kochi l tuesday l july 30, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION S.C. refuses stay on Patna hc order nixing hike in caste-based quota The D Y Chandrachud-led bench, however, agreed to hear 10 petitions of the Bihar govt against the Patna High Court’s adverse verdict No interim relief, final hearing in Sept The SC said it will list the petitions for final hearing in September. “We will list in September. No interim relief [at this stage],” CJI Chandrachud said. The HC had on June 20 set aside Bihar’s amended reservation laws that raised the quotas for Dalits, tribals, and backward classes from 50% to 65% in public employment and educational institutions, saying it violated the Consitituion 50% HC ORDER erroneous, CLAIMS BIHAR GOVT ■ In its plea before the SC, the Bihar government termed the HC order erroneous, claiming it transcended beyond the legitimate scope of judicial review by substituting ‘opinion of State’ with its own opinion ■ The Nitish Kumar-led government’s amendments followed a caste survey, which put OBCs and EBCs at 63% and SC/STs at 21% of Bihar’s population Cap on reservations laid down by THE top COURT in the Indra Sawhney case 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 Chakravyuh rap by Rahul to put the Centre on the mat Uses Mahabharat metaphor to pin down govt, says Budget hasn’t addressed people’s concerns P r e e t h a N a i r @ New Delhi shooting for the stars Sarabjot Singh and Manu Bhaker advanced to the bronze-medal playoff in the mixed 10m air pistol event on Monday. If the duo finishes third, Bhaker will become the first Indian to win two medals at a single Olympic Games | Ap | P11 No third-party mediation in China border dispute: EAM EXPRESS READ Zoroastrian 1,127 Total houses sanctioned Jain 10,457 16,00,131 Buddhist 19,707 1,73,350 Christian 13,45,820 houses sanctioned to the minorities under the PMAY-U SCHEME Muslim 16 pages, including 4 pages of KOCHI Express INDIA bloc would pass bills on caste census and legal guarantee for MSP if it captures power. The House witnessed uproar after Rahul displayed a picture of the ‘halwa ceremony’ held ahead of the Budget. “I wanted the budget to take up the caste census. Though the Budget was prepared by a 20-member committee, no Dalits, OBCs or Adivasis were in the picture,” he said, prompting intervention from Speaker Om Birla, who asked him to read the rules of the House, Parliamentary Affairs minister Kiren Rijiju echoed Birla. “Chakravyuh has three forces. First is the idea of monopoly that , two people should be allowed to own everything in India. One element is financial power. Second is the institutions, agencies (CBI, ED, I-T) and the third element is political executive,” Rahul added. Muslims biggest beneficiaries among minorities Order on Soren’s bail well reasoned: SC New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to interfere with a Jharkhand High Court order granting the state’s CM Hemant Soren bail in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam. Dismissing Enforcement Directorate’s plea challenging the HC’s June 28 order, the court termed HC’s order ‘very well reasoned’, adding: “We don’t want to observe anything more... if we observe, you (ED) might be in difficulty.” ment issued after the foreign ministers’ meeting targeted China’s expansionist policies. In a clear message to Beijing, it said one country cannot dominate others. “All countries have a role in contributing to regional peace, stability, and prosperity, while seeking a region in which no country dominates and no country is dominated, competition is managed responsibly, and each country is free from coercion in all its forms and can exercise its agency to determine its own future,” the statement said. Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi speaks in the Lok Sabha, in New Delhi on Monday | PTI H o u s i n g s c he m e 49,670 INDIA-China relations are not great at the moment and there are ongoing border disputes. However, that doesn’t mean New Delhi is looking for third-party mediation, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said in Tokyo on Monday . “We have a problem, (but) it is for the two of us to talk it over and to find a way,” Jaishankar said while talking to reporters in Tokyo on the sidelines of the Quad foreign ministers’ meet. Recalling his meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi twice this month, Jaishankar said: “Obviously other , countries in the world would have an interest in the matter, because we are two big countries and the state of our relationship has an impact on the rest of the world. But we are not looking to other countries to sort out what is really an issue between us.” Meanwhile, the joint state- Sikh YE S HI S ELI @ New Delhi Making a strong pitch for caste census and legalised minimum support price (MSP) for crops, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi in his fierce speech in the Lok Sabha on Monday argued that the Union Budget had failed to address the needs of poor and the marginalised communities. In an hour-long speech during the discussion on the Union Budget, the Congress leader invoked the Mahabharat to allege that the chakravyuh of six persons had trapped the country, which led to an uproar. “In the 21st century, there is a new chakravyuh and that symbol is worn by the prime minister on his chest. What was done with Abhimanyu is being done with youth, women, farmers and the MSMEs. “This chakravyuh attacked and destroyed small and medium businesses. This was done through demonetisation and tax terrorism. The Budget did nothing to end this tax terrorism,” Rahul said. In his all out attack, Rahul said by removing indexation, the BJP stabbed the middle class in the back and by enhancing long-term capital gains tax, it stabbed the middle class in the front. He claimed the Pa r v e z S u lta n @ New Delhi A Rajya Sabha question seeking to quantify the beneficiaries among the minorities under the Pradhan Mantri Awas YojanaUrban (PMAY-U) threw up an interesting bunch of data. The government’s written response to the unstarred question last week said Muslims constitute 12.74% of the total pucca houses sanctioned for the minorities under the scheme launched in 2015 across the country . The overall figure for minori- ties under the scheme stood at 15.15%. In all, 1.18 crore houses were approved by the government, of which 1.14 crore units have already been grounded for construction. And 85.04 lakh units have already been completed or delivered. Of the 16 lakh houses sanctioned for the minorities, the share of Muslims is 13.45 lakh. Christians came a distant second with 1.73 lakh houses (1.64%). Sikhs have been sanctioned 49,670 houses (0.47%) and Buddhists 19,707 (0.19). Jains and Zoroastrians were at the bottom of the list with 10,457 dwelling units (0.10%) and 1,127 (0.01%), respectively . The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs released the data on July 22 in response to a question by Satnam Singh Sandhu, Chancellor of Chandigarh University and nominated member of the Rajya Sabha. The Centre is set to launch PMAY-U 2.0 to address the housing needs of 1 crore urban poor and middle class families with an investment of `10 lakh crore. Cyber fraudsters on the prowl with fake banking apps T o b y A n t o n y @ Kochi Beware! Cyber fraudsters are devising innovative methods to deceive gullible people. Their latest tactic: Crafting fake banking apps that eerily resemble genuine ones. Recently, a woman from Kalamassery fell prey to this ruse and lost `9.3 lakh due to unauthorised transactions on her debit and credit cards after installing a fake banking app. According to the police, the victim had been an ICICI Bank account holder for several years. This month, she received a call from someone claiming to be a bank official. The caller informed her about a new banking app and its benefits. “Subsequently the victim received an , SMS containing a link to an app named ICICIbank. apk. Trusting its legitimacy she installed the app by , clicking on the link. The installed app appeared to have all her online banking account features,” explained a police officer. It wasn’t until a week later that the woman realised she had been deceived. She began receiving notifications of unauthorised transactions made through her debit and credit cards. Nearly `5 lakh had been deducted from her debit card, and five transactions totalling `4.3 lakh were made from her credit card. “The app the victim installed was fake; it was a remote screen-sharing app. Using this app, the perpetrators accessed her debit and credit card details, includ● More on P4 ing PINs and OTPs,” said the officer.  Pocso charges Book complainants making false allegations in marital disputes: HC E x p r e ss n e w s s e r v i c e @Kochi The Kerala High Court has condemned the practice of women filing frivolous complaints against husbands, specifically in cases where allegations of sexual harassment of minor daughters are made as a result of marital disputes. The court emphasised that all Pocso Special Courts should take appropriate action if they find that a complaint or information provided by the complainant is false. Following a trial, if it is found that there is no substance, the Pocso court should direct the police to register a case against the complainants. Justice P V Kunhikrishnan issued the order on the petition filed by a man seeking to quash the Pocso case registered against him on his wife’s complaint un- Court der the provisions of the Pocso Act and observation the Juvenile Justice Act. The High Court The court said in this particular case, stated that false a minor girl aged three years was being allegations can used by her mother as a weapon to fight lead to family against her husband. breakdown, The court observed that nowadays, custody battles there is a trend of parties in marital re- and long-term lationships engaging in indefinite fights psychological effects on the child if there is any misunderstanding. If there is no chance for a reunion, a cordial separation is preferable. But it seldom happens, said the court. Furthermore, it observed that false allegations of sexual exploitation of child by a father due to matrimonial disputes can have severe and far-reaching consequences for all parties involved. Such actions can cause emotional distress for the accused, child, and other family members. The accused may have to face the trauma of criminal charges, even if the allegations are later proven false. It may lead to social ostracisation and damaged reputation, the High Court stated.