On Thursday, 20th July 2023, a major operation conducted by the Goa Police Crime Branch led to the arrest of two individuals in connection with the illegal possession of explosives. The arrests were made in South Goa, and the recovered materials included 150 kg of illegal explosive substances, 1200 gelatin sticks commonly used in mining and construction industries, and 300 detonators.
The two suspects have been identified as Bhujang Khatavkar (32) and Talak Baptiste (35). They were apprehended in the Guddamol area of Sanvordem while in possession of hazardous materials. The explosives were concealed in six boxes, weighing a total of 150 kg, while the 300 detonators were bundled separately.
Upon interrogation, the suspects revealed that they were transporting the material with the intention of using it for an explosion in a stone quarry. However, they did not possess a valid license for such activities, which led to their arrest.
This illegal possession of explosives poses a threat to public safety and the well-being of the community. In response to the severity of the crime, the two accused have been booked under Section 286 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and various sections of the Explosive Substances Act.
The authorities are continuing their investigation into the matter to uncover any potential accomplices or networks involved in the illegal trafficking of explosive materials. The case will be meticulously examined to ensure that all those responsible for endangering public safety are brought to justice.
The Manipur Police jumped into action in the 2 mont old case of gang rape and murder in B. Phainom village on May 4 after a horrifying video of the incident went viral on July 19.
As per reports, a man named Huirem Herodas Meitei, aged 32 years, has been arrested. He was seen in the video wearing a green t-shirt and grabbing one of the women victims when they were paraded naked. Meitei is from Pechi Awang Leikai.
Manipur | The main culprit who was wearing a green t-shirt and seen holding the woman was arrested today morning in an operation after proper identification. His name is Huirem Herodas Meitei (32 years) of Pechi Awang Leikai: Govt Sources
Earlier today, Manipur CM N Biren Singh had announced that one of the culprits have been arrested by Manipur police. He had added that the police is using all its power to nab the culprits and the government will seek death penalty for the men who assaulted a family, stripped the women naked and allegedly gang-raped them.
On July 19 horrifying visuals of two women being stripped naked and paraded naked surfaced from Manipur. As per reports, the incident is from May 4, a day after the violence in the North Eastern state started. The visuals show two women being paraded naked while a group of men around them heckled them on, and then being dragged into a paddy field. It has been reported that the two victims were then gang-raped.
a complaint regarding the incident was filed at the Saikul Police Station by one Thangboi Vaiphei, the chief of B. Phainom village, on June 21, more than a month after the incident. The complaint mentions that the mob also gang-raped a third woman.
The complaint by the chief of B. Phainom village has stated that 5 members of a family, including 3 women were snatched by a mob from under police protection. Two men of the family were murdered while the three women were stripped naked, assaulted and gang raped. The video that went viral on July 19 triggered nationwide outrage.
PM Modi had responded to the incident and had asked the state government to take the strictest possible measures to nab the culprits and bring them to justice for the heinous crime.
More than 2,300 people have reportedly been held in connection with the violent protests that gripped France earlier this month when a 17-year-old male Algerian migrant named Nahel Merzouk was shot and murdered in the Nanterre neighbourhood of Paris.
According to the French publication L’Opinion, which examined a sample of the most popular names among the people apprehended throughout the riots in late June, Muhammad emerged as the most popular name followed by another Arabic moniker, Yanis. Muhammad as the first name showed up 81 times, 50 times more frequently than Yanis with 31 appearances in the sample of 345 names of arrested people with the most common names. Moreover, Yacin was featured 11 times, Ali popped up 13 times and Ibrahim surfaced 10 times in the same.
In descending order- Muhammad: 81, Yanis: 31, Enzo: 25, Maxime: 21, Adam: 19, Lucas: 18, Jordan: 15, Rayan: 14, Bryan: 14, Nathan: 13, Nicolas: 13, Ali: 13, Hugo: 13, Alexis: 13, Yacin: 11, Théo: 11, Ibrahim: 10 and Paul: 10. Therefore, 345 people have the most common 18 names. The rest of the names were mentioned in much smaller numbers.
The media portal found that 160 of them had Arabic-Muslim names like Mohammed, Yacin, Yanis, Ali, or Ibrahim. The data is based on records collected by the national police, L’Opinion said.
Multiple individuals have theorised that there is a link between immigration and recent violence. Éric Zemmour, former presidential candidate specifically blamed French immigration policy in a recent interview. “France is on the verge of civil war. I’ve been saying this for a long time, and the recent guerrilla scenes prove it.”
He further added, “No one can ignore reality anymore. In spite of everything, most of the political class wants to believe that it is a social crisis when the root cause is obvious, immigration.” The politician forewarned, “No politician has taken the measure of what awaits us if we do nothing. These riots are just a glimpse of our future.”
On the other hand, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin refuted these assertions and claimed that many of the jailed rioters went by the names Kevin or Matteo, which are not typically associated with people from immigrant backgrounds. However, L’Opinion was able to access records from the French National Police regarding the number of those apprehended and revealed the actual statistics.
Moreover, even though there were a few Western names on the list, neither Kevin nor Matteo represented a sizable portion of the rioters that were taken into custody.
Mohammed has been identified as the most popular boy’s name in Seine-Saint-Denis, a Paris borough well-known for having a large proportion of individuals with a migrant background. Interestingly, Arab-Muslim names have grown in popularity in France over the past few decades.
More importantly, the violence has brought immigration issues to the fore of French politics, and based on a recently conducted poll, the French population favoured harsh punishments for immigrant offenders.
According to it, 73% of French people endorsed revoking dual-national rioters of their citizenship, a punishment that is often reserved for serious offences like terrorism. Men and women desired to strip rioters of their French citizenship, but there was a minor gender gap which disclosed that the former was more likely in agreement with the idea than the latter. However, both sexes were strongly in support of it.
There was widespread support for the notion across all age groups, with only 34% of people under 35 opposed and fiercely objected to the same. Meanwhile, pollsters anticipated that followers of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) and Éric Zemmour’s Reconquête would firmly promote robbing rioters of their citizenship, they were nonetheless intrigued to see broad approval even from the left, with 70% of socialists expressing identical views.
The riots and their fallout have mostly benefited Marine Le Pen and her party because more mainstream politicians have echoed her prior statements on immigration and criminality. The conservative senator from France, Bruno Retailleau voiced, “As soon as we want to be firm they say, ‘Oh la la. Scandal!’ The fascists are arriving. You are like the National Rally. We’re sick of being politically correct.”
French riots caused massive damages
French insurance estimated that the losses from the riots, which occurred in more than 200 places throughout France, cost €650 million, while other people believe the actual cost could be over 1 billion Euros.
Notably, 55% of damages are connected to personal or private property, whereas, 35% are claims for harm caused to public infrastructure. 90% of the costs associated with this urban violence are related to the 3,900 affected local communities and properties of the professionals.
Insurers estimated that 11,300 claims have already been filed, although additional lawsuits can also be launched. The amount of devastation is significant which comprised of 700 police officers being injured as a result of the chaos, 1,300 buildings were vandalised and damaged, and 5,600 automobiles were wrecked, the majority of which were set on fire.
Violence in France
Protests and unrest ensued in Paris suburbs after a teenager, Nahel Merzouk who was a delivery agent was killed by a police officer on 27 June. He was stopped by the police and was asked to show documents while he was driving when he tried to flee the scene during which shots were fired. One of the bullets hit him in the chest and he died on the spot.
The instruction to stop was issued under a routine traffic check. The victim was previously convicted of failing to stop at a signal as well as driving without a license. The accused official was detained on suspicion of manslaughter.
Soon after the tragic incident, demonstrations started in the western suburb of Nanterre, where the boy was killed. It quickly spread across other regions, including the Hauts-de-Seine and the eastern city of Dijon. Violence also flared in Marseille, Lyon, Pau, Toulouse and Lille as well as parts of Paris in the country.
Riots and chaos virtually took over France in less than a week, creating a situation that many compared to civil war. More than 45,000 police officers were stationed across the country. Protesters clashed with police, torched vehicles, looted stores and burnt them down. The largest library in Marseilles, Alcazar, also fell victim to the violence and was set on fire.
A memorial commemorating Holocaust victims and members of the French resistance in Paris was also vandalised and defaced by drawing graffiti on it. The act was denounced by the Jewish community worldwide.
The rioters also attacked the residence of Vincent Jeanbrun, a mayor of Paris’s suburban area. He was in his office at the time of the occurrence. However, his wife Melanie Nowak and their two children were at home. The mob tried to burn them alive. She suffered a broken leg while attempting to protect the children, one of whom received injuries.
PM Modi in France
Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently visited the country on a two-day visit which began on 13 July. He was conferred with the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor, France’s highest award by President Emmanuel Macron. The former also attended France’s Bastille Day Parade as the chief guest and the Indian Army contingent also participated in it.
He signed many crucial agreements with the European country including cooperation in defence, space, nuclear energy, climate change and green transitions as well as education and people-to-people ties.
On Wednesday, July 19, Divya Maderna, Congress MLA from Osian slammed her own party, which is at the helm of affairs in Rajasthan, for the deteriorating law and order situation in the state. Speaking to the media outside the Assembly on Wednesday, the Congress MLA said that she herself feels unsafe in her own party-ruled state.
जोधपुर में एक मासूम और उसकी माँ, दादा-दादी को मार कर जला दिया
वहाँ की कांग्रेस विधायक से सवाल किया तो बोली मैं तो खुद ही सैफ़ नहीं हूँ , मेरे पर ही हमला हो जाता है
The statement came after the Jodhpur Police recovered four charred bodies of four members of a family, including a six-month-old girl at Cherai village in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur district late on Tuesday (July 18). The killers reportedly slit their throats, dragged them out in the courtyard, and set them ablaze.
Notably, Cherai Village, where the incident took place falls under Divya Maderna’s own constituency. Jodhpur in Congress leader and Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot’s home district.
Condemning the horrific murder which was reported from her own constituency, she told the media outside the Assembly how, in April, her own convoy—which was travelling under the cover of the state police—was attacked and how the attackers are still at large.
Divya Maderna said, “What can I say, I am not safe here. The accused have not been arrested yet. My car has been attacked at 20 places despite the fact that I travelled under police protection. Two days ago, I received a threat. Several police personnel were deployed for my protection. I had stopped my car three kilometres away from the spot and told the SP that I might be attacked. But the SP assured me saying there were proper arrangements. Still, I was attacked”, the Congress MLA is heard saying in the video which is now going viral.
She added that she wanted to raise this matter in the assembly but was not allowed to speak.
“The Rajasthan Assembly on Tuesday passed a bill to ensure strict action against organised crime and today this incident comes to the fore,” she said, adding that questions are bound to arise.
Maderna also raised questions on Jodhpur IG Jaynarayan Sher.
She said: “Such incompetent officers should be immediately removed from the field and made to sit in the PHQ.”
Union minister Piyush Goyal tweets video of Congress MLA saying she is unsafe in Rajasthan
After the video went viral, Union Minister Piyush Goyal also shared the video on Twitter and slammed the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in Rajasthan over the deteriorating law and order situation in the state.
“Shameful! Forget the safety of other women in Congress’ Jungleraj in Rajasthan, even its woman MLA is unsafe,” tweeted the Union Minister.
शर्मनाक!
राजस्थान में कांग्रेस के जंगलराज में आज आम महिलायें तो छोड़िये, कांग्रेस की अपनी महिला विधायक भी सुरक्षित नहीं हैं। pic.twitter.com/N7IZ9QCNW2
Four family members killed and set on fire in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, BJP seeks Ashok Gehlot’s resignation
On Wednesday (July 19), it was reported that the Jodhpur police recovered the charred bodies of four members of a family, who were allegedly killed by a relative who hacked them with an axe and later set the bodies on fire in Jodhpur. The deceased included a six-month-old child.
In the late night hours, villagers noticed the billowing smoke from a house. When they rushed to the spot, they found the charred bodies of four persons. On villagers’ information, SP (Jodhpur rural) Dharmendra Singh Yadav reached the crime spot along with police forces.
The body of the baby was completely burnt, while those of others were partially charred, police said, adding that they were attacked while they were asleep.
The incident has sparked outrage and concern among the local community and beyond.
Condemning the heinous crime, BJP criticized the Ashok Gehlot-led government, questioning the state of law and order in the Chief Minister’s home district. Alleging that nobody is safe under the Congress rule in Rajasthan, the state BJP President Chandra Prakash Joshi asked CM Ashok Gehlot to submit his resignation.
On Thursday, meanwhile, Union Minister of Women and Child Development Smriti Z Irani informed that the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and the National Commission for Women has taken cognisance of the Jodhpur incident.
Chairperson of the National Commission for Women Rekha Sharma informed on Twitter about taking a Suo Moto cognisance of the matter and sending a team to do the inquiry.
After the outrage over the incident, the Rajasthan police took to Twitter today (July 20, Thursday) to inform that they have arrested the nephew of the deceased, who they claim is the prime accused in the murder.
– #राजस्थान_पुलिस की त्वरित कार्यवाही, ब्लाइंड मर्डर का 4 घंटे में खुलासा।
– ओसियां में 6 माह की मासूम समेत 4 लोगों की हत्या की गई थी।
The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed its concern on the death of cheetahs in Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh and asked the Centre to take some positive steps regarding this. However, the Centre apprised the top court that 50 percent deaths on translocation is normal.
A bench of Justices BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala, and Prashant Kumar Mishra made these observations while hearing the issue related to the death of cheetahs. Taking note of the deaths of two cheetahs last week, the court asked the Centre why were they making it a prestige issue.
The court also questioned why the cheetahs are put in one place. The court suggested the Centre take some positive steps.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, representing the government, responded to the court that they are doing their best efforts for the project. She apprised the court that 50% of deaths on translocation are normal.
The court sought to know the issue of whether they are suited to the climate or facing Kidney or respiratory issues or not. ASG replied that the infections were leading to the deaths.
The court remarked that one of the sanctuaries in Rajasthan is known for leopards and suggested the court consider this aspect.
Twelve cheetahs from South Africa arrived on February 18 in Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park after South Africa signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the re-introduction of Cheetahs in India to establish a viable cheetah population in the Asian country.
Earlier, eight cheetahs brought from Namibia were released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Kuno National Park on the occasion of his birthday on September 17, 2022. One Cheetah died due to illness recently.
The MoU on the reintroduction of cheetahs to India facilitates cooperation between the parties to establish a viable and secure cheetah population in India, promotes conservation and ensures that expertise is shared and exchanged, and capacity is built, to promote cheetah conservation.
(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)
On Thursday, 20th July 2023, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) made significant progress in the investigation of the alleged scam at a Covid centre set up during the pandemic in Maharashtra, leading to the arrest of two key individuals connected to Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut.
The ED arrested Sujit Patkar, a close aide of Sanjay Raut, along with Dr Kishor Bisure, the academic dean who was in charge of the Dahisar Covid field hospital. The arrests were made in connection to a money laundering case linked to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) field hospital scam.
During the pandemic, the BMC constructed several field hospitals in Mumbai to treat Covid-19 patients. It is alleged that contracts for managing these field hospitals were awarded under political influence by BMC officials at inflated costs to ineligible entities. Among them was the Lifeline Hospital Management Services (LHMS), formed by Sujit Patkar in 2020.
LHMS had secured the contract for managing the Dahisar Covid field hospital and received a payment of Rs 30 crore from the BMC. Shockingly, investigations revealed that only Rs 8 crore out of the allotted amount was utilised for the actual work. The remaining Rs 22 crore was allegedly diverted into shell companies and other accounts for personal use by LHMS.
The money trail was reportedly established by the ED, and it was found that LHMS had no prior experience in managing field hospitals. Despite this, the contract was awarded to them within a month of the company’s formation, raising suspicions of corruption and favouritism.
The ED’s money laundering case stemmed from an FIR filed at Azad Maidan police station. Subsequently, the agency decided to investigate the total expenditure of Rs 4,000 crore on Covid-related work during the pandemic. The statements of several contractors and builders were recorded by the agency, wherein they admitted to securing contracts through their influence.
The involvement of BMC officials is also under scrutiny as they allegedly played a role in the allocation of contracts to ineligible entities at inflated costs.
Sanjay Raut, in response to the allegations, maintained that Sujit Patkar was only his friend, while Dr Sujit Patkar clarified that he was one of the partners at Lifesciences Hospital and Management firm, which is owned by Hemant Gupta and registered under his clinic’s name in Worli.
The cycle of life, death, and the ‘afterlife’ has long piqued the interest of many people across socio-cultural origins. The yearning for a greater purpose in life and the allurement of ‘meeting God’ has frequently lured people to enigmatic cults that use myriad tactics to gather followers. Some of these cults, when the leader is a maniac, often end up in tragedy.
The recently uncovered Kenyan starvation cult and the hundreds of deaths caused by it demonstrate how people with deep-seated fear are drawn to charismatic cult leaders who persuade them to believe in apocalyptic prophecies inspired predominantly by the Biblical Book of Revelation. In many of such cults, faith becomes one with fear, creating a dangerous delusion.
The term “cult” most commonly refers to a group of individuals who live in a state of solitude from the rest of the world and have unusual beliefs. They tend to center on a charismatic figure—the cult leader—who orders the beliefs, behaviors, and customs of all members. The cult followers are influenced to such an extent that they feel incapable of living a free life outside the belief system of their cult.
History has witnessed many such doomsday cults emerge, thrive, and end. Let’s take a look at some notorious cults that have caused widespread deaths and pain.
Kenyan doomsday cult
These doomsday cults thrive on the belief that people are living in the end times, that is the world will end soon and only those who follow their prescribed rituals and traditions will be able to meet God. As seen in the case of Kenya’s Christian doomsday cult, its leader and pastor Paul Mackenzie who ran the Good News International Church urged his cult followers to starve themselves to death if they wished to reach heaven ‘faster’ and meet Jesus Christ there. So far 403 dead bodies have been recovered and over 600 are missing.
Dead bodies of Kenyan starvation cult followers (Image via NewsCentral)
The pastor told his adherents that the world will end on April 15 and Satan would rule for thousand years. As told by the relatives of those who died following Mackenzie’s command, the pastor had cut off his followers from their families and society through extreme teachings.
Pastor Paul Mackenzie who led the Kenyan starvation cult (Image via Reuters)
He even called schools and hospitals ‘institutions controlled by Satan’. Apparently, the idea behind cutting off people from the world was to establish absolute control over their thought processes and make them do things the cult leader believes should be done to meet God.
‘Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God’
The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God (MRTCG) was a Ugandan religious cult that rose to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s. This Christian cult was dedicated to restoring God’s Ten Commandments to their rightful position in the world. In a horrific turn of events, the leaders were eventually found to have engineered a mass murder-suicide of its followers in 2000, killing over 900 people.
Credonia Mwerinde, a former sex worker, and Joseph Kibweteere, a former politician, set up the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God in the early 1990s. They proclaimed to have received revelations from the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ, and their doctrines were an amalgamation of Christian and indigenous African traditions.
MRTCG cult founders Credonia Mwerinde and Joseph Kwibeteere (Image via Sword and Scale)
The doctrines of the group emphasised the importance of faithfully following the Ten Commandments and preparing for the end of the world. Members were instructed to adhere to a stringent set of rules and rituals.
The followers of this cult were preparing for the second coming of Jesus Christ. According to the book of this cult titled “A Timely Message From Heaven: The End of the Present Time”, they believed in twelve apostles called Entumwa (messenger). They also believed that the world would end and a new earth “will begin with year one, after the year 2000.”
Bodily remains of the MRTCG death cult followers (Image via Facebook)
On the fateful day of March 17, 2000, the leaders of the group summoned all members to a church in Kanungu, a small town in southern Uganda. After locking the doors and windows they set fire to the Church. It remains one of the most horrific mass suicide incidents in history. Ironically, those who led this mass suicide drive were never found.
Heaven’s Gate
Heaven’s Gate, led by Marshall Applewhite alias Do and Bonnie Nettles alias Ti believed in a UFO-related end-of-the-world catastrophe. 39 members committed mass suicide in Rancho Santa Fe, California, in 1997, believing their souls would ascend to a spaceship trailing the Hale-Bopp comet.
Heaven’s Gate cult leaders Bonnie Nettles alias Ti and Marshall Applewhite (Image via ABC/VCI)
They believed that this spaceship would grab their souls and send them to a higher realm of existence, therefore they mixed phenobarbital with apple sauce and vodka. They also used bags tied over their heads to cause asphyxiation or simply suffocation.
Mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, California where 39 dead bodies of Heaven Gate cult followers were found in 1997 (Image via AP)
They directed their followers that the human body was merely a “vehicle” for their spirit to travel in and that the “savior” had returned in the human form of Applewhite. Their members were told to obey strict regulations, including severing links with family, friends, and society. They were also instructed to assume an asexual appearance. Many had even been castrated.
People’s Temple
Jim Jones’s Peoples Temple was a cult notorious for its mass suicide/murder incident at Jonestown, Guyana. More than 900 followers, including over 300 children, perished on November 18, 1978, after drinking cyanide-laced grape-flavored Kool Aid. The Jonestown Massacre remains one of the largest single losses of civilian life in an American non-natural disaster.
Rev Jim Jones and his wife, Marceline (Image via Bettmann Archive/Guardian)
The cult’s apocalyptic doctrines were based on the premise that the world was on the verge of destruction and that the only way to avoid the looming catastrophe was to commit “revolutionary suicide.”
Corpses of people who died in the mass suicide event at Jonestown in 1978 (Image via Bettmann Archive)
On November 18, 1978, more than 900 members of the Peoples Temple died in Jonestown, Guyana, after eating cyanide-laced Flavour Aid on the orders of Jim Jones, also called the ‘Mad Messiah’. This mass suicide/murder event is known as the Jonestown Massacre.
The Mansion Family
Charles Mansion, founder of The Mansion Family cult in the 1960s in California believed he was a reincarnation of Jesus Christ and propagated that a ‘race war’ is coming in the apocalypse. His followers were mostly comprised of young women. Charles Mansion influenced young women using his captivating manipulative techniques.
Charles Mansion, founder of The Mansion Family cult (Image via CBS)
He sent a group of his followers to a residence in Benedict Canyon in August 1969 and urged them to kill everyone inside. Actress Sharon Tate, who was married to Roman Polanski at the time, and renowned hairdresser Jay Sebring were among those killed. The following night, Manson’s followers murdered Rosemary and Leno LaBianca at their Los Feliz home. His other prominent victims included Beach Boys band’s drummer Denis Wilson who was also Mansion’s friend. The murder of actress Sharon Tate inspired the iconic film ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood,’ starring Leonardo Di Caprio and Brad Pitt, with actress Margot Robbie playing Sharon Tate.
Actress Sharon Tate’s dead body was taken from her house in California in 1969. (Image via AP)
Manson encouraged his followers to murder individuals because he believed it would spark a race war. He gave heavy doses of LSD to his followers. In total, nine persons were killed in a series of separate incidents. Manson was found guilty on all nine counts of first-degree murder. He was incarcerated until his death in 2017.
Church of the Lamb of God
Ervil LeBaron founded the Church of the Lamb of God also called Mormon Manson in Chihuahua, Mexico. A polygamist leader of the Mormon sect of the church, LeBaron persuaded his followers that he had received direct orders from God, including the use of an abandoned Mormon teaching known as “blood atonement,” which enables the slaughter of sinners to purify them of wickedness.
Mormon fundamentalist Ervil LeBaron (Image via AP)
LeBaron had 51 children with 13 different spouses and amassed hundreds of followers over two decades, who allegedly murdered more than 20 people on LeBaron’s commands. Mexican authorities arrested LeBaron in 1979, and he died in prison in 1981. His horror, however, persisted as he left a “hit list” featuring people he considered to be “traitors.” LeBaron’s wives, children, and followers continued to kill people in his name.
The Family International
Children of God/The Family International’s sexual abuse and pedophilia have a long history in the international cult. David Berg utilised the cult to promote “free love,” founding ‘Flirty Fishing’ in the 1970s, in which the cult’s women were instructed to sleep with men in order to entice them into its folds. This cult even attracted actors like Joaquin Phoenix and Rose McGowan.
David Berg was accused of molesting his own daughter after the cult encouraged sexual interaction with children. Despite the cult’s denial of sexual assault charges, numerous survivors of this heinous group have stated otherwise.
Aum Shinrikyo
Aum Shinrikyo, founded in 1984 by Shoko Asahara, originally made news in the late 1980s over allegations that Asahara was forcing members to give money to the organization and holding people against their will.
Shoko Asahara, the founder of Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult (Image via Getty/AFP)
Asahara, like many cult leaders, believed in an impending doomsday, this time triggered by a world war initiated by the United States. Only his adherents, he claimed, will survive.
The dead body of one of the Sarin gas attack victims (Image via Junji Kurokawa/Getty)
In 1995, the organization carried out a sarin gas attack on Tokyo Subway System, killing 12 people and injuring countless others. The attack purportedly was aimed at bringing about the ‘apocalypse’. Cult leader Asahara deemed the horrific attack as a “holy attempt to elevate the doomed souls of this world to a higher spiritual stage”.
Order of the Solar Temple
The Order of the Solar Temple, founded in Switzerland in 1984 by Joseph di Mambro and Luc Jouret, attributed its roots to the medieval Knights Templar but also predicted the end of the world in the 1990s. As the cult became more focused on the end of the world, it gained more adherents.
Luc Jouret and Joseph di Mambro, the founders of the Order of the Solar Temple (Image via Infobae)
Di Mambro ordered the murder of a Swiss man, his wife, and children in Quebec in 1994. Later that year, more than 50 members of the group were murdered or committed suicide, and the group’s buildings were burned down. Members committed suicide in 1995 and 1997. Surprisingly, the Order of the Solar Temple is still operating today, with several hundred members.
How doomsday cults attract followers?
There have been lethal doomsday cults in the past, such as NXVIM, and many remain operational in some form or another even now. The question here is, what draws people to these weird, sometimes ridiculous, and often dangerous cults? As with the cults discussed above, certain aspects are shared among them, such as a projected ‘apocalypse,’ seclusion of cult believers from family and society, and excessive control over both mental and physical activity through rigorous rituals.
While most people are preoccupied with worldly material gains and conventional achievements, many are eager to find absolute answers to avenues such as right vs. wrong, good vs. evil, the existence of God, and so on. Many of the victims of dangerous cults are often vulnerable individuals who seek companionship and a purpose in their life, and most importantly, a sense of belonging.
Such people find their ‘solutions’ in the discourses of extremely manipulative cult leaders who position themselves as a charismatic figure who has somehow figured out answers to all the complex questions about life, death, hell, heaven, and, of course, the existence of God and how to meet him.
Cult leaders find a popular audience in vulnerable people, especially those with poor self-esteem and confidence. It is because people with low self-esteem are easily emotionally broken down and remolded into cult-compliant personalities. Such people, who frequently feel excluded or unaccepted by mainstream society, find the milieu of these cults encouraging and get a false sense of healing.
Their desperate search for a better life leads them to dangerous apocalyptic cults. The cult members are embraced with open arms and showered with love and acceptance. However, when individuals become accustomed to the cult and its practices, they are mentally and physically abused in various ways.
Many cults have prospered by spreading the ‘us versus them’ mentality. Many leaders of doomsday cults persuade their adherents that they are unique and superior to outsiders. They further convince them that a war has to be fought against people who oppose what they believe. This further isolates members of the cult from their families and friends. They employ paranoia to create a false sense of comfort and security in their followers. Cult leaders use fear tactics to persuade naive people that they are under attack from the outside world and that only the cult and its charismatic leader can protect them. Ironically, their yearning for comfort, stability, approval, community, and a twisted quest of ‘meeting God’ or ‘attaining salvation’ leads them to mental and physical torture and ultimately to their tragic end.
Tensions have escalated in Iraq’s Baghdad where several protesters stormed the Swedish embassy early on 20th July and set it ablaze in a violent response to another planned burning of Quran. This comes following a report from a Swedish news agency saying that the Swedish police had approved a Quran and Iraqi flag-burning protest outside the Iraqi Embassy in Stockholm.
The approval comes merely two weeks after a man staged a demonstration by burning the Quran outside a mosque in Stockholm sparking anger amongst Islamists in Pakistan and in Iraq too. Several videos of the Islamists breaching the embassy on Thursday have gone viral on social media.
One video shows enraged protesters, mostly comprising of men dressed in black, on the embassy compound chanting, taking to the embassy’s balcony, and waving flags. A man, seemingly recording the video, can be heard giving an angry speech in the local language.
Another video shows similar scenes with protesters still attempting to go further inside the embassy, waving flags from the balcony, flames erupting from a window and smoke billowing from other parts.
Rioters are currently Storming and have set Fire to the Swedish Embassy in the Iraqi Capital of Baghdad. pic.twitter.com/SUDGCP2W4V
A third video from inside the building now shows the complete violation of the embassy grounds. In the video, amid the background chorus of protesters sloganeering, a man can be heard shouting what sounds like “Ya Hadi” an expression seeking Allah’s guidance.
Armed protesters can be seen crowding the stairs, and the lobby area.
Hundreds of people stormed Sweden’s embassy in Baghdad, Iraq and burned it down yesterday after another Quran was burnt in Sweden.
Sweden’s NATO membership still hasn’t been ratified by Turkey.
Iraqi riot police used water cannons to disperse hundreds of protesters who breached the walls of the Swedish consulate in central Baghdad. Security forces equipped with electric batons attempted to chase away the protesters from the embassy, AFP reported.
#UPDATE Iraqi riot police have used water cannon to disperse protesters from Sweden's embassy in Baghdad, an @AFP photographer says, after the building was set on fire in protest of a planned Koran burning in Stockholm.
The Swedish Foreign Ministry has reportedly said that its embassy staff in Baghdad are safe. “We condemn all attacks on diplomats and staff from international organizations,” the ministry said. “Attacks on embassies and diplomats constitute a serious violation of the Vienna Convention. Iraqi authorities have the responsibility to protect diplomatic missions and diplomatic staff.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iraq issued a statement condemning the burning of the Swedish embassy calling it an “assault on diplomatic missions and threatening their security”.
تُؤَكِّدُ الوزارة إنَّ الحكومةَ العراقيَّة أوعزت إلى الجهات الأمنيَّة المُختصَّة، بالتحقيق العاجل وإتخاذ الإجراءات الأمنيَّة اللازمة بهدف كشف ملابسات الحادثة والتعرُّف على هُويةِ مرتكبي هذا الفعل ومحاسبتهم وفق القانون.
وزارة الخارجيَّة بغداد 2023/7/20
— وزارة الخارجية العراقية (@Iraqimofa) July 20, 2023
The statement posted on Twitter read, “The Ministry confirms that the Iraqi government has instructed the competent security authorities to conduct an urgent investigation and take the necessary security measures in order to uncover the circumstances of the incident and identify the perpetrators of this act and hold them accountable according to the law.”
The protests were reportedly called by supporters of the influential Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr who is known to have given calls to his supporters in the past to take to the streets in protest.
On 29th June, a similar protest in Iraq saw an Islamist mob breaching the Swedish embassy against the burning of the Quran by an ex-Muslim Iraqi refugee Salwa Momika residing in Sweden. Hundreds of Moqtada Sadr’s followers broke into the Swedish embassy in Baghdad. Moqtada Sadr is a firebrand Iraqi Shiite cleric. After about 15 minutes of heated protests, the gathering of Muslims started to disperse as tight security was put in place. The Quran was burnt in Sweden on June 28.
The protesting Muslims’ pamphlets had the phrase, “Our constitution is the Quran.” “Yes, yes to the Quran,” was another statement spray-painted on the embassy compound’s gate.
Kirandeep Kaur, the wife of radical sikh leader and chief of Waris Punjab De Amritpal Singh, was reportedly stopped from boarding a flight to the United Kingdom on 19 July for the third time since April.
Kirandeep Kaur stated, “I have been denied entry to England for the third time because the law required me to enter 180 days earlier. People believed I was escaping to England in April, but returning home is not the same as fleeing. I’m subject to different laws because I’m a citizen of the UK.”
She further added, “I made a flight reservation for 14 July, a month in advance. I was assured that there would be no trouble or issue with my leaving up until the morning. Then, just before the scheduled departure time, I was told not to proceed. They asked me to hold off for a few days until 18 August. Afterwards, I subsequently made travel plans for July 19th.”
Kirandeep Kaur accused that she was being prevented from attending the funeral of Khalistani terrorist Avtar Singh Khanda who died on 15 June. Furthermore, she was unaware of the time and location of his last rites. “No officer spoke to me directly or clearly. They don’t want me to attend his funeral. Even the location and time of the funeral are unknown to me. The government anticipated that I’ll visit and deliver a speech there. They are worried that I would start an agitation. I can’t leave the country because of the government and its agencies.”
Avtar Singh Khanda, an asylum seeker in the UK, was arrested for pulling down the Indian flag at the high commission in London on 19 March. He had also groomed Amritpal Singh who wrote a letter and demanded that the status of ‘martyr’ be accorded to the former. His father, Kulwant Singh Khukrana, was also a terrorist and associated with the Khalistan Liberation Force and Khalitan Commando Force. Avtar Singh Khanda died in a London hospital on 15th June.
Kirandeep Kaur alleged, “I am only trying to travel in accordance with the law and human rights to see my family. My trip was only scheduled for a week or two. My husband is my top priority, therefore, I have no intention of staying there for very long.”
She mentioned, “Officials informed that there is a LOC (Look Out Circular) related issue here, but no documentation for the same has been given to me. If yes, why are they refusing to show me and on what grounds,” she asked and added, “If not, they are powerless to prevent me from leaving the country.”
Kirandeep Kaur was scheduled to leave for Birmingham at 1:25 pm aboard an Air India flight from Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport. The authorities stopped her and told her that a lookout notice had been issued for her. She is a British citizen but has not approached the British Consulate in Chandigarh so far.
She married Amritpal Singh on February 10 at Jallupur Khera village in Punjab. She was initially prevented from boarding her flight to the United Kingdom on 20 April from Amritsar’s Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport.
Kirandeep Kaur is a part of the terrorist organisation, Babbar Khalsa. She also generated money for the terror group and provided funding for the Khalistan Movement. Moreover, she and five other people were arrested in 2020 for soliciting donations for the same outfit. A police team comprising senior officials had questioned her, along with Amritpal Singh’s father Tarsem Singh and mother Balwinder Kaur for nearly an hour at the Jallupur Khera village when her husband was absconding.
Amritpal Singh Sandhu was arrested on 23 April 2023 for attempted murder, among other charges. According to Indian intelligence sources, he has amassed weapons while building up a private militia known as the Anandpur Khalsa Fauj (AKF), with the help of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The state administration, along with the federal government, began a stern crackdown on him and his allies in March 2023.
On Thursday, July 20, a case of religious discrimination against a Hindu student came to the fore from Bokaro in Jharkhand. A school teacher reportedly beat up a class 9 student for sporting a sacred thread (Kalawa) on his wrist to school. The incident occurred in a government-aided Missionary school called Carmel High School, Hindi Medium, situated in Bokaro Thermal in Jharkhand on July 18, Tuesday.
बोकारो: शिक्षक पर लगा कलावा पहन कर आए छात्र को पीटने का आरोप, कार्मेल स्कूल में नौवीं क्लास के छात्र के साथ ये घटना हुई है। pic.twitter.com/FZFDwAWhJc
After getting the information, several members of Hindu organisations like the Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad reached the school premises on Wednesday, July 19 and protested against the incident. They met with the school principal Sister Joyce Kullu A.C. and asked her to initiate an inquiry into the case and demanded immediate action against the accused teacher.
Those who met the Principal included Vishwa Hindu Parishad Dhanbad department’s organization minister Vinay Kumar, Bajrang Dal’s block convenor Saurabh Singh, Deepak Verma, Vinod Singh, Vikas Kumar, Somnath Nayak, Suman Kumar Thakur etc.
Carmel High School, Bokaro Thermal, Jharkhand
In what transpired, on July 18, Tuesday, a student named Karan Thakur reached school wearing a Kalawa on his wrist. The monitor of his classroom complained about this to a school teacher named Amit Lakda. The teacher, in turn, scolded Karan and asked him to remove the sacred thread. He told the student that wearing the sacred thread is forbidden in school and ordered him to remove it immediately.
The student, however, refused to remove the Kalawa, saying that it was a matter of his faith. Infuriated, the teacher started beating and humiliating him in front of the class. He put the student under such mental pressure that he began to cry and reluctantly cut the Kalawa tied to his wrist with a blade. The teacher reprimanded the student and asked him to get his father to school the next day.
The student went back home from school that afternoon and narrated the incident to his parents. The parents approached the Hindu organisations and gathered together at the school gate, staging a protest.
The accused teacher Amit Lakda, meanwhile, refuted tha allegations saying that all religions are respected in the school and that there was no discrimination against anyone.
According to a report by Jagran, the student’s family has also submitted a written complaint to the District Education Officer about the incident. When OpIndia contacted the DEO of Bokaro, Jagarnath Lagra, he said he received the information about the incident on Whatsapp on July 19 (Wednesday). He said that his department would look into the matter and speak to the school authorities to understand what happened.
Media reports have quoted the principal of the school Sister Joyce Kullu A.C. as saying that she did not have any information about the student being assaulted by the accused teacher. She further said that the School Management Committee will investigate the entire matter and only after that action would be taken accordingly.
School headmistress Sister Joyce Kullu A.C.
Meanwhile, OpIndia also called the school numbers to verify this information about the incident, but the receptionist refused to divulge any details. She, in fact, abruptly hung up the call saying that she would talk after 5 minutes. After that, we tried calling on the same number several times, but each time the call went unanswered.
