DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE SATURDAY, JUNE 15, 2024, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 22 PAGES Delhi L-G sanctions prosecution under UAPA of Arundhati Roy, former professor `6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 MEETS BIDEN, TRUDEAU, OTHERS ON G7 SUMMIT SIDELINES Victory of the entire democratic world: PM to G7 on election win SaxenaactsonFIRlodgedin2010that Pitches India as alleged‘provocativespeechesinpublic’ Global South’s voice, bringing its EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE priorities and NEW DELHI, JUNE 14 FIR over speech on concerns to world DELHI LIEUTENANT Governor J&K in Delhi Vinai Kumar Saxena has sanctionedtheprosecutionofauthoractivist Arundhati Roy and Dr SheikhShowkatHussain,former professorattheCentralUniversity of Kashmir, under Section 45 (1) of the stringent Unlawful Activities(Prevention)Actinconnection with a 2010 FIR over “provocative speeches in public” at a New Delhi auditorium. The FIR, registered on a complaint by social activist Sushil Pandit in 2010, accused Roy and Hussain of delivering provocative speeches at a conference or- auditorium ganized under the banner of ‘Azadi-TheOnlyWay’onOctober 21 that year at the Little Theatre Group (LTG) Auditorium on Copernicus Marg in New Delhi. In October 2023, the Lt Governor granted sanction under Section 196 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) to prosecutetheaccusedfortheoffences of promoting enmity between different groups and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 UAPA bypasses statute of limitations, top court stay on sedition law APURVA VISHWANATH NEW DELHI, JUNE 14 THE INVOCATION of stringent UAPA charges, 14 years after an FIR was first registered against author-activist Arundhati Roy and Dr Sheikh Showkat Hussain,formerprofessor at the Central University of Kashmir, for allegedly “delivering provocative speeches in public”, allows the state to bypass the statute of limitations. InOctoberlastyear,theDelhi LtGovernorhadinthesamecase granted sanction to prosecute Roy and Hussain under IPC sec- tions 153A, 153B and 505. These provisions, the trifecta often invoked to deal with hate speech cases, all carry a maximum sentence of up to three years. However, under Section 468 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, courts are barred from taking cognizance of offences which are brought after an undue delay or after the lapse of ● the period of limitation. The period of limitation, if the offence is punishable with imprisonment for a term exceeding one year but not exceeding three years, is three years under the statute. This EXPLAINED E SWEETY KUMARI KOLKATA, JUNE 14 NEW DELHI, JUNE 14 ALMOST TWO years after IIT Kharagpur student Faizan Ahmedwasfounddeadinahostel room on campus, it has now emerged that he was murdered. A gunshot wound and a stab wound have been found on his neck, according to a report of a forensic expert who conducted a second autopsy of the body on Calcutta High Court’s order. The expert’s analysis along with the second autopsy report were submitted in the court in May this year. The expert is expectedtofilehisfinalreportwhen Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Pope Francis at the G7 Outreach Summit in Apulia, Italy, on Friday. In a post on X, Modi said he invited the Pope to visit India. ANI BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY NEW DELHI, JUNE 14 EIGHT DAYS after they spoke on phone,PrimeMinisterNarendra Modi and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met Friday on the sidelines of the G7 Summit. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Modi said India continues to encouragepeacefulresolutionof the Russia-Ukraine conflict through dialogue and diplomacy, and reiterated that Delhi will continue to do everything within its means to support a peaceful solution. Thetwoleadersweremeeting CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JUNE 14 PAGE 1 ANCHOR Way to peace is through dialogue and diplomacy: PM to Ukraine President SHUBHAJIT ROY SHAJU PHILIP CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Faizan Ahmed REPORTPAGE 14 the court takes up the case for hearing again next week. According to the report prepared by Dr A K Gupta, Faizan’s neck showed signs of a gunshot woundontheupperleftsideand CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PROTEST OVER FLAT ALLOTED TO MUSLIM Kuwait building fire: Tears, grief at home as remains of 46 Indians are returned to India AN INDIAN Air Force aircraft on Friday brought back the remains of the 46 Indians who died in Wednesday’s fire at an apartment building in Kuwait. The aircraft first landed at Kochi airport, where the bodies of the23victimsfromKeralaand seven from Tamil Nadu were brought out. The remains of the others were flown to Delhi by the same aircraft. At Kochi airport, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his Cabinet colleagues, Opposition Death of student at IIT Kharagpur was not suicide, autopsy confirms murder Gunshot, stab wounds found on neck of 23-yr-old from Tinsukia in Assam SHUBHAJIT ROY PRIMEMINISTERNarendraModi met US President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in pull-aside meetings Friday on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Apulia, Italy. This was their first meeting since the G20 Summit in New Delhi last year andallegationsof theIndiangovernment’sinvolvementinassassinationplotsof Khalistaniseparatists in the US and Canada. On his meeting with the US President, Modi, in a post on X, said it’s “always a pleasure to meet”Biden.“IndiaandUSAwill keepworkingtogethertofurther global good,” he said. US NSA Jake Sullivan is expected in New Delhi early next weektoironoutdifferencesover the alleged assassination plot against a Khalistan separatist, and move forward in bilateral relations. OnhismeetingwithTrudeau, it was a cryptic one line with a photograph of the two leaders shaking hands, “Met Canadian PM @JustinTrudeau at the G7 Summit,” Modi said in his post. Hoursbeforethesemeetings, Modi showcased the scale of Indian elections as “the biggest festival of democracy in the world”, and framed his “historic victory” as a “victory of democracy” and “victory of the entire democratic world”. This is an important framing, WAS FOUND DEAD IN HOSTEL IN OCT 2022 SAYS STRUCTURE WILL BE REMOVED Collector: Swaminarayan temple under construction in Morbi encroached land GOPAL KATESHIYA RAJKOT, JUNE 14 In Ernakulam, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan and others pay last respects to the Indians who died in the Kuwait fire incident on June 12 . ANI THE UNDER-CONSTRUCTION Swaminarayan temple in Morbi has “prima facie encroached on an adjoining plot of land” on the bank of Machchhu river, District Collector KB Jhaveri said on Friday,addingthattheencroachment will be removed. The remarks come days after the civic body in Morbi served a demolition notice amid claims that the construction of the temple near the Jhulto Pul collapse site was constricting the course of the river, which can spell disaster in the event of a flood. Briefing reporters on Friday, the Collector said that a multidisciplinary team – constituted to conduct a joint enquiry into the complaints of alleged encroachment on the river bed – has submitted its report. Speaking with The Indian Express, the Collector said that they are ascertaining details of the land surrounding the site where the temple is being constructed.“Primafacie,theunderconstructiontempleprecincthas encroached on the nearby land. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ‘Let her file petition... not a public interest matter’: Gujarat HC refuses to take suo motu cognizance Disturbed Areas Act doesn’t apply to govt housing schemes, says Collector ADITI RAJA & SOHINI GHOSH VADODARA, AHMEDABAD JUNE 14 THE GUJARAT High Court on Friday refused to take suo motu cognisance of a report by The IndianExpressonprotestsbyresidents in a low-income group (LIG) housing complex in Vadodara over the allotment of a flattoaMuslimwoman.Itis"not apublicinterestmatter",theHigh Court said, adding that the allottee could file her own petition. Meanwhile,VadodaraCollectorBMShahtoldTheIndianExpress that the Disturbed Areas Act would not apply to government housing schemes and hence, the complaints of the residents cannotbeupheldduetothenatureof the government scheme. TheIndianExpressreportpublished on Friday highlighted that the woman, employed with an arm of the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Skill Development,wasallottedtheflat inHarniundertheMukhyamantri Awas Yojana in 2017. Referringtothereport,Gujarat HighCourtAdvocatesAssociation president Brijesh Trivedi requested the court of Chief Justice SunitaAgarwalandJusticePranav Trivedi to take suo motu cognisance of the protests. The court, The Motnath Residency in Vadodara. Bhupendra Rana however, denied the request. While mentioning The Indian Express report in the High Court, Trivedi said, “Now the officials of (Vadodara) Municipal Corporationaresayingthatthiscanonly be decided by (the) court... we (VMC) will not interfere.” Chief Justice Agarwal, however,remarked,“She(theMuslim woman)canfileherownpetition. She is competent, let her come... we’llpassorders.Ifthepossession (oftheflat)isnotgivenafterallotment, she can come. We are not sensitising every issue. A person whoserightisbeingviolated...she hasaremedy.Itisnotapublicinterest matter.” The woman is the only Muslim allottee under the government scheme. Even before she could move in, The Indian Express report highlighted, 33 residentsof thehousingcomplex CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 More students and women emigrating from Kerala, survey reveals SHAJU PHILIP THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JUNE 14 SIGNIFICANTRISEinstudentmigration,indicationsof saturation in international migration, increase in the number of returning emigrants, growth in female emigration and surge in remittance to Kerala after the Covid19 pandemic are some of the highlights of the Kerala Migration Survey (KMS) 2023. The report of the KMS-2023, by the International Institute of Migration and Development (IIMAD)-Thiruvananthapuram, waspresentedFridayattheLoka KeralaSabha,aneventhostedby the state government of Kerala to bring Malayali diaspora living around the globe. Thestudysaidthenumberof emigrants from Kerala is estimated to be 2.2 million, closely aligning with the 2.1 million recorded in the KMS 2018. This stability in international migration over the last five years is interesting given the overall de- clining trend observed over the past decade in the previous rounds of KMS. The global Malayali diaspora is estimated to be 5 million, whereas the Malayali diaspora outside Kerala but within India is estimated at 3 million. Although there is a slight increase of 32,388 emigrants in 2023, 9 out of the 14 districts in Kerala observed a considerable decline in the number of emigrants when compared to 2018, indicating a saturation of international migration. Despite ex- The global Malayali diaspora is estimated to be 5 million. File pectations of a further decline in this round of KMS, a significant rise in student emigration has substantially contributed to maintaining emigration levels. The survey said the number of student emigrations has doubled from 129,763 in 2018 to about250,000in2023.“Thisnotableincreaseinstudentemigration underscores a significant shiftinthedemographicsof emigrants from Kerala, wherein there has been an increase in the number of emigrants leaving at a very young age, as early as 17 years,” said the report. The KMS 2023 shows that students constitute 11.3 percent of total emigrants from Kerala, indicating that a growing number of younger individuals are choosing to emigrate, particularly for education abroad. Theproportionoffemaleemigrants increased from 15.8 per cent in 2018 to 19.1 per cent in 2023. Female migration has further seen a shift from GCC countriestoEuropeandotherWestern nations as destination countries, accounting for 40.5 per cent. The number of emigrants who have returned home is estimated to be 1.8 million, a significantincreasefrom1.2million in 2018. This increase over the lastfewyearshadbeenexpected duetotheglobalhealthcrisis-induced economic disruptions, stricter immigration policies, and a significant reduction in available job opportunities. According to KMS 2023, the total remittances to Kerala saw a significant surge after the pandemic,touchingRs2,16,893crore CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ahmedabad