'Amid the murder of Karnataka rationalist Professor M. M. Kalburgi last month, the earlier death of anti-superstition crusader Narendra Dabholkar in Maharashtra in 2013 and sundry death threats meted out to journalists, an alarming trend can be discerned: those who attack Hindutva groups and their ideas can end up as targets of their hate campaigns and death threats. The even earlier death, in 2012, of journalist Linganna Satyampet in Karnataka is still shrouded in mystery.
"In the first of its kind in India, youth in Kochi launched a campaign called ‘Kiss of Love’ to challenge the moral policing of the Hindu Right. While that protest was attacked by right wing thugs and suppressed by the police, this form of protest has since spread to different parts of the country like Hyderabad, Bombay and Calcutta. Today, the ‘Kiss of Love’ protest was held at nowhere short of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) head office in New Delhi.
"Several police complaints were lodged against V.R. Bhat, a prominent member of the right wing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), on Monday for posting a derogatory remark against a woman activist on Facebook. The post by Mr Bhat read that the activists like her should be raped by rapists. Such activists should be held by their hair and sexually assaulted to correct their approach towards Hinduism. It was his apparent reply to Ms Prabha N.
"Faced with the growing menace of riots following derogatory remarks made against well-known people on social networking sites, the Maharashtra police would now be booking even those who endorse the contents by clicking on 'like' button and forward the objectionable content to others. Speaking to reporters on Monday, Maharashtra Home Minister RR Patil said those endorsing the objectionable content would be booked as a co-accused along with those who have authored it under the provisions of the cyber laws..."
"The posting of allegedly objectionable images of Dalit leader Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar on Facebook on Saturday night, sparked stray incidents of arson in Pune, Aurangabad and Solapur on Sunday, the police said. The cyber cell of the Pune police has registered a case against ‘unknown people’..."
"The 32-year-old Goan Facebooker who made national headlines for his anti-Narendra Modi and anti-Manohar Parrikar posts last week, was once a fan of the Goa chief minister and even volunteered for a Sangh Parivar outfit. After being interrogated for nearly seven hours by Crime Branch officials earlier this week, the visibly shaken Devu Chodankar, a Vizag-based shipbuilding professional, also said that the incident could have put him off Facebook forever...
"The controversial post on a popular social networking site that resulted in the death of one person and extensive damage to property in Pune was uploaded using four proxy servers located in Romania, Saudi Arabia and two other countries. The IP address of the user is, however, yet to be traced. Highly-placed sources in the state police told HT on Thursday that following a request made through the government of India to the host server (the social networking site server) in the United States, the hosts sent a report on Thursday based on their primary findings.
"Tension prevailed in Pune, after an angry mob went on rampage in the town over morphed pictures of the late Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackery, Chhatrapati Shivaji and other Hindu gods which were shared on Facebook on Saturday, and later re-circulated on WhatsApp, according to reports in the Indian Express and Hindustan Times. A Muslim IT professional, who was no in way connected to the circulation of the pictures, was attacked by the mob and killed, say the news reports.
"In an attempt to contain protests over objectionable posts on a social networking site about Chhatrapati Shivaji, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and the late Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, the Maharashtra police have decided to take action even against those who 'like' the controversial posts. Those who 'like' such posts will be booked under the Information Technology Act and under the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Nanded police have said.
"A Facebook profile in the name of 'Dharamveer Shree Sambhaji Maharaj' was noticed on Saturday night, carrying morphed pictures containing allegedly derogatory references to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Thackeray, Lord Ganesha and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj. There was an instant reaction and by the time the police machinery reacted, 12 buses were damaged at Chaphekar Chowk in Chinchwad by 9.30 pm. "The post spread like wildfire through WhatsApp. Rumourmongers took advantage of the situation and started spreading false alarms.
