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Of digital media, censorship, regulation and freedom

Nupur J Sharma
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Of digital media, censorship, regulation and freedom

“Everyone has an opinion, and the guy screaming for censorship may be the next guy to have his ideas cut off”

                                                                                   -Richard King

The battle for Internet’s freedom is not new and is certainly far from over. The reason most people seem to protect this right so dearly, is because the internet has, in more ways than one, become the last bastion of true democracy. A free space where everyone has the luxury of surviving. A space where thoughts are free to be expressed, heard, absorbed or discarded. But, bit by bit, that freedom is being chipped away. Sometimes by governments, and sometimes by a tiny coterie that believes that freedom should be their right, and not the other’s, whose ideology they don’t subscribe to.

After Smriti Irani’s announcement that she might be contemplating to constitute a committee that would look into the code of ethics to be followed by digital platforms, many were extremely uncomfortable, and with good reason. Any stick to control freedom, that is handed over to the government, will be misused sooner or later. It is like the age-old ‘surveillance state’ debate. Many choose to believe that if they haven’t done something wrong, they would ideally have nothing to fear, but they fail to realise that they have nothing to fear only till there is a government in power that chooses to uphold freedom as a fundamental right. As is the nature of democracy, governments change and it is unlikely that one can predict precisely how a certain government in the future would use the stick handed to them. It is this argument I use to oppose the possession of any thought control tool in the hands of the government as an institution, and that is independent of which political party might form the government at that given point of time.

Having said that, the problem with most such crusades to uphold freedom, is that it mostly begins when firstly, the protesting party doesn’t particularly like the government in power at that moment, and, to secure freedom for ‘their people’, not uphold the basic principle of freedom. I personally got a glimpse into how such selective crusades work during a recent incident when 100 ’eminent people’ signed a letter to Smriti Irani opposing the proposal to regulate digital media. I was asked for my number by a young journalist to be added in this group, to deliberate the way forward. I was never included and was later informed by the same gentleman that while some did want OpIndia’s representation there, some didn’t.

The result was evident. The letter had no representation of the right leaning portals. Essentially, an important issue was reduced to a “anti Modi brigade writes to Smriti Irani” trope because the mafia like, illiberal mentality of the left prevents them from engaging with anyone who doesn’t conform to their worldview. To be fair, some reached out to me after this information was made public with wildly cock and bull stories. One said, “the WhatsApp group was open and anyone could just click on an invite link and join”. I didn’t get any link. The very people who talk about democratization ganged up to keep inconvenient voices out.

No cause can be championed when hypocrisy is used as a shield from behind the veils of virtue. OpIndia was excluded because its ideological leaning didn’t bode well with the harbingers of neutrality and that is something that mustn’t be lost sight of. Most of the signatories have no right to speak of freedom when they were celebrating the PostCard.news editor being arrested and thrown in jail for what he had written. And if one must celebrate his arrest, one must also demand that members of the coterie be arrested for similar crimes. That the latter didn’t happen, makes me believe that the moment a government of their choosing comes to power, these beacons of virtue will be more than happy to allow regulation that can then be used to shut down opposing voices.

When the ‘fake news’ debate was raging, I recall Pratik Sinha from Alt News harping about how “fake news” is generated by the “right wing” and how a veteran journalist like Pallavi Ghosh can’t be held accountable for her communally charged fake news of a woman getting gang raped for eating beef, because it didn’t get too many retweets. With such asinine and reprehensible reasoning, these elements, this ilk, cannot be trusted to debate rationally and arrive at an amiable and acceptable solution to uphold freedom.

The very coterie that today talks of freedom to oppose and freedom to offend have shut out every right leaning voice as “fake news”. Most of the times, they provide no proof but bark off platitudes to create a narrative against the ‘unwashed masses’ encroaching upon an industry that had been monopolised by homogeneously left voices for the longest time. It is thus amusing that they would scream so shrill when Smriti Irani makes a suggestion. Evidently, arrests of opposing voices is more acceptable to them than an ideologically different government giving them suggestions.

This incident points towards a deeper malaise and while I don’t support any government’s attempts to regulate or control the internet and its portals, I will put forth my own reasons for the same without subscribing to the points forwarded by the ‘100 signatories’ as evidently, their reasons and crusade (at least for some of them who wanted OpInda excluded) are coloured by political leanings and ideological motivations.

Digital platforms have given writers an extremely freeing experience and is full of citizen’s journalists who write because they want the truth, or their version of it, to be known to the readers without censorship of any kind. Such platforms have grown by leaps and bounds influencing national discourse, political discourse and even voting patter, albeit, to a marginal level. One has to understand that digital platforms and citizen journalists don’t have the right or the status of conventional journalists. So I, for example, can’t have a ‘Press’ sticker stuck on the back of my car and report incidents like journalists can. And when I don’t have the rights of the press, it is unthinkable the ethics I must follow, be governed by representatives of the PCI and NBA (as a part of the committee), as proposed by the minister.

I speak as the Editor of OpIndia when I say that our platform itself believes that majority media houses have lost their ethical code. We have over 300 articles filed under “Media lies”. To ask us then, to conform to the ethical standards set by the very institution we oppose is a monstrosity at myriad levels.

One has to also be honest about the nature of digital portals. If you pierce the veils of neutrality, one realises that every digital portal has a pronounced ideological slant that in turn percolates into a political preference. I have no qualms in accepting that we have an ideologically right slant and that makes us more predisposed to supporting BJP. I also have no qualms in stating that other portals like The Wire, Scroll, Caravan, HuffPost, NewsLaundry, TheNewsMinute, The Print, Alt News etc have a left leaning and are thus more predisposed to supporting Congress or the Left over BJP. These are truths one must accept in order to have a rational debate on the subject.

With such ideological slant and by default, political preferences, any government with a regulation stick that can easily turn into a tool of censorship is dangerous. We saw the repercussions with the draconian 66A law and how it was used to shut down voices that opposed the Congress government. What is to say that if the digital platform is regularised today, it won’t be censored tomorrow? I don’t yet doubt that the Minister has no intention of imposing censorship, but is there a possibility that it could happen if not today then sometime in the future? Yes.

To support or oppose tools in the hand of the government depending on which political party is in power is an exceptionally narrow word view that doesn’t help anyone. Having said that, with the growing power of digital platforms to influence discourse and the kind of blind money which is being pumped into this industry even by means of FDI (Omidyar, for example), I do believe regulations to the extent of making financial interests and funding open for scrutiny is essential. Any regulation beyond the financial realm, that delves into Editorial content will eventually become draconian.

The moment you censor thoughts, you kill the soul of a man and the spirit of the writer. I oppose any regulation that may just as easily morph into tools of censorship. The tragic comedy here is that I would have signed that letter if I wasn’t kept out because of my political leaning and ideology by the harbingers of neutrality.

Aligarh Muslim University row heightens injuring 28 students and 13 policemen

OpIndia Staff
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Aligarh Muslim University row heightens injuring 28 students and 13 policemen

28 students and 13 cops got injured as per reports in a clash which broke out between police and students of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) on Wednesday, which has been witnessing a row over a decades-old photograph of Pakistan founder and freedom fighter Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

Earlier on Wednesday, Rapid Action Force of the Uttar Pradesh Police was deployed after students and some right-wing activists almost came to blows. The right-wing activists were demanding the removal of Jinnah’s photo, to which the students objected. Later in the evening, hundreds of students tried to march to the local police station, where the activists had been confined. Unable to control them, the RAF men used force, sources said. The clash took place at the university’s main gate.

It is said that most of the injuries sustained by the students were caused by blunt objects like cane, some students have sustained head injuries, some just bruises.


Aligarh Muslim University has always been nurturing several altercations and brawls. The AMU students’ union has recently been seen in controversy for objecting to the University Administration’s invite to President Ramnath Kovind for the convocation ceremony. The University again hogged the limelight when one of its students was found to have joined the terror organisation Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. Similarly last year in October, AMU had protested against an invitation extended to a minister in Yogi Adityanath government for inviting a BJP leader.

It seems as if AMU students leave no opportunity to take up scuffles be it big or small, last year too they made headlines for creating ruckus at Aligarh railway station over a petty issue.

17 year old commits suicide after 8 men allegedly gang raped her

OpIndia Staff
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A 17 year old girl has committed suicide after she was allegedly gang raped by 8 men in Nuh, in Mewat region of Haryana.


Police has registered an FIR and an investigation is underway. Based on circumstantial evidence and preliminary investigation, an FIR has been registered against eight men, Ikraam, Aqram, Naasir, Irshaad, Marul, Mubarik, Jamshed and Wasim, all residents of same or nearby villages. As per reports, the eight men came on two motorcycles and a car and abducted the teen on Monday night, where they allegedly took her to the Maahon road, gang raped her and fled the spot, leaving her to die. The father of the girl has identified the accused, who had allegedly harassed and stalked the girl before too.

The family has alleged that the accused belong to a well off family and were pressurizing them to withdraw the case.

As per reports, the police have registered a case of abduction, gang rape and abetment to suicide against the accused. The girl’s family has said that while they tried to counsel her after the crime, she hanged herself on Tuesday morning.

Nuh area in Mewat, Haryana is about 100 kms from the national capital and is one of the areas where Rohingyas have settled. As per government records, as of November 2017, over 1,360 Rohingya Muslims or rather 400 families are living in Mewat, which is a cultural region spanning across Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

Kolkata Metro case: Woman claims her father-in-law’s profile was wrongly circulated on social media as an accused

OpIndia Staff
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Kolkata Metro case: Woman claims her father-in-law’s profile was wrongly circulated on social media as an accused

Following the reports of the a young couple were thrashed by co-passengers for standing too close in Kolkata Metro after they objected to their “intimacy in public”, the authorities are now looking into the incident.

While no complaint has been lodged yet, protests have been launched against the alleged case of moral policing where the youth offered free hugs to people outside the Dum Dum Metro Station.


Soon, those offering condemnation against the incident began sharing Facebook profiles of those they believed to have been involved with the harassment of the young couple.

As is often the case with such online mob justice, an innocent man has appears to have been wrongly maligned. A woman has claimed on Facebook that her father-in-law has been wrongfully targeted by the hordes of online mob which sought justice for the harassed couple.

Priyanka Adhikary claimed that her father-in-law’s profile was wrongfully circulated on social media accusing him of harassing the couple. She further claims that he was at home during the time the incident transpired. She said, “…he is a man of knowledge and dignity and would never hope such things could happen and have no idea how this happened.” She suggested that people should think before sharing posts carelessly as it could mean mental trauma for some.

Similar incidents have occurred in the past as well. The most recent being that of one Vishal Jangotra who was presumed to be the accused in the Kathua rape case because he shares name with him. As a consequence, he was unfairly targeted and was receiving threats from people.

Then there was the Jasleen Kaur incident where she claimed on Facebook that she was eve-teased by a man at a red light. Everyone jumped on the scene to commend the girl on her bravery, including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. As a consequence, he lost his job. But later, he was proven to be innocent and Times Now was even forced to apologize for their coverage.

There was the incident of the Rohtak sisters as well where two girls were hailed as heroes on social media after a video of their thrashing three boys went viral. After the mainstream media ran a vilification campaign where the boys were maligned as ‘sexual predators’ and ‘molesters’ and suffered terrible consequences to their personal and professional lives, they were proved to be innocent and it was exposed that the girls were serious offenders.

While social media is a great tool, it must be used with caution and online mobs should be discouraged from taking it upon themselves to serve justice to alleged perpetrators.

ISIS flags found hoisted in Assam’s Goalpara area

Sanghamitra
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ISIS flags found hoisted in Assam’s Goalpara area

At least six ISIS(Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) flags have been found unfurled in Assam in the Goalpara area near the bank of Brahmaputra. According to reports, the flags were hoisted by unidentified persons near the Goalpara police outpost.


The flags reportedly had IS NE printed on them. The flags were found hoisted near the old court building near the police outpost and were first spotted by morning walkers. This incident has come in the wake of many recent news reports about local youth joining the Islamist terror outfit. Locals in the area are reportedly concerned about increased Islamist activities in the state. Last month, news of an Assamese youth joining terrorist group Hizb-ul-Mujahideen had surfaced. The terrorist’s mother had declared that her son should be shot dead.

Growing ISIS activities in the country have had the security agencies concerned. In Kerala, NIA has been investigating many cases of ISIS recruitment and people going to Syria to join the terror organisation. In several areas, especially in Kasargod and Kannur districts, radical Islamist activities have risen over the years. In March this year, a woman named Yasmeen Mohammad Zahid was sentenced by a court for recruiting and trafficking people for ISIS.

The NIA suspects that about 100 people from Kerala have joined the dreaded terror organisation. NIA has also been trying to bust their indoctrination, funding and conversion activities. The agency has stated that targetting local women and converting them in the pretext of marriage (love jihad) has been plaguing the state in the recent times.

Recently Gujarat ATS had filed a charge sheet alleging that two suspected terror activists who were arrested last year were planning attacks on Jews in Ahmedabad and Mumbai. ATS had alleged that the duo was in touch with ISIS and was receiving instructions to carry out the attacks.

Cambridge Analytica, which was to help Congress in upcoming 2019 elections, shuts shop

OpIndia Staff
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Cambridge Analytica, which was to help Congress in upcoming 2019 elections, shuts shop

Cambridge Analytica, which has been embroiled in data privacy controversy, has shut down its operations along with its parents company SCL Elections Ltd with immediate effect. The company has claimed sharp drop in business and the company will begin its bankruptcy proceedings after losing clients and mounting legal fees. Cambridge Analytica has been accused of breaching privacy and harvesting personal data about millions of users from the social media giant Facebook.

Cambridge Analytica had managed US President Donald Trump’s and the Indian National Congress was also reportedly one of its clients.

The Congress party has been in denial mode over its alleged hiring of CA and the allegations of using voter’s personal data to expose social and demographical fault lines to strategise its poll campaign. But several shreds of evidence have emerged showing that it has been in business with the firm.

In a statement released by the company, ‘the damage caused to the business by the unfairly negative media coverage.’ It says that ‘the siege of media coverage has driven away virtually all of the Company’s customers and suppliers.’ which has rendered it unviable to continue the operations.

The company has shut down its operations with effect from Wednesday and the employees have been asked to return their computers.

The Congress has been in troubled waters since the scandal broke out. After alleging the BJP of a data leak, the official apps of the Indian National Congress and Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiahdisappeared from the Play Store. It became apparent that a section of the media is trying to protect the Congress party but with the emergence of an image that showed the Congress party symbol adorning Cambridge Analytica’s office and now the document assessed by Open Magazine, Congress’ involvement with the disgraced firm is becoming harder to deny every day.

Interestingly, there are reports which suggest that Cambridge Analytica backers have set up a new data company, Emerdata. While it is unclear what it does, it was set up by the chairman and chief data officer of Cambridge Analytica’s parent company, and is headquartered in the same building in London’s Canary Wharf.

‘BJP win in 2019 will see NIFTY touch 13,000’, believes ‘Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services’

OpIndia Staff
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‘BJP win in 2019 will see NIFTY touch 13,000’, believes ‘Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services’

If one talks about the market and its uncertainties, one cannot miss that one of the most recurring aspects of such market turmoil is an unstable political climate in a country. A stable political climate is good for investment because it ensures the investors that the current economic policies of the government will not be gutted down all of a sudden, which gives them the opportunity to speculate and strategize their investment opportunities and encourages them to put in investments for the longer run.

PM Modi and his economic policies, as it has been pointed out many a time before, are pro-business and creates investment opportunity thus it is no wonder that this man and the party he represents like a blue-chip stock in the eyes of the market.

IL&FS, one of the leading financial services Company in this country also feels the same way. IL&FS’ Vibhav Kapoor while giving an interview to CNBC-TV 18 reiterated what many others have touched upon before. Vaibhav is of the notion that Nifty would touch a high of 13,000 points if the incumbent government, i.e Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) retains power in 2019, but if the result is something which is other than the previously mentioned, Kapoor warned that the 50-Share Index can fall to 9,000 levels. Kapoor also stated his optimism in the rural sector and the infrastructure development. He mentioned how this rural infrastructural push has transpired into higher demands for raw materials and investments opportunities.

Kapoor here is just a representative of a sentiment widespread in the business community in India and abroad. The revolutionary changes brought in by the incumbent government which is not based upon political expediency but rather on the intent to reform the economy is unlikely to continue if the situation in Delhi changes. Thus, setting the clock back to how it was in pre-2014.

He is not alone many others have praised the incumbent government’s policy and applauded the economic overhaul Modi has brought in.

‘RSS killed Gandhi’ defamation case : Thane court directs Rahul Gandhi to appear on 12th June

Jhankar Mohta
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‘RSS killed Gandhi’ defamation case : Thane court directs Rahul Gandhi to appear on 12th June

According to a report, Bhiwandi court in Thane district has directed Congress president Rahul Gandhi to appear on June 12 in connection with the defamation case filed against him by a Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh functionary. During the last hearing in April, the court had deferred to frame charges against Gandhi as he was not present in court.


RSS activist Rajesh Kunte had filed a defamation case against Gandhi in 2014 after watching Gandhi give a speech on TV in which he accused the RSS of the murder of Mahatma Gandhi.

It was alleged by the RSS activist that the Congress leader had said at a rally during last year’s Lok Sabha poll that a worker of the saffron outfit killed Mahatma Gandhi.

At that time, the Supreme Court had slammed then Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for his remark that RSS is behind the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, while prima facie indicating that he will have to face trial for criminal defamation and prove his innocence.

A Bench, led by Justice Dipak Misra, said it would be entirely up to him to prove on merits that he had made the comments during a poll rally in public good.

We had reported how in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, an aggressive Rahul had made some rather controversial statements. Later during the trial, Rahul Gandhi made a U-Turn. He told the Supreme Court that he did not blame the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi on the RSS. He further said his remark had been misinterpreted by the RSS worker who filed the initial complaint against him. His U-Turn came as a rude shock to his social media warriors who had backed Rahul’s decision of not apologising and settling the case. However, it remains to be seen how will his benefactors react to this latest development.

All you need to know: Chhota Rajan gets life imprisonment for the murder of veteran journalist J Dey

Rajat
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All you need to know: Chhota Rajan gets life imprisonment for the murder of veteran journalist J Dey

A Special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court has convicted Rajendra S Nikhalje alias Chhota Rajan and seven others complicit in the seven-year-old assassination case of a veteran crime journalist Jyotirmoy Dey.

The prosecution had demanded “maximum possible punishment” but the court handed life imprisonment for the convicts. The court, however, acquitted accused scribes Jigna Vora and Joseph Paulson due to lack of evidence. Jigna Vora, reportedly, broke down at the court after acquittal. Special judge, on April 3rd, fixed May 2nd for the reading of the verdict. Chhota Rajan is currently in Tihar Jail, New Delhi. The final proceedings in the case had started in February and concluded last month.

On June 11, 2011, then 56, Jyotirmoy Dey, the Editor (Investigations) of Midday Eveninger, while on his motorcycle, was shot on his back multiple times near his residence in Powai, Mumbai. Initial investigations were carried out by the Mumbai police but later the case was shifted to Crime Branch.

The police arrested Chhota Rajan’s seven sharpshooters on June 27, viz Rohit Thangappan Joseph alias Satish Kalya (28), Abhijeet Kasharam Shinde (27); Arun Janardhan Dake (27), Sachin Suresh Gaikwad (35), Anil Bhanudas Waghmode (35), Nilesh Narayan Shendge alias Bablu (34), Mangesh Damodar Agawane (25), all who conducted recce and / or were shooters. After questioning the police arrested three more – weapon supplier Deepak Sisodia (28) of Dehradun, Joseph Paulson (43) & Vinod Asrani alias Vinod Chembur (later dead), allegedly the main co-conspirator and financier.

Chhota Rajan, on July 11, 2011, reportedly called up news channels informing about the allegations against him.  On November 25, 2011, the then Deputy Bureau Chief of The Asian Age, Mumbai, Jigna Vora, was arrested for allegedly supplying the license plate number and address of the murdered journalist J Dey, as he was better known. She was accused of being in regular contact with Chhota Rajan and of provoking him to eliminate J Day. Vinod Asrani alias Vinod Chembur died of natural causes three years ago at a private hospital on April 10, 2015. He had reportedly ‘pointed out’ J Dey on the day of his murder.

The crime branch filed its first charge sheet, running three volumes and 3055 pages, on December 3, 2011, which implicated Chhota Rajan. Jigna Vora was named but her role wasn’t mentioned though she had been arrested. Rajan and Nayan Singh Bisht, his aide, were shown as absconding.

The first part mentions formal evidence – panchanama records, ballistics, forensics etc. The second part contains witness statements and confessions of 176 witnesses. Some have been recorded under section 164 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). The third part, the largest, contains mobile phone records, about 1600 seconds in duration from 16 phone calls, which, being technical in nature carry much importance.

The police did not ascribe any motive to the crime but referred to the two articles – “Did Rajan plan hit on Kaskar?” and “Rajan gangsters off to ‘pilgrimages'”, written by J Dey that ‘hurt’ Chhota Rajan.

On February 21, 2012, filed the supplementary charge sheet, nearly 1000 pages, in the case which alleged the role played by Jigna Vora. She was charged under MCOCA, Arms Act and the Bombay Police Act at the sessions court in Mumbai. She was granted bail on July 27, 2012, and was released a fortnight later.

On June 8, 2015, the case was framed against the eleven accused alive under 120(b) (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder) and 34 (common intention) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) along with relevant provisions of the MCOCA and the Arms Act.

The case was transferred to CBI on January 5, 2016, which filed a supplementary charge sheet in August 2016 after the Special MCOCA court Judge S S Adkar fixed August 5 as the deadline, declaring that it would go by the earlier charge sheet filed by the Mumbai Police’s Crime Branch if CBI breaches the deadline.

According to investigations, it was Chhota Rajan who ordered the murder of the veteran journalist. He was arrested and deported from Bali, Indonesia on October 25, 2016, and made accused in the case via a supplementary charge sheet. The investigators found out that a total of Rs. 5 lakh was paid for the job including Rs. 2 lakh as advance payment. A total of 155 witnesses were examined during the probe and three accused, Paulson Joseph, Deepak Sisodia and Arun Dake had recorded their confessions in the crime as per Special Public Prosecutor Pradip Gharat. He further informed that Chhota Rajan’s statements were recorded over video conferencing from Tihar Jail.

Dey had written, among many reports on Mumbai underworld, two books during his careers as crime journalist – “Khallas: An A to Z Guide to the Underworld” and “Zero Dial: The Dangerous World of Informers”. He was midway his third book “Chindi: Rags to Riches” which was the collection of stories of 20 gangsters. Reportedly, the colloquial word ‘Chindi’, meaning petty, irked Chhota Rajan. As per charge sheet, Rajan believed that J Dey was working at the behest of his erstwhile boss underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and ISI.

‘No record of any surgical strike prior to September 2016’, DGMO responds to RTI query

OpIndia Staff
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‘No record of any surgical strike prior to September 2016’, DGMO responds to RTI query

The Director-General of Military Operations(DGMO) in its recent reply to an RTI application, has said that there is no proof of any surgical strikes before September 29, 2016, responding to a specific question about surgical strikes had been carried out between 2004 and 2014.

The DGMO at the Integrated Headquarters of Defense Ministry(Army) clarified in a statement that, “This section does not maintain records of any other surgical strikes if any conducted earlier.”

In addition, the RTI application had also sought the definition of surgical strikes in the Indian Army. The DGMO said,  “As per the information available in ‘open source’ the definition of ‘surgical strike’ is ‘…an operation which is planned based on specific intelligence, on a legitimate military target for maximum effect and with minimum or no collateral damage. It involves deliberate insertion to the target area, precise execution and swift extrication of the body of troops back to the base’.”

This RTI reply has nailed the claims of Congress which had claimed that there had been surgical strikes during its rule in 2013. This raises a lot of questions about Congress Party’s attempt to politicize the issue of counter-terrorism. The Congress, its President Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal and majority opposition parties had united in asking the government and the army for ‘proof of surgical strike’. Rahul Gandhi had even hurled allegations that the strikes were being announced because the Modi government wanted to do “khoon ki dalaali’ and that even Congress had conducted surgical strikes but had never announced the same. The recent response to RTI puts those claims to rest to a large degree.

Indian Army Special Forces had conducted a Surgical Strikes along Line of Control on September 29, 2016, and had caused severe damage on Pakistani Terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba(Let) which had killed more than 20 terrorists. This was considered a major feat by India. Appreciation and support poured in from global quarters that said India was well within its right to defend itself from infiltration.

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