THIRUVANANTHAPURAM l sunday l december 07, 2025 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l late city EDITION pregnant deportee from bengal returns to india on orders of sc torture living in solitary cell: sunali Sunali, who is in an advanced stage of pregnancy, was a migrant resident of Murarai in West Bengal’s Birbhum. She was admitted to the Rampurhat hospital in Birbhum, where she will remain under observation. “It was a torture living in a solitary cell of the Bangladeshi prison,” she said, recounting her hundred days at a correctional facility in Bangladesh Sunali Khatun, arrested by Delhi Police on suspicion of being a Bangladeshi and deported in June, was repatriated via Malda border trinamool calls it victory of oppressed ■ ■ Trinamool Congress MP Samirul Islam, who steered the legal battle for Sunali and the five other deportees, described her return as “a victory of the oppressed against the might of the Central government” Delhi Police had arrested Sunali, husband Danesh and her minor son in June and branded them “illegal immigrants” before expelling them 6 months is the time the woman from birbhum stayed away from india 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 Maintaining pricing discipline The objective is to maintain pricing discipline, prevent any exploitation of passengers in distress, and ensure that citizens who urgently need to travel are not subjected to financial hardship, the Union govt said Up to 500 km J7,500 500-1,000 km J12,000 Fare caps exclude User Development Fee, Passenger Development Fee & other taxes 1,000-1,500 km Airlines must maintain ticket availability across all fare buckets. They may increase capacity on high-demand sectors, govt said over 1,500 km J15,000 They do not cover Business class tickets and flights operated under UDAN scheme Sanctions Sikh tied to it T i c k e t ava i l a b i l i t y J18,000 Ticket price before fare cap kicked in No clarity yet on whether the caps for economy class tickets apply for premium economy as well Govt caps fares, wields whip IndiGo CEO gets DGCA notice; 800 cancellations on Saturday; ticket refund by Sunday S L a l i t h a @ New Delhi Looming Large PLUS 12 P AGES HC restrains police from arresting Rahul until Dec 15 E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Kochi The Kerala High Court on Saturday restrained the police from arresting MLA Rahul Mamkootathil until December 15 in a case registered against him for allegedly raping a woman and forcing her to ter minate her pregnancy . When the anticipatory bail plea came up for hearing, Justice K Babu said the matter will be posted for a detailed hearing. “During the pendency of the case, I will not permit the police to arrest the petitioner because he has raised serious contentions,” judge said. “No man shall be condemned unless heard. When a matter is pending before a constitutional court, he will not be arrested. The petitioner’s case is that it was a consensual relationship. And admittedly there is a consen, sual relationship. I am not in any way prejudiced. I have made sure that he shall not be arrested during the pendency of the application,” Justice Babu added. Though T A Shaji, Director General of Prosecution opposed the order, the court declined to accept it and posted the hearing of the case to December 15. The petitioner argued that p o l i t i c a l m o t iv e s a r e influencing the case, particu l a rl y w i t h e l e c t i o n s approaching. No protection from arrest in second case T’Puram: The Additional District and Sessions Court in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday admitted the anticipatory bail plea of Rahul Mamkootathil in a second rape case registered against him, but refused to grant him interim protection from arrest till the bail plea is heard on Monday. P5 Airlines have also been instructed not to levy any rescheduling charges for passengers whose travel plans were affected by cancellations - Ministry of Civil Aviation’s order A passenger rests while waiting at Terminal 1 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport for her flight, in New Delhi on Saturday | PTI User Development Fee, Passenger Development Fee and other taxes. They do not cover Business class tickets and flights operated under the regional connectivity scheme (UDAN), the order stated. As for refunding, the ministry cautioned that any delay or non-compliance by Indigo would invite immediate regulatory action. The system of au- tomatic refunds will remain active until operations stabilise completely . IndiGo quickly responded with a “No questions asked. All refunds for your cancellations will be processed automatically to your original mode of payment.“ The airline also announced full waiver on all cancellations/reschedule requests of bookings made between De- cember 5 and December 15. In another directive, the ministry directed IndiGo to ensure that all baggage that was separated from passengers due to cancellations or delays be traced and delivered to each passenger’s residential or chosen address within 48 hours. IndiGo for the first time obliquely quantified the day’s cancellations — around 800. “By the end of day, we would have operated over 1,500 flights. With regards to destinations, over 95% of network connectivity has already been re-established as we are able to operate to 135 out of the existing 138 destinations in operations. There is a recovery IndiGo said. ,” Express News Service @ New Delhi The UK Treasury imposed sanctions on a British national and an organisation for alleged terrorist activity in India and support for the Sikh extremist group Babbar Khalsa. This is the first time London has used its domestic counter-terrorism framework to target the pro-Khalistan group, officials said. The measures include an asset freeze and director disqualification against Gurpreet Singh Rehal, who is suspected of involvement in organisations carrying out terrorist activities in India. The Treasury also imposed an asset freeze on Babbar Akali Lehar, an organisation accused of promoting and supporting Babbar Khalsa. According to the UK Treasury Rehal is involved in Bab, bar Khalsa and Babbar Akali Lehar’s activities, including recruitment, financial support, and procurement of weapons and military material. Babbar Akali Lehar, the Treasury said, engages in similar activities by promoting, encouraging, and recruiting for Babbar Khalsa. All Pinarayi says NHAI responsible; contract firm barred for 1 month e x p r e s s n e w s s e r v i c e @ New Delhi Express News Service @Thrissur/Kollam Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday urged the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to take full responsibility for the incident in which a section of the underconstruction NH 66 stretch caved in near Kottiyam in Kollam. Stating that the Kerala government and public works department (PWD) has no role in NH construction, Pinarayi said: “The work on NH 66 is fully monitored by NHAI. They have their own system for it.” “The portion of the road that was destroyed should be reconstructed properly,” he said at the Meet-the-Press programme at the Thrissur Press Club. He said the state government and PWD were helpless in the matter, other than seeking NHAI’s intervention. Meanwhile, the Union government has taken strict action against the contracting company— Sivalaya Constructions —responsible for NH develop- India team celebrates 2-1 ODI series win against South Africa in Visakhapatnam on Saturday | g satyanarayana ODI BALM FOR TEST SCAR The service road that was damaged following NH collapse near Kottiyam ment on Kollam-Mylakkad stretch. NHAI sources said, the firm has been barred for one month from participating in any contracting processes. A show-cause notice has been issued, asking why the company should not be permanently blacklisted for the lapse, said a source. The project manager and resident engineer appointed by the contractor have been removed from their positions. Speaking in Thrissur, Pinarayi said: “Usually, when a road is being constructed, NHAI is in charge of everything right from design. We cannot interfere in such as● More on P5 pects.”  g o m e s h s @ Chennai AFTER the famine, the feast? Not quite but Indian cricket, after enduring a shambolic 0-2 Test series defeat against the visiting South Africans, has something to smile about after a 2-1 ODI series win. After sitting through the disappointments of Kolkata and Guwahati, Indian fans would have welcomed the familiar rhythms of watching Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma playing pivotal roles in the wins. Of course, this is nothing new. India continues to enjoy unparalleled dominance in white-ball cricket at home. Sure, one can argue that the three-match ODI series was almost devoid of context as the 50-over World Cup is two years away in very different conditions. But this win is a reminder of the talent that exists in India across formats even if they were missing multiple players either through rest or injury . Question marks will persist over the medium-term futures of Kohli and Sharma but they know that as long as they perform, they will be undroppable whatever the manage- ment and the selectors think about them keeping in mind the World Cup in 2027. If the seniors led the way, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Yashasvi Jaiswal staked their claim in the team with a century each. The former was asked to bat at No 4 by the management and he delivered with a ton in the second match. Jaiswal’s hundred came as the icing on the cake on Saturday Kohli and Shar. ma have three more ODIs to look forward to before disappearing from the national setup for at least six months. As of now, it’s over to the P11 T20Is for India. Barring BJP, parties want further extension of SIR time-frame E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @T’Puram Terming the Election Commission of India’s extended time-frame for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state as “inadequate”, major political parties, except BJP have demanded fur, ther extension of the enumeration deadline, at least till the end of December. The political parties made the demand at a meeting convened by Chief Electoral Offic- er (CEO)-Kerala Rathan U Kelkar on Saturday Representatives . of CPM, Congress and IUML who spoke at the meeting expressed concern over the 20.75 lakh voters whose enumeration forms have yet not been collected by the poll panel. While demanding extension of the time-frame, M Vijayakumar of the CPM expressed doubts over the exact number of voters who have been left out of the enumeration process. While Sathyan Mokeri of the funds and economic resources in the UK owned, held, or controlled by Rehal or Babbar Akali Lehar are now frozen. UK individuals and entities were prohibited from dealing with these assets or providing financial services to them without a licence from the Treasury. Rehal was also barred from acting as a company director or participating in company management, directly or indirectly . Economic Secretary to the Treasury Lucy Rigby said: “We will not stand by while terrorists exploit Britain’s financial system. This landmark action shows we are prepared to use every tool at our disposal to choke off funding for terrorism -wherever it occurs and whoever is responsible. The UK stands firmly with peaceful communities against those who promote violence and hatred.” The sanctions were imposed under the Counter-Terrorism (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, which empower the Treasury to freeze assets and restrict individuals or entities suspected of involvement in terrorism, safeguarding the UK’s financial system. Try mediation, says SC in sexual harassment case against tech CEO Road collapse in Kollam Uncollected sir forms WITH THIS ISSUE The Ministry of Civil Aviation on Saturday stepped in to address the greed of some airlines exploiting the IndiGo mess as fares went beyond 8X on some sectors. It imposed strict caps on domestic fares with the maximum of `18,000 for an economy class ticket. Later in the day the , Director General of Civil Aviation slapped a show-cause notice on IndiGo’s CEO to respond within 24 hours why action should not be taken against him for the unprecedented chaos. The ministry also directed IndiGo to clear all pending passenger refunds for all cancelled or disrupted flights by 8 pm on Sunday December 7. , The fare cap of `7,500-18,000 (see graphic) prescribed by the ministry was still on the higher side, with fliers being made to pay for the needless chaos. These caps will remain in place “until fares stabilise or till further review”, the ministry said. The caps exclude levies like In a first, UK goes after terror outfit Babbar Khalsa Dead Untraceable Permanently shifted Enrolled in other places Others Total 6,11,559 (2.20%) 5,66,182 (2.03%) 7,39,205 (2.65%) 1,12,569 (0.40%) 45,866 (0.16%) 20,75,381 (7.45%) As of Dec 6, 2025, 10 am CPI questioned the undue haste on the part of the ECI, M K Rahman of the Congress cau- tioned that at least 34 lakh voters will be expelled from the draft electoral roll. Mohammed Shah of the IUML said the time-frame from December 23 to February 4 during which Electoral Registration Officers will conduct hearings on complaints of voters would not be sufficient to complete the exercise. BJP’s J R Padmakumar demanded that proper hearing be conducted before any voters are excluded from the electoral roll. Meanwhile, the CEO informed the meeting that 99.9% of the SIR enumeration forms have been distributed to the 2.78 crore voters who figure in the electoral roll as of October 27, 2025. Around 97% of the SIR forms distributed have been collected back and 96.17% of such forms have been digitised,” he said. The CEO said the coming days would be utilised by BLOs to trace the 5.66 lakh untraceable voters. THE Supreme Court on Friday urged parties involved in a sexual harassment case against Venu Gopalakrishnan, CEO of Kochi’s Litmus 7 Systems Consulting, to explore mediation to resolve their dispute. A bench comprising Justices B V Nagarathna and K V Viswanathan said, “...We find that in the interest of all parties, there ought to be a settlement. The matter is referred to the Supreme Court Mediation Centre. The parties are directed to appear before the Centre on 07.01.2026 in person or through videoconferencing.” On September 11, the Kerala High Court had denied anticipatory bail to Gopalakrishnan, citing the “very serious” nature of allegations. The other accused in the case — Jacob P Thampy, Eby Paul, and Bimalraj Haridas — were granted anticipatory bail. Gopalakrishnan had approached the Supreme Court, which on September 26 stayed all coercive actions against him. Senior counsels Mukul Rohatgi and Raghenth Basant, representing the petitioner, said the complainant, a former employee, had filed the charges after getting bail in an extortion case initiated by Gopalakrishnan. Justice Nag arathna expressed skepticism about the harassment claims. The accused alleged the woman and her husband had demanded `30 crore during a hotel meeting on July 23, including an immediate `10 crore transfer, with `50,000 transferred from Venu’s account on July 28. The couple was arrested for extortion soon after. The woman denied knowledge of the `50,000 transfer and alleged sexual harassment. The next hearing is on February 2.