Submitted by narendramodifacts on Tue, 10/29/2019 - 15:01
Here are a few recent instances of people being punished for speaking truth to power. Or just doing their jobs. There are, of course, many many more examples like this.
Government employees... beware of speaking up! (Or even just doing your job.)
'A group of 27 European Union lawmakers is in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday to observe the situation in the restive following the government's decision to abrogate article 370. According to reports, in all, 22 of the 27 members of European Parliament (MEPs) are Right-wing politicians in their home countries.
'A Rashtriya Janata Dal leader was arrested on Tuesday, October 29, in Bihar for posting a video on Facebook, where he questioned Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's ban on liquor and criticised him for his wrong policies, according to the police. Opposition RJD leader Sachin Kumar Choudhary was arrested in Madhubani district after his video criticising the CM had gone viral. Choudhury, who is the vice president of the district RJD unit, was arrested from his village by Madhubani Police IT cell in charge Shailesh Kumar.
'Writer and journalist Doddipalya Narasimhamurthy was arrested from Raichur in coastal Karnataka on October 25, according to a report in the New Indian Express. He has been booked for ‘treason’ among other charges including criminal conspiracy, attempt to murder and extortion. Narasimhamurthy had been in charge of bringing out publications such as Nyayapatha and is the secretary of the Gauri Media Trust, formed after the journalists’s death. He is also the general secretary in Karnataka of Yogendra Yadav’s political outfit Swaraj India.
'A group of people who chose not to stand up during the national anthem were abused and heckled by another group in a Bangalore movie theatre on October 23. One of the people hurling abuses at the group – including calling them “Pakistani terrorists” – has been identified as actor Arun Gowda. In a video of the incident, Gowda and his friends can be seen trying to shame four people for not standing during the anthem. “Not able to spare 52 seconds for the country, but you have the audacity to sit here and watch a three-hour movie? Are you Pakistani terrorists?” one of them men said...'
'New rules recently notified giving the Centre power over Central and State information commissioners are intended to ensure RTI appeals go the government's way... The suspense and mystery on the Narendra Modi government’s real impact on the right to information is now over. The damage to the autonomy of all information commissioners in India is more that what was expected. Not only has independence been cut, the institution – and its chief – have been made subordinate...'
[In light of the appointment of G. C. Murmu as J & K's first lieutenant governor, it is worth reading this blogpost about Murmu by former IAS officer Sanjeev Sabhlok, written in September 2013.]
'The Centre has appointed Girish Chandra Murmu and R.K. Mathur as the new lieutenant governors of the two union territories, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, that are slated to come into existence on October 31... Murmu, who belongs to Mayurbhanj, Odisha, was seen as a trusted aide of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah during their stint in Gujarat. Murmu was the principal secretary in the chief minister’s office when Modi helmed the state government in Gujarat...
'The Government today ordered the winding up of Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Commission (SHRC), State Information Commission (SIC), State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (SCDRC), State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC), State Commission for Protection of Women & Child Rights (SCPWCR), State Commission for Persons with Disabilities (SCPwD) and State Accountability Commission (SAC) with effect from October 31, 2019.
'When the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) released its data for 2017 on Monday – an entire year behind schedule – a few promised new sections were missing. Data collected under the sub-heads mob lynching, murder by influential people and killing ordered by khap panchayat have not been published. According to the Indian Express, the 2017 report follows a framework largely similar to the 2016 one, except for additions under the cyber crimes and offences against the state category. “It is surprising that this data [on mob lynching, etc.] has not been published.
