Padmavati Row: India Cutting Sorry Figure With Threats to Artists, Says Bombay HC

Agencies
December 8, 2017

Mumbai, Dec 8: A democratic country like India is cutting a very sorry figure with open threats being given to artists and others and with attacks on people for voicing their opinions, the Bombay High Court said on Thursday.

The high court, while referring to the Sanjay Leela Bhansali's controversy-hit film "Padmavati", observed that the director has not been able to release his film and an actress is facing death threats.

The HC also pulled up the CBI and the state CID, which are investigating the murder cases of rationalists Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare respectively, over the failure to arrest the main suspects in these cases so far.

The strong remarks were made by a division bench of Justices S C Dharmadhikari and Bharti Dangre while hearing the petitions filed by family members of Dabholkar and Pansare seeking court supervision on their murder probe.

"In this country, we have come to a situation where people cannot voice their opinions. Everytime a person says he or she wants to voice their opinion, somebody or a fringe group says they would not allow it. This does not augur well for the state," Justice Dharmadhikari said.

"In which other country do you see threats given to artists and performers? It is distressing to know that a person makes a feature film and several people work tirelessly towards it, but is not able to release the film because of continued threats. What have we come to?" he said.

"Today, somebody says I will give a reward to anyone who kills an actress. Such open threats! People are taking pride in saying we will give reward to those, who will kill an actress. And even chief ministers are saying they will not allow the release of the movie in their states," Justice Dharmadhikari said referring to some states banning the release of "Padmavati".

He added that if such things are happening to people with financial backings, what will happen to poor people.

The court noted that this was censorship of a different kind and it was damaging India's image.

"What concerns us is India's image and reputation as a democratic country. We are the largest democracy. We cannot take pride in the happenings of such incidents day in and day out. We are cutting a very sorry figure," Justice Dharmadhikari said.

Referring to the recent case where a foreign couple was attacked in Uttar Pradesh, he said, "Somebody visits this country as tourists and they are attacked."

The bench noted that states like Maharashtra and Karnataka are known for their "progressive and modern thinking".

"Maharashtra and Karnataka are known for social reformers and thinkers and with such incidents these states are cutting a sorry figure politically too," the court said.

It added that in other countries when any major incident occurs, the suspect is apprehended, dead or alive, within hours.

"However, our country's agencies have not learnt anything from past incidents like the attack on Parliament and the Prime Minister," Justice Dharmadhikari said.

The court said Dabholkar was killed in 2013 and Pansare in 2015, but till date the investigating agencies (CBI and state CID) have not been able to arrest the main suspects.

"We cannot allow such serious matters to linger for years. We cannot allow constitutional rights to be taken away. Enough damage has been caused already. Has any senior official from the two agencies bothered to find out why the probe is not getting any headaway?" the court asked.

It said even after these two attacks, there are persons, who are openly and boldly voicing their opinions, are being threatened.

"At the core of these two crimes is the bold attempts being made by fringe groups to attack those who voice their rational views, thoughts, feelings and expressions," the court said.

"Hence, we feel that it is time to call upon the CBI and the CID to involve their superiors. If the senior officials do not wish to be summoned to court, then they should meet with the counsels appearing in court and take stock of the situation," Justice Dharmadhikari said.

The court directed a meeting to be convened with secretary of state home department, Director General of Police (DGP) and Joint Director of CBI with Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh and Ashok Mundargi, who appears for CID in the matter.

The bench has now posted the matter for further hearing on December 21.

While the CBI is probing the Dabholkar case, the Pansare murder case is being investigated by a Special Investigation Team of the CID.

Dabholkar was murdered in Pune on August 20, 2013 and Pansare was shot on February 16, 2015 in Kolhapur. He died on February 20 in a hospital.

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News Network
June 18,2020

New Delhi, Jun 18: Actor Priyanka Chopra Jonas on Thursday paid tribute to the Indian soldiers who were killed in clashes with Chinese troops in Ladakh's Galwan valley.

The 'Fashion' actor who is currently living in America with her singer husband Nick Jonas took to Twitter to extend support to the families of the fallen soldiers.

"My heart goes out to the soldiers and their families. May God give them the strength to cope with this irreparable loss," she tweeted.

Twenty Indian soldiers were killed in a violent face-off with Chinese troops on Monday at Galwan Valley in Ladakh.

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Agencies
August 2,2020

Mumbai, Aug 2: None of the sim cards that actor Sushant Singh Rajput was using was registered under his name, said the team of Bihar Police, probing his death case, on Sunday.

The team also informed that one of the sim cards that the late actor was using was registered the name of his friend Siddharth Pithani.

"We are now tracking the call detail records (CDRs)," the police said.

The team also said that they will interrogate the family of Sushant Singh Rajput's former manager Disha Salian, who died few days before Sushant's death.

"Even after constant attempts to connect with them on phone, we have failed to establish any contact," it said.

Earlier today, while talking to news agency, the Director-General of Police (DGP) of Bihar Gupteshwar Pandey hinted at the non-cooperation of Mumbai police with his team in their investigation.

"We don't have post-mortem report details, CCTV footage or any information that has been collected by Mumbai Police during probe till now. Our Chief Minister has requested the Maharashtra Chief Minister to ask his police force to cooperate with us," the DGP added.

When asked if Bihar Police want CBI probe into the case, he said, "We are more than capable of doing an unbiased investigation. We hope that Mumbai Police will cooperate with us and we'll conclude the investigation."

Rajput was found dead at his Mumbai residence on June 14. Mumbai Police who was investigating the case had earlier informed that they have recorded the statements of 41 people, including filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, film critic Rajeev Masand, director-producer Sanjay Leela Bhansali, and filmmaker Aditya Chopra so far.

A team of Bihar Police is in Mumbai to probe the actor's death after an FIR was filed by Rajput's father KK Singh against late actor's girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty in Bihar in connection with the death case under several sections including abetment of suicide.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had also registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) in Rajput's death case. ED registered the report after an FIR was filed by his father against Chakraborty.

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News Network
June 22,2020

New Delhi, Jun 22: Musician Madonna, who is a mother of six, wished herself on the occasion of Father's Day on Sunday by posting adorable pictures with her kids.

Along with pictures, the 'Crazy For You' singer penned down a beautiful caption, wishing herself and every parent a 'Happy Father's Day' for nurturing and guiding their children in the best way possible.

"Happy Fathers Day to Me and to every parent out there doing their best to Nurture, Guide, Inspire, and Teach! #Lola #Rocco #David #Mercyjames #Estere #Stella," the 61-year-old singer wrote in the caption.

Madonna is the biological mother to two of her six children and has adopted the rest four.

She had adopted her first child Davida Banda back in 2006 and then she adopted a boy in 2009. The last addition to her family were the twins she adopted from Malawi.

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