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Hearing in MJ Akbar's criminal defamation case against Priya Ramani to begin before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ravindra K Pandey.

Case is at the stage of rebuttal by Akbar. Ramani has concluded her defense.

#MeToo #PriyaRamani #MJAkbar #Metooindia

@mjakbar

 Hearing begins.

Your honor will give three hours to me today? : Senior Advocate Geeta Luthra for @mjakbar
Today is court is for physical hearing. I will only give 1 hour. Parties will have to come for physical hearing whenever listed : Judge

I have some medical issue..I will not be able to come for physical hearing: Senior Adv Luthra
Can I be give 1-2 hours tomorrow (when court is for virtual hearing): Luthra
We can do it on January 21. Only one hour today for virtual hearing. My duty is for physical hearing: Judge
You can continue on January 21 : Judge
Ma'am Rebecca John is available after January 23: Adv Bhavook Chauhan
She has no right to argue as rebuttal of rebuttal : Luthra

Court has given that opportunity: Chauhan
An attempt is being made to deprive accused of right to defend herself by making substantial arguments in rejoinder: Chauhan
We'll keep one day for submissions after your submissions: Judge

Let that day be January 21. Why is my friend not specifying the date: Luthra
After ma'am Luthra finishes, I will tell the date accordingly: Chauhan
We will definitely time to you, Mr Chauhan. I will give short dates: Judge
Luthra expresses her displeasure at the accused counsel interrupting her.

The hearing will be short today because I don't have time. Please continue: Judge
All documents have to be in original and proved by the author: Luthra
Luthra refers to caselaws.
When I read Nilofer's evidence whose testimony is hearsay and inadmissible, she refers to the tweets and messages Ramani on WhatsApp. There is a WhatsApp photo. There is no original: Luthra
Photo is on phone gallery.. it is in jpg form. If you have to give the original, you have to produce the phone and gallery. Both were not done : Luthra
She is not an eye witness. It is fabricated. She is an interested witness: Luthra
You can either do primary or secondary evidence.. I can't understand that after 30 years you are producing something like this and calling it res Gestae: Luthra
Luthra reads Nilofer's message.

There is no contemporaneous evidence: Luthra
This is a photo which shows it is cropped : Luthra
Luthra refers to a judgement on authentication of stored electronic information.
The photo has to be from the jpg folder of the mobile. The marking and exhibition is only for identification: Luthra
The original document has to be filed.. photocopy can be only under section 65 circumstances.. : Luthra
How can something that is statutory and mandated by Evidence Act be given a go by when a court days that if something is exhibited, it doesn't mean it is proved : Luthra
There was no opposition to my documents. They agreed to them being exhibited: Luthra
I oppose the exhibition and authenticity their documents which can be only proved by the author : Luthra
You may give more judgements: Judge
The moment something is cropped, it is tampered and cannot be secondary evidence and becomes inadmissible: Luthra
Luthra refers to a judgement.
Taking a document is possible when other party doens't object. We have objected: Luthra
The document has to be proved by the author: Luthra
I'm attacking all documents exhibited by defense as none are admissible: Luthra
Luthra reads a judgement.
They are not satisfying Section 65B nor requirements of primary evidence: Luthra
Their certificate is not in satisfaction of section 65b law : Luthra
Luthra reads Ramani's testimony.

It becomes curiouser and curiouser. She wrote an article without naming anyone because it was a a piece of fiction: Luthra
What happened in 2018 that brought public interest when none existed in 2017. She could have spoken up at Vishakha's time it Tarun Tejpal when she wrote an article titled sorry boss we found our voice : Luthra
Where is the element of truth and veracity: Luthra
You said didn't name him because he didn't do anything. The tweet doens't say that I'm saying all this because so many women are speaking up: Luthra
There is no public interest. There is no good faith. There is just some other motive. It is not for me to state it : Luthra
It is vindictive and actuated out of malice. The fact is your can just spoil a person's reputation : Luthra
The kind of investigation that she has done has to be seen from a very keen eye: Luthra
This becomes more and more fabricated : Luthra as she reads Ramani's statement on the entire article not being on Akbar.
Luthra continues to read the testimony.
Both in the article and the tweet and her evidence and explanation, what is the so called basis for her allegations? : Luthra
When an imputation is made..there is no naming anyone for any empirical investigation. There is no evidence: Luthra
The explanation for "predator" is her own experience.. the meaning of the word is q person who has propensity for violent sexual behaviour. : Luthra
What she said does not mean predator. Many people in positions of hierarchy are more powerful but you can't call them a predator: Luthra
There are many words to describe a junior-senior relationship. You cannot turn around and say that you are calling a person media's biggest predator : Luthra
She passes it off.. you are a journalist. You have to be responsible. You should know the meaning. Open the English dictionary and see the meaning. You can't write as if without any sense of responsibility or accountability: Luthra
We all have responsibility for what we say or do. We have to have a verification. We have to gige accountability: Luthra
I can't call anyone anything and come to the court of law.. that I assigned a different meaning to the word : Luthra
We have to see what was the truth about calling Akbar media's biggest sexual predator : Luthra
Is doesn't matter what people say post facto. Harm is done by the man who instigates and ignites the first flame : Luthra
We will continue on January 21 : Judge
Will give time from 11 am till lunch : Judge
Luthra urges court to assign date for Senior Advocate Rebecca John's submissions.

I am giving January 21 and 23: Judge
I can tell date right now. 27th after lunch : Chauhan
We'll keep it for 21st at 11 am and 23rd post lunch. Will keep 27th also in case there are any remaining arguments: Judge
Hearing adjourned.
Counsel points out that January 23 is a physical hearing date.

We'll adjust. Today was also a physical hearing day: Judge

Hearing over.
Harm done by person who ignites the first flame: Geeta Luthra for MJ Akbar argues before Delhi Court in defamation case against Priya Ramani

#PriyaRamani @IndiaMeToo @mjakbar #metoo
https://t.co/SAPkoIiKhH

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Retired Supreme Court Judge, Justice Kurian Joseph to shortly begin speaking on the "Significance of Constitutional Values in the 21st Century" in a virtual discussion hosted by LEX MACULA.


The event is being live-streamed on YouTube here:

Justice Kurian Joseph begins his address: Our Constitution is a unique one... It's a Constitution of, by, for the people because it is a country that exists for the people. It does not owe to anybody else - only the people.


Justice Joseph says it is akin to a building that is constructed on five pillars i.e. sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic, republic.

Justice Joseph speaks on "democracy" :

People elect their own government and the government rules the country for the people - not for anything else. The moment the government does not rule for the people, you pull them down. Because the government should be for the people.
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Vidhi Centre for Law and Policy will be organizing a talk on "Free Speech and its (Un)Lawful Restriction" shortly.

@Vidhi_India


The event begins.

HR Venkatesh: We dont think too about about Supreme Court or censorship. You dont worry about contempt or so.

Journalism in the digital space is a little freer compared print media, in the past few years.

Venkatesh: We feel that entire atmosphere in Judiciary for journalism is bit restrictive. We are little "hemmed"

Off late, the restriction is spreading to the digital space as well.

@Vidhi_India

Prashant Iyengar: What do we make of digital speech and the law?

The Supreme Court has the image of being completely neutral. This is untrue. It has an extremely reactionary attitude. This is true for all Courts in the world.
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Tata Trusts launches 2nd edition of the "India Justice Report"

Justice Madan Lokur, former Supreme Court Judge to give a special address.

@tatatrusts


#IndiaJusticeReport2020: Srinath N, Tata Trusts renders opening remarks.

Chief Editor of the Report, Maya Daruwala gives an overview of the report.

Druwala says the aim of the report was to assess the capacity of each State to deliver Justice.

@tatatrusts


#IndiaJusticeReport2020: The launch event is also being streamed live on

#IndiaJusticeReport2020 -

Maja Daruwala: We found that in most areas - vacancies, number of undertrials, overburdening of courts etc. - they remained very much as they are.

Only 30% of prisoners were convicts, the study showed, Daruwala points out, among other findings.


Last year the report had been confined to broad suggestions, but this year specific suggestions have been made since there has been a pandemic, Daruwala says.

#IndiaJusticeReport2020
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CJI SA bobde led bench hears a plea seeking removal of anomalies in grounds of maintenance, alimony & divorce and to make them uniform for all citizens without discrimination on the basis of religion, race, cast, sex or place of birth
#SupremeCourt
@AshwiniBJP


Hearing begins

Senior Adv Pinky Anand appears for petitioner

CJI: you are appearing for the petitioner

Anand: yes (laughs)

CJI: You want personal laws to be abolished. You are not saying it but thats what will he done.

Anand: in Sarlat Mudgal case, govt had to take steps for the Uniform Civil Code

CJI: how can we encroach on personal laws like this?

CJI: How can we remove discriminatory practices without interfering in personal laws

Senior Adv Pinky Anand: In Shayara Bano you did it. Under Article 146 you had said directions given will exist till law was brought in. You have intervened in the past
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#BombayHighCourt is hearing the default bail application filed by Gautam Navlakha, accused in the #BhimaKoregaon case.

Bench of Justices SS Shinde and MS Karnik are hearing the plea.


Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal submits that this is a simple matter of bail to be decided on facts.

He claims that Navlakha was in custody for more than 90 days. He was under house arrest for some time before being taken into judicial custody.

Sibal submitted that Navlakha had surrendered on April 14 and spent 93 days in custody. He spent 34 days in custody before remand order of Magistrate.

Sibal points out that the nature of custody may have changed but it was arrest nonetheless and for this reason, he should be granted bail.

Additional Solicitor General SV Raju appearing for the NIA begins his submission.

He points out that the police had only arrested him and had not taken custody.
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Sources : Rathinasabapathy, a retired rogue police officer is planning to create caste clashes in western belt.

Following the announcement of a committee by TN govt for finalising the modalities for caste census, this Rathinasabapathy a fanatic Gounder has formed 1/n

a new outfit called, “Rights of Backward Communities”. Rich Gounders, retired Gounder officers are part of this outfit. The said Rathinasabapathy in a meeting of this outfit, said, “the castes of enumerators who would visit households for census should be made public. 2/n

If a particular caste person (implying dalit) is sent for enumeration, he will give wrong data”

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A background about this Rathinasabapathy. He belongs to of 1976 batch of Sub-Inspector. 3/n

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It's done: The IT Rules, 2021, are officially in play. We cannot stress this enough - this fundamentally changes the Indian internet. Please RT this thread on the Rules and how they bring government control over digital media like never before.
https://t.co/S7K9wnIkvI
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IT Rules affect social media, OTT, and news platforms. The latter 2 have been brought under the Rules for the first time. The Rules make platforms legally liable for not complying with government regulation, hence making user experience fall in line with the same.
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Social media platforms with 50 lakh+ users will now be regulated as Significant Social Media Intermediaries (SSMIs) with different obligations than Social Media Intermediaries (SMIs). Government discretion in compliance can lead to discrimination which disempowers small SMIs.
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SMIs are now more answerable to law enforcement, with lesser breathing space around compliance deadlines.

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The data retention period for SMIs has been doubled to 6 months for investigative purposes. Data will be preserved even if accounts are deleted. We are challenging this in the Supreme Court because such data retention in the absence of a data protection law is dangerous.
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Sharing one incident... After Modi's Trichy youth conference, the very next morning when police were clearing up their mini-control room, they found 5 strange boys who were roaming there with bags. When police enquired them "Sir, we are from Subramaniapuram in Trichy.

Whatever political meeting or conference is held in this ground, we come here on the same night or morning hours to collect the Liquor bottles to sell in the scrap shop for 50 paisa to 1 rupee per bottle and we used to earn Rs 200 to Rs 400 on each such event.

Even in the last DMK meeting the very next day we collected around 1500 bottles. But for Modi's BJP meeting, we could not find even a single bottle in the whole ground. We are coming around and around and not a single bottle in any corner of the G Corner ground in Trichy,

we are much disappointed, sir!". Police seem were stunned and pleasantly surprised. This is what Modi magic does in this nation. Modi is the one who can lead our nation and make everyone prosper with hardwork in right direction and proper approach.

This funny but interesting anecdote was published by a statewide local daily Dinamalar. I have just translated and posting it here for rest of the nation;
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Thread.

Recently, Harsimrat Kaur @HarsimratBadal_ claimed in parliament that Guru Tegh Bahadur protected the religion of Hindus despite of being a Non-Hindu. And Hindus owe a huge favor to others.

In this thread, I will show that Guru Tegh Bahadur was every inch a Hindu!

Let us begin with some contemporary sources.

Guru Tegh Bahadur visited the holy Triveni at Prayaga in 1662 CE.

This visit is documented in contemporary Bhat Vahi records.

Unlike those unpublished "bhat vahis", this one was published by Sikh historian Madanjit Kaur (1978)


This Bhat Vahi was signed by Guru Tegh Bahadur.

The content of the letter is particularly striking.

Guru Tegh Bahadur calls himself a devotee of Naina Devi.

Note. A devotee of Naina Devi. He does not mention Akal Purakh or Waheguru.


In the record, Guru Tegh Bahadur identifies himself as Sodhi Khatri by Varna and Kaushish by gotra.

This is exactly how the followers of orthodox Hinduism identify themselves to this date!


Further, Guru Tegh Bahadur appoints a brahmin purohit named Bhoj Raj.

He orders Sodhis of his line and all his Sikh followers to obey the aforementioned Brahmin Purohit.

This practice of appointing purohits is just what is referred to by some people as "Brahmanical Hinduism"
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Tata Trusts launches 2nd edition of the "India Justice Report"

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Luck Razor:

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I used this razor to go for drinks with a stranger rather than watch Netflix.

In hindsight, it was the highest ROI decision I've ever made.

Bragging Razor:

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Benefits of writing SRI RAMA Jayam!!!

Writing Sri Rama Jayam is known as Likitha Japam- Writing Meditation. This gives one a complete sense of surrender to an inner conscience and peace while writing or chanting the mantras.

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You can write this in any language of your choice. It is the connecting chords with the divine and your inner self.

Below are some points that we came across on the benefits :

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1. Vedas tell that as the sun dispels the darkness, the chanting of Rama Nama dispels all evil and obstacles of life. It is a way of liberation and salvation of human suffering.

2. When you think, that all roads are blocked to walk away from day to day problems..

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writing ‘Sri Ram Ram Ram’ gives you the most needed clarity of thoughts to find away out of odd situations.

3. It was told that a calmness engulfs as one indulges in writing the Sri Rama Jayam bringing in more clarity of mind, tolerance & strength to withstand obstacles in life.

4. Devotion of service of life and its varied forms is devotion to God. So there is no right or wrong way of writing this. The very thought and process to write is a connection with god and finds a inner meaning.

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HORANADU ANNAPOORNESHWARI, CHIKMAGALUR (KAR)
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Annapoorneshwari is the Devi of nutrition and food. The literal meaning of Annapoorneshwari is “Feeding one and all”. Anyone who comes here is offered meals and shelter within the premises.
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Maharshi Agastya is believed to have done pratishtha here.

Once, Shiva and Parvati had an argument. Shiva declared everything in the world including food to be Maya or illusion. To prove him wrong, Devi Parvati disappeared resulting in entire Earth becoming still.


Taking pity, Devi appeared as Annapoorna and relieved everyone.
Another belief is that once Shiva beheaded Brahma and his skull got stuck in Shiva’s hand. He was cursed that till the skull is not full of food or grains, it will remain stuck to his hands.


Shiva went everywhere and asked for food but the skull was never full. He finally came here and Maa Annapoorna filled the skull with grains and reversed Shiva’s curse.

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THE MEANING, SIGNIFICANCE AND HISTORY OF SWASTIK

The Swastik is a geometrical figure and an ancient religious icon. Swastik has been Sanatan Dharma’s symbol of auspiciousness – mangalya since time immemorial.


The name swastika comes from Sanskrit (Devanagari: स्वस्तिक, pronounced: swastik) &denotes “conducive to wellbeing or auspicious”.
The word Swastik has a definite etymological origin in Sanskrit. It is derived from the roots su – meaning “well or auspicious” & as meaning “being”.


"सु अस्ति येन तत स्वस्तिकं"
Swastik is de symbol through which everything auspicios occurs

Scholars believe word’s origin in Vedas,known as Swasti mantra;

"🕉स्वस्ति ना इन्द्रो वृधश्रवाहा
स्वस्ति ना पूषा विश्ववेदाहा
स्वस्तिनास्तरक्ष्यो अरिश्तनेमिही
स्वस्तिनो बृहस्पतिर्दधातु"


It translates to," O famed Indra, redeem us. O Pusha, the beholder of all knowledge, redeem us. Redeem us O Garudji, of limitless speed and O Bruhaspati, redeem us".

SWASTIK’s COSMIC ORIGIN

The Swastika represents the living creation in the whole Cosmos.


Hindu astronomers divide the ecliptic circle of cosmos in 27 divisions called https://t.co/sLeuV1R2eQ this manner a cross forms in 4 directions in the celestial sky. At centre of this cross is Dhruva(Polestar). In a line from Dhruva, the stars known as Saptarishi can be observed.
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