coimbatore l saturday l june 15, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION Hurriyat chief Mirwaiz appeals to Kashmiri Pandits to return to J&K It is time to reconcile and rebuild the broken bonds of the past, Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said on Friday Call amid Mela Kheer Bhawani festival ‘Homeland awaits return of Pandits’ He made the appeal in his address at the Friday congregation at the historic Jamia Masjid in Nowhatta area in Srinagar, where he also felicitated the Kashmiri Pandit community on the occasion of Mela Kheer Bhawani. Thousands of Kashmiri Pandits paid obeisance at the Mata Kheer Bhawani temple at Tulmulla in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district on Friday ■ Mela Kheer Bhawani is an annual event at the Kheer Bhawani temple dedicated to Rangya Devi. It is also celebrated in other shrines and temples ■ “I would ask them (Kashmiri Pandits) to return to their homeland which awaits them and live here as they did in the past in our common and shared heritage. We owe it to our next generation,” Mirwaiz said 1990 When a large number of Kashmiri Pandits fled J&K due to militancy 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 N a i r @ New Delhi AS H IS H SRI V ASTA 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; also meets Pope Francis at G7 Summit, invites him 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 Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Pope Francis. In his talks with Zelenskyy, Modi assured 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. The upcoming Swiss peace conference for Ukraine also figured in the talks. 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 and the BJP have made several overtures to the Christian community before the general elections. Modi was seen in a light-hearted exchange with the 87-year-old head of the worldwide Catholic Church. “It is up to each of us to make good use of AI,” the Pope said in his address at the Outreach session on the topic of Artificial Intelligence, Energy Africa , and the Mediterranean. Modi also held talks with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron. 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- ‘Aimperum Vizha’ `1k/ month for BOYS under ‘Tamil Pudhalvan’ fROM AUG E X PRESS NEWS SER V ICE @ 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. 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 SUC H ITRA K ALYAN M O H ANTY OF CHANDRAYAAN-1, PASSES AWAY The former Isro scientist was the mission head of India’s first lunar mission 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 NEWS SER V ICE @ 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, Mohammed Sharief (36) from Villupuram, Bhunaf Richard Ray (28) from Thanjavur, 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 p5 in TN doctor murder case other suspect 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 bench ruled. 2013. It directed the auAllowing the appeals thorities concerned to filed by the nine conrelease all the convicts victs, the division bench forthwith unless they of Justices MS Ramesh are wanted in any other and Sunder Mohan on cases. All the nine conFriday set aside the victs had preferred apjudgment passed by the peals before the Madras Additional Sessions Dr S D Subbaiah High Court challenging Court- I in Chennai in the trial court verdict. 2021. Their counsels argued that the The Additional Sessions prosecution had failed to prove Court had convicted and sen- the charges beyond reasonable tenced Ponnusamy, a school- doubts and the trial court teacher, his sons Boris, Basil had not taken into account and William, and Dr James such facts. However, the proseSathish Kumar, Murugan cution contended that the and Selva Prakash to charges were proven withdouble death sentence out doubt and the trial for murder and crimcourt had considered inal conspiracy Pon. all the factors before nusamy’s wife Mary pronouncing the Pushpam and anverdict. R SI V A K U M AR @ Chennai
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