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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.

2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s son Karan gets BJP Lok Sabha ticket from Kaiserganj

Karan Singh Bhushan was on December 13, 1990. He competed at the national level in double trap shooting. He has a daughter and a son. Karan Singh Bhushan completed his Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) and law from Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Avadh University.

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BJP on Thursday dropped sitting Kaiserganj MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has been accused of sexual harassment by women wrestlers and gave a ticket to his son, Karan Bhushan Singh. Karan Bhushan, Brij Bhushan’s younger son, is the president of the Uttar Pradesh Wrestling Association. He is also the head of The Cooperative Bank in Nawabganj in Gonda district.

Karan Singh Bhushan was on December 13, 1990. He competed at the national level in double trap shooting. He has a daughter and a son. Karan Singh Bhushan completed his Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) and law from Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Avadh University.

He has also holds a diploma in business management from Australia. Karan Bhushan Singh is presently the president of the Uttar Pradesh wrestling association. Earlier he was the senior vice president of the UP wrestling association. Elections will be take place in Kaiserganj in the 5th phase of Lok Sabha elections on May 20. Karan Bhushan Singh is likely to file his nomination from Kaiserganj on May 3.

There has been a lot of speculation and suspense on Brij Bhushan Sharan seat this time as the former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief, who is also a 6-term MP, had been accused of sexual harassment by some of the India’s top wrestlers.

Many female wrestlers, including medallists, protested against the BJP leader and demanded his arrest over the charges of sexual harassment while he was serving the position of the WFI president. Wrestlers, including Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia, sat on a protest at the Jantar Mantar and demanded action against the Kaiseganj MP.

The Delhi Police later registered a case against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh under Sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354D (stalking), 354A (sexual harassment) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC, on June 15, 2023. But he was granted bail on July 20, 2023.

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2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Rahul Gandhi criticises BJP, PM Modi for JD(S) alliance, seeking votes for a mass rapist

Rahul Gandhi was addressing an election rally in Karnataka’s Shivmogga where he said that PM Modi is seeking votes for a mass rapist. The Congress leader added that Narendra Modi, from a packed stage, supports that rapist and said: if the people of Karnataka vote for this rapist, it will help him.

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Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said that the sex video  case involving Prajwal Revanna, the member of Parliament from Karnataka’s Hassan, is not just a mere sex scandal but of mass rape. He also criticised the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the JD(S) and seeking votes for a mass rapist.

Rahul Gandhi was addressing an election rally in Karnataka’s Shivmogga where he said that PM Modi is seeking votes for a mass rapist. Prajwal Revanna raped a number of women and made their sex videos. The Congress leader added that Narendra Modi, from a packed stage, supports that rapist and said: if the people of Karnataka vote for this rapist, it will help him. Gandhi accused PM Modi of helping Revanna (former PM HD Deve Gowda’s grandson) escape from India.

Gandhi said even when Prajwal Revanna raped a number of women, the prime minister did not stop him from going to Germany. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has all the machinery, yet he allowed the mass rapist to flee to Germany. He took a sarcastic dig at PM Modi and said this is Modi’s guarantee. The Congress leader asserted that whether it’s a corrupt leader or a mass rapist, the BJP will always protect him.

Prajwal Revanna, the sitting MP from Hassan and the grandson of former PM HD Deve Gowda, has been accused of being in purported sex tapes. A number of pen drives allegedly contain his sexual assault videos which were circulated in Hassan, the Lok Sabha constituency from where he is the BJP-JD (S) candidate.

Most of the sex videos were recorded by Prajwal Revanna in his office and house. Initially, the Gowda family and the BJP termed the tapes as being doctored to tarnish the image of the family in elections but later, HD Kumaraswamy distanced himself from the tapes and said the police is investigating the matter.

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India News

SIT issues lookout notice for Prajwal Revanna in sex video case

A police officer, who is part of the SIT, confirmed to the media that a lookout circular has been issued at all the immigration points to detain Prajwal Revanna, said to be in Germany, as soon as he enters the country.

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The Special Investigation Team (SIT), probing the sex tapes case involving JD(S) Lok Sabha candidate Prajwal Revanna, on Thursday issued a lookout notice against him. The notice was issued at all immigration points all over the world. The development comes as Revanna allegedly fled to Frankfurt, Germany on April 26, as a huge cache of explicit videos and photographs showing him indulging in the sexual abuse of several women went viral on social media platforms.

Prajwal Revanna is the grandson of former prime minister and JD(S) patriarch HD Deve Gowda and son of former minister HD Revanna, is seeking re-election from Hassan on the JD(S) ticket. The JD(S) MP faces sexual assault charges and has sought 7 days to appear before the Special Investigation Team probing the matter.

Prajwal Revanna and his father, DD Revanna have been issued notices to appear before the SIT for questioning. The Hassan MP informed the SIT team that he is currently outside Bengaluru. A case has been registered against both HD Revanna and his son Prajwal Revanna at Holenarasipura based on a complaint lodged by their former cook and relative for sexually harassing her.

She alleged that Prajwal Revanna made video calls to her daughter and spoke in an objectionable manner, which forced her to block his phone number. The FIR was referred to the SIT, led by BK Singh, Additional Director-General of Police, Criminal Investigation Department, formed to probe the alleged sex scandal involving Prajwal Revanna, after many explicit videos were circulated on social media.

The National Commission for Women (NCW) has demanded a comprehensive report within 3 days from the Karnataka Police regarding allegations of sexual misconduct against Prajwal Revanna. The NCW expressed grave concern over the circulation of a number of obscene videos on social media, which showed Prajwal Revanna sexually assaulting number of women.

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