Recent scams and controversies in India-4

 

Dadri lynching case

On the night of 28 September, 52-year-old Mohammad Akhlaq and his 22-year-old son Danish were dragged out of their home in Bisada village in Uttar Pradesh's Dadri district, and brutally attacked by a mob of 200 on the suspicion that the family had consumed beef. Akhlaq did not survive the attack and his son was critically injured.

Since the attack, the family of Akhlaq has maintained that there was no beef in the house. The meat seized by the mob and later by the police was mutton. And a forensic test proved just that.

A political slugfest went on over the lynching case. While almost everybody came out in support of the bereaved family, Hindu radicals justified the killing saying cow was a sacred animal and slaughtering it will not be tolerated.

Similar incidents of mob violence also took place in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir where two men were brutally beaten to death allegedly over rumours of cattle smuggling slaughter.

Story of “intolerance” started from here.

Dozens of public intellectuals including writers, filmmakers and scientists have spoken out against the incidents, expressing concern at "growing intolerance" in the country and criticising the BJP-led government at the Centre. 40 + prominent writers announced their returning of the prestigious Sahitya Acedemy award in protest at the "rising intolerance in India" under its present government.

 

Rohit Vemulastory :

An Indian PhD student at the University of Hyderabad who committed suicide on 17 January 2016.

Mr Vemula was a member of the Ambedkar Students' Association, which fights for the rights of Dalit (formerly known as untouchable) students on the campus.

On 3 August 2015 RohithVemula and 4 other ASA-activists demonstrated against the death penalty for YakubMemon, and condemned the ABVP attack on the screening of the documentary ‘MuzaffarnagarBaaqiHai’ in Delhi University. After that an ABVP leader was confronted in his hostel room.

After that he and the other 4 were expelled from the hostel, in what was called disciplinary action taken against him and the 4 PhD students accused of assaulting the ABVP leader.

They started protesting against their expulsion from the university's housing facility.

After the confirmation of the suspension in January 2016, RohithVemula committed suicide. His suicide sparked protests and outrage from across India and gained widespread media attention as an alleged case of discrimination against Dalits and low status caste in India, in which elite educational institutions have been purportedly seen as hotbeds of caste-based discrimination against students belonging to lower caste.

 

JNU New Delhi:

Key Persons : Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya

The controversy stems from a gathering at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi on Feb. 9, which was called to commemorate the 2013 hanging of Afzal Guru, convicted for his role in an attack on India’s Parliament in 2001. A video recording of part of the event shows a group of people shouting slogans, which are anti national. It soon turned into a scuffle between the ABVP and the Left organisations after the slogans were shouted. 

Police arrested Kanhaiya Kumar, who heads the JNU Students’ Union, on allegations of sedition. Mr. Kumar’s supporters say he didn’t shout the slogans. He is being targeted.

There has been a widespread debate in the Social Media over the issue. Many terms the incident as “anti-national” while some have termed it as “stifling of dissent”.

As of now Kanhaiya is out on bail.

 

National Herald Case :

The Associated Journals Limited - which published the National Herald, a newspaper founded by JawaharLal Nehru - and its assets and liabilities were acquired by a company named Young Indian in which the Congress president and her son hold more than three fourths equity.

Mr Swamy alleges that the real motive of the transaction was to acquire real estate worth Rs. 5000 Crore by the two Congress leaders and their associates.

The Young Indian was incorporated as a not-for-profit company with paid up capital of Rs. 5 Lakh under section 25 of the Companies Act . The Gandhis own 38 per cent shares each in the company and the remaining shares are held by MotilalVora, Oscar Fernandes, Sam Pitroda and SumanDubey. Congress leader and senior lawyer Kapil Sibal, who represented them in court, said the company is like a trust under the law and the directors do not earn anything from it.

National Herald went out of print in 2008. At that time, the parent company had an unpaid debt of Rs. 90 Crores.

In the month after it was set up, the Young Indian board of directors passed a resolution to 'own' National Herald's outstanding debt. Mr Swamy alleges that debt - largely, the loan taken from the Congress Party - was made possible because the directors of Young Indian are top Congress leaders. Mr Vora was chief managing director of Associated Journals and is treasurer of the Congress.

The Congress says it gave the loan because the party's objectives matched National Herald's. BJP leaders say the Congress enjoys income tax exemption under law for being a political party and cannot divert its funds to a commercial entity.

Mr Swamy's petition alleges that for an extra Rs. 50 Lakh Young Indian bought the entire share equity of Associated Journals. In the meanwhile, the Congress wrote off the loan as irrevocable.

Mr Swamy alleges through the two decisions, Young Indian has acquired the complete ownership Associated Journals' real estate - buildings in New Delhi, Lucknow, Bhopal, Indore, Mumbai, Panchkula, Patna and other places - worth at least Rs. 5000 crore by paying Rs. 50 lakh. Instead, some assets should have been liquidated to pay off the debt, the BJP leader contends.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi appeared in a Delhi court to face allegations that they illegally acquired property worth Rs.5,000 crore belonging to the National Herald newspaper. They were granted bail.