An FIR has been filed by the Bihar police against OpIndia editors Ajeet Bharati and Nupur Sharma over an article which exposed sacrifice of Hindu boy in Bihar mosque. The OpIndia article reported that a Hindu family was forced to leave Gopalganj due to fear and claimed that their minor son was sacrificed to make a local Mosque ‘powerful’. The family had alleged that the police mistreated them when they went to file a complaint as they had taken a bribe from the accused to tweak the post-mortem and make the boys murder look like an accident.
In a move to cover their tracks, the police seems to have targeted OpIndia say Legal Forums like Kalinga Forum and Legal Rights Protection Forum which have condemned the FIR against OpIndia editors. “We condemn FIR against @OpIndia_com editors @ajeetbharti & journalist @UnSubtleDesi under 295A Ipc for exposing human sacrifice of Hindu boy in Bihar mosque. We firmly stand by courageous journalist for revealing truth & extend full support if needed”, said Kalinga Forum which has filed a complaint in the same case to National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and SP of Gopalganj, Bihar.
Legal Rights Observatory (LRO) said that “… complaint filed by @KalingaForum on #Hindu boy sacrifice in #mosque has irked @bihar_police prompting IPC Sec 295A FIR against @OpIndia_com journo @UnSubtleDesi. U can’t muzzle truth Mr @NitishKumar @SushilModi”.
The OpIndia story that rankled Bihar police
The OpIndia story on the incident reported that when the family of the boy reached the police station with a complaint, they were beaten up by the police. Subseqeuently, the conditions became so hostile that the family was compelled to leave the village. The OpIndia report also contains several video showing the misbehavior and abuse of the victim’s family by the police. Most importantly, OpIndia reported got in touch with the minor Hindu boy’s family and in a video recording the boy’s father and sister speak of the ordeal.
When OpIndia got in touch with the boys father Rajesh who confirmed that the Muslim neighbours who took his 15-year-old son, Rohit, with them, who were all Muslims. Rohit was first taken to the mosque, where he was ‘sacrificed’, claimed Rajesh while speaking to OpIndia. A new mosque had been built in the village and it is being alleged that there was a belief that if a Hindu was ‘sacrificed’, the mosque would become powerful and its influence would increase. This is the reason his son was taken to the mosque secretly, family says as per the report. The same has been reiterated by the boys father in the video testimony to OpIndia.
In a video uploaded on OpIndia, Rohit’s younger sister can be seen crying and pleading for help. She is heard saying that her brother was killed and dumped in the river nearby. She alleges that the police had taken a bribe from the accused, hence they were not taking any action against the killers.
Father’s statement changed under pressure?
After the FIR was lodged, OpIndia editor Nupur Sharma has said that despite the available video testimony of the boys father, it now seemed that he had changed his stance in front of the police due to fear or under pressure.
In a video report debunking the Police, OpIndia editor Ajeet Bharati revealed his version of the story. He alleged that despite claiming on video that his Muslim neighbours had taken his son who was later slaughtered, he has now changed his version which could be due to fear and pressure from various quarters. Ajeet Bharati’s video report is below.
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