The Editorial Page: let’s curb misuse of a legal relic that elevates the mob over the individual 10 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 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 Happening today lAndhrA PrAdesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu and Maharashtra Deputy CM Eknath Shinde will attend bike rallies in Varanasi and Vadnagar to mark PM Narendra Modi’s birthday and 25 years in public office. Track This and more on www.indianexpress.com business as usual By EP UNNY InCIdenT In InTernATIOnAL WATers In nOrTh ArABIAn seA, 120 nAUTICAL MILes FrOM GULF OF OMAn India, Pak warships collide at sea, Delhi summons Islamabad envoy sporT Pak Navy’s Hunain damaged, Indian warship continued on mission after incident: Officials Pak for shifting tournament to neutral venue; no, says hockey india Amrita nayak dutta & shubhajit roy New Delhi, September 16 a FrOnTLine warship of the indian navy and a Pakistan navy vessel were involved in a collision Tuesday evening in international waters in the north arabian Sea, prompting delhi to lodge a strong protest with islamabad Wednesday over the “unprofessional con- express special Page 17 This photograph from the Turkish ministry of national defence shows Pakistani navy ship Pns hunain in the foreground. @TCSaVuNMa/X duct of Pakistani naval units”. The incident was said to have taken place about 120 nautical miles from the gulf of Oman. For several months now, indian navy destroyers and frigates have been deployed on missions in the north arabian Sea. Official sources identified the Pakistani vessel as PnS hunain and said it was damaged in the collision, and had headed to its home port. no damage to the indian warship was reported and it continued on its routine surveillance mission, the sources said. Providing details of the incident, sources said PnS hunain — it is an offshore patrol vessel, often listed as a yarmook-class corvette because of its combat suite,andpatrolscoastalwaters —closedinonafrontlineindian navy warship at high speed, “manoeuvring in an unprofessionalandunsafemanner,causing a minor collision”. “The Pakistani ship was approaching at high speed but was unable to manoeuvre safely and in time, causing a slight collision with the indian warship,” the sources said. On Wednesday, india summoned Pakistan’s charge d’affaires over the incident. astatementfromtheMinistryofexternalaffairssaid,“The charge d’affaires of the high commissionfortheislamicrepublicofPakistaninnewdelhi wassummonedtotheMinistry »COnTInUed On PAGe 2 0.4% MerChAnT dIsCOUnT rATe FrOM OCTOBer 15 mumbai civic body Opp demands UPI fee rollback, claims US awards rs 14-cr trash pressure; false, no foreign influence: Govt barrier deal to firm it Rahul leads Opp chorus, targets PM; success, Finance says disqualified earlier Rajnath hails UPImerchants protected customers, small Previous action against Virgo Specialities was for causing ‘wrongful loss’ in Mithi river de-silting contract Vallabh Ozarkar Mumbai, September 16 The BrihanMUMBai Municipal corporation (BMc) has awarded a rs 14-crore contract for managing the city’s trash booms to a private firm it had disqualified twice earlier following an Fir against its then part-owner in the Mithi river de-siltingcaselinkedtoalleged collusion with contractors and “wrongful loss” of over rs 65 crore to the civic body. records reviewed by The Indian Express show the latest contract was awarded after the company,VirgoSpecialitiesPvt Ltd, asserted the Mithi Fir was not against the company but against its then director Jay Lalmani Verma & sweety Kumari New Delhi, Kolkata, September 16 a day after the national Payments corporation of india announced that UPi person-tomerchant transactions over rs 2,000 would attract a fee of 0.4 per cent, the Merchant discount rate, from October 15, the government came under fire Wednesday from the Op- inside a trash catcher on the mithi river in mumbai. aMiT ChakraVarTy Joshi, who has since stepped down. The BMc, after seeking legal opinion, cleared Virgo as technicallyeligibleforthetrash boom tender. Pages 6, 13 2013 Jhiram ghati maoist attack: death sentence for all 10 found guilty u.s. fed hikes rate by 25 basis Points, first time in over three years position which demanded that the decision be rolled back immediately. Opposition parties led by the congress alleged that the Mdr decision had been taken under“americanpressure”and allowed “US card companies to compete with UPi”. rejecting the Opposition allegations, the Ministry of Finance said, “Some claims suggestthechangeisduetoforeign influence. This is false. india’s Lok sabha LoP rahul Gandhi posted a video message on X economy Page 13 ‘rug Pulled from under us’: uPi’s free ride ends, traders brace for the hit UPi policy decisions are made independently, with the clear goal of building a self-sustaining, inclusive, and affordable digital payments ecosystem.” “UPicontinuestobefreefor customers. Sending money to friends, paying at shops, or scanning a Qr code — all remain without charges,” the Ministry said in a post on X. Targeting the Prime Minister, rahul gandhi, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, said “stop lying down in front of the US, have a spine, stand up” and roll back the “UPi tax”. in a video in which he is seen standing before a portrait of his grandmother and former »COnTInUed On PAGe 2 Messi event cheating case: Kerala govt under fire after police enter TV newsroom during telecast Avalanche tore 2.2 sq km mountain face, crashed into valley: Nepal flood study Reminiscent of Emergency, says Pinarayi; channel functioning not disrupted: CM nikhil Ghanekar shaju Philip »COnTInUed On PAGe 2 Tracking The cause of last month's nepal flash floods, a newstudybyateamofinternationalscientistshassaidthatan estimated 110 million cubic metres of rock and ice crashed down the Langtang Lirung peak, tearing off a huge part of the mountain's northern face measuring 2.2 sq km in area, withadepthof50metres.ithas »COnTInUed On PAGe 2 during a rescue operation from a tunnel in nepal’s rasuwa, Wednesday. The death toll has crossed 1,400. PTi a SPeciaL investigationTeam (SiT) of the kerala Police enteredthenewsroomofaprivate TV channel in kochi on Wednesday morning, triggering outrage against the congressled state government. The policemovecameduringaraidon premises linked to the channel’s management over a case ofallegedcheatingrelatedtoan Revision benefits another 51 lakh; Rs 2,080 cap on pension contribution Aanchal Magazine & ravi dutta Mishra New Delhi, September 16 The UniOn cabinet Wednesdayapprovedahikeinthewage ceiling for subscribers of the employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (ePFO) from rs 15,000 to rs 25,000 per month, arevisionafteragapof12years. Union Minister of Labour andemploymentMansukhMandaviyasaidthehikeisexpected toincentivisesocialsecurityand formal employment, adding thattherevisedwageceilingwill be effective Thursday, which is also Vishwakarma Puja. The revision means over 8 croreworkerswillbemandated to contribute to the retirement fundforsocialsecurityuptothe wagelimitofrs25,000,beyond whichcontributionswillbevoluntary. The monthly pension contribution, under the employees’PensionScheme(ePS), will be capped at rs 2,080, up from rs 1,250 at present. Both employees and employers contribute 12% of the employee’s basic salary, dearness allowance and retaining allowance, if any, to the ePF. The employee’s entire contribution goes to ePF, while the 12% contribution by the em- @MaNSukhMaNDViya/X Union Labour & employment minister mansukh mandaviya E. explained why the revision after 12 years This is the first revision in 12 years. In September 2014, the EPFO wage ceiling was raised to Rs 15,000 from Rs 6,500. The government said the latest revision will “reflect the sustained wage growth, rising incomes and a continued expansion of formal employment over the intervening years”. ployer is split as 3.67% to ePF and 8.33% to ePS. The government contributes 1.16% for an »COnTInUed On PAGe 2 naTion actoranantnag tobehonoured withdadasaheb Phalkeaward Page 6 Students’ hopes, dreams shattered by callous, criminal conduct: Delhi HC on building collapse sohini Ghosh New Delhi, September 16 Thiruvananthapuram, September 16 New Delhi, September 16 Social security net widens: Govt nod for raising EPFO wage ceiling to Rs 25,000 Police at reporter TV office in kochi, Wednesday. SPECial arraNgEMENT unsuccessful bid to get football superstar Lionel Messi to visit the state. With the raid being telecast live by the channel, reporter TV, Leader of Opposition PinarayiVijayancalledthepoliceaction “reminiscent of emerg- ency days”. chief Minister V d Satheesan defended the force, asserting that the previous Left governmentunderVijayanhad undertaken similar measures against the media. accordingtopolice,theraid »COnTInUed On PAGe 2 reFerring TO the deaths of students in the building collapse in South delhi’s Satya niketan earlier this month, the delhi high court on Wednesday said their “hopes and dreams” had been shattered by “callous, criminal conduct”. Five students were among sevenkilledwhenthebuilding, which housed a private hostel, collapsed on September 6. hearingaPiLonthematter, chief Justice d k Upadhyaya pointed to a report published in The Indian Express on Wednesday. “you need to read this one complete page article today published in The Indian Express. This is about four stu- The Indian Express report published on sept 16 on satya niketan building collapse was cited by the delhi high court dents who lost their lives. Very tragic. everyone should read it. it is not an ordinary incident of a mishap. These four students had come to the capital city with lots of hopes, dreams, »COnTInUed On PAGe 2 l cBi fiLed iTs charGesheeT naminG 13 accUsed on JULy 28; JUdGe aJay GUPTa Took coGnizance on aUGUsT 12 ‘Every minute important’: Inside the fast-track court racing to try NEET leak case nirbhay Thakur Judge gupta repeatedly pressing lawyers to appear on time. The latest test of that timeFOrOVer40days,Judgeajay table came on Monday, in the gupta has been driving one of form of a request to defer arguthe country’s most closely ments because the investigawatched examination paper tionwasongoing.“Timeisvery leak cases at a pace that has left precious...We can continue the hearingalldayifnecessary,”the little room for delay. at 10 am each working day, Judgetoldthedefencecounsel. the Fast Track Special court The hearing, which stretched for nearly two hours, Judge at delhi’s page 1 wasasnapshotofthe rouse avenue court urgency Judge takes his seat and guptahasbroughtto works through the case against 13 accused in this the case since taking charge of year’s neeT-Ug paper leak. it on august 4. The Special court’s pace is chargesheet scrutiny, preliminaryargumentsandastringof significant, given that the case interim applications have fol- is unfolding against the backlowedinquicksuccession,with drop of nationwide outrage New Delhi, September 16 anchor over examination paper leaks, triggered by the neeT-Ug leak fourmonthsago.Theexamwas held on May 3, with around 22 lakhcandidatestakingpart,but was cancelled nine days later bythenationalTestingagency (nTa) after the leak came to light. The nTa subsequently held a retest on June 21. On July 23, following a month-long protest over the leak by students at Jantar Mantar, Prime Minister narendra Modiannouncedthesettingup of fast-track courts to ensure swift and stringent punishment for those involved in exam fraud. in the neeT-Ug case, the cBi filed its chargesheet nam- nTAtranslators tonowensure qualityofAIwork rouse avenue court in delhi where the case in being heard ing 13 accused on July 28. Judge gupta took cognizance of the chargesheet on august 12. Two days later, an applica- tion by the cBi seeking permission for further investigation was allowed. according to the cBi, the aS ParT of its overhaul, the nTa has changed the role of translators. it is now looking for thosewhocanreview“ai-generatedtranslations”ofexamquestions from english into indian languages, according to the expression of interest floated by theagency.Theywillberequired to identify linguistic, technical, scientific or contextual errors, suggest corrections, and certify final translation. rePorT, P 9 neeT-Ug paper was allegedly leaked initially by three nTa panel members and translators.Theprobeagencyhassubmitted in court that various hotel premises were allegedly used in april to “facilitate access” to the leaked papers, which were then circulated on Telegram. Judge gupta has also been designatedtohearotherpaperleak cases under the Public examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) act pending across delhi’s district courts. Two such cases from karkardooma court have been transferred to him, and one from dwarka is about to follow, taking his tally to four. These cases relate to recruitment exams held in delhi for school staff and Lower division clerks. in the neeT-Ug case, the Judge heard an application moved on Monday by accused Shivraj raghunath Motegaonkar, seeking to defer “arguments on charge” on the ground that further investigation was still underway. arguments on charge is the stage after which trial begins — where the agency must show a “prima facie case”. This follows the filing of the chargesheet, its cognizance, and scrutiny of documents. in this case, arguments on charge began in the first week »COnTInUed On PAGe 2 Lucknow