eye THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE Keepers of Lost Cities JAIPUR,LATECITY SEPTEMBER22,2024 The science behind the discovery of the Indus Civilisation 12+4PAGES,`6.00 DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA Biden, Modi meet ahead of Quad summit; China, Ukraine, Israel on table Hate-speech FIRs gather dust year after Maharashtra assured SC of action Officers say at least 19 FIRs await govt nod; Fadnavis says moving as per law IN APRIL last year, responding to a petition against alleged hate speech in rallies conducted by Sakal Hindu Samaj (SHS) across Maharashtra, the state government had denied any “lapse” on its part and had assured the Supreme Court that it was taking action in these cases. It listed 25 FIRs registered in JanuaryApril 2023, including 16 related to Samaj rallies. Theaffidavitfiledbythestate said that the DGP had “directed” all Commissioners and SuperintendentsofPolice“to(suo motu) initiate action” as and whenanysuchspeechtookplace. More than a year later, that assurancedoesnotseem tohave gone beyond those FIRs, according to information obtained by The Indian Express, including recordsaccessedundertheRight to Information Act. These show that police are yettofileachargesheetinatleast 19 of the 25 cases, including all CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW E AN XPRESS RTI APPLICATION AWAITING GREEN SIGNAL 19 hate speech FIRs submitted in January-April 2023 await sanction for prosecution from the Maharashtra government. 4: Mira Bhayander Vasai Virar Commissionerate 2: Solapur City 2: Buldhana 2: Nashik City 1 each: Navi Mumbai, Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, Nanded, Pune Rural, Jalna, Latur, Thane City, Mumbai, Ahmednagar BJP counts on PM, and separatists in Valley fray, for Jammu boost MANOJ C G JAMMU, SEPTEMBER 21 FROM JAMMU to Kathua, and from Rajouri to Doda, huge billboards featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi stare at you — contrasting the “situation” in the Jammu division before and after 2014. DECISION 2024 “Ashanti J&K (strife)” before 2014 and “shanti (peace)” now, say some of them. “Nidar (fearless)” has replaced “dar (fear)”, claim others. Hoardings with pictures of the BJP’s candidates are few and far between. The BJP, which created history by winning 25 seats in the Jammu region (out of 37 seats then)inthe2014Assemblyelections, is pulling out all stops to repeat or better its performance in the current Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls being held after 10 years. While relying once again on Modi's popu- Announcements expected on health, maritime security, climate, tech Manoj C G BJP billboards featuring the PM dot the Jammu region. larity, the party is expecting some “help” from the Kashmir Valley, too. Amid J&K faultlines, BJP seizesonseparatistbidsinValley to boost its Jammu game plan The BJP has taken the unprecedentedstepofdenyingtickets to several of its senior leaders and ex-legislators, including former deputy chief ministers NirmalSinghandKavinderGupta besides Sat Sharma. On the ground, issues like CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 White House officials meet Sikh activists, ‘assure more safeguards’ LALIT K JHA WASHINGTON, SEPTEMBER 21 MAKE KEJRIWAL CM AGAIN: CM ATISHI Delhi Chief Minister Atishi seeks blessings from AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal after taking oath of office along with five cabinet ministers, in New Delhi on Saturday. LG Vinai Kumar Saxena was present at the swearing-in. The new CM said: ‘We have only one objective for the elections — to make Arvind Kejriwal the CM of Delhi again.’ ANI Day after SC flags delay, Centre clears appointment of 8 HC CJs EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 21 A DAY after the Supreme Court flagged the issue of pending Judges’ appointments, the Centre on Saturday notified the appointmentof eightHighCourt Chief Justices. These included the Jharkhand HC — the Jharkhand government had filed a contempt petition in the Supreme CourtagainsttheUnionMinistry of LawandJusticeforallegeddelay in clearing the Collegium’s recommendation to transfer Himachal Pradesh HC Chief DECISION 2024 SELJA ABSENCE FROM CONGRESS POLL CAMPAIGN SPARKS BUZZ `1,000 IN ASSETS, BJP’S J&K CHIEF IS AMONG ‘POOREST’ IN FRAY PAGE 4 EXPRESS NETWORK TIRUPATI TEMPLE TIES UP WITH NEW GHEE VENDOR SEARCH ON FOR LEOPARD THAT KILLED 3 PAGES 3, 5 MoS Law Arjun Meghwal Justice M S Ramachandra Rao as theChief Justiceof JharkhandHC. On Friday, while hearing the contempt petition and a PIL whichsoughta“fixedtimelimit” for the Centre to notify the appointment of Judges recommended by the Collegium, the Supreme Court had asked the Centre to submit a status report on the recommendations that the Collegium had reiterated, specifying “what is the difficulty in making those appointments”. The Bench, led by Chief Justiceof IndiaDYChandrachud, had underlined that the Collegium is not a “search committee”. Announcing the appointments on Saturday, Union Minister of State (independent charge)forLawandJusticeArjun Ram Meghwal said in a post on X: “In exercise of the powers conferred by the Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint/ transfer the following Chief Justices of High Courts.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Kerala man in Norway ‘linked’ to pager blasts, family says no contact SHAJU PHILIP THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, SEPTEMBER 21 THE FAMILY of Rinson Jose – a 36-year-old Indian-born entrepreneur and Norwegian citizen, whose name emerged in the investigation surrounding the recent pager explosions in Lebanon — has told The Indian Expresstheyhavenotheardfrom him for the past few days. Jose is the founder of Bulgaria-basedNortaGlobalLtd. According to Reuters, which Rinson Jose, 36, is a Norwegian citizen quoted local media reports, the firm had facilitated the sale of the pagers to Hezbollah. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 @MEAIndia PM Modi with US President Biden in Delaware on Saturday. SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 21 US PRESIDENT Joe Biden welcomedPrimeMinisterNarendra Modi Saturday at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, on the margins and ahead of the 6th EC to visit Jharkhand, Maharashtra to review poll preparations DAMINI NATH NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 21 THE ELECTION Commission will likely visit Jharkhand and Maharashtra next week to review preparations for Assembly elections in the two states, EC sources said Saturday. The panel, comprising Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and Election CommissionersGyaneshKumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, is scheduled to visit Jharkhand on September 23 and September 24, before heading to Maharashtra for a two-day visit onSeptember27andSeptember 28, said the sources. While the Jharkhand Assembly’s term ends on CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Quad summit. This was the eighth time the two have met in person in the last four years and Saturday’s meeting is seen as Biden’s “farewell” Quad as US President. Attending the summit are Japan PM Fumio Kishida and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 WHITE HOUSE officials met a group of Sikh activists to assure them that the US government is committed to protecting Americans from any acts of transnational aggression on its soil, a community leader said. The meeting comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's three-day visit to the US during which he will attend the Quad summit in Delaware and address the ‘Summit of the Future’ at UN General Assembly in New York. Held inside the White House complex Thursday, the meeting was attended by Pritpal Singh of the American Sikh Caucus Committee and representatives from the Sikh Coalition and Sikh American Legal Defence and Education Fund (SALDEF). CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Manipur faultlines deepen, tussle over Unified Command takes centrestage SUKRITA BARUAH JIRIBAM, SEPTEMBER 21 LEAKED INTELLIGENCE reports, a fresh flare-up in violence and, most importantly, the issue of who oversees the Unified Command is behind the relationship between the Manipur government and the state’s security establishment becoming more strained than ever, top security officials and government functionaries have told The Indian Express. The Unified Command is meant to ensure coordination between the different forces present in the state, including the police, Army, Assam Rifles, and the various Central Armed E EXPLAINED MUMBAI, SEPTEMBER 21 FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT WILL DEEPEN INDIA-US PARTNERSHIP: PM NO CHARGESHEET IN MOST CASES MOHAMED THAVER WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM Power ● play THOUGH THE Manipur CM has maintained a studied silence on the issue of the Unified Command, those close to him have been more vocal. With no let up in violence in the state, the demands from within the government might only grow louder. Police Forces. Also tasked with taking key security decisions, it is currently headed by Kuldiep CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 17 yrs on, kidnap victim gives closing argument in own case — as lawyer PAGE 1 ANCHOR MANISH SAHU LUCKNOW, SEPTEMBER 21 ONE EVENING, nearly 17 years ago, seven-year-old Harsh Garg was sitting in the medical shop run by his father and uncle in Kheragarh, around 40 km from Agra. Around 7 pm, a gang of dacoits entered the shop and grabbed Harsh. His father tried to intervene, but was shot in the right shoul- der. Before dragging the boy inside their getaway car, the dacoits instructed the two men to start collecting money in exchange for Harsh’s release. This was on February 10, 2007. CuttoSeptember17thisyear. Harsh, now 24, presented the nearly hour-long closing argument in his kidnapping case — not as a victim, but as a lawyer. Eight of the 14 accused in the case have been awarded life imprisonment by the trial court. Harsh says his regular presence atthe trial, which started in 2015, led to his decision to become a lawyer. In 2022, he got FROM KIDNAPPING TO WINNING COURT CASE FEBRUARY 10, 2007: Harsh Garg, 7, is kidnapped from Agra MARCH 6, 2007: Rescued from Shivpuri district, MP 2007-2008: All 14 accused in the case arrested 2022: Harsh gets law degree SEPTEMBER 17, 2024: Harsh Garg (second from right) with his (from left) uncle Mahesh, father Ravi Kumar and mother Kavita. Express Delivers closing argument in the case. Eight dacoits given life imprisonment his law degree from an Agrabased college. “Withthecourt’spermission, I argued for 55 minutes during the final stage of the case and even responded to the objectionsraisedbythedefencecounsel,” Harsh told The Indian Express,addingthatheappeared in court with the government counsel. Additional District Government Counsel Nahar Singh Tomar said the court sentenced eight of the dacoits to life imprisonment under Sections 364A (kidnapping for ransom), 307 (attempt to murder) and Jaipur 368 (wrongful confinement) of the Indian Penal Code. Most of the eight convicts belong to Rajasthan. Four other accused were acquitted due to lack of evidence, thecounselsaid,addingthattwo other accused died during the trial. Defence counsel Tejender Rajput said he will file an appeal against the judgment. After earning his law degree in 2022, Harsh says he started tracking his kidnapping case closely, including maintaining a detailed record. “I attended every hearing and even started assisting the government coun- sel in the case, including travelling to other states to locate some of the witnesses. I ensured that all witnesses appeared on their scheduled dates. I tracked down retired police personnel and made sure they appeared in court to give their statements,” he says. The courtexamineda totalof 15 prosecution witnesses and one defence witness. Of the prosecution witnesses, seven had retired by the time their statements were recorded. In his testimony, Harsh, the primary victim, told the court CONTINUED ON PAGE 2