kozhikodel tuesday l march 16, 2021 l `7.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION Beyonce breaks records as women rule Grammys 2021 Women artistes emerged big winners in the usually male dominated top categories at the 63rd Grammy Awards R&B singer H.E.R. Most awarded female artiste in history With 28 Grammy wins in all, Beyonce broke the record of veteran singer Alison Krauss. She trails only classical conductor Sir George Solti, who still holds 31 Grammys. She was nominated in nine categories and won in four, including best rap song with Megan Thee Stallion for Savage remix, Best R&B performance for Black Parade and best music video for Brown Skin Girl ■ BTS ‘i can’t breathe’ is song of the year ■ R&B singer H.E.R. won song of the year for I Can’t Breathe, which quotes the last words of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man who died while being arrested by police in Minneapolis last year Canadian YouTuber Lilly Singh turned up on the red carpet wearing a mask displaying “I stand with Farmers” (pic far left) The popular korean boy band lost to lady gaga and Ariana Grande | P9 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 Death penalty left in cruise mode, cong stutters Cong hunts for woman in Batla House 2021 leaders to restore image encounter case Who & Where KERALA ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS that list may be reworked. In all likelihood, Jyothi ViA DAY after state Mahila Con- jayakumar, who made a name gress state president Lathika as the translator of Rahul GanSubhash quit all her party posts dhi’s speeches during his recent and got her head tonsured in visits to the state, is expected to public in protest against deny- be pitted against CPM’s V K ing her a seat, the central lead- Prasanth in Vattiyoorkavu. Anership swung into action, ask- other name being considered is ing the state unit to ensure Youth Congress state secretary women representation while fi- Veena S Nair. nalising the six conThe candidates in Sudhakaran may tentious seats. take on Pinarayi Dhar madom and Nine woman canVadakara too have Speculations over the didates had figured not been named yet. in the Congress list candidacy of Kannur MP After holding talks announced on Sun- K Sudhakaran in Dhar- w i t h t h e R M P, day. However, with madom are rife among Ramesh ChennithaLathika’s resigna- Congress workers. Sou- la said leader K K tion denting the rces close to the leader Rema would contest party’s image, the deny such a possibility from Vadakara. national leadership A Congress leadhas asked the Kerala unit to er told TNIE that more trouble find potential woman leaders. is brewing as all candidates beThe announcement of candi- ing considered — except Firoz dates in six contentious seats Kunnnamparambil --- belong to was eventually postponed to the Oommen Chandy camp. Tuesday. The state leadership “The ‘ ’ camp’s grievance has A had zeroed in on P C Vishnun- been that Chandy’s loyalists adh (Vattiyoorkavu), T Siddique were sidelined. If they are in(Kalpetta), V V Prakash (Nilam- cluded in the final list, the ‘I’ bur), Kallada Ramesh (Kunda- group will not sit idle. If a womra), Firoz Kunnamparambil an is fielded from Vattiyoorka(Tavanur) and Riyaz Mukkoli vu, then Vishnunadh will move (Pattambi) for the seats, but to Kundara,” said the leader. C y n t h i a C h a n d r a n @ T’Puram Ariz awarded maximum punishment for gunning down police inspector Sharma S a n a S h a k i l @ New Delhi Ariz Khan, convicted in the killing of a police officer in the 2008 Batla House encounter in Delhi, was sentenced to death on Monday by a Delhi court, which said it is the most appropriate punishment for ‘dreaded terrorists’ like him. “Nature of offence and manner of committing the crime caused extreme indignation to the society in this case,” Additional Sessions Judge Sandeev Yadav said, declaring that there was no doubt that Ariz and his accomplices fired at police officials “without any provocation”. The encounter between the Delhi PoAriz Khan lice and a bunch of Indian Mujahideen members holed up in a flat in South DelFits rarest of hi had led to the death of Inspector Morare yardstick han Chand Sharma while two others sustained injuries. The court also imThe court put the posed a total fine of `11 lakh on Ariz, of case in the “rarest of which `10 lakh was ordered to be given rare” category while to the family of Sharma, who was postagreeing with humously awarded the Ashok Chakra Additional and many gallantry awards. Prosecutor A T Judge Yadav also sought to put an end Ansari that this was to the allegations of the September 2008 not just any killing police operation being a fake encounter. but a murder of a He held that police officials had no intenlaw enforcement tion to kill the occupants of the flat, statofficer who was a ing that some members of the raiding defender of justice team were not even carrying arms. “It is obvious that convict Ariz Khan along with his accomplices fired at police officials without being challenged, instinctively the judge said, in the 22-page ver...” dict. Ariz’s lawyer M S Khan had opposed capital punishment saying the incident was not premeditated. The judge cited the weapons recovered from the flat to conclude Ariz and his accomplices were terrorists. “Deadly weapons like AK-47 and two pistols were retrieved from the flat where the shootout took place.... Considering the nature of devastation these weapons can cause, it will be safe to conclude that there was were kept in the flat with a view to indulge in terrorist and anti-social activities,” the court ruled. counterpunch RS flags British racism, govt says it will take it up when required E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i ce @ New Delhi Days after a tell-all interview of Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle and the controversy over Indian-origin Rashmi Samant, who was forced to resign as president of the Oxford University Students Union, the issue of racism in the UK figured in the Rajya Sabha on Monday . Just last week, the UK Parliament had debated the ongoing agitation against the new farm laws in India and criticised the alleged violation of human rights of protesters. The Centre hit back sharply, calling it an “unwarranted and tendentious” debate. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said India would take it up with Britain. As a friend, India also has concerns about UK’s reputational impacts, he added. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan submits his nomination papers as the LDF candidate in Dharmadom on Monday | express B53 lakh Pinarayi’s asset Pinarayi Vijayan cited he has cash deposit and cash in hand to the tune of I20,40,48.51 and landed property worth I51.95 lakh. His wife T Kamala has cash and gold worth I29,76,717.61 and landed property to the tune of I35 lakh. Lavalin case in CM’s affidavit SNC Lavalin case has found mention in Pinarayi Vijayan’s affidavit. It is mentioned as a “case registered under Sections 13 (2) of Prevention of Corruption Act and Sections 120, 406, 420, 425 and 471 of IPC”. The offence cited was contract entered into for unlawful gain. Kunjammad in Kuttiyadi ‘ready for kazhakoottam’ Kozhikode: Putting an end to week-long uncertainty, the CPM on Monday named district secretariat member K P Kunjammad Kutty the candidate for the Kuttiyadi seat, which the party took back from Kerala Congress (M) after protest. Thrissur: BJP leader Sobha Surendran has expressed her willingness to contest in the assembly elections from Kazhakoottam constituency. “This is for believers of Lord Ayyappa,” Sobha said about her candidature. express read Kathakali maestro Chemancheri dies Kozhikode: Kathakali maestro Chemancheri Kunhiraman Nair, 105, passed away at his house in Cheliya near Koyilandy in the early hours of Monday. Active on stage till the age of 90, he played a vital role in teaching and propagating kathakali besides formulating the ‘Kerala Natanam’ dance form along with Guru Gopinath. His mortal remains were cremated on the premises of his house. IS module busted in New Delhi, NIA raids eight places in Kerala E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i ce @Kochi The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday carried out simultaneous raids on eight places in the state including Kollam, Malappuram, Kannur and Kasaragod after another Islamic State (IS) module comprising Keralites was busted in New Delhi two days ago. Apart from Kerala, the NIA also conducted raids in Karnataka and New Delhi. According to NIA sources, the New Delhi unit of the agency registered a case two days ago related to an IS module mostly comprising seven persons from Kerala who were allegedly planning to carry out targeted killings across the country . The NIA with the assistance of Delhi Special Cell arrested a Keralite identified as Mohammed Ameen, alias Abu Yahya, in New Delhi who was trying to join an IS group in Jammu and Kashmir for jihadi activities against India. He returned from Bahrain in March 2020. He had travelled to Jammu and Kashmir last year but failed to contact the IS-backed group in the valley and had been stationed in New Delhi for the past two months for the purpose. Wholesale inflation UP in Feb E x p r e s s n e w s s e r v i ce @ New Delhi A sharp increase in fuel and food prices pushed the wholesale price index-based inflation to a 27-month high of 4.17% in February, according commerce ministry data released on Monday . The WPI inflation was 2.03% in January and 2.26% in February last year. The latest numbers, coming a week after another set of data showed Febru- ary retail inflation shot up to 5.03%, may force the Reserve Bank of India to opt for a pause in policy rate in the next monetary policy review. Experts say the upward trend in inflation will continue for the next three months. “Inflation dynamics will rule out any further rate cuts, with a status quo expected through 2021,” said Aditi Nayar, principal economist, ICRA Ratings. gender right Transpeople can join NCC: High Court E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i ce @ Kochi The transgender community has a reason to cheer as the Kerala High Court on Monday allowed a petition filed by Hina Haneefa, a transwoman and a degree student of Thiruvananthapuram University College, seeking her admission into the National Cadet Corps (NCC). The court also directed the NCC to amend in six months Section 6 of the National Cadet Corps Act and include transgender persons in the criteria for enrolment in the corps. Justice Anu Sivaraman observed that Hina is entitled to enrolment in the NCC senior girls division and the rejection of her request was unsustainable. She is permitted to participate in the selection process on the basis of her application and if she is successful, she should be enrolled in the NCC unit of University College. The court held that the decision should be taken within a month. Raghul Sudheesh, counsel for the petitioner, said the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, bans unfair discrimination against trans people in educational establishments. The court had earlier directed the NCC unit of University College to keep one seat vacant. Various parties are fast finalising the candidates. Here is a quick update. CONGRESS Nilambur: V V Prakash Kalpetta: T Siddique Not finalised Vattiyoorkavu, Dharmadom, Pattambi, Tavanur, Kundara RMP IUML (UDF-backed) Punalur: Abdurahiman Randathani Vadakara: K K Rema CPM CPI Kuttiyadi: Kunjammad Kutty Tirurangadi: Niyas Pulikkalakath Dissent big worry for Muslim League Kochi: Unprecedented dissident activities have erupted in the Indian Union Muslim League, leaving the party in an embarrassing situation. P4