FARMERS’ UNION ACCUSES GOVT OF ‘INTIMIDATION’
The foreign exchange department under the Punjab & Sind Bank has sought details of foreign donations made to the general secretary of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta-Ugrahan) Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan, who has been agitating against the government’s farm laws for over four months now. BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) is one of the largest farm unions agitating against the government, with more than one lakh people gathered at the Tikri border under its banner. The rules mandated by the Reserve Bank of India say that accounts which receive money from donors who are not Indian citizens must have a Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 1976 (FCRA) licence. However, no license is required if the donors abroad are Indian citizens, i.e. NRIs. But according to Kokrikalan, the government is trying to “intimidate” the protesting farmers. “Earlier also we were getting donations from abroad but we were not scrutinised, only now they have asked us to provide details,” Kokrikalan said.
POLICE SEARCH OFFICE OF LAWYER OF DELHI RIOTS ACCUSED
The Special Cell of the Delhi Police on December 24 raided the office of advocate Mehmood Pracha in connection with its investigation into the large-scale communal violence that broke out in the Capital in February. Pracha has been fighting cases on behalf of many accused in the riots. The searches were carried out after obtaining a warrant from a local court. Pracha said the investigators seized his computer and laptop. The police said they were searching for “incriminating documents” and “metadata of outbox” of the official email address of Pracha’s firm. In August, the Delhi Police had filed a first information report against Pracha, alleging that the advocate had “tutored” victims to give false statements in riot-related cases. Pracha had denied the allegations.
KARNATAKA HIGH COURT STAYS ‘MASS AMNESTY’ FOR BJP LEADERS
Karnataka High Court on December 21 stayed a state government order to drop 61 criminal cases against a posse of BJP lawmakers and functionaries, including ministers, apart from allies and political aides. On a plea from the People’s Union of Civil Liberties, the division bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Vishwajith Shetty said no further steps should be taken on the August 31 government order. Among the beneficiaries of the government order were law minister J.C. Madhuswamy, tourism minister and BJP national general secretary C.T. Ravi, agriculture minister B.C. Patil, MLA Halappa Achar, Lok Sabha member Pratap Simha, BJP-backed Independent MP Sumalatha Ambareesh, and the chief minister’s political secretary, M.P. Renukacharya. Madhuswamy and Ravi face charges of unlawful assembly, rioting and wrongful restraint in connection with a sectarian clash in Mysore in November 2015.
FIR AGAINST SERIAL HATE OFFENDER RAGINI TIWARI
After a considerable delay, the Delhi Police has registered an FIR against Ragini Tiwari alias Janki Behen, a self-proclaimed Hindutva leader, days after a video went viral on social media where she openly threatened to end the ongoing farmers’ protest with violence similar to that of the riots in Northeast Delhi’s Jafrabad area in February, 2020. According to the Indian Express, The FIR has been registered under Indian Penal Code Section 153 (provocation to any person intending or knowing it to be likely that such provocation will cause the offence of rioting to be committed). Before lodging an FIR, the Northeast district police told the media that they considered legal opinion and “Afterwards, an FIR was registered based on a police personnel’s complaint. In his complaint, he alleged he found the video of Tiwari on social media where she was provoking people and threatening violence, similar to the riots in Northeast Delhi. After the video was flagged, DCP (Northeast), in a tweet from the official handle on December 13, had said, “SHO/ Jafrabad has been directed to take necessary action.”
ORDER TO RENAME FARIDABAD HOSPITAL CAUSES UPROAR
In what has led to a huge uproar in the entire region, the state government of Haryana has ordered renaming of the Faridabad civil hospital from Badshah Khan Hospital to Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Hospital. A letter in this regard was issued by the Director, Health Services, to the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) asking him to do the needful as CM Manohar Lal Khattar had ‘desired’ the name change. Many opposition leaders and various communities have accused the government of trivialising the sacrifice of a freedom fighter to allegedly promote communal motives. “It is shameful that they go ahead snatching the tribute given to a noted freedom fighter just because our CM ‘desires’ it,” senior Congress leader Captain Ajay Singh Yadav said. “A freedom fighter has no religion and is a national asset. Badshah Khan was a national leader. We condemn this act and demand a rollback of the orders,” Meo leader and Nuh MLA Aftab Ahmed said. Various Muslim associations have threatened agitations if the name of the hospital is changed.
UP ANTI-CONVERSION LAW MUST BE STRUCK DOWN: AP SHAH
Uttar Pradesh’s new anti-conversion ordinance, aimed at curbing cases of “love jihad”, reflects the philosophy of a khap panchayat, with the objective essentially being to subjugate women, former Delhi High Court Chief Justice AP Shah has said. The former judge reportedly said that several of its provisions violate the fundamental right to practise religion, striking at the very root of right to life and liberty guaranteed under the Constitution. This ordinance, he said, was capable of great public mischief. The former judge found it difficult to believe it was passed by a government in a country governed by the rule of law and a Constitution.
HATE AND MISINFORMATION FOUND INSIDE BD PAGES ON FACEBOOK
Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, finds representation on Facebook, through multiple groups and pages, often at the intersection of misinformation and hate speech. A recent report by The Wall Street Journal found that social media giant Facebook refrained from taking action against right-wing groups Bajrang Dal, Sanatan Sanstha and Sri Ram Sena for hate-speech violations, fearing crackdown on its India operations. Reports show how these groups are not just spreading hate but are also relying on misinformation to target India’s minorities.
POSSESSION OF SKIN OF DEAD COWS, BULLOCKS NOT AN OFFENCE: HC
The Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court bench recently held that that mere possession of a dead animal’s skin would not amount to an offence under the Maharashtra Animal Preservation Act, 1976, which prohibits slaughtering, importing, exporting and possessing beef. The bench of Justice V. M. Deshpande & Anil S. Kilor noted that there is no prohibition for the possession of skin of dead animals unfer the Act and further noted that even if any circular/notification/order is issued by the state government, prohibiting possession of skin, such circular will not prevail over the provisions of the statute. The court passed the judgment on December 14 after hearing a plea by one Shafiqullaha Khan, driver of the van allegedly carrying the skin of dead cows.
BILL TO MAKE BODO ASSOCIATE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE APPROVED
The Assam cabinet on December 22 approved the Assam Official Language Amendment Bill for making Bodo (in Devanagari script) an associate official language of the state. The development comes 11 months after signing of the third Bodo peace accord between the Centre, Assam government, four Bodo rebel groups and two Bodo organisations, which included declaring Bodo as associate official language as one of the clauses. According to the Census 2011, there are around 14.16 lakh Bodo speakers in Assam (4.53% of the total population of the state). The Bill is expected to be tabled in the next assembly session scheduled later this month. The cabinet also approved setting up of the Bodo Kachari autonomous welfare council, another clause of the Bodo accord signed in January this year.