DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2024, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES `5.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 Modi Sarkar ki Guarantee Government of india Prosperity of farmers Scan for more information Hamara Sankalp Viksit Bharat CBC 22201/13/0205/2324 1 lakh 25 thousand PM Kisan Samriddhi Kendras developed as one stop shop; Farmers are getting modern facilities and information close to home Kheda flogging: DAY AFTER CONSECRATION, RAM TEMPLE OPENS TO PUBLIC Power to tie people to poles under what law, SC asks cops BJP BID TO BLUNT JD(U)-RJD SOCIAL JUSTICE PITCH EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE PATNA, NEW DELHI, JAN 23 NEW DELHI, JANUARY 23 THESUPREMECourtonTuesday asked the four Gujarat Police personnel sentenced over the public flogging of Muslim men in Gujarat’s Kheda district in 2022,from where they drew the authority to tie people to poles and beat them up. “Soyouhaveanauthorityunderlawtotiepeopletopolesand beat them?” asked Justice B R Gavai, presiding over a twojudge bench hearing an appeal by the four police personnel. The four policemen — A V Parmar, D B Kumavat, Laxmansinh Kanaksinh Dabhi andRajubhaiDabhi—havechallenged an October 14, 2023 order of the Gujarat High Court sentencing them to 14 days imprisonment for alleged contempt of court for violating the guidelines laid out in the D K Basu judgment on the conduct of policemen when taking custody of accused. The HC had stayed the execution of its order for three months to enable the policemen to appeal.. The SC bench, also comprising Justice Sandeep Mehta, admittedthepolicemen’sstatutory appeal and stayed the contempt proceedings before the HC. But, making the court’s displeasure evident, Justice Mehta remarked: “What kind of atrocities!…Tying the people to poles, beating them in public view.” According to a police complaint,aroundmidnightOctober 3, 2022, a mob of 150-200 people allegedly attacked a garba event at Undhela village by pelting stones in a Swaminarayan temple and “hurting religious sentiments”. Seven persons, including a policeman, were injured in the incident. Videos surfaced on social mediaof thepolicepubliclyfloggingseveral of the detainedmen thenextdayatthevillagesquare, holding them against an electric CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE WORLD Five lakh visitors and counting: On Day 1, rush for ‘first darshan’ CM takes stock; system being put in place to have a holding area for crowd, says DGP AYODHYA, JANUARY 23 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 A crowd at the main gateway leading to the Ram temple in Ayodhya on Tuesday. Vishal Srivastav also at the temple and could be seen trying to ensure a smooth flow of pilgrims. At 4.40 pm, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath reached the temple town. He first did an aerial survey of the crowd from a helicopter and then reached the temple to take stock. “Exercise restraint and cooperate, Ram Lalla will give darshan to everyone,” the CM said OUR GOVT WALKED ON HISPATH BY NARENDRA MODI P11 Two days after communal clash, 15 shops demolished in Mumbai suburb ZEESHAN SHAIKH, VIJAY YADAV & SIVA GANESH MUMBAI, JANUARY 23 TWO DAYS after a clash broke out between members of two communitiesinMiraBhayander, a city in Maharashtra’s Thane district, the Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation used bulldozers Tuesday afternoon to demolish about 15 structures in After the demolitions at Mira Road in Thane district on Tuesday. Sankhadeep Banerjee the Muslim-dominated Haidary Chowk area in Mira Road. Thepolicepickedup15more persons Tuesday, in addition to 13 who were held the previous day. Of these 13, nine were arrested; four were minors. On Sunday night, a group passing by in vehicles with saffron flags and chanting “Jai Shri Ram”,wasstoppedbysomelocal peoplefromanothercommunity. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Developer had ‘no permit’ to deploy motor boats at Harni lake: Documents ADITI RAJA VADODARA, JANUARY 23 THECONDITIONSoftheMemorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the Vadodara MunicipalCorporation(VMC)and M/s Kotia Projects for the development of the Harni Motnath Lake on a public-private partnership(PPP)basisdidnotpermitthe developer to deploy motorised boatsforthepurposeofentertain- ment in the boating facility, The Indian Express has learnt. Accordingtothe MoUsigned between the then VMC Commissioner and Binit Kotia, the owner of M/s Kotia Projects, in July 2017, the developer was only supposed to operate "peddle-boatingwith aseparatejetty for lifeguards" — a vital 'covenant' that was evidently violated by deployment of motorised boats and absence of life guards and other safety equip- mentthatresultedinthetragedy that killed 12 students and two teachers last week. Laying down conditions and specifications,includingmandatory "life-guard's jetty for surveillance and security", for the execution of the project, the MoU states, "It is agreed by the developer to develop the Harni Motnath lake on PPP mode for controlled entry and exit points, appropriate parking areas for CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Rahul, others booked over scuffle after police stop yatra in Assam GUWAHATI, JANUARY 23 PAGE 13 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BY UNNY Karpoori Thakur. Archive BY EVOKING former Bihar Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur just months before the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP has sought to counter the Opposition's caste census pitch, and made a direct appeal to the non-Yadav OBC politics that Nitish Kumar has come to represent. OWNER OF M/S KOTIA PROJECTS ARRESTED SUKRITA BARUAH ISRAEL SEES DAILY LOSSES IN GAZA; U.S., U.K. BOMB HOUTHIS AGAIN CHINA ASSURES PAK SUPPORT TO DEFEND SOVEREIGNTY AFTER IRAN’S AIRSTRIKES in an appeal to pilgrims. He also called senior police and administrative officers and held a review of crowd management efforts on the premises. The administration, on the instructions of the CM, will increase barricading, officials said. Later, Director General of Police Vijay Kumar said, “A system is being put in place to have BUSINESS AS USUAL Behind the move SANTOSH SINGH & VIKAS PATHAK SOCIALIST ICON and Bihar’s former Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur has been awarded the Bharat Ratna posthumously, the Rashtrapati Bhavan announced Tuesday. The BJP-led Centre’s decision to confer the country’s highest civilianhonouronThakurcomes at a time when Bihar is MAULSHREE SETH AYODHYAWOKE upon Tuesday morning to a sea of people at the gates of the Ram temple, with queues beginning to form as earlyas3am.Thelargerthananticipated crowd prompted the administration to hold urgent meetings and the Chief Minister to personally pay a visit. By evening, around 5 lakh peoplehadpaidobeisancetothe Ram idol, a day after the consecration ceremony. Around 8,000 security personnel have been deployed to manage the rush. On Day 1, PrincipalSecretary(Home)Sanjay PrasadandDirectorGeneral(Law andOrder)PrashantKumarwere Bharat Ratna for ex-Bihar CM, ‘Jan Nayak’ Karpoori Thakur AN FIR was registered against RahulGandhiandotherCongress leadersonTuesdayafterascuffle brokeoutbetweenpeopletaking partintheBharatJodoNyayYatra andAssamPolicewhentheyatra tried to enter Guwahati city. Several people were injured, including Congress’s Assam chief Bhupen Borah. “With reference to wanton acts of violence, provocation, Rahul Gandhi in Guwahati on Tuesday. PTI damage to public property and assaultonpolicepersonneltoday byCongressmembers,anFIRhas been registered against Rahul Gandhi,KCVenugopal,Kanhaiya Kumar and other individuals,” Chief Minister Himanta Biswa SarmasaidinapostonX.TheFIR was filed under several IPC sections, including those dealing withcriminalconspiracy,unlawful assembly, and rioting. Sarma had earlier said that he instructed police to register a case against Rahul Gandhi for CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 9 chemo rounds and 5 yrs later, boy fights back cancer, meets his hero — Salman PAGE 1 ANCHOR RUPSA CHAKRABORTY MUMBAI, JANUARY 23 ASHElayinbedatMumbai’sTata Memorial Centre in 2018, weak afteraroundof chemotherapyto treatatumourthathadrendered himvisuallyimpaired,Jaganbeer, 4, refused to believe that actor Salman Khan was sitting next to him,onhishospitalbed.Untilhe ran his little fingers first over the actor's chiselled face and then, Khan's bracelet. Jaganbeer, 9, with Salman Khan at the actor’s bungalow in Bandra, Mumbai, in December last year. Tata Hospital During their 30-minute meeting, Salman made Jaganbeerapromise:theywould meet again if he fought cancer like a champion. Five years later, both Salman and Jaganbeer kept their word. Inaheartwarmingreunionat the actor’s Bandra house in Decemberlastyear,Jaganbeer,9, laid his eyes on Salman for the first time after he was declared cancer-free following nine rounds of chemotherapy and four of radiation. His mother Sukhbir Kaur, 42, said Jaganbeer was a little over three years old when he lost his CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ahmedabad