SATURDAY MEDHA PATKAR CONVICTED IN 23-YEAR-OLD DEFAMATION SUIT 25 MAY, 2024 epaper.morningstandard.in A Delhi court on Friday convicted the activist in a defamation case filed by Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena against her in Jan 2001 facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard M I L I TA R Y D R I L L BEIJING WARNS OF WAR ON TAIWAN China said it would ramp up “countermeasures” until “complete reunification” was achieved, even as its warships and jets encircled the island PAGE 11 A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS  NEW DELHI Says it favours a hands-off approach amid the ongoing electoral process in the country ryone wants free and fair elections but “we are also concerned that there could THE Supreme Court on Fri- be mischievous people lookday refused to issue any or- ing to take advantage,” the der to the Election Commis- bench said. sion of India on a plea “Prima facie we are not seeking directions to up- inclined to grant any interload polling station-wise im relief since prayer A (of voter turnout data on its the petitioners) of the 2019 website within 48 hours of petition is similar to prayer polling for each B of the 2024 apphase of the Lok plication. List the Sabha polls. interim plea after While declining (summer) vacato pass any order tion,” the court on the plea of the said without fixAssociation for ing any date for AA BAIL Democratic Rehearing. forms and Mahua MUJHE MAAR “This particular Moitra, a vacation compliance which The SC cited bench of justices you (ADR) are the Hindi proverb Dipankar Datta “aa bail mujhe maar” insisting upon and Satish Chan- (inviting trouble) to would require not explain the EC’s dra Sharma said, only manpower plight on the Voter “we did not find but also require Turnout app, since it any merit in the mandamus (a juonly gives out prayers to issue approximations. The dicial writ). It is any direction to EC is not statutorily not possible durthe ECI.” ing this period. We required to put out Noting that the have to be condata on the app interim request scious of the by the petitioners was the ground reality and cannot same as that sought in the change the process midmain petition pending be- way the court said. ,” fore the court since 2019, the The ECI’s affidavit had bench said, “Granting the said uploading of Form 17C interim relief would mean (record of votes polled) on allowing the final relief.” the official website could The court said a hands- lead to mischief, creating off approach is needed in discomfort and mistrust. MORE REPORTS ON PG 4, 5, 6, 7 & 10 the midst of the polls. EveS U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi Israel told 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 ceasefire. 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 Palestinian 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 , fact-finding 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 it will keep the Rafah crossing open for humanitarian aid but won’t allow terror groups to control the passage. Soon after the ruling, Israel warplanes carried out a series of air strikes on the Shaboura camp in Rafah. Hamas welcomed the ICJ order but said that the ruling should have covered the entire Gaza Strip and not just Rafah. P11 K’taka acted late on Prajwal’s passport: EAM THE MEA could only revoke the passport of Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna after a formal judicial request was made and the state government chose to do it only on May 21, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told a news agency on Friday . “Impounding a passport is governed by the Passport Act for which we need either a judicial request or a police request. The Karnataka government chose to do it only as recently as May 21. The process of revocation is underway now. We can only act when there is a request,’’ Jaishankar said, adding that the Karnataka government did not take the initiative earlier. Prajwal, the grandson of former PM HD Deve Gowda, is at the centre of a sexual abuse case. The MP left India on April 27, a day after voting for the Lok Sabha elections took place in his constituency . If the passport is cancelled, then Prajwal’s stay abroad will be illegal and he may face legal action by the authorities in the country he is staying in. On Wednesday, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah wrote a second letter to PM Modi urging him to take “prompt and necessary” actions to cancel Prajwal’s diplomatic passport. The CM sent a similar letter to the PM on May 1. Earlier this month, the MEA said that Prajwal travelled to Germany on a diplomatic passport and did not seek political clearance. 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. THE ACTIVIST MAY GET A JAIL TERM OF TWO YEARS OR FINE OR BOTH AS PUNISHMENT CASE RELATES TO 2000 PRESS NOTE No SC directive on voter turnout data to poll body Y E S H I S E L I @ New Delhi 2 years 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. EXPRESS READ Azam Khan, wife and son get HC relief In a major relief to former UP cabinet minister and senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, his wife Tazeen Fatima and son Abdullah Azam, the Allahabad High Court granted them bail on Friday while staying Khan’s seven-year sentence linked to a fake birth certificate case. During the hearing, the court did not stay the sentences of Fatima and Abdullah. P9 4-day judicial custody for Kejriwal aide The metropolitan magistrate court on Friday sent Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s close aide Bibhav Kumar to four-day judicial custody in connection with the alleged assault on AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal. He was presented before court after the completion of his five-day police custody. The former DCW chief was allegedly assaulted at the CM’s residence in Civil Lines on May 13. P4  J8.00  PAGES 14 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