DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE FRIDAY, JUNE 28, 2024, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES BY UNNY Blinken: Rise in hate speech, laws against conversion in India a concern US Secretary of State Antony Blinken DIVYA A NEW DELHI, JUNE 27 RELEASING THE 2023 Report on International ReligiousFreedom on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken flagged a “concerning increase” in anticonversion laws, hate speech, and demolitions of homes and places of worship belonging to minority communities in India. “Today,governmentsaround the world continue to target individuals, shutter places of worship, forcibly displace communities and imprison people because of their religious beliefs,” Blinken said. He said that even in the US, reports of hate crimes and incidents targeting Muslims and Jews have increased dramatically. “In India, we see a concerning increase in anti-conversion laws, hate speech, demolitions of homes and places of worship for members of minority faith communities,” he said. “At the same time, people around the world are also working hard to protect religious freedom,” he added. The annual publication brought out by the US State Department tracks threats to religious freedom in almost 200 countries. While releasing the report, Rashad Hussain, Ambassador at Large, Office of International Religious Freedom, US State Department, said it also documents cases where violence is CONTINUEDONPAGE2 ADDRESS TO JOINT SITTING OF PARLIAMENT ‘SEXUAL ASSAULT OF MINOR GIRL’ ‘Emergency darkest chapter of direct attack on Constitution’ APURVA VISHWANATH Mandate for strong & decisive govt, historic steps this Budget: President VIKAS PATHAK NEW DELHI, JUNE 27 UNDERLINING THAT the Lok Sabha election mandate was for a “strong and decisive government” to ensure that the “work of making India a developed nation continues uninterrupted”, President DroupadiMurmu said Thursday that the Union Budget next month will see “many historic steps” along with “major economic and social decisions”. Reflecting the views of the new government in her address to the joint sitting of Parliament, the President said, “The pace of reforms will be further accelerated in tune with the aspirations of people of India for rapid development.” Her speech addressed the imperatives of politics and governance astheNDA coalitionbegan its third consecutive term in office with the BJP no longer in majorityonitsowninLokSabha. It also echoed the government’s counter to the Congressled Opposition’s election campaign of a threat to the Constitutionif theBJPweretoreturn to power. Recalling the Emergencyimposed in June 1975 when the Congress government of Indira Gandhi was in power, the President called it the “biggest and darkest chapter of direct attack on the Constitution”. “TheConstitutionof Indiahas CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NEW DELHI, JUNE 27 IN A departure from the BJP's last two governments, Union AgricultureMinisterShivrajSingh Chouhanissettoholdone-on-one meetings with state agriculture ministers, beginning with ChhattisgarhandAssamonJuly1. The Agriculture Ministry is learnttohavewrittentothestate ministers, inviting them for the consultations on issues related tothefarmsector.Thestateministershavebeenaskedtoprepare Former Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa President Droupadi Murmu, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju at Parliament House complex on Thursday. PTI INPARLIAMENT,PAGE11 1998, 2019, 2024 How 3 NDA speeches framed Constitution, coalition and mandate VIKAS PATHAK NEW DELHI, JUNE 27 E PRESIDENT DROUPADI Murmu's address ● to Parliament Thursday was a strong assertion of continuity that the next five years would build on the previous ten. Without referring to allies, the speech flagged the “clear majority”tothegovernmentforathird term on the back of a “decisive mandate” and invoked the “unstable” (read coalition) governments of the past. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 LS will have Dy Speaker, talks soon to decide if post with NDA or Opp LIZ MATHEW NEW DELHI, JUNE 27 THE 18TH Lok Sabha will have a Deputy Speaker, a source in the government said Thursday. “There will be a Deputy Speaker in this House. But it has not yet been decided if the post should be offered to the OppositionorNDAalliesorif the BJP should keep it. There will be discussionsonit,”thesourcesaid. The Congress has been demandingthattheDeputySpeaker post go to the Opposition. In the 17th Lok Sabha, the post remained vacant while in 2014,AIADMK’sMThambiDurai was Deputy Speaker. During the Congress-led UPA’s two terms, the post was offered to the BJP THE CRIMINAL Investigation Department (CID) of the Karnataka Police on Thursday filed a chargesheet against former chief minister and senior BJP leader B S Yediyurappa in connection with allegations of sexually assaulting a minor. The 81-year-old former CM has been charged under Section 8 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, which prescribes punishment for sexual assault of a minor. The law provides for a mandatory minimum sentence of three years which can be extended up to five years in jail. Additionally, Yediyurappa also faces charges under the IndianPenalCodeSections354A (sexual harassment), 204 (destruction of evidence) and 214 (offering gift or restoration of property in consideration of screening offender). Three of the former CM's associates, Arun Y M, Rudresh M andYMariswamy,havealsobeen accused under IPC Sections 204 and 214 for allegedly destroying evidence of a video recorded by the minor's mother of her confrontation with Yediyurappa after the alleged incident. In a police complaint filed on March14,theminor'smotheralleged that the incident occurred when she and her daughter visited Yediyurappa's residence on February2,2024,forhelpinseeking justice in an earlier case of alleged sexual assault by a relative on the girl. A police case was registered, and the case was transferred to the CID on March 15. The chargesheet, filed in a fast-track court designated for POCSOcases,comesadaybefore the Karnataka High Court is set to hear Yediyurappa's petitions seeking anticipatory bail and quashing of the FIR against him. The minor’s family has also filed a fresh plea in the HC alleging that the CID investigation was not moving fast enough. Boththecasesareexpectedtobe taken up together on Friday. AtthelasthearingonJune14, the HC had directed the CID not to take any “coercive steps”. “He isnoTom,DickorHarry.Heisnot a bandicoot. He is the former chief minister of the state. Is it your case that he will flee away from the country by going to Delhi? So many things are taking shape in the political arena. He will come back. What is it that he will be able to do going CONTINUEDONPAGE2 THE WORLD RUSSIA CONSIDERS DOWNGRADING OF RELATIONS WITH WEST: KREMLIN CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PAGE 13 HARNI BOAT CAPSIZE CASE Effort to protect VMC commissioner, HC on committee report After objections, para SOHINI GHOSH AHMEDABAD, JUNE 27 THE GUJARAT High Court on Thursdayexpresseditsdispleasure over a report filed by a committee headed by the principal secretary (Urban Development), which gave a clean chit to the commissioner of the Vadodara In shift, Chouhan to hold meetings with state farm ministers HARIKISHAN SHARMA Karnataka CID files chargesheet against ex-CM Yediyurappa under POCSO Act NEW DELHI, JUNE 27 EXPLAINED BUSINESS AS USUAL `5.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan PowerPoint presentations and share their views and suggestions on the situation of farmers and agriculture in their states, said sources. InthefirstroundonJuly1,the agriculture ministers of Chhattisgarh and Assam will CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Municipal Commission (VMC), who had approved the development of Harni lake in the city by Kotia Projects. Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Pranav Trivedi were hearing a suo motu public interest litigation instituted in the aftermath of the boat capsize at HarnilakeonJanuary19duringa schoolpicnic,leadingtothedeath The boat capsize killed 12 students, two teachers. File of 12 students and two teachers. ThecourthaddirectedinApril thataninquirybeconductedbya committee into the role of the municipalcommissionerafterthe court had prima facie observed that the commissioner was “instrumental”in“illegally”granting a contract to Kotia Projects to run and develop the lake. On Thursday, the state sub- mitted the inquiry report in a sealed cover to the bench. Reading out parts of it, CJ Agarwal said, “It is a kind of report which is where there is an effort to protect the municipal commissioner... the committee finds fault and then sidelines the role of the municipal commissioner. The committee says that CONTINUEDONPAGE2 Hindi names to FIR leeway: Karnataka lists incongruous provisions in report INSIDE KIRAN PARASHAR & ARUN JANARDHANAN NEET PAPER ‘LEAK’: INDIA BLOC TO SEEK DISCUSSION IN PARLIAMENT CBI RECORDS STATEMENTS IN GODHRA PAGES 11, 4 GUJARAT GAME ZONE FIRE: RMC SUSPENDS FIRE CHIEF PAGE 3 BENGALURU, CHENNAI, JUNE 27 FROM NAMING the three new laws in Hindi; not making rape gender neutral; introducing community service as a punishment without defining it; allowing a police officer 14 days to make a preliminary investigation before registering an FIR – the Karnataka government flagged key issues on the new criminal code to the Centre. “Whileappreciatingtheneed for de-colonisation, the content in therevised Billmerely reflects tokenismandad-hocism,”anex- NEW CRIMINAL CODE THE COUNTDOWN pert committee headed by KarnatakaLawMinisterHKPatil recommended to the Centre. The 88-page report lists various provisions which it deems incongruous. The report was submitted to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on October 17, 2023 after which it was for- warded to the Home Ministry. While criminal law, including all matters included in the Indian Penal Code is part of the Concurrent List under the Constitution, since law and order is a state subject, states will play a key role in the implementation of the new Sanhitas. Separately, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee have written to Union HomeMinisterAmitShah,seeking deferral of the implementationof thethreenewlaws.Asper a notification in the official gazette, the three laws are set to come to force on July 1. “The replacement of the… CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 on Buddhism revised in Gujarat’s Class XII Sociology textbook PARIMAL DABHI GANDHINAGAR, JUNE 27 FOLLOWING OBJECTIONS by Buddhistsandtheirorganisations over alleged false depiction of BuddhisminaClassXIISociology textbook issued by the Gujarat State Board of School Textbooks (GSBST), the latter has replaced the“controversial”paragraphand instructed all district education officers to ensure that students are taught the revised one. The Buddhists had objected to the textbook’s claims that the religion has two levels — upper levelcomprisingelitesandlower level comprising marginal groups — its religious teacher is known as 'Lama', and that it believes in reincarnation, among others. In this regard, the GSBST on Wednesday issued a circular – a copy of which is available with The Indian Express – which has beensenttoalldistricteducation officersalongwiththenewpara- graph in Gujarati, English, Hindi, Marathi and Urdu. A senior official said that while the circular has been put up on the GSBST website, the Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB) has also been asked to publish the same in its widely circulated magazine Shikshan Parikshan. The official added that the revised paragraph has been finalised after discussion with Buddhist community representatives and the authors attached with GSBST. The controversial paragraph was part of a chapter on 'Indian Culture and Community' in the Class XII textbook. A sub-section of the chapter deals with eight religious communities residing in India, people following Buddhism being one of them. The paragraph read, “Like Sikhs, the portion of the followers of Buddhism is also meager in India. Most of them live in Maharashtra. They also reside in CONTINUEDONPAGE2 Tracked from UK, GPS device under Haryana INLD chief’s car led to murder PAGE 1 ANCHOR SUKHBIR SIWACH CHANDIGARH, JUNE 27 ANAMEuttered during aninterrogation in March this year — that of wanted gangster Kapil Sangwan — was the first clue that there was more to the murder of Haryana Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) chief and former MLANafe Singh Rathee thaninitiallyassumed.Nafewasgunned downinsidehis sportsutility vehicle (SUV) in Haryana’s Bahadurgarh on February 25. Theassumption provedto be spot on, says the chargesheet submitted in a CBI court in PanchkulaonMay30.According to the chargesheet, Kapil, one of Delhi’s most wanted gangsters who is currently suspected to be hiding in the United Kingdom, allegedly tracked Nafe’s vehicle for days before his murder with thehelpof aportableGPSdevice that was attached magnetically to his Toyota Fortuner’s stepney (located under the car). The investigation so far by theCBI, whichtook overthecase on March 5, revealed that Nafe’s shooters followed his car for Haryana INLD chief Nafe Singh Rathee three days, allegedly based on GPSinformationsharedbyKapil. The probe also states that the shooters stayed in touch with Kapil over Signal, Facebook and WhatsApp for three months to plan the murder. While the chargesheet does not mention who fitted the GPS tracker on the SUV, it states that the device was purchased by an The spot where Nafe Singh Rathee was gunned down in Haryana’s Bahadurgarh on February 25. Manoj Dhaka “unknown person” from a shop named “Music Car” in Delhi’s DwarkaonFebruary7.Theprobe has also revealed that a fake Aadhaar card in the name of a Bihar resident was used to activate the device. From February 8 to March 2, the probe has revealed, Kapil logged in to view the GPS location of Nafe’s vehicle from a UK-based IP address (the unique identifying number assigned to every device connected to the Internet). Whilethechargesheetnames fourNationalCapitalRegionresidents — Aashish, Sachin, Atul and Nakul — as the politician’s shooters, Dharmender from Rohtak and Amit Gulia from Delhi stand accused of conspiring with Kapil to murder Nafe. While Ashish, Sachin and Dharmenderareincustody,Amit wasalreadyinaDelhijailinconnection with another case. Speaking to The Indian Express, Nafe’s son Jitender Rathee said, “The police told me thatamagneticGPSdevice—the size of nearly two power banks — was attached to the car’s stepney. The magnetic device was probably attached while standing behind or next to the SUV.” Shooters Sachin and Ashish, who were arrested from Goa on March 4, told the Haryana Police’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) that “they killed the former MLA (Nafe) on Kapil Sangwan's directions”. Their interrogation led to the police learning about Kapil’s alleged involvement in the murder and the existence of the GPS device. Nafe's vehicle was then taken to a Toyota agency in Bahadurgarh for inspection, which led to the recovery of the portabledevice.Thechargesheet does not mention the date on which the devicewas recovered. AccordingtotheCBI,theconspiracy to murder Nafe was hatched in November 2023 but CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ahmedabad