villupuram l wednesday l june 25, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION five hundreds to india, 1st test match to England Despite Indian batters scoring five hundreds in the two innings, they lost the first Test against England by five wickets at Leeds Ben Duckett (left) and Joe Root help England beat India on Tuesday | AP Duckett, Root guide England home India prefer batting depth to bowling As he ever so often does, Ben Duckett came to the fore for England with a sensational second innings hundred. He smashed a stellar 149 and, along with Zak Crawley set up the chase before Joe Root took over. Even as wickets kept falling at other end, Root held fort (53 n.o from 84 balls) to take England over 371-run target with five wickets in hand ■ ■ In what was one of the driest springs in England, India’s team management decided to go with Shardul Thakur as their fifth bowler instead of adding one more spinner — Kuldeep Yadav It backfired and India did not use Thakur enough in both the innings. The second Test will be begin on June 2 | More on P11 Seven india have now lost seven of their last nine test matches 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 HC passes split verdict in Thiruparankundram temple & dargah issue J E G A D E E S W A R I PA N D I A N @ Madurai Two judges of a bench of the Madras High Court delivered a split verdict on Tuesday on the emotive issue of permitting animal sacrifices, prayers, and gatherings at the Sikandar Badusha Avuliya Dargah, revered by Muslims, located on the Thiruparankundram Hill in Madurai. The hill is also home to the Thiruparankundram Murugan Temple, one of the six Aarupadaiveedu (sacred abodes) of Lord Murugan. The matter has now been placed before the Chief Justice of the HC for appropriate orders. The bench comprising Justices J Nisha Banu and S Srimathy was hearing a batch of six petitions. While three petitions sought prohibition of animal sacrifice and prayers or other gatherings, two wanted directions for peaceful administration of the dargah and basic amenities like road, lights, and the sixth one wanted the hill to be declared as ‘Samanar Kundru’ (Jain hill). The judges agreed that the hill’s name should not be The Thiruparankundram Murugan Temple in Madurai | Express changed and no direction can be issued to pave road, construct toilets, drinking water pipelines, erecting electricity poles, etc. as it would damage the hill. But they dissented on other aspects, such as permitting gatherings and animal sacrifice. Dismissing all six petitions, Justice Banu recalled that the civil courts have recognised the rights of both the temple and the dargah. “Since the matter has attained finality I don’t , want to interfere with the same to preserve interfaith peace and amity, safeguarding secular coexistence, and to uphold the spirit of religious tolerance,” the judge said.  P5 No ‘sindoor’ immunity, says SC in dowry case E xpress N ews S ervice @ New Delhi Noting that serving in ‘Operation Sindoor’ does not give him immunity, the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed a Black Cat Commando to surrender in a case relating to dowry death linked to the killing of wife over 20 years ago. He was convicted in the case under Section 304B of the IPC (dowry death) and had approached the court with an exemption plea that he had served in Operation Sindoor and worked as a commando for the last 20 years. A division bench was hearing a petition filed against a Punjab and Haryana High Court order that had dismissed the convict’s appeal and upheld the sentence of rigorous imprisonment of 10 years. When the petitioner said, “I am a participant of Operation Sindoor. For the past 20 years I am a commando posted in Rashtriya Rifles,” the bench retorted, “That doesn’t give you immunity from committing atrocity at home. This goes to show how physically fit you are, and the manner in which alone you could have killed your wife, strangulated your wife.” Car driven by tippler on wrong lane kills father, pregnant woman E xpress N ews S ervice @ Chennai A 23-year-old pregnant woman, returning home after her baby shower function, and her 60-year-old father lost their lives after a drunk taxi driver driving on the wrong side of the road rammed his vehicle into the victims’ car at Anakaputhur near Tambaram late on Monday . Police said that M Padmanabhan (60), wife P Indrani (51), and daughter N Deepika (23) were retur ning home N Deepika, after the funcM Padmanabhan tion at Ambattur to their residence in Santhosapuram near Medavakkam in a cab driven by Bhuvaneshwaran (23) when tragedy struck them. The couple, who are residents of Madurai, had come to Chennai to organise the baby shower for their daughter and take her to Madurai for delivery  . P5 maha polls kosher: ECI ECI writes to Rahul Gandhi rejecting all allegations of rigging in the 2024 Maharashtra polls | P7 From July, rail fares may go up rajes h k u m ar t h a k u r @ New Delhi THE Railway Ministry is considering increasing fares of non-AC class in Mail/Express trains by 1 paisa and AC classes by 2 paise per kilometre from July 1, 2025, officials said on Tuesday . There is no fare hike being planned for suburban trains and monthly season tickets in the interest of daily commuters. “There is a strong chance of no fare hike for ordinary second class tickets for journeys up to 500 km... after crossing 500 km, the railways may charge half-paisa per km,” a well-placed source said. He added that the slight in- crease of 1 paisa per kilometre being considered for non-AC classes, and 2 paisa per kilometre for all AC classes is being done keeping in mind passenger interests. This hike, if implemented, would be the first since the pandemic and could generate additional annual revenue of around `10,000 to `12,000 crore. According to sources, the hike is being planned to ensure it does not cause a burden to passengers. “The revision for the slightest addition in the fare is likely to come as part of the Railways’ ongoing efforts to manage operation- al costs without burdening passengers, especially re gular commuters and those travelling short distance,” said the senior official, suggesting an formal notification may be issued soon. On average, 2.5 crore passengers travel daily on more than 13,000 trains, including 4,111 Mail and Express trains, covering 69,000 kilometres, managed under 17 zones and 69 divisions. “Railways is leaving no stone unturned to provide infrastructure, safety and comfort. For all these, the revenue rise is needed,” said a source. Explosions in Tehran as Israel hits radar station Trump bristles at violation of peace pact Shaky start to Trump ceasefire as Iran, Israel hold off for now A gencies The dramatic ceasefire announced by US President Donald Trump on Tuesday had a rocky start as both Iran and Israel traded attacks and blamed each other for flouting the truce pact. Trump later claimed the truce pact was operational. T r ump’s unilateral announcement came a day after Iran fired a handful of interceptable missiles at a US military base in Qatar, without harming anyone or damaging anything, in retaliation for the US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites on Sunday . Shortly after Trump announced the peace deal through his social media platfor m Truth Social, Israel’s air defence systems were activated to intercept missiles from Iran. The Israel Defense Forces said two missiles were shot at the country’s north around 10.30 am, three hours after the ceasefire ought to have begun. Israel retaliated by striking an Iranian radar installation near Tehran but backed out from further attacks after Trump expressed displeasure at the ceasefire violation. An angry Trump used an expletive on live television when reporters asked him about the fresh flare-ups. Speaking to the media at the White House before leaving for The Hague to attend a NATO summit, he said the two countries have been “fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f**k they’re doing”. Castigating both Iran and Israel for violating the ceasefire, Trump said he is even more unhappy with Israel for its reckless behaviour. Later, he spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Following this, I’ve got to get Israel to calm down... as soon as we made the deal, Israel dropped a load of bombs the likes of which I’ve never seen before Israel “refrained” from further strikes after a call between US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreement either US President Donald Trump Netanyahu’s office Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian Israeli soldiers from the Home Front Command unit work at the site struck by an Iranian missile, in Beersheba on Tuesday | ap Trump stated: “ISRAEL is not going to attack Iran. All planes will turn around and head home, while doing a friendly ‘Plane Wave’ to Iran. Nobody will be hurt.” Rejecting Israel’s accusations, Iran said it did not launch any attack after the ceasefire was announced, adding that it will stand down as long as Tel Aviv respects the peace pact. Iranian officials said their immediately priority is rebuilding the residential areas and public infrastructure damaged in the air strikes. “We witnessed attacks on residential areas, as well as on scientific centres, research institutes, healthcare facilities and civilians... We are facing a major task ahead in terms of reconstruction,” government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani told state TV . As for Israel, Netanyahu said all of his country’s war goals have been achieved. These include removing the threat of Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, taking out Iran’s military leadership, and having control over Tehran’s skies. He categorically added that Israel will “respond forcefully to any violation of the ceasefire”. Stalin asks PM to help farmers hit by mango glut @ Chennai Seeking the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help the mango farmers of Tamil Nadu, who are affected by the steep fall in prices and lack of demand from pulpmaking industries, Chief Minister MK Stalin on Tuesday urged the union government to implement the Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) under PM-AASHA (Farmer Income Protection Scheme) for mangoes. The losses faced by farmers can be compensated with funds equally shared by the centre and the state, the CM said. In a letter written to the PM and Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Stalin said that state government has estimated that `62.93 crore will be required to compensate farmers by paying them `2,766 for each tonne of mango. The letter explained that the price has been arrived at by calculating the difference of the present market price of `5,000 per tonne (`5 Meanwhile, there are concerns that the ceasefire may not hold for long due to trust deficit between Tehran and Tel Aviv. It took hours for Israel and Iran to even acknowledge they had accepted the ceasefire which Trump claimed to have brokered. Also, Israel has only promised to scale down their air strikes against Iran, not wind up the operation. Trump said he is not interested in toppling the regime in Iran. “Regime change takes chaos and ideally we don’t want to see chaos,” he told reporters on board Air Force One heading to the NATO summit. J ayan t h J ac o b @ New Delhi India on Tuesday welcomed the ceasefire between Iran and Israel, expressing deep concern over recent hostilities and reiterating its readiness to “play its part” in promoting dialogue and long-term stability in the region. Acknowledging the role of the US and Qatar in securing the truce, the External Affairs Ministry emphasised that diplomacy remains the only viable solution to the multiple conflicts that confront West Asia. “We have been following developments overnight relating to the conflict between Iran and Israel, including the US action against Iran’s nuclear facilities and Iranian retaliation against US military bases in Qatar,” a statement issued by the MEA said. “While we remain deeply concerned about the prospects for overall and sustained regional security and stability we , welcome reports of a ceasefire between Iran and Israel and the role played by the US and Qatar in bringing it about,” it added. India also stressed the importance of diplomatic engagement over military escalation. “We wish to reiterate that there is no alternative to dialogue and diplomacy in order to address and resolve the multiple conflicts in the region.” Meanwhile, 594 Indian nationals have been safely evacuated from Israel so far under Operation Sindhu, amid escalating tensions in the region. Indian Air Force C-17 aircraft played a key role in the evacuation ef forts, transporting stranded citizens via Jordan and Egypt. These Indian nationals had crossed over from Israel into these neighboring countries by land before being airlifted. Two flights from Iran too landed in Delhi today . express read Bitter harvest EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE If the Zionist regime (Israel) does not violate the ceasefire, then Iran will not violate the peace No alternative to talks, India ready to play its part: Govt per kg) offered by pulp-making companies and the market intervention price (under MIS) of `7,776 per tonne (`7.7 per kg). The letter said the MI price was arrived by taking `50,553 as input cost per hectare and an average yield of 6.51 tonnes per hectare. He urged the GoI to implement the scheme under a 50:50 cost-sharing model between the state and the centre to compensate for 2.27 lakh tonnes of ‘Bangalora’ variety of mangoes. The CM’s letter comes amid widespread protests by farmers in Tamil Nadu’s mangogrowing districts of Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Vellore and Tirupattur who had to dump their produce on the streets as pulp-making companies, which are the primary purchasers of the ‘Bangalora’ variety have ei, ther refused to buy the produce or were offering a paltry price of `5 per kg.  P5 The state government has estimated that `62.93 crore will be required to compensate farmers by paying them ` 2,766 for each tonne of mango — MK Stalin, TN Chief Minister Funds for Tamil: CM slams centre Harassed over caste cert, student kills self Chennai: Pointing to reports about the union government spending `2,532.59 crore for promoting Sanskrit, and just `147.56 crore for five classical languages, including Tamil, CM MK Stalin said, “Sanskrit gets crores, but Tamil and other South Indian languages get nothing but crocodile tears” | P4 Thoothukudi: Worried over his inability to produce community certificate in school, a Class 10 boy of ‘Kattunayakan caste’ studying in an aided school in Thoothukudi ended his life on Monday. A suicide note allegedly found in his pocket revealed that he took the step due to torture by four teachers, including HM | P2 Is TN facing financial crisis, asks HC Chennai: The Madras High Court on Tuesday questioned the Tamil Nadu government if it is facing any financial crisis while hearing a petition filed by a supplier of edible oil to TNCSC regarding release of outstanding dues of `141.22 crore. Several such petitions praying for disbursal of funds due from the state are being filed in the HC, Justice N Anand Venkatesh said, while making the comment | P2