 "Rewind 2024: The biggest scandals and controversies of the year")
2024 is bidding us adieu soon. It is that time of the year when we wonder how a year can pass so quickly. Like every year, this one too was full of stories that made us do a double take in disbelief.
From South Korea’s martial law to the brutal rape-murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata, the news that came out of this year shocked us. Before 2025 knocks on the door, it is worth turning back the clock and remembering the biggest controversies and scandals of this year.
South Korean president impeached
The moment could very well have been a scripted K-drama but it was reality, albeit a brief one.
On the night of December 3, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared “emergency martial law” citing “anti-state forces” and the threat from North Korea.
Soon after, visuals emerged of thousands of protesters gathering outside the opposition-controlled Parliament, the National Assembly, to oppose the move.
The martial law remained in place for only six hours as the opposition lawmakers in the Parliament voted to overrule the president, forcing Yoon to lift the martial law.
The South Korean president has since been facing calls to resign, which he has so far refused to do. Yoon survived the first impeachment motion after the 300-member Parliament fell short of a quorum of 200 lawmakers.
“I will stand firm whether I’m impeached or investigated. I will fight to the end,” Yoon said ahead of the second vote to impeach him.
He was finally impeached on December 14.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsYoon’s shocking decision to declare martial law was seen as stemming from his political troubles, putting focus on his wife, First Lady Kim Keon Hee .
From “Dior Bag Scandal” to interference in candidate nomination processes, Kim’s controversies have come to haunt her and her husband.
Now, Yoon’s fate lies in the hands of the Constitutional Court which will decide whether to remove him sometime in the next six months.
Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification from Olympics
What’s a mere 100 grammes? In the Olympics, everything.
It was these few grammes that ended Vinesh Phogat’s dreams of clinching a gold medal at the Paris Olympics. The top wrestler was disqualified from the women’s 50 kg wrestling at the 2024 Olympics for being overweight by a mere 100 grammes, sending shockwaves across India.
Soon after, she announced her retirement from the sport. In an emotional tweet, Phogat wrote, “Ma, wrestling has won, I have lost. Please forgive me, your dreams and my courage, everything is broken. I don’t have any more strength now. Goodbye wrestling 2001-2024. I shall be indebted to you all. Forgive (me).”
The heartbreak of Phogat’s disqualification turned into a political slugfest back home, with the opposition calling her a victim of ‘sports politics’.
Off the mat, but the fight did not end for Phogat there. In the Haryana Assembly elections in October, she won the Julana constituency on a Congress ticket by defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Yogesh Kumar.
Phogat — who was at the forefront of the wrestlers’ protest last year against former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) President Brij Bhushan Singh Sharan, accusing him of sexual exploitation — was mentioned in the BBC’s list of 100 inspiring and influential women for 2024 for challenging gender stereotypes.
Joe Biden drops out of US presidential race
United States President Joe Biden had to go back on his words this year. It was one disastrous debate with Donald Trump that ended Biden’s re-election bid.
After reiterating that he had no intention to quit the White House race and that he is the candidate to beat Trump, Biden finally backed out in July, paving the way for Vice President Kamala Harris to take on the mantle.
Explaining why he finally quit, the US president said, “A number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought that I was going to hurt them in the races.”
Harris failed to defeat Trump in the November presidential elections and the Republican is now set to return to the White House next month.
This was not the only time that Biden took a U-turn in 2024. He stirred controversy this month after announcing a sweeping pardon for his son, Hunter Biden, who was convicted on federal felony gun and tax charges over the summer.
This came after the White House assured several times that Biden would not pardon his son.
RG Kar rape and murder of doctor
The gruesome rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar hospital triggered widespread outrage across India. The victim’s body was found inside the seminar hall of the state-run hospital.
An autopsy report revealed the woman sustained extensive injuries across her head, face, neck, arms, and genitals. It also confirmed forceful penetration, indicating sexual assault. The cause of death was ascertained to be “manual strangulation associated with smothering.”
The sole accused Sanjay Roy, a civic volunteer with Kolkata Police, was arrested and is facing rape and murder charges.
The young trainee doctor was on duty the night the tragic incident took place. The deceased’s family alleged they were first informed that their daughter had died by suicide.
The horrific case led to protests across India, with doctors demanding a central law to protect healthcare workers.
The case also highlighted the issue of women’s safety in the country. Many women took to the streets demanding justice for the victim. Despite strict laws, India continues to be plagued by violence against women.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which took over the case from the Kolkata police after the Calcutta High Court’s intervention, said earlier in December that the trial is expected to conclude within a month.
France mass rape trial
A mass rape trial in France has horrified the world. Gisele Pelicot, a 72-year-old woman, was raped by her former husband and dozens of other men.
Dominique Pelicot solicited dozens of strangers from 2011 to 2020 in the village of Mazan, in Provence, to rape his wife while she was sedated and unconscious. He contacted men on an online chatroom titled “without her knowledge” to invite strangers to come to the couple’s home to rape his wife after mixing sleeping tablets and anti-anxiety medication into her food and drink that left her unconscious.
The details of the case have sent shockwaves globally. Gisele Pelicot, a former logistics manager, has emerged as a feminist hero for insisting that the rape trial of these men is held in public so that shame could change sides.
The trial has led to a shift in France as it started a conversation about “rape culture” and “toxic masculinity” among men.
Dominique and the other accused are now awaiting their verdict. If convicted, they face prison sentences of between four and 20 years.
Donald Trump’s hush money trial conviction
Donald Trump is set to return as the United States President next month. But even before his landmark victory in November, the Republican leader was busy creating history this year.
In May, Trump became the first former American president to be convicted of felony crimes after a New York jury found him guilty of all 34 charges in a hush money case.
He was convicted of several charges including falsifying business documents to cover up hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels, an adult film star, before the 2016 presidential election. The porn actor said she had sex with Trump in 2006.
The Republican has denied the claims.
Prosecutors are now scrambling their heads to keep Trump’s conviction in the hush money case as he now enjoys presidential immunity.
Indian ‘agent’ named in Pannun ‘assassination bid’
The United States Department of Justice (DoJ) accused Vikash Yadav , a former Indian government employee, of being involved in a plot to kill pro-Khalistan separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in America.
The Justice Department has charged Yadav with “murder-for-hire” and money laundering in the alleged conspiracy to kill Pannun.
Authorities allege Yadav ordered the foiled plot from India when he was employed by the Indian government’s Cabinet Secretariat, which houses the spy agency – Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW).
According to the Justice Department, Yadav said his position was of a “senior field officer” with responsibilities in “security management and intelligence”.
The indictment claims he recruited Gupta last May to arrange the “assassination”.
On Yadav being named as an “Indian government employee” by the Justice Department, a spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said Thursday that he was “not part of the government of India set-up”.
The accused has been put on the FBI’s wanted list.
Yadav is also facing a kidnapping and extortion case filed by a Delhi-based businessman.
Pune Porsche hit-and-run
Road safety became a hot topic in India this year. A 17-year-old boy allegedly rammed his speeding Porsche into a motorcycle in Pune’s Yerwada, killing two young techies in their 20s.
Outrage erupted online after it came to light that the teenager was leniently granted bail by the Juvenile Justice Board, asking him to write a 300-word essay on road safety.
Reports emerged that the minor was allegedly driving in an inebriated condition, which further fuelled the national uproar.
The police investigation found that when the boy was taken to the government-run Sassoon Hospital for a medical examination, his blood sample was allegedly replaced with his mother’s.
The police later arrested seven people, including the minor’s parents, doctors and staff at the Sassoon hospital.
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