Jadavpur University professor arrested for spreading ‘anti-Mamata’ cartoons #FOE, granted bail

CARTOON SAYS

 In Satyajit Ray’s movie “Sonar kella”, Mukul is a kid that seem to have memories of a “golden fort” from his past life. His doctor (psychiatrist) takes him to a trip to Rajasthan to see if the fort exists. An evil doctor, wanting to make fortune off the supposed golden fort’s treasures, tries to kill Mukul’s doctor and take his place. This are excerpts from dialogue between the evil doctor (Mamta) and Mukul (Mukul) from the movie. The original good doctor represents Trivedi.

Evil doctor (after hypnotizing Mukul).: Can you see the golden fort, Mukul?
Mukul (about his original doctor, after the evil doctor portrays the good doctor as the bad one): That’s a bad person!
Evil doctor (after pushing the good doctor off a cliff): Bad person vanish!

PTI- Professor Mahapatra of Jadavpur university, who was arrested for allegedly circulating anti-Mamata’s caricature on the Internet, was granted bail by Alipore court. Police arrested him last night for violating cyber laws.

He is a Chemistry Professor in the Jadavpur University. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said that the professor was arrested for his wrongdoings.

On Thursday night, he was assaulted by the Trinamool-Congress(TMC) leaders for circulating the cartoons.

Kolkata, ibnlive april 13, 2012 : A Jadavpur University professor was arrested on Friday morning for allegedly spreading “anti-Mamata Banerjee” cartoons on the Internet. Ambikesh Mahapatra, a teacher with the Chemistry Department of the University, was picked up on Thursday night by the police for allegedly forwarding cartoons of Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee.

The cartoon based on Satyajit Ray‘s movie Sonar Kella, allegedly show Mamata and Railways Minister Mukul Roy discussing how to get rid of party MP Dinesh Trivedi.

Mahapatra has been booked for defaming Mamata. Section 66 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code (punishment for defamation) have been slapped on the professor, who was arrested on charges of forwarding “derogatory images” of the West Bengal Chief Minister to nearly 65 recipients and mocking her government policies.

Trinamool workers allegedly raided Mahapatra’s residence at New Garia in the southern fringes of Kolkata before the police picked him up. They also allegedly manhandled the professor.

Even though Mahapatra was picked up on Thursday night the police showed his arrest only on Friday morning after he had been forced to spend the night at East Jadavpur Police Station. The professor will now be produced in the Alipore court.

Sources say it is quite an unprecedented incident and point out that Mamata is becoming increasingly intolerant to any incident that shows her in bad light, even if may be innocuous.

Normal Baba, aspiring godman, raises second round of investment

New Delhi.  First Post –Normal Baba, an aspiring godman who claims to help people with his invisible “Third Arm”, has successfully received 15 crore rupees of investment from Banyan Capital, a venture capital firm funding promising godmen, tantriks, black-magicians etc.

Normal Baba, 37-year-old three times failed entrepreneur, is hopeful that he’d be fourth time lucky and turn his godmangiri into a profitable venture within a short span of one year.

“We’d recover all the cost within a few months,” claimed Normal Baba, born Nirmaljeet Singh Albela before he turned “spiritual” after he failed at three successive attempts of starting a business.

Earlier, NIrmal Baba had raised 50 lakhs through an angel investment that was used to launch website, buy video camera, get fancy furniture, and quizzing.

He is Nirmal Baba, not Normal

“We’d be buying slots on all major television channels and broadcast this program called ‘Third Arm of Normal Baba’, where we’d showcase people declaring their faith in Normal Baba and ask others to send donations to get their desires fulfilled,” Baba explained his fourth foolproof business idea.

Normal Baba explained that he’d be investing all the money into recording TV shows that would show random people thanking him for solving problems related to their personal and professional lives.

“I have original solutions to offer like polishing shoes with a special butter andeating apples dipped in water from my bathtub,” Normal Baba described the “product” he’d be selling.

Baba, who has already 2000 followers on Twitter and 20,000 in the real world – people whom he referred to as “shop-floor workers” in his business plan – expects at least 150 crore rupees in donations in the first year of his business.

“This is a very conservative estimate,” Normal Baba claimed.

Apart from ‘donations’, the business plan showed crores of extra “revenues” in shape of ‘goodwill’, ‘consultancy fees’, and ‘endorsements’. Baba’s b-plan showed thee major expenses – ‘video production cost’, ‘advertising’, and ‘event management’.

Justifying the investment, Varun Bafna, the managing partner of Banyan Capital, claimed that the VC fund had full faith in Normal Baba’s ability to convince common men of his special powers.

“We expect 5000% RoI (Return on Investment)” Bafna said. When asked about the exit options that he was considering, Bafna said, “Let’s not call it ‘exit’ option; we would consider it ‘nirvana’ when we exit the business. And we could do it by selling our shares to a political party or a news channel, who could be interested in having Normal Baba as the in-house superstar.”

निर्मल बाबा के खिलाफ शिकायत दर्ज

 

लखनऊ/ रायपुरः प्रभात खबर द्वारा लगातार किये जा रहे खुलासे के बाद टीवी चैनलों पर विज्ञापन के माध्यम से लोकप्रियता बटोरने वाले निर्मल बाबा उर्फ निर्मल जीत सिंह नरूला के खिलाफ मामला दर्ज किया गया है. चैनलों के माध्यम से लाखों भक्तों को बेवकूफ बनाकर ठगी करने के आरोपी बाबा के खिलाफ उत्तर प्रदेश और छत्तीसगढ के दो अलग-अलग थानों में शिकायता दर्ज की गई है.

लखनऊ के गोमतीनगर थाने में लखनऊ निवासी तान्या ठाकुर और आदित्य ठाकुर ने निर्मल बाबा के खिलाफ शिकायत दर्ज कराई जिसमें उन्होंने आम लोगों से पैसे लेकर सवाल पूछने और उल्टा-सीधा जवाब देकर धोखा करने के आरोप लगाए हैं. अर्जी में कहा गया है कि निर्मल बाबा के प्रवचन से लोग गुमराह हो रहे हैं. गोमतीनगर थाना प्रभारी मनोज मिश्रा ने बताया कि शिकायत दर्ज कर मामले की जांच की जा रही है. जांच में आरोप सही पाए जाने के बाद प्राथमिकी (एफआईआर) दर्ज की जाएगी. पुलिस निर्मल बाबा के साथ मीडिया की भूमिका की भी जांच करेगी.

दूसरी शिकायत छत्तीसगढ में रायपुर के डीडी नगर थाने में दर्ज कराई गई है. इसमें शिकायतकर्ता रविशंकर विश्वविद्यालय के पूर्व छात्रसंघ अध्यक्ष योगेन्द्र शंकर शुक्ला ने निर्मल बाबा पर पाखंडी होने का आरोप लगाते हुए कहा कि “निर्मल बाबा की तीसरी आंख” कार्यक्रम में बाबा लोगों को अनर्गल उपाय बतलाकर उनके साथ धोखाधड़ी करके फीस के रूप में मोटी रकम वसूलते हैं.

टीवी चैनलों पर विज्ञापन के माध्यम से बाबा की लोकप्रियता अचानक काफी बढ़ गयी है. अगर कहें कि उनके सामने सभी बाबा पीछे छूट गये हैं, तो कोई अतिश्योक्ति नहीं होगी. बाबा का असर ऐसा है कि टीवी के सामने भी कई लोग पर्स खोल कर और बोतल में पानी रख कर बैठ जाते हैं. थर्ड आइ ऑफ निर्मल बाबा नामक कार्यक्रम में बाबा कृपा पाने के जो उपाय बताते हैं, वह उन्हें संदेह के घेरे में ला देता है. वैसे बाबा का दावा है कि उनके पास दिव्य शक्ति है और वह उसी से भक्तों को कष्ट से मुक्ति दिलाते हैं.

काला पर्स रखने के बाबा के टिप्स से उसकी बिक्री काफी बढ़ गयी है. अकेले रांची में काले पर्स की बिक्री अब लगभग हर महीने 1.5 करोड़ की हो रही है, जो पहले बमुश्किल 45-50 लाख की होती थी. 10 रुपये के नये नोट की गड्डी बाहर में 12 सौ रुपये में बिकने लगी है. बैंकों में 10 रुपये की गड्डी की मांग बढ़ गयी है. मुंहमांगी कीमत पर बाबा के फोटो बिक रहे हैं.

कैसे आ सकते हैं समागम में-
पहले बुकिंग करानी पड़ती है. रजिस्ट्रेशन शुल्क दो हजार रुपये प्रति व्यक्ति है. दो वर्ष के ऊपर के बच्चों का भी पूरा पैसा लगता है. पैसे या डिमांड ड्राफ्ट यस बैंक, पंजाब नेशनल बैंक और आइसीआइसीआइ बैंक में जमा होते हैं. निर्मल दरबार में सीधे पैसे या डिमांड ड्राफ्ट भेजने की व्यवस्था नहीं है. यह राशि नन रिफंडेबल और नन ट्रांसफरेबल है. 211, चिरंजीव टावर, 43, नेहरू पैलेस नयी दिल्ली-110019 के पते पर ओरिजनल बैंक रिसिप्ट कूरियर से भेजनी पड़ती है. लिफाफे पर यूनिक रेफरेंस नंबर लिखना पड़ता है, जो वेबसाइट से लिया जा सकता है. यह नंबर तभी संभव है,जब समागम के लिए जगह खाली हो.

समागम में हिस्सा लेने के लिए पंजाब नेशनल बैंक ने पे फी सिस्टम शुरू किया है, ताकि प्रोसेस जल्द हो. इसके लिए चालान वेबसाइट से डाउनलोड किये जा सकते हैं. इसका भी ओरिजिनल रिसिप्ट निर्मल दरबार को भेजना पड़ता है. रिसिप्ट के पीछे अपना मोबाइल नंबर और किस समागम में हिस्सा लेना चाहते हैं, उसका उल्लेख करना होता है. भक्त को एसएमएस से सूचना भेजी जाती है.

फोन से नंबर नहीं लगता- निर्मल बाबा के समागम के लिए फोन से नंबर नहीं लग सकता. न ही सीधे नंबर मिल सकता है. यह सुविधा बंद कर दी गयी है.
ऐसे मिलती है बाबा की कृपा : बाबा कहते हैं, सभी भक्तों का समागम में आना संभव नहीं है. अगर वह टीवी के सामने हैं या फिर कहीं और हैं, तो वहीं उन्हें कृपा मिलती है. सिर्फ श्रद्धा चाहिए.

समागम के दो हिस्से : किसी भी समागम के दो हिस्से होते हैं. पहले हिस्से में निर्मल बाबा भक्तों से सीधे बात करते हैं और उन्हें आशीर्वाद देते हैं. दूसरे हिस्से में बाबा भक्तों के अनुभव सुनते हैं.

कैसे होता है समापन- समागम की समाप्ति पर बाबा भक्तों से कहते हैं : आप जिस इच्छा को लेकर आये हैं, उसका ध्यान करिये. फिर कहते हैं : सभी अपने-अपने पर्स खोल लीजिये. इसके बाद बाबा आशीर्वाद देते हैं. लोगों से काला पर्स रखने और अलमारी में 10 के नोट की गड्डी रखने की सलाह देते हैं.

अगस्त तक सीट नहीं- बाबा के समागम के लिए अगस्त महीने तक सीट खाली नहीं है. लोगों को चेताया भी गया है कि अगर कोई यह कहता है कि वह बाबा के समागम में शामिल करवा सकता है, तो वह गलत है. ऐसे लोगों से सावधान रहें.

पैसे देकर सवाल करवाते थे बाबा : निधि
चर्चित ब्लाग भड़ास 4 मीडिया के मुताबिक बाबा पहले नोएडा की फिल्मसिटी स्थित एक स्टूडियो में अपने प्रोग्राम की शूटिंग करवाते थे. उस वक्त बाबा के सामने जो लोग अपनी समस्या के हल का दावा करते थे, वे असली न होकर जूनियर आर्टिस्ट हुआ करते थे.

read prabhat news here

Joint Statement on Forcible Eviction and Police Brutalities in Kolkata

Immediate Release

Condemn the Eviction Drive in Nonadanga, Kolkata!

 

Demand Immediate Release of Arrested Activists!

 

The Trinamool Congress-led Government of West Bengal is daily showing its anti-people character. Its Police and the bulldozers of the KMDA (Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority) razed to the ground and burnt the slums and homes of more than 800 people in Nonadanga, Kolkata on 30th March 2012. These are the same people who were resettled after evictions from various canal banks across Kolkata, and from the dispossessed from the hurricane Aila in 2009. A protest march called against the forceful eviction by residents and progressive organisations and individuals on 4th April was also brutally lathicharged by the Police, critically injuring many. Yesterday on 8th April, a sit-in demonstration was violently broken and 67 people were arrested, with false cases pressed on seven activists of various democratic mass organisations supporting the struggle.

 

They have been remanded in police custody till 12th April, and there is an attempt by the state to frame these democratic rights activists, falsely alleging that arms and   munitions have been found on them. Also on 9^th April, 114 demonstrators who were protesting against these moves by the government were arrested from College Street. On 10th April, a huge consignment of police has cordoned off the entire area and the threat of imminent demolition even of the temporary tents and community kitchen looms large, reminding us of the situation in Singur in 2006.

 

The government had earlier refused to provide even basic amenities like water, school, drainage system and proper housing in these resettlement colonies and pushed them into an ‘illegal’ existence, and made them dependent on the networks of local Trinamool and CPI(M) goons. And now in the name of beautification, this violent eviction drive is set on the roll on these supposed ‘illegal encroachers’ whose cheap labour is ‘legally exploited’ to run the city’s economy. Anyone opposing this kind of violent ‘development’ of the

ruling classes, has been declared to be ‘Maoists’ and ‘inciting outsiders’ conveniently by the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee again in her press statements to delegitimize the struggle, while the common lands of Kolkata are handed over to the corporate land sharks in the best traditions set up by the previous CPI(M)-led government.

 

WE, the undersigned organisations, condemn the arrests made on 8th April of protestors sitting in a demonstration in Ruby Junction, and demand that the 7 activists of various mass organisations who continue to be arrested be released and the false charges against them be dropped immediately, as the government is acting against the democratic right to organize and dissent.

 

We condemn the action of the Trinamool-led West Bengal Government and the brutal lathicharge on 4^th April, and continued harassment by the Kolkata Police on the residents of Nonadanga and those protesting against the ongoing eviction process in the name of ‘beautification’ of the city, and demand action against the police officers involved.

We stand with the struggle of the residents of Nonadanga and demand an immediate halt to the eviction drive in the city and the anti-people development, and proper compensation and rehabilitation for all the slum dwellers and hawkers in Nonadanga and in the evictions all over Kolkata.

 

Issued by:
AIFTU (New)
AISA
AIRSO
Bigul Mazdoor Dasta
Delhi Metro Kamgar Union
Democratic Students Union
Disha Students Organisation
Inquilabi Mazdoor Kendra
Jamia Teachers Solidarity Forum
Krantikari Naujawan Sabha
Krantikari Yuva Sangathan
Pragatishil Mehnatkash Mazdoor Morcha
Mehnatkash Patrika
Mazdoor Patrika
New Socialist Initiative
Peoples Democratic Front of India
People’s Union for Democratic Rights
Posco Pratirodh Solidarity Delhi
Sanhati, Delhi
Students for Resistance
Vidyarthi Yuvajan Sabha

Related articles

• PUDR – Condemns Attack on Nonadanga slum dwellers by West Bengal Police in Kolkata (kractivist.wordpress.com)

‘Coriander’ has Aadhaar number/UID #thisisnotajoke

J B S Umanadh, Hyderabad, April 12 2012, DHNS:

Nandan Nilekani, the Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India, (UIDAI) hopes that Aadhaar card and rural mobile telephony will bring transformation in rural India, but the cards being issued at times spot some real gaffe.

Here is one case. A coriander plant in rural Andhra Pradesh received its unique identification number and of course a card for itself with the photo of a mobile phone.

An Aadhaar card with number : 4991 1866 5246 was issued in the name of Mr Kothimeer (Coriander), Son of Mr Palav (Biryani), Mamidikaya Vuru (Village Raw Mango), of Jambuladinne in Anantapur district. As the card displayed the photo of a mobile phone, officials have no clue of the address where the card has to be delivered.

“We have completed all formalities, got ourselves photographed almost an year ago after standing in the long lines for days but haven’t received the card so far. The Kothimeer is lucky,” said an old man at the Jambuladinne Panchayat office.

“It’s probably the work of a young man who wanted to tell us how routine the process of data collection was in villages. The private agencies entrusted with the job have no understanding of the job in hand,” fumed Payyavula Keshav, a TDP MLA from Anantapur district.

However, revenue officials said they would trace out the agency that completed the enumeration work in Jambuladinne to pinpoint the responsibility of issuing a card to a mobile phone named Coriander.

Considering the delay in issuing Aadhar cards and other discrepancies, the UIDAI announced recently that it would soon send the Aadhaar numbers through SMS. The authority hopes that villagers could go ahead and avail social benefits before the actual card reaches their households.