hyderabad l saturday l February 07, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION Netflix pulls content related to Ghooskhor Pandat after govt fiat Centre on Wednesday asked Netflix to remove teaser and other promotional content of the film from social media amid backlash over its title Social media outrage over the title Film not targeting any section: producer The film’s title triggered outrage on social media, with many saying it portrays a particular community in a bad light. The Uttar Pradesh Police registered an FIR against the film’s director. The state government said action was taken on charges of spreading social animosity, hurting religious and caste sentiments, and attempting to disturb public peace ■ ■ Producer Neeraj Pandey quickly went into a damage-control mode, saying the film does not target any caste, religion or community. He added that all promotional material has been taken down The crime thriller directed by Ritesh Shah tells the story of a corrupt cop Ajay Dikshit, also called Pandat, played by Manoj Bajpayee Feb 3 when teaser of the film dropped on social media, sparking the outcry CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI SC to Speaker: Decide on defections or face contempt SC OKs med termination of week 30 pregnancy S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi s u c h i t r a k a lya n m o h a n t y @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Friday directed medical termination of a 17-year-old girl’s 30-week pregnancy, observing that courts cannot compel a woman, much less a minor, to continue an unwanted pregnancy . A bench of justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan ordered Mumbai’s JJ Hospital to perform the procedure with all necessary medical safeguards, emphasizing the minor’s reproductive autonomy over other considerations. The girl had conceived while in a relationship with a neighbourhood boy and consistently expressed her unwillingness to continue the pregnancy . “The court cannot compel any woman, much less a minor child, to complete her pregnancy if she is otherwise not intending to do so,” the bench stated, noting that while the medical board reported no threat to mother or child if carried to full term, the girl’s wishes remained paramount. Justice Nagarathna acknowledged the moral and legal complexities: “Should we compel her to give birth to a child? Because the child which will be born is also ultimately going to be a life. If she can ter minate at 24 weeks, then why not at 30 weeks? Bottom line is she doesn’t want to give birth.” The court warned that denying such terminations f o r c e s wo m e n t ow a r d quacks. “There are so many cases where termination takes place beyond what’s stipulated under the MTP Act. Where will such people go?” the bench asked. Opposition members staging a protest in the Well raising slogans against the government during the Budget session in the Lok Sabha on Friday | PTI Growing LS rift could hamper rest of session Opposition parties likely to disrupt Budget discussions set to resume from Monday P r e e t h a N a i r @ New Delhi WITH the ties between the government and the Opposition at a near breaking point, uncertainty hangs over the remaining days of the first phase of the Budget Session in the Lok Sabha. Opposition parties have signalled that protests will be intensified as there has been no conciliatory move from the government, fuelling fears of further disruptions to discussion on the Union Budget 2026-27 in the week ahead. The flashpoints are the government’s refusal to allow Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi to speak in the Lok Sabha on former Army chief General Naravane’s book and the suspension of eight Opposition MPs for alleged unruly behaviour. The divide deepened after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a sharp attack on the Congress and other Opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday Speaker Birla’s remark . that he had ‘credible information’ about some MPs planning an ‘unprecedented action’ against the PM added fuel to the fire, with Opposition leaders strongly objecting to the allegation. The Lok Sabha is scheduled to resume discussion on the Budget on February 9, 10 and 11, with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman set to reply on February 11. However, Opposition leaders have made it clear the debate may not proceed as scheduled. Although the Budget discussions were to begin on February 5, proceedings were stalled due to pandemonium. The first phase of the Budget Session is scheduled to conclude on February 13. After a recess, Parliament will reconvene for the second phase from March 9 to April 2. Congress chief whip Kodikunnil Suresh told this paper that the government had shown little inclination to engage with the Opposition. “It is the government’s responsibility to reach out to the Opposition and resolve differences. No such effort has been made. On Wednesday, our leaders met the Speaker and placed demands, but there has been no response,” he said. BJP’s promises for civic bodies n Civic governance & taxes n hike in No municipal taxes, including property tax n Online single-window system for building permissions within 7 days n AI-enabled systems for corruptionfree municipal functioning Public health & urban services n Strengthening of Basti Dawakhanas n Assured availability of medicines at affordable prices n 100% door-to-door garbage collection n Efficient solid waste management to make cities garbage-free Infrastructure & mobility n Construction of flyovers and underpasses to reduce traffic congestion n 100% underground drainage system across urban local bodies Clean & Green cities n Development of all urban local bodies as clean cities and green towns n Measures to address mosquito menace and issues caused by monkeys, pigs and stray dogs Urban development n Efforts to persuade Centre to declare eligible municipalities and corporations as Smart Cities n multipurpose park in One each minor municipality n multipurpose Two parks in every major municipality Matters of faith n Protection of temples and recovery of encroached temple lands n Establishment of goshalas in every municipality for cattle protection The Supreme Court on Friday gave a final three-week window to the Assembly Speaker to decide the pending disqualification petitions against 10 BRS MLAs who allegedly defected to the ruling Congress, warning that contempt proceedings would follow in case of failure. A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and AG Masih passed the order while hearing a contempt plea filed by BRS leaders KT Rama Rao, Padi Kaushik Reddy and KP Vivekanand. “We expect the Speaker to positively take a decision failing which we will proceed with the contempt,” the bench said. Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for the Speaker, submitted that a decision had already been taken in one case and the Speaker was close to deciding two other matters. He cited the municipal elections in the state and sought three weeks to conclude all pending disqualification proceedings. Counsel for the petitioners told the court that the Speaker had sought time on earlier occasions as well and that only one meeting had been held so far in connection with the disqualification petitions. continued on p4 RBI will pay up to `25,000 to digital fraud victims B e n n K o c h u v e e d a n @ Mumbai WITH digital frauds becoming commonplace, the Reserve Bank of India decided to cast a safety net around banking customers by paying 70% of small value money or up to `25,000 lost in fraudulent transactions, RBI governor Sanjay Malhotra said on Friday This is a once in . a lifetime arrangement without asking questions provided that no malafide intent. The customer would not even be asked if he shared the OTP with the fraudster. E x p r ess Re a d Top Maoist from TG dies in encounter Nizamabad: Seven CPI (Maoist) cadres, including senior leader Loketi Chandar Rao from Telangana, as well as a C-60 jawan, were killed in an ongoing antiNaxal operation in Gadchiroli of Maharashtra on Friday | P2 WhatsApp MeeSeva is a winner Women’s Safety n Strengthening of She Teams in coordination with state police across all municipalities and corporations Honing skills n Skill development centres in every municipality and corporation n Regular job fairs to improve employment opportunities for youth Hyderabad: More than 3.25 lakh people across the state have availed citizen services through the WhatsApp MeeSeva since its introduction. While 4.5 lakh citizens registered, 3.25 lakh benefited so far. U 1 9 W o r l d C up Powerplay: Vaibhav gives English lessons E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ Chennai Right after losing the Asia Cup to Pakistan, the entire India U-19 team was tremendous pressure. For a boy of 14, that pressure seemed like a mountain. Despite magical debut in international cricket, questions were raised about Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s ability to play in crunch games. The only way he could have stopped those doubters was through his knocks. And that came on Friday at the final of the U19 World Cup. Sooryavanshi, playing like a man in a boy’s match, struck one of the greatest 100s in agegroup cricket to help India win their sixth Under-19 World Cup. A day before the seniors start Vaibhav Sooryavanshi with trophy | BCCI their campaign to defend the T20 World Cup at home, Sooryavanshi & Co produced a powerpacked batting performance against England in the final at Harare. Unperturbed by the grand stage, the young 14-something smashed the ball all around the park with elan. What seemed most astonishing is the way he could middle the ball with such consummate ease and regularity. When the carnage was finally done, he had made a record-breaking 80ball 175, 150 of those coming in boundaries (15x4, 15x6). England tried gamely but fell 100 runs short. On a sun-kissed day , India, who opted to bat first, needed to make hay as England had several batting match-winners in their ranks. They needn’t have worried as their principal batter, Sooryavanshi, already exposed to senior cricket in all three formats, tore into the English attack. No other team has dominated the U19 World Cup as India has done. This is the sixth time India won the title.  P11 Today’s Matches 11am Pakistan vs Netherlands (Colombo) 3pm West Indies vs Scotland (Kolkata) 7pm India vs USA (Mumbai) Repo rate unchanged at 5.25%, policy stance neutral The Reserve Bank-led rate-setting panel on Friday opted for continuity in the final monetary policy review of the current fiscal, keeping the repo rate unchanged at 5.25%, while retaining the neutral policy stance. RBI said lower rates are here to stay for long | P10 The remaining 30% loss will be equally shared by the customer (15%) and the bank to ensure all parties have skin in the game, Malhotra said. This was among the measures the RBI announced for better customer protection and digital payments safety as part of fresh regulations, including stricter guidelines on mis-selling, loan recovery and custom, er liability “A discussion paper . will soon be released to ensure stronger digital payment security measures,” Malhotra said. According to official RBI data, banks reported 13,469 fraud cases related to card and internet-based transactions during fiscal 2025, involving losses of `520 crore. “Even if the customer has shared the OTP and if the fraud was first time, the customer is eligible for compensation, minus 15% of the total loss,” the governor clarified. When asked where would the money for this compensation come from, deputy governor Swaminathan J said the compensation money will be from the depositor education fund of the central bank. The governor said 65% of digital frauds are worth less than `55,000.