The NDA government recently amended the POCSO Act to enable the Courts to handout stricter punishments to those who commit sexual crimes against children. Apart from fines and imprisonment to curb child pornography, the amendments also include the death penalty as the maximum punishment for acts of paedophilia.
While the move was appreciated by all quarters and assurances were sought that the provisions will be implemented strictly, one institution was not too happy with the prospect. Catholic leaders have come out and asserted that the Church cannot support the provision for death sentences for child sex offenders due to its ‘pro-life’ stand.
The Catholic Church is against the death penalty for any crime, said Bishop Jose Chittooparampil of Rajkot. “The Catholic Church’s official stand is pro-life, considering life as a gift from God,” he told ucanews.com. “It cannot back executions because God is the master of life. The Church believes in the transformation of even hard-core criminals.”
“Taking life is easy but bringing back the offenders to normal life should be our main concern,” he further added. He further argued that sexual offences are often committed on an impulse and the offender often comes to regret his actions. “Should we not give them a chance to live?” asked Bishop Jose.
In unrelated news, the Catholic Church has been grappling with institutional paedophilia in its ranks. The institution has utterly failed to protect the children who interact with their clergy. It’s widely known that the Catholic Church did everything in its power to cover up the crimes of child sex offenders in their midst. Not merely, they were often elevated to higher echelons of power.
Even the Pope is accused of empowering a child sex offender to the highest ranks of power despite being fully aware of his crimes. The rot in the Church goes to the very top. Under such circumstances, it would seem that people associated with the Catholic Church are not best placed to advise others on how to deal with paedophiles. However, their dubious track record doesn’t appear to have discouraged Bishop Jose from pontificating on the matter.
In an audio clip that has gone viral, Binoy Kodiyeri, son of Kerala CPM chief Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, could be heard trying to settle the rape complaints filed against him by a woman from Bihar, reports Mathrubhumi.
According to the report, the audio clip is of a phone conversation between Binoy and the woman that took place on January 10. This had happened after she had sent a legal notice to Binoy demanding Rs 5 crore. The conversation was in Hindi.
In the audio clip, Binoy could be heard asking the woman to not do anything in a hurry and promised to fulfil her demands. The woman had asked for money so that she could take care of their son. She had requested Binoy to provide any money that he can afford for the child, to which he agreed. Binoy did not deny that he was the father of the child.
However, Binoy was heard asking the women to end the relationship with him. He had asked her to change her name in the passport and other documents.
Binoy Kodiyeri was booked in a rape case over a complaint filed by a 33-year-old woman. Mumbai Police had registered a case against Binoy after the woman alleged that he had raped her repeatedly over a decade under the pretext of marrying her.
The woman had also alleged that she was kept in dark regarding Binoy’s marital status. The woman also has an eight-year-old son who she claims was fathered by Binoy.
After the complaints, Binoy had absconded from the Mumbai Police. The police had even issued a look-out notice for him. On June 27, the court had granted him anticipatory bail.
Binoy, who is currently on bail, needs to visit Oshiwara police station every Monday for one month as per the bail condition. He was also required to give a blood sample for the DNA test which would be the first and final evidence that would decide the fate of the case.
On July 15, he had refused to give his blood sample as he was sick. Binoy has now moved the Bombay High Court seeking to quash the FIR filed against him.
In what appears to be a dangerous trend, the Hindus residing in Pichoda village, Bareilly have reportedly decided to flee from the village after being fed up with the persecution allegedly meted out by majority Muslims residing in the village.
The Hindus, who are in a minority in the village are living with fear facing persecution from the Muslim community. Reportedly, the Hindus wanted to build a new temple in the village. However, there has been a constant opposition from the Muslim community for building any Hindu religious places near the village.
Located at a distance of 70 km from Bareilly district headquarter, this village falls under Pilibhit, the parliamentary constituency of Varun Gandhi. There are about 150 Hindus in this village, while the Muslim population is about 1000. According to Hindus, a small temple exists in the village for the last 70 years and the Hindu community wanted to build a new temple in the village.
However, the Hindus allege that the Muslim community does not allow them to even worship in the temple and objects to the construction of a new temple. The Hindus alleged that whenever they visit the temple to worship, the people of Muslim community gather in huge numbers with sticks and brick stones in their hands to stop them for worshipping.
OpIndia tried to get in touch with Bareilly SSP Muniraj and ASP Arpit Vijayvargiya. However, they did not answer our calls. As per media reports, the police have denied any such incident having taken place.
Dainik Jagran has reported that the Muslims in the village do not let the Hindu women visit the temple to offer water. If any Hindu objects, the Muslim villagers threaten to kidnap their daughter, the Hindu women allege. This kind of atmosphere has made it difficult for them to stay in the village any longer, the villagers said. “Better to leave a place where you can’t even pray to your god,” a villager reportedly said.
The villagers further alleged that Muslims do not even allow Kanwariyas to pass through their village. A group of Hindu women initially objected to actions of the Muslim community and registered their grievances to the public officials of the district. But, nothing was done despite the seriousness of the issue.
The Hindu community also accused Muslims of threatening them after they began to clean the temple premises and began to worship. The Hindus said that Muslim community threatened to kill them and their family if they continued to do so. With the continuous threat from the Muslims, the Hindus have decided to convert and flee the village.
The villagers have also accused the police administration of arbitrary action against Hindus. They said that the police have registered cases against hundreds of Hindu society and all have been penalized. The local BJP leader Doral Lal Sharma said local Hindus had decided to change their religion as no one heard their complaints.
As per reports, SSP Muniraj said that the villagers cannot build a new temple as it is against the rules. He said that according to the order of the Supreme Court, no new religious place will be constructed.
As the bill to ban Triple Talaq is being taken up for consideration and passage in the Lok Sabha today, the controversial Samajwadi Party MP from Moradabad, ST Hasan made a shocking statement. As reports, Hasan said that if a man comes home and sees his wife with another man, then he will get angry. In that anger it is better he give her a triple talaq instead of killing her or burning her to death.
सपा सांसद एस टी हसन का तीन तलाक़ पर बेहद विवादास्पद बयान,” घर आने पर अगर कोई अपनी शरीक-ए-हयात (पत्नी) को किसी और के साथ देख ले तो गुस्सा आएगा, उस गुस्से में अपनी पत्नी को मार डालने या जला देने से तो अच्छा यही है कि तीन तलाक़ देकर रुखसत कर दे”। pic.twitter.com/e2Y5bSQcdx
He even said that the Government should not interfere with it as it is an internal matter of religion. He added that a small sect who are followers of Abu Hanifa practice Triple Talaq. However, the decision of whether or not Triple Talaq should be followed should be left on the girl and her parents if the nikah receipt states that the boy’s side are followers of the sect, he said.
ST Hasan, SP MP on Triple Talaq Bill: The criminality clause provides for 3-year-imprisonment & remuneration from man to the wife, how will he provide remuneration if he is in jail? A Muslim will go to jail for 3 years and others for 1 year, is this justice? https://t.co/TguF2keKiG
Though he mentions that he is against the practice, Hasan tries to evoke the ‘minority card’ by asking why a Muslim should be imprisoned for three years and others just for a year? Is this justice? he asked. Opposing the bill the SP MP asked how a husband can provide remuneration if he is in jail?
The criminality clause in the bill provides for 3-year-imprisonment and remuneration from the man who gives Triple Talaq to the wife.
Notably, ST Hasan is the same MP who had earlier stoked controversy by comparing actress to a ‘tawaif’. Speaking on the Zaira Wasim controversy, Hassan had then endorsed Wasim’s decision to quit films because it interfered in her faith.
The BJP MP from Tripura West Lok Sabha Constituency, Pratima Bhowmik, has donated Rs. 1,00,000 from her first-month salary to the Assam Flood Relief efforts, a BJP leader said on Wednesday. She is also the general secretary of the BJP in the state.
“Pratima Didi donated Rs 1,00,000 from her first month’s salary for Assam flood relief. She handed over the amount to an Assam government official in New Delhi on Tuesday,” BJP leader Victor Shome told IANS.
Assam has been hit by devastating floods this year. Millions of people have been affected across thousands of villages. Relief efforts are underway. According to latest reports, at least 67 people have died and over 3 million people have been affected in the flood that has inundated over 2,000 villages in 17 districts of the state.
Absolutely heartbreaking to know about the devastation by floods in Assam.All affected, humans or animals,deserve support in this hour of crisis.I’d like to donate 1cr each to the CM Relief Fund & for Kaziranga Park rescue.Appealing to all to contribute @CMOfficeAssam@kaziranga_
Last week, Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar had donated ₹2 crore for flood relief efforts in Assam. He contributed ₹1 crore each for Chief Minister’s Relief Fund and Kaziranga National Park, 95% of which went under water due to the floods.
The flood has also destroyed lakhs of hectares of cropland and also caused the death of scores of animals in Assam. The areas around the Kaziranga National Park have also suffered great devastation. Road connectivity to numerous regions of the state has also been affected.
According to a Water Resources Department bulletin, five rivers -Baghmati, Kamla Balan, Lalbakeya, Adhwara and Mahananda are flowing above their respective danger levels at various places in Assam due to excessive rainfall in the catchment areas in India as well as in their source regions in Nepal. Yesterday Bhutan released excess water from the dam of its Kurichu hydro electric project, which has caused the Beki river to overflow.
The other day, the Lok Sabha passed the NIA Amendment Bill, expanding the mandate of the investigative agency, giving it more teeth to act against terrorism. What is noteworthy is the huge margin by which the bill passed the house, with only six votes cast against it.
These six votes came from predictable sources: one from Asaduddin Owaisi and one from the National Conference. Both of those parties do not care about what India’s majority Hindu population is thinking. The other votes against the bill came from the Left, which has long retired from mainstream politics.
Now, you may wonder, well, that’s just the Lok Sabha. The opposition will crawl out of the woodwork when the bill gets to the upper house, where the BJP is not on a strong footing. Well, prepare to be (happily) surprised.
Rajya Sabha passed the NIA (Amendment) Bill
The Rajya Sabha has already passed the Bill and unanimously so. That’s right. Nobody voted against the bill.
How did that happen? How did the Rajya Sabha go from blocking even clerical changes to the Motor Vehicles Act to waving through the NIA Amendment Bill unanimously?
Why the Opposition in Rajya Sabha voted for the Bill
As The News Minute reports, they were quite simply worried about what voting against the bill would do to their already shattered image.
Now, this is not the most noble sentiment I have expressed, but I will say, Ye darr achcha laga.
Remember that this is not the fear of the BJP or that of Amit Shah. These opposition parties are worried, possibly for the first time ever, of how mainstream Hindus will perceive them. Common Hindus, who are no longer scared of thinking clearly, speaking out vocally and expressing themselves at the voting booth.
Suffice to say, that when the new Modi ministry took shape, the maximum expectations that BJP supporters had was from the new Home Minister Amit Shah.
And so far, the slew of new legislation suggests a planned approach. Soon after the NIA Amendment bill, the Lok Sabha also passed amendments to the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). These laws go very well together. The new UAPA allows the head of the NIA to designate individuals as terrorists and seize their assets and properties while they are under investigation. Meanwhile, the NIA Amendment Bill expands the jurisdiction of the agency to include things like counterfeit currency and human trafficking.
Remember that such crimes are often closely related to terrorism. At the end of the day, it is illegal flow of money that makes terrorism work. An additional advantage is that financial crimes related to terrorism are somewhat easier to establish in criminal court compared to actual violent crimes. Financial crimes generally leave some kind of paper trail. Establishing a terrorist conspiracy can be harder.
Another feature is that the NIA now has extra territorial jurisdiction, allowing them to investigate cases where Indians or their interests may be harmed by terrorism anywhere in the world. Terrorist conspiracies are now fully global and it is time that the Indian legal framework took the new reality into account. Most Western countries have already updated their systems accordingly.
Both developments are to be relished: the new buttoned up approach of the Home Ministry to terror offenses and the opposition shying away from disagreeing with the government on issues of national security. Who would believe that just 3 years ago, the government could barely get the opposition on board with the surgical strike?
Even in the aftermath of the Balakot air strike, it seemed as if the opposition was more comfortable believing Pakistan PM Imran Khan than the Indian Air Force.
How far we have come and how quickly! The verdict of 2014 came as a shock to India’s ‘secular’ establishment, but many were left wondering if it was a fluke, a flash in the pain. In the wake of this, the opposition seemed quite comfortable sharing platform with seditious voices from the intellectual complex. Be it the Navy blowing up the terror boat from Pakistan, the Army’s punitive action against terror groups based in Myanmar, or the surgical strike across the LoC and finally the air strike across the international border, they were comfortable playing it down, at times even appearing to mock it.
But then May 23, 2019 happened. Like a hammer blow, leaving no room for doubt. India now has an uncompromising majority of Hindu nationalists.
There is one more concern in front of Amit Shah’s Home Ministry, which needs to be addressed with just as much urgency. This is the problem of conversion factories and subversive NGOs living it large on foreign money.
This is a tricky issue. Over the last five years, literally thousands of NGOs have had their licenses canceled over FCRA violations. But the money keeps flowing in through some loophole or the other. And raids last year on an internationally known NGO showed that they are not scared to defy our laws in broad daylight. The NGO concerned appeared to have set up an ordinary for profit company like any other and taken in money from abroad by the FDI route! The brazenness is simply staggering.
While it is hoped that at least some of such brazen financial irregularities can be swept up under the ambit of the new UAPA and NIA laws, we are still far from stopping the flow of poison money through FCRA. And, as the above example shows, with FCRA norms getting tighter and tighter, some NGOs are junking the route altogether and getting money via shell companies using the FDI channels. They know India needs foreign investment. We simply do not have the option to make FDI norms stricter.
The problem of foreign missionaries pouring in is quite similar. From what I have heard, it is already nearly impossible to get missionary visas for India. But most missionaries simply go for an ordinary tourist visa. Again, we need foreign tourists to come here and we need to make it easy for them. We can’t harass genuine tourists at airports or make them feel unwelcome. There is only so much an officer can do at a port of entry to find out whether someone is lying about the real purpose of the visit.
This is why the government needs to take a different approach, from the end user side of things. First of all, it is time to bring in a nationwide anti-conversion law. Very importantly, such a law should not be dependent purely on enforcement by state police, but should be under the jurisdiction of central government agencies. Just like human trafficking has been brought under the ambit of NIA.
One way to do this would be to expand the powers of an organization such as the CRPF. As things stand, there is hardly anything “Central” when it comes to operations of the CRPF. Even though the CRPF falls under the Ministry of Home Affairs, the CRPF operates in any state purely on request and under the direct control of the police authorities of the concerned state government. However, the CRPF can be given direct powers to carry out arrests in certain cases such as human trafficking, counterfeit currency or conversion rackets, which generally operate across state lines.
The final step of course, is awareness among the general public, especially vulnerable population groups about the conversion mafia. Just the way such population groups would be educated about human traffickers. A few years ago, a group of Sarna tribals in Jharkhand got together and called the cops when people in their village were accosted by conversion mafia. Bear in mind that Jharkhand has some of the strictest anti-conversion laws in the country. But giving powers to a central agency to arrest and prosecute conversion mafia would give the confidence to our people that they can practice our millennia old faiths free from interference and coercion by colonially minded outsiders.
Hima Das from Assam has taken the country by storm. In the space of 18 days, she had won 5 gold medals at various international competitions. She earned many fans across the country with her feats. One of them is Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev who dubbed her a ‘golden shower’ for India.
Those unaware, the term ‘golden shower’ is often used to refer to the practice of urinating on another person and deriving sexual pleasure from it. The term became quite the rage after political hacks in the USA circulated the rumour that the Russians had compromising footage of US President Donald Trump watching ‘golden showers’ or having one performed on him.
While Sadhguru used the term ‘golden shower’ as obvious praise for Hima Das, the Bollywood celebrity interpreted the term to mean a sexual deviancy. He had used the term to mean that Hima is showering gold on India, by winning gold medals repeatedly. When Sadhguru used the term golden shower, he was most probably referring to Kanakadhāra Stotram, a hymn created by Adi Sankara. It is said that when Adi Sankara had created it, the Goddess Lakshmi had created a shower of golden fruit.
Sadhguru, a spiritual guru that he is, is obviously unaware of the sexual connotations of the term. Even most ordinary people would not know about it. Only some people who follow porn closely will be aware of this angle of the term.
Moreover, ‘golden shower’ is also the name of a very pretty flower, the Cassia fistula, which is native to the Indian subcontinent. It is a popular ornamental plant that is also used in herbal medicine and is also the national tree and national flower of Thailand. It is also the state flower of Kerala.
However, Twinkle Khanna, quite obviously, thinks not of blessings of Lakshmi or a flower first, but a sexual deviancy when she encounters the term golden shower. And not merely that, she uses the ‘Gomutra’ jibe like the Pulwama terrorist to mock and shame a renowned spiritual leader.
In a shocking case, doctors of a government hospital in Rampurhat in Birbhum district of West Bengal operated upon a woman on Wednesday and removed 1.6 kgs jewellery like chains, nose rings, earrings, bangles, anklets, wrist bands and watches, 90 coins in the denomination of Rs. 5 and Rs. 10 from her stomach.
Siddhartha Biswas, the head of the surgery department in the Rampurhat Government Medical College and Hospital confirmed that in the surgery on a woman named Runi Khatun (22) which lasted for 1 hour and 15 minutes, the doctors removed jewellery and coins from her stomach.
Image courtesy: Hindustan Times
“We removed a total of 90 coins from the stomach of the woman,” Dr Biswas said after the surgery. The ornaments were mostly made of copper and brass but some golden jewellery was also there, he confirmed.
Her condition is said to be stable but will be put under psychiatrist treatment as the lady is said to be mentally unsound, confirmed Sharmila Moulik, the deputy superintendent of the hospital.
Family members brought Khatun, a resident of Margram in Rampurhat sub-division of Birbhum district, to the hospital a week ago when she complained of stomach pain and nausea. After radiological tests, doctors found metal objects in her stomach.
According to Khatun’s mother, her daughter is mentally unsound. “For the past few days she used to throw up every time after having a meal,” the mother said.
She confirmed that her daughter got the coins from her brother’s costume jewellery shop which she also used to look after. “We have noticed that ornaments are disappearing. But whenever we questioned her, she started crying,” she said.
“We used to keep a watch on her. But somehow she managed to swallow all these materials. She was not well for the past two months. We had taken her to various private doctors and she was on medication without any result,” the mother said.
Meanwhile, a doctor, who was a part of the operating team, confirmed: “She swallowed jewellery and coin whenever she felt hungry.” The doctor spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media.
The banned terror group Indian Mujahideen (IM) has threatened to blow up the Bareilly railway station in Uttar Pradesh if Kanwariyas pass through the Muslim dominated areas in the city reports Times of India. A purported IM area commander had issued the threat.
In a letter addressed to Bareilly railway station superintendent Satyaveer Singh, IM leader Munne Khan alias Mullah says, “I, area, commander of the IM want to inform that if Kanwariyas pass through the Muslim dominated areas, we will explode the railway station. Better you inform the police and administration.”
As per reports, Krishan Avtar Station house officer of the government railway police said, “We are keeping a close eye on each and every person visiting station”.
A few days ago, on the first Monday of Saawan, two Kanwariyas were beaten up by men of the Muslim community for chanting ‘Bol-Bam’ in the Jaunpur district of Uttar Pradesh. Communal tension flared up as angry Kanwariyas blocked roads protesting against the incident.
Kanwariyas have encountered similar troubles in the past as well. In Bareilly 2017, a Muslim mob attacked a convoy of Kaanwariyas for taking out their kaanwar yatra through ‘their area’.
Trouble for the Samajwadi Party’s powerful leader, Azam Khan seems to be mounting as eight new cases of land grabbing in Rampur district of Uttar Pradesh have been filed against him, taking the count of total cases to 34.
Prior to this, the total number of FIRs in cases relating to land grab against Khan stood at 26. Criminal cases against Khan have been lodged at the Azim Nagar police station in Rampur on the complaints of 26 farmers. The farmers have alleged that Azam Khan had illegally detained them and pressured them to sign forged sale deeds to acquire several thousand hectares of land from them. But when they didn’t do so, the land was forcefully grabbed.
The then Rampur circle officer Alay Hassan Khan was also allegedly an accomplice in the crime, has also been named in the cases. It is alleged that Alay had adducted the farmers who had refused to sell land to Azam Khan, and registered their land in the name of the university without any payment.
Yesterday, Rampur police recorded the statement of three farmers. The Azim Nagar police said the complaints against Khan were verified and found to be genuine.
According to the complaints, the farmers’ lands were illegally grabbed by the SP leader using forged documents for construction of the Mohammed Ali Jauhar University in Rampur. The multi-million private university is run by Azam Khan’s trust.
The State government has set up a nine-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the charges. The complainants have also met Governor Ram Naik seeking action against the alleged land grabbers.
The UP Governor, Ram Naik, in turn, has written to CM Yogi Adityanath demanding action against the SP leader, Azam Khan. Naik has also reportedly asked the state government to seize the university.
Moreover, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is also examining cases of alleged land grab against Samajwadi Party MP to determine whether money laundering investigations can be initiated in the matter. Khan’s name was added in the UP government’s website of land scam offenders as a land mafia.
“We are looking into details to decide if a probe under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act can be conducted,” said a senior ED official, on condition of anonymity. “The agency is empowered to take up all the FIRs registered under scheduled offences as listed in the Act,” the official added.
Azam Khan has, however, refuted the allegations claiming that he is being targeted because he defeated the BJP candidate in the Lok Sabha elections. Recently, Khan had also stated that Muslims in India are suffering the consequences of not choosing to go to Pakistan during the partition.
