DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2024, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES BY UNNY EVEN IF CONVICT, MUST FOLLOW PROCEDURE, SAYS COURT SC questions bulldozer justice, will lay down ‘pan-India’ norms for due process Jahangirpuri case hearing; bench says won’t protect encroachments on road ANANTHAKRISHNAN G Buch got salary from ICICI after joining SEBI: Cong; bank denies NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 2 POINTING TO concerns over bulldozers being used to demolishthehousesof peopleaccused of somecrimeinsomestates,the Supreme Court on Monday said it would lay down “pan-India” guidelines on the issue. “It is a position of law. How can anybody’s house be demol- ished only because he is an accused? Even if he is a convict, it can’t be done without following the procedure as prescribed by law,” remarked Justice B R Gavai. “We propose to lay down certainguidelinesonapan-India basis so that the concerns with regard to the issues raised are taken care of,” said the bench, which included Justice K V Viswanathan. The bench also CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 E E X P L A I NE D BUSINESS AS USUAL `5.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 ● The UP template “BULLDOZER JUSTICE” helped UP CM Yogi Adityanath build a political brand, and was copied in other states — both BJP-ruled like MP, Assam and Haryana, and Opp-ruled like Rajasthan under Ashok Gehlot, and Maharashtra under MVA. REPORT, PAGE 13 Delhi to Ratlam: Flicker of hope for lives razed UPASIKA SINGHAL, ANAND MOHAN J, PARUL KULSHRESTHA & AJOY SINHA KARPURAM NEW DELHI, BHOPAL, JAIPUR, SEPTEMBER 2 FROM A juice shop owner in Delhi to a tempo driver in Rajasthan to a loader in Madhya Pradesh — it was the demolition of several properties that came up before the Supreme Court, which on Monday said it would lay down “pan-India” guidelines on demolition of houses linked to people accused of crimes. The first of these pleas was filed by the Jamiat-Ulama-iHind on April 20, 2022, in the midst of a demolition drive following communal violence in CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 DELHI EXCISE POLICY CASE SC gives bail to AAP’s Vijay Nair: Right to liberty is sacrosanct EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE Petitioner has been in custody for 23 months, said bench NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 2 THESUPREMECourtonMonday granted bail to Vijay Nair, who was AAP’s communications incharge when he was arrested in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam, underlining that right to liberty is “sacrosanct” and bail should be the rule, and jail the exception. “The right to liberty under Article 21 (of the Constitution) is a sacrosanct right which needs to be respected even in cases where stringent provisions are invoked.Thepetitionerhasbeen in custody for 23 months and is incarcerated as an undertrial,” said a bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and SVN Bhatti. “There cannot be a mode of punishment without a trial being commenced. The universal propositionof ‘bailbeingtherule and jail being the exception’ will be entirely defeated if the petitioneriskeptincustodyasanundertrial for such a long duration CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ED ARRESTS AAP MLA AMANATULLAH KHAN CBI arrests R G Kar’s ex-principal, Swati Maliwal ‘assault’ three others in corruption case KOLKATA, SEPTEMBER 2 EVEN AS protests continue over the rape and murder of a junior doctor at Kolkata’s R G Kar Medical College and Hospital, the CBI on Monday arrested the institute’s former principal Sandip Ghosh and three others in a corruption case. The central agency, which has been conducting parallel probes into the rape-murder as wellasallegationsof financial irregularities at the hospital that emerged later, questioned Ghosh earlier in the day at its CGO Complex office in Salt Lake. EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, MUMBAI, SEPT 2 THE CONGRESS on Monday accused SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch of “holding an office of profit at ICICI Bank”, and receiving an income of Rs 16.80 crore between 2017 and 2024 after she became a wholetime member of the market regulator in 2017. However, ICICI Bank, in a statement to stock exchanges said the bank or its group companies have “not paid any salary or granted any ESOPs” to Buch after her retirement from the bank, other than her retiral benefits. Speaking at a press conference, Pawan Khera, head of Congress media and publicity department, alleged: “In summary, the total amount received by the SEBI chairperson from ICICI from her time of joining SEBI in 2017 up until today total Rs 16,80,22,143, which is shockingly 5.09 times the income she received from SEBI during the same period, which amounts to Rs 3,30,28,246.” “While people place their hopes in SEBI whose chairperson is appointed directly by the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 case: Relief for Kejriwal aide as SC grants bail RAVIK BHATTACHARYA & SWEETY KUMARI SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch at a CII event in Mumbai on Monday. PTI PAGE 10 ANANTHAKRISHNAN G NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 2 Sandip Ghosh (centre), former principal of R G Kar Medical College and Hospital, after his arrest on Monday. Express After hours of questioning, Ghosh was escorted in the evening to the CBI’s Nizam Palace office, which houses the agency’s anti-corruption wing, and placed under arrest. The CBI had been questioning Ghosh, 53, for the past 15 days in connection with the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 OBSERVING THAT the trial is not likely to conclude soon, the SupremeCourtMondaygranted bail to Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal’spersonalassistant Bibhav Kumar, accused of assaulting AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal at the CM’s residence on May 13. A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan directed that Kumar should not visit the Bibhav Kumar was accused of assaulting MP at CM’s residence CM’s residence. Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the Delhi Police, urged the court not to grant bail until the private witnesses are examined, saying they are likely to be influenced CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPRESS NETWORK STRIKING GOLD Nitesh Kumar celebrates after winning the gold in the men’s singles SL3 badminton at the Paralympic Games in Paris on Monday. Reuters FULLCOVERAGE,PAGE17 AFTER LANDSLIDES, WAYANAD STUDENTS BACK AT SCHOOL RSS HINTS AT SUPPORT FOR CASTE CENSUS: ‘WELFARE, NOT POLITICAL TOOL’ PAGES 13, 10 Central forces spectators, `3,300-CR CHIP ASSEMBLY PLANT Kaynes’ Sanand plant gets remove from Manipur: Cabinet nod, Gujarat’s CM Biren’s son-in-law 4th semiconductor unit SUKRITA BARUAH GUWAHATI, SEPTEMBER 2 CALLING CENTRAL forces “mute spectators”, BJP MLA and Manipur Chief Minister Biren Singh’s son-in-law, Rajkumar Imo Singh, has written to Home Minister Amit Shah, asking for their removal. This comes a day after violenceagainflaredupinthestate, killing two people in an attack thatpolicesaywascarriedoutby “Kukimilitants”.Policehavealso said the attackers used drones and RPGs to target a village. In his letter to Shah, BJP MLA Rajkumar Imo Singh Rajkumar, the MLA from Sagolband constituency in Imphal West, wrote that 16 months since the conflict first started in May 2023, “one expected that the days of violence were left behind withmore concentrationonapoliticaldialogue tobringapermanentandpeaceful solution”. However, he said, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SOUMYARENDRA BARIK NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 2 THE UNION Cabinet Monday cleared a semiconductor assemblyandtestingplantbeingsetup by Kaynes Semicon at a cost of Rs 3,300 crore at Sanand in Ahmedabad. This is the fourth semiconductorplanttocomeup in Gujarat. It is also the fifth semiconductor unit and the fourth assembly unit to receive Cabinet approvalunderIndia’sambitious Rs 76,000-crore chip manufacturing incentive scheme. It is learnt that the government’s subsidytowardstheplantwillbe around Rs 1,300 crore. “The capacity of this unit will be 60 lakh chips per day… The chips produced in this unit will catertoawidevarietyof applications which include segments such as industrial, automotive, electric vehicles, consumer electronics, telecom, mobile phones, etc,” the Ministry of Electronics andIT(MeitY)saidinastatement. Itisunderstoodthattheplant was to initially come up in Telangana, but moved to Gujarat after the government indicated CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Hospitals to hospitality, F&B to cement: Mega industry players head to Bihar PAGE 1 ANCHOR SANTOSH SINGH PATNA, SEPTEMBER 2 FROM FMCG majors Britannia and PepsiCo to Tata Group’s Taj hotels to healthcare giant Medanta, several companies are making a beeline for Bihar — a state that, until a few years ago, wasstrugglingtoshedtheimage of an investment pariah. According to government officials,thestatereceivedRs12,000 THE TURNAROUND Investments between 2016 and 2022: Investments between 2022 and 2024: 353 industrial units (approximately) ` 2,500.57 crore ` 12,000 crore BIG TICKET INVESTMENTS IN LAST THREE YEARS ■ Jay Prabha Medanta ■ Britannia Industries, Rs800cr(2021) Rs250cr(2023) Hospital, Patna: ■ PepsiCo, Begusarai: Rs550cr(2022) Patna: ■ Taj City Centre, Patna: Rs500cr(2024) crore worth of investment proposals between 2022 and 2024 — significantly higher than the Rs 2,500 crorereceived between 2016 and 2022. Just last month, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar laid the foundation stone for a Rs 1,600crore cement grinding unit of Ambuja Concrete North Private Ltd,asubsidiaryof AdaniGroup’s Ambuja Cements, in Nawada. “Bihar has emerged as an ideal destination for investment,” a statement from his office said. Like Adani Group’s Ambuja Cements, rivals JK Cement and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ahmedabad