SATURDAY 19 APRIL, 2025 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard BHAGAVAD GITA, NATYASHASTRA PART OF UNESCO’S WORLD REGISTER WEST ASIA ISRAELI STRIKES KILL 25 IN GAZA Israeli airstrikes in Gaza killed at least 25 people on Friday, as the new US ambassador to Israel made his first public appearance in Jerusalem. PAGE 9 Modi speaks to Musk on tech ties amid trade talks J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held a phone conversation with Tesla and SpaceX CEO and a key advisor of President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, discussing opportunities for collaboration in technology and innovation. The phone call comes amid ongoing trade negotiations and ahead of the upcoming visit of US Vice President J D Vance to India from April 21, as Muskled ventures Tesla and Starlink also look to expand their presence in the Indian market. Taking to X, Modi said: “Spoke to Elon Musk and talked about various issues, including the topics we covered during our meeting in Wa s h i n g t o n DC earlier this year. We discussed the immense potential for collaboration in the areas of technology and innovation. India remains committed to advancing our partnerships with the US in these domains.” In February, Modi had met Musk at DC during an official visit. Their discussions at the time covered key sectors including space, electric mobility , and technological innovation. Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal had on Wednesday met senior Starlink executives to explore the company’s interest in launching satellitebased internet services in India. Starlink is currently awaiting re gulatory approvals, including clarity on India’s upcoming spectrum policy and a pending security clearance. Despite these hurdles, the company remains keen to offer highspeed satellite internet across the country, especially in remote and underserved areas. Tesla is also making moves to enter the Indian market. PROUD MOMENT FOR EVERY INDIAN, SAYS PM Entries on scientific revolution, women’s contribution to history and major milestones from 72 countries and four international organisations are included in the register. The development comes on World Heritage Day on April 18. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a post on X, on Friday described the inscriptions as “a proud moment for every Indian across the world”. | P7 A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS  NEW DELHI  J8.00  PAGES 12 TOTAL NUMBER OF INSCRIBED COLLECTIONS OF UNESCO AS OF NOW Khalistani radical Oppn lights into N-missile wanted for terror V-P broadside against SC attacks held in US Never seen any RS chairperson make such political comments: Sibal P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi H A R P R E E T B A J W A @ Chandigarh GANGSTER-TURNED-TERRORIST Harpreet Singh alias Happy Passia, wanted in connection with multiple terror attacks across Punjab and who is alleged to have collaborated with Pakistan’s Deep State and Khalistani group BKI, has been arrested in the US, officials said Friday . Passia alias Jora, who had illegally entered the US, was arrested by the FBI and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Removal Operations in Sacramento, the US federal law enforcement agency said. Punjab Police chief Gaurav Yadav said the arrest is a “major milestone in the success of war against terror”, adding the matter has been taken up with the Central government and efforts are on to extradite Passia. Yadav said between 2023 and 2025, Passia played a “central role in orchestrating targeted killings, grenade attacks on police establishments, and extortion across Punjab and various other states”. Harpreet Singh alias Happy Passia had illegally entered the US | PTI In the last seven months, 16 grenade attacks took place in Punjab, mostly targeting police posts, religious places and residences of public figures including BJP leader Manoranjan Kalia. Passia’s name has cropped up during investigations into at least 14 such attacks. It is reliably learnt that Pasia is the key operative of the Khalistani militant outfit Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) which has ties with Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan. Since 2023, Passia is associated with Khalistani militant Harwinder Singh Sandhu alias Rinda and they have been involved in setting up terror modules in Punjab, sources said. A day after Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar used strong language against the judiciary , several leaders from the Opposition spectrum lit into him on Thursday asserting such inter, ventions are part of a broader, dangerous strategy to erode judicial independence, weaken federalism and centralise executive power. Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal hit out at the V-P for questioning the Supreme Court, which set a timeline for presidential decisions. Sibal said the Lok Sabha Speaker and the Rajya Sabha Chairman remain equidistant between the Opposition and the ruling party adding he , had never seen any Rajya Sabha Chairman make “political statements” of this nature. “Independence of the judiciary is fundamental to democracy What is being done is un. constitutional,” he added. The Constitution — not the government — gave Article 142 powers to the Supreme Court. You said Article 142 is nuclear missile material. How can you say this? — Kapil Sibal, president, Supreme Court Bar Association The Vice President Mr Jagdeep Dhankar’s observations on this SC verdict is unethical! — Tiruchy Siva, DMK deputy general secretary The statement made by Dhankhar on SC judges borders on contempt — Kalyan Banerjee, TMC “I respect him a lot but you said Article 142 is nuclear missile material, how can you say this?” Sibal said. Echoing the view, Constitutional expert P D T Achary told this paper that the SC rightly used Article 142 and did not override any core Constitutional provision. “Article 142 empowers the highest judicial forum in this country to do complete justice in a particular case. Granting complete justice is the aim of the judiciary and the Constitution has entrusted the SC with this job,” he said. Dhankhar had described Article 142, which grants plenary powers to the Supreme Court, as a “nuclear missile against democratic forces available to the judiciary 24x7”. Senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said SC the ruling was “timely, accurate, courageous, and a correction to the notion that those holding high office are above checks and balances... In our democracy, only the Constitution is supreme and most elevated. No office — be it that of the President, PM or Governor — is above the fetters of Constitutional propriety he said. ,” DMK deputy general secretary and Rajya Sabha member Tiruchi Siva said, “The recent Supreme Court verdict on the role of Governors and President invoking Article 142 undoubtedly has established that no individual in the name of being a constitutional authority can sit over bills passed by a legislature indefinitely .” TMC leader Kalyan Banerjee accused the V-P of “repeated disregard” for the judiciary . DON blinks Tit-for-tat China levy over? “I don’t want to go higher. At a certain point... people don’t buy,” Trump said White House suggests broader US-Europe summit during Trump’s visit. Meloni is bridge between US-EU White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett says Trump and his team are studying whether to fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell UKRAINE US MAY DROP BID FOR PEACE IF TALKS STALL Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday the US may “move on” from trying to secure a Russia-Ukraine peace deal if there is no progress in coming days. | P9 Frame policy on smartphone use, schools told I F R A H M U F T I @ New Delhi OPTICAL ILLUSION Evening showers, accompanied by gusty winds, bring much-needed relief from intense heat in the city. According to IMD, the sky will be “partly cloudy” and become “generally cloudy” towards the evening on Saturday. | P4 NEARLY two weeks after the Delhi High Court ruling, the Delhi government has directed schools to formulate policies regarding smartphone usage of students. The HC had outlined guiding principles to strike a balance between the advantages and potential drawbacks of allowing students to use smartphones while in school. Accordingly, the education department has instructed all heads of government, government-aided, and unaided recognised private schools to develop and implement a school-level policy on this matter. In its circular dated April 17, 2025, the Directorate of Education said, “The court has drawn up guiding principles to balance the beneficial and deleterious effect of permitting the use S H E K H A R S I N G H @ New Delhi on April 6 and two nurses who were present in the ICU did A 25-year-old man was arrested nothing to stop the attack. She on Friday in connection with was admitted to the hospital on the sexual assault on a flight at- April 5 and discharged on April tendant who was on a ventila- 13. She then told her husband tor in ICU of Medanta Hospital about the incident and lodged a in Gurugram, police said. police complaint. A case was The accused has registered under Secbeen identified as tion 64 (rape), 68 (sexuDeepak from Badhauli al intercourse by a pervillage in Muzaffarpur son in authority) of the district of Bihar. He BNS at the Sadar powas identified after lice station. scanning the footage She was admitted to from more than 800 Ayushman Hospital afCCTV cameras and in- Addicted to ter a near-drowning at terrogating hospital porn videos a five-star hotel where staff, police said. she was staying on the The accused After completing morning of April 5. has confessed Bachelor of Science in to the crime and Later that night she Operation T heatre reportedly told was shifted to Medanta Technology from SGT the police that and put on ventilator. University the accused , Amid outrage over he is addicted joined Medanta Hospithe alleged incident, to watching tal as technician five Gurugran Police Comporn videos. months ago. missioner Vikas KuDuring preliminary mar Arora on Thursinterrogation, the accused re- day formed a SIT led by Deputy portedly told cops that he is ad- Commissioner of Police (Headdicted to watching porn. quarters) Dr Arpit Jain. The 46-year-old airhostess alA hospital statement read, leged that she was sexually as- “On the basis of information saulted by a hospital staff while provided by police, we have susshe was on ventilator support pended the suspect employee.’’ THE Delhi High Court has dropped an adultery case filed by a man against another person who was allegedly in a relationship with his wife. The court said that women cannot be treated as “property of their husbands”. Justice Neena Bansal Krishna refer red to Draupadi from Mahabharat, and ruled, “She had no say in the matter, and what followed was a terrible war that caused the deaths of many .” The court said that even though Draupadi’s tale is wellknown, the society took a long time to understand that treating women as a chattel is wrong. It was only when the Supreme Court, in the Joseph Shine case in 2018, struck down Section 497 of the IPC (adultery) that the society reflected on this misogynistic view. The case was filed by a man who claimed his wife was having an affair with the petitioner. of smartphones in the hands of students while attending the school. Accordingly, all the Heads of Govt., Govt. Aided & Unaided Recognised Private Schools of Delhi are hereby directed to develop a policy on the above said matter on school level and implement the same.” On March 3, the HC ruled that the use of smartphones does not have a negative impact on teaching, discipline or the overall educational environment in the classroom. The No negative impact of smartphones in schools: HC On March 3, the HC ruled that the use of smartphones does not have a negative impact on teaching, discipline or the overall educational environment in the classroom. It was hearing a student’s plea seeking issuance of guidelines on use of mobile phones in schools. 25-yr-old arrested for DELHI HC INVOKES DRAUPADI, SAYS WOMAN IS NOT HUSBAND’S PROPERTY sexual assault of flight attendant in Medanta H A R P R E E T BA J WA @ Chandigarh 570 He claimed that the two had gone to Lucknow, stayed in a hotel room together pretending to be a married couple, and had sexual relations. When he confronted his wife, she told him to leave if he had a problem. Justice Krishna said that as per an old ruling, once a law is declared unconstitutional, it applies to all ongoing cases. The court said that sharing a hotel room does not prove that two people had sex. “Just staying in the same room isn’t enough to assume anything happened,” the judge said, discharging the man from the case and setting aside the complaint. judgment passed by Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani came during the hearing of a petition filed by a student, who sought the issuance of guidelines regarding the use of mobile phones in schools. The HC noted that its intent was to establish guiding principles to balance the positive and negative effects of allowing students to use smartphones while attending school. Schools should have the discretion to implement policies that fit their unique situations, whether that involves allowing limited use of smartphones in specified areas of the school or enforcing stricter bans, including bans during specific times and events. EXPRESS READ 33 Maoists surrender before cops in C’garh At least 33 Maoists, 17 of them carrying a cumulative bounty of `49 lakh, surrendered before security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district on Friday, police said. While 22 cadres, including nine women, turned themselves in before police and CRPF officials earlier in the day, later 11 others surrendered before police. | P8 African cheetahs to find second home in India Over two and half years after Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh’s Sheopur became the first home to African cheetahs in the country, the Gandhi Sagar Wildlife sanctuary in Mandsaur district of the same state is set to become the African cheetahs second home in India, according to officials. | P8 MEA slams Dhaka’s ‘unwarranted’ remarks India has criticised Bangladesh for its comments on the violence during protests against the Waqf Act in Murshidabad district of West Bengal, terming Dhaka’s remarks as “unwarranted”. The MEA response came following a statement from Shafiqul Alam, Press Secretary to chief adviser of the interim government, Muhammad Yunus, who expressed concern over the safety of Muslims in West Bengal. | P7 HC-appointed panel bats for unified cell to track civic services S H E K H A R S I N G H @ New Delhi AFTER the drowning of three young UPSC aspirants in a waterlogged basement in Old Rajinder Nagar, a high-level committee set up by the Delhi High Court has recommended the creation of a “Centralised Coordination Cell” under the Department of Urban Development of the city government. The cell would ensure better cooperation between agencies, including MCD, DDA, NDMC, DJB, and Delhi Cantonment Board. The coaching centre had been illegally running a library in the basement, in violation of safety rules, officials said. In its report, the committee, which includes the chief secretary of Delhi, police commissioner, and officials from MCD, NDMC, and DDA, stressed that the capital’s growing challenges, including rapid urbanisation and unauthorised construction, require immediate reforms. A digital dashboard has been proposed to track services and projects run by various agencies, train staff in inter-agency coordination, dig- Flooded basement claims 3 young lives COAC H I N G CENTRE DEATH On June 27 last year, three civil service aspirants in their twenties died after getting trapped in a basement filled with rain water in Old Rajinder Nagar. The HC set up a high-level panel to suggest correctional steps. ital tools, and efficient public service delivery . The panel also suggested amending current laws to clearly define the powers and duties of different bodies. It has recommended posting experienced officers from IAS (AGMUT), DANICS, and DASS cadres to DDA, NDMC, and MCD. The report called for collaboration with private companies, research institutions, and think tanks to develop long-term solutions for urban governance. One of the key concerns raised was the unsafe and overcrowded living conditions in coaching hubs such as Mukherjee Nagar, Karol Bagh, and Laxmi Nagar. Students live in cramped rooms despite paying high rents. The panel suggested their relocation to better-equipped areas. It underlined serious issues with the water supply sew, age, and drainage systems, which suffer from shortages, pollution and inefficiency . The HC may take up the report for a hearing on April 23.