India on Monday told the UN for pushing a ‘misleading narrative’ on Rana Ayyub making it clear that no one was ‘above the law.’ This was after the UN defended Ayyub despite the latter’s confession on charges of accepting crores of donation money into bank accounts owned by her father and sister before routing it into her bank account.
The official Twitter handle of UN Geneva had tweeted, “Relentless misogynistic and sectarian attacks online against journalist @RanaAyyub must be promptly and thoroughly investigated by the #Indian ???????? authorities and the judicial harassment against her brought to an end at once, stress @UN_SPExperts.”
Wasting no time, the official Twitter handle of India at UN, Geneva, tweeted, “Allegations of so-called judicial harassment are baseless & unwarranted. India upholds the rule of law, but is equally clear that no one is above the law. We expect SRs to be objective & accurately informed. Advancing a misleading narrative only tarnishes @UNGeneva’s reputation.”
Allegations of so-called judicial harassment are baseless & unwarranted. India upholds the rule of law, but is equally clear that no one is above the law.
We expect SRs to be objective & accurately informed. Advancing a misleading narrative only tarnishes @UNGeneva’s reputation https://t.co/3OyHq4HncD— India at UN, Geneva (@IndiaUNGeneva) February 21, 2022
Ayyub had become a topic of intense social media conversations after it emerged that the ED had attached Rs. 1.77 crores in a money-laundering probe. Ayyub was alleged to have collected public donations using the personal bank accounts of her sister and father. She was also reported to have paid Rs. 74.50 lakhs to PM Cares and CM Cares Funds.
Ayyub later issued a lengthy statement confirming that she indeed made a contribution of Rs. 74.50 lakh of public money to PM Cares and CM Cares Funds. This assumed significance given that she has routinely criticised the secrecy surrounding the PM Cares Fund.
Ayyub also confirmed that she indeed used the personal bank accounts of her father and sister to collect donations before transferring the amount into her bank account. Since she used public donations using personal accounts, she was liable to pay in excess of Rs 1 crore in income tax. Many raised questions on Ayyub’s decision to pay more than Rs. 1 crore as income tax when that amount was donated to help the needy.
