thrissur l Sunday l january 16, 2022 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l city edition virat Kohli steps down as india’s Test captain The surprise announcement comes a day after India suffered a Test series defeat against South Africa ‘did the job with absolute honesty’ successful Test captaincy “Everything has to come to a halt at some stage and for me as Test captain of India, it’s now,” the 33-year-old wrote in a statement he posted on Twitter. “It’s been seven years of hard work, toil and relentless perseverance everyday to take the team in the right direction. I have done the job with absolute honesty and left nothing out there,” he tweeted. ■ ■ With 40 wins in 68 Test matches in which he led India, Kohli will walk away as India’s greatest Test captain in terms of wins Kohli is the 3rd most successful captain in history of Test cricket (who has led in at least 20 Tests) in terms of Test wins behind Steve Waugh (41 wins in 57 games) and Ricky Ponting (48 in 77) 4 months he Steps down 4 months after quiTting T20 captaincy 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 OBC, SC names dominate Bishop case: Prosecution to file appeal in HC BJP’s UP candidate list Prosecution claims A bhi l ash Chand r an @ Kottayam Reason for dismissing the rape charge against the accused, even after the fiduciary relationship between the victim and the assailant was proven beyond doubt, was not satisfactory The victim was discredited 2 for minor differences in various statements, which is not acceptable All the prosecution 3 witnesses were discredited as unbelievable on minor grounds The 4 give judgmentofseemed toto a colour consent the act which has not even been raised by the accused Amid strong criticism from various quarters over the acquittal of Bishop Franco Mulakkal, former head of Latin Catholic Diocese of Jalandhar, in the nun rape case, the prosecution and the investigation team have decided to file an appeal against the trial court judgment in the High Court. Even as condemning reactions against the verdict by the Kottayam Additional District and Sessions Court -I galore on social media, a scrutiny of the judgment by the probe team found several disagreeable observations made by the court, which it will point out in the 1 44 OBC, 19 SC candidates in first list of 107 names for initial 2 phases; 20 MLAs dropped M A N I S H A N A N D @ New Delhi THE Bharatiya Janata Party’s first list of 107 candidates for Uttar Pradesh, including chief minister Yogi Adityanath from his traditional Gorakhpur constituency, unveiled the BJP’s mega outreach to other backward classes (OBC) and scheduled castes (SC) with 59% of the nominees for the initial two phases of polls hailing from these two categories. The party also sent out a loud message that it is unfazed by the deser tion of big OBC names, denying tickets to 20 sitting MLAs, or onefourth of the first list. Sixtythree sitting MLAs have been fielded again. By nominating the CM from Gorakhpur, not Ayodhya as was widely speculated, the BJP brass also put its stamp on the leadership of the UP polls clear, tasking Yogi to defend the eastern front and reserving the temple pivot exclusively for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Gorakhpur is a saffron bas- tion, the party having won from there for decades. While announcing the first list on Saturday, Union minister and the BJP’s election incharge for UP Dharmendra Pradhan said the party would contest the elections in alliance with the Apna Dal and the Nishad Party . The BJP has withheld the name of one candidate for the first phase of polls in 58 constituencies and seven out of the 55 seats in the second phase. Sticking with the strategy to give the BJP a big OBC makeover, the party fielded 44 candidates from the caste groups in the first list, besides 19 from the SC category . Ten women candidates also found a place in the first list of candidates, which included former Uttarakhand governor Baby Rani Mourya from Agra constituency, where she had previously been a mayor. The list also included Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya from Sirathu in Prayagraj disP7 trict. Cong first list for Punjab has Sidhu stamp H a r p r e e t B a j w a @ Chandigarh The Punjab Congress stuck to the one-family, one-ticket formula and dropped four sitting MLAs in the first list of 86 candidates announced on Saturday . Among the prominent names on the list were CM Charanjit Singh Channi from Chamkaur Sahib and state Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu from Amritsar (East). The list has Sidhu’s stamp as Malavika Sood, sister of actor Sonu Sood, and singer Sidhu Moosewala were fielded from Moga and Mansa, respectively. Both had joined the party recently following Sidhu’s lobbying. Sources said there was disagreement on eight seats between Sidhu and the CM as both wanted tickets for their supporters. But, Sidhu appears to have prevailed. The detailed project report (DPR) of SilverLine — ThiruvananthapuramKasaragod Semi high-speed rail line — is out in public domain, thanks to the breach of privilege notice moved by Congress MLA Anwar Sadath who had raised a question in the assembly, seeking DPR on October 27, last year. The DPR was uploaded on Niyamasabha website on Saturday High Court. While the prosecution is of the view that the rape survivor was discredited through the observations in the judgment, legal experts said the reason for dismissing the rape charge against the accused, even after the fiduciary relationship between the victim and the assailant was proven beyond doubt, was not satisfactory . “The court has accepted the authority of the accused over the complainant and hence established a fiduciary relationship between them. In such a context IPC 376 (rape on a woman incapable of giving consent) will definitely stand. Then there is no value for minor con- e x p r e ss r e a d SilverLine DPR out 529.450 T’Puram airport chief booked over rape plaint km is the total length of the semi high-speed rail line 200 kmph is the maximum operating speed 11am-5pm Normal operation hours Daily ridership: 79,934 in 2025-26 1,58,946 in 2052-53 Total completion cost L63,940.67 crore (as per March 2020) 11 stops: Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Chengannur, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Kochi airport, Thrissur, Tirur, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasaragod | P4 Seating: 2+2 (business), 3+2 (standard) Train operation: 37 services in 2025 with peak headway of 20 minutes, increasing to 65 in 2052 with peak headway of 10 minutes Passenger capacity per train: 675 (9 car set) Completion time - 5 years Train set: 9 cars extendable to 12/15 tradictions, omissions or additions in the statement of the survivor. This apart, the prosecution could prove that the accused stayed in the convent on the day the complainant was raped,” said an advocate on condition of anonymity . According to the prosecution, the victim was discredited for minor differences in various statements, which is not acceptable. As per the principle adopted by the apex court, minor changes in deposition is a sign of credibility while it is the parrot-like version that has to be discarded. And the court has failed to appreciate this fact, the prosecution said. ● More on P5  T’Puram: Police have registered a rape case against the chief airport officer of Adani Thiruvananthapuram International Airport Ltd, Giri Madhusoodana Rao, based on a sexual harassment plaint by a woman contract staffer of airport.P4 W I T H T H I S I SSU E Meet the Pawrents PLUS 12 PAGES