the child’s condition deteriorated on June 12, the doctors at the Hospital advised consulting a child-specialist Hospital.

Mallik alleged that he took the child to several hospitals but the child was not attended and the child died on June 13. “It is my bad luck. My child died due to lack of treatment. He was not attended by any doctor because of their strike”, Mallik told reporters in North Parganas district. He also alleged that his calls to the State’s health department were not responded to.

The father blamed the Police for not letting him enter. He said, ““RG Kar, Medical, Chittaranjan, Police didn’t allow us to enter. I told them my child is serious, I had paper from Sagar Dutta college (which had recommended us to go to better hospital). Junior doctors tried their best, they helped us a lot, they were crying, but police didn’t let us in. They said they called the health ministry four times but no one picked up the phone”.

The doctors in the State have been holding a strike in the State since the doctors in Nil Ratan Sarkar Medical College and Hospital were attacked by a mob after an 85-year old man named Mohammed Sayeed reportedly died of natural causes on June 10.

Calling the agitating doctors’ ‘outsiders’, West Bengal Chief Minister had given them an ultimatum yesterday to end the protest and resume work or face the action. Instead of addressing the doctors demands, she condemned the doctors who had gone on strike and called the situation a conspiracy of the BJP and the CPI.

Editor’s Note: The report was updated with relevant information at 5:40 p.m. (IST).

Watch these 5 powerful videos of doctors walking out after resigning, setting the stage for Mamata’s Singur moment

OpIndia Staff
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Watch these 5 powerful videos of doctors walking out after resigning, setting the stage for Mamata’s Singur moment

As the impasse between the medical fraternity in West Bengal and the state machinery controlled by the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC worsens, a large number of doctors from many hospitals in Bengal are joining hands in solidarity against Banerjee government’s brazen attack on their colleagues. As the movement gathers steam, medical professionals from across the nation have come together to raise the important issue of their safety while attending to the patients.

The situation in West Bengal had worsened after Banerjee, instead of placating the concerns of doctors, tried to browbeat them into calling off their strike and get back on to their jobs of tending to the injured. Facing intimidation from the state administration, the doctors rather preferred to resign and walk out of the hospitals, marking a watershed moment in the state’s tumultuous history.

Doctors in the state have displayed enormous grit and ineffable fortitude in standing up against the Banerjee government’s tyranny. Here are 5 powerful videos that personify the supreme courage and resilience displayed by doctors in the face of an increasingly hostile state establishment. Even as doctors walked out of their respective hospitals, onlookers and fellow doctors applauded their gesture of squaring up to TMC government’s coercion.


Protesting doctors walking out of the Medical College and Hospital, the crowd gave a round of applause welcoming their decision of resigning.


Fervid crowds in Kolkata burnt the effigy of West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee in protest against the state’s coercive stance against the doctors.


In another instance, 43 senior doctors from RG Kar Medical College tendered their resignation and walked out.


Another video surfaced of the massive crowds protesting against the violence against doctors.


Doctors have resolutely stood up against the government’s bullying, conveying they can neither be intimidated nor can their safety be negotiated. As the crisis in Kolkata snowballs, it’s repercussions in other parts of the country are visible, the hour of reckoning has come to herald Banerjee’s Singur moment.

Doctors’ agitation started in Bengal has spread across the country in no time. Doctors from across the country are raising their voices against the attack on the doctors at NRS Medical College and Hospital in West Bengal by a violent mob on 10th June.

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