Weekly News Roundup – Jul 3, 2020
Delhi Riots: Hospital Owner In Letter Alleges Police Threatened Him For Telling Truth
Dr Muhammad Ehtesham Anwar, who treated victims of the Northeast Delhi riots in his Al Hind hospital, has been named by Delhi Police in a chargesheet.… Dr Anwar had written a letter on May 15… to senior officials of the Special Cell and Crime Branch (Delhi Police)… The four-page letter written in Hindi… has levelled serious allegations against the officials of Special Cell and Crime Branch of Delhi Police. Dr Anwar alleged in his letter that the Delhi Police was upset with him because he spoke to Justice S Muralidhar, the then Delhi HC judge, late in the night on February 25 and apprised him of the ground reality of the riot’s impact.… He writes, “Police constables who used to come with the ambulance to collect injured persons, threatened me several times that I shouldn’t have told the truth to the judge. They told me that it was because of me that the issue got highlighted; otherwise, nobody would have come to know anything about this.”…Read more
Anti-CAA protests: Two shops sealed as UP govt starts to recover damages
In a first, the Lucknow administration on Tuesday sealed two shops as part of its drive to recover damages for destruction of public and private properties during the protests held on December 19 against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the proposed countrywide National Register of Citizens. Lucknow (Sadar) Tehsildar Shambhu Sharan Singh said a garment store called NY Fashion Centre and a junk shop in the Hasanganj police station area were sealed “in view of the order passed ADM (Transgomti) Vishwa Bhushan Mishra on February 13, 2020”. The junk shop’s owner, Maahenoor Choudhary, and the garment shop’s assistant store manager Dharamveer Singh are among the 13 whom Mishra had ordered to pay Rs 21.76 lakh within 30 days for the destruction of properties in the Hasanganj police station area. Failure to pay would result in the attachment of properties, the order had warned.…Read more
PM CARES Fund received huge donations from Chinese firms just ahead of conflict at LAC
Set up by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with an aim to collect funds for fighting the Coronavirus pandemic, the PM CARES Fund received huge donations from several Chinese companies just ahead of the conflict at the LAC between China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and Indian armed forces. According to an analysis of news reports published in sections of the media, these donations range from Rs 1 crore to Rs 30 crore. For example, Tik Tok – a Chinese video-sharing social networking service that has been at the receiving end of the call to boycott Chinese goods and services – has donated Rs 30 crore to the PM CARES Fund.… It is important to note here that as per media reports, PLA began to strengthen its positions along the LAC by digging bunkers and erecting concrete posts in Ladakh in April, around the same time when PM Modi announced the first phase of the lockdown. Interestingly, Chinese tech giants decided to donate to the PM CARES Fund around the same time.… Incidentally, there has been total opacity in the functioning and purpose of the PM CARES Fund, with the PMO refusing to divulging information about it under the RTI Act 2005.…Read more
Communal Harmony
News
India Now the World’s Largest Illiberal Democracy, Says Financial Times US Editor
Delhi Riots: Hospital Owner In Letter Alleges Police Threatened Him For Telling Truth
Anti-CAA protests: Two shops sealed as UP govt starts to recover damages
Jeyaraj and Fenix: Outrage mounts over deaths in Indian police custody
After Beating Lawyer for Looking ‘Muslim’, MP Police Now Charge Him With Assault
Church Vandalised in Jharkhand, USCIRF Raises Alarm
PM CARES Fund received huge donations from Chinese firms just ahead of conflict at LAC
Sacked cop arrested for minor’s gang rape in Odisha
Dalit activist Arvind Bansod was murdered, not a suicide: Lawyer
Opinion
Every Custodial Death a Reminder of Why India Ratify the Convention Against Torture – By Som Thomas
Journalism in India Has Placed Itself On Deputation to the Government – By Anand K. Sahay
Stifling Democracy Sans Emergency – By Adovate Prashant Bhushan
