Yesterday I came across a person claiming to be Wing Commander Partha De Sarkar, who also claims to be the owner of Ladakh India Tourism, Global Hop Travels India and Global Hop Travels.
Partha De Sarkar had stolen a photograph of Chushul War Memorial, which I had captured during my trip to Ladakh in December 2011 and was using it in a bid to promote his Ladakh India Tourism Company on Facebook.
When I politely asked him, who gave him the right and permission to not only use my photograph, but also crop out my copyright mark from it, Wing Commander Partha De Sarkar not only started telling me how great he was for participating in Indian Air Force during 1966 and 71, when I wasn’t even born or was probably in my nappies, but he also claimed this photograph was clicked by him.
Add to that, Wing Commander Partha De Sarkar of Ladakh India Tourism, Global Hop Travels India and Global Hop Travels also started using abusive words against me, for being a civilian, which seeing from his conduct, has no right or dignity in India!
He also accused me of being a thief tour operator and cheating many people, even though I have never taken a single paid tour or sold any travel services to anyone in my life! In fact for the past 7 years, I have been freely helping people plan their Ladakh journey, through this blog, BCMTouring and various other online forums and social media sites.
Heck the idiot that I am, I have even gone to extent of spending my own hard earned money to meet and help out fellow travelers, and here I was being accused of scamming people by the owner Ladakh India Tourism, Global Hop Travels India and Global Hop Travels, who was using my photograph to promote his business on Facebook.
In fact majority of the photographs on his profile seemed to have been stolen from elsewhere, a theme also clearly visible on ladakhindiatourism.co.in as well!
While there has been an out pouring of support from friends and even friends of friends and fellow travelers, bikers and photogs, I am still in too much of a shock to comprehend the situation.
I mean, as a victim of Copyright Infringement, I not only have to go through the pains of getting that photograph removed from Facebook, but I also get abused by a supposedly retired Air Force Officer with the threat that Indian Air Force and Army will create problems for me or teach me a lesson, if and when I visit Ladakh?
Do I deserve this this abuse and threat because I am a civilian?
Or do I deserve this abuse and threat because I felt proud of the Indian Army Jawans who were martyred during the 1962 Indo-China War and hence felt compelled to not only visit Chushul and Rezang La War Memorials to pay my respect, but also tried to capture them through my lens, so that I can tell my fellow Indians the story of their sacrifice and valor, and ask them to visit these monuments of martyrdom and also pay their respect to the true heroes of the nation?
Or do I deserve this abuse and threat, because I am stupid enough to help people out, without charging a single rupee (unlike honorable Wing Commander Partha De Sarkar of Ladakh India Tourism, Global Hop Travels India and Global Hop Travels) and going out of my way to promote tourism in Ladakh for no selfish reason?
Whatever might be the reason for deserving this abuse and physical threat, Wing Commander Partha De Sarkar has caused me to introspect and question the wisdom of helping others out for free, in a world full of petty politics and selfish commercial gains.
Ps. this isn’t the first time I have faced abused for asking a content thief to remove my photograph or content, however this is the first time I am actually being physically threatened for asking the removal of a photograph, shot by me.
Update: Partha De Sarkar seems to have disabled his Facebook Account for the time being or has changed its URL, however he has neither apologized to me or the other photogs, nor had he deleted any of the images in question.
71 Comments
You needed to expand this first comment. Would have made a comic read !!
* his
SJD I too realized the folly of not doing this later, however by that time he had blocked access for me and just now I have received information from the Copyright Department of Facebook, that they have remove the photograph in question.
Yogesh Bhai, I know its painful.. but this guy is not worth talking to. BTW couldn’t stop laughing reading his messages.
Thanks for the morning laughing dose 🙂 and I am happy that the photo has been removed.
Hi Yogesh,
Late last night, I learned about the entire fiasco, and it is shocking to a certain extent, especially given the fact that he being a retired defense personnel behaving in such a disgusting way. It seems he doesn’t have ANY respect whatsoever for a “civilian”, and he forgets that he is/ will be one after he is retired (if he ain’t already).
Coming to the copying of your photograph(s), this does happen all over the internet, all the time. There are times when we do get to find out, but more often than not, it completely goes unnoticed. But, this does NOT give anyone the right to blatantly copy an image, cut out the watermark/ copyright information and present the work of someone else as his/ her own. This is a HUGE problem when it comes to digital work (be it pictures, text, etc.)
But, it’s a relief that Facebook has intervened and has taken down the said photograph. I am in a state of disbelief reading the replies (the kiddish replies, really) of a “defense personnel”. My father was in the army for more than 35 years, and I am sure he’d be as shocked reading these comments as I, or any so called “civilian” is!
Hi Yogesh,
I think its better to leave “creeps” like him alone. You have already got the picture removed. May be you can try to get his page itself blocked because of abusive language.
But all said and done, I really wonder what level are people willing to stoop to.
Regards
Dont Worry Bro. We know what you are doing and we will help you spreading a word about this. You keep up the good work. I am there 🙂 🙂 BCMT Rocks \\m//
He says F*****g Civilian. Did he forget that the F*****g Civilians pay for the F*****g expenses of the entire military establishment.
hi..yogesh..this guy is talking about u cheating ppl …what a joke!! what he doesnt know is that..u have unknowingly helped lot of people like me…achieve their life’s dream…a bike trip to ladaakh. i dared to undertake my first bike trip frm delhi to leh in 2009 …based on the information in your blogs n bmc ..i carried the prints outs all while during the trip !1 thanks to u..you rock …yogesh !!
Hi Yogesh,
One of the many members of bcmt(mostly dormant until i have a query 🙂 ) I was shocked to see the guys attitude. Being an Fauji kid i know that old timers do have that “bloody civilian” attitude but this is taking it to a new level on a public forum – after blatantly plagiarizing someone elses work and then passing it off as his own. Not the ethics an officer is taught and highly unbecoming of one.
Regards
Hi Yogesh,
I know a lot of defence personnel and by this guy’s language and grammar I feel he is definitely not an air force/army/navy officer, retired or serving. This guy is clearly an idiot. Good you challenged him and reported him.
He has been posting numerous wildlife photos, clicked by others, on the facebook page of the Sanctuary Asia magazine. He has been caught out there too, and banned.
Let’s see where he pops up next!
Get his picture and extract the meta data to prove that you’re the official owner
This IDIOT never would have realized what he was actually stepping into!!
His language tells a lot about what he would have been when in service!
He calls you a fraud travel agent because he must be frustrated about his ‘dukaan’ not running well.
We all know and most importantly, YOU know what you have done and what you do and what you DON’T and no one can take it away from you!!
Rest, let the idiot steal more and as a result, get the ‘medicine’ for the same as well until some sense prevails on him.
I did a google image search for pics in his album….. i think 100 % of the pics are stolen from others web albums
Link to his album (u can try for yourself)
https://www.facebook.com/WgCdrParthaDeSarkar/photos_albums
I think he doesnt know that he can get caught by google image search.
Rakesh, it is always a pleasure to bring a smile or laughter to someone 🙂
Bobby, you are absolutely right. I have so become used to reporting and getting images removed from FB albums, that the first thing I do when I come across a page or group is to check whether or not they are using copied images (easy to spot), if they are, it is time to dig deeper and find out whether or not mine have been plagiarized (same was the case this time around). However the real shocker is the way in which he is not only calling names and threatening, but seemed to be justifying his unethical conduct by pulling Air Force in to the discussion!
Anirudha, it isn’t about the photo anymore. It is about the way this guy is operating. I have already gotten info from several people that he has plagiarized their photos and threaten them. Rajiv has also found his photos in this chap’s album!
Shashi, thank you :).
Bhupinder, rightly said.
Mohit, glad I could help and thanks for commenting 🙂
Mikhali it is indeed sad to see him not only indulge in such activity, but also justifying it, by saying he was in the air force!
Ray, no need for that. I have already gotten it removed through Facebook.
Rajiv, report him ASAP!
Kumar you are spot on, none of the photos have been taken by him!
I don’t think he understands the concept of Plagiarism. He is An egoistic, self-centered retired armed force personnel. This is exactly how condescending many of them are. I know, cause I am an army brat and it sickens me how these people think they are doing some huge favour to the “civilians”, where there in reality there is only a very tiny percentage who actually are not corrupt.
Sreejith R it is that tiny percentage, which keeps us hopeful and proud of our armed forces, hats off to them 🙂
With due respect to what the Armed Forces are doing, this is not the first time that some really bad specimens from the forces (or claiming to be) have abused any civilian who points out that they are doing something wrong. Earlier it was “bloody civilians”, now it’s even worse.
Generally, an individual’s greed to further his cause is not representative of the the organization he represented, albeit, he might try using it to his advantage. Instead of being emotionally charged-up, we can embark on a strategic campaign to undermine the credibility of the individual and his claim to use the mantle of armed forces to enhance the credibility.
You can basically report abuse on his user account and the facebook account of his company as first-cut. Systematically undermining the copyright infringement is the first cut. You can crowd source a campaign through your friends for the same. Similarly, you can undermine his Web 2.0 presence too. Report abuse on basis of copyright infringement to Linkedin – http://in.linkedin.com/in/wingcdrparthadesarkar (This is his profile). Crowd sourcing such a campaign helps.
HAHAHAHAHA poor guy the Ladakh India Tourism just lost there credibility and honors in every respect. I will make sure than none of my known friends or anyone going to Ladakh visit them or take any tour plans from them. I wont talk about him being a Defense person as because one loose CHARACTER and FULL OF SMUCK GUY who claims to be a fighter pilot and flying in 1971 and he could see babies in nappies from up above the sky; I cant blame the whole Air Force or Defense for this person…I can understand where he is coming from and why is he talking like this.
Ladakh India Tourism I will let you know when I am there…. I think you still have some flying left in you…. but hell I cant fly but come ride with me as a pillion…. I will make you see and feel the clouds for sure… and that also when you are grounded now…. CHEERS
@Siddhartha that is indeed sad, however there are good chaps in the army as well and these chaps along with the brave men like Major Shaitan Singh are the ones, who keep us safe and make army, navy and air force, what it is!
@Emil, already done that. Commander Sahib has deactivated his account for now.
@Shivanshu, gave him plenty of chances to behave in a honorable and gentlemanly manner, rest it is his choice.
@everyone, thanks for the love and support, at least for now, he has deactivated his Facebook Account. Of course we all need to keep an eye out, to ensure that he does not steals from anyone else ever again!
Such re-pungent character. I hope we don’t get anymore of such people in our society.
I bet you even IAF service men would hate to be around such character.
Yogesh bro, do let us know for any assistance in the future.
Thanks Jasdeep for your support 🙂
Ah, typical insecure Indian man. Clearly doesn’t seem to understand how the modern-day world works. Ignore the cheap crook. He’ll bring up faux patriotism to hide the fact he’s nothing but a shameless thief with no real values.
Hey guys check out this https://www.facebook.com/notes/partha-de-sarkar/my-road-trip-from-srinagar-to-leh/10150343611899754 you can find the pics of Some one Neelima Vallangi (Spelling might be wrong but look out for the watermarks in the pics) Thank to watermark says copyright 2010 but story says 2001… pakka chor hai bhai.. bach ke rehna
Prabhanjan, fellow BCMTian, Rajiv had notified Neelima and if I remember correctly, she had even responded, but I guess, she didn’t take any action.
Hopefully you have large heart enough not to mix up your lies with profession. I have referred some young bikers to you. If they communicate with you, help them.
Also grow up and do not face court or RAW.
So finally after so many days of trying to spam my blog by trying to impersonate as foreigners, you finally had the guts to make the comment under your real name.
Also thank you for threatening me again and showing your true colors once again. This time the only difference is, you do not have the authority to remove the comment and your ip address has been recorded for reference.
Btw being someone who has supposedly served under government, I hope you do know, that trying to threaten someone by using a government agency that too of the stature of RAW is a serious criminal offence, one which can land you in jail.
Mr.partha I wonder in this age how can u even threaten a guy like yogesh sarkar..mostly every1 knw whose pic it was.. if u have copied it accept it. .there is no shame in accepting truth. . With due respect YOU CALL YOUR SELF EX IAF MAN , have u lost your manners somewhere ? A DEFENCE GUY is not supposed to abuse civilians..
Cmon sir stop threatning him by the namr of RAW , wat will research and analysis wing do in this.. sir you r in late 60 , we all care for you .so advising you to take some bed rest and accept that you copied it.. NEITHER IAF NOR RAW will help u in this , I m giving u in writing
Regards
A.P
I.P.S aspirant
Dear Partha De Sarkar,
Why are you such a big JOKER ?
Will RAW engage itself in such petty matters?
Looking at the dumb guy thatyou are, i really doubt your claim of having been an ex -IAF man…..or may be u were at some clerical post…not a combat pilot for sure!….IAF guys are smart , intelligent and savvy and not morons!
Lol. aspirants, pass first. I had extended hands of friendship. I did not know hippolike person also behave as one. I wanted to give you bikers. take is as it is and an aspirant is a few light years away from being an IPS
Yogsh, it is my final messege to you. I had treid to chill you. But it is waste of time. You are a bull headed guy. Adios
Yes, if any one steals from me or threatens me, I can be a really “bull headed” guy. Because such people, deserve nothing better!
Guy makes no sense with words. His poor English expose a lot about his understanding of education.
He seem like that IAF wannabe, who couldn’t be.. while he was donning the uniform.
Hope we don’t get any more of such pseudo intellect clowns in our society.
Talking about him seems a waste of time. But I guess sometimes we couldn’t help to deal with jokers for unalike taste of amusement 😀
ok see u at leh in august how bull headed you are…
And how are you going to find out how “bull headed” I am?
Let him know da dates Yogesh da, so that he can keep himself away from Leh ! 😛
Are you mad Rajiv?
If I do that, then Ex-Wing Commander Partha De Sarkar is going to setup an ambush for me!
Imagine I am traveling through Ladakh, suddenly Indian Air Force Bombers and Army Tanks start firing at me, while RAW (on orders of Honorable Partha De Sarkar) starts erasing my identity from the world!!!
I would be bombed out of the world and no one would know, if I even existed!
So let’s keep quiet and hear what this gallantry hero of 1962 war (which gives him the right to steal all the images of Ladakh and across India) has to state to us bloody and worthless civilians, who are only good enough to pay taxes so that he can get his monthly retirement check and various other benefits and quietly enroll for his tours of Ladakh and elsewhere!
Hahahah.. That actually makes sense. Imagine you go and on d orders of the self declared fool, whole of the army and the IAF HAS to be pulled from their duty of guarding the orders creating a situation where china can exploit and grab some more of our territory and lay an ambush to catch n finish u, you will definitely not want this to happen!
Lol, I definitely don’t want that.
And Rajiv, please speak with respect, when talking about Honorable Ex-Wing Commander Partha De Sarkar, else he might just send RAW, Army and Airforce after you as well!
Keeping this threat in mind, I have been staying in a camouflaged bunker since long!
Loser PDS!! Huh!!
hahahaha.. good one guys!!
We have a date in front of German Bakery, Leh in August to prove who is the thief. You stole Chushul photo from Allen Craig.
When I loser finds no escape, he tries to divert the attention!!
Partha De Sarkar, are you even aware that foreigners aren’t allowed to visit places like Chushul?
Guess you would have known that, had you had knowledge about Ladakh or had even visited place like Chushul!
As for this Allen guy, tell him to file a case against me for copyright infringement, if I have stolen his photo. He should be easily able to prove that I am the thief by producing the full resolution photograph, which let me guess, would never come, because he is a figment of your imagination!
Oh yes, since you are claiming to have taken foreigners to an area along the LAC, which is out of bound for them. I guess you would be alright if I forward this matter for investigation to DC Office Leh through an RTI, asking the procedure they followed to allow you to take foreigners to a restricted area, which is often out of bound for even Indian Travelers!
After all if you are right, then they will show the special permission they had given to the Honorable Wing Commander Partha De Sarkar, Ladakh India Tourism Global Hop Travels India and Global Hop Travels to do such a thing.
Ek aur patkanni!! Hehehe!!
Hahaha!! I am sure, silence is going to prevail again for few weeks until another dumb idea pops up!
Note to self, introduce like button for comments :P.
Hahaha!! (y)
None claimed that we can take tourists to LAC. I KNOW BETTER THAN YOU WHAT IS LAC/LOC. THIS IS MMY LAST CONVERSATION WITH YOU AND NEXT IS TO GO TO COURT FOR DEFAMING OVER AN INTERNATIONALL CIRCULATED PHOTO.
Or better, we shake hands and move on – I am of your father’s age. Nice knowing you. take care. Wish you the best, kid. Good bye.
And when complaining tell DC that you are complaining against father in law of Moloy De…a principal secretary.
Be well and wise