Month: November 2020

Taking a dig at Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) President Chirag Paswan for contesting against the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the recently concluded Bihar Assembly election, Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) chief Jitan Ram Manjhi on Wednesday said he burnt himself with his own lamp.

“Apne chirag se bhasm ho gaye hain wo (he burnt himself with his own lamp),” quipped the former chief minister whose HAM won four seats on Tuesday. Chirag translates to lamp in English.

The HAM leader went on to say: “There’s a saying don’t cut the branch on which you sit. Chirag Paswan worked towards defeating the fold he was part of. The result is clear, the branch has been cut, but he also fell,” Manjhi said.

Paswan’s LJP had broken away from the NDA and contested 137 seats in Bihar, but ended up winning only one seat as compared to two last time when it was part of the ruling alliance.

It is to be noted that Manjhi had also quit the NDA to join the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-led Mahagathbandhan or Grand Alliance in August this year. In a couple of days, he came back.

The Hindustani Awam Morcha-supported NDA is set to retain power in Bihar. (ANI)

Holding that the Bombay High Court was incorrect in not granting bail, the Supreme Court on Wednesday granted interim bail to Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami and two others in connection with the 2018 abetment to suicide case.

A vacation bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud and also comprising Justice Indira Banerjee ordered the release of Arnab Goswami and two other accused on interim bail on a bond of Rs 50,000 and directed the Commissioner of Police to ensure the order is followed immediately.

The bench, which was hearing a petition filed by Goswami seeking bail and challenging the November 9 order of the Bombay High Court refusing relief, also directed Goswami and others to cooperate with the investigation in the case.

“They shall not make any attempt to influence witnesses,” the bench said and added that personal bond should be executed before the jail superintendent.

During the hearing, senior advocate Harish Salve appearing for Goswami claimed his client was being targeted and listed various cases and actions against Goswami by the Maharashtra government and the police.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Maharashtra government, asked how can bail be granted only on the basis of FIR. “The FIR it is information, either you probe it or quash it. It is not an encyclopedia. An investigation is in progress. Today there is evidence on record. There cannot be a grant of bail without looking at the evidence. The court is not allowing us to file the papers. There is a judicial remand order. There is an investigation,” he said.

Sibal said the court should wait for day after tomorrow and not lay down this precedence and added that when extraordinary orders are passed in extraordinary cases, it has repercussions.

“How do you decide the intention in a suicide case? Only on facts and evidence. This cannot be a principle that the Court will grant bail just reading the FIR, this principle will be followed in all High Courts. The investigation is going on. Remand is ordered. Now, the court cannot tell that read the FIR and see if offence made out to grant bail. It’s a dangerous precedent,” he added.

Sibal also mentioned that recently Siddiqui Kappan, a journalist from Kerala who went to cover the Hathras incident, was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Police. Sibal said the journalist had approached the top court but was asked to go to the High Court and asked to come again if he does not get bail.

Appearing for Mumbai Police, senior advocate Amit Desai said if this court makes an exception, it will have grave ramifications on the administration of the criminal justice system.

“If every accused comes and says FIR does not disclose an offence and bail be granted then it will be a different situation of courts and it will disrupt the entire scheme of the criminal justice system,” Desai said.

He also questioned why did Arnab Goswami not move a court to quash the FIR in 2018?

Responding to it, Salve said it is being argued that a citizen’s liberty is not important and procedural hierarchy has to be given importance. “Goswami has been arrested on the basis of FIR. The magistrate has nothing more. They will do what they are doing in TRP scam case, they will get someone to make witnesses,” he added.

Claiming that the re-investigation ordered by Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh was illegal and ultra vires, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for co-accused Nitesh Sarda, said a minister had no jurisdiction to sit over a court order.

Senior advocate CU Singh, appearing for victim Anvay Naik’s wife, said they were never served the closure report on the investigation, which he claimed is mandatory, and added “we didn’t know about it till May and only got to know about it through a tweet”.

“The sentiments expressed by this court is to be cherished by all. But here it’s not about Goswami but because of the fact that he has already moved a bail application yet to be heard. What kind of a message will it send and short circuit an entire process?” he pointed out.

Justice Chandrachud, during the hearing, observed that they are seeing dozens and dozens of cases where district courts, High Courts do not grant bail.

“If we as a constitutional court do not lay down law and protect liberty then who will? You may not like his (Arnab) ideology… But if a citizen is sent to jail, if High Courts don’t grant bail. We have to send a strong message,” Justice Chandrachud said.

“Our democracy is extraordinarily resilient. Governments must ignore all this. This is not the basis on which elections are fought,” Justice Chandrachud said pointing out that a strong message needs to be sent if a state is targetting an individual.

On November 4, Goswami and two others were arrested in connection with the 2018 suicide case. Later, they were sent to 14-day judicial custody by a lower court later that day.

The suicide case, in which a closure report was filed in 2019, was reopened after Naik’s wife Akshata approached a court. In September this year, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had ordered a re-investigation into the case after a fresh complaint by Naik’s daughter. (ANI)

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Sushil Modi on Wednesday reiterated that Nitish Kumar will be Chief Minister of Bihar and said, “there is no question of replacing him”.

While replying to a question over Janata Dal United (JDU) chief, Nitish Kumar’s future in Bihar, the BJP leader said, “There is no confusion on the issue of Nitish Kumar as Chief Minister of Bihar. The decision was taken before the polls and it will remain same.”

“In alliance, sometimes a partner wins more and the other one is able to secure fewer seats. But we are equal partners, people voted for National Democratic Alliance (NDA),” he added.

While reacting over a question on Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), chief Chirag Paswan, the BJP leader said, “He is not part of our alliance in the state. I don’t want to say anything about it.”

On a question regarding Chirag Paswan’s status in the Central government, the BJP leader said, “I don’t know, I am only concerned with state politics, representatives of Central government can give you an answer about this question. But he is surely not a part of Bihar-NDA.”

The BJP won 74 of Bihar’s 243 seats, taking the NDA’s tally past the majority mark, while Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal-United was restricted to 43.

The state BJP leader slammed senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh over his suggestion to Nitish Kumar for “leaving Bihar and entering national politics.”

“Digvijaya Singh’s party failed to secure seats in Madhya Pradesh by-polls even then he is giving advice to our leader? No one knows Digvijaya Singh in Bihar,” he added. (ANI)

By Sahil Pandey

Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Chirag Paswan on Wednesday said that it was his aim to dent the Janta Dal-United (JDU) votes in the electoral battle and also make sure that his candidate should not affect the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“It was my aim to dent JDU and I worked on it. I also focused that we should not affect the BJP and asked my workers to support it. My aim was to provide more seats to BJP and damage to JDU. The LJP will improve its performance in 2025,” Paswan told ANI here.

Paswan was satisfied with the LJP’s performance in the polls and will prepare for the 2025 Bihar election.

“LJP’s performance is satisfactory. We would have been happy if we could have won more but in 9-10 seats we lost with a close margin. We fulfilled our aim to increase the vote share by 6 per cent and people believed in the Bihar First Bihari First agenda. To strengthen BJP was also an aim. Now we got new strength and with this, we are preparing for 2025 election,” Paswan added.

Chirag also advised the opposition to accept the defeat gracefully and not to blame the EVM or election administration.

Earlier LJP chief congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for National Democratic Alliance’s win in the Bihar Assembly election 2020 and said that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar won only because of Prime Minister Modi.

Chirag said that the voters in Bihar have expressed their faith in PM Modi and it is necessary that BJP gets stronger in Bihar in order to usher in development in the state.

In Bihar elections 2020, of the 243 seats, 125 have gone in favour of the ruling coalition headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and 110 to rival Grand Alliance. The RJD emerged as the single-largest party in the House with 75 seats. The LJP won only one seat. (ANI)

The US Holocaust Memorial Museum here has recorded the tales of several Uyghur living in exile after fleeing Chinese state-sponsored persecution in Western China province of Xinjiang. The horrifying tales of oppression told by those who were lucky to escape are enough to bring humanity to shame.

The Turkic Muslim group, which makes up around 45 per cent of Xinjiang’s population, has long accused China’s authorities of cultural, religious and economic discrimination.

Rushan Abbas, an Uyghur American activist, has disclosed the inhumane treatment meted out to Uyghurs in Xinjiang, saying that women are subjected to mental and physical torture, and are given unknown injections and medications.

“My only sister became the victim for my activism here in America [that I undertook] as an American citizen,” said Abbas. “These two women got picked up on the same day as the Chinese government’s way of sending me a loud and clear message to try to pressure me to be silent.”

Abbas and her family are Uyghurs, a Turkic Muslim ethnic minority who mostly live in the western China province. The Chinese government for decades has tried to forcefully assimilate Uyghurs by force into the country’s majority Han cultural identity.

Another victim of Chinese oppression is 37-year-old Bahram Sintash.

Sintash a content producer at US-based Radio Free Asia has been searching for his 70-year-old father for around three years.

His father, Qurban Mamut is a well-known Uyghur journalist and was detained by the Chinese government a couple of months after returning home from a visit with his son in the United States.

“I don’t know where exactly–he disappeared. I would sell my house to get my father back but this is different. He’s kidnapped by a very powerful government and they don’t need money,” Sintash said.

Sintash never thought he would become an activist. In 2009, he attended a protest in Washington, DC, in response to the Chinese government’s violent reaction to Uyghurs protesting persecution in Xinjiang. While voicing his dissent in DC, Sintash held the East Turkestan flag, which represents a movement seeking Xinjiang’s independence from China.

“[Later that year] the police came to my parents’ home and told them that they had a picture of me holding up the flag and attending protests,” said Sintash. “They told my parents to tell me never to attend any political things. They threatened my family members to control me.”

Besides Sintash, there is Mamatjan Juma whose life drastically changed after 2016.

Juma used to stay in regular touch with his family in Xinjiang. That changed four years back when the Chinese government started sending Uyghurs to detention centres and monitoring their everyday lives.

“My parents all of a sudden said, ‘Don’t talk to your brothers anymore,'” said Juma. “‘Just talk to us and we’ll send your greetings to them.'”

“Later on, I realized that two of my brothers were taken away by the government in May 2017 and my parents didn’t and couldn’t tell me that,” he added. “They censored themselves because we knew that we could not ask certain questions unless it was about their daily lives.”

“He is a very intelligent and a very principled person. I heard from a mutual friend that both my brothers were tortured the first time they were detained. My other brother, Abdukadir, was almost beaten to death. They never told me this because it could be seen as sensitive information and classified as a state secret. Of course it’s a state secret because the Chinese government is torturing people,” said Juma.

There are several other tales that speak about the horrors being faced by Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region.

Classified documents known as the China Cables, accessed last year by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, threw light on how the Chinese government uses technology to control Uyghur Muslims worldwide.

However, China regularly denies such mistreatment and says the camps provide “vocational training.”

People in the internment camps have said they are subjected to forced political indoctrination, torture, beatings and denial of food and medicine, besides being prohibited from practising their religion or speaking their language. (ANI)

Dhak Dhak girl Madhuri Dixit Nene on Wednesday celebrated 32 years of her super hit flick ‘Tezaab,’ with a special video reel of her fans dancing to the tunes of her iconic song ‘Ek Do Teen.’

The superstar took to social media to share a video reel that began with her dancing to the song ‘Ek Do Teen,’ followed by compilations of videos of her fans dancing to the song.

The 53-year-old actor complimented the video with a special note dedicated to the fan following of the song and remembered late choreographer Saroj Khan who had choreographed the song.

“#32YearsOfTezaab A movie which is very close to my heart and a song which makes me feel alive every time I hear it,” she wrote in the caption.

“Thank you everyone for still loving the song, the choreography, and creating such amazing videos on it. Miss you #Saroj ji. She would have been so happy to see this video,” she added.

Starring Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit, and Anupam Kher in the lead roles, ‘Tezaab’ was a romantic-action flick released in 1987.

More than the storyline, the film is remembered with its song ‘Ek Do Teen,’ which sees Dhak Dhak girl Madhuri dancing to the choreography of Saroj Khan. (ANI)

By Ajit K Dubey

In a major development, the ongoing India-China border conflict may be resolved soon as the armies of the two countries have agreed for disengagement from parts of the Eastern Ladakh sector under which they would be moving back to their respective positions before April-May timeframe earlier this year.

The disengagement plan was discussed between the two sides during the 8th Corps Commander-level talks which were held on November 6 in Chushul.

As per the disengagement plan which is to be carried out in three steps in one week from the talks in the Pangong lake area, the armoured vehicles including tanks and armoured personnel carriers were to be moved back from their frontline deployment to a significant distance from the Line of Actual Control (LAC) by both sides, sources told ANI.

As per the discussions, the disengagement of tanks and armoured personnel carriers was to be carried out within one day. The talks were held on November 6 in which External Affairs Ministry’s Joint Secretary Naveen Shrivastava and Brigadier Ghai of Directorate General of Military Operations had taken part.

In the second step to be carried out near the northern bank on the Pangong Lake, both sides were supposed to withdraw around 30 per cent of troops every day for three days. The Indian side would be coming close to its administrative Dhan Singh Thapa post while the Chinese had consented to go back to their position east of Finger 8.

In the third and last step, the two sides were to withdraw from their respective positions from the frontline along the southern bank of Pangong Lake area which includes the heights and territories around Chushul and Rezang La area.

The two sides had also agreed for a joint mechanism to verify the progress in the disengagement process through delegation meetings as well as using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).

The Indian side is moving very carefully on the issue as there is a lot of trust deficit with China after the Galwan valley clash in June this year in which 20 Indian soldiers had lost their lives and many Chinese army soldiers, including their Commanding Officer, were killed by the Indian troops.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trusted security team, including National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat, Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane and Air Force chief RKS Bhadauria, had taken strong military measures like occupying the dominating heights along the southern and northern bank of Pangong Lake on the LAC including the Ane La and Que La features.

China had mobilised its troops in a massive deployment along the LAC and transgressed into multiple Indian locations including patrolling points 14, 15, 15 A, 17 and 17A and the Finger area in April-May timeframe in the 14 Corps area of responsibility with Lt Gen Harinder Singh as Corps Commander and Maj Gen Abhijit Bapat as the 3 Infantry Division Commander based out of Karu.

India gave a huge response as it moved close to 60,000 troops for forward deployments apart from bringing in reserve divisions from the nearby Himachal Pradesh sector and plains. The Indian Air Force made rapid deployments to the frontline where its fighter jets and attack choppers were in ready to fire mode while its Garud Special Forces were deployed in the approach areas with Igla air defence systems to take out any approaching enemy aircraft. (ANI)

China’s covert “anti-corruption” operation named Fox Hunt is attacking members of the Chinese community in Canada to curb dissent among its diaspora, according to the country’s Security Intelligence Service.

The Canadian intelligence agency said these clandestine activities in Canada are part of Beijing’s global campaign of intimidation that constitutes a threat to this country’s sovereignty of Canadians, The Globe and Mail reported

“Certain foreign states routinely attempt to threaten and intimidate individuals around the world through various state entities and non-state proxies. These states, such as the People’s Republic of China, may use a combination of their intelligence and security services as well as trusted agents to assist them in conducting various forms of threat activities,” (CSIS) spokesperson John Townsend was quoted as saying by The Globe and Mail on Tuesday.

The Security Intelligence Service made the announcement less than a month following the US Justice Department charged eight individuals who allegedly participated in the same covert Chinese operation in the United States.

As per the Canadian daily, operation Fox Hunt was launched as an anti-corruption campaign that targeted wealthy citizens and corrupt Communist Party members, who had fled overseas with large amounts. However, FBI Director Christopher Wray in July revealed that Fox Hunt’s primary aim now is to curb dissent among the Chinese diaspora.

Global intelligence agencies are stating that Beijing operatives are turning to pressure tactics, including harassment, manipulation, and intimidation of loved ones in China, to coerce targets into submitting to Beijing’s demands.

Meanwhile, China continues to deny responsibility and has described Fox Hunt as an international “anti-corruption campaign,” — contrary to other global intelligence agencies are stating. (ANI)