FRIDAY 04 OCTOBER, 2024 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard SINGAPORE EX-MINISTER GETS A YEAR IN PRISON Former transport minister S Iswaran was hit this year with 35 charges mostly related to graft in a nation often cited as one of the world’s least corrupt. PAGE 9 Chief Minister M K Stalin on September 27 presented a memorandum containing three key demands to PM Narendra Modi in New Delhi | PTI | P7 A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS NEW DELHI J8.00 PAGES 12 Unani practitioner shot dead in Kalindi Kunj nursing home U J W A L J A L A L I @ New Delhi A 55-year-old Unani doctor was shot dead inside a nursing home in southeast Delhi’s Kalindi Kunj area in the early hours of Thursday allegedly by two persons who met him as patients, police said. The deceased was identified as Javed Akhtar, a Unani practitioner (BUMS). The police have arrested a suspect whose interrogation was ongoing. DCP (Southeast) Rajesh Deo said a PCR call was received at 1.45 am in which the caller said a doctor was shot at in a hospital. When the police reached Nima Hospital—a three-bedded facility—in Kalindi Kunj, they found a person in the doctor’s cabin in his chair with his head leaned over in a pool of blood. The initial inquiry revealed that two boys, both aged 16-17 years, came to the nursing home around 1 am. “One of them asked to change his injured toe’s dressing,” the DCP said. The two were reportedly treated only a day back for the same injury . Moments after they entered Dr Akhtar’s cabin, the nursing staff—Gajala Parveen and Md Kamil—heard gunfire. “They found the doctor in his chair with blood oozing from the left side of his head. The two sus- pects fled,” the DCP said. The police suspect it to be a case of “targeted killing”. “The motive is not clear as the accused is giving a different version,” the officer said. Meanwhile, Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj slammed L-G VK Saxena for the “deteriorating law and order” in the city . CABINET DECISIONS Rationalisation of various agri schemes into two umbrella programmes — PM Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana and Krishonnati Yojana — with over `1 lakh crore outlay to promote sustainable agriculture and ensure food security Proposal to grant classical language status to Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali. The decision came ahead of assembly elections in Maharashtra. “Marathi is India’s pride,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a post on ‘X’ Payment of productivity linked bonus of 78 days for `2,028.57 crore to 11,72,240 railway employees cleared. It’s an annual payment before the Durga Puja/ Dussehra holidays. The maximum payable per eligible railway employee is `17,951 | P7 SC outlaws caste Don’t criminalise marital rape: Govt discrimination in jails across India S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi Quashes jail manual rules of 10 states, says caste-based work allocation in prisons illegal read down discriminatory laws and file compliance reports before it. IN a landmark verdict, the SuThe verdict came on a plea preme Court on Thursday held filed by Sukanya Shantha, a nathat there should not be any tive of Kalyan in Maharashtra, caste discrimination in prisons alleging that prison manuals of across the country and all some states encourage castepresent provisions in jail man- based discrimination. ual perpetuating such discrimiThe order dealt with certain nation must go. The apex court discriminatory provisions of also registered a suo motu case jail manuals of 10 states—Uttar to monitor the issue. Pradesh, West Bengal, No caste A three-judge bench Madhya Pradesh, Anddetails to led by the Chief Justice hra Pradesh, Odisha, D Y Chandrachud di- be entered Kerala, Karnataka, Marected all states and The CJI-led bench harashtra, and HimachUnion territories to real Pradesh—and set also ordered vise their prison manuthem aside. the deletion of als to end caste-based The court held that caste details of allotment of work. assigning cleaning and prisoners from “Distribution of manu- prison registrars. sweeping tasks to inal work among prisonmates belonging to the “Caste column ers on the basis of their marginalised sections in convict or undertrial caste hierarchy is disand allowing the higher registrars shall criminatory and uncastes to do cooking is a be deleted,” it constitutional,” said clear violation of Artisaid in its order cle 15(1). the bench, also comprising Justices J B “Such indirect uses Pardiwala and Manoj Misra. of phrases which target so It also ordered the Centre to called lower castes cannot be make necessary changes ac- used within our constitutional cording to the judgment to ad- framework. Prison manuals dress caste-based discrimina- are only reaffirming such distion in the Model Prison crimination,” the CJI said. Manual, 2016 and the Model Observing that right to live Prisons and Correctional Serv- with dignity extends even to ices Act, 2023. the incarcerated, the bench The apex court gave the Cen- said: “Criminal laws of the cotre and states three months to lonial era continue to impact amend their prison manuals to the postcolonial world.” S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi 1 dies of electrocution, 7 hurt in stampede at Kalkaji temple U J W A L J A L A L I @New Delhi TEN months after a makeshift platform collapsed during an event at Kalkaji temple in southeast Delhi killing a woman and injuring 17 others, another tragedy struck the mandir on Thursday A 17-year. old boy was electrocuted and at least seven people were injured in a stampede that followed during Navratri celebrations. The deceased boy, identified as Mayank, was a Class 9 student and a resident of Ghaziabad. He was in the temple with his family . DCP (Southeast) Rajesh Deo said initial probe revealed that an electric wire used for halogen light installation during Navratra was broken. It came in contact with the iron railing. “Seven people were injured. Four are admitted to AIIMS and three in Safdarajang Hospital,” he said. No lesson learnt? On January 28, a raised platform had collapsed during an event at Kalkaji temple, killing a 45-yr-old woman and injuring 17 others. Delhi HC in February directed that no ‘jagran’ or similar events will be held at the temple without its permission. THE Centre on Thursday strongly opposed the demand to criminalise marital rape, arguing in its affidavit in the Supreme Court that punitive measures are already in place to deal with it. “Parliament has provided different remedies, including criminal law provisions, to protect consent within marriage. Sections 354, 354A, 354B, 498A IPC, and the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, ensure serious penal consequences for such violations,” the affidavit said. A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra is hearing a batch of pleas on the matter. In its af- fidavit, the Centre said that the issue is primarily “social rather than legal”. “Criminalizing marital rape would have significant implications for society. The jurisdiction to criminalize such acts (marital rape) does not lie with the Supreme Court but rather with the legislature,” the Centre said in its affidavit. It added that the present question is essentially a social issue on which Parliament has taken a position after weighing all shades of opinions. Parliament, it added, decided to retain Exception 2 to Section 375 of IPC in 2013 while amending the said section in 2013. Striking it down on the grounds of constitutional validity Internship scheme rolled out on pilot basis, 111 cos on board M O N I K A YA D A V @ New Delhi THE government on Thursday launched the Prime Minister’s Internship Scheme on a pilot basis. The scheme is open to those in the 21-24 years age group who meet specific educational and employment criteria. Existing reservation norms will apply Eligible candidates can apply . through the online portal www.pminternship. mca.gov.in. The portal will open on October 12 and 1,25,000 interns are expected to be enrolled in the top 500 companies this year. Sources said 111 firms are already on board for the programme and more are likely to join in. As of Thursday 1,077 of, fers have been made by three In case a partner company is companies—Mahindra & Mahi- unable to ndra, Max Life Insurance, and provide such Alembic Pharma. internships in its The interns will be paid `4,500 own company, it per month via direct benefit may tie up with transfer, while the companies other entities in will contribute `500 from their its group. But corporate social responsibility programme shall be under its funds. There is also a one-time supervision grant of `6,000, which takes the total annual payout to `66,000 Sources per intern. The scheme also provides insurance coverage. The PM’s internship scheme is part of a broader initiative that aims to offer skill training to one crore youth over the next five years, with a total budget allocation of `2 lakh crore. By October 26, a list of shortlisted candidates will be provided to companies, which will finalise their selections by November 27. The first intership batch will commence on December 2. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs will bear the cost of the pilot project, estimated at `800 crore for this financial year. Ashok Tanwar makes a Cong comeback H A R P R E E T B A J W A @ Chandigarh TWO days ahead of the Haryana polls and the day when the campaigning ended, the BJP suffered a huge jolt on Thursday Senior party leader Ashok . Tanwar walked back to the Congress. Tanwar was the former state Congress chief and is an SC leader who was a Sirsa MP . His return came in the presence of Rahul Gandhi, former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and senior leader KC Venugopal in an election rally at Bhawania village in Mahendragarh district. Just before Rahul finished his speech, an announcement was made asking the people to wait. A few minutes later, Tanwar walked on to the stage with a fanfare about his rejoining the party . Hours before his return, Tanwar was campaigning for the BJP candidate in Safidon (Jind district). The campaign pitch revolved around how the Congress had treated Tanwar. Tanwar resigned from Congress in 2019, joining TMC in 2021 and then shifting in 2022 to AAP Earlier this year, he joined . BJP. In the recent Lok Sabha polls, he contested from Sirsa on the BJP ticket, but lost to Kumari Selja of Congress. P8 Selja-Sonia Delhi meet On the final day of campaigning, Kumari Selja met Sonia Gandhi in Delhi. The meet is important as even after Selja started campaigning days after her pique over the distribution of tickets, her resentment against ex-CM Hooda is visible. will have a far-reaching effect on the institution of marriage, it argued. “It may severely impact the conjugal relationship and may lead to serious disturbances in the institution of marriage. In the fast-growing and ever-changing social and family structure, misuse of the amended provisions can also not be ruled out, as it would be difficult and challenging for a person to prove whether consent was there or not,” the Centre said. “In an institution of marriage, there exists a continuing expectation, by either of the spouse, to have reasonable sexual access from the other... these obligations, expectations and c o n s i d e r a t i o n s, which are com- pletely absent in the case of a stranger who seeks sexual congress, or even from any other intimate relationship, constitutes as a sufficient basis for the Legislature to distinguish qualitatively between an incident of non-consensual sex within the marital sphere and without it,” the Centre said. The relationship of marriage creates an intelligible differentia, which has a rational nexus with the object sought to be achieved, the government claimed, adding the provisions in law are not manifestly arbitrary A two-judge . bench of the Delhi High Court had on May 12, 2022 delivered a split verdict on the matter. While Justice Rajiv Shakdher was in favour of criminalising marital rape, Justice C Hari Shankar disagreed. EXPRESS READ Punjab, Haryana draw SC flak on city air pollution The Supreme Court on Thursday again slammed the Punjab and Haryana governments for their failure to take steps to tackle stubble-burning and air pollution in Delhi and said that nothing was happening on the ground. The SC also came down heavily on the Commission for Air Quality Management for its failure to control stubble-burning. | P3 TMC student leader held in RG Kar corruption case The CBI on Thursday arrested TMC youth wing leader Ashish Pandey in connection with the alleged corruption case against former principal of RG Kar hospital Sandip Ghosh, officials said. Pandey, who is said to be close to Ghosh, was under the probe agency’s scanner and was questioned by the CBI on September 30, they said. | P8
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