‘Jo Na Bole Jai Shri Ram, Usko Bhejo Kabristan’: Singer Varun Upadhyay, associates held

coastaldigest.com news network
July 27, 2019

Newsroom, Jul 27: Controversial Bhojpuri singer Varun Upadhyay alias Varun Bahar, who came up with his new hate song, has been taken into custody along with three of his team members by the Hazratganj police station in Lucknow from his village Bandarha in Gonda.

The song ‘‘Jo Na Bole Jai Shri Ram, Usko Bhejo Kabristan” (Send those who do not chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ to their graves), had gone viral soon after Varun uploaded on YouTube.

The police, which acted on several complaints, picked up singer Varun Bahar, writers Mukesh Pandey and Santosh Yadav, and Rajesh Kumar Verma, the owner of the YouTube channel Janta Musical and Pictures on which the video was uploaded.

The four have been arrested under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language) and 298 (deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person) of the Indian Penal Code.

“I’m a bhakt of Jai Shri Ram,” Bahar told the Huffington Post in a phone interview. “This is all about Hindutva. It is only about Hindutva.”

Bahar even released a statement on YouTube claiming that he sang the song out of love for Hinduism and that he saw nothing wrong in the sentiments expressed as the song does not mention a particular religion or section of the society.

“I have not taken the names of any religion here. Media is after my life and is not concerned about content on social media that is much more provocative and vulgar in nature,” he said, while calling upon the Hindu Yuva Vahini, Bajrang Dal and his “Hindu brothers” to help him.

But songwriter Santosh Kumar, who also makes an appearance alongside Bahar to defend their song, was not so contrite and blamed “anti-Ram elements” in the media for pushing for their arrest. He said the song was for the cause of Hindutva and for making India a ‘Ram Rajya’.

The music video includes images of a graveyard. ‘Kabristan’ is a reference to graveyards used by Christians and Muslims.

Verma said he deleted the video from his channel, which had 507,000 subscribers, on July 22. Apologising, he said that “our company will not launch such audio or video [in future]”.

Comments

Mr Frank
 - 
Sunday, 28 Jul 2019

Minorities and dalits must prepare to defend themselfs before dying when travelling in the hands of lyching and mobing if this crime is not attached to law by govt.

Well Wisher
 - 
Sunday, 28 Jul 2019

Bullshit. these cowards are not much familiar among general public. Just to get publicity, they are issuing controversial statements. I am pretty sure, this crook doest not know even who RAM & what is his Ideology. Such guys should be put behind the bars for lifelong.

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News Network
May 22,2020

Bengaluru, May 22: Uber said on Friday it has resumed its operations in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mangaluru, and Hubballi, in compliance with Lockdown 4.0 guidelines issued by the Government.

Riders in Bengaluru can book UberAuto, UberGO, Premier, Intercity, Hourly Rental, UberXL, Access, and Assist on their Uber App.

UberAuto, UberGO, Premier, and Intercity are available in Mysuru, UberGO and Intercity services in Mangaluru, and UberAuto services in Hubballi.

Uber Intercity operations will be limited to travel with necessary authorisation and within state boundaries and permissible zones only, the company said in a statement.

Uber said it has launched comprehensive measures such as the distribution of PPE kits, including masks, sanitisers and disinfectants to drivers and the introduction of mandatory educational video courses for them.

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News Network
March 6,2020

New Delhi, Mar 6: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a plea seeking framing of a proper mechanism to deal with alleged misuse of the sedition law by the government machinery. A bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar dismissed the plea filed by a social activist and said it was open for the petitioner to approach the appropriate authority.

At the outset, the apex court told advocate Utsav Singh Bains, appearing for the petitioner, that he could not seek quashing of an FIR in a sedition case filed against the management of a Karnataka school for allegedly allowing students to stage an anti-CAA and anti-NRC drama.

Bains told the bench that he was not just pressing for a prayer to quash the FIR but the petitioner has also sought a direction for framing of a proper mechanism to deal with the alleged misuse of the sedition law.

"Let the affected party come and we will hear them. Why it should be done at your instance," the bench said, refusing to entertain the petition.

The petition had sought quashing of the FIR against the principal and other staff of the Shaheen School at Bidar who have been booked under sections 124A (sedition) and 153A (promoting enmity between different groups) of the Indian Penal Code.

The plea had also sought an apex court direction for a proper mechanism to deal with alleged government misuse of the sedition law.

Section 124A of the IPC says that "whoever brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards... the Government shall be punished with imprisonment for life...".

The plea had sought a direction to the Centre and the Karnataka government "to quash the FIR registered in connection of seditious charges against the school management, teacher and a widowed parent of a student for staging a play criticising CAA, NRC and NPR."

The petition had claimed that the police "also questioned students, and videos and screenshots of CCTV footage showing them speaking to the students were shared widely on social media, prompting criticism."

The drama was staged on January 21 by students of the fourth, the fifth and the sixth standard.

The sedition case was filed based on a complaint by social worker Neelesh Rakshyal on 26 January.

The complainant alleged that the school authorities "used" the students to perform a drama where they "abused" Modi in the context of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens.

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News Network
June 15,2020

Mangaluru, Jun 15: An Indian Army soldier hailing from Belthangady died in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh after he suffered a heart attack.

The deceased is identified as Sandesh Shetty (34), a resident of Barya. He was serving Indian Army for the last 14 years.

As per sources, Sandesh had resumed duties a week ago after returning from vacation. He was deployed at a quarantine center at Mathura and suffered a heart attack there.

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