14 days is when the supreme court bench meets again to hear the case villupuram l tuesday l april 07, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l city EDITION three academics caught in ncert row approach supreme court The three academics in the NCERT book row moved the Supreme Court on Monday and said drafting of the content was a collective process trio has credibility: defence A bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was told the three experts, Professor Michel Danion, Suparna Diwakar and Alok Prasanna Kumar, were not fly-by-night persons and had credibility ■ The court was informed that a panel led by Justice Indu Malhotra will review the revised chapter ■ 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 Both sides reject Pak’s proposal on truce Trump calls ceasefire plan ‘very significant’ but not enough to end conflict; Israel hits South Pars gas field again Oil refiners to postpone maintenance shutdown Indian oil refiners are planning to postpone maintenance shutdowns of their units to meet domestic production of LPG, petrol, and diesel. According to a top official, some refineries of Indian Oil Corporation and BPCL have already planned shutdowns. day 38 The convicts in the Sathankulam custodial death case being taken away from the court premises on Monday evening (top); Kin of the victims speaking to reporters | k k sundar Sathankulam case: All nine policemen sentenced to death J EGADEESWARI PANDIAN @ Madurai In a groundbreaking verdict, the 1st Additional District and Sessions Judge of Madurai, G Muthukumaran, on Monday, imposed death penalty on all nine policemen who were convicted for the custodial torture and death of two traders — P Jeyaraj and his son Beniks — at Sathankulam in Thoothukudi in 2020. The nine convicts were identified as, then inspector S Sridhar, then sub inspectors P Ragu Ganesh and K Balakrishnan, then head constables S Murugan and A Samidurai and constables M Muthuraja, S Veil Muthu, S Chelladurai and X Thomas Francis. Referring to similar incidents, including George Floyd’s murder in the United States and recent killing of Ajithkumar in Madapuram, the judge observed that custodial killings are a social evil and an assault on human rights. “When there is power, there should be responsibility The policemen involved mis. used their power and like the fence eating away at grass, they took the life of two common men, a father-son duo, by stripping them of their clothes and beating them throughout the night, merely because Jeyaraj scolded them and Beniks tried to prevent them from assaulting his father,” the judge said, adding that the judgment should serve as a warning so that such incidents do not recur.  P5 A g e n c i e s @ Dubai IRAN and the United States received a draft proposal late Sunday calling for a 45-day ceasefire and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. The proposal, tentatively dubbed the ‘Islamabad Accord’, came from Egyptian, Pakistani and Turkish mediators, hoping the 45day window would provide enough time for talks to reach a permanent ceasefire. It was sent to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff. Iran on Monday rejected the proposal. News agency IRNA said, “Iran... has rejected a express read DMK names son, but dad Gandhi files nomination Ranipet: In an unusual move, minister and Ranipet MLA R Gandhi filed his nomination to contest from the Assembly seat on Monday, despite the ruling DMK dropping his name from its final list in favour of his son | P5 Assembly elections Udhaya faces symbolic test at chepauk I P6 File photo of the South Pars gas field in the southern Iranian port town of Assaluyeh, which was hit by an Israeli missile strike on Monday | AFP ceasefire and insists on the need for a definitive end to the conflict.” Iran’s refusal for truce came after the head of intelligence for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, Maj Gen Majid Khademi, was killed in an attack targeting him in Tehran. For his part, US President Donald Trump said the truce proposal was a “very significant step,” but not enough yet to end the conflict. The Revolutionary Guards said they will avenge Khademi’s killing, adding preparations were on to enforce new operating conditions in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s military command warned of “much more Two more LPG tankers sail through Hormuz Two more Indian-flagged LPG tankers have crossed the Strait of Hormuz and are headed for Indian ports even as 16 other vessels remain stranded. Green Sanvi carrying 46,650 tonnes of LPG will reach India on April 7 while Green Asha with 15,500 tonnes will reach on April 9. devastating” retaliation if enemies hit civilian targets. Word of Iran’s rejection came while Trump addressed a event in White House. Asked if Tues- day at 8 pm Washington time was his final deadline for Iran, Trump replied, “Yeah.” Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz said they struck a petrochemical facility in Iran. “The IDF has now strongly attacked the largest petrochemical facility in Iran located in [Asaluyeh],” he said, adding the facility in the Pars region services Iran’s South Pars natural gas field, and produced around half of the country’s petrochemicals. Strikes on cities across Iran killed more people on Monday , while in Israel’s Haifa, victims were found dead in rubble following an attack. Israel said four people were killed in Haifa. Oil prices fluctuated, with North Sea Brent at $109 a barrel and US West Texas at $112.  ‘Islamabad Accord’: P11 ‘55% voters excluded after review’ SUCHITRA K A LYAN MOHANT Y @ New Delhi THE West Bengal government on Monday told the Supreme Court that as many as 55% of voters whose names were removed from the electoral rolls stand excluded even after the adjudication of claims and objections. “Out of these 60 lakh cases, available data of 40 lakh cases indicates the exclusion rate is 55%,” said senior lawyer Shyam Divan, appearing for Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipin Pancholi noted that 59.15 lakh out of 60.06 lakh cases were decided by April 6 noon. Divan argued the rejection rate is very high despite the judicial safeg u a r d s. “ T h e s e we r e mapped individuals,” he said. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the State of West Bengal, said the appellate tribunals should pass interim or- ders for those prima facie found wrongly excluded. The bench, however, declined the submissions and refused to set any deadline for the tribunals to decide on the appeals. The CJI asked the Calcutta High Court chief justice to constitute a panel of former senior judges to frame uniform procedures for these tribunals and posted the matter for April 23. In another decision, the court directed the NIA to take over the probe into the gherao of judicial officers engaged in SIR work in Malda. Mamata Banerjee addresses a public meeting in Nadia on Monday | pti Stalin, Congress in cahoots with BJP: Didi Kolkata: Mamata Banerjee alleged the BJP had entered into a “tacit understanding” with the Congress and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, saying the EC transferred around 500 officers in Bengal compared with a handful in other poll-bound states