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Tuesday, June 8 2021 Dive In |
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That’s from a groundbreaking judgement delivered by Justice Anand Venkatesh of the Madras High Court—in a petition filed by a lesbian couple seeking protection from police and parental harassment. The Court went further and issued a series of guidelines aimed at protecting LGBTQ+ persons—which include a ban on ‘cure therapy’ and a call to train police. LiveLaw has more details on the ruling. |
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The father, the child & a grand scam |
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The TLDR: Nine-year old Licypriya Kangujam has long been hailed as the ‘Greta Thunberg’ of India. But the arrest of her father reveals that she may have been a pawn (or participant?) in his con game.
Remind me about Licypriya…She is a nine-year-old climate activist from Manipur who first caught the media’s attention when she staged a vigil outside the Parliament in 2019—calling for stricter climate change laws. Inevitable comparisons were drawn to Greta Thunberg—who started out doing exactly the same thing, which later became the Fridays for Future school strike.
Soon after, Kangujam was invited to address world leaders at the United Nations Climate Conference in December 2019 in Madrid (watch her speech here). She was again hailed as ‘Greta of the Global South’ in the Spanish press. And her rhetoric has been remarkably similar:
But Kangujam has also pushed back against the comparison, saying: "If you call me Greta of India, you are not covering my story… I have my own identity, story.” While not quite as world-famous as Thunberg, she has travelled to 32 countries, given many TEDx talks, and received a special mention on the Forbes 30 under 30 list.
Point to note: She’s also done a Thunberg in turning down honours or invites to make a point. For example: Last year, she refused the government’s invitation to be a part of the Prime Minister’s #SheInspiresUs social media campaign, tweeting: “Dear @narendramodi Ji, Please don’t celebrate me if you are not going to listen to my voice.”
So what’s this about her father?Kanarjit Kangujam Singh was arrested on May 30th on charges of forgery and cheating. The arrest, however, turned the spotlight on a long career as a con artist. Singh is the chairman of a dubious organisation known as the International Youth Conference—and the organiser of summits with lofty names, such as Global Youth Meet or World Youth General Assembly. And here’s how his scams typically worked in the past:
The ‘big man’ con: Singh projects a larger than life image—most of it based on forgeries and outright lies.
The ‘precocious kid’ con: After Singh fled Manipur on interim bail—along with his family—he set up International Youth Conference operations in Delhi, which is when his daughter rose to prominence as its protégé. But the shadow of lies dogged her image as well. Singh claimed that his daughter had been invited to speak at a global UN session—which turned out to be a lie, and the evidence presented by Licypriya turned out to be a forgery. Also this:
The arrest: Singh has been finally arrested on charges that he swindled a number of students—including a Nepali and four Afghans. He took Rs 30,000 per head to attend an exchange program in Europe, which never took place and the money was never refunded. The older 2016 court case will be reopened as well.
So Licypriya is a fraud too? |
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