HYDERABAD SATURDAY MAY 25, 2024 `9.00 PAGES 16 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 E N S @ Siddipet SIDDIPET Municipal Commissioner Prasanna Rani has imposed a fine of `24 lakh on Transco officials for felling around 400 trees that led to a huge uproar from concerned citizens. The Transco officials cut the trees saying that the branches were touching the power lines. However, the municipal commissioner described the action as excessive and unnecessary . The trees, planted nine years ago as part of the Haritha Haram programme, were well-established and growing in various streets of Siddipet town. During the monsoon season, the municipal authorities typically trim tree branches to stop them from touching electricity cables and tripping power. The civic body had even purchased two big ladders to enable staff to trim the branches when notified by Transco officials. However, this year, Transco officials proceeded to cut down the trees without prior notice to the municipal a u t h o r i t i e s. The municipal commissioner said that when her staff informed her about the tree-cutting, she immediately contacted assistant engineer, deputy engineer, and superintendent engineer, but her concerns were ignored. To make matters worse, the trees near the girls’ high school were felled despite the absence of any power lines in the vicinity. Upon investigation, Prasanna Rani counted 400 trees removed by Transco officials in the town. In response, she issued a notice on Thursday evening, demanding Transco pay compensation of `24 lakh. T he municipal commissioner said that while she understands the necessity of preventing power supply interruptions caused by tree branches, the municipal staff could have managed the situation by carefully trimming the branches rather than cutting down entire trees. Prasanna Rani told TNIE that the trees, planted eight to nine years ago, were an integral part of the town’s greenery . ICJ orders Israel to halt Rafah offensive AGENCIES 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- No SC directive on voter turnout data to poll body Says it favours a hands-off approach amid the ongoing electoral process in the country 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 voting for the 2019 petition is each phase of the Lok similar to prayer B of Sabha elections. 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. S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi 29 AUGUST 1929- 24 MAY 2024 SAROJ GOENKA PASSES AWAY EX PRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Chennai S AROJ Goenka, 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 all set for a tight contest as Bharatiya Janata Party (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 bagging 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. A Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh 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, in 2017, he was elected the state unit president of the National Students’ Union of India, the student wing of the Congress Divyanshu Budhiraja (left) and Manohar Lal Khattar ILLUSTRATION: MANDAR PARDIKAR party. In 2021, he became the president of the Haryana Youth Congress. Though Budhiraja is new to national politics, he had hogged headlines long back when he publicly confronted Khattar. In 2018, he led a group of students of Panchkula Government College to block the convoy of Khattar, then Haryana chief minister, to protest against unemployment. He was arrested and jailed for three days. Budhiraja continues to attack Khattar on unemployment, which according to him is the biggest issue in Haryana. “Despite being the chief minister for nine-and-a-half years, Khattar could not ensure development in the state. What can he do for the people of Karnal now? He was removed from the post of CM. I think people will not accept a rejected CM in the constituency he said. ,” Lok Sabha elections to Karnal will be held in the sixth phase on May 25. Other candidates in the fray are Devender Kadian of the Jannayak Janta Party and Virender Maratha of the Nationalist Congress Party . Since 1952, the Congress has won this seat 11 times and the BJP five times. Former BRS MLA Jeevan Reddy booked for land grab E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Hyderabad CHEVELLA police on Friday booked former BRS MLA A Jeevan Reddy under Sections 447, 427, 341, 386, 420, 506 read with 34 (I) of the IPC based on a complaint by Sama Damodhar Reddy a 66-year-old busi, nessman from Upparpally . In his complaint, Damodhar Reddy accused the former MLA of trespassing into his 20 acres of land, demolishing a function hall there and taking up construction of a new structure in its place. Damodhar Reddy said that he purchased a parcel of land situated on the outskirts of Earlapally village measuring 20 acres and 20 guntas in 2002. He said that he constructed a function hall dedicated to his late father, Parmareddy on this land, which is adjacent to another parcel of land owned by Jeevan Reddy and his family . The businessman alleged that Jeevan Reddy, along with his wife Ashannagari Rajitha and mother Ashannagari Rajubai encroached upon half of his land and demolished the existing function hall and constructed a new structure in its place. When Damodhar Reddy and his family attempted to stop the demolition, the watchman D Suresh, along with Jeevan Reddy’s henchmen, obstructed him and threatened him with dire consequences, the complaint said. Damodhar Reddy said that some unidentified persons armed with deadly weapons, believed to be from other states, denied him access to the disputed land. Available on HC REJECTS PLEA BY CH MALLA REDDY SEEKING DIRECTIONS TO OFFICIALS IN LAND GRAB CASE |P4 Scan the QR code for further details *Basis lab test in controlled environment on protein damaged hair after five washes Transco chops off 400 trees in Siddipet, fined `24 lakh
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