Chennai l friday l august 30, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 40 l late city EDITION U.K. univ to open first foreign campus in India under NEP 2020 The University of Southampton was on Thursday granted approval by the University Grants Commission to set up a branch campus in India Campus expected to come up in Gurugram One of UK’s top research universities External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan handed over the Letter of Intent to the UK university at an event in Delhi. The new campus is likely to be located in Gurugram, within the Delhi NCR. It will offer a wide range of undergraduate and post-graduate degree courses starting in July 2025 ■ ■ The University of Southampton is one of the UK’s top research institutions with one-third of its research rated as ‘world-leading’ The National Education Policy 2020 calls for internationalisation of education in India by inviting leading foreign universities to set up branch campuses here and collaborate with local institutions 80th rank for university of southampton in the latest QS world university ranking 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 Revanth gets it from SC for deal quip on Kavitha We are not interfering with the marriages solemnised by Islamic rituals under the Muslim Personal Law at all. Our only condition is that Islam prohibited marriages will not be registered Himanta Biswa Sarma, chief minister S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Thursday slammed Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy for his inappropriate comments over the granting of bail to BRS leader K Kavitha and AAP leader Manish Sisodia in cases linked to the Delhi excise policy scam. During a media interaction, Reddy had wondered how Kavitha got bail in just five months, when Delhi deputy CM Sisodia got it only after spending 15 months in jail, while Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal is yet to get relief. He hinted at a ‘deal’ between the BJP and BRS for Kavitha’s bail. This shocked the SC, which expressed its displeasure. “Is this a kind of statement which should be made by a CM? A constitutional functionary is speaking in this manner! Why should they drag the court in political rivalry? Do we pass orders after consulting political parties? We are not bothered by politicians or if anybody criticises our orders,” a three-judge bench headed by Justice B R Gavai said. The bench, also comprising Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and K V Viswanathan, asked senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Reddy how can a constitutional , functionary speak like this. It said it is the duty of political parties to show respect to institutions. Relief to DKS IN DA CASE, hc JUNKS CBI PLEA In a major relief for Karnataka deputy CM D K Shivakumar, the Karnataka HC on Thursday dismissed the pleas by CBI and a BJP MLA questioning the Siddaramaiah govt’s decision to withdraw the previous BJP regime’s consent to the agency to prosecute Shivakumar in a disproportionate assets case In the pre-Independence Act, There was scope of misuse by both authorised licensee as well as by citizens for underage/ minor marriages and forcefully arranged marriages without the consent of the parties Chief Minister MK Stalin being received at San Francisco airport by Consul General of India K Srikar Reddy and members of the Tamil diaspora | pti CM Stalin lands in US, to ink first deal with PayPal C Sh i v akuma r @ Chennai Digital payment solutions provider PayPal will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Guidance Tamil Nadu on the first day of Chief Minister MK Stalin’s visit to the United States in San Francisco at 3pm Pacific Daylight Time (Friday 3.30 am IST). PayPal will invest hundreds of crores to establish a state-of-the-art advanced centre in Chennai focusing on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to generate over 1,000 high-end jobs, official sources said. The MoU will be signed between Guidance Tamil Nadu Managing Director Vishnu Venugopal and Executive Vice-President and Chief Technology Officer of PayPal Srini Venkatesan and Head of International Government Relations of PayPal Zi-Yang David Fan in the presence of the CM. Earlier in the day the CM, , who landed in the US for a two-week visit, received a warm welcome from the Tamil community. Stalin was greeted by the Consul General of India in San Francisco, K Srikar Reddy, along with Minister for In- Purported audio of RG Kar calls to family add to ire Sula g na Sen g u p ta @ Kolkata Three purported audio recordings of phone calls allegedly made by RG Kar Medical College on August 9 to the parents of the rape-murder victim surfaced on Thursday indicating , the institution’s muddled approach and insensitivity while breaking the horrific news to the relatives. In the first call, the hospital authorities simply said their daughter was ‘a little ill’ and asked them to come immediately Two minutes later, anoth. er call came saying she was very sick. In the third call, again after two minutes, the caller claimed their daughter had committed suicide. The victim’s family members said the hospital authorities deliberately mislead them, though they knew their daughter had been raped and murdered. The victim’s father said when they went into the hospital, they saw their daughter’s body wrapped in a green bedsheet. But media images later showed a blue bedsheet. What prompted the hospital to change the bedsheet, he wondered. “There has Women participate in a rally in been a deliberate attempt to sup- Kolkata on Thursday | PTI press facts. We want the CBI to investigate why the Kolkata Police misled us.” he said and demanded a thorough investigation. On August 10, authorities arrested Sanjay Roy a civic vol, unteer frequently seen at RG Kar. According to CBI sources, Roy confessed to the crime during interrogation. Meanwhile, police arrested one Renuka Singh (38), whose alleged stoning left police sergeant Debasish Chakraborty injured in an eye during the Nabanna Abhijan rally . PayPal plans advanced AI, ML centre in Chennai PayPal will invest hundreds of crores to establish a state-ofthe-art advanced centre in Chennai focusing on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to generate over 1,000 high-end jobs, official sources said. An MoU will be signed by the company with Guidance TN on Thursday 3 pm Pacific Daylight Time (Friday 3.30 am IST). dustries TRB Rajaa and members of the Tamil diaspora, including former Union Minister Napoleon. In his X post, Stalin said, “In the USA, the land of opportunities, seeking support for the prosperity of Tamil Nadu.” He also said he was moved by the welcome accorded by the Tamil community . The Chief Minister is targeting investments in the US to generate high-end jobs. In San Francisco, he will be attending an investment conclave, which is expected to generate several high-value investments. The MoU with PayPal will be signed at a meeting to be held before the investment conclave.  P7 Jogen Mohan, revenue minister Registration of Muslim marriages mandatory New bill passed in Assam House to deter teenage pregnancy: CM P r a s anta M a z um d a r @ Guwahati The Assam assembly on Thursday passed the Assam Compulsory Registration of Muslim Marriages and Divorces Bill, 2024, which makes it mandatory to register marriages with the government. Since the legal age of marriage of 18 years for girls and 21 years for boys cannot be contravened, it will act as a strict deterrent against teenage pregnancy and improve overall growth of girls, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. The bill replaces the Britishera law, The Assam Moslem Marriages and Divorces Registration Act, 1935. “Today is a historic day in our effort to fight the social evil of child marriage. The #AssamLegislativeAssembly has passed the Assam Compulsory Registration of Muslim Marriages and Divorces Bill, 2024,” Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma posted on X. Earlier, he told the Assembly that the government’s aim was not only to abolish child mar- Kazi cut out New law to help check polygamy, enforce maintenance rights All earlier registrations of marriages conducted by Kazis will remain valid, said Himanta Biswa Sarma 1 Only new marriages will come under the purview of the legislation where registration has to be done with govt 2 riages but also to replace the Kazi (religious official) system. He said all marriages would be registered as per an order of the Supreme Court. It emerged during the discussions in the Assembly that Assam has 90 Kazis, most of them government teachers. On August 22, revenue and disaster management minister Jogen Mohan had stated in the statement of Object and Reasons that The Assam Moslem Marriages and Divorces Registration Act was adopted by the British India government for the then Province of Assam for Muslim religious and social arrangements. He said under it, The Kazi system for registering Muslim marriages will end. Assam has 90 Kazis, most of them govt teachers 3 the registration of marriages and divorces is not mandatory and the machinery of registration is informal. “There remains a scope of registering marriages of intended person below 21 years (in case of male) and 18 years (in case of female) and hardly any monitoring (is) made for (the) implementation of this Act throughout the state, which attracts and invites huge amount of litigation in the criminal/ civil court,” Mohan said. “There is a scope of misuse by both authorised licensee as well as by citizens for underage/minor marriages and forcefully arranged marriages without consent,” he stated. BEd test paper changed at 11th hour after leak; registrar ousted Binita Jaiswal & N Dhamotharan @ Chennai/ Coimbatore The Tamil Nadu Teachers’ Education University (TNTEU) changed the question paper for the fourth-semester Bachelor in Education (BEd) exam at the last minute on Thursday after the question paper got leaked. After the authorities got information about the question paper leak for the subject, ‘creating an inclusive school’, on Wednesday evening, they sent another question paper online to all the exam centres and managed to conduct the exam as per schedule on Thursday . Meanwhile, the university issued a notification late on Wednesday relieving Registrar (in-charge) N Ramakrishnan from the post with effect from August 23. The exam centres got a circular from the controller of exam stating that they should download the new question paper only at 9.15 am and print it. They were also instructed not to open the envelope containing the ‘leaked’ question paper sent by the university The in. cident brought to focus the issues face by the university which has been functioning without a vice-chancellor for the last two years.  P7 W ITH THIS ISS U E CHENNAI’S BEST WEEKEND GUIDE 40 PAGES, INCLUDING 24 OF INDULGE (TABLOID) FIR against CPM MLA Mukesh in rape case E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Kochi AMID growing chorus for the resignation of CPM MLA M Mukesh, Kerala police on Thursday booked the actor-politician following the complaint of an actress from Kochi. Soof after the FIR was filed, Mukesh secured interim protection from arrest from a local court. Based on the complaint by the Kochi-based actress, police filed separate cases against actors Maniyanpilla Raju, Edavela Babu, and Jayasurya. The complaint says Mukesh sexually harassed the actress at a villa in Kochi when she met him for membership of Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), of which he was an office bearer. The charge against Edavela Babu is that he raped the actress at his apartment in 2009 when she met him in connection with AMMA membership. Maniyanpilla Raju allegedly made sexual advances while the actress was staying at a hotel in Kochi as part of a shooting in 2009. Jayasurya is charged with sexually harassing the actress during a shooting in T hir uvananthapuram in 2008. Meanwhile, the CPM has brazened it out by openly supporting Mukesh with senior leaders E P Jayarajan, K K Shailaja, P K Sreemathi, and minister Veena George saying there is no need for him to quit. According to sources, Mukesh met Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and claimed he was being blackmailed.