tuesdAY 02 july, 2024 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard scs tension rises China deploys aircraft carrier yoga edging closer to becoming part of asiad China deployed its second aircraft carrier ‘Shandong’ along Philippine coast as Manila asserts its claims over a shoal in the South China Sea (SCS). A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS Page 9 In 1 case under BNS in Gurugram, 9-yr-old killed, body set on fire st l New Delhi l J8.00 l PAGES 12 WC Chess india miss out home World Championships The International Chess Federation said that Singapore will be hosting the event, where D Gukesh will be taking on defending champ Ding Liren | P11 Rahul’s fiery debut speech Govt may not fill post of Attacks BJP saying its leaders aren’t Hindus; criticises Agniveer scheme, NEET examination Modi makes two dy speaker interventions; BJP seeks apology P r ee t h a N a i r @ New Delhi RAJ E SH K U M AR THA K UR @ New Delhi Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi (left) gestures during his debut speech; and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in one of his two interventions during the address, in the Lok Sabha on Monday | PTI P r ee t h a N a i r @ New Delhi The Lok Sabha witnessed a massive showdown on Monday after Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi launched a blistering attack on the BJP in his debut speech, saying the leaders of the ruling party are not Hindus as they engage in “violence and hate” round the clock. The remark prompted sharp responses from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh, accusing Rahul of portraying the entire Hindu community as violent. In his speech that lasted nearly two hours, the Congress leader hit out at the government over a range of issues – from NEET to Agniveer to farm distress, unemployment and inflation among others. Alleging that the BJP was instilling fear in all sections of society, Rahul invoked Lord Shiva and the teachings of Guru Nanak, Jesus Christ, Buddha and Mahavir to drive home the point that all religions preach, ‘don’t to be scared, and do not scare others’. “Lord Shiva says ‘don’t be scared,’ shows the abhaya mudra, talks about ahimsa, but those who call themselves Hindus indulge in hatred, violence and untruths round the clock,” He alleged, pointing towards the BJP MPs. As the Treasury benches erupted in protest, Shah demanded an apology for hurting the sentiments of the Hindu community An unfazed Rahul, . however, hit back saying he was speaking about the BJP and neither the ruling party nor the RSS represent the entire Hindu society “You are not . Hindus. It is clearly written in Hinduism that one should stand with the truth and not back down from the truth or be scared of it,” he said. Taking potshots at the BJP over its defeat in Ayodhya after the Ram temple’s inauguration, Rahul said the voters have conveyed a clear message to the government for its failures. Holding the government responsible for the unrest in Manipur, he said the prime minister and home minister have totally neglected the state. He also accused the BJP of threatening the minorities and spreading hatred and violence against them. Referring to the NEET-UG row, Rahul said students do not believe in the exam because they feel it is for the rich and that there is no place in it for meritorious students. P7 HC rejects Kavitha’s bail pleas CM moves HC over CBI custody S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi express news service @ New Delhi The Delhi High Court on Monday rejected the appeal filed by Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha seeking bail in the cases filed by the CBI and the ED in the Delhi Excise Policy . The HC said no case for grant of regular bail was made for now as the investigation is at a crucial stage. It rejected her plea on the grounds of being a woman, saying as a well-educated person and a former MP, she cannot be equated to a vulnerable female. “This court is of the opinion that K Kavitha was prima facie one of the main conspirators in the conspiracy hatched in relation to formulation and implementation of Delhi Excise Policy,” Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma said. crucial stage The HC said no case for grant of regular bail was made for now as the probe is at a crucial stage and said that she is one of the main conspirators in the Delhi Excise Policy case. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday knocked the doors of the High Court challenging the Rouse Avenue Court’s June 26 order in which he was remanded in 3-day custody of the CBI in the excise policy case. On June 29, the Rouse Avenue Court remanded Kejriwal to 14-day judicial custody till July 12 in the CBI case related to alleged excise policy case. Ke- jriwal, 55, has also challenged the trial court’s observation that his arrest was not illegal, along with the remand order. According to Delhi High Court’s staff and registry the plea of Kejriwal , is likely to come up for a hearing within 2-3 days. The CBI arrested Kejriwal on June 26 from Tihar Jail, where he was in judicial custody for his alleged involvement in a money-laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate. Road to Paris Trekking in Swiss—Hockey team’s Oly prep S w a r o o p SWA M I N ATHA N @ Bengaluru IN a week’s time, the Indian men’s hockey team will throw away their sports gear for some jackets, headlamps and hiking boots. As part of a team bonding exercise before the high-pressure environment of the Olympics, the contingent — the playing members and the support staff — will meet up with the side’s mental conditioning coach, Paddy Upton, in Switzerland for a three-day camp. “There will be no hockey there,” Craig Fulton, coach of the national team, said during an interaction with this daily. “Everything that we need to focus on to be the best team we can be. Most have a good time doing it because it’s been tough, training really hard. Sometimes, we also need to see the wood for the trees (laughs). The mountains The men’s team is scheduled to reach Paris on July 20 | hockey india could be what we need.” While there, the plan right now is to do some trekking before 2021 bronze medallists switch base to Netherlands for three friendlies before they leave for Paris on July 20. The three-day session could also see the side have a spell with Mike Horn, a motivational coach who has worked with the Indian cricket, the Germany men’s football team as well as Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League. Doing The year the next Asiad will be conducted pANEL formed U j w a l J a l a l i @ Gurugram nor, who wanted to steal jewelry A senior Gurugram police . On a day when the three new officer said a PCR call around criminal laws replaced the co- 10.45 am from a highrise socilonial-era system in the coun- ety informed them about the try, Gurugram became one of murder of a girl child. the few places to witness how The police informed the Foheinous crimes are dealt with rensic Science Laboratory at the police level under the whose personnel examined the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita crime scene. As per the new (BNS) that replaces the Indian law, the crime scene was phoPenal Code. tographed and videographed The two other new – mandatory under laws are the Bharatithe BNS. ya Nagarik Surak- What’s new The mother of the in the law sha Sanhita (BNSS) victim told the poand the Bharatiya As per the new law, lice that around 10 the evidence Sakshya Adhiniyam am she retur ned (BSA) which will re- collection process at f ro m h e r n e i g h place the Code of the crime scene has bour’s flat along to be mandatorily Criminal Procedure with her son and videographed to (CrPC) and the Indifound the iron gate prevent evidence an Evidence Act. of her house locked tampering. In the Delhi, too, saw the from inside while event of an arrest, first FIR being a n o t h e r wo o d e n the individual has lodged early Monday door was open. She saw her neighunder Section 285 of the right to inform a the BNS. The section person of his choice bour’s 16-year-old son prosecutes the of- about his situation. and noticed foul smell of bur ning fender for danger or obstruction in a public way or from her flat. She got suspicious line of navigation. Hours later, following which people from Home Minister Amit Shah the adjacent flat also rushed to clarified that the cops used the help her but they were unable provision to review it and dis- to open the door. The Fire Department had to be called. missed that case. Based on the woman’s comIn Gurugram, a 9-year-old girl was allegedly strangulated plaint, cops registered an FIR, to death with a cloth by her the first under the newly imteen neighbour who later set plemented BNS and appreher body on fire with the help hended the accused. “The stoof white naphthalene balls, po- len jewellery is recovered,” the lice said. The accused is a mi- police officer said. P3 & 7 Yoga may feature in the marquee sporting event according to Indian authorities who are in touch with Olympic Council of Asia. 2026 these sort of team exercises is nothing new for Fulton’s wards. Last year, they climbed Table Mountain. Before the Asian Games, the players were split into small teams and were asked to shoot short movies (movies were shot on a mobile camera before they were screened). P R Sreejesh, who will be featuring in his fourth Olympics, spoke about why these exercises are vital. “Climbing the Table Mountain was a good experience,” he said. “Different people had different goals; somebody wanted to finish first, a few just wanted to finish, others wanted to come last so they could motivate everybody else to finish. It was about showing mentality .” On the upcoming trip to Switzerland, Sreejesh said: “We are going to meet Mike Horn (Horn had taken the South African men’s cricket team on an expedition to the Swiss Alps in 2012), I have read about his work in Paddy Upton’s autobiography. That was so inspiring and I’m sure his lessons will help us at the Olympics. When you feel like you are breaking down or the team is breaking down, his experiences will help us make good decisions under those circumstances. “It will be something new for us but that’s what we require, we need to distract ourselves. Three days doing this before coming back to hockey will refresh us.” Multiple breaks Rahul had to stop his speech several times as ministers Amit Shah, Rijiju, Bhupender Yadav and others made interventions. As he held up a picture of Lord Shiva, Speaker Birla said rules do not allow placards in the House When Hemant Soren or Arvind Kejriwal goes to jail, I should be concerned. When you unleash enforcement agencies on them, we should defend them. When you are a constitutional person, your personal aspirations should take a back seat Rahul Gandhi on his new role BJP leaders on Monday launched a barrage of criticism both inside and outside Parliament against Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi for alleging they were not Hindus as they promote division and violence. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his first intervention in the debate said Rahul calling the entire Hindu society violent was a serious matter, Union home minister Amit Shah and other ministers demanded an apology from the Congress leader. In his second intervention during Rahul’s speech, Modi said the Constitution has taught him to take the LoP seriously . Referring to the Agniveer scheme, Rahul described how the family of a martyr is deprived of compensation from the Army. Defence minister MSP issue Rajnath Singh rebutted When Rahul him by pointing out that alleged that the an Agniveer who lays govt did not want down his life in the line of to give a legal duty gets a compensation guarantee on MSP, of `1 crore. “This House agriculture is not for spreading lies. minister Shivraj Rahul Gandhi should Chouhan accused apologise to the House, to him of misleading the country and to Agthe House niveers,” Shah said. Later, Union ministers Kiren Rijiju and Ashwini Vaishnaw did a media briefing and accused Rahul of denigrating the LoP post with his “utterly irresponsible” speech. Vaishnaw joined issue with Rahul who alleged that adequate compensation was not paid to the relocated shopkeepers in Ayodhya. “The state government and the administration provided `1,253 crore in compensation to 4,215 affected shopkeepers,” he claimed. Vaishnaw accused Rahul of insulting the Hindu. “This is an old habit of the Congress. In 2010, P Chidambaram called Hindus terrorists, and in 2013, Sushil Shinde repeated it,” he alleged. Rijiju stated that the BJP has contested many of Rahul’s claims and has requested action from the Speaker. “He will have to substantiate or apologise.” Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also alleged that the appeasement politics of the Congress and Rahul “starts and ends with Hindu hate”. AS uncertainty over the appointment of the deputy speaker post of the Lok Sabha continues, sources said the government is unlikely to move in this direction soon. The NDA is keeping the cards close to its chest over whether it will keep the post or allot it to an INDIA bloc candidate. However, Speaker Om Birla’s move on Monday to appoint a panel of chairpersons to help him run the House proceedings shows the government does not want to appoint a deputy speaker, sources said. Addressing the House on Monday, Birla said he has named Jagdambika Pal (BJP), P C Mohan (BJP), Sandhya Ray (BJP), Dilip Saikia (BJP), Kumari Selja (Congress), A Raja (DMK), Dr Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar (TMC), Krishna Prasad Tenneti (TDP), and Awadhesh Prasad (SP) as members of the panel of chairpersons. This comes amid speculation that the INDIA bloc has reached a consensus over fielding Prasad, the Faizabad MP for the depu, ty speaker post. Sources said if INDIA bloc puts up Prasad as its candidate, the BJP will find it difficult to oppose. According to the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Lok Sabha, these chairpersons preside over House proceedings when the Speaker is not in the Chair. They enjoy all powers vested in the Speaker. By fielding Prasad, the Opposition is trying to send a message to the Dalit voters in Uttar Pradesh. “The government may not wish to send a wrong message by opposing Prasad’s candidature,” said an NDA leader. Medha Patkar given 5 months in jail, fined in 23-year-old case TMC MP fined `50L in Puri defamation case S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi A local court on Monday sentenced Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader and activist Medha Patkar to five months imprisonment in an over twodecade-old defamation case filed against her by Delhi Lieutenant Governor (L-G) Vinai Kumar Saxena. The court directed Patkar to pay `10 lakh compensation to Saxena. “It is evident that the accused (Patkar) harboured a clear intention to defame the complainant through her press note, given the deliberate and calculated nature of her statements,” the court said in its order. Saxena had filed the defamation case against Patkar in 2001, when he was the former president of an Ahmedabad-based NGO, National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL). As per the case details, Saxena had in 2000 published an advertisement against Patkar’s NBA, the movement that opposed the construction of dams over the Narmada river. After the publication of the advertisement, Patkar had issued a press note against Saxena accusing him of “mortgaging the people of Gujarat and their resources before Bill Gates and James Wolfensohn and that he was an agent of the Gujarat government”. Saxena then filed a defamation suit against her before a court in Ahmedabad in 2001. Express News Service @ New Delhi the case In 2000, L-G VK Saxena published an advertisement against Patkar’s NBA that opposed building dams over the Narmada. Patkar issued a press note stating he had “mortgaged the people of Gujarat and their resources”. The case was transferred to Delhi in 2003 on Supreme Court’s directions. Metropolitan Magistrate of Saket Court, Raghav Sharma, who convicted Patkar, however, said that the order will remain suspended for 30 days, to ensure that she approached a higher court. The judge noted that keeping in view the age and health of the convict (Patkar), he refrained from passing any excessive punishment of one year or two years against her in the case. By explicitly stating that Saxena was “tainted with hawala transactions”, Patkar aimed to associate him with illegal and unethical financial dealings, which inflicted significant harm to his reputation and standing. The Delhi High Court on Monday directed Trinamool Congress MP Saket Gokhale to pay `50 lakh in damages to Lakshmi Puri, the wife of Cabinet Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, over the alleged defamatory tweets of 2021. Lakshmi Puri had originally sought `5 crore in damages to be deposited in the Prime Minister Cares Fund, which the court rejected, stating, “… to ask the court to grant damages, and to then pray that the court remit them to a particular fund is not tenable.” Gokhale must pay the `50 lakh within eight weeks and publish an apology in The Times of India and on his X handle within the same timeframe, the court ruled, adding that Gokhale had accused Puri of acquiring property in Switzerland disproportionate to her income. On Monday the court penal, ised the Trinamool Congress leader stating, “the offending tweets are per se defamatory; that the plaintiff has suffered undeserved legal injury to her reputation, which warrants redressal.”
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