The ideas Page: as india’s youth spoke up, the message from across the border — you inspire us 13 THURSDAY, JULY 30, 2026 Journalism of Courage lucknow, lATe cITy, 18 PAGeS ₹6.00 l www.indianexpress.com DA I ly f r o M : A h M e DA B A D , c h A n D I GA r h , D e l h I , j A I P u r , ko l k ATA , l u c k n o w , M u M B A I , n AG P u r , PAT n A , P u n e , vA D o DA r A LEGAL EDUCATION A RED initiative appears in today’s edition of The Indian Express. This page is an initiative of the marketing solutions team of The Indian Express Group and contains content paid for by advertisers. This page should be read as an advertisement. happening today lVoting will be held for bypolls in Datia (MP), Bankipur (Bihar) and Manjalpur (Gujarat). Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com Business as usual By EP UNNY StRingEnt PRoViSionS in AMEnDED lEgiSlAtion Tough exam leak Bill clears LS, Rahul raises police crackdown CHARgESHEEt filED in fASt-tRACk CoURt Govt hails passage, says open to learn from experience; LoP: Shah must quit over July 20 action Leaked NEET papers took two routes out of Maharashtra: CBI probe Asad Rehman, Anonna Dutt & Jatin Anand Mahender Singh Manral New Delhi, July 29 New Delhi, July 29 WRaPPing UP a two-day debate punctuated by acrimonious exchanges as the Opposition slammed the government over the police crackdown on studentprotestersinDelhi,Lok Sabha Wednesday passed the stringent Public examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) amendment Bill, 2026 by a voice vote amid sloganeering. Leader of Opposition Rahul gandhi’s remarks against Union Home Minister amit Shah over the July 20 police action led to stormy scenes with Union minister kiren rijiju and LoP rahul Gandhi in Lok sabha. PTI politics page 4 rajya saBHa passes Bill making insult to vande mataram a Criminal offenCe strong protests from the treasurybenches—oneofthewords he used was expunged from House records. Later, the government hailed the passage of the Bill. UnionMinisterJitendraSingh, who replied to the debate, said it reflected the government’s “openness to incorporate constructive inputs, learn from experience and further strengthenthelaw”todealwith exam paper leaks. Shah, in a post on X, congratulated “every student in india”onthepassageoftheBill, saying it “shields the dreams »ContinUED on PAgE 2 PROBingTHeneeT-Ug2026 paper leak case, the CBi has uncovered two messaging app trails — a Maharashtra-Rajasthan-Haryana route and a Maharashtra-Rajasthan-kerala pathway — through which the question papers travelled. investigators are calling it a “countrywide conspiracy” involving subject experts, coaching institute operators and intermediaries, The Indian Express has learnt. in a chargesheet filed Tuesday in a Delhi fast-track court, the CBi has named 13 accused Uttar pradesh BHadoHi to Be renamed sant ravidas nagar again: yogi 19monthsafter Manmohan Singh’sdeath, hegetsclean chitincoalcase HC seeks pending poliCe Closure reports’ details aCross state page 3 including nTa biology expert Manisha Mandhare, nTa chemistry expert Pralhad Vithalrao kulkarni, nTa physics expert Manisha Sanjay Havaldar. The others named are Shivraj Raghunath Motegoankar, owner of Renukai Career Centre Coaching institute in Latur; Tejas Harshadkumar Shah, COO at aPMa Coaching institute in Pune, and eight alleged intermediaries: Manisha Sanjay Waghmare, Dhananjay nivrutti Lokhande, Shubham Madhukar khairnar, Yash Yadav, Mangilal Biwal, Vikash Biwal, Dinesh Biwal and »ContinUED on PAgE 2 no iMPACt on EXiSting ClEARAnCES Retrospective green nod: SC strikes down Centre’s order, opens window for exception 2021 Office Memorandum quashed, CJI bench says exceptions can be granted in public interest but under 1986 legislation Ananthakrishnan g New Delhi, July 29 inaunanimousruling,theSupreme Court Wednesday held that the Centre can retrospectively grant environmental clearanceforprojects“inpublic interest” under the environment(Protection)act,1986and not through a mere administrative office memorandum. The bench of Chief Justice of india Surya kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul M Pancholi struck down theCentre’s2021officememorandumregardingretrospective approval for projects that had already commenced construction or operation without environmental clearance. Toavoiddisruptiontoexisting projects, the bench said the ruling will apply prospectively, leaving existing clearances unaffected. itclarifiedthattheSupreme Court’s earlier decisions in Common Cause and Alembic Pharmaceuticalswererendered inthecontextofprevailinglaws at the time and “do not place a clogonthepoweroftheCentral government to issue an appropriate, narrowly tailored amn- E. explained no perpetual regime The SC has held that the government must make a distinct selection of projects for the grant of post facto environmental clearance. Projects with a bearing on public interest satisfy the test of proportionality, reasonableness. estynotificationinsupervening public interest as an exception to the 2006 notification”. “The decriminalisation of regulatory contraventions underthe1986act,throughthe Jan Vishwas act 2023, reinforces our conclusion that the Central government has ample power under Section 3 to issue appropriate notifications, formulating amnesty schemes with regard to such classes orcategories of non-compliant projects whose sustainability is necessary to subserve larger public interest,” it said. On May 16, 2025, the bench of Justice abhay S Oka and »ContinUED on PAgE 2 28-year-old Gulveer singh during the men’s 10,000 m final at commonwealth Games in Glasgow. AP ex-Pm manmohan singh was summoned to face trial in 2015. Ananthakrishnan g From Sirsa mud ground to India’s first CWG men’s 10,000m silver Pritish Raj New Delhi, July 29 New Delhi, July 29 MORe THan a decade after a trial court summoned former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the coal block allocation case, the Supreme Court on Wednesday set aside the order and accepted the Central Bureau of investigation’s (CBi) closure report which cleared him in the matter. Saying that the trial court had no justification for rejecting the CBi’s closure report, a three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of india Surya kant closed the proceedings. While Singh died in December 2024, Senior advocate kapil Sibal, appearing for the former PM, said though the matterhadbecomeinfructuous after his death, the trial court’s remarksagainsthimoughttobe expunged.SenioradvocateaM Singhvi, also representing Singh, urged the court to do away with the remarks. The bench, which included PeLTing Rain, chilly conditionsandafieldofrunnersfrom africawithapodium-finishing history spanning over 50 years —india’s gulveer Singh was up against the weather, sporting historyandaqualityfieldatthe »ContinUED on PAgE 2 Commonwealth games. Yet, the 28-year-old from Sirsa in UP’s aligarh held his nerve, stuck to his race strategy and produced an impressive final burst to win silver, marking india’s first-ever Commonwealth games medal in the men’s 10,000m with a time of 27 minutes and 49.80 seconds. gulveer had, in fact, fallen behind during the race but fought back to snap at the heels of the leading pack before surging forward. ky Robinson of australia won gold in 27:48.93, whileDavidMullarkeyoftheisle of Man took bronze in 27:50.28. The result also ended »ContinUED on PAgE 2 A first, trial in absentia begins today in Delhi against absconding gangster nirbhay thakur New Delhi, July 29 inafirst,aDelhicourtwillstart hearing arguments Thursday against kapil Sangwan, a gangster accused in two cases under the Maharashtra Control of OrganisedCrimeact(MCOCa),in absentia — or, in his absence. Sangwanhasbeendeclaredabsconding and is believed to be in London. in an order issued on July 9, Special Judge Vishal gogne of RouseavenueCourtpermitted the trial to proceed in “absentia” under Section 356 (inquiry, trial or judgment in absentia of proclaimed offender) of the Bharatiya nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BnSS). The trial pertains to one of the two MCOCa cases against Sangwan, related to his alleged role in running an extortion syndicate. according to new norms, a person accused of a crime can betriedandconvictedinhisabsence, as if he was present in court and has waived his right to a fair trial. earlier, the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) provided for recording evidence in the absence of the accused but did not permit a trial in absentia. The BnSS, which replaced CrPC, brought the provision for the first time. “in simple terms, this »ContinUED on PAgE 2 ‘No business being nosy parker, probe crimes, not marriages’: Allahabad HC castigates police Bench imposes fine on Bhadohi SP, SHO; quashes FIR filed against against man on charges of abduction Bhupendra Pandey Lucknow, July 29 Taking anoteofaninvestigation in a case against a couple who married against wishes of thewoman'sfamily,theallahabad High Court came down heavily on the police officials concerned, observing that police should investigate crimes and not marriages and that they “ have no business in the matter to be nosy parkers”. in a July 27 order, a division bench of Justices JJ Munir and Tarun Saxena imposed a fine ontheBhadohisuperintendent of police (SP) and the Suriyawan station house officer (SHO), and quashed the FiR lodged against the man by the woman's father on charges of abduction to force her into marriage against her will. The bench stated, “The police have no business in the matter to be nosy parkers. We have repeatedly reminded the police that it is no business of theirs to investigate marriages. They ought to investigate crimes. This is no crime, where any investigation is required.” The couple, aged 28 and 27, who are postgraduates with certificate courses in teaching, had filed a petition challenging the FiR lodged against the man on april 19 in Bhadohi district, saying they were “major”. The man is currently a government school teacher in Madhya Pradesh. The two informed the court that they got married with arya Samaj rituals in Prayagraj on February18afterbeinginarelationship for one year. The woman's father lodged the case against the man after coming to knowofthemarriageonapril18. after the petition was filed, the HC on april 29 had stated that “two major citizens of the country married according to Hindu rites” and “prima facie there was nothing in the FiR to investigate”. in an interim order, the court had stayed the police investigation as well as the petitioners' arrest. »ContinUED on PAgE 2 Lucknow