THIRUVANANTHAPURAM l friday l January 29, 2021 l `7.00 l PAGES 18 l LATE city EDITION CJI ticks off centre for not curbing hatred on tv The Supreme Court on Thursday slammed the Centre for not checking TV programmes which instigate or impact a community Reports can’t be used to incite violence Can’t control live tv shows, says govt Control over certain news is essential for the maintenance of law and order, said a bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde. It noted problem arises when reportage is used to incite violence. “Yesterday, you (govt) shut down internet and mobile because of farmers’ visit to Delhi. I don’t know what happened in the TV yesterday,” the court added ■ Such preventive measures are as important as providing ‘lathis’ to policemen, the bench observed ■ The SC made the comments while hearing a plea on media’s alleged biased reporting in the Tablighi Jamaat case ■ Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said govt can’t control live shows SC SAID GOVT CAN USE Cable TV Networks Act 1994 To control TV BROADCAST CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ WARANGAL ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Lookout notices against accused leaders, passports to be seized; U.P. govt orders farmers to vacate the Ghazipur protest site Govt shows iron fist to deal with agitators G ayat h ri M ani / Sidd h anta M i s h ra / Har p reet Ba j w a @ New Delhi Proceeding swiftly in the Republic Day violence case, the Delhi Police on Thursday issued 44 look-out circulars (LOC) against three dozen farm union leaders. They have been asked to join the probe by January 31 and directed to bring their passports along. Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh government started to clear the Ghazipur agitation site. LoCs are used by immigration officials to prevent accused persons from leaving the country . The process of seizure of passports has been initiated by the home ministry and is a major decision, officials said, explaining that all people who have been named by Delhi Police in the FIRs will not be carrying Indian passports till the matter is pending. Officials said the decision was taken on Thursday morning by Home Minister Amit Shah who has been holding meetings with top officials of the Home Ministry and Delhi police since Tuesday when the violence took place in the national capital during the farmers tractor rally Shah has been . monitoring the situation in Delhi, a home ministry official said, adding that the minister is expected to chair a second meeting on Thursday night to review the situation. Union Tourism Minister Prahlad Singh Patel on Thursday said that two brass finials on top of the minar were found missing after chaos ensued in the Red Fort complex but were later found in a damaged state. The case was transferred to Delhi police’s special cell to investigate “international angle” in the ensuing violence at Red Fort. Police has meanwhile invoked a criminal case under provisions of UAPA and Sedition charges in the violence took place at Red Fort. Besides the LOCs, Delhi Police has issued notice to 20 other farmer unions leaders including Yogendra Yadav and Rakesh Tikait, in connection with the violence on Republic Day in Delhi. According to a senior police officer, notice has been issued to all farmer union leaders who attended the meeting with the Delhi Police, agreed to all 36 conditions and signed the undertaking to conduct the rally Around 25 FIRs . have been registered by the Delhi police in the matter and 19 accused arrested and 50 persons have been detained so far. Around 394 police personnel were injured in Tuesday’s violence. Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh government since early Thursday morning removed water and electricity supply from the protest site at Ghazipur in a bid to clear the site. According to official sources, directions were issued from CM Yogi Adityanath to Ghaziabad administration to remove the protestors from the site and clear the CONTINUED ON:P9 road. We’re here to hold talks and won’t go back: Tikait Most farmers unaware of harmful details: Rahul BKU leader Rakesh Tikait gave a fiery speech on Thursday threatening to commit suicide if the farm laws were not repealed. “We are here to talk to the government on repeal of farm laws and not going back till that’s done,” he said Kalpetta: Most farmers are not aware of the details of the three controversial farm laws and if they do, there would be a bigger agitation, said Congress national leader Rahul Gandhi while addressing the UDF convention at Kalpetta in Wayanad. P4 @ New Delhi Security personnel take out a flag march on Thursday at Ghazipur on the Uttar Pradesh-Delhi border where the farmers are protesting | PTI Oppn to boycott Prez’s address E x p re s s N e w s Service @ New Delhi A day before the start of the budget session of Parliament, over a dozen Opposition parties decided to boycott the customary President’s address to a joint sitting of both the Houses on Friday as a mark of solidarity with the farmers protesting against the new farm laws. While 16 Opposition parties issued a joint statement announcing the boycott and demanding a probe into the Centre’s role in the violence on Republic Day in Delhi, the AAP and the SAD, a former NDA ally too, decided to skip the Presi, dential address. As for the treasury benches, the BJP has issued whip to members, asking them to stay put in the Capital. “We are issuing a statement from 16 political parties that we are boycotting President’s address,” said Ghulam Nabi Azad, Continued on: P9 Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha. After break-in at uncle’s house, youth kills aide to divert probe E x p re s s N e w s Service @T’Puram A R U N M @Kochi Taking a serious note of the rising Covid-19 cases, the state government has decided to intensify vigil till February 10. Attributing the surge in cases to people lowering their guard against the virus in public places, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan directed the deployment of 25,000 police personnel to ensure Covid-appropriate behaviour among people. They will make sure that people wear masks and maintain social distancing at bus stands, railway stations, hospitals and shop● More on P2 ping malls. A burglary. A marriage. And a murder. The sequence of events had the makings of a crime thriller with the police nabbing the four accused within 48-hours of a charred body being found near a railway track at Pulleppady in Kochi. It turned out that the mastermind of the theft-and-murder — Dinoy Christo, 24, who was arrested along with three others on Thursday — set ablaze one of his aides to destroy evidence of the burglary at his uncle’s house a day before his sister’s marriage on January 1. The story begins on the evening of December 31 when Dinoy’s uncle and family were at his home in Thoppumpady on the eve of his sister’s marriage. , The five-member gang, including Dinoy , knowing that his relatives will not return till dawn, broke into his uncle’s home in Elamakkara and decamped with 127 sovereigns of gold ornaments. When the police arrived there to collect evidence after the theft, Dinoy, the nephew, was present at the burgled house. “From that time, he was under our scanner,” an officer said. From the site, they managed to get the fingerprints of Joby, 19, one of the gang members. Both Dinoy and Joby were asked to appear at the Elamakkara police station at 11am on Wednesday Dinoy arrived at the station alone. . Around the same time Pulleppady residents reported to the Central station that a charred body was lying near the railway tracks. During quizzing, Dinoy confessed to the crime, the police ● More on P7 said. Alappuzha bypass opened for traffic Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari and CM Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated the bypass on Thursday 6.8-km bypass project — envisaged in 1970s — connects Kommady and Kalarcode on NH66 2-lane bypass has a 4.8-km elevated highway L348 cr total project cost Vehicles move through the Alappuzha bypass which was thrown open to the public on Thursday. A stretch of the bypass on the NH66 passes by the Alappuzha beach offering a scenic view | Express | P4 The bypass is constructed in a way that it will take just 10 minutes to reach Kalarcode from Kommady Another bizarre ruling on minor sex assault Sud h ir Sur ya w an s h i & Kanu Sarda @ Mumbai / New Delhi The Bombay High Court has held that holding a child’s hands and unzipping pants do not fall under the definition of sexual assault under the Pocso Act, 2012. A single judge bench of Justice Pushpa Ganediwala of the Nagpur bench of the Bombay HC delivered this judgment on January 15 while hearing a criminal appeal filed against the conviction and sentence gave to a 50-year-old man for molesting a five-year-old girl. Days later, another order from the same judge that interpreted sexual assault provisions under Pocso Act as only skin-to-skin contact with sexual intent, was stayed by the Supreme Court. Experts feel the move sets a dangerous precedent for defining sexual assault in court. Since the victim of the case was below 12 years, the sessions court said the act was ‘aggravated sexual assault’ punishable under Section 10 of Pocso. The perpetrator was sentenced to five years in prison and the judge imposed a fine of `25,000 with a default simple imprisonment for 6 months. The complaint was filed by the child’s mother, who said she saw the accused, Libnus Kujur, with his pants unzipped and holding her daughter’s hands. She said the accused exposed his private parts and asked her to come to bed to sleep. tion and for promoting enmity between different groups, intentional insult with intent to The ongoing police crackdown provoke breach of the peace, against following violence in incite violence, and criminal Delhi on Republic Day took a conspiracy . new turn on Thursday night Complainant Arpit Mishra, a with the Noida Police slapping 35-year-old resident of Noida, sedition charges against a accused them of broadcasting bunch of senior journalists, in- offensive, misleading and procluding India Today’s vocative news that the senior anchor and ‘Part of a plot police had killed a to disrupt consulting editor Rajprotestor who was harmony’ deep Sardesai, in its driving a tractor. The first information reaccused also retweet“As part of a port (FIR). ed, the FIR added. conspiracy, the The others named accused planned The FIR alle ged in the FIR are Conthat the accused acted riots in the gress member of Parin a prejudiced mannational capital liament Shashi Tha- with intention to ner, which jeopardroor, Mrinal Pande, kill public servants ised national security senior editorial conand public safety . and incite sultant of National Rajdeep was in the violence,” the Herald, Zafar Agha, complainant said eye of a storm as his chief editor of Quami tweet alleging that a in the FIR Awaz, and Caravan farmer was shot dead magazine’s chief ediby the police went vitor and publisher Paresh Nath, ral. Shortly thereafter, he corits editor Anant Nath, and ex- rected himself after the police ecutive editor Vinod K Jose. shared a video of the farmer’s They were booked for alleg- speeding tractor ramming into edly misreporting, provoking a security railing and toppling and spreading communal dis- over. Earlier in the day, the Inharmony during the clashes. dia Today reportedly took him The FIR was registered un- off the air for two weeks and der various sections of Indian docked a month’s salary for Penal Code dealing with sedi- misreporting. E x p re s s N e w s Service State ups Covid vigil, 25,000 cops deployed 18 pages, including 4 pages of THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Express Sedition charges filed against Tharoor, Rajdeep The judge’s interpretation Justice Ganediwala’s order notes the definition of ‘sexual assault’ under Pocso Act says there has to be ‘physical contact with sexual intent without penetration’
Express Network Private Limited publishes thirty three E-paper editions of The New Indian Express newspaper , thirty two E-paper editions of Dinamani, one E-paper edition of The Morning Standard, one E-paper edition of Malayalam Vaarika magazine and one E-paper edition of the Indulge - The Morning Standard, Kolkatta.
29-01-2021 of The New Indian Express-Thiruvananthapuram