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HomePlugged In'Shameful' say anchors Rahul Shivshankar & Rubika Liyaqat in response to Unnao...

‘Shameful’ say anchors Rahul Shivshankar & Rubika Liyaqat in response to Unnao ‘accident’

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Prime Time

The alleged Unnao “accident” in which the rape victim was critically injured and her two aunts killed, received all day coverage across news channels and dominated prime time debates.

From Rahul Shivshankar on Times Now to Rubika Liyaqat on ABP and Nidhi Razdan on NDTV 24×7, news anchors asked the BJP to clarify its stand. “Very shameful,” is how Shankar termed the response. “Shameful”, echoed Liyaqat. Shivshankar said this after BJP’s Sudanshu Trivedi brought up longstanding enmity between the rape victim and the accused BJP MLA Sengar –“You are confusing the issue,” commented Shivshanker.

ABP News: On Seedha Sawal, an angry anchor Rubika Liyaqat asked, “Is there a conspiracy behind the accident?” She used the words “shameful” and “atrocious” to describe the response to the accident and told BJP’s Rakesh Tripathi that the UP government was sleeping “like a Kumbhakaran” on law and order issues.

Tripathi asked for patience and defended the UP police: “UP Police has not yet written this off as an accident.”

Lawyer Abha Singh asked Tripathi about the whereabouts of the security entail for the survivor?: “It was known that they were facing threats. Where was the police?”

She added, “In fact, BJP leader Sakshi Maharaj even thanked Kuldeep Singh Sengar (the accused) after winning the elections in 2014 from Unnao.”

Aaj Tak: Anchor Rohit Sardana commented that while women MPs across party lines united to condemn SP’s Azam Khan for his intemperate remarks against women, no woman minister had spoken on Unnao.

Ranjana Kumari, women’s activist called this “shameful”.

CNN News 18: BJP’s Shaina NC was one BJP leader spoke out on the accident: “As a woman leader, I am with the Unnao rape victim”.

Anchor Zakka Jacob asked her whether she and the BJP believed in so many ‘coincidences’: “The victim’s father dying in police custody, her uncle lodged in jail and this accident – you don’t see all these incidents as coincidences, do you?”

Shaina’s reply was evasive: “…the accident is unfortunate. Sometimes accidents have no explanation. Even if there is an investigation, it must suggest the facts and realities. It must be known that our PM leads by example.”

“There are two aspects – one is the incident itself and other is the conspiracy beind it. The allegations by the family are being examined separately and in great detail. The incident is being reconstructed,” said Lucknow’s ADG Rajeev Krishna.

NDTV 24×7: On ‘Left, Right & Centre,’ anchor Nidhi Razdan brought up Unnao too.
Political analyst Geeta Bhatt, a BJP supporter, argued that if MLA Sengar was convicted of the rape charges, “then he should be sacked” from the party. Then she shifted focus: “But such a question should be raised in all cases. What about what happened in Rajasthan when a woman immolated herself?”

Tehseen Poonawala, a political analyst, wanted to know what actions would be taken against the police (guards) for not accompanying the survivor? “If this was a case of accident, why did the CBI register a case of murder? There are too many loopholes,” he added.

Shivam Vij, a journalist, said, “The police is in fact complicit in what has happened – they are the ones who gave the truck driver the required information. There is a difference between goonda raj and jungle raj and this is jungle raj. Yogi Adityanath is the worst chief minister in history”.

Front Page

Newspapers today concentrate on “Unnao rape victim fights for life after accident, murder FIR against BJP MLA” (The Indian Express), as the lead stories. Hindustan Times and The Times of India play with the prospect of this “supposed accident” headlining, “Rape victim’s ‘accident’: MLA booked for murder” (HT) and “FIR against MLA, 29 others for ‘plot to kill’ Unnao rape survivor” (TOI). Meanwhile, The Hindu gives the story lower billing with a headline that is unclear: “BJP MLA booked for murder over collision.”

The Uttar Pradesh police on Monday “booked BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, his brother” and “around two dozen others for murder, attempted murder and criminal conspiracy”, reports HT. The paper writes that many people were “dwelling on this convenient accident” – the survivor’s father was murdered, “allegedly by Sengar’s brothers” – the state police, “which was initially leaning towards the theory that there was no foul play in the accident” said it would “hand over the case to CBI.” “Scrambling to contain the damage”, Yogi Adityanath-led government said it will “bear all expenses for the treatment of the survivor and the lawyer”, mentions HT.

TOI features a comment by the UP Director General of Police OP Singh who said, “the car crash involving the Unnao rape survivor prime facie seems to be an accident.” Express visits the Unnao victim’s village and finds that the words “saazish” (conspiracy) and “chele” (henchmen) are the “two words echoing across Unnao.” Villagers fear “that words they speak might reach the ears of chele of the locally powerful Sengar”, reports Express.

Tiger Population

And in happier news, newspapers highlight India’s success in increasing its tiger count. Prime Minister Narendra Modi released the All India Tiger Estimation Results Monday. “India now has 2,967 tigers, or seven out of every 10 big cats in the wild of the world”, writes HT — “the number reflects a 33 per cent increase over 2014 when there were 2,226 tigers in the country. In the span of 12 years, India has more than doubled its number of tigers.”

The Hindu runs this story as its second lead of the day: “Madhya Pradesh saw the highest number at 526, closely followed by Karnataka (524).” Both HT and Hindu highlighted a decline in the population in the north east, particularly Chhattisgarh and Mizoram.

The Express, however, adds a caveat: it underlines a “discrepancy in methodology”, saying that in 2014 “tigers aged 1.5 years or older were counted”. The current “report has the cut-off age as 1 year”. To which a senior official at the National Tiger Conservation Authority said, “Tiger cubs don’t grow very fast beyond 3 months. Hence, 1 and 1.5 year are synonymous in the context as the difference is not occultly discernible.” TOI quotes PM Modi, “I just want to tell people associated with this work that the story that started with the fear of Ek Tha Tiger has now reached the stage of Tiger Zinda Hai.”

Yediyurappa wins floor test

Hopefully, bringing “down the curtain on weeks of political turmoil” in Karnataka, B.S. Yediyurappa “proved his majority in the assembly by winning the trust vote” Monday, writes HT. This story makes the lead of the day for the Hindu too – “17 disqualifications had put BJP in a comfortable position in the passage of confidence motion” with the strength of the House down to “208 where the BJP enjoys the support of 106 MLAs”.

Others

In other news of the day, PSU “will take up another troubled real estate giant Unitech’s 74 projects affecting 17,000 buyers”, after “entrusting NBCC with completing Amrapali projects”, says TOI in a lead report. According to attorney general K.K. Venugopal, NBCC “is ready to take over the construction of unfinished projects as consultant”, tells TOI.

Express features a report claiming that South Kashmir remains a “hotbed of militancy” headlining, “In first 6 months, 82% militants killed in J&K were Valley recruits”. The report, based on a “government document’’ claims that “of the 121 militants killed in J&K by security forces in the first half of 2019, only 21 were from Pakistan, which means that 82% of militants killed in the state were locals.” Unfortunately, “recruitment of locals into militancy didn’t witness a decline in 2019,” owing to the fact that “76 locals picked up guns in the first half of the year”, with “39 of them joining Hizbul Mujahideen” and “21 Jaish-e-Mohammad.”

Opinion

HT: In “Well done, but a long way to go”, HT celebrates the National Tiger Conservation Report 2018 released by PM Modi. The tiger population has increased significantly since 2014– “This was not an easy task” as it involved collecting data, pattern-matching analysis and species identification to estimate tiger populations. Protection of tigers outside protected areas is still a challenge since hunting, poaching and illegal trade of animal parts continue to be practiced. Projects like the Ket-Betwa river linking poses a “new threat”. If taken forward, it will submerge a large chunk of the surrounding tiger habitat. Balancing development and conservation is the Prime Minister’s goal, but providing housing and shelter for citizens and conservation efforts of endangered animals may often counter one another, writes HT.

Express: In “Riding Roughshod”, Express addresses the controversial amendments made to the Unlawful Activities Prevention Amendment Act (UAPA), an anti-terror bill, introduced in the House last week. The bill has been justified on grounds of national security interests, but the worry is that it allows the Centre to deem any organisation as a “terrorist” but does not specify or “spell out who is one (a terrorist)”. The same concerns pertain to the changes made to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) which allows the agency to “investigate terror crimes relating to Indians and interests of India” and may potentially undermine state policing and federal structures at large. Home Minister Amit Shah has assured that the bill won’t be misused yet its vagueness seems to provide the Centre with “wide discretionary powers” on deciding what terrorism is.

The Hindu: Karnataka continues to be plagued with an unstable government, writes The Hindu. “In Governance Mode”, it explains that while BJP state chief B. S. Yediyurappa won the trust vote, his party is still halfway short of 225 seats — the Assembly’s full strength. Leading “a rebellion in the ranks of the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular)”, the three-time chief minister has got “back in the saddle”. The last time he occupied the post was in 2018, and for just two days, as he was unable to secure a majority and forced to step down. Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar’s resignation after disqualifying 17 of the rebel MLAs proves that bitterness continues to linger on in Karnataka, while citizens continue to deal with more immediate challenges such as “water scarcity and urban management”.

With inputs from Pia Krishankutty.

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