English हिन्दी
Connect with us

India News

Lakhimpur Kheri horror: BJP leader says women use mobile phones to make plans to get raped | Watch

Mobile phones give women the opportunity to make plans to run away from home as well as make plans to go out and get raped, BJP leader Alok Vats said.

Published

on

Lakhimpur Kheri horror

Alok Vats, BJP leader, on a panel discussion, talked about how women in small towns and villages after gaining access to mobile phones make plans to go out and get raped. The statement comes in the wake of the rape incident in Lakhimpur Kheri, where two girls were found hanging from a tree.

The video was uploaded by Saket Gokhale, National Spokesperson of Trinamool Congress and added his anguish over the comments made by Vats as he says speechless and shocked in his tweet. He further asks if this is the official stand of the BJP on the issue.

On Thursday, while discussing the case of two Dalit sisters found hanging after allegedly being raped in UP’s Lakhimpur Kheri, Alok Vats opined into the matter and stated that he belongs to one of the remotest villages of India and he knows what mobile does there. He further went on to say that people sitting in Delhi wouldn’t know the impact of what access to phones does in remote areas.

He further explained mobile phones give women the opportunity to make plans to run away from home as well as make plans to go out and get raped. Twitter was enraged and shocked by the statements made by the Alok Vats as one Twitter user wrote that the BJP leader really blamed the cause of rape on the use of mobile phones.

Another Twitter user shared the same sentiment of shock and asked the BJP why they haven’t thrown Alok out for making such baseless accusations, especially ones that invalidate the crime and blame the victim.

https://twitter.com/sharadaramanat1/status/1570672804856737794?s=20&t=jcrib5kwlb1tTbv0KvoVZQ

Alok Vats hasn’t been a stranger to controversy regarding women’s rights issues as he had previously empathized with the criminals in the Bilkis Bano case. Alok, while talking about the release of Bilkis Bano rape case’s convicts, stated that he believes that the convicts have suffered a lot after spending 15 years in jail. Showing his empathy toward the criminals instead of the victim.

The mentality of victim blaming has been a notion in the country as many victims who report the cases are under more scrutiny than the accused. The irony of the situation is that this isn’t the first case of caste-based and gender-based violence in UP. Previously, another rape case of a Hathras Dalit girl had caused a lot of stir in the nation. Now, Instead of noticing the pattern, the BJP leader blamed the victims in the case.

According to the National Family Health Survey-5 report, published in May, nearly one-third of women in India were subjected to physical or sexual violence. Whereas domestic violence against women tallied up to 29.3% in the country, and 30% of women ranging from age 18 to 49 have experienced physical violence since the age of 15 years.

The report also informed that only 14% of women who have faced physical or sexual violence by anyone have reported the issue.

India News

Will not contest any election in future, have to stop somewhere: Sharad Pawar hints at retirement

The NCP leader said that he is not in power, and his tenure in the Rajya Sabha has one-and-a-half years left.

Published

on

Will not contest any election in future, have to stop somewhere: Sharad Pawar hints at retirement

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) senior leader Sharad Pawar, 83, today hinted at retirement as he said he may not contest any more elections after his Rajya Sabha term ends in 18 months.

Sharad Pawar who formed the NCP in 1999 is widely regarded as the grand old man of Maharashtra politics. The veteran politician was speaking at his family stronghold of Baramati in western Maharashtra, which will see a Pawar vs Pawar contest in the November 20 Assembly election.

Addressing a rally, the NCP leader said that he is not in power, and his tenure in the Rajya Sabha has one-and-a-half years left. He continued that he will not contest any election in future, and that he will have to stop somewhere. He also thanked the voters of Baramati for making him an MP and MLA a staggering 14 times overall. Notably, a potential close of a nearly six-decade-long political career comes as the NCP and its allies – the Congress and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena group – contest this month’s election.

In this election, the fight for Baramati is being seen as a referendum on Sharad Pawar’s continuing influence over voters, since it sees his grandnephew, Yugendra Pawar, do battle against his nephew Ajit Pawar, whose led the rebellion last year that forced the NCP to split.

NCP leader Ajit Pawar is a five-time MLA from Baramati but, in each of his earlier wins, he had the backing of his uncle’s party. This will be the first assembly election in which he contests under his own banner.

The result of the election for the Baramati Lok Sabha seat, where the people voted overwhelmingly for Sharad Pawar’s candidate, his daughter Supriya Sule, underlines Ajit Pawar’s task at hand.

Speaking at Baramati, Sharad Pawar said that he holds no grudge against Ajit Pawar, adding that he led the people there for 30 years. However, he also said that it is time for him to prepare a young and dynamic leadership, which can take over for the next 30 years, apparently referring to Yugendra Pawar’s future position.

The veteran politician continued that he is not seeking votes, acknowledging that voters have always been magnanimous with all Pawar family members. He added that however, now they have to look ahead at the future.  

Notably, Sharad Pawar’s retirement from electoral politics has been circulating for some time now, and was raked up again in January by nephew Ajit Pawar, who had fought against and forced a split of his uncle’s party, leading the rebels into an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party and a faction of the Shiv Sena that had earlier broken away from Uddhav Thackeray.

At that time, Ajit Pawar hit out at Sharad Pawar for not sticking to a 2023 resolution to step down from the party’s top post. He said that some people simply refuse to retire. He continued that people should stop after reaching a certain age, but some are not ready, even after turning 80. Referring to his uncle, Ajit Pawar said that this person is not ready to retire.

Responding to this jab, Sharad Pawar said that he is neither tired nor retired, echoing late former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s remarks. He questioned who they were to tell him to retire, adding that he can still work.

Last year in May, while the NCP was battling its internal crisis, Sharad Pawar announced his resignation as party boss. However, the announcement was unanimously rejected by top leaders. A few days later, he withdrew his resignation.

Continue Reading

India News

Maharashtra Assembly election: Uddhav Thackeray expels 5 Sena members for not withdrawing nominations

Following the withdrawal of nominations, around 4,140 candidates were left in the fray for 288 Maharashtra assembly seats

Published

on

Maharashtra Assembly election: Uddhav Thackeray expels 5 Sena members for not withdrawing nominations

Uddhav Thackeray, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief on Tuesday expelled five rebel leaders for anti-party activities after they failed to withdraw nominations filed for the November 20 Maharashtra assembly elections.

The expelled leaders include Bhiwandi East MLA Rupesh Mhatre, Vishwas Nandekar, Chandrakant Ghugul, Sanjay Awari and Prasad Thackeray. Reportedly, 14 leaders from the Maha Vikas Aghadi, comprising Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar’s NCP had filed nominations, defying party command. 

Among those who withdrew their nominations by the Monday deadline was Congress’ Mukhtar Shaikh, who withdrew from the Kasba Peth assembly constituency in Pune and announced his support to the party’s official candidate Ravindra Dhangekar.

In addition, royal scion Madhurima Raje Chhatrapati’s withdrawal as Congress candidate from Kolhapur North minutes before the deadline left the party without representation in one of its western Maharashtra strongholds. Madhurima Raje was nominated in place of ex-corporator Rajesh Latkar after a party office was vandalised by those opposed to the latter.

Hemalata Patil from Nashik Central, Madhu Chavan from Byculla and Vishwanath Walvi from Nandurbar are among the seven Congress rebels who withdrew their nominations. Only two NCP(SP) rebels are in fray.

Furthermore, among those to withdraw from the electoral race was Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange, who has held on-and-off hunger strikes and protests to demand reservation for the community in education and jobs over the past year. The activist said that the Maratha community will decide on its own whom to defeat and whom to elect. He also announced he would support two candidates from Parvati and Daund in the state assembly polls, though he said their names will be disclosed later.

Following the withdrawal of nominations, around 4,140 candidates were left in the fray for 288 Maharashtra assembly seats, while 2,938 candidates withdrew their papers. The figure is a 28 per cent increase from the 3,239 candidates who fought the 2019 assembly polls.

This year, the Maharashtra Assembly election will see major regional parties NCP and Shiv Sena contesting after a split down the middle. The factions led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar-led NCP have joined hands with the BJP to form the Mahayuti. The Assembly elections are scheduled for November 20. The counting of votes will take place on November 23.

Continue Reading

India News

Centre issues notice to Wikipedia on complaints of bias, inaccuracies

The government also questioned why Wikipedia should not be classified as a publisher, rather than an intermediary.

Published

on

Centre issues notice to Wikipedia on complaints of bias, inaccuracies

The Centre on Tuesday has issued a notice to Wikipedia over multiple complaints about bias and inaccuracies on the platform. The government in its letter to Wikipedia highlighted that a small group of editors appears to have significant control over the contents, particularly influencing its neutrality. 

Reports said that the government also questioned why Wikipedia should not be classified as a publisher, rather than an intermediary. However, neither Wikipedia nor the government has issued an official statement on the matter so far. 

Wikipedia, popularly known as free online encyclopedia, allows volunteers to create and edit pages on a wide variety of topics, including people, issues and various fields of knowledge. This recent development follows two months after the Delhi High Court slammed Wikipedia and also warned it of a potential ban in India during a case filed by news agency ANI, which alleged that its Wikipedia page contained inaccuracies and defamatory content. 

In the last hearing, Justice Subramonium Prasad further observed that Wikipedia might not be entitled to defend the defamatory edits since it claims to be only an intermediary. The Delhi HIgh Court also questioned if Wikipedia is an intermediary, why is it bothered? It added that if somebody else has edited and that addition is without basis, then it comes down.

It further stated that Wikipedia is not here to protect the editors but is a mere wall. The court opined that it will only see whether the opinion given in the encyclopaedia does not depict the correct picture, as not true representation of the article. However, Wikipedia clarified that it was not defending the statements or edits made on Wikipedia’s page about ANI. It further sought to assist the court in the matter, particularly with regard to the architecture of the platform. 

Notably, Wikipedia has faced growing criticism for alleged bias and inaccuracies, especially amid the ongoing US presidential elections. Elon Musk, owner of X, has publicly accused Wikipedia of supporting far-left ideologies. He also urged the public to stop donating to Wikipedia, claiming it is controlled by far-left activists.

Continue Reading

Trending

© Copyright 2022 APNLIVE.com