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Wednesday witnessed more developments on the Unnao case, making it the lead for The Indian Express and Hindustan Times. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) finally “filed an FIR against Uttar Pradesh BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, and nine others including the son-in-law of a UP minister” on allegations that they “orchestrated the accident that left the woman in a critical condition”, writes Express. It also mentions that the doctors believe that “Unnao woman” is still critical “with vitals showing some improvement, which is hard to define”. That doesn’t explain much, now does it?
Express says CBI “booked” Arun Singh, who is the “son-in-law of UP minister Ravendra Pratap Singh”, and that he is the “block pramukh of the Nawabganj panchayat samiti in Unnao”.
Hindustan Times highlights that CBI got “cracking” on its probe of the road crash in Unnao. Further, Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi “took cognizance” of a letter written by the 19-year-old woman and her family, he “appeared unhappy” with the fact that he “learnt about the letter through the media”, writes HT.
Café Coffee Day founder
Newspapers Thursday also cover the demise of Cafe Coffee Day founder, V.G. Siddhartha. The story finds front page billing on both The Times of India and The Hindu and Express. “36 hours later, CCD founder’s body fished out 1 km from where he jumped”, headlines TOI, adding, the “news triggered a storm of reactions from the business world”.
The Hindu reports that his body “was traced in Nethravati river near Mangaluru 36 hours after he went missing”, and that he was cremated in his “family’s coffee estate in Chatanahalli village in Hassan district”. The Hindu describes, his eldest son Amartya Hegde “lit the funeral pure after the last rites were performed” in an “atmosphere marked by quiet grief”. Malavika Hegde, wife of V.G. Siddhartha Hegde, “may be appointed as chairperson and managing director of Coffee Day Enterprises”, mentions The Hindu.
TOI gives it the lead, but its headline is rather tasteless, “36 hours later, CCD founder’s body fished out 1 km from where he jumped,” and reports the reactions of the business world: “most recalled a humble and brilliant entrepreneur”, while others “blamed the enforcement agencies for driving the 59-year-old ‘Coffee King’ to suicide as evident from his purported suicide note”. Also, TOI reports that Cafe Coffee Day has “appointed S V Ranganath as interim chairman”. It also brings to light Coffee Day Enterprises’s “debt of Rs 6,547 crore”, “four private holding companies of VG Siddhartha had outstanding loans of Rs 3,537 crore”, according to Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) filings. “Over Rs 2,500 crore of this personal debt was added since 2017,” says TOI.
Zomato wins hearts online
Food aggregator start-up Zomato’s reaction to a customer in Jabalpur “who cancelled his food order after he found it was being delivered by a non-Hindu” (Express) made it to page one with applause all over Twitter. This story gets page 1 prominence in Express, Hindu, TOI — The Telegraph chose to make it the lead story of the day headlining, “The spine to say ‘not sorry to lose any business that comes in the way of our values’”. Telegraph highlights that “Zomato served up an exemplary lesson”, when it cancelled the customer’s order and tweeting that “Food doesn’t have a religion. It is a religion”.
Slump economy
Also making news in TOI is, “growth in the eight key core sectors slowed to 0.2% in June — the lowest since December 2015”. TOI details the data released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry which “showed the eight core sectors — spanning coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity — rose an annual 0.2% compared with 7.8% in June 2018”.
Zee investments
The promoters of Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEE) made the lead in The Economic Times and Business Standard Wednesday as they “will sell an 11% stake in the media company to US-based financial investor Invesco Oppenheimer Developing Markets Fund for Rs 4,224 crore”, writes ET. “The move, spurning an offer by a Comcast-led group, follows a nine-month search for a buyer as the parent Essel Group seeks to reduce debt by selling assets” and that the “promoters are confident of selling a further 9% stake in Zee by the September 30 deadline for debt repayments”, ET highlights.
Opinion
Though the passage of the triple talaq Bill was welcomed by a number of Muslims and the ruling party’s “Hindutva base”, it brings many issues into the discussion, writes TOI. In ‘Make It Win-Win’, it writes that by criminalising the practice of talaq-e-biddat, the government fails to treat divorce as a civil offence and “appears to have a punitive edge for Muslim men” in particular. The severity of the punishment, which is three years imprisonment, and the seriousness of the crime “raise issues like proportionality”. While the Congress-led UPA government sought to appease minorities, the BJP “sticks out with rough edges” by overriding personal laws. Laws for marriage, divorce and succession would have been simplified with a Uniform Civil Code — a promise that was in fact part of BJP’s manifesto along with a mandate to achieve it.
With Independence Day just 15 days away, there has been a “spurt of activity” in Kashmir and three trends can be seen in the region, writes HT in ‘Assert authority, maintain peace’. The first is the movement towards state assembly elections, which if successful, would end a year of Governor’s rule in the state. Mobilisation of Indian troops, anti-corruption investigations and Home Minister Amit Shah’s statements point to the second trend — India’s desire to leave its imprint on Kashmir. The third is the renegotiation of the contract between India and Kashmir which must be handled with care and after “due consultations with Kashmiri political forces”, specifically the Peoples Democratic Party and the National Conference, which have stood in solidarity with India during “difficult times”.
Prime Time
The Unnao rape case and Cafe Coffee Day founder V.G. Siddhartha dominated prime time debates.
India TV: A class 11 student, Muniba Kidwai, from the Anand Bhawan school in Barabanki, left Uttar Pradesh (UP) additional superintendent of police R.S. Gautam, speechless on the Unnao rape case and the subsequent accident.
“How can you guarantee my safety? This could happen to me if I stood up against someone powerful.” Gautam had spoken about the right to raise one’s voice and protest.
BJP’s Gaurav Bhatia said, “She asked a very valid and important question. But I can say this with complete faith that the central government, as well as the UP government, has taken steps to make sure that women in our country remain safe.”
To this, anchor Sushant Sinha sarcastically said that there was a discrepancy between what BJP said and did.
Advocate Prateek Som wondered why “people are happy that this case has gone to the CBI. Why is the CBI not investigating the primary FIR on the rape?”
ABP News: Why were 33 letters written by the Unnao rape survivor ignored, asks the channel. Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi asked for an inquiry into the delay in placing before him a 12 July letter by the Unnao rape victim’s family.
Vikram Singh, former UP DGP said, “…for the SP to say that there is no weight to this (the letters) is absurd.”
Anchor Romana Isar Khan asked BJP’s Prem Shukla, “Why did the SP think there was no weight to the 33 letters?”
He replied, “Only the SP can answer this. But the government has taken all measures possible to help the survivor. We stand by her. We stand by justice.”
NDTV 24×7: On ‘Left, Right, and Centre’, anchor Nidhi Razdan questioned the political and legal system that had failed the Unnao rape survivor.
Dushyant Dave, senior advocate said, “The criminal justice system has failed for a long time. (This case) is actually the culmination of the downfall of the criminal justice system.”
For activist Shireen V. Miller a major issue was the lack of support for the victim: “There is no victim protection scheme or a witness protection scheme.”
Tavleen Singh, columnist and author, was more forthright: “What this story tells us is the whole story of small town, rural India. What we don’t like to admit is that there is never justice in such cases.”
CNN News 18: Two days before he disappeared, CCD’s V.G. Siddhartha had written a letter to his board revealing his debt crisis.
Anchor Zakka Jacob asked if debt was one of the most “under-reported stories” about corporate India, leading to stress, as it did in Siddhartha’s case.
“…the system failed in front of him. He was a man of morals, he did not flee like a Mallya or a Nirav Modi,” argued lawyer Prateek Som.
Former banker Sanjay Jha referred to amendments in recent laws: “…an I-T officer can give you a knock at the midnight hour and conduct raids, seizures and put you in jail”.
BJP’s Tuhin Sinha agreed that Siddhartha’s allegations need to be investigated. “But also, there have been certain anomalies that were detected in the accounts of CCD in 2017.
With inputs from Pia Krishankutty.