Shock to the Center over Padma awards, all three veterans in Bengal refused to accept the honor

Former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, a staunch critic of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was the first to decline the honor yesterday.

All three people from Bengal included in the honor list of the central government have refused to accept the Padma award . This is a major setback to the BJP government, especially from West Bengal where the party suffered an electoral defeat last year. Former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, a staunch critic of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was the first on Tuesday to refuse to accept the honour. After this, two eminent artists of the state, tabla player Pandit Anindya Chatterjee and eminent singer Sandhya Mukhopadhyay have also turned down the Padma award.

90-year-old Sandhya Mukhopadhyay, who has a singing career spanning eight decades, has refused to accept the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honour, saying it is not appropriate for someone of his stature but a junior artiste. Mukhopadhyay's daughter Soumi Sengupta said that when the call came from Delhi for the award, her mother told the senior officer that she felt "insulted" at being offered the award at this age.

Sengupta said, "Padma Shri deserves more for a junior artiste and not for 'Geetasree' Sandhya Mukhopadhyay. This is felt by his family and the lovers of his songs."

One of Bengal's finest singers, Sandhya Mukhopadhyay received West Bengal's highest civilian award "Bang Vibhushan" in 2011, and the National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer in 1970.

Pandit Anindya Chatterjee, who has worked with masters like Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, also said that he refused to accept it when he got a call from Delhi for the award.

Noted tablaist Chatterjee, who received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2002, told news agency PTI, "I politely declined. I said thank you, but I am not ready to receive the Padma Shri at this stage of my career. I have passed that stage."

Yesterday Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who was to be awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award, immediately issued a statement rejecting the honour.

The statement, issued in Bengali, said, "I know nothing about Padma Bhushan. No one told me anything about it. If in fact they have given me Padma Bhushan, I reject it."

Let us tell you that under the protocol, the awardees are informed about the prize in advance and the list is announced only after they have accepted the prize.

Time: Putting Muslim women in a 'fake auction' says a lot about Hindu extremism in India

London -“Time” magazine published a report prepared by Ismat Ara under the title “What would you feel if you were a Muslim woman being auctioned on the Internet by the extremist wing in India.” As the first day of the new year dawned on New Delhi, Ara said, I woke up to discover that I had auctioned off a picture of me with the words 'Your deal today from Polly Bay'. Polly is a derogatory word used to describe a Muslim woman and pi means your maid, which is another word used by the far right in India to talk about Muslim women.” She jumped out of bed when she read what she had read. The writer confirmed that this attack on her came after she wrote press reports critical of the Indian government during the past two years, in which she addressed attacks on members of the "Dalit" sect, crime against women, hate crimes against Muslims and mismanagement of Covid-19.

The writer stressed that she was used to harassment on the Internet, but she did not expect it to reach this extent, and wrote, "Actually, I am one of 20 female journalists in India to be harassed, but my placement is in an auction?" On the list were another 100 women, well-known in the media and politics, as writers, pilots and actresses, all of whom are Muslim. For some, their names appeared for the second time in bogus auctions designed to ridicule and insult women critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi 's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) .

I woke up to discover that I had put up for auction online and a picture of me with the phrase “Your deal today from Polly Bay.” Polly is a derogatory word used to describe a Muslim woman, and pi means your servant

 As for those behind the "auction", not one of the women whose names were mentioned in it was unknown. The writer was not only the first journalist in her family, thanks to her mother, who brought her to the city to continue her education, but also the first woman to venture out into public life on her own and her work. As for those who stand behind the auction, they are Muslims who must be exposed and silenced. She adds that when she saw her name in the fictitious "auction", she felt angry and wanted to do something.

She noted that Muslims in India have been increasingly persecuted since the extremist Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in 2014. Muslims across India have been denied housing and Muslim artists have resigned from their work due to threats from Hindu extremist groups. In December, at a three-day conference in Uttarakhand, several Hindu supremacist leaders publicly called for the extermination of minorities. Event organizer Yati Narisinghanand urged Hindus to "take up arms" in preparation for "war against Muslims". At the same time, an event was held by the Hindu Yuva Vahini group, which was founded by the politician-priest Yogi Adityanath, who openly incites hatred against Muslims. Hundreds of people who pledged to turn India into a Hindu-only country took part in the oath. They chanted, "We will fight and die if we are asked, and we will also be killed."

The writer says that the police are under the control of Yogi Adityanath, who runs in the same government of Uttar Pradesh, and he issued a complaint against her because she participated in covering the farmers' protest. The police issued a "First Information Report" which is the one issued by the Indian law enforcement authorities against anyone based on a criminal complaint. Based on the communication, the writer was accused of spreading fear and terror in the state and a threat to "national integration", and the writer wrote: "I was 22 years old and only spent six months in my first job." Fortunately, the court agreed to issue a ruling protecting her from arrest. But she is not the only one who has been harassed among journalists.

Cases were filed against journalists, based on flimsy evidence, on charges of publishing reports that were not supportive of the ruling party. Editors and writers at Wire, the media organization where she works, have been subjected to accusations ranging from defamation to “spreading hostility,” “intention to riot” and “provocative tweets.” Now that the current year has begun, it has been attacked again, but the tweet that it made at the beginning of this year about the “auction” of Muslim women has spread widely, and a number of deputies seemed to talk about it. The Minister of Information Technology wrote a tweet in which he said that Internet provider GitHub had canceled the account of one of the suspects who opened the auction. This helped her overcome her fears and go to the police, who did nothing the first time, and to her amazement she was able to submit her "first information report".

The main media showed interest in the story, and even television channels wanted to talk to her. She did not find time for rest or food as she wanted to maintain the momentum of the story, and for the first time it became the story and no one was following it and taking notes on it. A week after the accident, she decided to go to a psychiatrist, and after the insistence of the editor-in-chief at Wire, he prescribed medication to treat anxiety and help her sleep. She returned home exhausted from the appointment, and tuberculosis, which she discovered months ago, did not help her, then the result of the examination came from Covid-19 positive.

A day after submitting a report to the police, she received a tweet from a girl whose name was mentioned on the “fake auction”, and she was shocked when she learned that she was among the women in the “auction”, but she found solace and strength from those who came out and spoke against this work. The police began a campaign of arrests, and after each arrest case, they received messages from the victims in the fake auction, "They arrested someone, Ismat" and we "succeeded." But the writer feels sad and shocked when she finds out the ages of the suspect. None of them was over the age of twenty-eight. One of them, an 18-year-old orphan, is now accused of insulting a woman of another faith she has never met. All this reveals the rot in Indian society.

Muslims in India have been increasingly persecuted since the extremist Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in 2014.

Even more worrying, the politicians who fan the flames of hatred in society are still free. After all, there was no first information report against BJP member Kabul Mishra, who in February 2020 gave police in New Delhi an ultimatum and told them to break up street protests before he acted himself. The demonstrators were protesting against the amended Citizenship Law, which facilitated the deprivation of citizenship for Muslim immigrants. It was the worst religious violence in India in years, as Hindu mobs attacked Muslims, killing 53 people, most of them Muslims.

In an interview with the writer in 2021, Mishra denied that his incitement to “shoot the traitors” was the cause of the violence. He is still at large, and the protesters are in prison and accused of inciting riots. One of them is activist Khaled Seifi, who tried to mediate between Muslims and Hindus before the riots broke out. After the “Polly Bay” case, his wife Narges sent a letter to her in which he said, “Sister, I feel helpless while in prison and unable to protect you. If I was outside, I would pretend as much as I could.” I was amazed, here is someone who has been in prison for two years and in the middle of an epidemic, but feels helpless not to protect her or help her. When I called his wife Nargis, she could not speak, and all I did to her was weep and grieve over the situation in India.

Prime Minister's decision to bring civil legal reforms before the nation

More than 600 laws, including civil and criminal, have been approved for change. Decision in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has decided to bring civil legal reforms before the nation. More than 600 changes, including civil and criminal laws, have been approved . Will put in front According to Dunya News, Prime Minister Imran Khan has decided to bring more than 600 criminal and civil legal reforms before the nation.

A function in this regard will be held at 11 a.m. tomorrow at the Prime Minister 's House. In which legal reforms will be put before the nation. Law Minister Forough Naseem and Parliamentary Secretary Malika Bukhari will also give a briefing on the occasion. Criminal cases have been approved to change important laws related to policing , including the law of evidence. More than 600 laws will be tabled in Parliament after approval by the Cabinet.

It may be recalled that the federal cabinet had approved the amendments to the criminal law yesterday. Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said in a media briefing after the cabinet meeting that the cabinet has approved the amendments to the criminal law. I will have to do it. If the decision takes too long, the magistrate or the judge will state the reasons why the delay has taken place.

Fawad Chaudhry said that the educational qualification of SHO should be at least BA, the jurisdiction of prosecution is also being extended, every criminal case has to be decided within 9 months, if not decided within 9 months, the Chief Justice. Justice will write the reason. Plea bargaining is being added to criminal cases , bail is being given to police , bail will be available in check cases, challan submission period is proposed to be increased from 14 days to 45 days, modern devices are on the list of evidence. Adding.

The heavy sentence of Zhang Dewu of Xiangda Group is exactly the same as that of Sun Dawu

Zhang Dewu, Chairman of Hubei Xiangda Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Group

The case of Xiangda Group, a private enterprise in Hubei Province, was handed down on Tuesday. The chairman of the group, Zhang Dewu, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for several crimes. However, Xiangda Group issued a statement on the same day expressing dissatisfaction with the severe sentence and resolutely appealed. Some public opinion believes that this case is exactly the same as the heavy sentence of Sun Dawu's case.

Zhang Dewu, chairman of Hubei Xiangda, was sentenced to 13 years in prison

Zhang Dewu, chairman of Hubei Xiangda, was arrested and his daughter asked the government to take over the company

Private entrepreneur Sun Dawu transferred to Hebei Xingtai Prison to serve his sentence

After the Xiangda Group's verdict came out, many online commentators compared the case to the Hebei Sun Dawu case that was pronounced last year.

"It's almost the same as Sun Dawu's experience, scale and reasons. When I read it at the time, I repeatedly confirmed that this is not Sun Dawu, right?" Qin Peng, an economic analyst in New York, replied to this station's interview in a text message.

The same self-made is also severely sentenced

Zhang Dewu, like Sun Dawu, are both self-made private entrepreneurs, and through hard work, he has developed a small business that walks the streets into a large group company spanning multiple industries.

Paradoxically, Zhang Dewu’s Xiangda Group, like Sun Dawu’s Dawu Group, was severely sentenced by the grassroots court for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”. Zhang Dewu was sentenced to 13 years in prison, and Sun Dawu was sentenced to 18 years. .

The Zhuxi County Court, the presiding court in the Xiangda case, found Zhang Dewu guilty of picking quarrels and provoking trouble, illegal detention, bid rigging, loan sharking, and gathering a crowd to attack state organs in Tuesday's judgment. He was imprisoned for 13 years and fined 60.13 million yuan.

Zhang Dewu and several leaders of the Xiangda Group were detained by the police at the end of 2019 because of this case. According to China's "Caixin.com" report, at the end of 2020, the Zhuxi County Procuratorate included the crime of participating in a triad organization when prosecuting the case, but when the case was re-indicted in August 2021, Zhang Dewu's "organization and leadership of an underworld organization" Crimes” and other crimes related to gangland were cancelled. This seems to give people hope.

However, on the day the verdict was handed down, Xiangda Group issued a statement expressing dissatisfaction with the verdict: "The management of the group disagreed with the fact-finding of the first instance, the application of the law, and the litigation procedures, and felt that Mr. Zhang Dewu was severely sentenced in retaliation after his "blackmail". Outrage, regret."

According to Caixin.com, Zhang Dewu's defense lawyer, He Bing, a professor at China University of Political Science and Law, pleaded not guilty to all the charges charged by the local procuratorate during the trial, but it was not accepted by the court.

To do the " iron case "

On the other hand, Xiangda Group has raised objections to the handling of this case earlier. In June last year, when the case was still under trial, the Weibo account of "Xiangda Group" posted that the task force set up by Zhuxi County, Shiyan City for this case was to judge before trial, to convict the crime first, and then use all means. to punish.

At that time, there was also a social media report that the Shiyan City Public Security Bureau issued a notice on this matter, using the form of "three long-term countersignatures" to investigate the case. Luo Mingzhu, a Chinese private entrepreneur in California, told this station that it is more common to use the form of "three long countersignatures" to investigate and handle cases. Signing it, to put it bluntly, is to form a common will, and all your sins have been predetermined. You can't come back."

Wang Ruiqin, a private entrepreneur in Washington, believes that this form of case handling is aimed at turning the case into an "iron case." "Usually, under the leadership of the secretary of the Political and Legal Committee, the public, procuratorate and law jointly handle the case, which mainly refers to large-scale and political cases. This situation in the Hubei case shows that, first, it is a political case, second, this case has great influence, and third, it is likely to be an unjust case.”

At the same time, the family members of the senior executives of Xiangda Group who were arrested for this case have repeatedly disclosed through social media that these executives were subjected to inhumane treatment in prison, and even tortured to extract confessions: Zhang Dewu received serious serious injuries in prison. Hyperthyroidism. Fan Shenghan, Party Secretary of Xiangda Group, was in a coma and paralyzed on the right side of his body due to torture. Another executive, Gong Yuxin, was detained in the detention center and was unable to walk normally and was almost deaf. Zhang Xiaolong lost 50 pounds.

The Chinese media were almost silent on the case. Caixin reported on Tuesday's case verdict, listing the views of both the prosecution and the defense and the court's ruling, but made no comment. Other than that, there are no other reports in the Chinese media.

But there is general sympathy for the Xiang case on social media. Most of the comments on Weibo thought it was the same unjust case as the Dawu Group. Private entrepreneur Luo Mingzhu told this station, "There are many similar cases in China. Local governments, in the name of cracking down on gangsters, systematically and systematically plunder the property of private enterprises on a large scale. It is the local government's financial difficulties. They're making money."

Wang Ruiqin also agrees with this analysis, "The local government's finances are relatively tight, especially recently, the property market is sluggish, companies are going bankrupt, and many local civil servants' wages are unsustainable. In fact, this case is still a situation where the local government digs three feet to find money. , so the local government can jointly handle the case with the Public Procuratorate and the Law.”

It is not easy to believe in the " rule of law "

However, the twists and turns of the Xiangda case and the possible injustice have not been ignored by the Chinese state media. After the case was brought to court last year, The Paper reposted a WeChat account on August 12 about the achievements of Xiangda Group, praising the national-level key leader in agricultural industrialization, which has become one of the top 500 private enterprises in China in 2019. The company seems to want to express its support for Xiangda.

Zhang Dewu's daughter, Zhang Jianhang, who also works at Xiangda Group, reposted Xiangda Group's opinion on the case's verdict on her Weibo on Wednesday. Zhang Jianhang apparently supported the appeal. She said on Weibo, "The road to building the rule of law is a long way to go, and we must move forward with a heavy burden. Even if there is a ray of sunshine, we must persevere!"

Wang Ruiqin, who is also a private entrepreneur, is not very optimistic about the prospect of appeals. She believes that although China's upper and lower judicial organs have a guiding relationship, they are closely related to each other, and it is difficult for higher-level public prosecutors to disagree in this type of case. Rectification of lower-level public prosecutors.

She stressed that this is the context in which financial resources are now being sought everywhere.

(Reporter: Wang Yun, Editor-in-charge: Shi Qing, Web Editor: Hong Wei)