Gang-rape documentary: BBC telecasts film in UK as India calls for worldwide ban

March 5, 2015

New Delhi, Mar 5: The British Broadcasting Corporation on Thursday morning (IST) telecast the controversial documentary in UK featuring one of the December 16 gang-rape convicts despite Indian government's call to block the film worldwide.

Gang-rape documentary

The documentary's broadcast was advanced by the BBC from its original March 8 scheduled date, coinciding with International Women's Day.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police is, reportedly, likely to question Leslee Udwin, the British filmmaker who made documentary and interviewed convict Mukesh Singh in Tihar jail here.

The Home Ministry on Wednesday obtained orders from court to restrain the broadcast of the documentary and promising to investigate how permission was given to interview the rapist.

The issue was raised in both houses of parliament, as members across party lines asked the government to stop the telecast of the documentary saying it insulted women.

"Our government condemns the incident of December 16, 2012 in the strongest possible terms and will not allow any attempt by any individual, group or organisation to leverage such unfortunate incidents for commercial benefits," Home Minister Rajnath Singh said in a statement in both houses of Parliament on Wednesday.

"In what condition this order was given I have asked for full information on that. In future, no one will be given permission to interview rapists," the Home Minister said, as both houses saw members protest against the documentary.

Rajnath Singh said the permission for the documentary was granted in 2013, adding that the documentary maker violated the conditions on which the permission was granted.

Sushilkumar Shinde, who was the home minister in 2013, however, said he was not responsible for it.

"I had not given any permission to make a documentary on the Nirbhaya case. It was not given by me. I observed the conversation in parliament, Rajnath Singh has not mentioned my name. It must have been given by somebody, I do not know," Shinde told reporters on Wednesday.

Making similar statements in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, the home minister said orders were obtained from court Tuesday night to restrain the broadcast of the documentary.

A Delhi court on Wednesday directed continuation of the ban on the telecast of the documentary.

Rajnath Singh said he was personally hurt when he got to know about the documentary.

"I would like to make it clear. As soon as I got to know about this incident, I was personally hurt. I immediately talked to the concerned authorities and gave instructions that it should not be telecast in any condition, and (restraining) orders were taken from court last night (Tuesday) that whatever has been telecast should not be released," he said.

As the Home Minister promised responsibility will be fixed, official sources said Tihar jail director general Alok Verma met him on Wednesday on the issue.

Parliament members across party lines condemned the interview of the December 16 gang rape convict, while some said it reflected the mentality of several other men in society.

"There is a documentary which is so derogatory. It should not be shown," Janata Dal-United leader KC Tyagi said raising the issue in the Rajya Sabha.

Nominated member Javed Akhtar said that while members were angry about the comments made by the convict, he has heard similar comments in the house.

"The anger is why the interview was taken. Is the anger on why he said these things, or the anger is why is it being told to the world? I have heard such things in this house," Akhtar said.

BJP Lok Sabha member Kirron Kher said: "Mentality needs to be changed. They don't consider women as human beings."

Several women activists also raised objections to the documentary calling it unacceptable.

"This is totally unacceptable. We have to draw an ethical boundary. I do not understand why they are doing it (airing the interview)," women's rights activist Ranjana Kumari told reporters.

Delhi Commission for Women chairperson Barkha Singh said: "This defames the nation. How could they be given permission for interview?"

The documentary "India's daughter" by British filmmaker Leslee Udwin has kicked up a storm over the interview of one of the six men who raped the 23-year-old trainee physiotherapist on December 16, 2012 on board a moving bus in Delhi.

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News Network
June 10,2020

Patna, Jun 10: A man in Bihar has willed half his property to two elephants after one of them foiled an attempt on his life by a pistol-totting criminal.

Akhtar Imam, chief manager of the Asian Elephant Rehabilitation and Wildlife Animal Trust (AERAWAT), said he has been looking after elephants since the age of 12.

"Once, there was an attempt of murder made against me. At that time the elephants saved me. When some miscreants armed with pistols tried to enter my room my elephant started trumpeting. It woke me up and I was able to shout and raise an alarm due to which the miscreants ran away," Imam said.

Imam says the two elephants, named Moti and Rani are like family for him and he cannot live without them.

However, the man claims that he fears threats to his life from his family members after he transferred his land to his two elephants. Imam's wife and sons have been living away from him for the last 10 years due to some dispute in the family.

He recounted that his son had allegedly filed a wrong case against him and also got him locked up. He eventually was let away after the charges levelled against him were proven wrong.

Imam said that his son Meraj had tried to sell the elephant to smugglers but was fortunately caught.

Imam says he has willed half of his property to his wife and his share of property worth Rs 5 crore to elephants said that if the jumbos die then the money would go to AERAWAT organisation.

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News Network
May 21,2020

Bengaluru, May 21: The COVID-19-induced lockdown saw a spurt in crybercrimes in India with Kerala recording the highest number during the period, according to an analysis of IT security solutions provider K7 Computing.

The report analyses various cyberattacks within India during the pandemic and reveals that threat actors targeted the States with COVID-19-themed attacks aimed at exploiting user trust.

The sudden surge in the frequency of attacks witnessed from February 2020 to mid-April 2020 indicates that scamsters across the world were exploiting the widespread panic around coronavirus at both the individual and corporate level, the company said in a statement.

These attacks aimed to compromise computers and mobile devices to gain access to users confidential data, banking details and cryptocurrency accounts.

The key threats seen during this period ranged from phishing attacks to rogue apps disguised as COVID-19 information apps that targeted users sensitive data.

Phishing attacks were noticed more in Tier-II and Tier-III cities while the metros fared better.

Smaller cities saw over 250 attacks being blocked per 10,000 users.

Users from Ghaziabad and Lucknow seem to have faced almost six and four times the number of attacks, respectively, as Bengaluru users.

In Kerala, regions like Kottayam, Kannur, Kollam, and Kochi saw the highest hits with 462, 374, 236, and 147 attacks respectively, while the state as a whole saw around 2,000 attacks during the period, the highest thus far in the country.

This was followed by Punjab with 207 attacks and Tamil Nadu at 184 attacks, the statement said.

A majority of the recorded attacks were phishing attacks with sophisticated campaigns that could easily snare even the most educated users, it said.

These attacks were aimed at heightening users fears and creating a sense of urgency to take action.

The report noted phishing attacks where scamsters posed as representatives of the United States Department of the Treasury, the World Health Organisation, and the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Users were encouraged to visit links that would automatically download malware on the host computer such as the Agent Tesla keylogger or Lokibot information-stealing malware, infamous banking Trojans such as Trickbot or Zeus Sphinx, and even disastrous ransomware.

Other attacks included infected COVID-19 Android apps like CoronaSafetyMask that scam users with promises of masks for an upfront payment; the spyware app Project Spy; and seemingly genuine apps that are infected with dangerous malware like banking Trojans such as Ginp, Anubis and Cerberus, it was stated.

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News Network
June 6,2020

New Delhi, Jun 6: Military commanders of India and China are scheduled to meet today at Moldo on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), to discuss the ongoing dispute along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh.

The Commander of the Leh-based 14 Corps of the Indian Army Commander Lieutenant Gen Harinder Singh will meet his Chinese equivalent Maj Gen Liu Lin, who is the commander of South Xinjiang Military Region of Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) to address the ongoing tussle in Eastern Ladakh between the two countries over the heavy military build-up by the People's Liberation Army along the LAC there.

The two sides have held close to a dozen rounds of talks since the first week of May when the Chinese sent over 5,000 troops to the LAC.

On Friday, officials of India and China interacted through video-conferencing with the two sides agreeing that they should handle "their differences through peaceful discussion" while respecting each other's sensitivities and concerns and not allowing them to become disputes in accordance with the guidance provided by the leadership.

In the last few days, there has not been any major movement of the People's Liberation Army troops at the multiple sites where it has stationed itself along the LAC opposite Indian forces.

India and China have been locked in a dispute over the heavy military build-up by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) where they have brought in more than 5,000 troops along with the Eastern Ladakh sector.

The Chinese Army's intent to carry out deeper incursions was checked by the Indian security forces by quick deployment. The Chinese have also brought in heavy vehicles with artillery guns and infantry combat vehicles in their rear positions close to the Indian territory.

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