Citing technical glitches in ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) cameras and sensors, non-enforcement in neighbouring states and general public outcry, Delhi government has requested CAQM (Commission for Air Quality Management) in National Capital Region to keep the decision to deny fuel and impound end-of-life two- and four-wheeler vehicles on hold.
Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta, who was my guest in ‘Aap Ki Adalat’ show, to be telecast on India TV on Saturday night said: “It is our misfortune that Delhi has been declared one of the worst polluted cities in the world. The previous government did not take any serious steps to stop air pollution and the capital, instead of becoming a green city, became a gas chamber. It was then that the courts, National Green Tribunal and CAQM stepped in. The order to deny fuel to petrol and diesel vehicles that are 10 to 15 years old was issued by CAQM. I think this order is not justified.’
Rekha Gupta explained: “I would like to assure the people of Delhi that our government would ensure no injustice is done to the people. We will place this view before the courts, NGT and CAQM. There are thousands of middle class families, including my father, who use their vehicles occasionally… The previous Kejriwal government had been scrapping old vehicles since last one and a half years. ..In the past, the government did not do its duty and the people had to face the music ….. Our government will not allow people to face injustice for keeping old vehicles. There is no logic behind refusing fuel to old vehicles in Delhi, and allowing neighbouring states in NCR to sell fuel.”
Ban on selling fuel to 10-year-old diesel and 15-year-old petrol vehicles was enforced from July 1 and 158 vehicles were impounded till Wednesday. There are thousands of vehicle owners in Delhi who rarely use their old vehicles, but they are now facing the possibility of their vehicles being impounded and scrapped.
In 2014, National Green Tribunal had ordered that 10 to 15 years old vehicles should not be allowed public parking space. In 2018, Supreme Court directed that all 10-year-old diesel and 15-year-old petrol vehicles in Delhi be impounded. For ten years, when Arvind Kejriwal was the Chief Minister, his government dithered and did not take any concrete decision. In 2025, CAQM ordered that the Supreme Court order be enforced from July 1. ANPR cameras were installed at all petrol pumps, police was deployed and old vehicles were impounded.
This has caused panic among the denizen of Delhi. Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa wrote a letter to CAQM requesting the order be kept in abeyance, but since the apex court and NGT have already issued orders, it will take time to resolve this crisis.
The question is: why didn’t Kejriwal’s government put its argument before NGT and apex court that in order to curb pollution, only those vehicles must be seized which are creating air pollution, whether they are two- or 20-years-old? It does not make any difference. If the vehicle is fit and if its pollution level is within permissible limit, where is the logic behind impounding them?
Trinamool man convicted of post-poll rape of minor in Bengal
In the first post-poll violence case in West Bengal, a special POCSO court in Malda has convicted a Trinamool Congress supporter and retired school teacher, Rafiqul Islam for raping a nine-year-old girl in June, 2021. The victim’s parents had cast their votes for BJP in the state assembly elections.
On the order of Calcutta High Court, CBI was asked to probe this case and 22 witnesses deposed before the court. The girl’s parents are labourers and they have demanded death for Rafiqul Islam.
This is one of 55 similar cases in which post-poll political violence shook Bengal after the assembly elections. In another case, CBI has framed TMC MLA Paresh Pal, councillors Swapan Samaddar and Papiya Ghosh as accused in the murder of BJP leader Abhijit Sarkar in Kankurgachi, Kolkata. 18 persons, including three police officers, have been named in the supplementary chargesheet.
On May 2, 2021, Abhijit Sarkar was beaten to death after poll results came out. Sarkar was making videos of TMC workers carrying out violence in the homes of BJP supporters. Abhijit Sarkar’s brother Biswajit alleged that Mamata Banerjee’s supporters forcibly entered their home and beat up his mother and brother. They then murdered Abhijit Sarkar.
Political violence is not new in Bengal. Such violence takes place mostly after the elections. Post panchayat elections, village pradhans who were elected on BJP ticket had to flee from their homes to neighbouring Jharkhand. They were facing attacks from Mamata’s supporters and police did not provide them any protection.
On August 19, 2021, a five-judge bench of Calcutta High Court handed over all post-poll violence cases pertaining to murder and rape after elections to the CBI, which registered 55 cases. Chargesheets have been filed in most of these cases and trial is in progress.
CBI has appointed special counsels in different courts. Today’s case was the first one in which the minor girl was raped. Now that the verdict has come, Trinamool Congress leaders cannot claim that their party has no hand in post-poll violence.
Deepfake videos : A scourge for civil society
A strange case of two youths from Nuh, Haryana, making an AI-generated deepfake obscene video of Samajwadi Party MP from UP, Ikra Hasan, has come to light. The two boys uploaded the video on social media and it soon became viral. The youths, aged 13-14 years are illiterate. They created a fake Facebook page in the name of Ikra Hasan, MP. In their bid to increase the number of followers, they made an AI-generated deepfake obscene video of the MP.
Ikra Hasan contacted a Congress leader Razia Bano in Nuh, and after inquiry, the two youths from Aamka village in Nuh were nabbed. A village panchayat was held where the two boys admitted their guilt. They were given a sound thrashing and let off with a warning.
Though the two youths apologized, the deepfake obscene video had already circulated far and wide, and became viral on several platforms.
Nuh in Haryana has become a centre for cybercrimes and deepfake videos. Criminals operating from Nuh carry out ‘digital arrest’ and swindle money from innocent people.
In Iqra Hasan’s case, since the two offenders were adolescent, no legal action was taken. But this is clear proof of how AI deepfake videos have become a scourge in today’s society.
In today’s hyperactive digital world, it is difficult to block such objectionable content completely. Once such video is uploaded on a social media platform, the victim will have to first prove that the content is deepfake, he or she has to lodge a complaint with the police, and on police instruction or at the request of the victim, the social media platform will have to remove the deepfake video. The victim may also have to do the rounds of law courts to get relief.
In the recent past, I had also been a victim of deepfake videos. The offenders used to sell spurious medicines or promote investment by using my actual video overlaid with AI-generated fake sound. All such videos that show me selling medicines or investments are fake. I frequently get information from my friends and viewers about such fake videos.
I have a dynamic order from the court, and whenever such deepfake videos come to my notice, I get them removed from the platforms. But after a few days, another deepfake video surfaces. This is a problem that has afflicted people across the world. Already there is serious thinking going on as to how to curb such crimes.