eye THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE Life of Paps Paparazzi are everywhere the celebrity is. Their thriving business is now changing the rules of engagement between the two. AHMEDABAD,LATECITY OCTOBER13,2024 12+4PAGES,`6.00 DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA INDIA 2ND LARGEST CONTINGENT As UN peacekeepers come under fire, India backs joint statement against Israeli action SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 12 A DAY after it expressed concern over the deteriorating security situation along the IsraelLebanon border, India Saturday joined the troop-contributing countries in the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and aligned itself against Israeli military’s action that has wounded two UN peacekeepers in Lebanon. The Permanent Mission of India at the UN in New York, in a postonX,said:“AsamajorTroop Contributing Country, India aligns itself fully with the joint statement issued by the 34 UNIFIL troop contributing countries. Safety and security of peacekeepers are of paramount importance and must be ensured in accordance with extant UNSC Resolutions.” Two UN peacekeepers from Sri Lanka were wounded in an Israeli strike Friday near their watchtower in Naqoura in south Lebanon, Israel’s military said, while blasts shook the peacekeepers’ main base in the area THE WORLD NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 12 THE NATIONAL Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has written to the chief secretariesof allstatesandUnion territories recommending that madrasa boards be “discontinued and closed down”, state funding to madrasas and madrasa boards be stopped, and children attending madrasas be enrolled in “formal schools.” Reach out to Dalits, friendships forge harmony, says RSS chief ‘Deep State’, ‘wokeism’ fanning victimhood and fear, says Bhagwat NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 12 for the second time in 48 hours as Israeli forces battled the Hezbollah. The UNIFIL force called it a “serious development” and said thesecurityof UNpersonneland property must be guaranteed. The force has more than 10,000 peacekeepers from dozens of countries, and Indian troops account for the second largest number with about 900 personnel serving there. The joint statement by the troop contributing countries “stronglycondemned”theattacks on the UNIFIL peacekeepers and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Child rights panel to states: Stop funding, shut down madrasas ABHINAYA HARIGOVIND DUSSEHRA SPEECH AT SANGH HEADQUARTERS IN NAGPUR DEEPTIMAN TIWARY ISRAEL BOMBS GAZA, UN PEACEKEEPERS IN LEBANON ARE HIT AGAIN PAGE 10 WhileCongresssaiditwould comment after reading the letter, the party’s Cabinet Minister for Electronics, IT, Biotech, Rural Development and Panchayati RajinKarnataka,said,acommission should ideally give remedies than to ask states to stop funding and shut down madrasas. “And it is so ironic to see this development days after Maharashtra government decide to triple the salaries of madrasa teachers,” he told CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM CLAIMING THAT a “Deep State” was at work to divide the nation on caste and community lines and that some political parties were helping it for their “selfish interests”, RSS chief Mohan BhagwatSaturdayurged“Hindu society” to overcome caste differences and reach out to Dalits and weaker sections. “Our diversity has become such that we have even divided our saints and deities. Why should Valmiki Jayanti be celebrated only in Valmiki colony? Valmiki wrote Ramayana for the entire Hindu society. So, all should celebrate Valmiki Jayanti and Ravidas Jayanti together. All festivalsshouldbecelebratedtogether by the entire Hindu society. We will go to the society with this message,” Bhagwat said delivering his annual RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat at the Sangh’s Vijayadashami event in Nagpur on Saturday. Deepak Joshi VijayadashamispeechattheRSS headquarters in Nagpur. The RSS chief said that the first condition for a healthy and able society is social harmony andmutualgoodwillamongdifferentsections.“Thistaskcannot be accomplished by merely organising some symbolic programmes. In all sections of society, there should be friendship between individuals and families. Wherever I go and where I work, I should have friends among all kinds of people. Languages can be diverse, cultures can be diverse, food can be diverse, but this friendship of CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Nine labourers killed in wall collapse in Mehsana, PM condoles deaths AHMEDABAD, OCTOBER 12 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 In run-up to polls, NCP leader Baba Siddiqui shot dead in Mumbai, 2 held VIJAY KUMAR YADAV INSIDE NATIONALIST CONGRESS Party (Ajit Pawar faction) leader and three-time MLA Baba Siddiqui was shot dead by three unidentified assailants in Bandra East on Saturday evening. The shooting occurred on a day when the citypolicewereonhighalertdue to two annual Dussehra rallies held by the Shiv Sena. Siddiqui, 66, sustained multiple serious injuries and was rushed to Lilavati Hospital, where he was pronounced dead during treatment. He was electedasaCongressMLAthrice and represented the Bandra FROM LOWEST RUNG OF CONG TO CREAM OF BOLLYWOOD P7 MUMBAI, OCTOBER 12 West constituency from 1999 until 2014; he served as a minister in the Congress-NCP government from 2004 to 2008. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Acquitted after 10 years in jail over Maoist link charge, G N Saibaba dies EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NINE LABOURERS died and one was rescued in Gujarat’s Mehsana on Saturday following a wall collapse, which was triggered when soil caved in at a construction site, said officials, addingthattherescueoperation went on for two hours. The labourer who had a close shave was treated for minor injuries. Mehsana Police said that they had initiated the process to file an FIR in the matter. The labourers had dug a 16foot deep pit for a tank at the construction site in Jasalpur village of Kadi town when the incident took place. Inspector PL Vaghela of Kadi police station said, “Nine people have been confirmed dead while one person was rescued from the site.” “A rescue operation was carriedoutforaroundtwohours FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT VIDHEESHA KUNTAMALLA & SREENIVAS JANYALA NEW DELHI, HYDERABAD, OCTOBER 12 PRESIDENT, PM MARK DUSSEHRA President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi during Dussehra celebrations in New Delhi on Saturday. Praveen Khanna FORMER DELHI University professor G N Saibaba, who spent a decade in prison over alleged Maoists links before being acquitted earlier this year, passed away late Saturday evening. The 57-year-old died followingpost-operativecomplications afterundergoingsurgeryforgallbladder stones. The wheelchairbound Saibaba had been undergoing treatment at Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences in Hyderabad,wherehewasadmitted 10 days ago due to ill health. His aides said he suffered a heart attack around 8 pm and 57-yr-old Saibaba, a former DU professor, was released in March. Abhinav Saha/file was declared dead at 8:30 pm. Aformerprofessorof English, Saibaba was acquitted by the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 A ‘revenge’ cake lands DJ in Sharjah jail for 25 years, his family wages lonely battle PAGE 1 ANCHOR MOHAMED THAVER MUMBAI, OCTOBER 12 IN DECEMBER 2023, as he sat across a table at Sharjah Central Jail during a visit, Clayton Rodrigues, 37, peered at his younger brother Malcolm’s feet. “I am just checking to see if you are wearing the shoes I had purchased. Don’t start wearing my new clothes, haan, in my absence. I will wear them once I return,” Malcom quotes his brother as saying. The joke and the loud guffaw that followed were typical of his brother, Malcom says, something that instantly lifted the stressoff themost nerve-wracking of situations. For nearly 20 months now, sinceFebruary2023,Claytonhas been languishing in a Sharjah jail, allegedly framed in a drugs case by Mumbai-based baker Anthony Paul. On April 1, 2023, actor Chrisann Pereira, also allegedly framed by Paul, was arrested in Sharjah. Though the Indian government managed to secureherreturninAugust2023 — she spent three weeks in a Sharjahjail—sincehercasehadn’t gone to court, Clayton was already convicted by then. WhilePaul,whowasarrested in April 2023, was released on bail on September 24 by the Bombay High Court, Clayton is serving a 25-year term given to him by a local Sharjah court in June 2023. Having lost an appeal in the Sharjah High Court in November 2023, Clayton’s only shotatfreedomnowisahearing before the Supreme Court there. When she is not juggling a 9to-5 job, taking care of their daughter, 11, and her paralysed father-in-law, 73, Clayton’s wife Falyn, 38, is putting on a brave Clayton Rodrigues (right) with his younger brother Malcolm faceasshecountspenniestopay the hefty legal fees involved in the process or tries to get the Indian government’s attention so it can raise her husband’s case with the UAE. Throughout this “nightmare”, she says, her brother-in-law Malcolm has been her constant companion. Seated next to Falyn in a house in Mumbai’s Vile Parle, Malcolm says they find solace in the fact that they can talk to Clayton over the payphone. “We usuallyspeaktohimonalternate days since ISD charges are quite high,” he tells The Indian Express. Falyn and Malcolm decide beforehand on what informa- tion to withhold from Clayton. “We don’t want to get his hopes up, only to have them dashed later. We try to sound cheerful, but I ask Malcolm to take over whenIfeellow.Attimes,Clayton is the one cheering us up. We all take turns being strong,” she says, holding back her tears. On his “bad days”, she says, all that Clayton mumbles into the phone is that he does not want to talk. “At times, he gets impatient and says we are not doingenough.Hewasthefamily troubleshooter...” says an emotional Falyn. Aftertheylearntabouthisarrest in February 2023, his family approached the Vile Parle police station for help and also tried to reach out to Indian officials in Sharjah,butinvain.Then,inApril 2023, Chrisann’s arrest made headlines. Her arrest saw the Mumbai Crime Branch start an investigation, leading to the arrests of Paul and his accomplice Rajesh Borate on April 24, 2023. AfterPaul’sfourotheralleged victims,includingClayton’sfamily, approached the police, the sleuths discovered how the baker had allegedly used the same modus operandi to exact his revenge — his accomplice Borate offered all his purported CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ahmedabad