TUESDAY ‘Happy,’ says MP man who lost brother in Pahalgam 29 A Madhya Pradesh man who lost his elder brother in Pahalgam attack said the elimination of the mastermind of the massacre has brought happiness and relief to his family even as they try to come to terms with the grief. On April 22, 26 people, including Sushil Nathaniel (58) from Indore, were killed in Pahalgam. His brother Vikas Kumrawat said, “The action taken by the govt and Army was a matter of satisfaction.” JULY, 2025 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard F I E RY L S D E BAT E O N PA H A L GA M AT TAC K X.com/TheMornStandard B I R T H R AT E CHINA TO OFFER CHILD SUBSIDIES China will offer subsidies to parents to the tune of $500 per child under the age of three per year, Beijing’s state media said on Monday. Rajnath Singh, defence minister A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS PAGE 9  NEW DELHI  J8.00 Pak warned of retaliation in case of fresh misadventure, Congress demands accountability No more dossiers: Rajnath to Pak J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi ANY future misadventure from Pakistan would trigger the immediate resumption of Operation Sindoor, which was only “paused” after achieving its strategic objectives and not under any external pressure, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Monday during a fiery Lok Sabha debate brimming with political heat, as the Opposition mounted pressure over the Pahalgam terror attack. “Today, dossiers have been replaced by decisive action. Today’s India thinks differently and acts differently We believe . that if the adversary uses terrorism as part of strategy and does not understand the language of peace, then standing firm and being decisive is the only option,” Singh said. “Operation Sindoor is a symbol of our strength,” Singh said. “India first extends a hand of friendship, but knows how to twist the wrist if betrayed.” He underscored the operation’s success, saying that the armed forces conducted an effective strike on nine terror sites across Pakistan and Pakistanoccupied Kashmir. “The attacks were nonescalatory and carried out with utmost precision,” he told the House, defending the rationale and execution of the military action. “If Pakistan indulges in fresh misadventure, it will resume again,” Singh asserted. Responding to President Donald Trump’s claims of mediating a ceasefire, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar intervened in the debate to clarify: “At no stage in any conversation with the US was there any linkage with trade or military operations. There was no call between PM Modi and President Trump from April 22 to June 17.” Home Minister Amit Shah, too, stepped in, asking the Opposition why they placed more faith in the words of a foreign leader than in India’s own External Affairs Minister. Singh further stated that no critical Indian assets were lost and India has concrete evidence of the damage inflicted on terror infrastructure in Pakistan. Launching a searing counter-attack, Congress Deputy Leader in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi questioned the very premise of the government’s triumphalism. He demanded answers on why Shah had not accepted responsibility for the security failures that led to the Pahalgam killings, which claimed 26 civilian lives. “They are calling Operation Sindoor a success while also admitting Pakistan may strike again. Then how is this a success?” Gogoi asked. He pressed the government for details on how many Indian fighter jets were lost. “We have only 35 Rafale jets. If any were downed, the country deserves to know.”  PAGES 12 Shah assails Cong for not trusting Jaishankar Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday rapped the Congress for not trusting the statement of foreign minister S Jaishankar on Op Sindoor and instead going by US President Donald Trump’s claims. “They (opposition) do not have faith in the minister. They trust some other country...,” he said in a brief intervention when Jaishankar was speaking Tharoor opts out of speaking on Op Sindoor Shashi Tharoor declined a Congress invite to speak on Operation Sindoor in Parliament, choosing instead to focus on the Indian Ports Bill, 2025. Speculation had mounted over whether Tharoor would be selected to speak after his endorsement of the government’s response to the Pahalgam terror attack reportedly strained his ties within the Congress | P7 Include Aadhaar, voter ID for SIR, says SC S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi SCTO JUSTICE POSER YASHWANT VARMA A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and A G Masih asked the judge why he appeared before the inhouse inquiry panel if he had questions about its remit | P7 EXPRESS READ ‘Nimisha Priya’s death sentence overturned’ KOZHIKODE: The death sentence of Nimisha Priya, currently lodged in a Yemeni jail, has been revoked, according to information received by the office of Kerala-based Sunni leader Kanthapuram AP Abubakar Musliyar on Monday FIR against Sen brothers quashed The Supreme Court on Monday ordered quashing of FIR against badminton players Lakshya Sen and his brother Chirag Sen in a birth certificate forgery case and termed continuation of criminal proceedings “unwarranted”. Maintain records of all patients: NMC The NMC has asked all medical colleges to maintain records of all its patients. All in-patient records should have the entry of the unit faculty and senior residents with their name and signature. THE Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay the publication of the draft electoral roll in Bihar on August 1 but asked the Election Commission to include Aadhaar and voter ID in the list of acceptable documents in the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. On Sunday, the EC had said the first phase of the SIR was over and it received enumeration forms from 92% of voters. The poll panel plans to publish PRESUMPTION OF GENUINENESS “As far as ration cards are concerned we can say they can be forged easily but Aadhaar and voter cards have some sanctity and have presumption of genuineness,” the bench said the draft roll on August 1 and final roll on September 30. Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for the Association for Democratic Reforms, sought the court’s intervention and pass a direction to stop the notification of the draft list. He also alleged in his submission that the EC was not considering the SC’s suggestion in the last hearing on July 10 that Aadhaar, electoral photo identity card (EPIC) and ration cards be considered as valid documents for SIR. Senior lawyer Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the EC, said there were reservations about these documents, adding that Kerala HC raises concern over rise in dog bite cases ‘Man first, not dogs’ E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Kochi EXPRESSING concern over the increase in dog bite cases and human deaths due to suspected rabies in the state, the Kerala High Court said on Monday, “First preference is for man to walk on the road, not the other way around.” Justice C S Dias told a lawyer, who represents animal lovers, “Only when you get bitten by a dog will you know the real pain, or once you lose someone. Will give you all the dogs, and you take care of them. Further, give a solution to end the menace. I have to walk on the road, and I don’t want to be terrorised. This year alone, there are one lakh cases with 16 deaths.” The court accepted the state government’s suggestion to constitue a committee at the District Legal Services Authority level to consider all complaints, including those for compensation, in this connection. The court urged the state government to introduce a legislation for establishing a permanent body to deal with the matter effectively It issued the . order on a batch of petitions about dog bite incidents. “This is an alarming situation—the number of stray dogs is increasing day by day. If a human attacks an animal, it is considered an offence; however, if an animal attacks a human, the custodian is held responsible. In this context, the custodian is the LSGD secretary Peo. ple should be able to walk in peace, and something must be done,” the court said. DISTURBING FIGURES, SAYS SC | P4 Justice C S Dias of Kerala HC told a lawyer, who represents animal lovers, “The first preference is for man to walk on the road, not the other way around.” Expresses concern The high court has expressed concern over the increase in dog bite cases and human deaths due to suspected rabies in Kerala and calls the situation “alarming”. Stadium stampede: K’taka govt revokes suspension of 4 cops BA L A C H AU H A N @ Bengaluru THE Karnataka government on Monday revoked the suspension of former Bengaluru city police commissioner B Dayanand and former deputy commissioner of police (Bengaluru Central) Shekar H Tekkannavar and reinstated them into service with “immediate effect”. Dayanand and Tekkannavar belong to IPS batches of 1994 and 2014, respectively, were suspended following the Chinnaswamy Stadium stampede on June 4 in which 11 people lost their lives when they had gathered to celebrate RCB’s maiden IPL victory . The government also revoked the suspension of former Cubbon Park assistant commissioner of police C Balakrishna and inspector AK Girish and has reinstated them into service with immediate effect. Another IPS officer and former additional commissioner of police (Bengaluru West) Vikash Kumar Vikash, who was also placed under suspension following the stampede had got relief from the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), which quashed his suspension order on July 1. The government went in appeal against the CAT order the next day . BREAKING BARRIERS Divya new GM on-board with WC title S W A R O O P S W A M I N AT H A N @ Chennai IN a clash billed as one between generations, a generational talent has walked away with the women’s chess World Cup. In the end, the handshake was symbolic of what the win meant within the wider context of Indian women’s chess. For so long, Koneru Humpy and D Harika have been the torchbearers of the board game from an Indian perspective. Over the last two weeks, Divya Deshmukh quietly emerged Divya Deshmukh (R) and Koneru Humpy with their trophies and medals after the final on Monday | FIDE/ANDREI ANOSOV from the shadows of these two giants to etch her name in indelible ink. Just after 2.30 PM local time in Batumi (4.00 PM IST) on Monday, the 19-year-old scaled another height as she became India’s first women’s World Cup winner (2nd after Viswanathan Anand). When the Nagpur resident boarded the flight to Georgia, she didn’t have a single GM norm. Yet, over the last two many fake ration cards were found to have been issued. A bench of justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, however, suggested that two documents be considered on the ‘presumption of genuineness’, adding that there should be ‘en masse inclusion’ instead of ‘en mass exclusion’. While the court refused to stay publication of the draft list, it said it would examine the case in a detailed manner. The bench also made it clear that the court could strike down the entire process if any illegality was found. weeks, she beat four GMs in as many as matches to not only win the the crown but become the country’s 4th woman GM (88th overall). After the two game Classical final was drawn, the feeling was Humpy would have an edge. Humpy, of course, is the defending women’s world rapid champ. “It was fate that I got the grandmaster title this way because before this, I didn’t even have one norm. I was thinking, “where can I get a norm?”, and P11 now I’m a GM!” she said. S Jaishankar, foreign minister Gaurav Gogoi, Congess Supriya Sule, NCP (SP) Today, dossiers have been replaced by decisive action. Today’s India thinks differently and acts differently At no stage in any conversation with the US was there any link with trade or military operations India has the courage to listen to the truth on how many jets were downed, the govt must answer Sindoor is not a success till you find those terrorists. Until you catch the terrorists, it cannot be celebrated PAHALGAM ATTACK MASTERMIND KILLED F AYA Z W A N I @ Srinagar SECURITY forces on Monday gunned down wanted Pakistani terrorist Suleman alias Hashim Musa, the mastermind and executioner of the April 22 attack on tourists in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. Two more Pakistani militants with suspected links to the Pahalgam attack were also killed in the encounter in the upper reaches of Dachigam forest area in Harwan, Srinagar, sources said. A security official said after receiving inputs about the presence of 2-3 militants, the Army police and paramilitary , forces launched Operation Mahadev to track the hiding militants down. “The communication device used by miliHashim Musa tants led security forces to them. A satellite phone used in Baisaran on April 22, was found active in the upper reaches of Dachigam forest. Once it was confirmed militants were hiding in the dense forest area, specially trained para commandos also joined the operation. Drones and other surveillance gadgets were used to pinpoint the militant location,” the official said. ‘Dog Babu’: Domicile cert to golden retriever in Bihar amid raging row over SIR R A M A S H A N K A R @ Patna BELIEVE it or not, a residence (domicile) certificate—one of the 11 documents required in the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar—was recently issued to a canine in rural Patna. Screenshots of the certificate, carrying the photograph of a golden retriever listed as ‘Dog Babu,’ have gone viral on the Internet, leaving social media users in splits. The document lists his parents as ‘Kutta Babu’ and ‘Kutiya Devi’ and his address as Mohalla Kaulichak, Ward No. 15, in Nagar Parishad Masaurhi, which falls under the Patna district. The certificate was reportedly issued last week in the Masaurhi circle, falling under the eponymous subdivision, apparently as part of a scramble for such documents during the SIR exercise. The move has prompted a red-faced administration to lodge an FIR against the applicant, the computer operator and the officer who issued the certificate. Notably the certificate bears , the digital signature of Masaurhi revenue officer Murari Chauhan. Since digitally signing a document requires the use of a secure government-issued dongle, officials suspect a possible breach or misuse of TRUMP SAYS STARVATION IS REAL IN GAZA; CALLS FOR TRUCE Woman from Delhi The certificate bears the digital signature of a revenue officer. It has been found that the cert was linked to docus belonging to a woman from Delhi. Officials hint at possibility of data tampering to generate the fake certificate. credentials. During the investigation, it was found that the certificate was linked to documents originally belonging to a woman from Delhi. Her Aadhaar card, among other documents, was uploaded to the portal, hinting at the possibility of data tampering to generate the fake certificate. Patna District Magistrate Thiyagarajan SM has described the matter as “very serious”. The certificate issued on July 24 at 3.56 pm was cancelled as soon as it came to the notice of the district authorities. Further, a recommendation to suspend the officer concerned has been sent to the Revenue and Land Reforms Department. The US President met with British PM Keir Starmer in Scotland on Monday, with Trump saying he disagreed with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu that there was no starvation in Gaza. | P9 In rare case, flight from Goa diverted to IGIA as no parking space at UP’s Hindon S L A L I T H A @ New Delhi AN Indigo flight from Goa to Hindon in UP carrying 181 pas, sengers, was diverted to Delhi’s IGIA due to a lack of parking space. Meanwhile, an Air India Express flight to Kolkata departed 12 hours later than scheduled that evening from the same airport because of a technical issue and airport time restrictions. Indigo’s Flight 6E 2575 is reported to have been in a holding pattern (circling over the airport) for 45 minutes follow- Holding pattern IndiGo’s Flight 6E 2575 is reported to have been in a holding pattern (circling over the airport) for 45 minutes after which it was asked to head to Delhi as parking space could not be freed up in Hindon. ing which it was asked to head to Delhi as parking space could not be freed up. A senior official at the airport told this reporter, “Two parking bays have been allotted in the airport which are shared between Air India and IndiGo. In co-ordina- tion with Air Traffic Control, they decide on the parking. It happens “very rarely An .” IndiGo source confirmed the incident. “The passengers were given an option to return to Hindon airport by cab and IndiGo paid the bill,” he said. In another incident, An Air India Express Boeing 737 flight carrying over 100 passengers, suffered a delay of 12 hours. It was to depart at 5 pm on Sunday and reach Kolkata at 7.20 pm, but failed to take off due to a technical glitch. It finally took off on Monday morning.