tirupati l saturday l may 25, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION Medha Patkar convicted in 23-year-old defamation suit A Delhi court on Friday convicted the activist in a defamation case filed by Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena against her in Jan 2001 Case relates to 2000 press note ‘Inflammatory’ remarks against saxena Origins of the case date back to 2000 when Saxena, who was the chief of Ahmedabad-based NGO National Council for Civil Liberties, published an advertisement against Patkar’s Narmada Bachao Andolan, the movement that opposed construction of dams over Narmada river. In response, Patkar allegedly issued a strongly worded press notice in November 2000 ■ Saxena had filed the defamation suit before a court in Ahmedabad in 2001. It was transferred to Delhi in 2003 following a Supreme Court order ■ In the judgment delivered on Friday, Delhi’s Metropolitan Magistrate Raghav Sharma noted that Patkar’s “inflammatory” press note termed Saxena a “coward and not a patriot”, which was a direct attack on his character 2 years the activist may get a jail term of two years or fine or both as punishment 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 ICJ orders Israel to halt Rafah offensive A ge n c i e s 4 sub-teams of SIT to camp in 3 violence-hit dists till June 4 P ha n i n d ra Papa s a n i @ Vijayawada Four sub-teams of the Special Investigation Team (SIT), constituted by DGP Harish Kumar Gupta on the directions of Election Commission of India (ECI), have been stationed at four constituencies in three districts—Palnadu, Tirupati and Anantapur — till June 4 to monitor the ground situation and guide investigation officers to probe the incidents of election violence. These sub-teams will be headed by additional superintendent of police rank officers. “As intelligence reports indicate that there are chances that violence of serious nature may erupt in the three districts, particularly during the vote counting process on June 4, the teams were instructed to camp there till June 4 and ensure no untoward incidents are reported,” said SIT head Vineet Brijlal. Based on inputs from the subteams on the incidents related to poll violence in three districts of the State, four more cases have been registered and arrest count has surged to 234 from 124, he explained. Additionally police have been , conducting cordon and search operations at 276 problematic locations in the State and registered 24 cases, besides seizing 1,313 vehicles and `10 lakh worth liquor, diesel and petrol. ‘Mob operations’ mock drills are also being demonstrated at all district headquarters and problematic areas to create awareness among the public. After being set up, the SIT reviewed 33 cases registered in four constituencies — Macherla, Narasaraopet, Tirupati and Tadipatri. Israel’s sustained hardline stance is under fire even as support for the Palestinian cause has grown. This week alone, three European countries—Ireland, Norway, and Spain—said they would recognise Palestine state. In an earlier ruling in January , the ICJ had asked Israel to prevent acts of genocide against Palestinians and protect civilians, but did not order a ceasefire. ICJ rulings are binding, but the court has no power to enforce them. The case before the ICJ was brought by South Africa last year alleging Israel breached the 1948 UN Genocide Convention—a P9 charge denied by Tel Aviv. No SC directive on voter turnout data to poll body 25 Vizagites trafficked to Cambodia return home of the polls. Everyone wants free and fair elections but “we are also concerned that there The Supreme Court on Friday could be mischievous people refused to issue any order to looking to take advantage,” the the Election Commission of In- bench said. dia on a plea seeking directions “Prima facie we are not into upload polling station-wise clined to grant any interim revoter turnout data on lief since prayer A its website within 48 (of the petitioners) of hours of polling for the 2019 petition is each phase of the Lok similar to prayer B of Sabha polls. the 2024 application. While declining to List the interim plea pass any order on the after (summer) vacaAa bail plea of the Association,” the court said tion for Democratic mujhe maar without fixing any The SC cited the Reforms and Mahua date for hearing. Moitra, a vacation Hindi proverb “aa bail “This particular mujhe maar” bench of justices Dicompliance which you pankar Datta and (inviting trouble) to (ADR) are insisting explain the EC’s Satish Chandra Sharupon would require plight on the Voter ma said, “we did not Turnout app, since it not only manpower find any merit in the but also require manonly gives out prayers to issue any approximations. The damus (a judicial direction to the ECI.” EC is not statutorily writ). It is not possible required to put out Noting that the induring this period. We data on the app terim request by the have to be conscious petitioners was the of the ground reality same as that sought in the main and cannot change the process petition pending before the mid-way the court said. ,” court since 2019, the bench The ECI’s affidavit had said said, “Granting the interim re- uploading of Form 17C (record lief would mean allowing the of votes polled) on the official final relief.” website could lead to mischief, The court said a hands-off creating widespread discomapproach is needed in the midst fort and mistrust. Jobless youth, who were taken to Singapore with a job promise and then trafficked to Cambodia, arrived at Vizag airport on Friday | G satyanarayana Says it favours a hands-off approach amid the ongoing electoral process in the country Su c h i tra Ka lya n M o ha n t y @ New Delhi 29 August 1929- 24 May 2024 Saroj Goenka passes away Ex press News Service @ Chennai S aroj G o e n k a , daughter-in-law of the legendary media baron Ramnath Goenka, passed away at her home in Chennai on Friday. Her youngest daughter Kavita Singhania was by her side when the end came at 11.30 am. She was 95. Saroj is the daughter of Shreyans Prasad Jain, after whom the SP Jain College in Mumbai is named. She was cremated at 5.30 pm at the Besant Nagar electrical crematorium. A condolence meeting will be held on Sunday between 2 pm and 4 pm at her Express Estate residence. Born on August 29, 1929, Saroj married Ramnath Goenka’s son Bhagwan Das Goenka. After the untimely demise of her spouse in 1979, she took over as the managing director of The Indian Express (Madurai) Ltd, a position she held till 1995. She was president of Indian Newspaper Society in 1984-85. ered, Israel warplanes carried out a series of air strikes on the Shaboura camp in Rafah. Hamas welcomed the ICJ order but said the ruling should have covered the entire Gaza Strip and not just Rafah. International pressure on Israel to scale down its military operations has grown especially after it turned its focus to Rafah, the main entry point for humanitarian relief for those trapped inside Gaza. According to reports, there is acute food shortage in the enclave while supplies are rotting on the Rafah border crossing. Saroj later became chairperson of Express Infrastructure Ltd, which runs the tony Express Avenue mall on Mount Road. On August 30, 2010, the then chief minister M Karunanidhi inaugurated Express Avenue. “Express Avenue is like a crowning memorial for the services rendered by Ramnath Goenka, the doyen of Indian journalism,’’ Karunanidhi said while speaking on the occasion. Af fectionately called Amma, Saroj was well known for her charitable activities like running an orphanage, the Daya Sadan Childrens Town at Nerkundram in the city For a long time, she made . weekly visits to Daya Sadan on Saturdays to personally oversee its functioning. She also ran the Moongibai Goenka Girls Higher Secondary School at Sowcarpet in Chennai. Named after her mother-in-law, the school was started in 1949. Saroj is survived by three daughters, Arati Agarwal, Ritu Goenka and Kavita Singhania. Condoling the demise, Sudha Ravi, a long-time friend of Saroj, recalled that she was a good student of Vedanta under Swami Paramarthananda. She used to attend the Swamiji’s classes regularly and completed the study of many Upanishads and Vedantic texts, she said. Sudha is a trustee of the Gandhigram Khadi and Village Industries Public Charitable Trust. She said that Saroj was a great supporter of the Crafts Council of India. “She was a wonderful human being — very kind, very warm,” Sudha reminisced. U s ha P er i @ Visakhapatnam As many as 25 of the total 58 individuals from the Port City , who were trafficked to Cambodia, landed at Visakhapatnam International Airport on Friday evening. A total of 150 people from Andhra Pradesh were lured with false promises of employment in Singapore, only to find themselves held captive, tortured, and coerced into cybercrimes targeting Indian citizens in Cambodia. Stressing that the rescued individuals will be treated as victims, Visakhapatnam Commissioner of Police Dr A Ravi Shankar explained, “We will not file cases against them, as they went there seeking legitimate employment. Our focus will be on gathering details from them to take action against the actual traffickers.” Further, he asserted that the remaining individuals, who are in contact with the police through WhatsApp, will also be rescued shortly after all the le- We will not file cases against the individuals, as they went there seeking legitimate employment. Our focus will be on gathering details from them to take action against the actual traffickers Dr A Ravi Shankar, Visakhapatnam Commissioner of Police gal proceedings are completed. The duration of captivity varied between one year and three months. Giving an account of thier experiences, the CP said the victims were tortured by being deprived of food, locked in dark rooms, and physically beaten with baseball bats. He said the victims received meals based on their performance in cheating people. “Underperforming victims received food only once a day, while those who defrauded a number of people were given two meals a day ‘High perform. ers’ were rewarded with parties,” he explained. According to initial statements by the victims, middlemen collected `1.5 lakh from each of them and handed them over to Chinese agents. These Chinese agents then trained them in various cybercrimes, including FedEx scams and frauds related to stock market, task-game and online jobs. Through these scams, an estimated `120 crore has been swindled in Visakhapatnam alone. On Friday, a new FIR was filed where a victim lost `3.2 crore through a FedEx scam. Stating that a team, led by Joint CP K Fakirappa and Cyber Crime Inspector Bhavani, will collect all details from the victims, including data, bank transactions, and videos, to delve deeper into the case and nab the culprits, the police officer said a large-scale awareness programme will soon be conducted for youth to prevent such incidents in the future. He noted that similar issues have been reported in the Middle P4 East. Youth leader gives Khattar cold sweats in Karnal H A R P R E E T B A J W A @ Chandigarh THE Karnal Lok Sabha constituency in Haryana is set for a tight contest as BJP veteran and former Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar is pitted against Congress’ young gun Divyanshu Budhiraja. Both belong to the Punjabi community and are bachelors. While Khattar is from the Nindana village in Rohtak district, Budhiraja is from Gohana in Sonipat district. A two-time MLA, Khattar, 70, is contesting in a parliamentary election for the first time. After Nayab Singh Saini took over as Haryana chief minister in March, the BJP announced Khattar’s Lok Sabha candidature from Karnal. For Khattar, a lot is at stake. He not only has to win, but maintain a high victory margin. If sitting BJP MP Sanjay Bhatia created a high benchmark by ba g ging 70.08% votes, Bhatia’s predecessor Ashwani Kumar Chopra from the same party got 49.84% votes in 2014. Khattar, known for his simple lifestyle, had a clean image as the chief minister for two consecutive terms since 2014. An RSS man, he also has a reputation for being a hard taskmaster with a no-nonsense approach. His political acumen and organisational skills are his strengths. In 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi handpicked him to lead the first BJP government in Haryana. Incidentally, 30-year-old Budhiraja’s political career too began in 2014 when he was elected the president of the Panjab University Students’ Council. Three years later, he was elected the state unit president of the NSUI, the student wing of the Congress. In 2021, he became the president P5 of the Haryana Youth Congress. Available on Scan the QR code for further details *Basis lab test in controlled environment on protein damaged hair after five washes Kakinada district police take part in a mock drill on Friday | Express THE International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Friday ordered Israel to halt its military offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah forthwith, but stopped short of calling for a cease-fire. The top UN court based in the Hague, Netherlands also directed Tel Aviv to open the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza to allow in humanitarian aid. Reading out the ruling, ICJ president Nawaf Salam said Israel must “immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate, which may inflict on the Palestin- ian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part”. Israel must also ensure “access to the Gaza Strip of any commission of inquiry, factfinding mission or other investigative body to in... vestigate allegations of genocide”, it said. Reacting to the ruling, Israel said its military operations in Rafah are in line with international law, adding that it will keep the Rafah crossing open for humanitarian aid but won’t allow terror groups to control the passage. Soon after the ruling was deliv-
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