BENGALURU  FRIDAY  JANUARY 29, 2021  `7.00  PAGES 32  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 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 SC CAN’T CONTROL LIVE TV SHOWS, SAYS GOVT ■ 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 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; UP govt orders farmers to vacate the Ghazipur protest site Govt shows iron fist to agitators G AYAT H R I M A N I / S I D D H A N TA MISHRA/HARPREET BAJWA @ 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. The 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 Union Home Minister Amit Shah who has been holding a series of meeting with top officials of the Home Ministry and Delhi police since Tuesday when large-scale violence took place in the national capital during the farmers’ tractor rally Shah has been continuously . 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 law and order situation in the capital. 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 an “international angle” in the ensuing violence at Red Fort. Police have meanwhile invoked a criminal case under provisions of Unlawful Activities (prevention) Act (UAPA) and sedition charges in the violence took place at Red Fort. CONTINUED ON: P9 Won’t leave: Tikait BKU leader Rajesh 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 IN a tit-for-tat response to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s provocative statements on the boundary dispute, Karnataka Deputy CM Laxman Savadi has demanded that the country’s financial New director of NIMHANS may not take up assignment B A L A C H A U H A N @ Bengaluru IN a surprise development, the Director-designate of the National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Prof M V Padma Srivastava, may not take on the assignment of heading the premier mental health institute due to some issues, top sources on condition of anonymity told The New Indian Express. She is scheduled to take charge as the new Director on February 1 from senior professor of epidemiology and in-charge director Dr G Gururaj. The reasons for the “unprecedented” and “surprising development” are not known, the sources added. “There has been some talk in the institute to this effect, but there is no official communication on the matter so far. In fact, the arrangements for the takeover by the new director have been made and we are awaiting her ar rival, though there is no communication even on that,” said an insider. The term of Dr Gururaj as in-charge director ends P3 on April 3. WITH THIS ISSUE CITY’S BEST WEEKEND GUIDE 32 PAGES, INCLUDING 16 OF INDULGE (TABLOID) capital Mumbai be made a Union Territory “until it is merged with Karnataka”. He even went on to say that Mumbai was once a part of the Bombay-Karnataka region and hence, the people of Karnataka have a rightful claim over it. Uddhav had on Wednesday tion and for promoting enmity between different groups, intentional insult with intent to THE ongoing police crackdown provoke breach of the peace, against protesters following incite violence, and criminal violence in Delhi on Republic conspiracy . Day took a new turn on ThursComplainant Arpit Mishra, a day night with the Noida Police 35-year-old resident of Noida, slapping sedition charges accused them of broadcasting against a bunch of senior jour- offensive, misleading and pronalists, including Invocative news that the ‘Part of a dia Today’s senior anpolice had killed a proplot to chor and consulting tester who was drivdisrupt editor Rajdeep Sardeing a tractor. The acharmony’ sai, in its first inforcused also retweeted, mation report (FIR). the FIR added. “As part of a The others named The FIR alleged that conspiracy, the in the FIR are Con- accused planned the accused acted in a gress member of Parprejudiced manner, riots in the liament Shashi Tha- national capital which jeopardised naroor, Mrinal Pande, with intention to tional security and senior editorial conpublic safety . kill public sultant of National Rajdeep was in the servants and Herald, Zafar Agha, incite violence,” eye of a storm as his chief editor of Quami the complainant tweet alleging that a Awaz, and Caravan farmer was shot dead said in the FIR 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 is reported to taken The FIR was registered un- him off the air for two weeks der various sections of Indian and docked a month’s salary for Penal Code dealing with sedi- misreporting. EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi Security personnel conducting a flag march at Ghazipur on the Uttar Pradesh-Delhi border during the ongoing farmers’ protest the Centre on Thursday | PTI Oppn to boycott Prez’s address E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ 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 Presidential , 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 the President’s address,” said Ghulam Nabi Azad, CONTINUED ON: P9 Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha. K’taka should stake claim over Mumbai: Savadi N A U S H A D B I J A P U R @ Belagavi Sedition charges filed against Rajdeep, others said that Marathi-majority areas in Karnataka should be merged with that state and Belagavi region should be declared a UT till the dispute is resolved in the Supreme Court. On Thursday the Maharashtra , government released old documents to bolster its claims. P7 Efforts to get Mumbai merged in Karnataka state should begin now Laxman Savadi, DyCM Regular school hours for Classes 9 to 12 from Feb 1 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bengaluru THE State Government has decided to reopen Classes 9 and 11 (PUC-I) in offline mode along with Classes 10 and 12 from February 1. Teaching hours for Classes 9 to 12 will extend for the full day to complete the syllabus. So far, teaching hours for Classes 10 and 12 were restricted to three to four hours a day after they were reopened in the offline mode on January 1. Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar made this announcement on Thursday after a meeting with Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar and the Technical Advisory Committee. However, students will continue to have the option of continuing with online classes or physically attending classes (offline mode), and attendance will not be P2 compulsory . SSLC exam from June 14 The Class 10 SSLC board exam will be held from June 14 to June 25, Primary and Secondary Education Minister P2 S Suresh Kumar said.