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Qatar to become the first Gulf nation to withdraw from OPEC, decision effective from January 2019

OpIndia Staff
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Qatar to become the first Gulf nation to withdraw from OPEC, decision effective from January 2019

Qatar will be withdrawing from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in January 2019, its energy minister has announced. Qatar is one of the 15 member countries of the international cartel of oil exporting nations. On Monday the country’s energy minister Saad al-Kaabi told a news conference that “Qatar has decided to withdraw its membership form OPEC effective January 2019 and this decision was communicated to OPEC this morning.”

The minister said that the decision to pull out of OPEC was not easy as Qatar has been a member of the organisation for 57 years, but added that the countries impact on decisions made by OPEC was small. The country will be withdrawing from the organisation effective from 1 January 2019.


The minister said that Qatar intends to focus its efforts on developing its natural gas industry. He added that the decision represents a technical and strategic change, and it is not politically motivated. He also said that the decision was not linked to economic boycott imposed on the country by Saudi Arab and three other Arab nations. In 2017, Saudi Arab, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt had imposed an economic boycott against Qatar.

Qatar is one of the smallest producers of oil in the OPEC nations, with less than 2% share in the total OPEC production. But it is the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG), and the nation wants to concentrate on LNG. The energy minister said that Qatar will be increasing its natural gas production to 110 million tons from current 77 million tons per year. He said, “Qatar has worked diligently during the past few years to develop a future strategy based on growth and expansion, both in its activities at home and abroad”.

To maintain international crude prices as a desirable level, OPEC imposes production quota on its member countries. This ensures that there is no excess supply of oil in the market which can drive down the prices. Although OPEC claims it acts as a modest force for market stabilisation, and not as an anti-competitive cartel.

Other OPEC members have exited the group in past, but Qatar is the first Gulf nation to do so. This comes ahead of OPEC meeting in Vienna on December 6. OPEC and its allies including Russia will discuss cutting supplies in the meeting to stop the ongoing drop in crude prices.

Zakia Jafri’s petition challenging the acquittals by SIT in 2002 Gujarat riots case adjourned to mid-January

OpIndia Staff
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Zakia Jafri’s petition challenging the acquittals by SIT in 2002 Gujarat riots case adjourned to mid-January

The Supreme Court of India on Monday postponed the hearing till mid-January on the petition filed by Zakia Jafri challenging the clean chit given by the Special Investigation Team to the then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi. Zakia Jafri’s husband Ehsan Jafri was killed by a mob which attacked Gulberg society during 2002 riots in Ahmedabad.


Zakia Jafri had lodged a petition in the apex court on October 5, 2017, challenging the Gujarat High Court’s judgment which upheld the clean chit given to politicians and officials by the SIT in its conclusion, citing lack of “prosecutable evidence” against them. The Gujarat High Court maintained the investigation of the Special Investigation Team, giving a clean chit to 64 people including Narendra Modi. According to Ms Jafri, the Gujarat High Court “erroneously” upheld the Magistrate Court order absolving all accused.

Senior advocate Mukul Rastogi, representing SIT argued in the SC that Zakia’s case was unsustainable and that “it was an issue of fact and for how long it can go on.” Solicitor General Tushar Malhotra claimed that the parallel findings by the subordinate courts and High court led to the rejection of Zakia’s petition in the past as well.

The apex court bench comprising of Judges A M Khanwilkar and Hemant Gupta adjourned the matter for hearing in the third week of January 2019. Earlier, the hearing was deferred for a week on November 26. Before that the hearing on the matter was deferred by a week on November 19.

Ehsan Jafri and 68 others were brutally killed by the mob in the aftermath of the Godhra train burning. The mob barged in the Muslim dominated Gulberg Society of Ahmedabad and killed 69 people. In 2006, the police filed a case against Modi, some ministers and officials in response to a complaint filed by Zakia.

On April 27, 2009, the Supreme Court ordered SIT to take action on the complaint of Zakia. SIT investigated the case and a filed closure report in 2012. The closure report cited that no substantial evidence was found against Modi or other accused officials.

Kerala: Beef festival organiser and left-wing ‘activist’ Deepa Nisanth apologises for plagiarism

OpIndia Staff
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Kerala: Beef festival organiser and left-wing ‘activist’ Deepa Nisanth apologises for plagiarism

Controversial left-wing writer and college faculty Deepa Nisanth, an important face behind the infamous beef festivals and left-wing activist Sreechithran have been caught red-handed by social media users after the duo had lifted a poem and published it in a magazine. The controversial writer has now apologised for blatant plagiarism of a poem, reported Mathrubhumi.

In 2015, she had challenged the Sangh Parivar by taking the lead in organising a beef festival at the college, which is run by Cochin Devaswom Board.

According to the reports, Deepa Nisanth along with Sreechithran had lifted a poem titled ‘Anganeyirikke Marichu Poyi Njan’ written by young poet S Kalesh and then published it in ‘Kerala Private College Teacher’, a journal of the left-wing All Kerala Private College Teachers’ Association (AKPCTA). Deepa Nisanth with some minor changes had published the poem in the left-wing magazine claiming it has her work.

However, S Kalesh, the composer of the poem was shocked after it was republished by the left-wing activist under her name which was first published in 2011 in his blog and later as part of the book Sabdamahasamudram’ in 2015. Incidentally, the original poem also had the same title ‘Anganeyirikke’ meaning “So when I died”, which was later lifted by the duo.

Poet S Kalesh in his Facebook post had said that he had evidence that Deepa Nisanth plagiarized many lines from a poem that he had written in 2011. Kalesh had threatened Deepa Nisanth of legal proceedings for lifting his poem and had asked her to give a clear explanation regarding her shameful behaviour.

However, Deepa Nisanth had initially claimed that she did not plagiarize the poem rather it was sent to her by Sreechithran claiming it was his poem. “The poem was sent to me by my friend several years back. I wanted him to publish it. But, he was not ready for that…When he disagreed, I decided to publish it in my name taking advantage of the authority given by friendship,” said Deepa.

After receiving severe flak across the social media, Deepa Nisanth wrote an apology post saying, “Since I’m responsible for each and every word published under my name, I apologise. I expect this issue will end here,” she said in the FB post.

Odisha: NGO that wants to bring ‘Good News of Jesus’, connect with ‘savages’, caught for sexual abuse, 11 girls missing

OpIndia Staff
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Odisha: NGO that wants to bring ‘Good News of Jesus’, connect with ‘savages’, caught for sexual abuse, 11 girls missing

Days after the girls of a shelter home in Odisha’s Dhenkanal district alleged sexual abuse, it has been sealed and the owners have been arrested. According to reports, the minor girls of Dream Centre shelter home in Beltikiri, Dhenkanal had alleged that they have been abused sexually, physically and mentally by the owners for two years.

The shelter home, which was being run by an NGO named Good News India was sealed yesterday. Two days ago, District Child Protection Officer Anuradha Goswami and members of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) had raided the shelter home after local media reported the abuse.

The police in Dhenkanal had stated that the shelter home was being run illegally. Its manager Simanchal Nayak and Managing Director Fayaz Rehman were detained by the police. Another person Udit Lima stated to be the assistant director was also arrested later.

The shelter home was not registered with the Juvenile Justice Act 2015 and was being run illegally. After the raids, the state Woman and Child development minister Prafulla Saman had ordered to seal all the 22 shelter homes run by Good News India in Odisha.

Local news portals have reported today that of the 81 inmates, 11 girls were found missing when the district administration was shifting them to another facility. These 11 girls are stated to be sent to homes outside the state without the knowledge of the district administration.

The founder of Good News India reportedly runs another 7 shelter homes in West Bengal and 1 in Jharkhand.

The Good News NGO heavily promotes evangelism and conversion to Christianity, though veiled carefully.

The website of the NGO Good News India states that it runs its ‘Dream Centres’ for “Primitive, savages and tribal people to bring social, spiritual and economic transformations in their lives”.

The website also mentions that its purpose is the “bring the Good News of Jesus’ love to all people” among other things. Interestingly, the “taming savages” and “bringing the word of Jesus’ to the savages is a line which is often used by Christian evangelists. In fact, the mission statement of All Nations, the missionary which trained Allen Chau, the zealot who got killed while trying to convert the Sentinelese people was also fashioned on similar lines.

The most damning evidence that this NGO was not just a shelter home comes in the page where they talk about the founder Faiz Rehman. About the founder Faiz Rehman, the website states that he was born and raised a Muslim in Calcutta before he found “The joy of salvation of Jesus Christ”. The first sentence in the ‘Our Purpose’ section of the NGO’s website reads, “to bring the good news of Jesus’s love for all people”.

The website seemingly boasts about Good News India being better at keeping children away from “paganism”. It says most other child care ministries provide one meal and 4 hours of contact with the child, owing to which “the child is back in paganism” and that the child is released after 10th grade. GNI is “different” because it is committed to seeing children through college, presumably, thereby eliminating the chance of children “going back to paganism”.

In a shameful display, they even have the option to “choose a child” where they display the photograph, name and age of the child.

 

It is being speculated on social media that on their home page, they even had an option called “child menu” which has now been removed.


It is notable here that after the dreadful abuse of minor girls in Muzaffarnagar shelter home in Bihar came to light, the central WCD ministry had ordered all the states to inspect shelter homes and access the conditions. The central WCD ministry has also shut down 539 different child care institutions due to irregularities.

‘Donkeys are more graceful than Sabarimala head priest’, says Kerala CPI-M minister

OpIndia Staff
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‘Donkeys are more graceful than Sabarimala head priest’, says Kerala CPI-M minister

Agitated with the Sabarimala priests for joining the protests against the September 28 Supreme Court verdict, the Kerala PWD Minister and CPI-M leader G Sudhakaran on Sunday insulted the Sabarimala temple Tantri, or head priest, saying the donkeys in the temple town have more grace.

This statement came days after Kerala’s Communist Chief Minister had also expressed his fury against Kantararu Rajivararu, Tantri of the Sabarimala temple, for threatening to close the doors of the sanctum if women of childbearing age entered the place of worship as allowed by the Supreme Court. Irked then by the head priest’s declaration the CM had said, the “Sabarimala temple would remain” even if any priest left.

The Communist minister made the statement at an inaugural speech at a cultural event in Kerala’s Alappuzha. He said, “At the temple town, it is the donkeys that do most of the work. Till date, they have not gone on any protest. After their hard work, they take rest near the Pamba river. These donkeys have more grace than the Tantri.”

Sudhakaran further said that the Tantris do not appear to have any attachment or concern towards Lord Ayyappa.

Sudhakaran’s comments reportedly came as a reply to the Tantri who said that he would close down the temple for ‘Punyaham’ if there was any violation in the temple customs.

Sabarimala is an ancient Sastha temple dedicated to Lord Ayyappa. On 28th September 2018, the Supreme court overruled the age-old tradition, prohibiting women of menstruating age to enter the shrine. Soon after the Supreme court decision in the case was delivered, protests erupted against the decision of the court. Devotees, led by women, came out on the streets protesting against the interference of the court in the traditions of the temple.

A review petition has been filed in the Supreme Court against the judgment by the Pandalam royal family, the Nair Service Society, the Tanthri or the chief priest of the Sabarimala temple and National Ayyappa Devotees Association.

Despite being aware of the outrage, the Kerala Chief Minister refused to file a review petition against the court order. He said that he will abide by the decision of the Apex Court and will provide facilities to devotees who wish to visit Sabarimala. The temple priests boycotted the talks called by the Kerala government.

No female devotee of Lord Ayyappa tried to enter the shrine. Two women activists, Kavitha Jakkala (a journalist) and Rehana Fatima (a Muslim), none of whom was a devotee of Lord Ayyappa, tried to enter the shrine amidst full police protection but they were met with resistance of the protesting devotees. Another woman, Mary Sweety, also returned midway as she was stopped by the protesters.

BJP came out strongly in support of Ayappa devotees with the BJP President Amit Shah assuring that the Karyakartas of the BJP will be standing beside the devotees of Lord Ayyappa. Congress party which initially welcomed the Supreme Court verdict, later on witnessing the mounting protests by the devotees, took a soft stand.

The communist government, however, showed a lot of insensitivity towards the devotees, by resorting to lathi-charge and innumerable arrests, which was later, also criticised by the Kerala High court.

As per latest reports, the Supreme Court has admitted all 49 review petitions on the September 28 verdict. An open court hearing will commence on January 22.

Captain Amarinder and Sidhu face-off: Congress leaders put up posters in Punjab declaring him as ‘their captain’

OpIndia Staff
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Captain Amarinder and Sidhu face-off: Congress leaders put up posters in Punjab declaring him as ‘their captain’

Days after controversial Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu had claimed that Rahul Gandhi is his ‘captain’ and that he had sent Sidhu to Pakistan for the Kartarpur Corridor groundbreaking ceremony, Congress leaders in Punjab have come out in support of Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder, who had been quite vocally unhappy about Sidhu’s visit.

Posters have been posted on social media as well as on ground with caption, “Punjab Da Captain, Sadda Captain” (Punjab’s captain is our captain).  Captain Amarinder Singh served in the Indian Army from 1963 to 1966, which earned him the title ‘Captain’, by which he is often referred to as. The posters have also come up on ground in places like Ludhiana.

Ministers supporting Captain have also reportedly demanded Sidhu’s apology as well as resignation. Meanwhile, Sidhu has said that he would not like to wash dirty linen in public and he would sort things out with Captain, a fatherly figure to him, himself.

Rahul Gandhi is like the Johnny Lever of Indian politics who acts as comic relief during high political drama

Nirwa Mehta
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Rahul Gandhi is like the Johnny Lever of Indian politics who acts as comic relief during high political drama

Rahul Gandhi is precious. The Tweedledee of Indian politics (Tweedledum being AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal) while addressing a rally in Rajasthan’s Chittorgarh on Saturday threw a volley of ideas to help the farmers.

Rahul Gandhi starts off with his favourite lie that Prime Minister Modi has ‘waived off’ loans of ‘his rich industrial friends’. He said between the fifteen of them, total amount ‘waived off’ is Rs. 3.5 lakh crore. As we had said the amount of loan ‘waived off’ varies with every election rally, seems like it now varies in reverse proportion to the number of elections Congress has won since Rahul Gandhi was crowned the party president.

It started off as Rs. 1.1 lakh crore loan in November 2016, became Rs. 1.3 lakh crore during Gujarat elections last year and conjured up Rs. 2.5 lakh crore during Karnataka elections held in May this year. Now, inexplicably the figure stands at Rs. 3.5 lakh crore. Perhaps former economist Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh could explain the magic behind the math of the beautiful mind that Rahul Gandhi is.

He shares an anecdote where he met the Prime Minister at his office and requested to ‘waive off’ the loans as he has done with his ‘friends’. ‘Modiji stared down at me and wondered who is this fellow talking about farmers loans?’ narrated Rahul. Rahul’s logic had left the Prime Minister speechless. Honestly, if I were the Prime Minister, even I wouldn’t have words to politely tell Rahul Gandhi to go and understand the difference between loan waived and loan written off. Maybe he should spend some time with former economist prime minister instead of businessmen relatives.

Well, at least the clown prince has moved on from scattering the country with mobile phone factories to ‘spread the net of food manufacturing units’ in Rajasthan.

Rahul Gandhi, Mad(e) in India!

Moving on, son of the soil, Rahul Gandhi has devised a brilliant plan to help Rajasthan’s farmers. They grow different things in different parts of the state. So Gandhi, perhaps having taken business lessons from his part-farmer, part-businessman brother-in-law has promised that if voted to power, ‘food processing factories’ would be set up right next to their farms. And this time it will not just be potato chips. There will be a tomato ketchup-making factory next to where farmers grow tomatoes, potato chips next to potato farms, soya bean oil factory next to soya bean farms and mirchi ka achar factory next to farms which grow chillies.

Makes one wonder if he gets his speech vetted by anyone with basic common sense or does he make up things as an improv comedy show.

Demonisation

He then invokes demonetisation. He says that Modi took money from poor people (during demonetisation) and gave it to his industrial friends. Gandhi says only the poor were standing in the queues at banks and ATMs during demonetisation, not the rich people. He picks up a person, a young boy Abhishek, from the audience and builds up anecdotes around him. That the money saved by people like parents of the young boy has gone to the pockets of the rich like Nirav Modi.

He mentions how Abhishek’s parents had to stand in the queue during demonetisation because his parents, like Vijay Mallya, who met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in corridor using his privilege as Rajya Sabha member, could not meet Jaitley. Jaitley had denied any scheduled meetings with Mallya for any ‘settlements’. But one wonders if meeting the person accused of financial fraud makes one guilty, then that makes everyone who meets Congress President Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi guilty of financial fraud, considering they both are out on bail in the National Herald scam.

And if all this was not enough, in a stroke of genius, Rahul Gandhi explains that if Congress comes to power in Rajasthan, the farmers can go and sell their produce at a medicine factory.


Don’t miss the cackle towards the end.

As if potato factory and mobile phones factories across the country were not enough, Congress President now wants farmers to sell their produce at something called ‘dawai banane wali factory‘.

Rahul Gandhi’s inane comments just show how far from reality he is. That how privileged his upbringing has been that he is far away from the practical aspects of life. That he does not know how laughable his elitist ‘solutions’ to problems are.

With less than six months to general elections, where Rahul Gandhi is vying for the top post, along with others in the opposition who are giving him a tough competition, the Congress President’s surely set to give us some comic relief. Rahul Gandhi could be the Johnny Lever in the drama that Indian politics is.

AAP MLA’s aide seen leading mob assault, beating a man in viral video

OpIndia Staff
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AAP MLA’s aide seen leading mob assault, beating a man in viral video

In a video which surfaced recently, an Aam Aadmi Party’s volunteer was seen thrashing a man mercilessly in outer Delhi’s Kirari area. A policeman can be seen standing by the side, watching helplessly as Saurabh Jha, the aide of Kirari’s AAP MLA Rituraj Govind, uses a police baton to beat him.

The viral video of the incident which took place on November 14, shows a shirtless man sitting on the street and crying in pain as the MLA’s associate is continuously attacking him allegedly with a police lathi. A policeman can be seen requesting the worker to stop while two others are standing in a corner.

The police said Vikas, the man who was beaten up, has several cases against him. On November 14, during Chatt Puja, he and his friends molested a woman and were beaten up by locals, the police said.

On seeing the police, Vikas and his friends ran away from the spot. As they chased him, a mob of 40 to 50 people reportedly caught Vikas and thrashed him, the police said. He was later rescued and arrested by the police.

The MLA came out and defended his aide, saying that he was agitated because they had allegedly misbehaved with his sister as well. While the five suspects, including a juvenile, were booked on molestation charges and sent to judicial custody, the police haven’t registered a case against anyone in the mob.

The DCP (outer) Seju P Kuruvilla, said that they had received a phone call informing them about five men creating a ruckus at the Chhath Puja in Kirari’s Hind Vihar Colony. These included the two siblings and their three friends, including a juvenile. “They were caught by the public for molesting a woman and thrashed before we reached the spot,” said DCP.

The subsequent probe revealed that minutes earlier they had allegedly molested another 17-year-old girl and tried to kidnap her, said the officer.

According to Vikas’ family, Saurabh Jha had personal issues with them due to which he attacked Vikas. Vikas’ brother was named in a gang-rape case two years ago. According to their family, their mother had approached Saurabh Jha to help her son get through the case. The family alleges that Jha demanded Rs. 25 lakh to “settle” the case. The family said he was furious when they refused to pay up and hence, thrashed Vikas.

No action has been taken on the family’s complaint against Saurabh Jha.

Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari said, “The question arises that even if the men who were assaulted are criminals, who have given AAP leaders rights to take law in their own hands? Do the AAP leaders treat themselves to be the guardians of law?”

Tiwari cited personal enmity between two sides as the reason for this attack. However, the AAP MLA dismissed the allegations that his associate had any of personal enmity with the men who were attacked.

No, the Nizam was not a large hearted patriot who donated 5000 kg of gold to fight China

OpIndia Staff
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No, the Nizam was not a large hearted patriot who donated 5000 kg of gold to fight China

While campaigning for the upcoming assembly elections in Telangana, UP CM Yogi Adityanath attacked AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi stating that when the BJP comes to power, Owaisi will have to flee from Hyderabad just as the Nizam had to flee.

Replying to Yogi Adityanath’s comments, AIMIM chief Owaisi hit out claiming that Yogi is uneducated in history. He added that had Yogi read history, he would have known that Nizam did not flee from Hyderabad, he was made a ‘Rajpramukh’ and when India went to war with China, the same Nizam had sold his gold to help the country.

Asaduddin Owaisi on Nizam

Yogi Adityanath’s comments and Owaisi’s reply sparked a fresh controversy on social media. Several people contradicted Yogi’s claim and reasserted that the Nizam of Hyderabad had ‘donated’ several hundred tons of gold for the nation during the Indo-China war.

Via Twitter
via Twitter

It is evident from the above Tweet that there is an established belief that the Nizam Mir Osman Ali of Hyderabad was a great patriot who had emptied his coffers to aid India during the Indo-China war after meeting with the then PM Lal Bahadur Shastri. It has become some sort of an urban legend and is cited frequently by many.

However, the truth about the Nizam’s “donation” was soon found to be something else.


In fact, The Hindu had clarified in an article last month that a series of RTI inquiries have affirmed that there never was any donation. The Prime Minister’s Office, which manages the National Defence Fund, has reportedly denied the existence of any such donation.

The report further states that the Nizam had never “donated” the gold. In fact, he had invested it in the National Defence Gold Scheme, which was floated in October 1965.

courtesy: The Hindu, 11 November 2018

The article stated that an old news report from the archives of The Hindu, dated December 11, 1965, corroborated the story. The 1965 article stated that PM Shastri had confirmed the investment and had thanked the Nizam for it. In fact, the only donations mentioned in the article were from the Tirumala Tirupati Temple and the Telugu film stars. The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam had donated 125 kgs of gold while Telugu movie stars had donated Rs 8 lakhs to the government.

It is notable here that the Nizam’s investment of 425 kgs of gold was valued at Rs 50 lakhs at that time.

The article also mentions that the National Defence Gold Scheme not only gave liquidity to the physical gold but also came at a generous 6.5% interest rate. Furthermore, it was not liable to any income tax.

It is evident that in the course of time, not only has the Nizam’s profitable investment been claimed as a ‘donation’ but the amount of gold has also been multiplied several times. The urban legend cites the 425 kgs of gold as 5000 kgs, more than 10 times the actual amount invested.

Many on social media attempted to clarify.


It is notable here that the erstwhile princely state of Hyderabad did not merge with India at the time of independence. The same Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan had attempted to keep Hyderabad as an independent sovereign state. His aversion to giving up his territory was so much that he had even taken the ‘dispute’ to the UN security council. Pakistan had also supported the idea of a sovereign Muslim ruled state within India.

Having exhausted all possible ways to reason with the Nizam, Sardar Patel had in 1948 ordered the military operation termed as Operation Polo, which resulted in the defeat of the Nizam and subsequent annexation of Hyderabad to the Union of India on 18 September 1948.

In two post retirement interviews, Justice Kurian Joseph contradicts his own claims about ‘external pressure on Judiciary’

OpIndia Staff
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In two post retirement interviews, Justice Kurian Joseph contradicts his own claims about ‘external pressure on Judiciary’

Justice Kurian Joseph, one of the faces of the rebellion within the judiciary and part of the controversial press conference against the then CJI Dipak Mishra has retired from the Supreme Court on November 30.

Soon after his retirement, speaking to the Indian Express, former SC judge Kurian Joseph expressed his views about going public over the issue of CJI Dipak Misra and claimed that it was just an “institution crisis” and there was never any “political pressure” on judges to decide cases in a particular way. He further added that the roster system was “only one of the issues” which prompted them to go public. He said that there were other issues pertaining to some issues where one individual was taking decisions without consulting anybody.

Interestingly, in his first interview to the media after his retirement, Justice Joseph denies any political pressure on the administrative decisions in the Supreme Court which led to the controversial press conference. “I don’t think so. I only said that after we spoke out to the nation, things have been done with more caution and there were attempts to bring systems and practices,” he said when asked any political pressure on the CJI to act in a particular way.

Reacting to the huge criticism it received after four judges came out publicly to put country’s judiciary in a bad light, Justice Joseph said that he never regretted the decision.

However, Justice Kurian Joseph in his recent interview to Times of India has conspicuously taken a U-turn with respect to his earlier statements regarding the political interference in the judiciary claiming that the four judges who came out to the public felt that CJI Dipak Misra was being ‘remote-controlled’ from outside. Former SC judge contradicting his earlier statements claimed that there were several instances of “external influences on the apex court’s working and appointment of judges in SC and HCs.

“Someone from outside was controlling the CJI, that is what we felt. So we met him, asked him, wrote to him to maintain So we met him, asked him, wrote to him to maintain independence and majesty of the Supreme Court. When all attempts failed, we decided to hold a press conference.”

Questioned to explain regarding the “external influences”, Justice Joseph again contradicts himself by saying that there were signs of influences in assigning cases to different benches and to judges who were seen politically biased contrast to his earlier claim of absence of any political interference in the Supreme Court’s allocation of cases. It is rather suspicious to know what made Retd Justice Kurien Joseph change his own statements just after two days of his first interview.

Justice Joseph in his interview also made a startling revelation that the idea of the press conference was of Retd. Justice Chelameswar and that the other three judges including Joseph just agreed to it.

Speaking about the minority tag attached to him, Justice Joseph said that being a ‘minority’ was a hindrance to career progression. He then indulged in fear-mongering claiming that situation could get worse for the people from the minority community. He further said that even if a member of minority community has outstanding merit, he will be counted as a minority for his selection of the post.

However, Justice Joseph again contradicts himself by citing his own experience claiming that he would have been promoted as a Supreme Court judge in the year 2012 itself if his minority tag was considered but was delayed to 2013 maintaining that he was indeed selected on merit.

Further, he says that the selection to the Supreme Court should be made only on the basis of ‘merit’, but subtly adds that there should be provision to select people from the poor and weaker sections of the society. Calling it “constitutional compassion”, he opines that there must be some consideration for poor and weaker sections while not only selecting a person as a judge and even while deciding a case.

Justice Joseph Kurien in his two interviews has been contradictory about his own views regarding the controversial press conference. It is rather interesting to know what made the retired Supreme Court alter his perceivable facts within a span of two days of his first interview.

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