BHUBANESWAR l thursday l july 11, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l LATE CITY EDITION Modi in Austria in first bilateral visit by an Indian PM in 41 years Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday met Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer and discussed ways to expand bilateral cooperation Strategic direction for India-austria ties Modi invites businesses to make in India India and Austria have decided to give a strategic direction to our relationship, Modi said after his “fruitful” talks with Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer. A blueprint for cooperation has been prepared for the coming decade, Modi said. The two leaders also discussed the Ukraine war, and Modi reaffirmed India’s view that this is not the time for war ■ ■ Modi invited the business community in Vienna to invest in India, highlighting his government’s production-linked incentive scheme and the “fast-unfolding opportunities” in the country Infrastructure, renewable energy, and artificial intelligence are among the areas in which the two countries agreed to “combine strengths” 1983 When Indira gandhi visited Austria. Modi’s visit is the 1st by an Indian PM since then 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 Sec 125 on maintenance applies to Muslim women too, rules SC Supreme Court’s two-judge bench, in concurring verdict, says CrPC section is religion neutral Su c h i t r a K a lyan M o han t y @ New Delhi In a significant verdict, the Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that all divorced women, irrespective of religion, were entitled to seek maintenance from their spouse under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). Section 125 deals with maintenance for the wife, children and parents. A bench of justices B V Nagarathna and Augustine George Masih pronounced the verdict after rejecting an appeal filed by Mohd Abdul Samad. He had been ordered by a family court in Telangana to pay a monthly maintenance of `20,000 to his ex-wife. The Telangana HC later decreased the quantum of maintenance to `10,000. Samad had divorced her Financial empowerment of women Both ‘financial security’ and ‘security of residence’ of women have to be protected and enhanced, Justice Nagarathna said. That would truly empower the homemakers who are the backbone of the family. It is within the family that values of life are learnt. It is these moral and ethical values that are inherited by generations. But, for that to happen, women in the family have to be respected and empowered, she said through triple talaq, which was outlawed by the Supreme Court in 2017 and criminalised by the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act 2019. The court rejected Samad’s contention that the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act 1986 overrides the secular Section 125 CrPC. The 1986 law was introduced under the watch of the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi to sof- ten the impact of the landmark Supreme Court verdict in the Shah Bano case in 1985, which said Muslim women were entitled to maintenance. Both justices Nagarathna and Masih wrote separate but concurring verdicts. Justice Nagarathna said the 1986 Act is not a substitute for Section 125, nor has it supplanted it. Both can operate simultaneously at the option of a divorced Muslim woman. Excluding the ap- plication of Section 125 for a divorced Muslim woman would be in violation of Article 15(1) of the Constitution, which states that the state shall not discriminate on the ground of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth, etc., she said. “There cannot be disparity in receiving maintenance on the basis of the law under which a woman is married or divorced. The same cannot be a basis for discriminating a divorced woman entitled to maintenance as per the conditions stipulated under Section 125 of the CrPC or any personal or other law such as the 1986 Act,” Justice Nagarathna said. Justice Masih said rights of maintenance under Section 125 and the 1986 Act “parallelly exist in their distinct domains and jurisprudence”. ISRO case fabricated by police, IB officials: CBI chargesheet E XPR E SS N E WS S E RVIC E @ T’Puram THE 1994 ISRO espionage case, in which former space scientist Nambi Narayanan was falsely implicated, was the result of a conspiracy hatched by certain police and IB officials, the CBI told a court here. The case was initiated by then special branch inspector S Vijayan after Maldivian national Mariyam Rasheeda spurned his advances, the agency said in its chargesheet filed before the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court, Thiruvananthapuram. It said Vijayan had seized the travel documents of Mariyam, rendering her unable to return before her visa expired. When she could not return, she was booked by the police for overstaying, it added. The chargesheet said police officials S Vijayan (first accused), Sibi Mathews (second accused), K K Joshua (third ac- Nambi Narayanan R B Sreekumar cused) then IB deputy director R B Sreekumar (fourth accused), and IB officer P S Jayaprakash (fifth accused) played an active role in the conspiracy to fabricate documents that led to illegal arrests and subsequent torture. On the direction of the then Crimes DIG Sibi Mathews, four persons — D Sashikumaran, K Chandersekhar, Nambi Naryanan, and S K Sharma — were arrested without any evidence. They were interrogated and allegedly tortured at the behest of Sibi, the chargesheet said. It said the espionage angle was fabricated to sustain the wrongs committed by the officials of the state police and IB. Sreekumar has been accused of facilitating unauthorised questioning of Mariyam and torturing the accused. “He was responsible for physical and mental torture of arrested victims during unauthorised interrogation in custody of Kerala police by the IB team,” said the chargesheet. Sreekumar was ADGP in Gujarat during the Godhra riots and testified against the state government before the Nanavati Commission that looked into the 2002 riots. Responding to the development, Nambi Narayanan said: “I wanted to bring out the culprits, who had fabricated the case. It took about 24 years for that to happen. I’ve lost interest in the case. If required, I can be a witness... Now I am old and even if the accused are punished, I am not interested.” Govt effects first IAS reshuffle, Guv’s Terrorists took instructions from handlers in Pak: NIA secy gets finance and energy charge Reasi attack M U K E S H R A N J A N @ New Delhi Terrorists who attacked a bus carrying pilgrims in Jammu’s Reasi on June 9 received instructions from their handlers based in Pakistan, a probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) found. Sources said as per the evidence collected so far, before executing the attack, the remote handlers were contacted and permission taken. The investigators found that a Rajouri-based overground worker (OGW) Hakam Khan alias Hakin Din, who has been arrested in connection with the case, had sheltered the Pakistani terrorists for nearly a week before the day the bus was attacked. Khan also helped them in reaching the attack spot, sources added. “The arrested OGW played the role of a guide to take the terrorists to the spot where the incident took place and helped them identify the curve on the road, where vehicles used to slow down. Even the exit plan was finalised,” a source aware of the probe details said. The terrorists navigated the thick forests of Rajouri, Poonch, and Kathua using a mobile application, Alpine West, which gave them realtime information about culverts, dense forests and other obstructions, sources said. The probe agency suspects the role of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba’s Sajjid Jutt in executing the attack. There is a reward of `10 lakh for providing information leading to his arrest in connection with another case. Two other Pakistani terrorists Sajid Ali and Abu Qatal are also suspected to have been involved in the attack, sources said. Terrorists opened fire at a bus carrying pilgrims from Shiv Khori to Katra on the evening of June 9 in the Pouni area of Reasi. The driver of the bus lost control, causing it to fall into a gorge. Nine people, including a minor, were killed in the attack. E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar In its first bureaucratic reshuffle at the senior level, the BJP gover nment on Wednesday handed Saswat Mishra, principal secretary to the Governor, additional charge of two key depar tments - Finance and Energy . Mishra will replace Vishal Dev as the principal secretary in the Finance department. Dev has been appointed as principal secretary in Electronics and IT department and will continue to hold additional charge of Odisha Forest Development Corporation. Mishra will be in additional charge of the chairman of the Odisha Subordinate Staff Selection Commission, a notification by the General Administration department said. The change of guard in the Finance department has come even as the state government is scheduled to place the budget for 2024-25 and another vote-onaccount for three months in the Assembly on July 25 and July 30 respectively . The government has also been cautious as it has stuck to a set of officers in certain positions. The notification said Surendra Kumar, additional chief secretary (ACS) in the General Administration and Public Grievance department with additional charge of tourism, has been given additional charge of Parliamentary Af- fairs department replacing G Mathivathanan. Mathivathanan, who headed the Housing and Urban Development department for 11 years, has been posted as DG of Gopabandhu Academy of Administration, Bhubaneswar. The government also handed Nikunja Bihari Dhal, ACS to the chief minister, additional charge of Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation as its chairman in place of Hemant Shar ma. Sharma will continue as principal secretary in the Industries department with additional charge of chair man of Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Continued on P7 Odisha.  Mumbai: A Mumbai court on Wednesday remanded Mihir Shah, the prime accused in the BMW hit-and-run case, to police custody till July 16, while the ruling Shiv Sena sacked his father Rajesh Shah as party deputy leader. Mihir, 24, was arrested on Tuesday, two days after he allegedly rammed his BMW car into a two-wheeler, killing a woman and leaving her husband injured | P10 risky track Students cross railway tracks while returning from school near Lingaraj Temple Road station in Bhubaneswar | DEBADATTA MALLICK Govt affidavit cites IIT-M clean chit to NEET-UG Open up Su c h i t r a K a lyan M o han t y @ New Delhi A day ahead of the hearing in the NEET-UG case in the Supreme Court, the Centre and the National Testing Agency, which conducted the test, filed their affidavits on Wednesday opposing demand for a retest. Citing an exhaustive data analysis of the results by IIT Madras, it said no local set of candidates benefitted, leading to abnormal scores in the exam. “The marks follow a bell-shaped curve that is witnessed in any large-scale examination indicating no abnormality the IIT, ,” Madras report signed by its director V Kamakoti read. As for the increase in marks, they were in the range of 550 to 720. This increase is seen across cities and centres, and is attributed to 25% reduction in syllabus. In addition, candidates obtaining such high marks are spread across multiple cities and multiple centres, indicating very less likelihood of malpractice, the IIT report said. cial assistance will be provided for training in Odissi dance and music and The second cabinet meet- other artistes. Launching ing of the BJP government, of Kalakar Gourav Nidhi chaired by Chief Minister scheme for promotion of Mohan Charan Majhi, on art and culture, and develWednesday approved five opment of a cultural troupe proposals including a spe- management system will cial corpus fund of `200 also be part of the initiacrore for a bouquet of initi- tives, he added. The Odia atives to restore and proLanguage, Literature and mote ‘Odisa Asmita’. Culture department It also approved has been directed to the proposal of the prepare a detailed School and Mass guideline. A comEducation departmittee comprising ment for release of experts will be a merit list of fo r m e d fo r t h e 18,788 aspirants for same. The corpus appointment as fund will be injunior teachers creased in future It will be utilised (schematic). as per requireBriefing media- for establishment ment, he added. persons after the of Odisha Asmita About appointBhawan, Odia meeting, the chief ment of junior Translation minister said the teachers, Majhi Academy, worldcorpus fund will be said the Odisha class palm leaf used to preserve School Education manuscript and promote art, Prog ramme Aumuseum and culture and heritthority (OSEPA) development of Paika Rebellion age of the state. had issued a notifimemorial “It will be utication for appointlised for establishment into 20,000 Mohan Majhi, CM ment of Odisha Asposts. The Orissa mita Bhawan, Odia High Court had T r a n s l at i o n A c a d e my, given direction to prepare a world-class palm leaf man- merit list based on a compuuscript museum and devel- ter-based test. The three-hour-long state opment of Paika Rebellion memorial,” Majhi said. Be- cabinet meeting also apsides, e-libraries across the proved the proposal of the districts and international Labour and Employee’s recognition for Bali Yatra State Insurance department w i l l a l s o b e f u n d e d for increasing minimum wage for unskilled, semiunder it. The chief minister said skilled, skilled and highly efforts will be made to set skilled categories from `352 up Odia chair in universi- to `450, `392 to `500, `442 to ties of national and interna- `550 and `502 to `600 . tional repute, while finan- respectively Continued on P7 @ Bhubaneswar BMW hit-and-run accused’s father sacked Sambalpur: The district administration has relaxed restrictions on joint processions for Muharram, to be celebrated on July 17 this year. At a peace and coordination committee meeting held on Tuesday, the administration decided to allow joint processions and sought cooperation of all members of Muslim community to ensure peace and harmony during the celebrations | P4 Cabinet okays `200 cr corpus fund, merit list of 18k teacher candidates E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e e x p r e s s r ead Muharram processions allowed in Sambalpur Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi briefing media persons after the cabinet meeting at Lok Seva Bhawan on Wednesday | Shamim Qureshy The NTA’s affidavit described as fake a video on Telegram on the NEET-UG paper leak. Going forward, the Centre assured that candidates would be chucked — during counselling or thereafter — if they are found to be beneficiaries of m a l p r a c t i c e. S t e p s would also be taken to restore the sanctity of the NEET, it said. “The Government is committed to ensure the sanctity of examinations and protect the interest of students. To ensure transparency, fairness, and credibility in public examination, Parliament has enacted Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 on February 12, and an Act was brought into effect on June 21,” the Centre said. “If an exercise is to be conducted by NTA and by the Union Government so as to identify any further beneficiaries of the question paper leakage, a considered decision at the policy level would have to be taken by the government on the status of the counselling,” it added. Shambhu border within 7 days, says hc The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday ordered the Haryana government to open up the barricade at the Shambhu border near Ambala, where farmers have been camping, within a week on “experimental basis”. The court also directed Punjab to control the protesters in their territory