DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA ● REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2024, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 DECEMBER 2023 INCIDENT IN J&K 05/04/2024 138 166 207 60 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY Army probes point to torture, death of 3 men from Poonch during questioning 10 survived ordeal, most still to recover even after 3 months, unable to work PM slams Cong on national security: Now India ‘ghar ARUN SHARMA mein ghus ke maarta hai’ Officers among personnel to face action; Army says it’s committed to highest standards Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at a public meeting in Jamui, Thursday. PTI AMRITA NAYAK DUTTA JAMMU, APRIL 4 NEW DELHI, APRIL 4 THE ARMY’S internal inquiries into the killing of three civilians, allegedlyduringinterrogationby Army personnel following a terror attack in J&K’s Poonch in December 2023 that left four soldiers dead, and into the operational gaps have found serious lapses in the conduct of 7-8 personnel,includingofficers,at various levels. Rajnath Singh met families of victims last December. ANI file Sources have told The Indian Express that the findings of the inquiries indicate that the three civiliansdiedof torture,allegedly during interrogation. The terror attack took place on December 21 on the Mughal Road between Dehra Ki Gali and Bufliaz. The next morning, eight civilians were picked up from Topa Pir in Poonch district’s Bufliaz area, and five from Rajouri district’s Thanamandi area. Of the eight taken away from Topa Pir, three died of Nirupam CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 attacks Cong: ‘Outdated REVISION AFTER SC VERDICT, ITS ‘WELCOMING RECEPTION’: NCERT leaders… no 3 Babri references out, Ayodhya section future left’ ‘revised’ in Class XII new politics book ALOK DESHPANDE MUMBAI, APRIL 4 A DAY after his expulsion from theparty for six yearsforindiscipline and anti-party statements, former Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam on Thursday launched an attack againsttheparty,saying its“outdated” leaders have lost touch with ground reality and it was a party with “no future left”. While Nirupam chose to CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 RITIKA CHOPRA NEW DELHI, APRIL 4 THE section on the Ayodhya dispute in a chapter in NCERT’s Class XII political science textbook is said to have been revised to give primacy to the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, factor in the 2019 Supreme Court verdict allowing the temple — and, in at least three places, referencestotheDecember6,1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid Fourthround of revision THIS IS the fourth round of revision and updating of NCERT textbooks since 2014. The first round, in 2017, was called a “review”, and not a revision, as the then NCERT director cited the need to update textbooks to reflect recent events, changes. have been deleted, The Indian Express has learnt. The revised book is expected to be in classrooms in a month. These changes are part of the revision of school textbooks undertaken by NCERT for the academicyear2024-25,whichwere recently communicated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). NCERT, which advises the Uniongovernmentonschooleducation, is the apex body tasked CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MORE THAN three months after they were picked up and tortured,allegedlybyArmypersonnel, following the killing of four soldiers in a terror attack in Jammu’s Poonch district, nine of the10villagerswhosurvivedare yet to return to work, many still nursing their wounds. Of the 13 Poonch residents who were rounded up after the December21terrorattack,three wereallegedlytorturedtodeath, whilefiveeachwereadmittedto two separate hospitals. Of them, the only one who has returned to work, as a room attendant at a Srinagar hotel, is 30-year-old Topa Pir resident Mohammad Riyaz. “MuchbeforeIwaspickedup byArmypersonnelonthemorning of December 22, I had taken an advance from my employer before returning home,” he told The Indian Express, explaining why he rushed back to work CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SANTOSH SINGH JAMUI (BIHAR), APRIL 4 OFFICIALLY KICKING off the BJP poll campaign in Bihar on Thursday, with his first election meetinginthestatesincetheannouncement of the poll schedule, Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacked the Opposition overcorruptionandissuesof national security. Sharing the dais with him, Fulfilling duty to my husband by contesting from Baramati: Sunetra EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE MAKING HER debut in electoral politics, NCP’s Baramati candidate Sunetra Pawar said it was her duty towards her husband, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, that made her to contest the Lok Sabha elections. She is taking on family member and sittingMPSupriyaSule,daughter of NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar THE ENFORCEMENT Directorate is “driven by legal mandates and evidence, not by the shifting sands of political will” and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) “stands as the bedrock upon which credible investigations are built”, a senior Government official said Thursday. The official was responding CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 KHARGE ATTACKS PM ON CHINA PAGE 7 RESPONSE TO EXPRESS REPORT AJAY JADHAV Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) leaderNitishKumarreachedout to Muslims, assuring them that there would be “no communal discord” under the NDA government in the state. Jamui votes in the first phase on April 19, along with Nawada, Gaya and Aurangabad in Bihar. PUNE, APRIL 4 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ED driven by legal mandate, evidence, not shifting sands of politics: Official NEW DELHI, APRIL 4 to the report ‘Since 2014, 25 Opposition leaders facing corruption probe crossed over to BJP, 23 of them got reprieve’, published in The Indian Express Wednesday. “TheGovernment’sunwaveringstanceonrootingoutcorruption has instilled renewed confidenceamongcitizens,reinforcing the belief that India is shedding its image as a sanctuary for the corrupt,” the official said. The official accused the Opposition of “spreading a spu- rious narrative that questions the credibility of agencies” and “engaging in a campaign to malign the integrity of our nation's investigative agencies” after its “corrupt leaders” were “subjected to the rigours of the law”. “The legal processes in India are far from linear or simplistic. They are characterised by a networkofchecks,balances,appeals and reviews that ensure no case is closed without exhaustive examination. This framework, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2