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Illegal Porn Shoots Flourish In Goa With State Becoming The De facto Porn Destination
PANAJI: The picturesque coastal State of Goa now has a new tag – that of a de facto porn destination. And not surprisingly so. With the OTT porn Industry flourishing in India and big businesses wanting a piece of the pie, (read here) places like Mumbai suburbs, Surat, Meerut and Goa are fast becoming the hubs for the porn business.
If the Poonam Pandey Canacona Dam porn shoot was any indicator, the villages, dams, lakes and fields of the State have become an ideal locale for illegal and clandestine porn shoots. The Poonam Pandey porn clip got noticed only because the drama queen created a furor around her marriage by filing a police complaint against her newly-married husband and then retracting her case.
Locals recognized the Canacona dam in the background when the porn clip was released on her website and openly publicized on the internet. The judgement of the Goa court granting Poonam Pandey and her husband bail has become a precedent, which had emboldened several popular Indian adult or porn creators to head to Goa to shoot their videos and clips in the village-sides.
But other porn creators are far more discrete. Locations and landmarks are cleverly disguised so as not to reveal where the film was shot.
And thanks to the pandemic, with international tourism on the back-burner or almost at a standstill, the hospitality industry in Goa is bending backwards to offer Indian tourists the red carpet.
Dubious cinematographers and videographers from all over the country are making a beeline for Goa. With the OTT boom in the world – almost 80 per cent of the outdoor porn shoots (of the Indian business) take place in deserted fields and farms in Goa.
ALSO READ | Rs 3800 Crore OTT Porn Industry Flourishing In India, APPs Like Flizmovies, Neufliks, Hotmasti, Chikooflix, Wetflix And 300 Others Make Hay While Sun Shines
International porn studios are outsourcing porn content from India with the huge demand for Asian or Indo-Asian porn.
It’s very simple. There is no heavy equipment involved. Everything is now hand-held and very portable. The crew consists of about 6-`8 members, plus 3-4 actors and another 2 makeup artistes. The entire unit is not more than 12 to 14 hands which can easily fit in 3 Innova cars along with tripods, cameras, portable battery operated lights and reflectors, which is all the equipment required for an outdoor, daylight porn shoot.
The modus operandi is very simple. The entire unit lands in Goa during weekdays – to avoid expensive flight tickets and a bit of crowding during the weekends and checks into a 2 or 3 star guesthouse or resort – rooms are available for as less as Rs 1500 per day.
A day before the shoot, the camera man and his assistant will hire a bike and go in search of locations in the remote areas of the State. 2-3 locales are selected for the shoot.
The next day, the entire unit sets off early in the morning in 2-3 hired vehicles, mostly self-driven. The unit reaches the location and while the camera crew sets up the equipment after identifying the best angles and spots, the actors get their make up in place. It doesn’t take more than 30 minutes for ‘setup’ and the unit is ready to “roll”.
Scenes are shot in less than 2-3 hours. And the team is then ready to move to another location. Even before the locals get wind of what’s going on and raise an alarm, the unit has packed up and headed to a different location.
Most units do not need more than 2-2.5 hours at any particular location. Cameras are hand-held with only one tripod-mounted camera – that too is light-weight and can be easily shifted around. Only two battery-powered lights are used and many-a-times even those are not required as natural sun light provides adequate lighting for today’s hi-tech digital cameras.
According to an industry source, Indian porn OTTs like Flizmovies, Neufliks, Hotmasti, Chikooflix, Wetflix, Ullu, Kooku, DesiFlix, Hot Shots, Primeflix, Gup Chup, Flizmoviez, etc., prefer indoor shoots with hotel rooms the best shoot scene, the international ones use more of outdoor shoots – farm scenes, lake scenes, waterfall scenes etc., and Goa is the ideal location for such venues.
Many guesthouses and resorts in Goa are unknowingly part of the porn OTT boom in the country with the easily available and cheap rooms or houses – most of them not registered with the Goa Tourism department being an ideal location for porn content creators.
On an average, a 12- or 24-part episode can be produced with a Rs 24 lakh or Rs 50 lakh budget – on the higher side with each episode costing not more than Rs 2 – 2.5 lakh, with the producers making approximately Rs 1.5 to Rs 2 crore per film.
The films are directed by youngsters trained in Mumbai, or Bollywood, the world’s largest film factory. The units carry no banners and work from hotel rooms or rented apartments on budgets as low as Rs 1,25,000 to Rs 2,50,000 per episode.
According to media reports, an estimated 50 to 75 films are produced in multiple languages from Meerut, a town considered holy by many because it lies sandwiched between the Ganga and Yamuna rivers. In Mumbai, each nearly 200 films are produced each quarter.
Shot on DSLR cameras, the movies revolve around similar themes of a girl wooed by a delivery boy who lands up at her home to deliver food, or a lover who is also a classmate in college. The plots look similar, often copied from cheap South American sex videos.
ALSO READ | Sagrika Shona Suman accuses Bigg Boss 14 contestant Vikas Gupta of “inappropriate behaviour”
The budget may sound ridiculously low by Bollywood standards but suits the fly-by-night filmmakers who make four to five movies per year. Expectedly, the small OTT platforms are seeing a large growth in customers, says a MoneyControl.com report.
Ullu lists titles such as Call Centre, Kavita Bhabhi (one of the top five most watched web series during the COVID-19 quarantine in Asia), Mastram (which garnered several lakh views) Palang Tod, Taxi, Wife in a Metro, Charmsukh, Mona Home Delivery.
According to MoneyControl.com, the rates, in comparison with a Netflix of Amazon, are mind boggling. It is Rs 198 for a year and Rs 144 for six months. A three-month subscription is Rs 99 and you can have a five-day package for Rs 36 only. “It is creativity, it is realistic, it is not only sex, it is original content. It is all about you and me, what you see every day at home and in public,” Vibhu Aggawal, promoter of Ullu, and CEO and founder of steel company Jaypeeco India, said in a telephonic interview.
Anirudh, a producer whose platform Big MovieZoo launched Mary Aur Marlow says it woiuld be wrong to call these movies high on erotic content.
“Each movie has a storyline. Mary Aur Marlow has loads of comedy, it of course has some bold scenes. But it is a work of art.” He says he offers two offline videos for Rs 69, five offline videos for Rs 119 and 10 offline videos for Rs 399. His other popular movies are Redlight, Paap and Sattebaaz. While all these can be rated XX at most, there is other content which is XXX which is mostly shot in Goa.
The mhaka kiteak podla and susegaad attitude of local Goans, is another incentive for porn content creators who are more than happy to give the drivers an extra tip to disappear from the scene for a few hours.
Sometimes the porn scenes are even shot in the hired cars and tourist taxi vehicles or SUVs, with the local drivers standing down the road to alert the unit if any cops or vigilantes are passing by. Like they say – money makes the mare go.
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Rayya Labib posts video for Salman Khan, Insta deletes it within 5 minutes
MUMBAI: Popular Instagrammer, model and actress, Rayya Labib who is known for her funny videos and posts, recently posted a selfie video for Bollywood superstar Salman Khan praising his stand on the Lawrence Bishnoi threats case, which has caught the nation’s attention.
Unfortunately for Rayya, Instagram was not amused with the video and promptly deleted it. However, Rayya was not deterred and shared the video with her friends on WhatsApp and other peer sharing platforms like Snapchat.
Finally the video picked up enough traction and eventually went viral. She received hundreds of messages from her friends and fans praising her stand, while a few thought otherwise and even critiqued her.
Who is Rayya Labib?
Rayya Labib hails from Nalbari, Assam where she was born on 10 December, 1996. After finishing her schooling, she went to Guhahati for higher education and also came to Mumbai for modeling and acting assignments now and then.
Rayya Labib is originally of Turkish-Iranian descent or ancestry, but was born and brought up in Assam in North East India. Her great, great grandparents were from Turkey and Iran, she has claimed in media interviews in the past.
She completed her schooling and college in Assam with her schooling in Nalbari where she was very active in cultural activities and also did modeling and ramp shows in nearby towns. Her hobbies include singing, dancing, cooking and sports.
After completing her education, she moved to Mumbai permanently where she is now based, but often travels to Assam to meet her family.
In Mumbai, she started with print shoots and smaller modeling assignments doing various campaigns and even episodic roles in serials like CID, Crime Patrol and the like.
She acted in Sanjay Khandelwal’s venture Lakme and worked with director Maneesh F Singh in the festival film Green Terror, which was partly shot in Pakistan. She has also featured in director Dhiraj Kumar’s film “It’s Over” and is doing a series of mythological web series for an OTT APP.
Hollywood director Lynn Baxter signed her on for an untitled project on the “City of Joy” in Kolkata. The project is at an initial stage and not much information is available right now.
Rayya is currently single. Her hobbies include listing to music, watching movies and sports.
In the year 2014, she participated in the Ms Bikini Asia pageant and was selected among the Top 5. Later on, she went on to win the Ms Bikini Asia-Pacific title a year later in 2015 in a special category and was ranked the first runner up winner. She would have made it to the first spot, but her height was a handicap and she was placed as the first runner up in the international pageant.
But a week later, as fate would have it, the original winner was disqualified on technical grounds and the first runner-up was declared the winner.
She is also active on the social work scenario and conducts fund-raising drives for street children.
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SC grants interim bail to Pawan Khera till Feb 28; seeks replies of UP & Assam
NEW DELHI, (PTI): The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered grant of interim bail to Congress leader Pawan Khera till February 28 in a case related to his alleged objectionable remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in which the Assam Police arrested him after having him deplaned at the Delhi airport amid chaotic scenes.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said Khera will be produced before the competent magistrate in Delhi and released on interim bail.
”In order to enable the petitioner (Khera) to apply for regular bail before the jurisdictional court, upon the FIRs being transferred to one jurisdiction, we direct that the petitioner shall be released on interim bail by the court of the competent magistrate at Delhi where he is to be produced this evening,” said the bench, also comprising Justices M R Shah and P S Narasimha.
”The above order shall remain in operation till February 28, 2023,” the bench said, while making it clear that it was passing the order in connection with the case lodged in Assam.
The apex court, which listed the matter for hearing on February 27, issued notices to the states of Assam and Uttar Pradesh seeking their responses to Khera’s plea for transferring and clubbing together three separate FIRs lodged against him in Assam, and Uttar Pradesh cities of Lucknow and Varanasi for his alleged offensive remarks against the prime minister.
After dictating the order, the CJI, apparently displeased with the Congress leader’s remarks, told senior advocate A M Singhvi, who was representing Khera, ”We have protected you (Khera) but there has to be some level of discourse.” In its order, the apex court noted that today, Khera was deboarded from a flight travelling from Delhi to Raipur on the ground that he was to be arrested by the Assam Police.
It noted that a communication was addressed by the Assam Police to the station house officer of domestic airport police station in New Delhi stating that Khera is required to be apprehended in connection with the case lodged there. The bench said the apex court’s jurisdiction has been invoked for diverse reliefs, including — quashing of the complaints; in the alternative, transfer and clubbing of the FIRs at one jurisdiction and restraint on all coercive steps, and to provide security to the petitioner and his family.
”At the outset, we have indicated to counsel for the petitioner that a petition under Article 32 cannot be entertained for quashing the FIRs since the petitioner has an alternate remedy under section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, before the jurisdictional high court. Moreover, the petitioner will have to seek regular bail before the competent court,” the bench said.
It noted Singhvi’s submission that Khera will not press the prayer for quashing of FIRs since the petitioner would be advised to pursue the remedies which are available to him in accordance with law before the appropriate high court. ”However, the petition has been pressed for clubbing of the FIRs in one jurisdiction since it has been urged that the gravamen (the essence) of all the FIRs (lodged presently at Lucknow, Varanasi and Dima Hasao) is one and the same, namely, the press conference at which certain objectionable words were used,” the bench noted.
It noted in the order that Singhvi has stated that the petitioner has since clarified that the use of the language was ”inadvertent, though inappropriate”, and that he would not stand by the use of such language. ”However, Singhvi states that the petitioner tenders an unconditional apology,” the bench said, adding, ”Apart from the above submission, it has been urged that the words taken at their face value, as reflected in the FIRs, do not establish any offence punishable under the sections of the IPC (Indian Penal Code) which have been invoked, including sections 153A, 153B, 295, 500, 504 and 505 of IPC.” The bench noted Singhvi has also urged that recourse to the power of arrest under section 41A of the CrPC was not warranted where the offence is punishable for a term not exceeding seven years.
It said Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for Assam, has submitted, after adverting to the live replay of the offending video, that the expression which was used by Khera was not unintentional and, on the contrary, a ”deliberate attempt to denigrate a constitutional functionary has been made”. ”The Additional Solicitor General has also urged that the petitioner, having been arrested at Delhi Airport, would be produced before the court of the competent jurisdiction for transit bail and the petitioner may seek his remedies before that court,” the bench noted.
The apex court said it is inclined to entertain the petition confined to the issue as to whether the FIRs should be clubbed into one and the same jurisdiction and such a course of action has been previously adopted by the top court in journalist Arnab Goswami’s case.
”We pass the following ad-interim order: (i) Issue notice on the prayer of the petitioner for transferring and clubbing of the FIRs which have been registered in respect of the press conference in question in one jurisdiction; (ii) For that purpose, notice shall issue, at this stage, to the states of Assam and Uttar Pradesh,” it said.
In fast-paced developments, Khera, who had boarded a flight from New Delhi to Raipur to attend the Congress plenary session, was deplaned, detained and finally arrested by the Assam Police in connection with an FIR lodged in Haflong. As the hearing got underway, Singhvi told the apex court that Khera had already apologised for his remarks made at a press conference on February 17 in Mumbai and the offences alleged against him in the cases did not require arrest.
”It will have straightaway impact on the latitude of free speech,” Singhvi said, adding, ”This should not have led to arrest. The offences entail maximum sentence of three or five years and no prior notice was served upon him.” He said Khera had already acknowledged the very same day that the remarks were a mistake.
He said FIRs have been lodged and offences, including those under sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups) and 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the IPC have been invoked against him.
Terming it a ”calculated statement”, Bhati played the audio-video clip of Khera’s alleged remarks, in the open court and said he cannot use such ”derogatory words” against a democratically elected prime minister of the country. When Singhvi pointed out that Khera has already apologised for his remarks, Bhati said, ”Please see the video whether it is a mistake or a deliberate act. It is the demeanour which counts. There was laughter all around after these remarks.”
”The entire press conference has to be seen….It is a very calculated statement. It is a statement which not just insults the prime minister but invites disaffection and disloyalty. After all, he is the duly elected prime minister of the largest democracy in the world,” Bhati said. (PTI)
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MP: Ailing female cheetah at Kuno park much better now, says official
BHOPAL, (PTI): The health condition of a female cheetah detected with an infection associated with kidneys and liver at the Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh was much better now, a senior forest department official said on Friday.
The cheetah, Sasha, is more than four-and-a-half years old and was diagnosed with hepatorenal, a kidney and liver-related infection, earlier this week. She is among eight cheetahs translocated from Namibia in September last year and housed in KNP in Sheopur district.
“She is much better,” MP Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) JS Chauhan told PTI over the phone when asked about the feline’s health.
Sasha has some liver and kidney problems and is being treated by three veterinarians who are in constant touch with cheetah experts from Namibia and South Africa, he said.
”Her problem came to light on Monday. Dr Atul Gupta, a veterinarian at Bhopal-based Van Vihar National Park, was rushed to the Kuno National Park after the problem was detected. She is suffering from hepatorenal infection and has been quarantined for treatment,” Chauhan added.
A wildlife expert associated with the cheetah reintroduction programme, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Sasha was brought to India from a captive facility named ‘Cheetah Conservation Fund’, located 44 kilometres from the Namibian city of Otjiwarongo.
He said captive cheetahs often face renal (kidneys) problems, which are rare in big cats living in the wild.
As per her dossier, Sasha was born on April 1, 2018, and underwent a health screening in August last year and vaccinated before being flown to India a month later. The wild cat weighed 32 kilograms at that time.
The eight Namibian cheetahs – five female and three male – were released into their enclosures at KNP on September 17 last year at a high-profile event attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The last cheetah died in India in Koriya district of present-day Chhattisgarh in 1947 and the fastest land animal was declared extinct in the country in 1952. (PTI)
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Rajasthan assembly Budget session begins on stormy note; 3 RLP MLAs suspended, marshalled out
JAIPUT, (PTI): The Rajasthan assembly’s Budget session began on Monday with the governor’s address amid an Opposition protest over incidents of paper leaks, as Speaker C P Joshi suspended three agitating RLP MLAs for the day and ordered them to be marshalled out.
In his address, Governor Kalraj Mishra highlighted the achievements and progress made during the four years of the Congress government, including steps taken to curb incidents of paper leaks.
Soon after the House had assembled, BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria raised the issue of paper leaks, following which the opposition members started created an uproar. They also raised issues related to farmers.
Rashtriya Loktantrik Party MLAs stormed the Well of the House carrying placards demanding a CBI inquiry into paper leak cases even as the governor continued his address for sometime. The BJP MLAs also protested in the Well of the house.
CPI(M) MLA Balwan Poonia, who had supported the Ashok Gehlot government when it was going through a political crisis on account of a rebellion by former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot, also protested in the Well with the other members of the opposition.
The governor read the speech for some time and later, the address was tabled. The House was adjourned for half an hour for the departure of the governor.
After the house reassembled, newly elected member of the house Anil Kumar Sharma of the Congress was administered the oath of office. During the oath-taking exercise, RLP MLAs Pukhraj, Narayan Beniwal and Indira Devi continued their protest in the Well of the House while other Opposition members sat quietly.
When his instructions were ignored by the RLP MLAs, the Speaker ordered the marshal to take the three MLAs out of the House. He expelled them from the house for the rest of the day.
After the oath of the newly elected MLA, the Speaker informed the House that the governor has returned the Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Bill, 2018, passed in March 9, 2018, because the proposed provisions to amend the punishment for rape and gang rape were no longer required as the Centre has already made provisions.
The Bill was kept reserved by the then governor for the presidential accord and later, the state government presented grounds to withdraw it.
Condemning the opposition furore, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot told reporters outside the House that the governor’s speech traditionally is about the government’s achievements but BJP leaders have no guts to listen to it, which is why they created a disturbance.
The governor’s address mentioned the work done by the Ashok Gehlot-led government in all the sectors, including health, education and agriculture.
”Rajasthan has set a record by achieving an economic growth rate of 11.04 per cent in the year 2021-22. Achieving the second place in the country with a double-digit GDP growth rate shows the efficient financial management of our government and the overall and inclusive development of Rajasthan,” the governor said.
”In the last four years dedicated to public service, our government has set an example in the country by doing remarkable work in all sectors, including education, health, social security, agriculture and farmers’ welfare, animal husbandry, women and child development, youth welfare, basic development, energy and industry,” he added.
On paper leak cases, Mishra said the government was working with a zero tolerance policy and has made strict provisions, including bringing the Rajasthan Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) (Amendment) Bill-2022.
The Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project, for which the state government has been demanding national status, also found mention in the address.
”Our government is continuously making efforts at the central government level to declare this project as a national project,” it stated.
Mishra said the health of the citizens of the state was the topmost priority of the government.
”The government is continuously making efforts to free the common man from the worry of heavy expenditure on treatment of diseases in this era of inflation. With this in view, our government provided free medicines and check-up facilities to the poor,” he said.
Terming the Chiranjeevi Health Insurance Scheme as a revolutionary initiative, the governor said 88 per cent of the people in the state have health insurance.
The address also mentioned that due to the efforts of the state government, the average time taken for investigation of cases related to women has come down from 129 days to 72 days.
The House paid tributes to former West Bengal governor Keshari Nath Tripathi, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, former MLAs Bhanwar Lal Sharma and Rajendra Kumar Bhartiya, and the victims of the Jodhpur cylinder blast incident.
The House then adjourned for the day. (PTI)
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Sports Ministry suspends WFI assistant secretary Vinod Tomar
NEW DELHI, (PTI): The Sports Ministry on Saturday suspended Wrestling Federation of India’s (WFI) assistant secretary Vinod Tomar, a fallout of the grapplers’ allegations of sexual harassment and corruption against the sports body’s chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
The ministry also cancelled the Open championship, which was to begin in Sharan’s UP stronghold of Gonda.
Sources in the ministry said Tomar’s presence will be ”detrimental to the development of this high-priority discipline”.
Sources also said that the soon-to-be-formed oversight committee of the ministry will have the powers to take all decisions on matters concerning Indian wrestling.
At the end of a marathon meeting late on Friday night, Sports Minister Anurag Thakur said that the government decided to form an oversight committee to probe the charges levelled by some of the country’s top wrestlers, including Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Ravi Dahiya, against Sharan and his body. (PTI)
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Some people trying to drive wedge between BJP and Maha leader Pankaja Munde: Bawankule
JALNA, (PTI0: Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Saturday said some people are trying to create a rift between the party and its leader Pankaja Munde.
Speaking to reporters in Jalna, Bawankule alleged Pankaja Munde’s statements were twisted by editing video clips and were sent to the media to project she is working against the party’s interests. The BJP leader said he would demand that the police inquire into the edited videos (of Pankaja Munde’s statements) and take action.
”Pankaja tai is our leader and she is working to strengthen the party. But some people are trying to project that she is working against the party,” he said without naming anyone. On many occasions, alleged political differences between BJP national secretary Pankaja Munde and senior leader Devendra Fadnavis were discussed in hushed tones in the party circles.
Fadnavis, who was chief minister during 2014-19, and Pankaja Munde, then minister, had denied any rivalry between them. ”Pankaja Munde is not against any leader. No BJP leader, including Devendra Fadnavis and Union minister Raosaheb Danve, are creating obstacles in her work,” Bawankule said.
He denied allegations that BJP didn’t stand behind state unit women’s wing chief Chitra Wagh for her remarks against model-cum-social media influencer Uorfi Javed. ”The whole party had backed Wagh,” he said.
Bawankule was in Jalna to campaign for BJP candidate Kiran Patil for the Legislative Council election for the Aurangabad Teachers’ Constituency scheduled to be held on January 30.
He alleged leaders of the Congress and NCP diverted the development fund to the western Maharashtra region when in power at the expense of the Marathwada and Vidarbha regions.
”The previous Maha Vikas Aghadi government was deaf and dumb. Its leaders didn’t listen to the grievances of the people and teachers,” he said.
Kiran Patil will face off against NCP’s Vikram Kale who was supported by the Congress and the Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena. (PTI)
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Twin blasts leave nine injured in Jammu two days ahead of Rahul Gandhi-led Yatra’s arrival
JAMMU, (PTI): Just two days before Congress leader Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra is scheduled to reach Jammu, two back-to-back explosions rocked a busy locality on the outskirts of the city on Saturday, leaving nine people injured, officials said.
Police suspect that IEDs were used to carry out the twin explosions in an SUV parked in a repair shop and in a vehicle at a nearby junkyard at Transport Nagar area of Narwal.
The terror attack comes at a time when security agencies in the region are on high alert in the wake of the ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra of the Congress and the upcoming Republic Day celebrations.
Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor Manoj Sinha strongly condemned the incident and directed agencies to take urgent steps to nab the culprits.
“A blast occurred in an old, parked Bolero (Sports Utility Vehicle) around 11 am resulting in injuries to five people who were standing nearby. They were evacuated to hospital and their condition is stable,” Additional Director General of Police, Mukesh Singh told reporters near the scene of the explosion.
He said the whole area was immediately cleared of the people but in the meantime another blast occurred 50 metres away, causing minor injuries to one more person who was also shifted to hospital.
“Further investigation is on,” the officer said.
However, a total of nine persons were brought with splinter injuries to Government Medical College (GMC) hospital following the blasts.
“We have received nine patients with one having abdominal injuries and two others fractured legs. The condition of all of them is stable,” a doctor at the hospital said.
The Bharat Jodo Yatra entered J-K’s Kathua district on Thursday evening via Punjab and is camping in Chadwal, about 70 km from here. After a day’s break on Saturday, the yatra, which commenced from Kanyakumari on September 7, is scheduled to resume from Hiranagar on Sunday and reach Jammu on January 23.
An official identified the injured as Suhail Iqbal, Vishav Partap, Vinod Kumar, Arjun Kumar, Amit Kumar, Rajesh Kumar and Aneesh – all residents of Jammu – and Sushil Kumar of Doda.
Early this month, two cousins – aged four and 16 – were killed when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off in Dangri village in Jammu’s Rajouri area, 14 hours after terrorists had shot dead four people there.
The terrorists, locals had claimed, had planted the IED on the day of the shooting and it was missed during the scanning by police and security officials who had cordoned off the area.
The officials on Saturday said the whole area was cordoned off by joint teams of police and CRPF immediately after the first explosion which was followed by another blast 15 minutes later.
A thorough sanitisation operation was carried out and forensic experts, bomb disposal squad and sniffer dogs were also pressed into service to look for clues, they said.
Jaswinder Singh, an eyewitness, said the first blast occurred in a vehicle that was at a workshop for repair.
About 15 minutes later, another explosion took place in the area littered with damaged parts and garbage, said Singh, president of the Motor Spare Parts Association.
Raj Kumar said he was working on another vehicle when the blast ripped apart another parked vehicle.
“We initially thought that the petrol tank of some vehicle exploded but the blast was so powerful that it blew up the vehicle,” he said.
An official spokesman said senior police officials have briefed the Lt Governor.
“Such dastardly acts highlight the desperation and cowardice of those responsible. Take immediate and firm action. No efforts should be spared to bring the perpetrators to justice,” the Lt Governor said.
Sinha also announced assistance of Rs 50,000 to the injured. The Lt Governor said that the administration would ensure the best possible treatment and extend every help required by the families.
Congress MP and AICC incharge of Jammu and Kashmir Rajani Patil strongly condemned the twin blasts. The CPI and AAP alleged that the incident reflected the ”failure” of the BJP’s policy in the Union Territory.
”Jammu blasts reveal once again the failure of BJP’s J-K Policy. Abrogation of Art.370 and demonetisation adventures misfired.Terrorism is on the increase,” CPI MP Binoy Viswam said on Twitter.
The BJP’s policy of ”communal hatred has badly affected the country’s unity,” he alleged.
“The day the BJP government took over, the situation in J-K is getting from bad to worse. Terrorism is increasing with each passing day and is returning to 1990s,” chairman of Jammu and Kashmir AAP state coordination committee Harsh Dev Singh alleged.
“They were stating that not a bird was killed after the abrogation of Article 370 but the reality is that innocent men, women and children are getting killed. The BJP has to give answers not only to J-K but to the entire nation,” he told reporters. (PTI)
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Wrestlers protest: BJP leaders tore ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ slogan to shreds, alleges Krishna Poonia
NEW DELHI, (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party leaders have “torn the slogan ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ to shreds”, alleged former discus thrower and Congress leader Krishna Poonia on Friday, over allegations of sexual exploitation of women wrestlers by Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chairman Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
Addressing a joint press conference with boxer and Congress leader Vijender Singh, Poonia said that the daughters are being “sexually harassed”, contrary to the expectation of bringing glory to the country by winning medals.
“On one side, our country wants medals, and on the other side, the daughters are being sexually harassed. Would the parents want to send their children to sports in the future? The BJP leaders have torn the ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ slogan to shreds. The protests are taking place for 72 hours, and even after this, no steps have been taken by the BJP leaders to resolve it. The federation should be dissolved,” she said.
Poonia and Vijender Singh hit out at the Centre over the allegations against the WFI chairman and demanded prompt action on the issue.
“The allegations that they have levelled are very strong. Prime Minister’s elongated silence on the issue is condemnable and shameful. Prompt action should be taken,” he said. Meanwhile, under pressure to resign from his position over allegations of sexual exploitation of women wrestlers, WFI chairman Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh has said he will “expose” the “political conspiracy” on Friday afternoon in a press conference.
Singh, who is also a BJP Lok Sabha MP from Kaiserganj in Uttar Pradesh in a post on his Facebook said that he will hold a press conference at the Wrestling Training Centre in Nawabganj in the Gonda district of the state. The press conference is scheduled to be held this evening. Earlier Singh said that the presser would be held at noon before changing the time to after 4 pm today.
The development comes hours after some wrestlers had a late-night meeting with Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur on Thursday. Thakur who arrived at his Delhi residence late last evening from Chandigarh met with the wrestlers and the meeting stretched into the early hours of today.
According to sources it ended on an indecisive note. Grapplers Sakshee Malikkh, Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, and Ravi Dahiya among others were seen leaving Thakur’s residence at around 3 am today. According to sources, Thakur is likely to meet with wrestlers in the national capital again this morning.
The Union Sports Ministry has also given a deadline to the WFI to respond within 72 hours to the allegations made by the wrestlers. The Ministry stated that if the WFI fails to furnish the reply within the next 72 hours, it will proceed to initiate action against the federation in terms of the provisions of the National Sports Development Code, 2011. The deadline expires on Saturday.
Wrestlers have levelled charges of sexual harassment of women wrestlers by the WFI president and its coaches and of mismanagement in the functioning of the federation. They demanded a complete overhaul of the federation.
“We want a complete overhaul of the Wrestling Federation. The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) should be dissolved and restructured. There are people in the state wrestling associations too that have linkups with the WFI President. We also want the state associations to be restructured,” Bajrang Punia said yesterday.
The protesting wrestlers have demanded the resignation of the WFI chairman and action to be taken against him. (ANI)