Professor arrested for anti-Mamata cartoons

April 13, 2012

Prof


Kolkata, April 13: A Kolkata professor, Ambikesh Mahapatra, is learning the hard way that posting anti-Mamata Banerjee cartoons on social networking sites can mean big trouble in West Bengal. The professor was assaulted last night, allegedly by Trinamool Congress workers, and was arrested by the police soon after.

The chemistry professor at the prestigious Jadavpur University has been arrested on charges of eve-teasing (Section 509 of the IPC), defamation (Section 500 of the IPC, humiliating a woman (Section 114 of the IPC and Section 66 A (b) of the IT Act (causing offence using a computer).

Last night, when Professor Mahapatra was returning to his residence in Garia, a group of people, allegedly Trinamool activists attacked him and beat him up badly. Then the police arrived at his door and arrested him. Professor Mahapatra will be produced in an Alipore court today.

Professors at Jadavpur University have called an emergency meeting to discuss the matter.

The CPM has slammed the move. "Well, this is a clear assault on the democratic right or freedom of expression. She (Mamata Banerjee) decides on what people should read in library, tomorrow she will tell us what to think. Therefore, this is very much like what happened in Emergency. People of Bengal are experiencing what she means as 'change'. Many people make cartoons or ghastly expressions against the Left, but that's a person's expression. But she cannot tolerate a single word of criticism," said CPM leader Brinda Karat.

Last week, the state government was embroiled in a controversy when a committee set up by the Trinamool government to restructure the syllabus for higher secondary students reportedly recommended a much reduced emphasis on Marx and Engels in history textbooks. Amidst criticism, Ms Banerjee later said her government did not consider Marx or Lenin as "untouchables".

The syllabus review committee was set up after Mamata Banerjee won a historic victory in the elections last year, ending 34 years of governance by the Left. The committee was asked to modernise the syllabus of schools.

In yet another controversial move, the state government had instructed 2500 public libraries on what newspapers they can stock. Several leading papers including the Ananda Bazar Patrika and all English dailies were dropped. The Left's Sitaram Yechury had termed the decision "worse than censorship". Even those who visited libraries criticised the move.

Bowing to pressure, the Mamata Banerjee government included one English daily to the list of newspapers state-run libraries may keep.


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Agencies
April 14,2020

New Delhi, Apr 14: A 35-year-old man has been booked by the police for refusing to eat food at a quarantine centre on the ground that it had been cooked by a Dalit.

Reports said Siraj Ahmad, a native of Bhujouli Khurd village under Khadda police station in Kushinagar district, had returned from Delhi on March 29, and was staying at the quarantine centre at the village primary school along with other four people.

On Friday, village head, Lilawati Devi, in absence of the cook, prepared food in the quarantine centre for all the five people but Siraj refused to eat it.

Police, after conducting investigation, registered a FIR against him under the SC/ST Act on Monday.

The village head had lodged a written complaint with the police on Friday and also informed sub-divisional magistrate Desh Deepak Singh and block development officer Ramakant.

SHO Khadda police station, R.K. Yadav said that a case against Siraj was registered under the SC/ST Act.

Meanwhile, on Saturday evening, Vijay Dubey, the local BJP MLA, went to the house of village head and asked her to serve him food cooked by her.

"Untouchability is a social evil that cannot be tolerated at any cost," he said.

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Agencies
January 9,2020

Bareilly, Jan 9: In a bizarre development, a woman has been arrested for inflicting 101 cuts on her sister-in-law in Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly district, the police said on Thursday.

The woman was practicing exorcism to cure her father who had been ailing for some time.

The woman, Moni, was helped by her husband Mooli and brother Raju in the act, which happened on Tuesday.

The sister-in-law Renu who suffered the cuts, was given 300 stitches on her face and other parts of the body by the doctors.

Renu has been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) where her condition is said to be serious.

Moni, 30, has been sent to jail while Mooli and Raju are absconding.

Baradari police station officer inspector Naresh Tyagi said that a complaint had been filed by Renu's brother under section 307 (attempt to murder) of IPC.

"We will record Renu's statements in a day or two once she is stable and in a condition to talk to us. We have sent Moni to jail," the inspector said.

Renu, a resident of Ganghora village in Bareilly, was married to Sanjeev around eight years ago.

Her father-in-law, Jagdish, fell ill a few months ago.

"Accused Moni, who practices exorcism, decided to cure her father by initiating the act. Going by superstitious beliefs, they inflicted as many as 101 cuts on Renu's face and body. It cannot be ruled out that they wanted to sacrifice her to complete the act," police inspector said.

On Tuesday night, the accused had locked Renu's husband and mother-in-law in another room when they tried to stop them from making her a scapegoat.

When the accused trio started inflicting cuts on Renu, she struggled to get out of their clutches and somehow managed to escape from the house.

She had run a short distance when she collapsed and became unconscious. A police constable on patrol reportedly spotted her and she was taken to a district hospital. Once regaining her consciousness, she narrated her ordeal to the police who then informed her parents.

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Agencies
July 17,2020

New Delhi, Jul 17: The first FIR against Volkswagen and Audi in India for installing cheat devices in their cars to misrepresent emissions has been filed in Noida.

The FIR was filed by Noida resident Aniljit Singh against the top officials of Volkswagen and Audi in India and their headquarters in Germany. These include Rahil Ansari, Brand Director, Audi India, Balbir Singh Dhillon, Head, Audi India, and Bram Schot, Chairman, Audi AG.

The FIR reviewed by media agency cites forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.

The complaint has cited the global emissions scandal where VW was found to be installing a cheat device in its cars, in the absence of which, the cars produced 10-40 times emissions beyond the permissible limits.

The complainant said that in 2018 he had purchased seven Audi cars worth crores of rupees. At the time of taking the delivery, the complainant said that he inquired if the cheat devices were installed in India and he was told by the company that they were not, as in India's emission norms were not as stringent and the country being a growing market for Audi, no such device was implanted.

The complaint said that the authorities in India observed that Audi cars' emissions for nitrogen oxide were 5-8 times the permissible limits and after the National Green Tribunal imposed a penalty of Rs 500 crore on VW, the complainant realised that he had been duped of his hard earned money.

He alleged that the accused persons had misrepresented the complainant by forging the documents and devices and caused wrongful gains to themselves and wrongful losses to the complainant. These officials had made wrong records to capture the market, with malafide intent and under a pre-planned conspiracy had induced and defrauded the complainant.

The accused persons are guilty of cheating the customers and have induced the complainant to part with hard earned money for sub-standard cars. The accused are also guilty of forging the documents on which they had sought various clearances.

The complainant has demanded that the allegations may be thoroughly investigated by a senior official.

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