DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2024, LUCKNOW, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES `6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 Ratan Tata, Farewell & Thank You Beacon of India Inc and philanthropist who steered a sprawling corporate empire — and its global expansion Over 20 yrs as chairman, took charge of group as nation opened economy GEORGE MATHEW MUMBAI, OCTOBER 9 RATAN NAVAL Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, a beacon of India Inc who steered his group amid India’s economic liberalisation and, subsequently,guideditsglobalex- pansion, breathed his last at Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai Wednesday night. Tata, 86, was admitted following age-related health issues and was undergoing treatment at the hospital. Announcing his passing away, Tata Sons chairperson CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 President, V-P, PM and LoP lead the nation in paying tribute to ‘legend’ EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, MUMBAI, OCTOBER 9 RATAN NAVAL TATA 1937-2024 PRESIDENT DROUPADI Murmu led the nation in paying rich tribute to Ratan Tata who passed away in Mumbai late Wednesday night. Condolence messages and tribute poured in from across thecountryandabroadforTata who strode the industry like a colossus,inspiringgenerations. President Murmu said, “In the sad demise of Shri Ratan Tata,Indiahaslostaniconwho CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PARTY SEEKS PROBE INTO ALLEGED ‘MANIPULATION’ OF EVMs IN HARYANA INSIDE Cong’s EVM remarks are undemocratic rejection of the will of people, says EC CHEMISTRY NOBEL GOES TO TRIO OF Cong delegation meets panel, submits PROTEIN PIONEERS written complaints from constituencies HEZBOLLAH CLASHES WITH ISRAELI cluding J&K and Haryana.” TROOPS ON BORDER Meanwhile, a Congress delASAD REHMAN & DAMINI NATH PAGES 12, 13 Two soldiers abducted in J&K, body of one found BASHAARAT MASOOD SRINAGAR, OCTOBER 9 THE BODY of a Territorial Army (TA) soldier, who was reported to have been abducted by militants on Tuesday, was recovered from the South Kashmir forests on Wednesday morning. According to police sources, two TA soldiers, Hilal Ahmad Bhat (26) and Fayaz Ahmad Sheikh (36) — both local residents — were on a “reconnaissance mission” on Tuesday, when they were abducted by militants. While Sheikh managed to escape, Bhat’s body was recovered duriang a search operation in the morning. The two soldiers were associated with the 162 Battalion of the TA, sources said. According tosources,Sheikhsufferedabullet injury on his shoulder, and was admitted to the Army's 439 Field Hospital. There were three to four militants, including two foreigners, said sources. “There were some inputs about militant movement in the forest area,” a senior police officer said. “The Army had sent the two TA personnel to gather information and pin the forest location. However, they were abducted by the militants there,” he said. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 UTTAR PRADESH MLA ‘BEATEN UP’ IN SCUFFLE OVER CO-OP BODY ELECTIONS PAGE 3 PAGE 1 ANCHOR egation met the EC later in the evening and demanded a probe. NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 9 The delegation, which included EVEN AS the Election AICC leaders K C Venugopal, Commission (EC) said the Jairam Ramesh, Ajay Maken and Congress’sstatementon“notac- Pawan Khera, former Haryana cepting” the Haryana verdict CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, was a step towards “undemoc- state party chief Udai Bhan and ratic rejection of the will of the former Rajasthan CM Ashok people”,theOppositionpartyon Gehlot, submitted a memoWednesday reiterated its allega- randum, along with written complaints from seven tion of “glaring discrepconstituencies. ancies” in some Speakingtoreporters Electronic Voting afterthemeeting,Khera, Machines (EVMs) in who heads the party’s Haryana and demanded media and publicity dea “thorough probe”. VERDICT partment,said:“Wehave A day after the 2024 informed the EC about Congress alleged “ma20 complaints. Of these, nipulation” of EVMs and rejected the Haryana results, the seven written complaints were EC, in a letter to party president from the constituencies, espeMallikarjun Kharge, said: “Such cially about the EVMs showing an unprecedented statement as 99 per cent battery. The rest of aboveinagenericsense,unheard the machines were showing 60intherichdemocraticheritageof 70 per cent batteries... We have the country, is far from a legiti- demanded that the machines mate part of free speech and ex- which we have complained CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 pression and moves towards an undemocratic rejection of the will of the people expressed in accordance with the statutory CM SAINI MEETS PM, and regulatory electoral frame- GETS BACKING OF work, uniformly applied across JINDAL, 2 OTHERS all elections in the country, in- PAGE 6 National Conference president Farooq Abdullah with his son and party vice-president Omar Abdullah at their residence in Srinagar on Wednesday. PTI How does getting into fight (with L-G) help me address J&K’s concerns: Omar NAVEED IQBAL SRINAGAR, OCTOBER 9 AFTER LEADING the National Conference (NC) to victory in the J&K Assembly elections, party vice-president Omar Abdullah, 54, is set to take over as the J&K Chief Minister. The NC-led alliance secured 49 seats out of 90, withtheNCwinning42seatsand the Congress just six. Omar bagged both the Kashmir constituencies — Budgam and Ganderbal—fromwherehecontested. In an interview with The Indian Express, he spoke on various issues ranging from takeaways from the poll outcome to his party’s roadmap ahead. Excerpts: BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY Despite predictions of a hung House, the NC has clinched the elections. What is your reading of the poll verdict? Look, I was never big on predictions. And before the votes had even been counted, I told you that exit polls are a waste of time. The exit polls got it wrong in my Baramulla election, and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Naseem Solanki, wife of jailed MLA Irfan Solanki, has been fielded by the SP from Sisamau Assembly seat, Wednesday. PTI After Haryana jolt, Cong snubbed by SP: Akhilesh names bypoll candidates MAULSHREE SETH LUCKNOW, DELHI OCTOBER 9 A DAY after the Congress received a setback in the Haryana Assembly elections, the Samajwadi Party (SP) on Wednesday named six candidates for the upcoming Assembly bypolls in Uttar Pradesh, taking ally Congress by surprise. In a clear snub to the Congress,withwhichithadcontested the Lok Sabha elections earlierthisyearandreapedarich electoral dividend, the Samajwadi Party named its candidates for Phulpur and Manjhwa Assembly seats -- the two constituencies the Congress is keen on contesting. “WehadnoideaaboutSPdeclaring its candidates. There has been no discussion in the INDIA bloc co-ordination committee about it. The Congress is clear in its stand that in Uttar Pradesh, INDIA alliance would contest all the10seatsincoordinationwith each other, and the decision of the co-ordination committee will be acceptable to us,” Congress general secretary in chargeof UP,AvinashPande,told mediapersons in Kanpur, where the party was holding Samvidhan Bachao Sammelan. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Caste census must to honour people’s sentiments, reduce disparity: ally Naidu P7 RITIKA CHOPRA NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 9 A CASTE CENSUS should be conducted to “honour sentiments of the people” and should be used alongwitheconomicanalysisand askillcensustoreduceeconomic disparities, N Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister, Andhra Pradesh, told The Indian Express. In a 90-minute interview at his 1, Janpath residence in New Delhi, Naidu, who was sworn in as the Chief Minister for the fourth time on June 12, and recently completed 100 days in office, justified the caste census and said, “Even if you belong to a weaker section, if you have money, society will respect you… Wealth is a big leveller.” Having allied with the BJP six THE EXPRESS INTERVIEW N CHANDRABABU NAIDU ANDHRA PRADESH CHIEF MINISTER years after his Telugu Desam Party broke ties in mid-2018, Naiduacknowledgedtherewere ideological differences between thetwopartiesoncertainissues, but said, “We will have ideologicaldifferences,butwewillwork together. It’s simple. My party is a regional party, and theirs is a CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 2 days after moving in, Atishi made 11 years later, 10 get life term for to vacate Delhi CM house, it’s locked lynching UP DySP Ziaul Haque GAYATHRI MANI NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 9 TWO DAYS after she moved into the Civil Lines bungalow earlier occupied by her predecessor Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi Chief Minister Atishi was on Wednesday asked to vacate the premises by officials of the PWD — the department she heads. The episode marks a sharp escalation in the row around the CM’sresidence—whiletheAam Aadmi Party claims Atishi movedinaftertakingcareof formalities, the PWD says an offi- A video grab shows CM Atishi’s belongings being taken away from the Civil Lines residence in Delhi. cial “handover” of the property fromKejriwaltothedepartment is yet to take place. It is also the latest in a series of confrontations between the elected government and the bureaucracy. PWD officials said the house has been placed under double lock. Calling the move unprecedented,theCM’sOfficesaid,“For thefirsttimeinthehistoryof the country, the Chief Minister has been asked to vacate her house. The L-G has forcibly removed CMAtishi’sbelongingsatthebehest of the BJP. Preparations are CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MANISH SAHU LUCKNOW, OCTOBER 9 ELEVEN YEARS after a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) rank officer was beaten to death in a Pratapgarh village, a special CBI court in Lucknow on Wednesday sentenced 10 convicts to life imprisonment. The case dates back to March 2013,whenthevictim,DySPZiaul Haque,hadgonetoBalipurvillage in Pratapgarh after being informed about the murder of villagepradhanNanheyYadav,who hadbeenshotdeadbyrivals.The DySP had been posted as the DSP Ziaul Haque was posted as Kunda Circle Officer Kunda Circle Officer at the time. Last week, the court had fixed Wednesday for sentencing after finding all the 10 accused guilty under IPC section 302 (murder), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 147 (rioting) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt). The accused, who were out on bail, were then taken into custody and sent to jail. OnWednesday,afterhearing theprosecutionandthedefence, the court handed down life imprisonment to all 10 accused, said K P Singh, Special Public Prosecutor for the CBI. All the convicts are from Pratapgarh and several of them are related to the slain village pradhan, Nanhey Yadav. The convicts are Phool Chand Yadav, Pawan Yadav, Manjeet Yadav, Ghanshyam Saroj, Ram Lakhan Gautam, Chotte Lal Yadav, Ram Asrey,MunnaPatel,ShivramPasi and Jagat Bahadur Pal. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 37 yrs later, court acquits 8 held for glorifying Roop Kanwar death HAMZA KHAN JAIPUR, OCTOBER 9 THIRTY-SEVENYEARSafterthey were accused of glorifying the death of Roop Kanwar, India’s last known case of sati, a Jaipur special court on Wednesday acquitted eight persons giving them the benefit of doubt. Along with several others, the eight had allegedly held an event glorifying Roop Kanwar around the first anniversary of her alleged sati act. Sati Niwaran court special judge Akshi Kansal acquitted MahendraSingh,ShrawanSingh, NihalSingh,JitendraSingh,Uday Singh, Dasrath Singh, Laxman Singh and Bhanwar Singh. All eight were out on bail. Representing the accused, advocate Aman Chain Singh Shekhawat said, “We are yet to get the detailed order but the courthaspronounceditsverdict, acquitting eight persons today. The court said that the prosecution could not prove its case beyond doubt, and hence, giving the benefit of doubt to the eight, acquitted them.” The youngest of six siblings, Roop Kanwar, 18, had married Maal Singh from Divrala in Sikar in January 1987. The marriage was short-lived as Singh died of anillnessinaSikarhospitaleight months later. On September 4, 1987, Roop Kanwar is said to have sat on her husband’s funeral pyre and committed sati. The current case pertains to 1988 when, around the first anniversary of her death, 45 people allegedly held an event glorifying sati. This violated Section 5 (punishment for glorification of sati)of TheCommissionof Sati (Prevention)Act,1987,alawthat wasenactedafterRoopKanwar’s death. The punishment for violation of this section carries imprisonment of up to seven years and a fine of up to Rs 30,000. (Left) The site where Roop Kanwar (above) is said to have committed sati. Hamza Khan “Toprovetheviolationof section5,section3(attempttocommit sati) needed to be proved. However, the prosecution, the investigation agency, could not prove section 3 itself, that sati took place. There was no material evidence which could prove that sati took place and that it was subsequently glorified,” Shekhawat said. Of the45accusedinthiscase, 25 were acquitted in 2004 for lack of evidence, eight were acquitted on Wednesday, four are absconding, while the remaining eight are dead, he said. “Sincethebeginningwehave been saying that she committed theactonherownandtherewas no incitement or abetment. No one in the family did anything wrong. And the government too hasn’t been able to prove anything in the courts in 40 years,” Gopal Singh Rathore, Roop Kanwar’sbrother,toldTheIndian Express. VillagersinDivralasaythaton September4,1987,afterherhusband’s death, Roop Kanwar recitedtheGayatriMantra,dressed upin“solahshringaar(16adornments)”whilethousandsof peo- ple from Divrala and neighbouringvillagestookouther“shobha yatra”throughoutthevillage,and then committed sati. The case had led to a public outcry and is also cited as one of the reasons for the ouster of the then Rajasthan chief minister Hari Dev Joshi of the Congress. Divrala also assumed a special place in Rajput pride, with some of those hailing from the village, adding the name of the village to their own, and parallels were drawn to Chittorgarh’s Padmavati, the one who is said to have jumped into a pyre to escape Alauddin Khilji’s advancing army. Lucknow