SATURDAY SC: FIRECRACKER BAN CAN’T BE APPLICABLE FOR DELHI-NCR ONLY 13 SEPTEMBER, 2025 Sept 22 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard IS WHEN THE MATTER WILL BE HEARD NEXT BY THE SUPREME COURT X.com/TheMornStandard CHARLIE KIRK MURDER SUSPECT TURNED IN BY RELATIVE EYE ON AIR QUALITY COMMISSION REPORT US authorities have captured the man accused of killing Right-wing activist Charlie Kirk after a family member turned him in, ending a frantic manhunt. A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS PAGE 9  NEW DELHI  J8.00 Retired Supreme Court Chief Justice’s demand to dissolve Nepal’s parliament accepted GEN Z PICK SUSHILA KARKI SWORN IN AS INTERIM PM N EPAL has made history pose decades of corruption. once again. The counBorn on 7 June 1952 in Birattry’s first female Chief nagar, Karki is no stranger to Justice, Sushila Karki, challenges. She became Nepal’s has now become its first female Chief Justice in first female Prime Min- July 2016 and served until June ister. She was sworn in 2017. During her tenure, she by President Ramchandra Pau- faced a no-confidence motion del at his office, Sheetal Niwas, from the Nepali Congress but on Friday It followed the disso- remained steadfast in her com. lution of the elected government m i t m e n t t o j u s t i c e a n d headed by K P Sharma Oli. transparency . Karki and the Gen Z protestThroughout her career, she ers had made it clear that she refused to bow to political preswould step in only afsure or corruption — ter Parliament was disa re putation that solved — a demand made her the natural that has now been fulchoice to lead the filled. The House was country through this dissolved with effect transitional period. from 11 pm, the PresiThe Gen Z protest, dent’s Office said. which began on SepFormer PM Baburam NAMRATA SHARMA tember 8, quickly esBhattarai and a clutch calated into a nationSenior journalist and of diplomats, includwide uprising. Streets ing from India, China women rights advocate. across Nepal saw and the US, attended Sharma can be reached at widespread vandalnamrata1964@yahoo.com the swearing-in event. ism, with both public @NamrataSharmaP September 12, the and private property fifth day of the Gen Z damaged. Daily life protest, will be remembered as came to a standstill, hitting daia defining moment in Nepal’s ly wage earners particularly political history — a day when hard. In the process, the hidden the youth, united and resolute, wealth of top political leaders toppled a government, dis- was exposed. Reports of sacks solved parliament, and helped of cash found in the homes of elevate a woman known for her Nepali Congress president Sher anti-corruption crusade to the Bahadur Deuba and Foreign highest executive office. Minister Arzoo Rana Deuba This unprecedented move- have shocked the nation. Enment inspired young people raged citizens — not just Gen Z globally, proving that when protesters — vandalised youth unite, they can disman- the houses of several accused CONTINUED ON P7 tle entrenched regimes and ex- leaders. Nepal’s President Ramchandra Paudel administers the oath of office to Sushila Karki (top) as PM on Friday; and people celebrate outside the president’s residence | PTI/AP SNAP POLLS ON MARCH 21 President Ramchandra Paudel fixed March 21, 2026, as the date for holding fresh Parliamentary elections, the President’s office said Punjab AAP MLA gets 4-yr jail term in molestation case, govt’s image takes a beating H A R P R E E T BA J WA @ Chandigarh Abhishek gets HC relief on personal rights EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi THE Delhi High Court has protected the personality rights of Abhishek Bachchan, issuing an interim order restraining online platforms from using his name, images or other attributes for commercial purposes without authorisation. The order mirrored its September 9 ruling in favour of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. The order arose from a suit by Bachchan, which alleged that defendant websites and platforms had misappropriated aspects of his persona— name, image, likeness, persona and voice—and were using technological tools, including AI, to produce and monetise content without consent, sometimes in inappropriate or sexually explicit forms. “These attributes are linked to the plaintiff ’s professional work and associations in the course of his career. The unauthorised use of such attributes has the effect of diluting the goodwill and reputation associated with him,” Justice Tejas Karia said in an order passed on September 10 and was made available on Friday . The HC said Bachchan had established a good prima facie case for the grant of an exparte injunction and that the balance of convenience also tilts in his favour. The Supreme Court on Thursday said if clean air was a right for “elite” residents of the capital, the same must extend to citizens across the country THE public perception of the AAP government in Punjab has taken a hit after its MLA Manjinder Singh Lalpura from Khadoor Sahib was sentenced to four years in prison for molestation and assault of a Scheduled Caste woman. Lalpura is the fifth legislator from the ruling party and the third this year to be arrested, following actions by the police and vigilance bureau. Additional Sessions Judge Prem Kumar of Tarn Taran pronounced the verdict in the Lalpura case on September 10. The sentencing happened on Friday . The case dates back to 2013, when Lalpura, then a taxi driver, allegedly assaulted the woman in Tarn Taran. The survivor’s counsel, Amit Dhawan said, “The case was registered under Sections 323, 324, and 354 of the IPC along with provisions of the SC/ST Act.” In total, 12 people were convicted, seven were arrested, one was deceased, one was lodged in Tihar Jail, and three accused are yet to be arrested. The survivor said that she was satisfied with the verdict, “as I had to fight a long and tough battle against the accused.” L a l p u r a ’s a r r e s t comes shortly after another party MLA, Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra from Sanaur, faced a rape case and escaped from custody in Haryana. Earlier, Raman Arora, MLA from Jalandhar Central, was arrested in a corruption case in June, while Amit Rattan Kotfatta from Bathinda Rural was arrested in February, and former health minister Vijay Singla was arrested in 2022. Married a revolutionary Karki is the eldest of seven siblings She grew up in a simple farming family in Biratnagar Karki married Durga Prasad Subedi, an erstwhile popular leader of Nepali Congress. They had met during her days at the BHU Subedi was a youth revolutionary member of Nepali Congress during the 1970s He was part of the group that hijacked a Royal Nepal Airlines aircraft to get INR 3 million to fund the party’s armed revolution against King Birendra Shah in 1973 The hijacked plane carrying Nepal Rastra Bank’s money landed at Forbesganj in India After retirement, Karki wrote two books, including ‘Nyay’, her biography  PAGES 12 The bench remarked that there would be status quo with regard to the cancellation of firecrackers’ licences by the authorities SAME RULE SHOULD BE USED FOR PAN-INDIA A bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran was hearing pleas on regulation of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR. “If NCR is entitled for clean air, why not people of other cities?... I was in Amritsar last winter and pollution there was worse than in Delhi. If firecrackers are to be banned, they should be banned throughout India,” the CJI said MODI IN MANIPUR TODAY Yearning for justice, political solution on eve of PM’s visit V I L L AG E R S i n M a d hya Pradesh are unwittingly at the centre of a multi-layered racket that fuels cybercrime networks spanning from Jharkhand to Thailand. Their fingerprints, taken at SIM card outlets, are being cloned to churn out fake SIMs in bulk—the backbone of fraud calls and scams across India and Southeast Asia. The Madhya Pradesh police, in a sweeping crackdown, have found that in nearly 60% of such cases, the thumb impressions of people aged 18-45, mostly from rural areas, were used. “These SIMs are powering rackets from Jharkhand, West Bengal, Rajasthan, UP, and Delhi, besides international syndicates in Cambodia and Thailand,” SP (Cyber Cell, Bhopal) Pranay Nagwanshi said. The tricks are simple but ruthless. Villagers applying for SIMs are told their fingerprints MANIPUR’S Imphal and Churachandpur have been decked up with the posters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of his visit on Saturday—the PM’s first trip to the state since ethnic violence broke out two years ago. One of the posters put up overnight by the state government, captioned Viksit Bharat Viksit Manipur, says the PM will lay the foundation stone for development projects worth over `7,300 crore in Churachandpur and inaugurate projects of `1,200 crore in Imphal. Officials said the `8,500 crore worth of projects are for the entire state. On the ground, though, not many seem bothered about any development package. They are interested in other pressing issues — peace, normalcy, security, and resettlement. Ask anyone in Churach`71,850 crore worth andpur and they will say the projects in 5 states Kukis expect the PM to offer a political solution to their Apart from Manipur, the problem — a separate adPM will also visit Mizoram, ministration in the form of Assam, Bengal, and Bihar a Union Territory . from Sept 13-15, and will “We don’t consider it (deunveil projects worth a velopment package) as sometotal of `71,850 crore | P8 thing important. Separate administration is the people’s voice. We hope that the PM delivers justice,” said Kenedy Haokip, a Churachandpur-based civil society leader. There is subdued excitement about the PM’s visit but it is more among Kukis than Meiteis. Reason: it’s after 4 decades that a PM is visiting the Kuki-dominated Churachandpur. “Our foremost expectation is peace and a clear roadmap for the restoration of normalcy,” said Sonny Chungkham, an Imphal-based independent policy analyst. Robert Singh, also an internally-displaced person, is relying on the PM for resettlement. “Modi ji, please take us to our village,” said Singh, who had a drinking water plant in Moreh. “My life’s savings have got exhausted,” he added. Your thumbprint, their gateway to fraud MP’s identity theft fuels global rackets Police have filed 50 FIRs against 94 PoS operators in 20 districts of MP, arrested 44 people, and seized 100 fake SIMs and seven thumb impression machines in a fortnight. Similar raids are underway in 35 more districts. Five districts—Chhatarpur, Sidhi, Datia, Dindori, and Shivpuri—have emerged as major hotspots, with Sidhi accounting for nearly 1,000 fake SIMs. The Vindhya belt, bordering UP and Chhattisgarh, is the state’s biggest hub. aren’t scanning properly and asked to press repeatedly One . impression activates their card, but duplicates are quietly stored to generate others, later handed to local facilitators and sold to fraud gangs. In another ploy, young men are promised quick cash to bring relatives to PoS outlets under the pretext of registering for a government scheme. Their data, too, is harvested. Nagwanshi warns: “If a PoS insists on scanning your fin- EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Mumbai P R A S A N TA M A Z U M D A R @ Imphal Villagers’ data stolen, used in fake SIMs for int’l cyber frauds A N U R A AG S I N G H @ Bhopal Major scare as plane loses rear wheel, lands safely gerprint multiple times, demand an explanation. This caution can protect your identity from hijacking.” The revelations have surfaced over the past two weeks d u r i n g O p e r a t i o n FA S T (Forged-Activated-SIM-Termination), following alerts from the MHA’s Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C). I4C data recently linked 6,200 complaints nationwide to 7,500 fake SIMs issued by 3,824 PoS outlets in Madhya Pradesh. A SpiceJet Q400 aircraft carrying 75 passengers made a safe emergency landing in Mumbai on Friday after losing a wheel shortly after takeoff from Kandla airport in Gujarat. The aircraft landed at Mumbai airport’s Runway 27 at 3.51 pm with all passengers and crew safe, Mumbai airport operator MIAL said. Operations at the airport were briefly impacted. The flight departed at 2.38 pm against the scheduled time of 1.25 pm from Kandla and landed in Mumbai at 3.51 pm, as per information available on flight tracking website Flightradar24.com. “On September 12, an outer wheel of a SpiceJet Q400 aircraft operating from Kandla to Mumbai was found at the runway after take-off. The aircraft continued its journey to Mumbai and landed safely the air,” line said in a statement. There were 75 passengers onboard the Bombardier Q400 plane, which is used for operating regional flights, officials said. One of the officials said that one rear right wheel of the aircraft was missing. Without naming the airline, MIAL said an aircraft from Kandla made an emergency landing at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport after a technical issue. “A full emergency was declared as a precaution. The aircraft landed safely on Runway 27, and all passengers and crew are safe. Normal operations resumed shortly after,” MIAL said. Only two months ago in July, a window frame of a SpiceJet aircraft to Pune from Goa came off mid-air. EXPRESS READ HC: Remove Sunjay’s sister name from will The battle over late industrialist Sunjay Kapur’s estate took another turn on Friday, with the Delhi High Court directing that his sister Mandhira Kapur’s name be removed from its earlier order in the ongoing dispute over his purported will. | P3 No photography, reels on SC premises The SC has banned photography, creating reels and videography on its main premises, declared as a high security zone. In a circular on Sept 10, the court asked media personnel to conduct interviews and live broadcast at the designated lawn area. ASIA CUP CRICKET At `12L per 10 secs, India-Pakistan match tops advertisers’ bill S W A R O O P S W A M I N AT H A N @ Bengaluru THE Indian cricketing economy continues to remain recession proof. Post the ban on real money gaming, it was looking at a hole but it’s on course to pass its first big test — ad rates for the group-stage encounter between India and Pakistan on Sunday as well as selling all available ad slots for the said game. Over the last few years, advertisements around live coverage of cricket’s marquee properties were fronted by real money gaming firms. But their exit hasn’t affected the market. Media planners have told this daily that the broadcaster, Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI), has sold ‘all ad inventory for the India-Pakistan match’. Ad inventory is basically the total space made available by the broadcaster to the advertisers to purchase. It’s expected that ad rates for the Sunday encounter has been sold for well over `12 lakh for a 10 second slot. With there being the potential of two more matches between the rivals, the interest may only rise. TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE FOR SUNDAY CONTEST While the ad inventory might have been sold off, ticket sales for the India vs Pakistan clash to be played on Sunday do not reflect the same. Per platinumlist, the Asia Cup’s ticketing partner, tickets can still be bought with less than 48 hours to go. Only two classes of tickets have been sold and the premium seats were available at the time of press India captain Suryakumar Yadav and Pakistan skipper Salman Agha | FILE PIC It also kind of paints a picture as there has been intermittent calls of boycotting the game (some Indian brands did actively become part of this post the Pahalgam tragedy in April). But that hasn’t translated into reality as some big companies have come on board. “It’s all a question of visibility,” says Prahlad Kakkar, an advertising guru, whose commercials came to dominate the cricketing ad space in the nineties and naughts. “It’s worth to pay `20 lakh for a 10 second slot for a game between India and Pakistan be- cause everybody is watching it,” he says. “Even your personal cabbie will take time off to watch it. People watch it because it becomes more than a game in their eyes.” Kakkar is of the opinion that this particular game has become bigger than the game because ‘of the sentiment involved’.