bengaluru l friday l august 21, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 44 l late city EDITION in tit-for-tat, india pulls down structures outside pak mission Illegal barricades outside compound Authorities used a JCB machine to remove the structures and barricades erected along the lane outside the compound, including queuemanagement installations near the visa section. The move came after Pakistan removed parking poles outside the Indian mission in Islamabad this week. Visuals showed that the demolition left a trail of rubble Indian authorities carried out the demolition as the structures were beyond the Pakistani high commission’s approved boundary limit Action comes amid deep freeze in ties ■ ■ The main entrance of the high commission, with its white walls, domed features and large metal gates bearing the Pakistani emblem, remained intact. The facade around service windows was damaged The action by Pakistani authorities and subsequent demolition of the unauthorised structures by India came amid a deep freeze in relations May 2025 is when india’s op Sindoor hit terror infra in Pakistan 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 Former SC judge Subhash Reddy Shah moots Brahmaputra, to head panel on police excesses Godavari, Cauvery linking s u c h i t r a k a lya n m o h a nt y @ New Delhi A five-member high-powered committee headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice R Subhash Reddy will examine allegations of police excesses against student protesters in Delhi recently and violence against police personnel. A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said its order on August 18, uploaded on Thursday, that the committee would also comprise former Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Ravi Shankar Jha, former Delhi High Court Judge Shalinder Kaur, former CBI director Rishi K Shukla and retired Meghalaya DGP L R Bishnoi. The bench passed the or- der on a batch of petitions filed by lawyer Shailendra Mani Tripathi and others challenging police excesses on Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) protesters and students at Jantar Mantar on July 20. The court recommended that the panel prioritise examination of alleged police excesses as well as violence on the part of protesters and allegations of harassment and molestation of women agitators. The panel may also examine issues pertaining to the grant of interim compensation to those injured on either side, the court added. The court added that the panel’s work will not be a one-time exercise, but a continuous assessment of issues R Subhash Reddy, Former SC judge @ Chennai Police action during the July 20 Delhi protest march | Express flagged by by the petitioners. “This HPEC has been constituted bearing in mind a wide variety of considerations, including the individual expertise and experience of each of its members, as well as the diversity of the Committee, among other factors. We are confident that the committee will be able to undertake a comprehensive assessment of all such issues as merit due contemplation,” the bench said. No bar to inquiries The bench said the constitution of the committee shall not debar police authorities from taking disciplinary action against any of their officers found to be in contravention of rules governing their conduct. UGC equity regulations under review, says govt SC suggests deferring three-language policy from Class 6 by a year SUCHI T RA KALYA N MOHA N T Y e x p r e s s ne w s s e r v i c e @ New Delhi Caste-based discrimination @ New Delhi THE Centre on Thursday told the Supreme Court that it was ‘reconsidering’ the UGC’s equity regulations, which were formulated to prevent castebased discrimination on campuses but were met with opposition from students from non-reserved categories for being excluded from protection under the regulation. They opposed Regulation 3(1)(c), which restricted caste-based discrimination as applying “only on the basis of caste or tribe” against members of SCs, STs, and OBCs. On January 29, the SC ordered the regulations to be kept in abeyance, after observing that they were vague. It questioned the need for a separate definition of ‘caste-based discrimination’ under regulation 3(1)(c), when an existing clause under 3(1)(e) already provides a broad definition of “discrimination”. The SC also questioned the exclusion of ragging from the regulations. When the matter came up on Thursday, Solicitor General Hearing after 4 weeks The bench did not consider any arguments on Thursday, and adjourned the hearing by four weeks, by which time the UGC should file a comprehensive affidavit. The petitioners may file rejoinder, if any, within two weeks thereafter Tushar Mehta told the SC that the Union government was actively reconsidering the UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations 2026. Mehta requested the bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana to defer the formulation of questions to be determined until the process is over. Taking into record Mehta’s submissions, the court asked the UGC to file a counter affidavit within four weeks. Senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for the mothers of Rohit Vemula and Payal Tadvi, who died by suicide, sought a timeline for Centre’s decision. THE Supreme Court on Thursday said there is nothing wrong in introducing CBSE’s three-language policy under the National Education Poli, cy (NEP) 2020, but the solitary concern before the court was about the manner in which the reform was being initiated by the board. The court was hearing a batch of pleas challenging CBSE’s policy mandating studying three languages, including two native Indian languages, for Class 9 students from July 1. A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana sought CBSE’s view on whether the third language should begin in Class 6 or from Classes 3-4, and asked the board to lay out a roadmap. “There is no doubt that sooner or later, it has to be introduced. There is nothing wrong with that. But how it is to be streamlined ...you may find a solution to those,” the bench told Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, for Centre, and fixed next hearing after two weeks. “If you have chosen Class 6 as the starting point, you may consider giving a reprieve to Class 6 students of this year. You can introduce it from next year,” it said. “Another thing which needs to be looked into is where do you draw the line. Whether it is Class 6, Class 4 or Class 3... we don’t want children to come under any pressure.” The bench said learning any language is something invaluable. “Let us not have any impression of inferiority complex with respect to regional languages...should respect all these languages.” 4 held as SIT probes fake med racket E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bengaluru The state gover nment on Thursday constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising officers from the Bengaluru City Police and officials from the Drugs Control Department to probe the massive counterfeit and spurious medicine racket that was busted by the Food Safety and Drug Administration of ficers and Tavarekere police. Police have arrested four of the accused. The SIT will be headed by 2009 batch IPS officer C Vamsi Krishna, presently serving as Joint Commissioner of Police (West). The SIT will take the four accused arrested by the local police into their custody P3 . WITH THIS ISSUE CITY’S BEST WEEKEND GUIDE 44 PAGES, INCLUDING 24 OF INDULGE (TABLOID) CM: Delimitation must be based on 1971 census E XPR E SS N E WS S E RVIC E defensive masterclass Bichu Devi (No. 9) hugs a teammate after India held England in their last Pool D encounter at the FIH Women’s Hockey World Cup. A 0-0 draw sent them to the next phase of the competition | HI | P19 E x p r e s s Re a d Expired Nandini items, fungus in veggies found in rly stn food Ladakh set to get J&K High Court bench, says Shah Bengaluru: The Food Safety and Drugs Administration carried out inspection at 36 railway stations across Karnataka on Thursday and found violations including, expired Nandini products and fungal growth on vegetables | P7 New Delhi: The Union territory of Ladakh will soon have a high court bench, home minister Amit Shah said on Thursday. Announcing this on X, Shah said the bench of Jammu and Kashmir High Court will improve access to justice. Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday made a grand pitch for linking major rivers, including the Brahmaputra in the Northeast, with the Cauvery and Godavari in Peninsular India, saying such an initiative could ensure that India faces no water shortage for the next 100 years. Chairing the 31st meeting of the Southern Zonal Council here, Shah said protecting the interests of individual states was not wrong, but questioned the rationale of states remaining deprived of water for years while surplus water elsewhere flowed into the sea. He said river-linking could help overcome such situations and also facilitate the creation of multiple waterways, reducing fuel consumption, benefiting the environment and providing a cost-effective system of transportation. Stating that the southern states have been the main pillars of India’s progress, Shah said, “Whether it is agriculture, industry healthy citizens , or the environment, water is the soul of this region in all these four areas.” States agreed to the suggestion to resolve pending water disputes in the South through dialogue and a positive approach Amit Shah, Home Minister Dropout rate Shah also stressed the need to tackle school dropouts, malnutrition and stunting, saying the national school dropout rate of 9.5% should be brought below 3% through incremental effort by all states E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @Bengaluru Karnataka CM DK Shivakumar with his Tamil Nadu counterpart C Joseph Vijay at the Southern Zonal Council meeting in Mahabalipuram on Thursday | PTI As for inter-state water disputes in the North, he said five of the eight issues had persisted since the pre-British era. An agreement was finally reached five months ago, resolving all issues from Kashmir to UP . Shah called for the early resolution of pending water-related issues in the South through joint meetings of the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Ministry of Home Affairs, Inter-State Council and the concerned states. Chief ministers C Joseph Vijay N Chandrababu Naidu, D K , Shivakumar and V D Satheesan, Lt Governors K Kailashnathan, Admiral (Retd.) D K Joshi and Telangana deputy CM Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka attended the meeting. Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Thursday flagged delimitation and women’s reservation issues at the Southern Zonal Council meeting chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu. He urged the Southern Zonal Council to adopt a resolution asking the Union government to honour the 1971 census for delimitation, retain 543 Lok Sabha seats for the next 25 years and provide women’s reservation within the existing seats. He also called upon southern states to shift from “water sharing” to “water cooperation”. The south answered the nation’s call and controlled its population with discipline and success and the success must never become the reason to make its voice smaller, he said. “Our economic weight must be matched with political voice,” he said. CONTINUED ON: P7