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The Wire April 15, 2019 Initial findings of the investigation into 'IT Grids Pvt Ltd' have added fuel to the long-standing suspicion that state data hubs are being wrongly exploited.  A fresh first information report (FIR) has been registered by the Cyberabad police, on the back of a complaint by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) against ‘IT Grids Pvt Ltd’ for allegedly illegally storing and using Aadhaar data. IT Grids, a company that does work for the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), has been in the eye of the storm over the last month. The firm came under the radar of investigation agencies after a complaint by YSR Congress party against a mobile app run by the TDP called ‘Seva Mitra’. After a series of raids by the Cyberabad Police on the office of IT Grids in Madhapur, forensic investigations were conducted on material seized part of the raids. The Telangana State Forensic Science Laboratory (TSFSL) has in its initial probe concluded that th...

Manash Firaq Bhattacharjee 14/08/2018 The media-vilified student of JNU, Umar Khalid, who recently submitted his doctoral thesis after the Delhi high court ordered a reluctant administration to accept it, after having tea with friends at a tea stall at Constitutional Club, moved towards the entrance of the Club, when an unidentified gunman in a white shirt and with long hair, first attacked him, and after a scuffle, shot at him from a distance. By the grace of fate, Khalid escaped unhurt. As Khalid’s friends tried to catch the assailant, he fired aerial shots. The gun jammed, and the man dropped it, and escaped. Khalid was at the venue to participate in an event titled, ‘Towards a Freedom without Fear’. Little did he know that fear was lurking so close by. It is incredible that a gunman could freely slip through right under the nose of the high-security zone, two days before Independence Day. It escapes no one in India right now that assailants fueled by toxic nationalism are...

 Sadaf Modak , Rashmi Rajput | Mumbai | August 11, 2018  Following multiple raids, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) Friday announced the arrest of three men affiliated to radical Hindu outfits from Nallasopara and Satara. The ATS also said that with the recovery of a huge cache of explosives, including live crude bombs and gelatin sticks, they had averted major terror attacks at multiple places. Among the arrested is Vaibhav Raut (40), allegedly a member of the Hindu Govansh Raksha Samiti who is also said to be a sympathiser of the right wing Sanatan Sanstha. Suspects allegedly linked to the Sanatan Sanstha were involved in the murders of three rationalists – Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare and MM Kalburgi – and the killing of journalist Gauri Lankesh. Another accused, Sudhanwa Gondhalekar (39) from Satara, is a member of the Shri Shivapratishthan Hindustan, whose chief is Sambhaji Bhide. Bhide has been booked in two criminal cases in connection with...

Dawn July 04, 2018 AFP WhatsApp said on Wednesday it was “horrified” by a spate of lynchings in India sparked by false rumours shared on its platform as the government accused the messaging service of irresponsibility. More than 20 people have been killed in India in the last two months, according to media reports, after rumours were spread on smartphones about child kidnappers, thieves and sexual predators. The attacks — usually targeting outsiders — have left authorities scrambling to mount an effective response, with awareness campaigns and public alerts having limited effect. A stern statement issued by the electronics and IT ministry late on Tuesday expressed the government's “deep disapproval” to the senior management of WhatsApp over the “irresponsible and explosive messages”. “The government has also conveyed in no uncertain terms that WhatsApp must take immediate action to end this menace,” it added. In a letter to the Indian government, WhatsApp said i...

The Indian Express July 04, 2018 Express News Service On Monday, the Punjab Cabinet decided to recommend the death penalty for drug traffickers. Section 31A of the NDPS Act, in fact, already provides for the death penalty to second-time offenders in certain cases. If the first conviction is under Sections 19, 24, and 27A, which deal with various offences relating to drug trafficking, then Section 31A provides for the death penalty if the offender is subsequently convicted of production, manufacture, possession, transport or transshipment of specified drugs, or financing any of these activities. In Punjab itself, a special Narcotics Control Bureau court had awarded the death penalty to Amritsar resident Paramjeet Singh in 2012, for a “subsequent offence” of drug trafficking, before the Punjab & Haryana High Court commuted the sentence to 15 years imprisonment the following year. After the latest Cabinet decision, the Punjab government has clarified that it has demanded t...