A day after OpIndia, in an exclusive report, had exposed how the hallowed organisations like Harvard University and international media outlet DW News had fallen for the propaganda peddled by child-activist Licypriya and her father KK Singh and had published their lies without any due diligence, Harvard International Review has backtracked from its interview on Sunday saying it has not endorsed any contents associated with the child-activist.
Earlier on Saturday, we had reported in detail regarding how child-activist Licypriya Kangujam and her father KK Singh, who was arrested for duping nearly 100 children from 12 countries under the garb of activism, had used deceitful methods to hog limelight and favourable publicity. The father and the daughter were caught exaggerating their manipulated accomplishments and using run-of-the-mill acknowledgements from reputed organisations to spin a web of lies around their achievement. The matter had come to light after KK Singh was arrested by police for cheating multiple people.
After it was pointed out how Harvard International Review had erred in providing a platform for the child-activist to propagate lies, the Harvard International Review has issued a statement saying that they have a policy of not endorsing the contents of any interview and interviews inherently reflect subjective views of the interviewee.
“In light of Kangujam’s father’s arrest in India, the Harvard International Review reiterates its policy of not endorsing the contents of any interview. Interviews inherently reflect subjective views of the interviewee,” Harvard University added this statement at the end of its interview with Licypriya Kangujam. With this statement, Harvard sought to distance itself from the claims by Licypriya, saying it does not endorse the comments made by her as per its policy.
The statement from the journal came after Twitter user @her1n, who was instrumental in revealing how Harvard International Review had published Licypriya’s claims without verification, wrote to the journal asking them to make corrections in the interview. However, instead of making any corrections, they only added the disclaimer.
Two organisations – Harvard University and the international media outlet DW News had fallen for their propaganda and had published them without bothering to carry out basic due diligence. Harvard International Review had published an interview with her in December last year, where she had made tall claims about her works as a climate activist. She had falsely claimed that she was responsible for the new Air Pollution law in India, and used routine acknowledges issued by governments and institutions against her letters as her achievements. She had also claimed that she had planted 3,50,000 tress in her life, while just 9 months ago she had claimed she had planted 50,000 trees.
She had made similar false claims in an interview with DW News.
Licypriya’s father, Dr KK Singh arrested by the police for duping over 100 children
Projecting his 9-year-old daughter as the face of a national and international ‘climate activism’ campaign, Licypriya’s father Kanarjit Kangujam has reportedly duped nearly 100 children from 12 countries under the garb of activism as per a Vice report. The fraud amount is estimated to be approximately $44,685, just from fees collected from students.
As of now, Kangujam Kanarjit has been arrested in a joint operation by Delhi Police and Manipur Police on 31 May and was being produced before the Court.
Kanarjit has been accused of cheating multiple people, with amounts as high as Rs 19 lakh. In 2015, he was arrested in Manipur with charges of criminal case number 176 of 2015 under Section 420 (Fraud), 324 (Assault) and 406 (Criminal breach of trust).
Kanarjit had also invented the fake achievements of daughter Licypriya Kangujam in order to propel her to international fame. In Multiple press investigations and reports, it was found that Licypriya’s so-called UN invite and other attendances were all fake, cunningly drafted and used by her father for media hype.
