Hardik Patel discharged from hospital
Ahmedabad, Sep 9: Patidar leader Hardik Patel, whose indefinite fast continued on the 16th day on Sunday, was discharged from a private hospital and taken home from where he intends to continue with his indefinite hunger strike.
A key community organisation pledged support to the agitating leader while processions were taken out in north Gujarat to back him.
After the state government refused permission for any venue for his agitation, the 25-year-old Patidar leader on August 25 launched an indefinite fast from his home to press for his demands for reservation in government jobs and educational institutions for his community, debt waiver for farmers and release of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti leader Alpesh Kathiriya, who has been jailed on sedition charge.
As his health deteriorated, Patel was first shifted to the Sola Civil Hospital on Friday and later moved to a private trust-run SGVP Holistic Hospital. He was discharged on Sunday but he continued his fast from the hospital bed.
Before his discharge, Patel told his supporters through a Facebook Live message that he would continue his hunger strike from his residence.
He, meanwhile, also alleged in a tweet that a police officer had threatened to kill him when he was brought out of the hospital.
Leading Patidar organisation, Shri Umiya Mataji Sansthan, Unjha, on Sunday held a meeting and resolved to support Hardik Patel in his agitation till the state agreed to his demands.
"We pledged support to Hardik on his demand for debt waiver and release of Alpesh Kathiria," Sansthan's Chairman Dilip Patel told reporters.
As a mark of solidarity, a large number of people from the Patidar community took out a march from Patan to Unjha, a distance of 30 km, in the Patidar-dominated Mehsana district in north Gujarat in support of Hardik Patel.
Congress MLAs Lalit Vasoya and Asha Patel joined the "padyatra". People walked from Patan to offer prayers to their family deity, goddess Umiya, at the temple in Unjha.
A posse of police was deployed at the entrance to Greenwoods housing colony where Hardik Patel resides, and prevented mediapersons from following him. Some reporters were even pushed around and baton-charged by the police.
Ahmedabad Police Commissioner A.K. Singh later ordered an inquiry into police action against journalists after their protest while Joint Commissioner of Police J.K. Bhatt spoke to them to cool the tempers.
In his Twitter message, Hardik Patel condemned the "attack" on the media. He said the deployment of police reminded him of "angrej hukumat" (British rule).
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Gurugram Police arrest BJP Yuva Morcha member for spreading fake murder story on social media
New Delhi: Gurugram Police have arrested BJP Yuva Morcha member Hariom Mishra, for allegedly spreading a fabricated and communally sensitive story on social media about the murder of a college student in Gurugram.
Mishra who is also known as Shaurya Mishra had shared a collage of four photographs on his X handle earlier this month. He claimed that a 24-year-old college student, identified as Nikita Agarwal, had been murdered by her classmate Arif Khan in Gurugram. In the post, he alleged that the woman was blackmailed, forced into prostitution, gangraped, and eventually killed. He also claimed that Arif dumped her body in a forest. The claims were presented as being based on police sources.
The post went viral and garnering over 1.5 lakh views, and was amplified by several right-wing social media handles across X, Facebook and Instagram. A verification of the claims revealed that no such incident had taken place in Gurugram. A search of credible news reports showed no record of any such murder. The police said this news would have inevitably attracted media attention if it were true.
On December 11, Gurugram Police publicly refuted the claims through their official X handle. They stated that the information which was being circulated was completely false. The police warned that legal action would be taken against those spreading misinformation. Despite the warning, Mishra neither deleted the post nor issued any clarification.
Police in Gurugram confirmed Mishra's arrest on December 16. The police said a FIR was filed after he continued to spread false information about the alleged murder of a Hindu woman by Muslim man. Police said Mishra, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Kaushambi district, is now being investigated.
Gurugram Police spokesperson Sandeep Singh told The Print that the accused had deliberately misrepresented facts and used objectionable content to spread hatred along religious lines. “Such posts can create serious disturbances in society, and the police take these matters very seriously,” he said.
A reverse image search conducted by fact-checkers at Alt News, revealed that the photographs used in the viral post were unrelated to the claims, while two of the images were traced to a Pinterest account belonging to influencer Maulik Chopra and another image was sourced from an Instagram post by influencer Shivam Thakur featuring a woman named Deepanshi Rawat. The fourth image was found on an unrelated Instagram page. The images depicted different individuals and had no connection to any crime.
Police said they are also investigating Mishra’s motive behind sharing the false and provocative content.
