kannur l sunday l july 05, 2026 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l city EDITION Incessant Heavy rains paralyse mumbai; schools, colleges shut Incessant rainfall lashed Mumbai on Saturday, disrupting road and rail traffic and prompting the authorities to close schools and colleges Red alert in mumbai, thane and palghar people urged to avoid unnecessary travel Heavy rains continued throughout the day, virtually paralysing the financial capital with roads and railway tracks submerged in flood water. Heavy water-logging was reported from several low-lying areas, including Andheri, Kurla, Sakinaka, Chembur, Santacruz, Goregaon and Powai. The weather office has issued a red alert for Mumbai, Thane and Palghar ■ ■ At least three people were injured in Mumbai’s Byculla area when a two-storey structure collapsed. Heavy rains lashed Thane and Palghar, too. In Thane, a falling tree injured two motorists Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis urged people to avoid travel to prevent accidents caused by heavy rain and storms 100 mm of rainfall in parts of mumbai since Friday morning 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 Khalid, Sharjeel fail to get bail, again No option but to follow Jan 5 SC order, says trial court u d aya n k i s h o r e @ New Delhi WITH THIS ISSUE Bheja Fry PLUS 12 P AGES A Delhi trial court on Saturday rejected the bail applications of activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the larger conspiracy case linked to the 2020 northeast Delhi riots, saying the Supreme Court had already junked their pleas moved on similar grounds. Additional Sessions Judge Sameer Bajpai said the court had “no option but to follow” the Supreme Court’s January 5 order and, therefore, “could neither entertain the pleas nor grant them the relief ”. The judge added that the bail pleas were not even maintainable in the trial court. “Although the applicants had argued that there was a change in circumstances following a division bench judgment of the top court in the case of Syed Iftikhar Andrabi, the issue concerning the divergence of opinion between that verdict and the Supreme Court’s judgment in Gulfisha Fatima versus State has already been referred to a larger bench. Unless the issue is settled, the court cannot con- Narrow victory T h e g r e at e s c a p e Blockbuster in Miami Own goal decides thriller Cape Verde rocked Lionel Messi’s Argentina with two stunning equalisers to raise the prospect of pulling off the greatest upset in WC history. But a Diney Borges own goal, under pressure from Cristian Romero, in the 111th minute broke the resistance Salah vs Messi next Egypt posted their first victory in a knockout round of the World Cup. They made history by beating Australia 4-2 on spot-kicks to reach the last 16. This was after the match had ended 1-1 after 120 minutes in Texas. Egypt will face Argentina on July 7 Colombia, meanwhile, ended Ghana’s run with a 1-0 win. The South Americans dominated the game at Arrowhead Stadium and had eight shots on target but ended up with just Jhon Arias’s early goal to show for their superiority. They will go on to meet Switzerland on Tuesday Today’s matches: Brazil vs Norway | 1:30 AM*; Mexico vs England | 5:30 AM* (*IST Monday) 23 in invokes UAPA section 35 terror list CEntre According to MHA, the 23 branded as “terrorists” include 17 Pakistan nationals and six Indian nationals, all currently operating from Pakistan or Pakistan-occupied Kashmir | P7 EXPRESS READ Week-long Khamenei funeral begins in Iran Tehran: Vast crowds of Iranians loyal to the Islamic republic massed in Tehran on Saturday to begin almost a week of funeral ceremonies for slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei, which authorities want to use to send a message of defiance to the West after the war with the US and Israel. P9 AMMA row: Communal polarisation bid alleged Kochi: A day after the resignation of MLA Ramesh Pisharody as the convener of the ad hoc committee of AMMA, women members including Ansiba Hassan on Saturday levelled serious allegations against the executive committee, saying that the committee attempted to bring communal polarisation within the association. P5 Umar Khalid Sharjeel Imam Lens on Jan 5 order Umar Khalid’s lawyer, Trideep Pias, told the court there was a change in circumstances after the SC’s January 5 order. He also questioned the SC reasoning in the case of Gulfisha Fatima who was granted bail in the same case sider the present applications,” the judge said. The court further said it cannot even examine whether there is any change in circumstances, as it is bound by the Supreme Court’s January 5 order dismissing the bail pleas of both the applicants. A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N V Anjaria had on January 5 observed that there was a primafacie case against Khalid and Imam under the UAPA and held that all accused could not be treated equally in view of the “hierarchy of participation”. On May 18, a division bench of justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan had expressed reservations about the January 5 verdict, saying it did not follow the judgment given by a three-judge bench in 2021 in Union of India versus KA Najeeb, which said long delay in trials is a valid ground for bail even in cases under the stringent UAPA. Subsequently a di, vision bench led by Justice Arvind Kumar, while accepting there was “perceived conflict” among benches, referred the matter to a larger bench. Monsoon session to begin on July 20 r a j e s h k u m a r t h a k u r @ New Delhi UNION Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said on Saturday that the Monsoon Session of Parliament will be held from July 20 to August 13. The upcoming session, expected to be stormy, could see the government introduce several key bills, including the 130th Constitutional Amendment Bill, which seeks to sack the PM or CM or ministers if they fail to secure Key JPC meet b a i l w i t h i n 3 0 d ay s o f on July 17 imprisonment. Opposition parties are most The Joint likely to raise the issue of doParliamentary nation theft at the Ram temple Committee on the 130th Constitutional in Ayodhya, among other matters. The government is exAmendment Bill, headed by former IAS pected to make another push for a Constitutional amendofficer and BJP MP Aparajita Sarangi, is ment bill providing 33% reservation for women in Parlialikely to meet on July 17 to adopt its ment and Assemblies, along with the contentious Delimitareport tion Bill. On the Opposition side, the issue of privilege proceedings against Defence Minister Rajnath Singh may get raised during the session. Both Houses are expected to witness a changed political arithmetic following defections from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Shiv Sena (UBT). A closely-watched development will be Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s decision on the proposed merger of the 20 rebel Trinamool MPs with the lesser-known NCPI. hist o ri c de b ut The youngest: Sooryavanshi arrives at international stage g o m e s h s @ Chennai 15 years, 99 days. T20I cap No 122. These two numbers will remain in cricketing folklore and part of trivia for decades to come. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is now the youngest male cricketer to represent India, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar who made his debut at 16 years, 205 days against Pakistan in 1989. It could have happened sooner, in Belfast against Ireland last week or in Durham against England in the first T20I. But it is better late than never. Sooryavanshi’s childhood coach Manish Ojha felt that it could have happened in Belfast. “It came as a surprise for us today. Very proud moment,” he said. The cricketing world was waiting for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi made his debut in Manchester | ap this moment. Such is the manner in which the teenager from Bihar had stirred the imagination of the nation. This is not his first youngest. There are quite a few more written against his name — Ranji Trophy, IPL debut, IPL century, etc. This could also be the first time the BCCI sent parents with a player where he had to use separate change rooms. Now, the focus shifts to international arena where more records are under threat. However, his approach on the field has remained the same as he got on his knee to scoop Jofra Archer for a six before falling for a 10-ball 14. But these are the first pages. For Sooryavanshi is not a footmark, but a new chapter in Indian cricket history . Ultimatum to Telegram app to curb film piracy Pa r v e z S u lta n @ New Delhi The Centre has issued an ultimatum to Telegram, directing it to curb the widespread circulation of pirated films, over-the-top (OTT) content, and other copyrighted audiovisual material on the messaging platform. According to official sources, the I&B ministry directed the company to submit an Action Taken Report within 15 days, detailing the measures it has initiated to comply with the directive. “Telegram has been asked to strengthen systems for detection, reporting, disabling access to and removal of pirated films and infringing audio-visual content. The ministry has sought details of Telegram’s grievance redressal system for producers,” sources said. Kerala’s infant mortality rate rises to 8 IMR 5 in 2023 5 deaths per 1,000 live births were reported in state in 2023, says SRS Statistical Report. It was 6 in 2022 India’s overall IMR dropped to 24 deaths per 1,000 births in 2024, from 25 in 2023 U n n i k r i s h n a n S @T’Puram The infant mortality rate (IMR) in the state has risen to eight deaths per 1,000 live births in 2024, from five recorded in the previous year, indicating possible cracks in the Ke r a l a h e a l t h c a r e model. The Sample Registration System (SRS) Statistical Report 2024, released by the Office of the Registrar General of India, also shows that cities have become significantly riskier for newborns, with the urban IMR now twice that of rural areas in the state. While Kerala retains its long-standing rank as the state with the lowest IMR in the country — outperforming Delhi, Tamil Nadu, and Himachal Pradesh, which sit at 11 each — this spike dramatically narrows the gap between Kerala and the rest of India. The setback is particularly striking given that the national overall IMR continued its steady downward trend, dropping from 25 to 24 deaths per 1,000 live births over the same period. The sharp reversal interrupts a decade of near-continuous progress built on robust public investments in female literacy and targeted healthcare programmes like the Hridyam scheme for congenital heart defects and the Matruyanam newborn transport initiative. Public health experts and demographers, however, are divided on whether this jump signals a systemic failure or a statistical anomaly Dr Purush. othaman Kuzhikkathukandiyil, professor of paediatrics at MES Medical College, Malappuram, said while programmes like Hridyam successfully drove the IMR into single digits, the previously reported low of 5 may have been “too good to be true” due to potential sampling er● More on P4 rors.