Mystery surrounding Rashmi Bansal's disappearence

Karma police, arrest this man, he talks in maths
He buzzes like a fridge, he's like a detuned radio
Karma police, arrest this girl, her Hitler hairdo, is making me feel ill
And we have crashed her party
This is what you get, this is what you get
This is what you get, when you mess with us ......
(Radiohead, Karma Police)

The Rashmi Bansal arrest warrant issue is getting confusing. Rashmi seems to have gone underground, she hasn't posted anything on her blog since then. Thanks to an anonymous tipster on this blog and comments left on RealityCheck's blog, it appears that Hindu groups, such as Hindu Janajagruti Samiti may have had a role to play in the fiasco.

The website of this group has an article protesting the publishing of the above caricature involving Lord Shiva. Now, what is interesting is that, they did publish the above image on their website, unlike, say, the protesters of the Mohammad cartoons. Therefore, I have taken the liberty of publishing it on this blog, sorry if it offends any sensibilities.

On the other hand, Saran Sharma brought two things to our notice.

A commenter, claiming to be an IIPM student, rejoices Rashmi's misfortunes on a comment left on her blog. Second, and perhaps more disturbing is the news of Arindam Chaudhuri, the IIPM supremo, hobnobbing with Dalit leaders. Arindam Chaudhuri is a founder of the IIPM, an institute Rashmi Bansal had exposed earlier, for gross irregularities in both process and conduct. Even at the time Rashmi received threat of lawsuits from IIPM. To understand how much water IIPM draws in the capital, consider this: they have received orders from the MCD but apparently no action will be taken against them.

This is a dangerous trend. Quotas in the private sector will ultimately morph into a Dalit/OBC hiring contest. Unscrupulous entrepreneurs will use their payroll count of the deemed underprivileged to get favors from the Government. They will also use those to their advantage and break laws elsewhere. Imagine the chest thumping: I employed over a thousand Dalits, what's a little tax evasion?

However, all this is minor compared to the real question RealityCheck brings up. Apparently the Government is in the process of procuring sophisticated routers capable of censoring content at a granular level. This is alarming to say the least.

Finally, articles such as 295 and 295a of the Indian Penal Code need a serious rethink. Enacted in 1860 and still carrying amendments such as the 145 to 295 dating back to 1927, our Penal Code requires an overhaul. But it will not happen. Our country is too fragmented for any sort of rational consensus.

295. Injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class
Whoever destroys, damages or defiles any place of worship, or any object held sacred by any class of persons with the intention of thereby insulting the religion of any class of persons or with the knowledge that any class of persons is likely to consider such destruction, damage or defilement as an insult to their religion, shall be punishable with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

¹⁴⁶295A. Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs
Whoever, with deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of any class of ¹⁴⁶[citizens of India], ¹⁴⁷[by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise], insults or attempts to insult the religion or the religious beliefs of that class, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ¹⁴⁸[three years], or with fine, or with both.