kochi l saturday l december 03, 2022 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION The KnockOut punch Japan and Morocco played beyond expectations. Germany and Belgium exit. After an exciting group stages, the knock-outs begin from Saturday. A look at who plays whom in the Round of 16 and potential clashes Top half December 3 8.30 PM Netherlands vs USA 12.30 AM (Sun) Argentina vs Australia December 5 8.30 PM Japan vs Croatia 12.30 AM (Tue) To Be Decided ( Brazil) vs South Korea Bottom half December 4 December 6 8.30pm Morocco vs Spain 12.30 AM (Wed) 8.30 PM France vs Poland 12.30 AM (Mon) England vs Senegal Three As it stands  Brazil Swizerland Portugal vs To Be Decided ( Swizterland) Group G matches don’t finish before late night South Korea’s Hwang Hee-chan celebrates after scoring the winning goal against Portugal on Friday. South Korea move into R-16 with 2-1 victory | AP | P11 Three Asian teams — South Korea, Japan and Australia — have qualified for the round of 16 stage this time 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 Govt does U-turn, says ok with central forces Tells HC that state’s request is not needed for deployment at Vizhinjam E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @Kochi In a new twist to the Vizhinjam issue, the state government on Friday informed the Kerala High Court that central forces had the authority to maintain security in the Vizhinjam port area, even if the state didn’t request it. This is a major departure from the government’s stand over the deployment of central forces in the state and is being seen as the state passing the buck on containing the Latin Church-backed anti-seaport protests, which turned violent last month, to the Centre. Considering the state’s submission, Justice Anu Sivaraman directed Deputy Solicitor General S Manu to get instructions from the Centre and submit its response by Wednesday. The Move to put pressure on Latin Church CPM sees larger conspiracy T’Puram: Piecing together an array of recent political developments, CPM feels there’s a larger conspiracy behind the Vizhinjam police station attack. Communal forces played a role in inciting the violence, CPM state secretary M V Govindan said | P4 state’s latest stance on deployment of central forces is seen as its ploy to put pressure on the Church. Senior advocate S Sreekumar and advocate Roshan D Alexander, who represented Adani Vizhinjam Port Pvt Ltd and HOWE Engineering Projects, had moved the court demand- Violence: Cops identify 500 people T’Puram: The team probing the attack on Vizhinjam police station by anti-port activists affiliated with the Latin Church has identified more than 500 people, including women. Their arrests will be effected in the coming days | P4 ing the deployment of central forces. Highlighting the recent violence at Vizhinjam, the counsel said the incident proved the police were helpless in maintaining law and order. When the court asked what action had been taken against the instigators, the government replied that cases had been reg- istered and police were taking stringent action against the perpetrators. “If the state uses force on the agitators, hundreds will die. The state wants to avoid this,” submitted N Manoj Kumar, state attorney The petitioners’ counsel . said instigators of the protest were still in the shed at the Two found guilty SC displeased with in rape, murder of sniping by former collegium members Latvian woman S h r u t i K a kk a r @ New Delhi E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @T’Puram The Thiruvananthapuram Additional Sessions Court on Friday found two persons guilty in the rape and murder of a Latvian tourist in 2018. Judge K Sanil Kumar found Panathura residents Umesh, 28, and Udayakumar, 24, guilty of rape, murder, wrongful confinement, abduction, and sale of narcotic substances. The quantum of punishment will be announced on Monday . The 33-year-old tourist had arrived in Kerala for ayurveda treatment and gone missing from Kovalam beach on March 14, 2018. Her putrefied body was recovered from a marsh near Panathura 38 days later. In the absence of eyewitnesses, the prosecution relied on circumstantial evidence to establish the duo’s guilt. As per the prosecution, Umesh and Udayakumar lured the woman by offering to take her to tourist destinations near Kovalam. In a bid to sexually abuse her, they gave her a ganja-filled beedi, following which she fell unconscious. They then took her to a remote place and raped her. When the woman woke up and tried to leave, the men pressed their elbows against her neck and choked her. “The entire case was built around 18 circumstantial evidence, all of which were accepted by the court. The prosecution grounded its arguement on the fact that the Five-month trial Feb 3, 2018: Latvian tourist comes to Kerala for ayurvedic treatment March 14, 2018: She goes missing from Kovalam beach May 18, 2018: Her decomposed body is recovered from a mangrove near Panathura June 1, 2022: Trial begins at T’Puram additional sessions court Dec 2, 2022: Court finds two persons guilty ‘Great day for my sister’ The victim’s sister, who viewed the court proceedings from Ireland, said her sister had got justice. “The people who did the crime deserve punishment,” she said. “We can now move on. Happiness is filling our hearts. This is a great day for us and my sister. Wherever she is now, she is watching and can be at peace knowing we have achieved this all together,” she said. foreigner could not reach the desolate place alone and that someone from the locality would have taken her there,” said special public prosecutor G Mohan Raj. The prosecution proved the rape charge by linking the injuries in the victim’s private parts as well as the accused’s lack of explanation for the injuries on their bodies. The woman’s innerwear was recovered based on the statement of the first accused. The victim’s sister, who had gifted the garment to her, identified it in court ● More on P4 during trial.  A Supreme Court bench on Friday took a swipe at a few former collegium members who have been vocal in their criticism of the system, observing it has now become a fashion for them to do so after retirement. Justice M R Shah, who is currently part of the collegium headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, said, “We don’t want to comment upon anything made by former members (of the collegium). Now it has become fashion to comment upon decisions made by earlier members.” The bench made the remarks while considering a plea by RTI activist Anjali Bharadwaj, who sought the agenda, minutes and resolution of a Supreme Court collegium meeting on December 12, 2018, under the RTI Act. The SC Justice Lokur came under the RTI Act expressed in late 2019. According disappointment to the autobiography of After retirement, former CJI Ranjan Go- Justice Lokur had in goi, Justice for the Judge, an interview t h e c o l l e g i u m h a d expressed his agreed in its December disappointment at 2018 meeting to recom- the SC not uploading mend the names of Jus- its December 2018 tice Pradeep Nandrajog, collegium resolution. who was then the Chief But the Delhi HC Justice of Rajasthan refused to consider it High Court, and Justice Rajendra Menon, the then Chief Justice of Delhi High Court, for elevation to the Supreme Court but the decision was kept in abeyance since the news of their elevation had leaked. Apart from CJI Gogoi, the other members of the then collegium were justices Madan B Lokur, A K Sikri, S A Bobde and N V Ramana. The resolution of the next collegium meeting on January 10, 2019, recorded that the decisions taken on December 12, 2018, were revisited and overturned “in the light of additional materials”. Terming Bharadwaj’s plea as a “fishing inquiry by a busy body”, Justice Shah said, “Let the system which is functioning not be derailed.” 16 pages, including 4 pages of KOCHI Express Sunni leader comes out against pledge to give equal property rights to women M P P r a s h a n t h @Kozhikode Barely a week after his comments on ‘football mania’ kicked up a row, Sunni leader Nasar Faizi Koodathayi on Friday made another controversial statement in connection with a pledge administered to Kudumbashree volunteers that said female member should have equal rights over father’s property . Faizi, the general secretary of Samastha Kerala Jam-Iyyathul Qutba Committee and state secretary of Sunni Yujana Sangham, said the pledge amounted to violation of the fundamental rights of Muslims as the Constitution allows members of every religion to follow personal laws in marriage, divorce, right to property and funeral rituals. Faizi argued that the oath was against the Quran that says male can get double the female’s share. In a Facebook post, he said the Kerala government had e nv i s a g e d va r i o u s p ro grammes for the gender campaign launched by Rural Development Ministry “Many contents . of the programme are commendable but there are elements that violate fundamental religious rights,” he wrote. The contentious portion is a part of the circular distributed to grama panchayats and Kudumbashree Missions in the state. The circular asks members to administer an oath at the meetings of the gender resources which includes the line: “We will provide equal rights to property for both male and female.” Faizi said: “Islam allowed property rights for women at a time when they were not allowed any share. However, the stipulation (in Islam) that women have been allowed half of what men get from father’s property cannot be construed as injus● More on P4 tice.”  project site. The counsel termed the police action an eyewash, alleging they had arrested only five persons out of thousands of protesters who violated the court’s order. They said as per the police affidavit, approximately 500 agitators led by Thiruvananthapuram Latin Archdiocese vicar-general Eugine H Pereira, besides Fr Lawrence Kulas, Fr George Patrick, Fr Phivovious, Fr Shain, Fr Ashmin John, Fr Sajas Ignatious, Fr Antony, Fr Ar John and Sherly trespassed into the port area with an intention to obstruct the implementation of court orders. They submitted the agitators vandalised the seaport office. “Those accused persons are still in the shed and holding dharna,” they said.  ● More on P4 EXPRESS READ ISRO case: Top court sets aside anticipatory bail of 4 accused New Delhi: The SC on Friday asked the Kerala HC to consider afresh anticipatory bail pleas of four persons, including former Kerala Police officers S Vijayan and Thampi S Durga Dutt, accused in the alleged conspiracy to frame scientist Nambi Narayanan and others in the Isro espionage case | P7 CBI to question KCR’s daughter on Tuesday It further said, “During the course of investigation of the The CBI on Friday summoned subject cited case certain facts Telangana Chief Minister have emerged with which you K Chandrashekar Rao’s daugh- may be aquainted with, hence ter K Kavitha for quesyour examination on tioning in connection such facts is required with the Delhi liquor in the interest of scam case. Kavitha has investigation.” been asked by the CBI The letter requested to make herself availher to inform about able on December 6. her place of residence In a letter dated De(Hyderabad or prefercember 2 bearing subably Delhi) as per her ject “Notice under secconvenience for examSouth Group ination at 11 am on Detion 160 CrPC for investigation of case cember 6 (Tuesday). The ED, in its RC 53 (A) 2022 of CBI/ After receiving the application, ACB/Delhi reg”, the alleged that the CBI letter, Kavitha isCBI said: “The subject South Group was sued a statement, saycited case has been reging, “I’ve been issued a controlled by istered on the basis of CBI notice under SecSarath Reddy, written complaint retion 160 of CrPC, seekK Kavitha and c e ive d f r o m S h r i ing my clarification. I Magunta Praveen Kumar Rai, have informed the auSrinivasulu Director, MHA, Govt of thorities that I can Reddy. It had India vide OM No given kickbacks meet them at my resi14035/06/2022-De;hi-1 to the AAP while dence in Hyderabad dated 22/07/22 u/s 120on December 6 as per explaining the B r/w Section 7 of PC modus operandi their request.” Act (as amended in Kavitha was formalof the scam 2018) and Section 477-A ly named as a suspect of IPC against Shri Manish Siso- in the Delhi liquor scam for the dia, deputy chief minister, first time by the Enforcement GNCT of Delhi and 14 others re- Directorate in a remand appligarding the allegation pertain- cation filed by the agency on ing to excise policy of GNCT of Thursday for another accused Delhi for the year 2021-22.” Amit Arora. S h a h i d F a r i d i @ New Delhi