In the hustle and bustle of the day, it is only natural to miss some of the biggest developments that impact the nation. The OpIndia Evening Dispatch will catch you up on the day’s event even if you have been busy thus far.
Here are the articles from today:
1. Army jawan arrested on charges of espionage, was honey-trapped to share sensitive info and pictures with Pak
Rajasthan Police had arrested one Army jawan on charges of espionage in Jaiselmer. After interrogations, it was revealed that he was in touch with the Pakistani ISI operatives through social media.
Sepoy Somveer Singh got in touch with one ‘Anika Chopra’ over Facebook and was chatting regularly with her and exchanging details and information about the armoured unit including its movement. Now, multiple accounts of officers and jawans are under probe with whom ‘Anika Chopra’ was in touch with.
2. Congress seeking help from Pakistan to remove PM Modi: Nirmala Sitharaman
While speaking on the second day of the BJP’s National Convention held at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi, Nirmala Sitharaman accused Congress leaders of playing dirty politics by seeking help from Pakistan to remove PM Modi’s government.
“The defence forces conducted surgical strikes across the border and instead of commending them, the opposition wanted proof,” Sitharaman said. “We showed them the proof and some Congress leaders went to Pakistan to seek help to remove Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. A big shame on our Opposition that they went to Pakistan and said, ‘please help us to remove them’. This is the kind of politics that the Congress plays.”
3. How Business Standard misused Google Trends data to show Rahul ahead of Modi
Business Standard published an article showing that Rahul Gandhi was ahead of PM Modi in online search, using Google Trends data. But they used highly filtered, very specific criteria to arrive at that conclusion while analysing Google Trends data. Our detailed analysis shows that Narendra Modi was overall searched more than Rahul Gandhi in the previous year as per the same data.
4. 2014 Cuddalore rape case: Christian Priest sentenced to 30 years in prison for raping two minors, 15 others convicted
A special Mahila Court in Cuddalore delivered an important judgement sentencing a church priest to 30 years in prison and nine others to life in prison for their involvement in the horrifying 2014 Tittakudi rape case, which involved two minor girls.
The court had found 16 of the accused guilty of various charges such as abduction and under provisions of the POCSO Act, including a Christian priest Aruldoss, who had sexually assaulted the minors and had forced them to watch pornography. He was sentenced to a jail term of 30 years and a fine of Rs 5 lakh.
5. Gujarat High Court frames issues in plea against Ahmed Patel in relation to his Rajya Sabha election
Supreme Court had directed Gujarat High Court to initiate a probe against Patel, taking former Congress leader Balwantsinh Rajput’s election plea as grounds. Balwantsinh Rajput had filed a petition in Gujarat High court challenging Elections Commission’s decision of invalidating of two votes, which had led to Patel’s victory and Rajput’s defeat in Gujarat Rajya Sabha election.
High Court has framed six issues against Ahmed Patel. Among them, the biggest is whether Ahmed Patel indulged in corruption and affected the outcome of polling. The issues also include whether the decision to invalidate votes of Bholabhai Gohil and Raghavji Patel was wrong and whether votes of Shailesh Parmar and Mitesh Garasia, were actually invalid. One of the issues also challenges EC, whether its actions were “being violative of the principles of natural justice, without any authority of law”.
6. Former Supreme Court judge accuses media of running fake news over Alok Verma case
Yesterday, several media houses published reports claiming that Justice Patnaik had told them that there was no evidence against Verma regarding corruption. Most of them had said that their reporters talked to Justice Patnaik. But when former SC judge M Katju talked to Patnaik over phone, he was told that only one reporter from Indian Express talked to him, and no other media house contacted him.
Justice Katju termed this as fake news. He also rebutted arguments made against the transfer of Alok Verma. Replying to the claim that the decision to remove Verma was very hasty, he reminded that the Supreme Court had given the selection committee only one week to take a decision. He also gave detail explanation of the reason behind the committee’s decision, based on his conversation with Justice Sikri, who was member of the committee and voted in favour of removing Verma.
7. PM Modi releases commemorative coin to mark birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh in New Delhi
PM Modi today released a commemorative coin of Rs 350, to pay tribute to the tenth Sikh guru, Guru Gobind Singh, on his 352nd birth anniversary. The event was attended by President Ram Nath Kovind and also the Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
8. Viral video: Know why a 2014 interview of Mulayam Singh Yadav has made a come back
After Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party officially declared their alliance in Uttar Pradesh yesterday, a four year old video of Mulayam Singh Yadav’s interview has gone viral. In the interview, Mulayam Singh Yadav is seen admitting that his party had transferred votes to Congress in Amethi to defeat BJP in 2014.
9. Jignesh Mevani mixes up Republic Day and Independence Day celebrations, gets schooled
In his blind hate for PM Modi, former AAP leader and ‘independent’ Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani yesterday forgot the difference between 26th January and 15th August. Taking a dig at PM Modi, Jignesh Mevani yesterday tweeted, “Today the PM will address a rally in Ramlila Maidan. Question is, whether he will keep any heavy dose for 26th January?” He forgot the prime minister do not deliver any speech on 26th January, it is the president who hoists the tricolour on the Republic day, and addresses the nation on the eve of Republic day.
10. Dear Rahul Gandhi, stick to spreading nonsense about Rafale, spare the religions
Kushal Mehra responds to Rahul Gandhi’s claim that Mahatma Gandhi picked up the idea of non-violence from ancient Indian philosophy, from Islam, from Christianity, from Judaism, from every great religion. Mehra argues that to say that Gandhiji got that idea from every great religion is not only factually incorrect, it is insulting and condescending to the many religions at a fundamental level, and Gandhiji’s ahimsa was deeply inspired by Jainism.
11. Gujarat couple prints Rafale details in their wedding card, ask people to vote for Modi instead of giving gifts
A Surat-based couple has decided to use their wedding as an opportunity to express their support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Yuvraj Pokharna, an entrepreneur belonging to Surat and his bride-to-be Sakshi Agarwal has come up with an idea of designing wedding cards to present facts to the public pertaining to the Rafale deal.
12. Arsenal Football Club creates history: Becomes first club to be mocked by a pornstar
Pornstar Mia Khalifa, who was in attendance to support West Ham in its match against Arsenal, called out young Arsenal player Matteo Guendouzi for falling on the pitch one too many times. Khalifa was not very amused by Guendouzi’s antics on the field and posted a Graphic tweet calling him out for diving in a dramatic fashion.
13. Operation Johar: Author Abhishek Banerjee takes us back in time of left-wing terror in newly formed Jharkhand
A review of the book Operation Johar: A Love Story, by author and columnist Abhishek Banerjee. The book, although fictional, walks us down the memory lane of left-wing terror in the newly formed Jharkhand.
