chennai l saturday l june 15, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 20 l late city EDITION Co-hosts USA in Super 8s AFTER WASHOUT, Pakistan out of wc 2009 World T20 champs crashed out after the game between USA and Ireland was abandoned. With an extra point, USA took unassailable lead Apt end to a disappointing campaign India’s match could also be rained out Unfortunately for Pakistan, this campaign finished even before it started. At some level, it’s apt. The 2022 finalists tried and failed to evolve in this format and can now do a major squad surgery. In the short-term, both their defeats, one to USA and the other to India, will rankle because they lost from winning positions. They will play Ireland in the last game on Sunday ■ With more rain predicted over the next 16 hours, India’s game against Canada could also be a washout. This has been a very wet start to the Hurricane Season in Florida | P15 ■ The identities of at least two of India’s opponents in the Super 8s are already known. They will face Afghanistan and Australia 1 This is usa’s first world cup appearance 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 Delimitation hurdle for women quota Azadi SPEECH Delhi L-G nod to prosecute Arundhati Roy under UAPA P r e e t h a Na i r @ New Delhi A SHISH SRI V A STA V A @ New Delhi delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena on Friday gave his nod to prosecute author-activist Arundhati Roy and Sheikh Showkat Hussain, former professor of the Central University of Kashmir, under the stringent UAPA in connection with a 2010 FIR, which accused the duo of “delivering provocative speeches in public”. Roy and Hussain had allegedly called for an independent Kashmir at a conference organised under the banner of ‘ zadi A — The Only Way’ on October 21, 2010 at LTG Auditorium in Delhi. The major topic of discussion was “separation of Kashmir from India”, Raj Niwas officials said on Friday . Last October, Arundhati Roy Saxena had granted prosecution of the duo in the same case under Section 196 of CrPC for commission of offences punSheikh Showkat ishable under Hussain different sections of IPC. The case against the two was registered after a police complaint lodged by a Kashmiri social activist Sushil Pandit. He also filed a complaint before the Court of Metropolitan Magistrate, Delhi. An FIR was registered on November 29, 2010 in which Roy, Hussain, Kashmiri separatist leader Sayed Ali Shah Geelani, and former Delhi University professor Syed Abdul Rahman Geelani were booked for the offences of sedition, promoting enmity between dif ferent groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc with imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration. They were also charged with the act aimed at public mischief. However, Sayed Ali Shah Geelani and Abdul Rahman Geelani passed away during the pendency of the case. Prime Minister Narendra Modi embraces Pope Francis at Italy’s Apulia on Friday | X Talks, diplomacy path for Ukraine peace, says Modi Holds talks with Zelenskyy; meets Biden and other leaders; invites Pope Francis to India Agencies Prime Minister Narendra Modi held bilateral talks with world leaders at Italy’s Apulia on the sidelines of the G7 summit, but what caught the eye were his interactions with US President Joe Biden, Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Pope Francis. , “It’s always a pleasure to meet @POTUS @JoeBiden. India and USA will keep working together to further global good,” Modi said in a post on X along with photos of their interaction. In his talks with Zelenskyy Modi assured , him that India would continue to do everything within its means to support a peaceful solution to the Ukraine war, adding the way to peace is through “dialogue and diplomacy”. He said India believes in a human-centric approach to the conflict. Modi described the meeting as very productive and said India is eager to further cement bilateral relations. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra were part of Modi’s delegation at the talks. The Ukranian readout said, “The president spoke about the functioning of the Black Sea transport corridor, which makes it possible to increase exports of sunflower oil to India and turnover of other categories of goods.” Later in the day, Modi met Pope Francis with a warm embrace at the Outreach session of the G7 Summit and invited him to visit India. “Met Pope Francis on the sidelines of the @G7 Summit. I admire his commitment to serve people and make our planet better. Also invited him to visit India,” Modi said in a post on X. Modi was seen in a lighthearted exchange with the 87-year-old head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He also held talks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is hosting the G7 Summit, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron. Modi also met Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau. With its Southern allies in play, the BJP-led NDA government may face roadblocks in implementing the Women’s Reservation Bill, which hinges on Census and delimitation. With the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the main ally of the NDA, calling for consensus on delimitation, the BJP may face huge challenges in implementing the bill passed during Modi 2.0. The 33% quota for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies will come into force after delimitation of Lok Sabha seats, scheduled for 2026. Several Opposition parties Would it politically help the govt at all? The question is whether the govt would go for delimitation after the BJP faced setbacks in states like UP. “In 2019, the BJP swept the Hindi heartland. Now the landscape has changed. Even if UP or Bihar get more seats after delimitation, it may not benefit the BJP,” Pronab Sen said from the South have raised concerns that the delimitation on the basis of population would lead to the states losing out in representation as they were successful in controlling population. To undertake the delimitation, the government must conduct the decadal Census, which has been indefinitely postponed since 2021 because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Speaking to this newspaper, senior Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP Manickam Tagore said the linkage with delimitation could delay the implementation of women’s reservation, adding the BJP is planning it for 2034. “The entire Opposition voted for the passage of the bill and we want it to be immediately implemented. But the government’s real intention is to delay it,” he said. A TDP leader, on the condi- ‘ A i m p e r um V i z h a ’ `1k/ month for BOYS under ‘Tamil Pudhalvan’ fROM AUG E X PRESS NE W S SER V I C E @ Chennai Chief Minister MK Stalin on Friday announced that the beneficiaries of the new ‘Tamil Pudhalvan’ scheme will start receiving the monthly assistance of `1,000 from August. Speaking at the School Education Department’s ‘Aimperum Vizha’ organised to honour government school headmasters who achieved 100% pass in Class 10 and 12 public exams in their schools and students who secured centum in Tamil paper in board exams, Stalin said he is always interested in taking NEET is fraudulent: CM “Tamil Nadu was the first to say that exams like NEET are ‘fraudulent’, and today the entire country has started to say the same. I am very confident that this ‘fraud’ will end soon,” Stalin said. part in school education department events. “Pudhumai Penn scheme, through which girl college students who s t u d i e d i n g ove r n m e n t schools get a monthly aid of `1,000, received an overwhelmingly positive response. ‘Tamil Pudhalvan’ is a similar scheme for boys an- nounced in this year’s budget. The school education department is marching towards a golden period under the ‘Dravidian model’ of government in the state,” Stalin said. He reiterated the government’s commitment to develop the education sector despite financial challenges to nurture Tamil Nadu students to compete globally . “Study, study and keep studying. There should not be any slackness. Keep moving forward, and let there not be a full stop. Keep winning a n d m a ke Ta m i l N a d u proud,” Stalin told the students. Continued on p7 tion of anonymity told this pa, per that the party will not support delimitation as the state will lose Lok Sabha seats. Echoing the view, noted economist and former chief statistician Pronab Sen told this paper that the women’s quota will get stuck because delimitation and census have been written into the bill. “Why should the implementation of the Women’s bill be connected to delimitation? The government will face opposition from Souther n states as well as from Maharashtra and Gujarat,” said Sen, adding it can delink quota from the delimitation provision by amending the bill. express read Leopard enters school in Tirupattur, injures one Chennai: A leopard strayed into a private school in Tirupattur on Friday, triggering panic among the locals. While a hunt is on to nab the big cat, it attacked A Gopal (70), a wall painter from Tirupattur Puthagaram Village, who was painting in the school. Gopal sustained head injuries and was immediately rushed to the Tirupattur government hospital for treatment. The district collector has declared holiday for all schools in the town for the next three days | P2 PMK to contest in NDA alliance in Vikravandi Chief Minister M K Stalin felicitates students who scored centum in Tamil subject in public exams at a function organised by the School Education Department at Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor stadium in Chennai on Friday | Ashwin prasath Chennai: In a unanimous decision, NDA leaders of Tamil Nadu have decided to field PMK candidate on behalf of the alliance for the July 10 bypoll in Vikravandi assembly constituency, BJP state president K Annamalai said on Friday. While PMK is expected to announce its candidate soon, NTK leader Seeman announced Dr Abhinaya, a Siddha doctor, as his party candidate for the seat. If the AIADMK announces its candidate, there will be a fourcornered fight in the Vikravandi assembly byelection | P4 SC notice to NTA, Centre on plea for CBI probe Madras HC acquits 7 death SRINIVAS row convicts, two others HEGDE, DIRECTOR S U C HITR A K A LYA N M OH A NT Y OF CHANDRAYAAN-1, PASSES AWAY The former Isro scientist was the mission head of India’s first lunar exploration that discovered water molecules on Moon. The 71-year-old was admitted in hospital after a heart attack @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Friday sought responses from the National Testing Agency (NTA) and the Centre on a plea seeking CBI investigation into allegations of question paper leak and other irregularities in the NEET-UG exam held across the country on May 5 this year. A two-judge vacation bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta sought the responses within two weeks and tagged the cases with other petitions raising similar issues. The batch of pleas will now be heard on July 8, when the top court will start functioning after the summer vacation. T he development comes a day after the NTA and the Centre told the SC that the grace marks given to 1,563 candidates in the NEET-UG exam will be cancelled. They will have the option to either take a re-test on June 23 or forgo the compensatory marks awarded for the loss of time, the court was told. The petitioners alleged cheating happened in the medical entrance exam. “Cheating in entrance exams undermines the principles of meritocracy and equal opportunities which are essential for fostering so- cial mobility and ensuring fairness in society the plea said. ,” Responding to the submission for ordering a CBI probe, the bench said the reply of the NTA was necessary before an order could be passed. As many as 67 students had scored a perfect 720 in the test in which 24 lakh students participated, with six from a centre in Haryana’s Faridabad, raising suspicions about irregularities. Bodies of 7 Tamils reach Kochi, sent to their homes on hearses E X PRESS NE W S SER V I C E @ Chennai Babu, father of Sibin Abraham, was inconsolable at the Kochi airport | A Sanesh | P5 The mortal remains of the seven Tamils who died in the recent fire accident in Kuwait were brought to Kochi airport on Friday by a special aircraft along with the bodies of 38 other Indian victims. At the airport, along with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Tamil Nadu Minister for Non-Resident Tamils Welfare Minister Gingee KS Masthan received the bodies in the presence of senior officials from the state government. The leaders paid their last respects to the departed souls. Kerala police gave a guard of honour to the deceased. Union Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh had accompanied the bodies from Kuwait. Vehicles from the Tamil Nadu government’s free hearse services were sent to collect the bodies and take them to their native districts. The victims were from different parts of the state. Ramu Karuppannan (64) was from Ramanathapuram district, Mo- hammed Sharief (36) from Villupuram, Bhunaf Richard Ray ( 2 8 ) f ro m T h a n j av u r, G. Sivashankar (48) from Chennai, K Chinnadhurai (42) from Cuddalore, V Mariappan (41) from Thoothukudi and E Raju (53) was from Tiruchy . Members of some of the families had gone to Kochi to receive the mortal remains and accompany them on the journey back to their native places. The bodies are expected to reach the homes of the victims late on Friday night or early on Saturday . Continued on p7 in TN doctor murder case Yesurajan were given double life sentence. The Madras High Court on “All the appeals are allowed. Friday acquitted all the con- The conviction and sentence victs, including seven on death pronounced by the First Addirow, in the sensational murder tional Sessions Judge are set of neurosurgeon Dr SD Sub- aside. The appellants are acbaiah in Chennai in an alleged quitted of all the charges,” the property dispute in 2013. bench ruled. Allowing the appeals filed by It directed the authorities the nine convicts, the concerned to release all division bench of Justhe convicts forthwith tices MS Ramesh and unless they are wanted Sunder Mohan on Friin any other cases. All day set aside the judgthe nine convicts had ment passed by the Adpreferred appeals before ditional Sessions the Madras High Court Court- I in Chennai in challenging the trial 2021. court verdict. Their Dr S D Subbaiah The Additional Sescounsels argued that the sions Court had conprosecution had failed victed and sentenced Pon- to prove the charges beyond nusamy, a schoolteacher, his reasonable doubts and the trial sons Boris, Basil and William, court had not taken into acand Dr James Sathish Kucount such facts. However, the mar, Murugan and Selva prosecution contended that the Prakash to double death charges were proven withsentence for murder out doubt and the triand criminal conspiral court had considacy. Ponnusamy’s ered all the factors wife Mary Pushpam before pronouncing and another suspect the verdict. R SI V A K U M A R @ Chennai
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