saturdAY 21 september, 2024 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard prez polls In-person voting begins in US race In-person voting for this year’s presidential election began on Friday, a milestone that kicked off a 6-wk sprint to Election Day after a summer of turmoil. Page 9 Commander, 10 Hezbollah men killed in strike: Israel A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS l New Delhi l J8.00 l PAGES 12 Israel launched a rare airstrike that killed a senior Hezbollah military official in a densely populated neighbourhood of southern Beirut on Friday, the army said. It was the deadliest such attack on Lebanon’s capital in years. At least 12 others were reported killed in the attack. The Israeli military did not elaborate on the identities of the other commanders allegedly killed in the strike on the crowded urban neighborhood. | P9 HC strikes down govt rules to set up fact checker Encounter breaks out in Reasi ahead of 2nd phase poll F aya z W a n i @ Srinagar Says they are unconstitutional and can have a chilling effect on freedom of expression E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Mumbai Petitioners Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra, Editors Guild of India, News Broadcast and Digital Association, & Association of Indian Magazines had filed petitions in the HC opposing the Centre’s move to set up Fact Checking Units Govt’s view The Centre told the Bombay High Court on July 24 that the right to know factually correct information and the right to not be misled were equally important as the right to freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) tHE Bombay High Court on Friday struck down the amended Information Technology Rules, specifically Rule 3, which empowered the Central government to form fact checking units (FCUs) to deal with “fake, false, or misleading” content about the government on social media and online platforms. The ‘tiebreaker’ verdict was delivered by Justice A S Chandurkar. The amended rules violated several constitutional provisions, including Article 14 (right to equality), Article 19 (freedom of speech and expression), and Article 19(1)(g) (freedom to practice any profession), Justice A S Chandurkar held. Rule 3(1)(b)(5)—the provision dealing with the establishment of FCUs—was ultra vires to the Constitution, he judge added. Terming the amended provision ‘vague and overbroad’, the judge held that it could have a ‘chilling effect’ not only on individuals but also social media intermediaries and platforms. Justice Chandurkar held that the expressions ‘fake, false or misleading’ are vague and that the test of proportionality is not satisfied. “Impugned Rule as amended be struck down. All the petitions will be placed before the division bench to be decided,” the judge held. Justice Chandurkar’s opinion will now be placed before a division bench, which will formally announce the 2:1 majority against the impugned rules. The case was referred to Justice Chandurkar following a split verdict in the matter by a bench of Justices G S Patel and Neela Gokhale in January this year. While Justice Patel struck down Rule 3 citing concerns about the potential for censorship of user content, Justice Gokhale took the view that the amended rules did not impact free speech significantly . The division bench also differed on whether a stay should be granted to the setting up of the FCU pending the hearing by a third judge. Justice Patel said the FCU should not be notified until the matter was heard by a third judge, while Justice Gokhale said it could be notified. Following this, High Court Chief Justice D K Upadhyay appointed Justice Chandurkar to provide a tie-breaking opinion on the case. From left: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra Congress in-charge Ramesh Chennithala, and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aditya Thackeray participating in the first edition of The New Indian Express’ Mumbai Dialogues, in Mumbai on Friday Maha BJP will hit century: Fadnavis Express News Service @ Mumbai Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday expressed confidence in the BJP winning 100 seats on its own in the forthcoming assembly elections in November. He attributed his confidence to the slew of development projects his gover nment initiated across the state. Fadnavis was speaking at the first edition of The New Indian Express’ Mumbai Dialogues — a platform for exchange of ideas on politics, economy and other social issues — in Mumbai. However, Opposition leaders did not share Fadnavis’ optimism. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aditya Thackeray shared his concern over Maharashtra losing several development and job-generating projects to Gujarat during the current regime. The event was also attended by Congress MLA and Maharashtra Congress incharge Ramesh Chennithala, Rajya Sabha member of Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) Milind Deora and film director Kiran Rao. Chennithala listed the failures of the Maharashtra government and expressed confidence that the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) would come to power in the state. The counterpoint came from Milind Deora who said during the MVA’s rule, infra- structure development of Mumbai city came to a standstill due to internal politics. In contrast, under the leadership of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, infrastructure projects like coastal road, Atal Setu and airport at Navi Mumbai came up and got completed, he said. Two sessions on economy, banking and equity markets discussed the challenges ahead, particularly those on job creation. “Creating jobs is the most critical aspect to sustain the current growth rate, which will lead to the country becoming a middle income economy,” said banker Keki M Mistry. The for mer Vice Chairman and Chief Execu- tive of HDFCsaid while the economy is on a solid footing growing at over 7%, to sustain this level of growth “we need to create more jobs”. To a question on the controversies around the Sebi chairman, he said the country’s regulatory framework is extremely strong and robust. Devina Mehra, founder and MD at First Global, said though share prices are at a record high, they are frothy only in certain pockets; so new investors still have opportunities. Vikaas Sachdeva, MD at Sundaram Alternates, believes that one should take appropriate financial advice to make proper asset allocation. Both agreed that Sebi has taken the necessary steps to curb market excesses. express read CBI moves to prosecute Lalu in land-for-job case 1 tonne fireworks seized from city grocery shop The CBI has formally requested to prosecute former railway minister Lalu Prasad in the land-for-job scam case. Special CBI Judge of Rouse Avenue Court acknowledged the sanction. The case will be heard next on October 15. A 22-year-old grocery shop owner was arrested for storing close to 1 tonne fire crackers at his shop in Anand Parbat area of the city. The production and sale of firecrackers are banned in the capital till January 1, 2025. TTD head backs Naidu; Jagan raps laddu politics Express News Service @ Tirumala/Vijayawada The controversy surrounding the famous Tirupati laddu’s quality deepened on Friday with Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Executive Officer Shyamala Rao confirming that adulterated ghee was supplied by AR Dairy Food Pvt Ltd, a Tamil Nadu-based firm, adding action has been taken to blacklist it. However, former chief minister and YSRC president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy rubbished the charges of adulteration, adding it was a diversionary tactic by his successor N Chandrababu Naidu. Shyamala Rao, who assumed charge on June 16 this year, said five companies were supplying ghee to TTD at `320-`411 per kg. Since they were way be- low their cost of production, they set off warning bells. “After our warning, supplies from all except one were found to be good. Tenders were invited on March 12 and finalised on May 8. The date of supply order was May 15. The rate finalised was `320 per kg. We found four tankers of ghee from AR Dairy to be substandard. Samples from the four tankers were sent to National Dairy Development Board’s (NDDB) accredited lab CALF. It confirmed the low quality he explained. ,” On the political front, Jagan accused Naidu of playing with TN firm rejects allegations on ghee quality AR Dairy Food Pvt Limited in Dindigul, one of the ghee suppliers to TTD, denied the allegations and said ghee supplied to TTD was of high quality and it was sent along with lab reports. Meanwhile, the HR&CE department has said that the ghee used for making Palani panchamirtham is bought from Aavin and not from AR Dairy K’taka MLA used HIV+ women to honey trap rivals: Complainant E x p r ess N e ws S e rv i c e @ Bengaluru A 40-year-old woman, who has accused BJP MLA Munirathna of raping her, has alleged that the legislator used women infected with HIV to honey trap his rivals. This has become a challenge to the investigators as they have to trace those women and also the victims alleged to have been honey trapped. According to the complainant, the MLA during his conversation with her, had claimed a woman, who was used to hon- the sentiments of devotees to divert public attention from his failure to implement election promises even after completing 100 days in office. Explaining that there was no scope for using animals fat or adulterated ghee in Tirumala, he said procurement of ghee is a routine process that is being followed for decades. “No changes were made in the tender process during the YSRC regime from 2019 to 2024. The TTD has a robust process in place. It mandates that the supplier produce a quality certificate from a lab accredited by ey trap one of his political rivals, was infected with HIV The . MLA had asked her to help him trap another person using the HIV infected woman. But the complainant refused to do so. “It is a rare case where such allegations are made,” an officer said. The police will soon get the woman, who is said to have been used by the MLA to trap one of his rivals, tested for HIV . If she is found positive, then the honey trap victims will have to be traced and subjected to tests, the officer said. the National Accreditation Board for Laboratories (NABL),” he said, adding three samples are taken from each ghee tanker and three tests performed to check for quality If . the quality is substandard, the tanker is rejected. “How is it fair to claim that adulterated ghee was used? During Naidu’s government from 2014 to 2019, ghee and other ingredients were rejected 15 times and under the YSRC regime, tankers were sent back 18 times because of quality issues,” he pointed out. Referring to the NDDB report that is the source of the uproar, Jagan pointed out that samples were taken for testing on July 12, almost a month after Naidu assumed office. “The The NDDB report came on July 23. What was Naidu doing ever since,” he wondered. A gunfight erupted on Friday between terrorists and security forces in Reasi district of Jammu, which is going to vote in the second phase of the Assembly polls on September 25. ADGP Jammu Anand Jain said that based on intelligence about the presence of terrorists, a joint search operation was launched by security forces at Shikari area in Reasi. In another incident, at least three BSF troopers were killed and 32 others injured when a bus carrying the security force personnel for election duty fell into a gorge in J&K’s Budgam district on Friday, officials said. The bus was hired to carry BSF jawans for poll duty for the second phase of elections on September 25. In the Reasi encounter, security forces came under fire from terrorists hiding in the area, Jain said, adding that the security men returned fire and both sides exchanged gunfire. However, the terrorists managed to escape, sources said. Additional troops were rushed to tighten the siege. Besides drones and other surveillance gadgets were being used to track the movement of terrorists. It is suspected that twothree terrorists are hiding in the area, defence sources said. There has been a surge in gunfights between militants and security forces this month. On September 15, twin gunfights took place between terrorists and security forces near Gursai Top in Mendhar in Poonch district and Bani area of Kathua district in the Jammu region. The terrorists at both the places managed to give the slip to security personnel. On September 14, three militants were killed in an encounter with forces in Chak Tapar, Kreeri area of Baramulla in north Kashmir. On September 13, two Army men were killed and two others injured in a gunfight with terrorists in Kishtwar. Authorities have deployed 4,000 additional troops, including 500 elite paracommandos in the Jammu region to tackle terrorists. Many security personnel have been killed in the terror attacks in region. kirtan recognised as ‘Sikh Sacred Music’ in UK Didi blocks entry Trucks seen in a long queue on NH-19 in Dhanbad after the West Bengal-Jharkhand border sealed by the Mamata Banerjee government in protest against the release of water from two dams—Maithon and Panchet—operated by the Damodar Valley Corporation, which resulted in flooding of parts of Bengal. Negotiations at the two states are underway to break the deadlock. | PTI | P8 For the first time in the country, kirtan is recognised as part of the graded music examination system, with students able to access a formal curriculum and texts for ‘Sikh Sacred Music’ | P9 Haryana Cong campaign picks pace. But where is Kumari Selja? H a r p r e e t B a j w a @ Chandigarh Locked in a tough electoral battle with the ruling BJP in Haryana, the Congress suddenly finds itself ill-at-ease: the party hasn’t been able to figure out what exactly is bothering Kumari Selja, AICC general secretary For a couple of days, . the party MP from Sirsa has been “absent” from the campaigning for the assembly elections in Haryana due October 5, setting tongues wagging in political circles. Selja wields considerable influence in various assembly constituencies across the state, especially in Sirsa and Fatehabad. She was reportedly upset over the ticket distribution; she managed to get only nine tickets for her loyalists and was unable to convince to the party leadership to nominate her close aide Ajay Chaudhary for the Narnaund assembly seat even after declaring him a candidate. She was said to be seeking a nomination for a family member from Uklana. She had reportedly requested about 30 tickets to be given to her camp. Of the 90 assembly seats in the state, 17 are reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates. Insiders say senior party leader Randeep Singh Surjewala managed to get only four nominations of his choice. Both managed to get 13 tickets for their loyalists out of the 89 seats the party is contesting. The rest had the Bhupinder Singh Hooda stamp. “It would suggest all is not well within the state unit,’’ said a party leader. Sleja did not attend an event in Delhi where Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge announced seven party guarantees. Selja is active on the social media platform ‘X’, and recently posted a video of the arson in Bihar where several Mahadalit houses were torched. It also carried a screenshot of the programme where party guaran- tees for assembly elections were announced. Despite repeated attempts to contact her, Selja was not available for her comment. A close aide said that she was at her residence in Delhi. Sunil Parti, media adviser to the leader of Opposition and former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, declined to comment. However, Bhim Army chief Chandra Shekhar Azad stepped out. “How many times should a person be disrespected? Someone who has served the party for so long is now facing disrespect,” he said.
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