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Journalists express solidarity with Tribune, reporter for Aadhaar expose

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The Tribune chief thanks for action

By Abu Turab, APN

A large number of journalists and representatives of media associations came together with National Journalists Alliance (NJA) and Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ) to express their solidarity with The Tribune and its investigative journalist Rachna Khaira over Aadhaar data expose .

The journalists’ bodies organized a special discussion on Wednesday at Gandhi Peace Foundation on “Right to Investigate: Freedom of Press”.

DUJ President S. K. Pande hosted the discussion while important speakers were: Siddharth Vardarajan, Editor of “The Wire”, Mehmood Pracha, senior lawyer, Satish Mishra, long time associate with Tribune, Masoom Moradabadi, Secretary of ALL India Urdu Editors Conference.

On Januarry 4, Rachna Khaira, exposed the UIDAI claim of Aadhaar being “fully safe” by purchasing a service offered by anonymous “sellers” over Whatsapp, in just Rs. 500 to access to the details of more than 1 billion Aadhaar numbers created in the country.

The Tribune’s associate editor K V Prasad read the message from Harish Khare, the Editor-in-Chief.  He directly hit the government of the day questioning, “if the arrogant rulers of the day can think of wanting to arrest the reporter and The Tribune editor, which journalist in India can feel safe and confident in pursuing an honest story?”

Khare further said, “We at The Tribune did nothing more than what any other set of editors in a newspaper would have done. We do not think of ourselves as manning the barricades. We do not subscribe to permanent insurrection. We are not chasing any revolution.”

“We believe in the Constitution and its values; we assiduously seek to provide space to the voices of dissent. And yet, we are sought to be hauled up for doing a spot of honest, legitimate investigative reporting; we are sought to be intimidated for practising a bit of old-fashioned journalism.” Khare added.

Siddarth Vardarajan, the Editor of The Wire, which had broken story about multiplied worth of Amit Shah’s son Jai Shah’s business entity a few month ago, said that the action taken against The Tribune and its journalist is “an attack on constitution” and  “an assault on freedom of speech”.The Tribune

He said that this is a “threat against other journalists” to keep them away from doing similar stories exposing the loophole. Instead, “UIDAI should have filed FIR’s against those ministries and state governments who have uploaded the Aadhaar details of large number of individuals much before the recent expose,” he said.

Addressing the legal issues surrounding the Aadhaar expose, Mehmood Pracha, a renowned lawyer, said Rachna Khaira, the journalist who exposed the insecure mechanism of Aadhaar, “should be honoured as heroine”. He said that he was sure that “charges will not sustain in any court of law” against the newspaper or the journalist.

Pracha said that billions of rupees were being spent on Aadhaar project which is in itself a huge scam. This case is just a peanut, we should focus on the motives behind the whole exercise, he said.

According to him, under the law, citizens are “entitled” to get their Aadhaar cards but the government is “forcing” them to get themselves registered through difference means and excuses, which is illegal.

Pracha said that today the government is insisting on biometric data, tomorrow it may demand more, even ask for our genome. “We should demolish Aadhaar as a whole,” he said.

DUJ President S. K. Pande called upon all journalists “to unite to defend ourselves” from such attacks on our right to investigate and report freely and fearlessly. He demanded for the withdrawal of FIR against the investigative journalist and the newspaper.

Pranjoy Guha Thakurta, former editor of Economic and Political Weekly said that Aadhaar is a mass surveillance tool. He asked Civil Society to find ways to protect itself, methods to protect our children and their children “from such surveillance”.

Veteran journalist Sukumar Muralidharan, Sanjay Kapur, the editor of Hard News, Satish Mishra, a veteran journalist, W. Chandrakant of National Alliance of Journalists and Sujata Madhok, the General Secretary of DUJ also spoke on the occasion.

Masoom Moradabadi, a senior Urdu journalist, echoing the need to dissent, read out a poem by Faiz Ahmed Faiz on the citizen’s right to speak up against all kind of oppression.

Moreover, S. D. Thakur, President of All India Newspaper Employees Federation (AINEF) and Tapan Sen, General Secretary of Centre of Trade Union (CTU) sent their solidarity messages to the journalists raising their voice against the draconian action against The Tribune and its journalist.

India News

Swati Maliwal undergoes medical check-up, internal injuries on face

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AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal sustained internal injuries in her face after being reportedly assaulted by an aide to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, as per reports. Maliwal spent more than three hours on Friday at AIIMS, Delhi, having a medical examination.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police has stepped up its hunt for Bibhav Kumar, Kejriwal’s assistant, one day after filing a formal complaint in relation to the incident. After a Delhi Police squad recorded Maliwal’s statement at her home, a FIR was filed.

The former head of the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) said in her complaint that Bibhav Kumar had punched, kicked, slapped, and beat her with a stick.

Earlier, on Thursday evening, Swati Maliwal underwent a medical check-up for about four hours. Along with Maliwal, a Delhi Police squad arrived at AIIMS at 11 p.m. and left at 3:15 a.m. Maliwal was accompanied by Vandana Singh, a member of the Delhi Commission for Women. There was a CT scan and an X-ray.

Swati Maliwal has claimed in her lawsuit that she was repeatedly struck on sensitive body parts and subjected to physical assault.

Delhi Police has stepped up its investigation into the matter in the interim.A team of police reached Bibhav Kumar’s house, but he was not found.

Approximately ten police teams are looking into the matter; four of the units are tracking Bibhav’s whereabouts. According to sources, Bibhav might be in Amritsar. Additionally, since the INDIA bloc is planned to have a rally in Mahrashtra, police believe Bibhav may be there.

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PM Modi slams Congress, SP for stance on CAA, says nobody can remove

PM Modi today addressed a rally Lalganj, Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, where he said nobody can remove CAA

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, May 16, attacked the opposition for allegedly trying to spark violence by disseminating false information over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). He continued by saying that citizenship under the CAA is now being granted by the country.

The prime minister claimed no one can do it, despite the INDI alliance members claims that they will remove CAA. Get real-time updates about the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

PM Modi said, on the CAA issue, political parties like Congress and Samajwadi Party propagate false information. They made every effort to ignite riots and burn the entire nation, including UP, the PM added. Members of this INDI alliance still maintain that Modi introduced the CAA and that it will be removed the day he leaves the office.

Challenging the opposition, PM said, Desh mein koi maai ka laal paida hua hai jo CAA hata sake? (has anyone been born in this country who has the ability to repeal the CAA?) No one is able to remove CAA, he said. Addressing the rally in Lalganj, Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, PM Modi said, they tried to do votebank politics under the guise of fake secularism, and they made Hindus and Muslims fight against each other.

Under the CAA, the process of giving citizenship certificate to refugees has already begun, the PM added. These are the individuals who have long been residents of the county as refugees and who suffered from the country’s religiously motivated division, PM Modi continued.

Additionally, PM Modi alleged that the Congress was ignoring these refugees.

Under the mask of CAA, the Congress and the SP attempted to spread misinformation. They tried to create disturbances in Uttar Pradesh and all across the country, he claimed.

PM Modi added that the enthusiasm displayed by Srinagar voters during the polls is evidence that nobody can reinstate Article 370 and engage in vote-bank politics.

Congress and Samajwadi Party wanted to split the national budget and give 15% to minorities, PM Modi said.

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India News

Swati Maliwal case: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal refuses to answer, Akhilesh Yadav says other issues are more important

Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal was assaulted by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s Personal Secretary Bibhav Kumar

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Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal refused to comment about AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal’s assault case during a joint press conference with Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow today. On Monday, May 13, Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal allegedly suffered an assault by Kejriwal’s personal secretary Bibhav Kumar.

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, who was attending the press conference along with AAP leader Sanjay Singh and Kejriwal, said there are other issues that are more important than this.

Kejriwal, who was seated between Akhilesh Yadav and Sanjay Singh, continued to avoid questions on the assault case. Sanjay Singh then asked about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence on several topics, including the ethnic violence in Manipur.

When asked about the Swati Maliwal situation, AAP MP Sanjay Singh took a defensive posture throughout the press conference. He said that he had already given the required reaction to the issue and emphasized that the situation should not be used for political advantage.

Singh restated that the AAP operates as a unified entity. During the summit, he also expressed worries on the situation in Manipur.

The AAP MP said, after witnessing what occurred in Manipur, the entire nation was in pain, yet PM Modi remained silent on the matter. Thousands of women were raped by Prajwal Revanna, while PM Modi was pleading for Prajwal Revanna’s support. The officials physically assaulted DCW chief Swati Maliwal during our wrestlers’ protest at Jantar Mantar. PM Modi said nothing about these problems. Our family, AAP, has made a very clear statement. All these points he raised should have answers from the BJP and PM Modi. On Swati Maliwal’s issue, politics should not be engaged, Sanjay Singh added.

Meanwhile, days after the party threatened to take strict action against him, Bibhav Kumar was seen earlier on Wednesday night at the Lucknow airport with Sanjay Singh and the AAP national convener.

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